Peaches Interviews Caleb Shomo of Beartooth - August 2022
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Peaches Interviews Caleb Shomo of Beartooth - August 2022

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The Artist Interrogations podcast. Hey, Caleb. How are you doing? I'm good. How are you?

Doing good. I know you're busy currently touring the East Coast and all that as we speak, so I thank you taking time with me to chat today. Yeah. No problem. It's my pleasure.

How's it going currently on tour? I mean, absolutely insane would be an understatement. We have played some absolutely huge shows. Day Don't Remember is Woffin', Bad Omens, Jago The Same. Ghost Inside's been on a few of the shows.

It's been amazing. Yeah. I mean, 11 out of 10. 12 out of 10. Would recommend coming around if you see us nearby.

Tremendous. Yeah. With this tour going on and the new single Riptide, when do you even have, like, a break really to do anything for yourself? Not at all currently. Right now, it's just work.

We got yeah. We got the single out. We're pushing. Trying to do the radio promo. Trying to, you know, play a lot of shows.

I'm currently in the middle of writing a record while I'm on tour. I'm also currently in the middle of moving across the country. Yeah. It's a busy time, but we got a little time off after this. I can have a sleep then.

Perfect. Yeah. I know Riptide is the song. I believe you said it was written when you started to give up drinking back in December. That is true.

And I I was keeping up on a lot of interviews with you and, just kinda noticed on your Instagram as well. You ran a half marathon a few weeks back. I mean, what inspired you to do to do something crazy as that? Honestly, I didn't even plan on doing it when I went out. I was just like, I'm gonna go for a jog, and then I just kept feeling it.

And, you know, it was kind of a goal I had set for myself that I wanted to run a half marathon. And I think more so, it was just, like, related to really pushing myself, which is something I've been trying to focus on in my life. And I'm a very firm believer that we as human beings can be pushed a lot farther, than we think sometimes and then we're comfortable with. And pushing out of that comfort zone, I think, is really healthy. And, yeah, it was just one of those things that kinda happened and was a happy accident.

Were you kind of, like, advised not to do something like that? I know you just gave up drinking. You kinda wanted to have that almost, like, is it adrenaline type feel when it came to running or what is it? Like, what got you, into specifically running itself? Well, I just love, you know, going out and going on walks, earlier on, when I first was trying to kinda get in shape at the beginning well, towards the middle of COVID, I guess.

But I found that running really gives me a similar feeling in my body to playing a show. It's just a lot of cardio, you know, during our show. I'm jumping around and singing a lot. And, so, yeah, I kinda started getting into running thinking, well, if this is good for my lungs, this will be great for my show. So the better I get at this, the better I should get live.

And, yeah, then I just kept going. And, I don't know. You know, you just turn on Metallica really loud and start going, and then eventually you're 13 miles in. You know? I was actually about to ask you that question.

Like, the biggest question I had in my mind is, do you listen to your own music while you run? I do sometimes. So, like, when I'm working on new music, that's a way that I'll kinda see if it's really hitting the vibe that I'm going for. Is it, you know, is it hitting hard enough that when I run, I feel energized and I feel like I'm getting a rush of adrenaline? And if not, then it's probably too soft, and I need to go back to the drawing board and, heavy it up a little bit.

You know? Yeah. Yeah. Riptide, I was listening to it. I'm obsessed with the track.

I love it. The new single's fantastic. And someone, like like, finally labeled it as angry music for happy people, and I totally agree. I mean, do you plan on having this theme of positivity and vulnerability when it comes to the rest of the upcoming album? Hopefully.

I I mean, at this point, yeah. It's it's generally a pretty recurring theme. I mean, really what this record is about so far as I've been writing it is, you know, it's kind of that journey of me just really trying to take my health over. And Riptide was, you know, the first song I wrote on that journey. And, you know, I'm about halfway through the album right now, and, you know, it's still it's still pretty heavy stuff.

I mean, it's me just kind of trying to dive into myself and go through specific things that I was struggling with and kind of, you know, figure those out. But, you know, in my life, the main thing that's important to me is just chasing happiness and chasing mental health and physical health. So, yeah. I mean, I think there's definitely a lot more of a positive vibe than especially below. Absolutely a lot more in the good direction.

Yeah. I've I've been loving the last album as well. Devastation, hell of it, all of it, really. And it's funny just to see the, turnout of these shows that you guys are currently doing and seeing, like, the post COVID tours just blasting off because of everybody just being pent up for all this time and having all that downtime and then finally seeing live music again. I mean, really, it should be almost amazing.

I would love to be the have the ability to sing really and put myself out there on stage, but no, I'm just doing this. But, also, when it comes to, the the mute the rip the song Riptide itself, you write it, and then do you go to the rest of the band and they kinda come up with a riff and the beats and all that? Oh, no. I write it. I play it.

I record it. I mix it. I master it. Yeah. Whole thing.

