Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz (Bad Wolves)

Daniel “DL” Laskiewicz is a musician, producer and singer for Bad Wolves. The band has a new album out on November 3rd called “Die About It.”  We discuss the new album, touring, DL’s path to joining Bad Wolves, his Taco Bell order and more!

00:00 - Intro
00:13 - The Nickname "DL"
00:45 - New Album "Die About It"
07:20 - Album Format Conceptually
08:05 - Band Turmoil Inspires
11:23 - New Song "Legends Never Die"
16:00 - New Song "Bad Friend"
17:53 - New Song "Hungry For Life"
19:45 - DL's Path to Join Bad Wolves
21:35 - Taco Bell, Healthy Eating & Cheat Meals
26:00 - Tour Plans & Logistics
28:50 - Guitar Solos & Vocal Stylings
30:57 - New Guitar Player
31:43 - New Song with Killboy
35:45 - Giant Pool of Talent
37:41 - Sleep Habits
39:34 - Boston Veteran's Charity
40:28 - Bad Wolves Merch
41:40  - Outro

Bad Wolves band website:
https://badwolvesnation.com/

Boston's Veteran's Charity:
https://www.massfallenheroes.org/

Chuck Shute website:
https://www.chuckshute.com/

Transcript

Chuck Shute: 0:13

Do you prefer Daniel or DL? Or?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 0:16

It's all good? Yeah, DL usually is that's fine. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 0:19

Okay, that's just I mean, it's such an easy nickname because just your initials or is there more to the story?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 0:26

Well, that just came about because on every tour I've ever done there's always like 10 Daniel's or 10 Dan's and like, somebody from like, across the venues like dad and like, everybody loves it just way easier to separate it up like that.

Chuck Shute: 0:41

Makes sense? Easy to Yeah,

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 0:43

nicknames.

Chuck Shute: 0:44

I like that. Yeah, so new album here I'm loving this I just got a copy of it and got to listen to the whole thing. And it's it's right now it's so it's up there for my one of my albums of the year. I also love the new seven dust but this is great because the seven deaths in the way that you both albums are very eclectic. There's so much on this album.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 1:06

Yeah, same I'm such a huge fan of that new seven does the song superficial drug I just been like, if it was on a tape, that tape would not fucking work anymore. Can I swear on this?

Chuck Shute: 1:17

Oh, yeah, you can. I can swear shit, cock. Whatever you want to say. Cool. Speaking of seven, that's that's cool. That's what got you the gig in bad walls. Right was like you singing a seven dust cover?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 1:31

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot obviously more to it. But that's like, one of the first things that Doc actually heard me sing on and I think like that's how I even got brought up. In like the grand scheme of things. I think they were like talking about like, well, who the hell are we gonna get this thing and I was like, go check this shit out. Dude from occasioned strain. Did a seven dust cover and then like nobody really knew I could clean saying but yeah, love those guys love that band, man, that new record. Same as it just spinning it nonstop. And. And in terms of like our new record being eclectic. I think that just kind of like speaks to this new version of the band as bad wolves 2.0 kind of thing where it's like, I've I had a lot more to do production wise on this one, because we actually, like, this is the first album that I've done full tilt with the band. Like, when I came into the band, we just kind of hit the ground running with your monsters like they had 50 60% of it, like ready to go pretty much done. So like I kind of came in on the 11th hour of that record and still got to like write some lyrics and do some stuff in studio. But like it was like, it was just kind of quick where this was like, way more methodical. We wrote so many songs that didn't make the album that are still like amazing. And I don't know if they'll end up being besides or what but But yeah, there was a lot more methodical this time around we like we were able to let's so just for example, at the time Max doc and John were having sessions in Vegas at Max's and it was finally like a situation where they could send me stuff that they were working on and I could run it through my studio and I could do my thing to it and then I could send it back is like it was much more of a collaborative process this time around and I think you can you can hear that in the record you know, like there's there's a lot of peaks and valleys and there's there's heavy stuff There's soft stuff this is like this is really the record that we wanted to make. I think that we're yeah thank you man. We were trying to I think we were trying to do this with your monsters but like we had the time to do it this time so

Chuck Shute: 3:44

yeah, I mean it's nothing against bands like AC DC. I love stuff like that but like you know, AC DC and album like a lot of those songs are going to be very sound the same you know, where's this song? Yeah, it's like you said there's peaks and valleys. There's I mean, you've got the song NDAA that's a really cool groove. I can I talk I don't want to spoil it but I mean, there's a saxophone on there like that's what it works it's so cool.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 4:08

Yeah, yeah, and like that's the kind of stuff that we just wanted to do like I think we all we talked about that and like our joke not really joke but like our conversation about that is like how that even came about is like we even talk about it now. Like lethal weapon doesn't have shit on that it's like you know when like something blows up and lethal weapon and it's just like that real sassy like sax part. And we are all huge weekend fans and like so yeah, I mean, we're all huge weekend fans pop fans in general and like that song just has that kind of like, weekend swing to it. So yeah, that's, that's part of the flavor that you'll get on the new album. You know, a little bit of that. And then there's still breakdowns there's a little little bit of something for everybody.

