Son of a Blitch
Ep. 69 - Cutting Edge Collaboration How a Game Warden and a Knife Maker Forged Innovation and Sound w/ Lt. John Nores & Mike Vellekamp (w/ V Nives)
When former game warden Lt. John Nores, Jr., and master knife-maker and V Nives owner, Mike Vellekamp, joined forces, the result was nothing short of extraordinary. Their collaboration transcends mere business, merging the rugged beauty of knife-making with the resonating power of music, creating an unforgettable narrative that honors service, survival, and environmental conservation.
The centerpiece of their partnership was their work on the V Nives Thin Green Line Signature "Trailblazer," a knife designed to meet the grueling demands of game wardens in the field. This blade is not just a tool; it is a symbol of resilience and innovation, incorporating essential features such as a seatbelt cutter and glass break. Norris, with his extensive field experience, and Vellekamp, with his artistic vision, have created a knife that is both practical and emblematic of the guardianship over natural resources. (Podcast Host, George Blitch, has been using this as his Every Day Carry (EDC) for over two years)
As the episode unfolds, the conversation seamlessly transitions to the realm of music with Mike's band, Metasin, whose debut album "Evilution" serves as a powerful vessel for storytelling. The track "Hidden War," an auditory tribute to Norris's impactful experiences detailed in his book of the same name, demonstrates the unique intersection where melody meets the narrative, amplifying the message of the unseen battles game wardens face against wildlife exploitation.
Delving deeper into personal connections, the hosts discuss the inception of Metasin, a band that rose from a chance reunion to become a voice for themes as heavy as human trafficking, to the struggles of reintegrating post-military life. The meticulous care in the songwriting process is evident, with each track carrying a distinct personality and message, leaving listeners to discover and interpret the meanings in ways that resonate with their personal experiences.
The conversation also broaches the subject of legacy, where both Norris and Vellekamp share their aspirations to leave a positive mark on the world through their respective crafts. Norris's dedication to protecting the wilderness and Vellekamp's passion for knife-making and music production coalesce into a shared mission of educating and uniting people around pressing global issues.
Listeners are invited to participate in the philanthropic efforts of the duo, from supporting the Trailblazer series to contributing to a GoFundMe campaign aimed at helping their drummer's wife in her battle with cancer. The episode ends with a sense of anticipation for the future, promising more innovation, inspiration, and the power of collaborative efforts to drive change.
As the podcast episode draws to a close, it becomes clear that the stories shared are more than just a series of events; they are a testament to the impact of blending diverse talents and passions for a greater cause. The harmony between blades and ballads is a poignant reminder of how art, in all its forms, can be a force for conservation, community, and the crafting of a legacy that echoes in the wild.
In this space where craftsmanship and melody converge, Norris and Velikamp have forged not just a knife, but a narrative that cuts to the heart of what it means to create with purpose. The episode stands as an inspiring testament to the possibilities that arise when individuals come together to combine their skills for the betterment of society and the environment.
When former game warden Lt. John Nores, Jr., and master knife-maker and V Nives owner, Mike Vellekamp, joined forces, the result was nothing short of extraordinary. Their collaboration transcends mere business, merging the rugged beauty of knife-making with the resonating power of music, creating an unforgettable narrative that honors service, survival, and environmental conservation.
The centerpiece of their partnership was their work on the V Nives Thin Green Line Signature "Trailblazer," a knife designed to meet the grueling demands of game wardens in the field. This blade is not just a tool; it is a symbol of resilience and innovation, incorporating essential features such as a seatbelt cutter and glass break. Norris, with his extensive field experience, and Vellekamp, with his artistic vision, have created a knife that is both practical and emblematic of the guardianship over natural resources. (Podcast Host, George Blitch, has been using this as his Every Day Carry (EDC) for over two years)
As the episode unfolds, the conversation seamlessly transitions to the realm of music with Mike's band, Metasin, whose debut album "Evilution" serves as a powerful vessel for storytelling. The track "Hidden War," an auditory tribute to Norris's impactful experiences detailed in his book of the same name, demonstrates the unique intersection where melody meets the narrative, amplifying the message of the unseen battles game wardens face against wildlife exploitation.
Delving deeper into personal connections, the hosts discuss the inception of Metasin, a band that rose from a chance reunion to become a voice for themes as heavy as human trafficking, to the struggles of reintegrating post-military life. The meticulous care in the songwriting process is evident, with each track carrying a distinct personality and message, leaving listeners to discover and interpret the meanings in ways that resonate with their personal experiences.
The conversation also broaches the subject of legacy, where both Norris and Vellekamp share their aspirations to leave a positive mark on the world through their respective crafts. Norris's dedication to protecting the wilderness and Vellekamp's passion for knife-making and music production coalesce into a shared mission of educating and uniting people around pressing global issues.
Listeners are invited to participate in the philanthropic efforts of the duo, from supporting the Trailblazer series to contributing to a GoFundMe campaign aimed at helping their drummer's wife in her battle with cancer. The episode ends with a sense of anticipation for the future, promising more innovation, inspiration, and the power of collaborative efforts to drive change.
As the podcast episode draws to a close, it becomes clear that the stories shared are more than just a series of events; they are a testament to the impact of blending diverse talents and passions for a greater cause. The harmony between blades and ballads is a poignant reminder of how art, in all its forms, can be a force for conservation, community, and the crafting of a legacy that echoes in the wild.
