Beyondeath

Posted Jul 12, 2007, by Mary Dean.

So, Beyondeath, who are each of you and what do you do in the band?

Bryan: I’m Brian and I play bass.
Mike: I’m Mike and I do vocals and rhythm guitar.
Lupe: I’m Lupe and I play guitar.
Jesse: I’m Jesse and I play drums

How did you guys form together?

Mike: Me and Brian were actually in a Beyondeath previous to this. And stuff happened so we kind of had a year off. I ran into Jesse’s dad Sal at little talent show. He told me about Jesse and we got together. And then we made the second or third Beyondeath. Brian, of course, was always there. Then I said to Lupe, “You are a pretty good guitar player.”

So where did you get the name Beyondeath?

Jesse: This guy is like in love with death…and his girlfriend.
Bryan: Yeah, Mike likes death a lot.
Mike: Then outta nowhere we saw something that said Beyondeath and I was like, “hm.” And then I talked to the guys from the older Beyondeath and I said, “I think I came up with a pretty cool name.”

For writing, do you all write or does one member do most of it?

Jesse: Like a whole, it’s everyone.
Lupe: Pretty much all of us.
Jesse: Sometimes it starts off with me and Mike just messing around. We’ll think something sounds great so we’re like okay, we’ll put this with this. Then as a whole band we’ll have it put
together. Everyone gets in input on each song.
Mike: Lupe writes his own solo’s, though. And I just follow him. (laugh)
Jesse: Yea, basically.
Mike: For lyrics I get my help from Brian, though. Like sometimes I’ll be lost for a few words and there’s Brian, my wingman, to fill it in. We get it together like that.

What made you want to play music?

Mike: (under his breath) System of a Down.
Sal’s Dad: POSEUR!
(Everyone laughs)
Jesse: Every since I was born I was always around music. My dad had me around music my whole life. I started playing drums when I was 8. I got my first little drum set when I was 5. So I’ve always been playing around on drums.
Lupe: I don’t know really.
Mike: (towards Lupe) One day you wake up and decided to play guitar and be a badass or what?
Lupe: I just like music.
Mike: I probably all started back in Jr. High. Listening to Nirvana. Me and my friend Jr, his cousin had a bass guitar. He taught me how to play “Brain Stew” and I thought I was totally
cool. So I asked my dad for a bass. He was like, “No forget that I’m getting you a guitar. You are going to learn to play a real instrument.” He had the though in head that I was going to play
nice love songs and some rock ‘n roll.
(Everyone laughs)
Mike: (imitates his dad) Man, I buy you a guitar and teach you to play nice songs. But you play noise man.
Mike: But he’s real supportive of us. He is a musician himself and he never could make it. After that I was in a cover band. We covered Metellica tunes. And after that we figured that we could do our own stuff. That’s how I got into music.
Brian: About the same thing. I started playing a long time ago. I’m still playing now.

What bands influence you when you’re writing?

Jesse: I think we can all agree on Black Dahlia Murder.
Everyone: Yea.
Mike: Definitely. For me mostly Death, Metallica.
Lupe: Pretty much that’s good, in any genre.
Mike: So Madonna?
Lupe: If it’s good.
(everyone laughs)
Jesse: I have to say a mix of As I Lay Dying and Lamn of God. I love Cannibal Corpse too.

They are good live. So, how would you describe your music?

Jesse: Like a release. You come to our show. You hear our music. You enjoy it and let out everything else. You come to our show. Let loose and have a good time.
Mike: Um I would say unique.
Bryan: Bands should have their own sound.
Mike: Melodic, Fast, Sexy.
Jesse: I take care of that part.
Bryan: You cant really describe us as a another band. If we were as good as another band, we’d be big right now.
Mike: You can’t really describe it. If you asked someone what BeyonDeath sounds like, it would take them awhile to think about it.
Jesse: We write to sound like BeyonDeath.
Lupe: Anything that sounds good pretty much.
Mike: To us!
Bryan: Like anything. You like metal or you like thrash. We definitely have something for you. We were classified like In Flames for a long time.

So why should people listen to your music? What does it have to offer?

