ANYTHING BUT HUMAN: Ryan Avila (lead vocals, guitar), Joel Dennie (drums), and Justin Potter (bass).
THORNE SCHREIBER:  This is Thorne with the Thorne Experience and BackStage360. We are here with the guys from Anything But Human. Hey, guys how you doing today?

ABH: Doing great!

THORNE:  Welcome to Sacramento on Aftershock Weekend. I’d like to start out by you guys telling us a little bit about yourselves, your instrument, who you are, and a little bit about you personally.

JOEL DENNIE:  I play the drums. I grew up in Dallas. I have a 22-year-old son. I own a couple of companies: an electric company and a drilling company. I’ve been playing drums all my life. My family played drums, my uncle and my cousin. So, I kind of carried on the torch.

THORNE: Second-hand drums passed down through the generations. Change the skins and keep moving. Excellent.

JOEL: That’s it! That’s it

JOEL: I met Ryan through a live show, and they were actually looking for a drummer at the time, so I went out and auditioned for their band. Here we are!

RYAN AVILA:  Yep, yep. He’s the well-put-together one. Nah, my name’s Ryan Avila. I sing, I play guitar, I write the songs. I have a wife, a daughter. She is about seven years old.

THORNE:  Oh, that’s a great age!  I want to get into your solo work first. (Looking at Ryan) You released an album, Ode To The Outcast, eight tracks, largely ballads. Do you see this work with Anything But Human as a departure or is this some sort of organic growth?

RYAN:  It’s an organic growth. I was basically recording at my buddy’s basement home studio. I was just recording songs that I have worked on over the years. I had been in other bands letting other people take the lead on things. I was following. I was given music and coming up with the melodies. I wanted to do something on my own.  It started real innocent like and grew from there. My bass player got involved, Justin [Potter] and helped push it. We started playing live shows and getting with different musicians. Eventually we were like, “you know what, let’s take this to the next level.” We wanted to make this a band-band, not a solo band, and it morphed into that. When we met Joel, it really came to gather quickly this year. It formed in like February? [Ryan looks at Joel] This year, 2019? In March? [Joel agreeing in March]. Somewhere, I didn’t keep track. It’s been a blast so far!

THORNE:  On Spotify I see “Too Far Away,” one of your solo projects.

RYAN:  yeah, yeah…

THORNE:  That was this year as well, so was that earlier in the year, something you had on the table?

RYAN:  I recorded that with my buddy, Dave Galloway, he was in a band called Element 80, in the early 2000. I had written the song, and he really liked it. He said, “you know what, I’m going to take you to my home-studio.” We worked on it together. He did guitar work, some backing, some melodies, and stuff like that.

THORNE:  That was before you formed Anything But Human?

RYAN:  That was during. [THORNE: Like a transition] It was like a side thing. [THORNE: alright!] It was cool, and he’s such a great guy.

THORNE:  You guys are now releasing tracks under Anything But Human. Where did you get that name?

RYAN:  Well, Justin, the bass player, and I struggled with names for a while.

THORNE:  Hard to find a good rock-n-roll name!

RYAN:  Oh my God!

JOEL:  Well, we want to keep – we wanted to use Avila, we liked the name because it was short and simple.

RYAN:  Yeah, I mean, but then we were like…

THORNE:  Search for that and spend twenty minutes figuring it out because it’s a common Hispanic surname.

JOEL:  That’s right! That’s why!

RYAN: Actually, I did release a song under that name. It’s Spanish. And that didn’t go so good when I released it under Avila. It got linked with some…

THORNE:  Mariachi’s?

RYAN [SMIRKING]:   Yes, exactly, yes!

RYAN:  Well, Justin and I, we were throwing around names for like, months, honestly. I wanted it to be something that sounded big [THORNE: Yes, it does!] relatable, but at the same time kind of strange. That is really hard to achieve. We were going through all these names, and eventually Justin texted me: “why don’t we name it human, something – something human?” I was like, alright. So, we worked with that for a while. Then I was like, “how about Anything Human?” So, we said yeah – Anything Human. Then I was having a conversation with my wife, and she was like, “well what about “Anything But Human?” For the fans it’s relatable, but it’s a little bit larger than life. That’s how it was born.

THORNE:  Let’s talk about “Arise”. That song has such great energy. [RYAN:  Thank you.] It’s so positive, and suggests, as you sing in one of your lyrics:

You were high and low

I want to hear about the highs and lows.

RYAN:  That song really is about my struggles as a musician. [THORNE:  mmhmm] That’s what it is, when you are coming up. We are obviously, coming up, and trying right now. [THORNE:  I think you’re here, man!] [JOEL:  We hope so!] It’s a lot of work and you go through a lot of highs and so many lows. [THORNE:  mmhmm!] And that is essentially what that song is about – about believing in yourself

THORNE:  I get a sense on “Arise,” that you were at a point of overcoming. I get the sense that you made it, you got there, or you achieved something.