In this space where craftsmanship and melody converge, Norris and Velikamp have forged not just a knife, but a narrative that cuts to the heart of what it means to create with purpose. The episode stands as an inspiring testament to the possibilities that arise when individuals come together to combine their skills for the betterment of society and the environment.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the son of a blitz podcast. I'm your host, George blitz, and I got a special podcast for you guys. I got to sit down with John Norris and Mike Velikamp. You guys might know John from the previous podcast that had him on. We talked for a couple hours about his time being a game warden of 28 years battling the cartel and their illegal marijuana grow in California. We talked about the knife that he has created along with Mike Vellacamp right here. That is the V-Knives Thin Green Line Signature Trailblazer. It's the knife that he always wished he had with him. All the elements here. You got the seatbelt cutter, you got the glass break. I mean there's so many wonderful things about this knife. I've been using it every day for two years and it is phenomenal and it's just a testament to the craftsmanship and care that Mike Vellacamp has for all of his knives, v-knives and there are some wonderful ones there. I highly suggest you guys go over to V-Knives V-N-I-V-E-Scom and check that out. He also has a storefront in Washington, so if you're ever through the Mount Rainier area, you got to stop over there and check that out in person and say hello and make sure that you go and sign up for any kind of notification for both of these gentlemen.
Speaker 2:You're going to also find out pretty soon that there is a debut album dropping in October of Mike Velikamp's band Medicine. That album, evolution, is going to be phenomenal. I've heard some tracks on it. They are amazing, some really cool metal, hard rock stuff and, uh, each song is very powerful. He put a lot of intention around this and every song, uh, really tells a story and it's not just something kind of fluff to put out there. They all mean something very you know it. It means a lot to him that he, you know he puts out something that is important, uh, that's impactful, that's meaningful. Uh, in these tunes the lyrics are incredible, the musicianship is incredible. The song hidden war that John Norris joins him on is phenomenal. I cannot wait to hear. Uh, have you guys hear that? We'll be playing some snippets of it today so you can kind of get a little sampling of it and make sure that you're checking that out when it drops.
Speaker 2:We will also do another podcast with both these guys when this album is about to drop to kind of make sure you can find out where you can go and purchase it. There's going to be a Kickstarter campaign. Anyway, we will include all of that. When that's coming down the pike. I will make sure that you hear about it first. Uh, but for now, you guys tune in, learn a little bit more about mike velicamp, about the knives, a little bit more about john norris, the music these guys are creating and all the difference they're making out the world right now, because both of those two dudes are doing some great stuff. You guys tune in, enjoy. And here is the podcast with john norris and mike velicamp. Take care, how are you guys doing today? Good brother, how are you Awesome? Yes, I love it. The enthusiastic, that's great.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, look, I got lasers behind me and everything. Look at that man, Green lasers, going crazy Getting more crazy.
Speaker 2:This is already off to a hell of a start. Fellas, I'm pretty excited. Yeah, me too. We got a lot to talk about today. We're going to talk about V-Knives, we're going to talk about medicine, your band and your album that's going to be coming out here soon.
Speaker 2:But, as many listeners may have already tuned in, john is a repeat guest, john Norris, here, and we kind of went through an intro on that where I think you can get a really good sense of him and where he's coming from and all the things he's done. So if you have not, you can definitely go back to episode 60 and check that out. But uh, you know, I don't, I don't want to kind of repeat things here. So, john, I think we're just going to let you know, mike, talk a little bit for a second about where you grew up, um, and you know kind of maybe you know forge that line on how you got into making knives and you know also making music, and maybe just give people a little bit of background, and then we'll kind of dive into some of these awesome projects you guys have been involved in.
Speaker 3:Sounds awesome. Yeah, Um, so for the record, my name is Mike Vellacamp. Um, back in, uh, Colorado, golden Colorado specifically, is where I started my career. Um, I was actually a car detailer. Um, I, I lived in Florida, lived in Florida and then had a new baby and a new wife and we kind of just trekked out to kind of find our way across the United States, as some young people do, looking for more work, better pay, you know things of that nature, and live in a little trailer park out there and I got a job.
Speaker 3:I was actually looking for a car detailing job at a Ford dealership and my father-in-law had left a note on the table for me a kitchen table call Vince Ford about a job and I thought it was a Ford dealership. Calling me back and I found out it wasn't a Ford dealership, it was a man named Vince Ford and he was a little English guy, brilliant engineer, and I called him up and I said I said I don't know any Ford dealerships in that area. When he gave me his address he says well, I had a Ford dealership. Uh, mate, he said uh, we're, you know, we're a machine shop. We, we make all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 3:And they did. They were a job shop that made everything from the power box for the artificial heart In fact, they were the only manufacturers of the power box for the artificial heart and they made several other small job shop items with their production there. But they also were contracted to make Spyderco American-made knives, and Sal Glesser, the owner of Spyderco, owned a third of that company. It was just a job shop at the time called Golden Manufacturing, and later on Sal had ended up buying up the rest of the partnership from Vince and his father and relocating the job shop up to the iconic brick building we all know today at 820 Spyderco way and renamed it Spyderco manufacturing.
Speaker 3:And luckily they adopted me on as an 18 year old and that I worked for them for a very long time. I started on the drill press at $6 an hour and I worked my way all the way up to upper management and I spent 12 and a half years with the company and it was. It was a really fun ride. They were like family to me. They're a very, very, very wonderful company Of course not as good as mine, but no, I'm right, but they're they are.
Speaker 3:they are a great, they're a great company, they're great people, um, and it was really one of those kind of family things, almost where, where I just kind of grew up and needed to get out of the house, type of a thing. So I wanted to further my career, I wanted to design, and so, um, I ended up relocating to the pacific northwest, to the seattle area, specifically tacoma, and, and I started working for Tim Wegner, the founder of Blade Tech. Blade Tech Industries is mostly known for making holsters and attachments, tactical attachments and things of that nature. And then I went on to design some knives for them and headed up their cutlery division, their cutlery division, and with that came an opportunity to design knives for 511 Tactical and I designed about 25 different products for them very successful products, by the way, and that's basically.
