I’ve been going to shows in Rochester for years now and to this day, one band just keeps popping up in their local limelight: Order of the Dead. It took awhile for me to open a dialogue because of life and whatnot, but I’ve been chatting with their drummer, Michael Adams a lot more lately, and out of sheer curiosity, I sent him 10 questions that have been on my mind. Maybe a lot of this will seem like outdated info to our Rochester readers, but I’m personally glad I finally got around to doing this. So, without any further bullshit:
1. Order of the Dead has been on the scene awhile now. When did you guys first start?
- The band was started somewhere around 2008. Of the current lineup, Bill is the only founding member. I remember these guys being in the same band space as me back when I played drums in a band called Arkham.
2. Who are your major influences?
- Mike: My influences are all over the place musically – however drummer wise I take a lot from Abe Cunningham (Deftones), David Silveria (ex-KoRn) Jose Pasillas (Incubus), Mike Smith (ex-Suffocation) Lyle Cooper (ex-The Faceless) Pete Sandoval (Morbid Angel), Shannon Lucas (ex-Black Dahlia Murder), George Mccurdy, Dave Weckl, John Blackwell, and Tony Royster Jr.
- Bill: Rob Halford, Klause Meine, Dio, Kiss, Zeppelin, Morbid Angel, and especially Cannibal Corpse for their ability to keep chugging along and stay brutal for all these years.
- Jody: Rush, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, early Entombed, Crowbar, Morbid Angel, Led Zeppelin.
- Sam: King diamond, Death, Morbid Angel, Overkill, Devon Townsend
3. You get on a ton of national shows. Who do you have to thank most for all the exposure you guys get and are there any special shows coming up we should know about?
- I think we owe most of our recent success to Randy from Montage Music Hall. He’s a good friend of the band. Everyone locally has an opinion about him and his venue but he’s been nothing but straight with us and we paid our dues with him to have him offer us to open larger weekend package shows. Oz from the Bugjar has definitely played a large part too, as well as Kevin Santoro from Flour City station. That exposure has led us to get others offers for other shows, so it’s a compounding effect. As for anyone else – I’d say we owe everyone a little bit that was involved with putting us on their stage. Its all about paying your dues and not limiting your market by picking sides with one promotor/venue over another, be smart and political. You have to start with playing Monday night shows to 5 kids when no one knows who you are, and slowly growing your fan base and music to larger audiences and more connected venue owners.
- As Far as shows coming up – July 24th with Ex Mortis and Holy Grail, and also shows with Diamond Head and Raven towards the fall and winter.
4. Talk about some of your favorite shows since the band’s conception.
- Mike: We played at the Firehouse Saloon one time and a huge mosh pit broke out and spilled onto the stage – that was pretty damn cool. Another I’d say was opening for Fear Factory since I had never seen them before but I’ve been listening to them since I was 12.
- Jody: Opening for Forbidden was a highlight for me. A killer one was last year at The Outpost in Kent OH with Ton and Cognitive, and the Chris Dissel benefit in Pittsburgh with Grisly Amputation and Post Mortal Possession.
- Bill: Goatwhore in 2010 was really fun, Nile in 2013, Hatebreed 2015 and a local show we played recently, all had killer crowd energy which we feed off of and play our best.
5. What’s your dream tour package for Order of the Dead?
- Mike: Cognitive, Post Mortal Possession, The Black Dahlia Murder – shenanigans abound.
- Jody: I’d kill someone to do the full US with Cognitive, Post Mortal Possession and Gutted Alive.
- Bill: Cognitive, Post Mortal Possession and us would be a killer tour package!
- John: Just being on tour would be sufficient.
- Sam: Dream tour package, I have none. But if I had to I would love to tour with Nile just to watch Kollias man the drum set.
- When is the new album coming out?
- When our money tree matures and bears fruit. We have some new tunes we recorded on the Scenes of Brutality vol. 1 and 2 compliation discs. Readers should check out the official Facebook pages for them or buy them off of us in person or online. 2-Dolla-make-you-holla.
- Who are your favorite sound engineers to record with?
- We all agree Micah Etzel who’s done everything from our Black Curse EP onward is a great person to work with but as for others:
- Mike: Brian Moore from Red Booth Recording. I’d KILL to record with Terry Date however.
- Jody: Doug White, Erik Anders. I’d love to work with Rutan and Jason Suecof’s nipples.
- Bill: Doug White, super easy going. Would love to work with Erik Rutan knowing full well that he would kick my ass, he expects nothing less than perfection….
- Sam: Personally, I’ve worked with a guy named Kevin Antreassian from Backroom Studios in Rockaway NJ. He’s really good at what he does.
- Any graphic designers you’d like to give shoutouts to as well?
- Absolutely – Gary Ronaldson from Bite Radius designs did the EP artwork for “A Black Curse Comes”. We enlisted him just before he started picking up big time artwork projects for bands like Napalm Death and Misery Index. Ors Bakonyi from Heartproject Art and Tattoo. Ors has done almost all our merch designs and he is amazing. If we ever tour Europe I am going book some time to get a tattoo from him. Check them both out on Facebook.
- How long have you all been playing your respective instruments?
- Mike: 20 years
- Jody: 27 years
- Bill: 27 years
- John: 10 years
- Sam: 23 years
- Who did you guys listen to growing up that first got you into metal?
- Mike: Well – I took a different route than your traditional metalhead and I didn’t get into what I am now until I was a lot older but: KoRn was my very first heavy band I heard, then Orgy, Deftones, early Incubus, Sevendust, Slipknot, Mudvayne, Static-X, Norma Jean when they were called Luti-Kriss, Zao, Travail, and Living Sacrifice. My real first taste of what I am into now was back when I was like 11. I read an article about Corey Pierce from God Forbid in Modern Drummer and checked them out and I was HOOKED. Dark Waters was my first GF song and the intro pounded me in the face like an adrenaline shot to Uma Thurman’s chest. They’re probably my favorite “metal” band – and I’m friends with Corey nowadays on Facebook. (yay technology)
- Bill: Kiss, Scorpions, Judas Priest, UFO and Uriah Heep
- Jody: all the thrash I could get my grubby little hands on
- John: Slipknot, Lamb of God, Mudvayne, In Flames, Black Sabbath. Progressively got into heavier stuff.
- Sam: Early Sepultura and Megadeth
I’d also like to add that these fellas were kind enough to send me a formatted Microsoft Word document with bullets and all which is a lot more than I did for them. As a writer, that alone speaks volumes to me about their collective work ethic! As per usual, I’m going to embed a few tracks below, but do yourselves a favor and head on over to their Bandcamp and BUY SOME MUSIC.
Order of the Dead is:
Bill Lander- vocals
John Malone- bass
Mike Adams- drums
Sam Cuevas- guitar
Jody Roberts – guitar
“Dude, you’ve gotta check out Order of the Dead’s latest album, A Black Curse Comes! It will fucking change your life!”- Justin Bieber
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