Chuck Shute: 4:50

Yeah, cuz I think what happens with that is it makes the heavy stuff sound heavier, in my opinion. I think you know, Black Sabbath was kind of the king of this they would have These like, slow intros with acoustic or piano or whatever, and then they'd go heavy. And that's and that made it heavier my, whereas like some bands, you know, just come out and every song is just heavy, heavy, heavy, it's like it doesn't, you know you need kind of bring it down a little bit, and then kind of scare the audience I think,

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 5:17

for sure. And like for us, we're all huge Metallica fans as well, you know, I don't know, you know, Michigan. And for, especially for me personally, like, as much as I love that band, and I've been a fan of them for forever for decades, and, but I just really have to be like, in the mood to really listen to it, you know what I mean? It's not, it's not something that you're going to listen to. I mean, maybe it will, I guess it depends on who you are. But like, you know, you just put your dog down or something and like, throw on my show. There's, it's not something that you're gonna like, really want to listen to all the time. You gotta be in the mood for that, like really just like, in your face pounding stuff. And for battles, I think, the beauty of our new record or even like, I think their whole catalog, I think, as a band, they've kind of always done this. When when there is a heavy part, like, do you make it count? You know what I mean? And that's, that's for sure. I feel like that's the truth on on die about it is like when it happens, it's like, damn, they made that one. They made that one go go the distance.

Chuck Shute: 6:21

Absolutely. Well, that's I think it's interesting. Now, the music business obviously changed so much, but it's all about the single and getting a song on a playlist. And so people can listen to the singles, the singers, singles are great. I'm sure there'll be more. But I what I really like about this album is it really feels like an album. Like, you know, like, I'm a fan of also like Guns and Roses. Like I really liked to use your illusions because it was just this whole process of like, acoustic and piano and heavy and like, and that's how this album goes it just like you gotta listen to my opinion, you gotta listen to this full album from start to finish, because it's really quite a journey. That's fun to take, I think.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 6:58

Cool. Yeah. And that's, that's definitely something that we took into account conceptually, with this album. It's like, we, we talked about the idea because we see how things are going. And obviously you have to, like you got to kind of play the game. Right. So like, I guess, a lot of people tell I mean, we don't particularly feel this way. But some I mean, it depends on the day that you asked us but like, a lot of people will tell you that the album format is a is a dying thing now and like and you kind of see that with so many huge artists just putting out singles and like trickling singles out leading up I mean, for a year even or whatever, leading up to a release of eventual like EP or whatever. And for us for now, like I think this is the way that the record label wants to still do it and stuff is they're still doing the album format. So like with that being said, knowing that we had to do an album it's like conceptually, we we went through a lot of things since deer monsters as a band and individually and like I mean you know you see the internet it's like this band has not been the easiest band to be a part of or for anybody and me coming into it at the time that I did with with the chaos and the legalities and just like all the crazy shit that I wasn't ever used to being in a band like being an abandoned for me was always just like I started in hardcore bands. It was just fun like there was no lawyers there was no court cases there was no this in like and when you get into a band that that has, it's obviously much more professional and there's more at stake and there's there's just different layers to that onion in this band. And it's been it's been tough so conceptually like that gave us a lot of fuel to especially lyrically to write about and I think that helped the direction of the music as well.