Speaker 3:I ended up flying over to work on some production and engineering with a man named race woo over in taiwan. He owned the factory where they were manufacturing the 511 products and I I met him and we had started becoming quite friendly and over the years after I had left blade tech, I ended up helping the italian guys from knives bring their brand over to be more noticeable stateside and getting them involved with distribution companies like Blue Ridge knives and stuff like that, I decided to create my own brand, which is V-Knives. And you know, no dogs, no foxes, no spiders, no chickens, just V. And we were incorporated June of 2017 with our brand, and so this will be our seventh year in June being in business and we've since won some pretty wonderful awards from the Blade Show and gotten some nice industry accolades and gotten to meet some really great people, like John, who we've collaborated with for Variety in our catalog.
Speaker 2:Well, let's bring that in. How did you guys actually meet? John, you want to go ahead and set the stage here for a sec?
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is a real, just a great historical story. You know, making new friends and and doing a business, but a mutual friend of someone we had worked a little bit with in the past, amber Hargrove from did some discovery channel stuff into blades actually introduced me and Mike and this was literally, I think, seven days after I retired from operations. I retired from a 28-year game warden career, as you know, in special operations developing the Met, been fighting the cartels now for six years. I retire on December 7th of 2018. And the very next week I'm cruising around the Pacific Northwest meeting all these knife makers to possibly do a knife or get to know more people in the industry, because I've carried knives my whole life right, especially operationally, as a hunter, as a longtime conservationist, and I met Mike at the, you know, kind of into the winter there at the end of the day and right away we hit it off. We talked knives for sure.
Speaker 1:I had a sketch of what a trailblazer, the personal dream knife that I never got to carry, that had all the features on it that I never could get in a fixed blade. I could get a seatbelt harness cutter in like a CRKT and maybe I could get a glass breaker in a SOG. But I couldn't get them both and still have a carryable, lightweight and very durable kind of battle folding blade that everybody could use. So I had this very rudimentary picture drawn up to my hand dimensions in pencil a lot of erase marks, little things I had changed. Mike looked at it and right away he goes I see where you're going with this. You definitely carried a SOG because I recognize that little cutout. We can do something a little different, maybe even improve upon that. But I want to take this Studebaker design that's very functional and put a little Ferrari into it, v-knife style.
Speaker 1:And I went okay, what's that going to be? And actually we didn't design any more or talk knives that day. We started talking about music. He had his guitar, he had his amp. He knew I was a lifelong Rush fan, a Metallica fan. I was just starting to sing in Area 56 that we talked about in our other podcast. Mike's also worked with our guys and done shows and helped us on sound and knows our band as well. We're all buddies. So all we did was talk two-way stuff, firearms tactics, patriotism, wildlife protection, anti-cartel stuff, border stuff and music. And he actually shredded for me on his guitar that day and that was like a two, three hour visit, right, mikey.
Speaker 3:And then oh yeah, it went, it went long, went long. I think you guys were just. I think this is a last kind of a last minute idea.
Speaker 1:It was yeah.
Speaker 3:Stop through and, hey, let's see if Mike's over at his shop. It ended up being a very long visit, great visit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was awesome and we seriously talked about NICE for about 10 minutes out of like three hours and that really what has made it so good and the Trailblazer was born. It's been very successful. You know, george, you know, as we discussed, we've done new variants of it. Um, we've got the fixed blade line that just dropped about a year and a half ago and and Mike and I not going public with it yet, but we we've talked about other products in the thin green line trailblazer series that will help everybody. You know, functionality, whether they're blades or other products. I mean, I think Mike leaving it, I'm leaving it at that at this point, but it's just been a great journey and I I can't thank Mike enough for bringing me on board being his brand ambassador for the entire brand, cause everything outside of the trailblazer line is great stuff. I use it as well outside of my own signature line and we have a lot of people all over the Northwest, the West Coast, where I spent a lot of time, and now the East Coast, so it's been a really, really good journey. And again, I think the biggest thing that I'm grateful for from the business side of this and the personal side, where Mike's wired is the love for the country and the love for protecting our resources and really resonating with hidden war in the thin green line. Mike has been at the top of the spear for advocating that message outside of the products we make together, which is a real honor and a real blessing and why you know we have such a great friendship and I mean even to promote the book, promote the message, talk about what we're doing in the cannabis world, but also the other crimes the cartels are doing.
Speaker 1:And now the album, the new band and actually having a single named Hidden War, which just blows me away to this day, that we co-wrote the lyrics for and I actually had the honor of getting to sing some choruses with them and also do some spoken word in that, which was just an absolute blast, and it's one of many killer songs on that album. I mean I've seen or heard and seen everything that's out so far. They're all awesome. I know you've heard some of them besides Hidmore, but the whole album is wired toward patriotism and what this nation's going through and the human condition in the global geopolitical you know, global scheme of things right now. Mike can go much more into detail on that, but, uh, that's been a real fun adventure because we're both musicians, we love music. Um, his bandmates are awesome and it's just cool to be a part of that and share music and get messages out at the same time. I mean, how do you get better than that in the world of outreach that we're doing right now?
Speaker 2:No, it sounds like it, you know. I think that's a great opportunity, mike, I'd love to hear about the band medicine. Kind of tell us a little bit about you know how this band formed this idea for this album, the concept behind it, and then, you know, let's bring in like how you decided to start kind of grabbing some of the lyrics from, uh, the hidden war book and really kind of putting together that, that track, and how you maybe talk to us about how that kind of collaboration took that next uh stage.