So, really, the jack of all trades, really? Yeah. I mean, that's kinda how Beartooth's always been. It's just sorta like, you know, my baby when it comes to my musical stuff. And, yeah.

But then when we're live, that's when we're the animal that is, you know, the live band. Oh, that's fantastic. Even the music video too. I mean, could you, how did you come up with that music video itself for Riptide? Well, I mean, I knew that I wanted to do something completely different than the last videos that we did, and I wanted to do something that, like, really just captured the energy of the song.

And, you know, I knew that I wanted to have dancers. I knew there wanted to be dancing in the video. You know, I knew I wanted it to be bright and poppy. And then, yeah. I don't know.

It's just sort of like me and, the director started working together, and then the dancers got involved and did some unbelievable choreography. And it you know, it's just supposed to kinda represent the transition that I'm making in my life from being kind of, like, completely overwhelmed with the negative all the time to really trying to fight for the positive. You know? Absolutely. I mean, I know when it came to a few weeks back, I got the chance to interview Chris Motionless, and he was talking to me about how, he reached out to you specifically for that song, Red, White, and Doom.

I believe or boom. I forgot what it was, but he Yeah. Was saying how you were very ecstatic to join him. Is he, I mean, are you trying to recruit him possibly for this new album from Beartooth? You know, I don't know.

The here's the the thing about Beartooth is we've actually never had a feature on a song before. It's always just been Beartooth and just been kind of me writing the track. Now, I mean, he would definitely be high on the list. Chris Motionless is one of my I mean, in this music industry, I consider him an absolutely amazing friend and somebody that really impresses me. Excuse my language.

But that dude is absolutely amazing, and he's just super talented. It really was an honor to be on their song. And, honestly, what I hope we can do is get another tour together again. We did a co headline tour in, the States back in, like, January of 2020, and it was absolutely amazing. And, we're just to go to Europe.

They're gonna come out with us there. But, yeah, just the more touring we could do with motionless and white, I think the better. And I think it just makes the world a better place. I know similarly to you guys that their touring and their, just busy schedule, I mean, makes makes it impossible for them to really be themselves too. I just it's probably crazy being a a rock star going from city to city to city really because it's just it's always funny to me when I see rock stars like Corey Taylor here yelled what's up Oregon to Idaho and, not the best response, but I mean I could I could totally see that happening when it comes to touring all the time like I'd be, what am I where am I at?

You know that sort of thing. Yeah. Yeah. I how did so so when you're, when you're currently touring, do you kinda just go on the jogs with the like, wherever you're at? Or you just go out for walks?

Or what do you do to keep yourself fit? Well, I mean, literally, 5 minutes before this interview, I just got done. But there was a really nice gym at the venue today. So it's just kind of I I play the hand I'm dealt. I usually bring, like, a little workout mat with me where I can do, you know, sit ups and push ups and all that kind of stuff.

And then, yeah, I love to go on runs, which is a great way to kinda, like, see the city and see the town. And then the show is honestly a huge part of the workout for me. I try and really, push it as far as I can. But, yeah, on the we understand on the point of saying the wrong city, I legitimately have such a paranoia of that that every single day on my my monitors, my speakers that, you know, are blasting the sound at me. And, like, I have a giant on the front of it and, like, bright green tape, I have the the name of the city.

So I never do that because I've see, the problem is if I don't know, I just won't say what the city is, and I'll walk over to one of our techs during the middle of the show and be like, where are we? We're in Baltimore. Oh, okay. Thanks. You know?

So, yeah. We we cut that one out. I just get the city name just staring me right in the face so I don't mess it up. I think you should just simply go out there on stage and be like, what's up? Insert city name here and just see what they say.

Just roll the dice. Just roll the dice. I've done it before, and usually I get it. But by the time you don't, it's not a good look. And you guys are currently on the East Coast?

We are. Yes. We are in Maine today, I believe. Maine. Oh, that's pretty cool.

I mean, I've been there once, but but I think you guys Yeah. We're in Bangor, Maine. Bangor, Maine. And then you and then you guys head over to, Europe shortly after? No.

We just got back from Europe, actually. Oh, okay. We just got back from a massive festival tour over there. So, yeah, after this, we actually have some time off. We have this.

We have a big festival in Sacramento called Aftershock, which is an absolute face smelter. And then, yeah, we got a bunch of secret plans that I cannot bestow upon the world, but it will be rad. I was just about to ask if there was a possible hint on maybe another single from Beartooth, but I guess it's top secret. Right? It is.

It is. But just know we're always working on stuff. I figured. I figured. Well, thank you so much, Caleb, for joining me today.

I'm wishing you the best of the luck on the rest of the tour. I'm sure you and the band obviously will kill it. And whenever you're in East Idaho, you know, please stop by. We'd love to have you here in studio. Absolutely.

It would be an honor to do so, and I will see you then. Awesome. Thank you so much, Caleb. Alright. Thank you.

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