Chuck Shute: 8:55

Interesting is it now is that all that shit behind you at this point?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 9:00

I mean, we like to think it is but right the second we're like yeah no it's cool now like something pops up it's something every day and I think just because of how like publicly messy The split was with the former singer and like just everything that like unfortunately though it went the way it went and like you know it is what it is at this point. I think all of us are just kind of like reeling from it even even like we all just want life to be normal again we just want the band to be normal no drama like we're fucking pretty over all that stuff so like for sure yeah, that's where we're at all that

Chuck Shute: 9:41

yeah cuz I had doc on a couple of years ago. It was like right around the time this whole thing happened he's like look, I've said literally nothing about all this stuff like you know it was Tommy that was just kept saying things and saying doc was like he'd kept quiet for a while. I think he finally said something after our interview but yeah, he's he's been mostly you guys have been mostly question, I think you guys just want to move on and you're making green. Right?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 10:04

So right well, and that was that was kind of my position on everything, like, I don't want to get too too into it or anything, it's like this kind of beating a dead horse. But that was always my position on it, it's like, you know, I don't really have anything to do with that part of the history of the band, like I just came in, when I came in. There was an opportunity for me to be in a band again and actually sing in a band, because before I played guitar in bands, so like, this was something I always wanted to do, and the opportunity presented itself. And so I took it and I was, I was, I mean, even still, like, I'm pretty chastised because of it. Like, there's, there's a certain fan base and stuff that like, hates the new singer, and just can't get over that. But I mean, at this point, that's, that's basically the ethos of the record. That's, that's the title, it's die about it, you know, that was the most ignorant strongest way that we could say, like, get the fuck over it. So you know what I mean? Like, like, it's like, yeah, I mean, if you can't get over it, at this point, we're two albums in like, I'm the singer of this band, cry about it. And it's like, if you're gonna cry about it, you might as well fucking die about it. So we liked him. And we came up with that, and like a locker room in Europe in stock,

Chuck Shute: 11:20

so that's awesome. Well, yeah, and then I don't know, this is the first single or the second, the legends never die song. The song is great. I feel like this could be totally used for sports channel or like UFC. Is this about someone specific? Lee or a combination of people? Yeah, well,

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 11:36

I mean, big picture, it's about anybody. I mean, we all have legends in our lives, right? Like, it's our grandfathers, it's our fathers. It's our mothers, it's our brothers, sisters, etc, best friends. And, and I think like that, that sticks in my head every day like and I mean, just even even in normal conversation, it's like, you talked about the guy that that opened the door for me, like I was a legend, like, like, you know, just just simple stuff. And that stuff sticks with me. And for me, like I told the story. The other day on tick tock, or one of the one of the social media things and like for me, my legend is my pops because, I mean, he's been such a cool dad to me and like, brought me up so well. And he was always like, the cook in my family. So like, his cooking is legendary to me. Like there's nothing more spiritual to me or, or like grounding than like breaking bread with people and like eating a meal. And like he makes these things I'm I'm first generation both of my parents are from Poland. So like, they brought tons of tons of recipes from from Poland and stuff from my great grandmother's my grandmother's. So like, there's this big lineage of recipes and stuff in my pops, since I was a little kid, he's been writing these recipes in a book, like as he makes these things that I've been eating since I was a kid that I like, love. And so he has this, like, this handwritten family lineage recipe book that he's gonna give to us when he passes away. And, and like, man, these, these recipes and like, we're gonna make them for our kids, our kids are gonna make them for their kid like, it's this lineage gets passed on. And like, when you're eating that special meal that you like, make like once a year, or whatever it is. You're going to talk about that person, you're going to talk about that legend that like, this is my pops. He came up with this, this is great grandma, like all of that stuff. So yeah, I think that's that's kind of like the grand scheme of things. Like everybody has a legend in their life. And whatever that means to you. That's, that's what it is. But also, when we were writing and recording that song. I couldn't help but think about one of my best friends that passed away, three, four years ago. And he was young and man he was, he was one of my childhood friends. And that dude is a legend to me. So while we were writing the song, I couldn't help but think about him the whole time. And that stuck with me.

Chuck Shute: 14:17

That's interesting. I because I thought it was more like I was thinking like Eddie Van Halen, and all these like musical legends that have died and famous people. But you're saying it's more like the people in your life that are the legends? That's really cool.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 14:30

Right? Yeah, it doesn't. I mean, of course, to some people, it's going to be about people that passed away, but like, it doesn't have to be like, there's like we have legends in our lives every day passed away or not. And, and I think that that's like, we want this song to speak to everybody. Like everybody knows who the legend is in their life. When you hear that you're like, I'm sure something pops into your head, like who's somebody that you're thinking about? So, but of course on the other side of that, like, while we were tracking and stuff, we had the same notion like, Man, this would be so sick, like, you know, Movie or like sports or something like it'd be a great song, like sync sync like that. So yeah, for sure.