Speaker 3:Sure, um so uh, first of all, the way, the way that the um, the the beginning of the album started out, first of all I didn't have a band or anything. I've been a musician for some years, never taken it to a professional level. Back in the 90s I was in a metal and somebody's wife got pregnant and somebody moved away and all the things you go through when you're young and you haven't really thought out the whole thing. But when you start to get more on a professional level you start to treat it more like a business. So I actually had some riffs that I was working on that I thought one day, if I ever get the chance, I would like to put them. You know, put some tracks down and and maybe get a singer and a bass player and some of that stuff. And you know, it just took so long to try and get my ideas out. It was. It's like when you I mean there's a real symbiotic relationship, I think, between the creativity that happens with engineering and manufacturing and that creativity that happens when you're trying to write a book or an album or have a TV show or any of those kinds of things. It's a creative process and the originator of the idea is really, you know, the one that's got all the stuff in their head and getting it out and getting that mission out to everyone else to kind of have the same focal is is somewhat difficult.
Speaker 3:So, um, I just started going ahead and recording tracks and I was like, well, okay, I'm going to. I was a bass player back in the day, just like John. And uh, I was like, well, you know, I'm going to have to learn how to play guitar if I'm going to do this. So I started learning how to play guitar Thank you YouTube. And then, you know, and then I was like, well, ok, I'm going to have to figure out vocal tracks. And so I was like, well, ok, maybe, maybe I should sing.
Speaker 3:So I actually started going and doing karaoke every week and working on my singing and my vocals and stuff. I would go to karaoke and sing Metallica songs and stuff, and yeah, believe it or not. And then I was like, well, shoot, all right, I'm going to have I got to put guitar solos in here. And so I was like, all right, I'm going to have to learn how to be a lead player. And so I started learning, you know, noodling over different scales and stuff to different songs and everything. And then so I was like Okay, I think I have, I think I have enough now in my arsenal that I could produce something, at least to show it to someone and see if they're interested. And I'm going to make a long story a little bit shorter here. I had ended up running into Corey, who I used to work with at Blade Tech on Facebook and I thought he was a guitar player, but I just remembered he liked heavier music and I found out he was a drummer and I was like, oh, geez, man here we go.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I could really use a drummer. And I told him what I was doing and we got together and we had a little electric drum kit and we just a little practice amp and just kind of showed him my vision. And he picked up on it right away. He was like, oh yeah, this is. Yeah, I want to do this. And he had a smaller drum kit, a pearl kit, and we we ended up investing and putting gosh, we we're thousands in now but we actually ended up building this huge drum kit for him with double bass and all the cymbals and bells and whistles and everything. This thing is huge. I mean we use 24 microphones just to record the drums on that hidden war track wow and george, it was crazy.
Speaker 1:Mike, remember, you sent me photos of the kid when you were just building it, going in to record the second song, and I went oh man, neil pert, right now above and going yeah it's crazy that looks like that's a danny carrie, a freaking neil.
Speaker 3:He gave us his blessing for sure, and so, anyway, then it then it was kind of down to well, what do we call ourselves? This and that? And you know that, like everything, it kind of the direction of the songs that I was writing, uh, and with cory we're kind of, we're kind of like the lars and james, you know, um, except I play lead too, but, um, you know, we started structuring out the songs, everything. But, um, you know, we started structuring out the songs and everything and they really started taking form. And when we started naming the songs, the name started, um, started giving the song enough personality that it was like, oh wow, this is what this song's about.
Speaker 3:And sometimes you'll, sometimes you'll, write a song unintentionally, uh, knowing that it's going to change and morph into something Like we have one called Out of the Shadow. I just thought that was a really cool name for a song and it was going to be about basically, kind of maybe a disenfranchised group or person or someone battling with something, and you know they're coming out of the rain and the sunshine or whatever. Well, it morphed itself into a song about human trafficking and it's super awesome and it's got a great message. So that was everything kind of took form and, uh, this band, which was just cory and I, we eventually ended up getting a bass player and and another guitarist and, um, you know, I just was looking and the big thing was this whole metaverse thing was coming out. And you're always hearing about metaverse and metadata and meta this and meta that. And because of the direction of the album, um, where we you can see on our album cover, where it kind of shows the, the, the beginning of mankind and kind of that, that evolution type image where you know, man kind of evolves up to this thing and then it devolves back into a bar code, and I thought, oh yeah, this has got sin written all over it.
Speaker 3:And then I thought of the meta being in the um, the sense of transcending. I thought, medicine, that that's going to be our band name, so that's where the, that's kind of the whole origin of the band. And then from then it was like, okay, let's start, let's find a producer, let's start booking studio time, you know, and and we've now we're thousands and thousands of dollars into our equipment and and, uh, all the, all the stuff we've done in the studio so far. Pierre ferguson, he's local here. He's awesome foundry studios. He is a wonderful person, he's a great producer and, uh, yeah, it's it. It. It takes so much of our time now when we're not in here making knives, we're out there making other metal heavy metal through and through.
Speaker 2:I love it yeah I love it. So what is that? Um, what's kind of your, your timeline? Now? You guys are in the studio, you're recording um, and I I know that you're talking about having a release date, october 19th, which is a very special day. You're going to be putting this out. What kind of timeline do you still have left? What have you recorded, and how many other sessions do you think it's going to take to kind of put this all together?