RYAN:  And that would be the formation of the band [Anything But Human]. What I was going to say is that now… [THORNE:  What is it that emotionally put you there at that lyric- formation of the band] Exactly! Now, I’m alive! [THORNE:  Cool, cool!]

JOEL:  And we feel it! We feel very [RYAN:  yep] comfortable. It’s just a good feeling that it’s just three guys that really relate to each other.

RYAN:  Yeah, when I first jammed with this guy (indicating Joel), in Justin’s garage, it was like – it just felt good.  So, you know, why over think it, let’s just… It’s a three piece! We’ll just go with it, and it sounds full as it is, so…yeah!

THORNE:  Ok, let’s get into “Where You Are.”  [RYAN:  Ahh, yeah.] [JOEL: chuckles – That’s a good song!] That is a great song! I got the track from Curtain Call on the third (October 3, 2019), and started listening to it. I know it was officially released on the fourth, correct – October 4^th?

RYAN & JOEL:  correct.

THORNE:   What’s been the response so far?

RYAN:  We first showed it to our friends and family. That’s what made us want to put it out, because we had such a good response.

JOEL:  Yeah, the response was great! Anybody who heard it loved it.. [THORNE:  I don’t doubt that!] They were like, “so what’s next? If you put this out, then what’s next because this is the top of the top.”  But we have a lot of great things in the pipeline.

THORNE: “Where You Are,” I think it’s safe to say is a haunting song. It’s dark, it’s moody, it just takes you there. [RYAN & JOEL:  yep (agreeing)] Is the song based upon a real girl, in a black dress, with dark hair, and deadly brown eyes?

RYAN & JOEL:  It is, exactly. It is.

THORNE: Well, I want to meet her! [LAUGHTER]

RYAN:  Well, it’s based on a true story. It was a relationship that I got involved in, and it was a rocky one. It was a lot of obsession, lust, and heart break [THORNE:  oh, I get that!] The song goes from obsessed, lust, and then at the end the heart break. I was like I gotta let you go – you know, kinda-thing.

JOEL: Mmhmm! [THORNE:  Wow!] Yes, great song.

RYAN: Yes, and at the very end there is a little sense of an ongoing thing, because that’s what happened. It was like, ok it’s over, but “hey baby” (singing), you know it kinda repeats itself in a way.

THORNE:  The emotion that comes out when they finally meet (chuckles) – WOW! [RYAN:  thanks] You did go to an unexpected direction on the end with the girl saying, “NO!” [RYAN:  yep, NO, NO!] Saying, “NO!”

RYAN:  And it was kind of hard thing… [THORNE:  yes!] That’s just my side of it. She was going through the same stuff.

THORNE:  So, what is that like when you do that live?

RYAN:  It’s my favorite song to play live.

THORNE:  What happens to the fans? [JOEL:  they love it!] Do they go crazy when you.. [JOEL: they do go crazy.]

RYAN: It’s different sounding, so I think it kind of grabs peoples’ attention a little bit more, you know. People stop head banging and their eyes just go… [JOEL:  They just stop, and their eyes are just mesmerized – wow, wow.]

THORNE:  Yes! That’s the exact same emotion I had! The other thing that I loved was that little sing-along hook you got in there before you get over to the other side. I was singing at the top of my lungs, “Na-na, na, na-na,” you know, doing that, and I’m just like, WOW! That is so money!

RYAN: Which was inspired by Queen, believe it or not. [THORNE: Queen!] Yes! I’m a big Queen fan. I’m a big, pretty much any 70’s, 80’s, rock fan. And I’m obsessed with his (Freddie Mercury) vocals. I was inspired by that.

THORNE: You and several million other people.

THORNE: One of the greatest measures of a band’s success is that when you start to see fan videos come out. You know they will clip little pictures, or they will do this, or do that. Now, we have found somebody named Spaceuntravel and they did a treatment of “Where You Are.” Have you guys seen that yet?

JOEL & RYAN: yeah.

THORNE: OK, what did you think about that?

RYAN: I loved it! I love it.

JOEL:  Yeah, we thought it was pretty cool. [RYAN: yeah.] It was some good stuff.

THORNE:  What’s next for you guys? You have three songs now and you just said you have some more in the shoot. Are you teasing them out a little here and there? Is there a planned album that is going to drop soon? You can tell us – we’ll keep it totally to ourselves!

RYAN:  Oh, absolutely (grinning). Well, right now, as a newer band we are trying to just throw singles out. [THORNE:  uh huh.] The musician in me is just dying to put out an album. We have about two or three albums worth of material right now, but… [THORNE:  yes!] we are just trying to build an audience and grow it. I want to do an album next year.

THORNE: So, you guys are here for the last day (of Aftershock) and you fly out tomorrow then?

JOEL & RYAN: yes sir. Yeah tomorrow.

THORNE:  We’ve taken up enough of your time. I know you must be biting the bit to get over to the festival grounds (Aftershock 2019). I want to thank you guys for talking with Us

JOEL:  Thank you very much for coming too. [RYAN:  yes! Thank you.] We appreciate it. Interview with Anything But Human