Chuck Shute: 15:06

So you mentioned your dad, is he he must be pretty proud of you like, does he come to see you with the like a concert is he actually like, does he enjoy the music? Or is he proud? At least proud of

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 15:16

that? Yeah, yeah, he's proud. He's not he's not really a concert goer kind of guy. Like he's, he's older and like, he gets it like he knows. And I just I don't think he wants to get caught in the mosh and a battle. Yeah, he's, he's, he's more of like, the type where I come home from a tour and I'll go have a beer with him and tell him about it. He doesn't need or show him like some YouTube videos and stuff. Because like, you know, he's super into the internet. Like, it interests the hell out of him and stuff. So, yeah, we'll pull up YouTube and watch some stuff from the he's not a concert goer, my mother though. My mother and my sister. They love going to the concerts and checking that stuff out. So wow, they're a little more out there a little more on the wild side. They'll get caught in the mosh.

Chuck Shute: 15:59

Okay, awesome. So on the other side of that, the song Bad friend, this is like the opposite theme. Talking about bad friends. And, you know, the Lyric, bad friends die alone. Is this one based on personal experience with bad friends?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 16:14

Yeah, I think this was a song, it was more like I don't want to get I don't want to tell the story for somebody else. But it was a it was a favor that was done for a friend that took advantage of the person that did the favor for them. Like big time. So yeah, that kind of sparked a conversation and cutting that friend off. I mean, like, there it's definitely, in a nutshell. A cautionary tale to cut toxic people out of your life. For sure,

Chuck Shute: 16:50

I couldn't agree with him more. Yeah, I love that can make a huge difference. You know, it's hard for people to do that, especially if there's history. And you don't feel like you can grow and change as a person. And then you're like, Ha, like, these people didn't grow. And I feel like they're holding me down or holding me back. Or I was

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 17:09

gonna I was just gonna say like, you start to realize that you have you have some anchors in your life that are holding you back for sure. And that's, that's for sure. Like what that song is about?

Chuck Shute: 17:19

Yeah. Yeah. Because you kind of know, I used to think like, when I was in the hospital and my appendix out, and like when you're in the hospital, you kind of figure out who your friends are real quick. But it can also be the opposite. You can have some good things happen in your life, you can have a little bit of success, something good happens to you. And then you kind of look at people's reactions. And you're like, Oh, you don't like seem happy? For me? That's kind of weird. And that's kind of how you can tell if someone's really your friend too. Yeah, yeah. Those

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 17:45

those kind of situations are pretty telling who's on your team and who's not.

Chuck Shute: 17:51

Exactly yeah, another song that I really liked. That resonated with me, I feel like this is a future single is a song hung hungry for life. I could definitely see myself singing along to this as a concert. explained to me the lyrics here because it's like, he hated the way he was dying. But the moment he turns turn on, what does it turn on the light he became what he dreamt of when he was young and hungry for life. That's such a great line. What does that song about?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 18:17

That song is just about getting stuck in a rut, like, and this could speak to somebody that like, hates their fucking job and doesn't feel the passion to try something new. Or, you know, there's, there's a lot of situations where, I mean, I've been in it, I've worked at like a grocery store and like you, you have to go, you got to pay your bills, but like, the whole time you're there, it's like, you feel like you're dying. You're just like, What the fuck am I doing? Like, and you know that you have passion for something else and you you like love something else? And that's what that that song is about? For sure.

Chuck Shute: 18:55

Okay, that's why it resonated with I used to work in the schools and I just, I just hated it. And I quit and I'm so much happier. So that's a great message. And that's a great Do you think that will be a single?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 19:07

Um, I don't know. I'm not sure we've as far as like a third single because actually normally legends ever die. Yeah, I don't I don't know. We didn't really we didn't really get that far yet. We might be we I know that it's been talked about a lot of people like like that song, collectively so but but that song, that's John wrote that with his, with his friend Seth and like, they're a great team together. And then they brought it to the band and we kind of tweaked from there but yeah, that I love the message of that song as well. It's just like, hungry for life, man. Like, I felt I felt like that's something that spoke to me when I joined this band. It was like, such an impossible feat. That when the opportunity even got like presented to me it was like, I kind of laughed. I was just like, yeah, there's no way I'm gonna be in a band again, like because I gave up touring 10 and plus years ago in my other band and but yeah, that's that's kind of what happened to me for sure I'd like, in a weird way, I didn't feel like I was dying, but in a weird way, it's like, you know you're meant for something and you haven't fully fulfilled what you're meant to do. Yeah, so