Speaker 3:Well, we went ahead and mastered, uh, I think, four, we've got four now. We we were thinking of going ahead and, uh, fully mastering five songs, in case we had to do an ep or something, because we got very nervous about the release date. Um, there are still struggles with scheduling and and stuff with producer and mixing and all that stuff, but we're still going to try and hit the October date. There are still a lot of nuts and bolts we have to figure out. We are going back in the studio on the 25th and then it starts with drums and then goes to guitars and then goes to vocals and then solos and embellishments. So we're looking at having the next four songs finished and mastered by July, probably end of July, and we're looking at buttoning up the last part of the album somewhere around August September, somewhere around August September. And then we're trying to time the artworks, the CD production, because we're going to do a limited number of CDs, we're going to do a Kickstarter campaign.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh, hold on a second, by the way, got all the all the conceptual artworks oh, there it is, this is uh, this here's something nobody's seen yet and it's got all the song lyrics with it and the booklet, uh, and you'll get a picture of the band. There's the cover, the back side, all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, we've been working on this for quite a while. That's another, another facet to the whole thing too. That takes some time, um, and I've done all the artwork and concept and design and everything for that too. So we're, we're busy beavers, but yeah, we're, we're sticking to our guns. I think now, if we do end up going out past, um, our scheduled release date, um, if we have to, we'll do it for quality, because I'm not gonna I'm not gonna rush it, I'm not, I don't want to rush it. This is going to be the album of my lifetime and probably one of my greatest works, uh, and so I just don't want to rush it. I want it to be really good and I want everybody to love it.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, yeah well, that's, that's key man, and and it's funny, it's you think about like some of those bands that have, like, their debut album and you know, maybe those guys are 18 or 20 or whatever, it is Right Kind of like the, the young musician. Then it's like then it's the rush for the sophomore album and it's like, okay, now they want you to put a record label. I want you to put out this album. Right, you need, you got a year to write something. You've spent this time here you are, you've you've had your whole life experience and to be able to put into your debut album here with this band and you've.
Speaker 2:It sounds like all the songs are kind of coming into place conceptually, uh and and really kind of fitting into that form of what you talked about as far as the medicine and what's happening and and you know our life right now, because there's a lot of you know, heavy things going on and you're bringing those to the forefront and it's just, uh, yeah, you don't want to rush that man, you want to put it out when it's right, when the final pieces are all perfect. So, yeah, you know it's, it's nice to have the date circled, cause I think it makes you work harder towards that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, you want to go, you know. The other thing that's pretty passionate for us is that you know all the songs have a really deep meaning. All the lyrics you know have their, you know, content wise. They really are something and mean something, especially like with hidden war, with regard to john's career and met teams and and uh, with the conservation and preservation of the wildlands and wetlands and the, the ongoing battle with the cartels and you know the illegal. You know now I suppose we're dealing more with like the meth and fentanyl and everything. Back then it was, you know, the illegal marijuana and the problems that caused with the wetlands and stuff.
Speaker 3:But you know, the other thing is we're looking around for new music to listen to and there's just nothing worth listening to. Is we're looking around for new music to listen to and there's just nothing worth listening to. Everybody's singing about shoes and cars and you know, or you got this, this, this thing they call hip-hop, which is, you know, country mixed with rap and uh, we just I personally wasn't finding anything substantive that I want to listen to. I'm a megadeth guy, I'm a metallica guy, I'm a pantera guy. I miss that late 80s, early 90s, not sound, but the importance of some of the stuff that they were singing about wildlife, all that kind of stuff. I was actually listening to megadeth's countdown to extinction, yeah, and I told john about it. He's like, well, what's, how's this thing, how's this going to work out and how does it, how's the sound going to be and when?
Speaker 3:I said hey, let me send you a megadeth track, like we're not going to copy megadeth and it's not going to sound like this, but this is kind of the idea is that we're going to make a heavy metal song about conservation and uh, and and then and tie in your career. And john was like you know what dave's got the message that's actually a song about poaching. But uh, he was like, yeah, he's like, this is awesome. I like what dave mustaine did here and so we're going to do something similar that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, tell me about the song itself. When did did you guys talk about a collaboration, or did you get inspired by John's you know writing and his history? And then, how did that kind of song form out? I mean, I've listened to it. I jammed it multiple times today. I'm sure anyone in my entire office probably heard it. And uh, I think they said something about pre-ordering, so they're ready to go turn it up exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if it's too loud, you're too old, twice as fast that was right, no, but it it like and to mention that too, because we'll we'll have a little bit of teaser here that we'll share but it does sound like the songs of some of these bands you mentioned in a sense that it would fit. It's its own unique sound. It's I'm not, I'm not taking away, it's not like a cover of some you know other band. But if you were to have like a battle of the bands with all these badass you know rock stars that we freaking love and we've been influenced by all three of us and we've all played music of that nature it fits right in there. Man, it's a strong song. So I just love to hear about the origin of that coming together and then how you know you got John in to do some recording with you on that.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, so, um, actually it just, you know, little by little, well, you know, me and John became pretty fast friends, but not good friends, just fast friends. And then over time I went and I went and spent time with him at his cabin. I learned about his dad and him rebuilding the cabin and and how he kind of, when he, when he built his home, he had a skywalk that goes over and there's like a like a memorial area to his dad and his career and all that I started getting to know John a lot better and started spending time breaking bread, those kinds. I mean, you know, you get to know somebody pretty well when you spend a night at their house a few times, sure and um. And then we weren't just fast friends, we became good friends. And as we became better and better and stronger, as our friendship got stronger.
Speaker 3:I started, you know, because he had sent me a book and signed it and stuff. And you know we're all so busy and everything. Sometimes someone will send you something and sign it. Whatever you don't get to it, you don't watch, and everything. Sometimes someone will send you something and sign it. Whatever you don't get to it, you don't watch. I've got a lot of friends that are on some of these discovery channels and stuff or history and stuff. They got this different shows that they're on and I would love to watch them. I just don't have time to sit and watch and get them.
