A Dirty Dozen with TAYLOR HARPER & JOHN PADGETT III from OATHBOUND – SEPTEMBER 2024

According to a recent press release: “Oathbound is a 5 piece metalcore band originating from Seattle, Washington. The band’s music bears the honest emotion and feelings that lay fundamental to the human experience. Heartbreak, loss, addiction, trauma, and more are given center stage amidst a backdrop of progressive metalcore riffs and anthemic synths, showing that even through hardship there is always a silver lining and a life out there worth living. The band is fronted by vocalist Kalyan Lopez and joined by guitarists Taylor Harper, Viktor Schultz, bassist John Padgett III, and drummer Rishab Thadani. ” We get Taylor and John to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1.Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Taylor: The operatic female vocals on “Anxiety” were performed by Kalyan’s mother, Aureole. In demo versions they were done with a vocal plugin but she absolutely crushed it for the album version!

John: We completely self produced the EP. Including recording the drums in a basement and vocals in a closet. We did everything as professionally as we could while being 100% independent.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

Taylor: When I was in 6th grade, a classmate brought his electric guitar to school and I was immediately and forever changed. It looked badass and I had to have it. I worked all winter shoveling snow and literally bought that same guitar from him at the end of the year. He made fun of me for years because it was a piece of crap, but without that experience, who knows if I ever would have started playing. So I guess the joke is on him!

John: Jamming along to System of a Down with my mom in the car as a kid. I was still too young to understand the lyrics but it planted the seeds for getting me into heavy music. As for actually wanting to play music, ironically enough a band that isn’t even metal, Duran Duran, made me want to pick up bass back in Middle School.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

Taylor: For me, it has to be …And Justice for All. Our house got robbed when I was a kid but the police recovered most of our stuff. A bunch of the stuff they gave back to us wasn’t from our house, but we ended up with it anyway. One of those things was the …And Justice for All album. That was the first album that planted the seed for me. It also started an unhealthy obsession with Metallica that persisted through my teen years. I learned how to play literally every song they’d ever released and had every inch of my room covered in Metallica shit. To this day it’s still one of my favorite albums.

John: There are too many to list, but the early standouts are: Toxicity – System of a Down, Ride The Lightning – Metallica, Somewhere in Time – Iron Maiden, and Seven and the Ragged Tiger – Duran Duran.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Taylor: I’m gonna go outside the box on this one and say Stevie Nicks. Everything about her vocal ability is amazing and I think it would make for a very unique collaboration.

John: To collaborate with us? I’d go with Spencer Charnas as he is one of the most talented performers in the game right now and it would give me an excuse to write a song about Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (it’s still technically a horror movie…).

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

Taylor: This might sound cheesy or cliche, but literally my favorite thing to do is write music. There’s something extremely satisfying about writing an awesome riff and sharing it with the other guys. I don’t do much else. Music is what keeps me going.

John: When I’m not playing music, I’m listening to music.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

Taylor: Oathbound is a marriage of MySpace era and modern metalcore. We incorporate a lot of synth and orchestral accompaniments to develop a sound and feel that is unique to us. As far as comparisons go, I love them all. I’m always excited to hear who people think we sound like. It’s super entertaining. Someone said we sounded like power metal once, which was a bit of a head scratcher, but who am I to tell someone else how we sound to them?

John: Modern yet nostalgic metalcore drenched in synth. We once got compared to isetmyfriendsonfire. While I didn’t quite understand the comparison, I won’t complain about it since I love that band.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Taylor: Kalyan is definitely the cook in the group and is always the first one to bust out acoustic songs. Usually he’ll play a song terribly out of key on purpose for a laugh.

John: If anyone were to cook it’d be Kalyan. Drinks are always BYOB (generally energy drinks). And Kalyan busts out the acoustic first. Always.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Taylor: I think the only time I’ve ever really been starstruck was when I met Nick Hippa and Josh Gilbert from As I Lay Dying. They were such an inspiration for me early on and they were just the absolute nicest guys on the planet. It’s always nice when the guys you look up to are genuinely good human beings!

John: I honestly can’t recall. I don’t generally get star struck as I know that at the end of the day everyone is human and that always makes interactions easier.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

Taylor: My favorite part of being a musician is when someone reaches out and tells me how much they love our song or how much they relate with the lyrics of a song. That will always lift me out of the crappiest mood! Being a musician already is my dream job, but if I had to pick a second dream job it would probably be a film director. I directed our first real music video and had a blast.

John: The best part is always seeing other people enjoying what you’ve created. But if I couldn’t be a musician anymore (and if I could guarantee being able to live off it) I’d love to own a record store so I can still see other people discovering and enjoying music.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

Taylor: What’s your favorite movie? 100% The Fifth Element! I think the hardest question we get asked a lot that I never have a solid answer for is what genre I think we fit into. There are so many sub genres of metalcore these days that it’s impossible for me to keep up with.

John: I want to be asked more weird questions that aren’t even music related cause they show more personality. Like “what is my favorite ice cream flavor?” (Cookie dough). Or “are you a cat person or dog person?” (Cat person but I love dogs too). As for tiring questions? I’m not tired of any of them yet!

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Taylor: I wish I had put more effort into being a serious musician earlier. It took a long time for me to realize that nobody was going to do me any favors or give me opportunities without putting in a lot of work.

John: I have a terrible habit of constantly re-cycling gear because I’m always trying new things yet I always circle back to the tried and true Stingray bass before getting “sold” on something new again. I would love to have been able to go back and tell my past self to stick with my first instinct. Would save me many future headaches and a LOT of money!

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose and what does that record mean to you?

Taylor: When I was younger I watched the documentary on the making of The Black Album (A Year and a Half in the life of Metallica) at least 1,000 times. To some extent, I feel like I “was” there! Haha! But I think that is the one recording I would have loved to have been present for.

John: The obvious answer is Master of Puppets. There was just something magical going on in that studio and it would be amazing to see the production process especially given I don’t think anyone in Metallica would have ever thought that would end up being considered their masterpiece (or the swansong of the late Cliff Burton). It’s the closest thing we will ever get to a “perfect” metal album and the bass solo in Orion makes me tear up every single time.

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Category: Interviews