Chuck Shute: 20:19

that's interesting. I was gonna ask you about that because I don't know if you're familiar with the band 6am. But I had James Michael, the singer from that band on and his path is very similar to yours, like he was in bands, and for whatever reason, didn't kind of work out. And then he kind of got into production. And then he had this, it was a similar kind of thing where Nikki six is like, hey, we want you to be the singer. And he I don't even think he was a singer, or had sang in a lot of bands. But Nicki recognize the talent. And boom, now he's a singer in the band, they're touring all these huge shows and stuff and and so it must have been a similar kind of thing for you where you're just kind of like in the production gig. And now all of a sudden, boom, you're you're playing in front of huge crowds with Papa Roach. And yeah,

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 21:01

yeah, that's it was. It's still weird to me, to be honest with you. And like, that's exactly what happened. For me. I was doing production. I stopped touring in 2010. And these guys called me and I don't even want that what the hell when the hell was it, it was during the pandemic when we got together. So it was a while. And all that time I was sitting on my ass in front of a computer doing production stuff, which, I can't say that I don't like that. Because that's, that is actually my, my passion is in the studio, for sure. But um, but man, you, you eat a lot of Taco Bell and have some weird fucking hours when you're sitting in front of the computer doing doing music production. And it got to me for sure. Like, when I first got in this band, I was like, the heaviest I ever was. It was just a weird time. Like, it was like alright guys time to go on tour. And it's like, I was just carrying around so much extra weight. So like, I'm now getting back to like, the sporty side of things. Like I'm hitting the gym every day and I'm on my own like little fitness journey. I hate that. That fucking term but like that's, I'm doing that right now. I lost 50 pounds in the past like four months. And yeah, bro. Yeah. Congratulations. Thanks. Thanks so much. Yeah, it's funny how fast that Taco Bell comes off.

Chuck Shute: 22:21

What's your order at Taco Bell? When you back in the day? Now you're not eating it. But when you did eat it, what did you get?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 22:28

Oh my god. So first, you have to get a chicken case idea. And add steak. So chicken and steak case to do add to hard supreme tacos. To soft supreme tacos. A cheesy gordita crunch with beans no meat extra extra boss us because I'm not a vegetarian. But for some reason. A cheesy gordita crunch with just beans on it is a banger. And, and definitely a large Cherry Pepsi. You gotta wash it all down. Man, there's so there's something about Taco Bell soda. I don't know if they like put extra syrup in it or something. But Taco Bell soda was always just so good.

Chuck Shute: 23:11

I think it's the ice too, because they have the crushed ice.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 23:16

See? That's yeah, you're probably right. Yeah, keeps everything colder. There's more. There's more room for the liquid to go in between the ice right? Is that how that works?

Chuck Shute: 23:28

I don't know. Yeah. So what do you eat now? Now that you're eating healthy? Is there a certain diet that you have that you follow?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 23:33

Oh, it's Oh, it's so boring. Um, Monday through Friday. I eat steamed or boiled chicken, broccoli and rice. Monday to Friday. It's fucking it's the worst. It's like eating paper. But on Saturday, I have a cheat day. And it's like the best ever Saturday I can have my doughnuts. I have a local bakery over here. That's they just make the most serious Boston Cream you'll ever have if you're ever in Springfield, Mass, man. You got to stop at this place called Chamorros bakery they just make a Boston Cream doughnut. That's like the size of your head. And there's no fucking around. Like it's not just like just putting or cost or like this much in the middle. Like the whole thing is straight costs. So that's that's my Saturday tree. I could have a doughnut and like a piece of piece. There's some

Chuck Shute: 24:24

nice and then how do ya how does that work with on tour because you still follow the strict diet when you're on tour because like you guys are in different cities every night or do you just eat on the bus or how's that work?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 24:34

Yeah, I try to like it's funny because the last tour that we did over this past summer, we did some some headlining stuff for a couple weeks. And that was the first first tour that we've done that I've been on this diet so like, it was pretty like shocking. I was I was just like, kind of going into it being like, Oh, this is gonna be easy. Like, if anything I'll just like fast and but yeah, it's pretty tough. have to be like militant about stuff on tour like, especially with the schedule you have. And it's just kind of like, you kind of like, take what you can get when you get it. Because like, I can, I can go, like, I'll hit the gym during the day on tour and I can go pretty late into the day. That actually past show time before I'm like starting to get hungry, but that's pretty dangerous, because then you like play your show. And you're showered up and like hanging out by like, whatever. 1111 30 at night. And that's when like the after show pizza start flying around and, and like, the drinks are flying around a little bit. And it's like, I'm not a big drinker or anything, but like, Yeah, you see the sodas in the fridge and you see these pizzas laying around and you haven't eaten all day. So yeah, it's pretty tough on tour. Yeah, but I think Chipotle is like my saving grace on tour. I can go get like a, I go get like a bowl during the day with brown rice and like some meat in it and stash it aside for the for later.