Speaker 3:But I thought to myself you know, I'm going to read this book. I already know what he does and I you know this and that. And I started looking through the book and I was like holy shit, john never actually came out and said hey, I just want you to know, I'm a bad-ass motherfucker. John never told me that, right, so, but I was reading the book and then that's what came up in my mind Wow, john's a bad-ass motherfucker. And then I just was completely inspired by his career and some of the things that he's done. And I thought, you know what? And we just started really getting into the band at that point right, music and everything.
Speaker 3:And I was like I was like man, we we're going to write a song about this hidden war thing and we're gonna make it about john, and I would love for him to actually sing on the album and be a big part of it, because he's a musician too and he's got a good voice. So I thought, man, this is gonna be a good opportunity. We actually were working on some other songs and we kind of took a turn and said, nope, let's do hidden war, and we made that one of the first um round of tracks that we actually finished and mastered. So, yeah, it's completely inspired by his career.
Speaker 3:And I thought also, you know, here's something that you know John's given a lot. You know, here's something that we can give back to John. You know, speaking to legacy and stuff like that, this is something that that's one thing about music it never goes away. This thing's going to be around and be heard by people, and probably younger people and a lot of people are going to look at these lyrics and they're going to wonder who John Norris is and what the hidden war is all about, and they're going to find out by like these podcasts and stuff like that. And then it's going to be really great meaning and long legacy to John just because of the song and I thought, hey, there's something we can all give back to John.
Speaker 3:That's just like just like with the knife. Collaboration too, you know let's, do you know, john? John didn't need to come out of pocket for anything with with the knives. In fact, we pay him, um, it's just it's. You know, what can we do for John? John's given a lot. We can give something back to John through, uh, making great products that have his name on them, that he can be proud of, um, that he can get out to the people that he knows and loves in the industry, and the new Met guys and the people coming in and becoming wardens. And there's people that reach out to us all the time and say, hey, I'm going to go, they go to the academy to become a game warden, or however that process works. And they'll give us an email or a text or whatever. And, hey, is there anything you can do? We'll send them a trailblazer and we'll have john sign it for them that's awesome, that it.
Speaker 2:What a way to give back to someone who's given so much. And john, you know to kind of pivot there too. What was that like when you first heard this track or you kind of saw this coming together and then you know how was your contribution and come in and doing the recording. What was that looking like for you and how did that collaboration kind of form to then have this, you know, final mastered copy?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a beautiful process. I call it a bucket list kind of time in my life. You know, we talked about our friendship and I think Mike said it best. We were fast friends but we became good friends over time by spending those personal conversations and breaking bread and that's where we really got to know each other philosophically, ethically and what our lens is. And it's very similar liking the same music, going back to the 80s and 90s primarily 80s. And what's ironic about this, why I feel so grateful and it's been so fun to do this with Mike, is I was just I mean, I you know this from the first story, george, and Mike knows it better than anybody I wasn't even a singer officially until in and around the time I met him and we talked about co-designing this trailblazer blade.
Speaker 1:Right, I was in a new band up here. I was the new guy. Um, you know, I evolved to being the lead singer, doing keyboards, doing fills, doing alternate percussion, all those different things. But I was evolving as a singer to a challenging set list of multiple iconic bands, you know, of classic rock bands, uh, to prepare for a professional recording in a very high-level produced metal album. That reflected, and I'm very grateful. But I really make this whole story about the Met team, about the thin green line of wildlife officers yourself being part of the thin green line Jack Carr, joe Rogan, cam Haines, jim Shockey, all of the people that are out there fighting to either educate against these threats we have to our wild land, waterways and wildlife. And Mike was honoring all of that, you know, when he started working with me on the Trailblazer and bringing me into the company, but also to have a hidden war single at the quality I was just blown away and to write the lyrics together and go back and forth.
Speaker 1:And he said hey, I want to find something in your book that we can use for you to read a spoken word segment besides singing some chorus stuff and harmonies and whatnot. And I went, wow, that's great Because, as you know, every chapter I have a very deep quote that relates not only to the mission but to the scope of what we're trying to protect and the heart of all of us within America, whether you love, you know, whether you're in the outdoors all the time or not, and I won't give too much away because Mike's going to go into it. But the quote he picked for the spoken word could not have been better Robert's service rhyme of the restless ones. It's a segment from that. And that poem I actually heard on my first Grand Canyon rafting trip by a river guide that would read it as a skit, on the beach under a full moon, after hitting the biggest rapids in North America and actually acting in that voice, passionately, with a big goblet of ale, and I got the chills. And this was back when I was, I'd been a warden for maybe 10 years. And I went chills and this was back when I was, you know, I'd been a warden for maybe 10 years and I went, what is that? And it ended up in my book and Mike and we had not talked about it. He picked spoken word, I did not, and he picked it masterly, man, just masterfully on that. And I knew I knew the lyrics were great.
Speaker 1:I hadn't heard any of the music because Mike's writing all of that and doing lead and rhythm. And then he sent me the first raw track and I heard this thing and I'm showing it to a handful of family and friends. I'm like man. I knew it would be good. I didn't know it'd be this damn good. This is bad ass, man. I said Hetfield's, you know he'd turn his head at this the way the you know the rhythm changes, the time signature changes, all of it is.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of complexity to this music and mike and I like complex music. My bandmates in area 56 we do complex covers that most bands won't do and we kill ourselves trying to do them. But we like that musical challenge and we also like the depth of what that music leads to and the respect it gains, and not only hidden war but cavalcade um out of the shadow, like mike's talkingcarecrow and just the ones I've heard so far. Every song has that depth, every song has that complexity of music and Pierre, as he mentioned, is one of the coolest producers.