Jesse: It’s a professional sound. It’s definitely something that you wouldn’t hear anywhere else. You go to a lot of shows and hear a lot of bands that sound exactly the same. You come to our shows and you can hear the difference. Even the sound quality. Stage performance.
Mike: We aren’t just your average garage band. We do play in a garage but a few people driving by stop and roll down their window and say, “You guys are great!”
Bryan: We had a stalker.
Lupe: That was weird.
Bryan: He’d always drive by.

Are there any funny or embarrassing stories you’d like to share?

Mike: I ripped my pants during practice once. I was trying to put my foot up on the bass drum and then they ripped.
Mike: There’s not much performance wise.
Jesse: Lupe forgot a strap at a show.
Mike: There we go!
Mike: About a week ago we played the showcase and Lupe forgot to bring a strap. He played the whole show sitting down.
Jesse: That was pretty good stage performance.
Mike: How many bands do you get to see with their lead guitarists sitting down?
Bryan: I even sat down with him so he wouldn’t feel so alone.

What’s the best band, so far, that you’ve played with?

Jesse: Want to call it today [the show with Dementis].
Mike: I’m waiting for today because Dementis and us have been talking about it for such a long time.
Jesse: House of Blues!
Mike: Yea. At the House of Blues there wasn’t any band that we actually got along with.
Jesse: It was like a competition. But as soon as you step on stage and you see all those people crowded up front just to see you guys play you forget about it. We’re playing the show for the people. For the love of the music you know.
Lupe: Music is good.

Describe the feeling you each get when you are up on stage.

Jesse: There’s no other feeling that beats it.
Lupe: It’s a cool feeling.

Chris and Alex from Dementis walk up and BeyonDeath and them start making jokes out of each for about 5 minutes and everyone has a good laugh.

Mike: The feeling I get is just great. Wonderful. Magical, I guess. Like Disney magic.
Bryan: Happiest place on earth.
Mike: Yeah.

Then Alex goes on a little speech for about 5 minutes about how Disneyland is run and what it’s like to work, even though he doesn’t work there.

If you all could play with any band, who would it be? Still together or not.

Jesse: Lamb of God.
Alex: Bob Dylan!
Jesse: Black Dahlia Murder sounds good to me.
Everyone: Yeah.
(They all agree on Black Dahlia Murder)

How important are your fans to you?

Mike: So Important!
Mike: Chris over here, (points to their friend Chris whose standing off to the side), once rode his bike from Anaheim to Fullerton to see us play.
Chris: Yea. I rode my bike all the way here!
Jesse: Without our fans we are nothing.

What’s coming up for you guys?

Mike: We are talking to a label company called KPRecords, Killer Puppy Records.
Jesse: They aren’t professional, though. They don’t take their stuff as serious as they should.
Jesse: Check us out on myspace. www.myspace.com/beyonDeath.
Mike: Yea. Labels are out there. They are in our heads. We don’t plan on making it anytime soon. Usually no band makes it straight out the bag.
Jesse: We are doing it for the love it and for our fans.
Mike: I mean I’d like to make it big one day.

Any shout outs for anyone that’s reading this?

Jesse: I’d like to thank my dad. I love that guy to death. He got me on the drums. And my brother Chaz and my little brother Nicky. My whole family. My Nana.
Chris [from Dementis]: Nanas rule!
Lupe: Girls.
Jesse: He’d like to shout out to any girls reading this! They are special.
Mike: I’d like to give a shout out to my dad. Without him I don’t know where I’d be musically. And to my girlfriend.
Bryan: All our girlfriends for putting up with us.
Jesse: Your girlfriend used to hate me. When she first met me.
Mike: She still does.
Jesse: What?
Mike: I’m just kidding.
Jesse: But she seriously did.
Mike: Okay so my dad, my girlfriend, my mom. My brothers from another mothers. And to the fans.
Jesse: Fans are most important. I cherish them very much.
Mike: And a shout out to Bryan. This guy has been with me since day one.
Bryan: My dad. He buys me all my equipment. Mike. He invited me into the band. At first I was just a fill in for one show and then we decided to pull a three guitar player thing for a while. Just so I could play bass. A shout out to my girlfriend. She puts up with me.
Everyone: THANK YOU!