Chuck Shute: 25:59

Yeah, that's good stuff. Yeah. So you're talking about a tour with with Asking Alexandria, I just have Sam, their bases on a show. And he's a really cool guy. It sounds like that's gonna be a great tour.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 26:11

No, we're actually not on that tour. Like last last minute. It was basically the eve of the tour. We ended up pulling out of it. Because really, yeah, yeah, I was talking about the tour that we did. Before that it was in the summer, we did a headliner, it was us. For the Fallen dreams, the funeral portrait, which are labelmates of ours on better noise. That tour is fun. But But unfortunately, yeah, we couldn't do the who asked me Alexandria tour. Oh, and we just ran into some like logistical things. Touring. Now. That's another thing like after, not touring for as long as I did, and coming back to it now. Post pandemic and all this. It's pretty insane. Like what the, the touring world looks like nowadays, in terms of like, rentals, and just logistically, keeping things profitable for your business and your band. It's, it's so difficult and, and that's unfortunately, we learned that the hard way, just a couple of weeks ago, it's like we had a bus lined up for the tour. And last minute, our bus arrangements changed, or they fell out from underneath us. And then like, on the eve of the Aviva tour, it's like when you're starting to look for a bus, it's impossible. Like, we did end up finding a bus and it was just like $100,000 more than what we had budgeted for. And these are the kinds of numbers that you're just like looking at nowadays, where you're like, touring is touring is is insane nowadays, for sure. Like people, people think buying groceries has changed a lot. It's like it's changed everything.

Chuck Shute: 27:47

That's a good point, especially with the price of gas. That's huge, because that's a huge part of the touring.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 27:52

Yep, you got to take into account everything. The gas, the driver, the the accommodations, yeah, I mean, everything.

Chuck Shute: 27:59

So do you have any tours lined? So that one's cancelled? And then you didn't? You haven't set up a new one yet, but I'm assuming you will. Yeah, we,

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 28:07

I think in the next week or so we're going to be announcing we have one in the books right now. I can't I don't I can't say anything about it right now. But we do have one that's going to be announced in the next week or so. And that's going to be we're really excited about this one. That'll be before the end of the year.

Chuck Shute: 28:23

Is this a package? Or is this like a you guys will be headlining or is it like you're in the middle somewhere?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 28:28

This is a package we're going to be where it will be direct support to this the main act. Okay,

Chuck Shute: 28:35

you gotta get go. You have another one at 1030

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 28:39

for an interview, none on this is it for today?

Chuck Shute: 28:42

Okay, good. Good. So we keep talking. Yeah. I got a few more questions. Yeah. Cuz I also wanted to get back to sorry, I want to get back to that. And there's another thing I had a question about, like, the song Masquerade. That's a cool song. It's got a guitar solo. I was gonna ask you like, how do you guys decide which songs have a guitar solo and which ones don't? Because I know in the 80s, like, every song had a guitar solo, but now it's kind of mandatory. Yeah, now it's like you go. It's like, oh, it's not cool to do guitar solos. But I heard that solo. I was like, Oh, this is cool. I like solos.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 29:11

Me too. Yeah, yeah. And I think it's just the roll of the dice. Like, if it feels right, like we, that's, that's our number one thing when writing music, it's just like, whatever we're going to do. On any given part. It has to serve the song so like, that just happens to be a song that has a perfect bridge section for Dr. Solo over and he wrote like, some of the tastiest solos I've heard in a battle in battle of songs. Out of all the other catalogs on this record, I think masquerades probably one of my favorite on this album, too. So

Chuck Shute: 29:45

yeah, and how do you decide for you the vocals because I mean assuming this is you singing on all the songs except for the the song with kill boy, which we'll get to in a minute but I mean, because you do regular just singing melodic singing and then you do like screaming kind of like a pant Tarah like it with a little bit of a growl. And then you do kind of like rapping right? You do all three of those styles. Yep.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 30:07

Yep, that's all me. Yeah, this this was, besides killboard This is there was no guests. It was it was something cool to like, spread my wings a little bit like this. This finally felt like, like I said before, dear monsters like I was in the band or whatever. It was all good. Like, we were doing our thing. But like this finally feels like this is like our record. Like I feel like this, this record, like solidifies my position in the band. Not that it wasn't before. But it feels like it does now just because we got to try new things. Ie like trying different vocal styles and like all that stuff. So yeah, yeah, that was fun. Yeah, that's

Chuck Shute: 30:49

really cool. And then you will also be playing rhythm guitar on this tour. Right? Unless you guys are gonna add somebody.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 30:57

We have. I don't even know if I can talk about it. But we have we have a new guitar player. Oh, but But yeah, he's really sick. And he's the he's a sweetheart and he's a friend of ours. And but with that being said, like, there's tracks that I may start putting a guitar on live just because it's fun. Like even even bad friend in the in the video bed friend. I played guitar in that and it just felt like it felt like the old days man is throw guitar on. And it was just different because I never liked saying and play guitar at the same time. So like that was a little different. But yeah, we're just kind of pulling out all the stops, man. There's no rules. We don't care. Like, we just want to have fun and make art and that's what we're doing.