Speaker 1:I've only worked with a handful of producers. He is just a beautiful human being to work with and I think he got the best out of us in the one day we had to record together and we had a blast. We had an absolute blast and we, we got it done and I was like we're done. Oh, damn man, I want, I want a couple more days of this anyway. Anyway, I can uh, weasel my way in with medicine. You know I'm going to and and, uh, and when mike's out this way and we we get area 56 going, you might see some of these, some of these songs that area 56 might do some work with and have a mic up with us and vice versa. It'd be real fun to do.
Speaker 1:But I can't speak highly enough of how grateful I am for such an amazing song, because one of the things that the iconic bands get right is the musical tone moves you so emotionally, it's so visceralceral and it's subconscious that it matches the lyrics that you feel the message almost before the first word comes out. Not every bands can do that right, especially some of the pop stuff we're hearing now, and Mike said it best this stuff, just just. I'm not going to disparage any, any musical style, because everything is important. You know, beauty in the eye of the beholder, but at the end of the day I want to be moved. I want to be moved emotionally, I want to be conflicted, I want to be fired up and pissed off. I want to be relieved and relaxed, and this album does that. This album does it so well in the handful of songs I've heard so far, and Hidden War is just the tip of the iceberg, man that is phenomenal.
Speaker 2:So what does it look like when this album is finally done? It is in your hands, Mike, and you're ready to start distributing it. Are you going to have a big show? Have you thought about you know, because it's like the magnum opus, right? It's like. Then, what are you going to do to have a presentation? Is this a collaboration where John's going to get up there and I'm going to get this invite to come check this out and film you guys, what's going to be happening?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we got to do it A hundred percent. A hundred percent, I would. I would love to have you come out. Um, we'll probably have, um, uh, a handful of very special people that we would want to invite out here and, um, it probably, um, because of the location of all the band members, it probably will release in the Seattle area first, nice, not anywhere where the tents and stuff are at, but we'll probably pick a nice local venue and we're going to do a nice release party, probably a venue that will hold somewhere around 500 people, and we're going to play the entire album from start to finish, live. Love it awesome. Yeah, and I would love to have john come out. We've already kind of talked about it when, when we, when we time this, we'll probably time it around where john's available to come out and uh, sing hidden war with us too, on stage, and we'll probably speak a little bit to the message in the song and stuff and introduce John Sure.
Speaker 2:Well, I was going to ask about that too, With some of the complexities you talk about in a lot of the songs that we've just discussed a little bit here and we haven't dove into all of them but is there something that you feel would be in a kind of an accompaniment of? I mean, I know, like we just saw the lyric sheet there too, right, it's going to, so if you read through it, you might be able to get that. But do you think that some of these songs may warrant having a, you know, a little bit of an introduction? Have you thought about how to kind of maybe take that next step of like, hey guys, this is what this song's about. This is my feelings, because you know you have a lot of richness that you're going to be bringing to each one of these songs.
Speaker 2:I've, I've heard that you know the lyrics you put together. Uh, I mean it's, it's very powerful stuff, and you know some of the things you just talked about too. You know the human trafficking, all the different things that you know. Out is a, um, I guess, like a call to be able to maybe, uh, educate people about this as well. How do you see that, and is it just something you want to put out, the music, or do you feel like there's something where you want to be able to maybe further educate people about that tune and those, those messages?
Speaker 3:a very good, very good question. I, I, I think I've decided at this point to look at it like a long-term Q and a and to leave, uh, leave the meanings, uh of the songs, uh, mostly ambiguous and uh, make it like a treasure hunt for for the fans. Um, you know, the more you dive, you know I, this is something that made a lot of the Megadeth. I'm a big Megadeth fan, but I'm a big Avenged Sevenfold fan, and Metallica and Pantera, some of these bands. You listen to it for the beat and you don't think about it when you're in the sunshine drinking beer and sitting on the back of a tailgate. But at some point you pick up the lyric booklet.
Speaker 3:Or now people just go online and you start really reading and touch someone in a completely different way by the way they read the lyrics, than someone that's going through something else by the way they read the lyrics. So in, for instance, the human trafficking song, which is out of the shadow, um, all of those lyrics align themselves to speak to human trafficking, but they also yield themselves to mean something to someone who's maybe been just marginalized or disenfranchised, or you know, some family or group or individual, same thing. We've got a song called Out of Service and it's service and it's. It's about um getting getting out of um, getting out of the military and not necessarily, you know, having trouble finding your way in life and stuff like that. But you know, this song also could speak to someone who maybe is just down on their luck or, you know, lost their job, or you know going through you know, financial or or mental struggles or or whatever. It could speak to a you know, homeless person.
Speaker 3:So there, I think I've decided to go ahead and leave it as ambiguous as possible. But but let individuals go out and and and find those little treasures in the song and then ask the questions and then, um, you know, obviously we would, we would answer those, I mean anyone that asked me what the song's really about. I'll, I'll let them know. I mean, yeah, I thought for a long time that the megadeth song, holy wars, was about war in the middle east, and come to find out it was about ireland. I you just never know the exact meaning, but it, but it still has meaning, uh, in a very broad spectrum. So for that, for that reason, I would leave it ambiguous, I think.
Speaker 2:No, that's, that's a good call, man. I mean, I look at some of the songs that I was, you know, that were powerful in my youth, and I listened back to them now, you know, 20 something years later, and I'm like, whoa, it takes on a different meaning, right. So there's like an evolution of self, and you're the way that you kind of, you're the way that you feed in that information, those lyrics, that song and, um, you know, then, like later on, I didn't realize the complexities of some of this music or time signature stuff, until I became a musician and had to, like, try to cover it and I was like, damn, this is hard, you know, yeah, yeah, baby all night long, oh man like thinking like bands, like tool, and like trying to follow danny carey and his drums like oh gosh, it was.