Chuck Shute: 31:40

Yeah, it's very cool. Well, then, so didn't want to ask about that song with kill boy. Explain who that is. That's a cool song. It's got like an acoustic guitar and kind of a drum beat. It's more poppy. But I really liked that song. It's called. It's you two months.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 31:54

Yep. Yep. So this is a song that started off. There's like that little acoustic intro thing. I think John ended up Funny enough, I think that actually made the record that that's an iPhone recording of something that he was just like messing around with. And we ended up you know, bringing it into the studio and getting some production behind it and stuff. But that original riff is just John like riffing out on a on iPhone mic. And, and kill boy was actually his suggestion as well. We were looking, we caught that song, I caught the whole song, vocally by myself first. And then like upon like, many listens throughout our camp and management and stuff. I think it was like a kind of a collective suggestion that that'd be a cool song to do a female guest vocal. And like we were all just racking our brains because there's so many good female singers out there and kill boy was one of John's friends. And he was like, check this out. I had never heard her personally before. And he showed me her solo stuff that she does on her own and her voice is so sick. And then so she so she caught the song. I think she tracked it on her own, sent it to our producer Joseph. And he just kind of like before he even went in and mixed it he plopped it in and sent us the version of like, kind of my vocal a, her vocal B and then like, stacks of me and her. And like, her voice and mine works so fucking good together that it was just like, yep, golf. We love that. So we mix it in, that's where we're at. And we got two months and then that was actually funny enough that it's like, It's you It's kind of like the hook, the the post chorus hook, but in parentheses, like it's titled two months because John sent me that acoustic little snippet I was on a walk with my wife and kids like the day before I was leaving for two and a half months Europe tour with bad wolves and Bowlby and man like it just hit me in the feels like I like it it made me like it made me cry a little bit like no no bullshit and it just made me think about like how much I'm going to miss my family for the next two and a half months and so that's it ended up being suit like the aka two months title that's how that came about. Yeah, that's

Chuck Shute: 34:28

a cool song what happens I guess would be a good problem to have but what happens if that song becomes a massive hit? Because how do you perform it live? Unless you're gonna bring a guest vocalist with you on tour or or different one in every city or just use pre recorded vocals?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 34:43

Yeah, I mean we could we could do any and all of the above I guess you know what I mean? Like, like I said, there is a version of me singing the whole way through which which like could be released as a beside or something and yeah, we could do or that would be really fun to do to like, if you was a headliner and we had time to like bring people on stage to do these kinds of things. We could make it a contest or something and be like, who wants to come sing? Kill boys parts with us? Or if we're playing a festival or something with kill boy, we can do the real deal. So that'd be sick too. Yeah, lots of options.

Chuck Shute: 35:15

She pretty big. Like I had never heard of her before. But yeah, it was the same. Like she made me a fan with this song.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 35:22

Yeah, I don't really know too much of her story to be able to even tell it. But um, she's got she should be. She's got an incredible voice. And she's got a really cool like, persona. She's got the purple hair. And she looks cool as fuck sounds great. So she should be up there with with Rihanna and all them.

Chuck Shute: 35:43

Yeah, there's so much talent out there. It's interesting with the streaming and everything. I know people get mad. But I think it's cool. Because you can find all this talent that before you know, it's like, oh, this person's on a major label. So like, you can't ever discover them. But now you can find it's just hard to sort through it all because there's so much

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 36:01

the internet man. Yeah, that's, that's, that's how it is. Nowadays. It's like, I get really discouraged to be honest with you. It's pretty frustrating when you like, hop on YouTube for you start going down the rabbit hole and there's just like, nine year old kids that are just smoking you and everything you do that you've been working on since like, since you were a kid, just the way of the world man. Yeah, living now.

Chuck Shute: 36:26

It's crazy. Well, yeah, the Tick Tock and all that it's so but that stuff to you. I mean, you see kids who are really, or people on Tik Tok, who also do like comedy and stuff, but like they've never performed stand up ever or, you know, same thing with the guitar. They play guitar in their bedroom, but they've never performed live. So it's interesting.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 36:43

Yeah. Yeah, but like most of the time, I mean, like, Yeah, I mean, who knows. But more often than not, I feel like those kids end up coming out of their bedrooms and like going and playing a show live and even better. So what are you going to do? Well, we got to learn, man, we got to learn from the from the young uns now.

Chuck Shute: 37:04

Yeah, well, there's not I mean, you obviously have a lot of talent you sing and you're singing three different styles of singing. You're playing guitar. Do you play drums too?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 37:14

Yeah, actually, like when I'm writing a song, or I'm trying to think of a riff or something a lot. More often than not, the beat comes in my head first. Or like, if I'm tracking with like, a virtual kid or something. I'll lay down the drums first. So I have my like commendation, and then I'll play riffs over that. Yeah, but but I'm definitely like a percussive thinker.

Chuck Shute: 37:38

Interesting. You I mean, it sounds like you've worked so hard. Is this true? You only sleep three or four hours a night? How is that even possible?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 37:46

Dude, for the longest time when I was doing production and studio stuff full time, probably even less than that. Like, I had such an awful unhealthy sleep schedule. But now because I'm on my fitness journey, and like, I'm realizing like sleep is so important. And that's such a big part of your health as well. Like, I know there's like a lot of guys out there I think the rock or something like usually guys sleep two hour like I go to bed at fucking 10 and I'm up at three in the morning lifting already or something like that. Like whatever it is. And I don't know, man, I've come to realize I still don't like sleep. Crazy, like eight now nine hour nights or anything, but like, I take it more seriously. I used to get like two hours a night. Two to four. Yeah, but now Now. Now. I'm like, five or six. Okay, no. Background. I did not know. I was here. Do

Chuck Shute: 38:42

you take naps at all? Like power naps or?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 38:45

Not? Really? No. Yeah, but But um, but like I said, now I get like five to six. I'm much more regular.

Chuck Shute: 38:52

I don't know how you survive on to two to four. That's insane to me.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 38:56

coffee, caffeine. And boiled chicken.

Chuck Shute: 39:00

Yeah, well, that's yeah, that's working. I mean, you look great. look young. I don't know how old you are. But he looks super young. So that's good.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 39:06

Thanks, man. Thank you. Yeah, so I am long in the tooth and I still wish I had hair. But what are you gonna do?

Chuck Shute: 39:15

Yeah, no, that's well, that's awesome. I'm excited for people to hear this new album. And then it's sounds like there's some things to announce a new tour and a new guitar player that so people should stay tuned for that. Anything else to announce here?

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 39:28

Um, no, it really I just want to say thanks for having me on. And if anybody has a chance, go to cotton southie.com. For more information on an organization that I just started to learn about, it's called legit legends never die, actually. And it's a powerful local South Boston charity and it has a strong legacy of providing critical support to our nation's heroes past, present and future, ensuring that they're cared for respected and appreciated for their sacrifices. So this is a nonprofit organization that ensures that veterans past, present and future are taken care of. And I think it's super cool and super responsible and yeah, for more information on that go to cotton selfie.com

Chuck Shute: 40:19

Okay, that in the show notes along with a bad wolves website, and dude, I think I'm an order a bad wolves either shirt or sweatshirt you guys have like some of the coolest merch and logos and cool I know who designs that stuff, but it's some of the best out there. It's amazing.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 40:35

Cool, man. Thank you so much. Yeah, actually, my wife designed the diabetic Aldemar so like that that golden apple the point that's melting and stuff. Yeah, she worked on that ass. Yeah, man. She's very talented artist. And and I think if you if you wait, I don't know if if what's going on with like the pre orders and stuff with the new album. But I know that there's like a really sick really sick hoodie that has that gold skull that melting gold skull from the bad friend single art that's going to be coming out and stuff. It's pretty hard. So

Chuck Shute: 41:09

Okay. Cool. That's coming out. Yeah. That's very cool. I'll definitely try to catch you guys on tour. I think last time you were here in Phoenix. I think you might have done an outdoor show or one of the I feel like one of the times and I was like yeah, I can't do an outdoor show in the summer. I'm just too old too hot. Show. I don't mean the mosh pit like your mom and sister. But I will I would be in the back. Cool.

Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz: 41:32

bring you some boiled chicken. All right. Thanks, deal. All right, man. All right. Yes, sir. All right.

Chuck Shute: 41:41

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