Speaker 2:It was very difficult, but you know that there's some good, you can do that.
Speaker 3:If you can do that, let me give you my number.
Speaker 2:I am. I am not that talented. I've been, I've I've tried, but it's uh, you know it's. I love playing a lot of these songs that you know from these bands you were talking about, and I really do feel like, um, when I just hearing your music, man, and what you guys recorded. It is very rich, it is very powerful. I'm excited to have this album out. You know, and we'll just kind of let people know now, before the album drops, we will all three of us get back together again and maybe, you know, have a little bit of a little more information session about that, how people can get involved. I know you were talking about maybe doing the Kickstarter and you know, as soon as that's out, let me know I'm happy to help promote and produce it. You know, any kind of, you know, excitement around this Cause I'm, I'm, I'm just I'm very excited to see what you know you're putting together, uh, your contributions there with John too, and you know, I'm just stoked man, congratulations on on all of this. This is phenomenal stuff.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. We're just, we're thrilled as hell just to be able to be doing it, and especially at this point in our lives. You know my big brother. I sent him the Hidden War track too and he sent me a text message back, said back, said midlife crisis, much. And I thought, well, you know, starting a heavy metal band at 50, right, what's next? I mean, you know, they say 50 is the new 30. Now people used to act a lot older back when, when we were younger, you know, when your grandma was 45, you know, and she, you know, looked a lot older. And now, um, uh, um, I was going to say also that that the cool thing about doing um, having a midlife crisis when you're 50 means you're going to live to your a hundred.
Speaker 2:So, yes, I thought about mentioning the same thing.
Speaker 1:I was like, hey, that's good.
Speaker 2:Mid-mark, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So, but it's not a midlife crisis thing, it's just. It's just something that that needs to be done. And if you have those things in your head that have to get done, that you're not getting done, I think it causes internal stress and I think you always fight with yourself, and I think you have. You can build resentment toward things and people around you for not getting stuff done. And outside fiance, who has backed me 100% on this thing, and any time when I'm like, hey, I don't know if it makes sense to do this or that in the studio or whatever financially, and she'll say, babe, put it on my credit card. We're going to the studio, like she's.
Speaker 3:She's helped us buy equipment and all kinds of stuff and you know, you'd think, gosh, I own a knife company and I must be doing pretty well. I probably have a nice car and I probably have some money in the bank. Well, you know, being a business owner, that doesn't always usually happen. Sometimes there's cashflow problems and stuff and I'm one of those business owners that doesn't turn around and take the bag of cash as soon as it hits the bank and dump it into my own pocket, you know. So I do live a pretty meek life and I have an older car and of course it's a nice car, but I have an older vehicle and she has older vehicles and you know, we we're kind of.
Speaker 3:You know, without being exactly paycheck to paycheck, we're pretty close to it because we have to manage the cash flow of the company and we have to make sure all the employees are taken care of and all the bills and rents and everything are paid before we go digging into that cash bag. And we also have a retail store as well here in Washington state, a beautiful retail store, and we have employees up there too and stuff. So, yeah, so money gets tight from time to time. But she has been super supportive of of me wanting to do this and and she wants to see this thing through too. She didn't know what we were really doing. I said, hey, babe, I think I need to write an album. And she's like, yeah, right, okay, me too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because that's normal, I'm just going to write an album in my free time running a knife company.
Speaker 3:Yeah, me too. Yeah, sure, yeah, go do that. I was like, yeah, I'm going to make an album, probably like an 8 or 10 song. I'll make it 11. Well, let's do 12. We'll do 12 and a bonus track. So it just keeps building and I'm like, finally, okay, we're cutting it off at 12. That's the album. So, for a debut album, a lot of bands don't even have that. So a lot of them six or seven songs or eight songs, and two of them are covers. So we have put a lot of writing into this album and, um, we've had just a lot of support from everybody around us and I think it's awesome. And you know, time will tell whether, whether it stands the test of time. But I know that even if, even if a hundred people like it, I'll be happy because I know I'm gonna like it and I finally have some music, new music that I can listen to and I don't have to keep changing the radio station, you know.
Speaker 2:I love it, man, like, yeah, if it's, if it's not out there, you got to create it, right. But I really love what you said, too, about like you feel called to do this. Um, it's the same thing with this podcast, man. I'm not bringing in all the money doing it, but you know what I felt really compelled to start this, move forward with it, and it's just something I feel called to do. I don't know where it's going to go, how it's going to go, but it's something that, like, I felt it's a. There's a book called the war of art yeah, the war of art and it talks about like this resistance, like you know you want to do something, but there's all this resistance which usually is in your own head about getting to that end goal Right, and how we have to push ourselves through that and silence that. You know whatever that voice that I think like what is it? It's a. You know Cam Haynes and you know Joe Rogan's your inner bitch, the guy who's always telling you.
Speaker 1:I quote Joe's inner bitch all the time and it's just getting past that. And you know, george, to your point and I think Mike said it really well what a blessing, what a privilege, what an opportunity to be at this stage in our lives and be talking about a metal album of quality and making music and actually putting it down historically. You know, I mean, not everybody can do that and I think that's just a testament to quelling your inner bitch. You know, saying, hey, I'm going to go run and work out, I'm going to get all my frustrations and all the negative, all the haters, all the things that went wrong this last week that are burdening me down on the ranch at home, whatever the case may be, to, hey, now I'm going to go to the recording studio, now I'm going to write with Mike. Or now we're going to talk about, you know, a knife designer, we're going to talk about this project that's going really well. Um, when we can make music like this at this age that we're all really passionate about, I mean, that's, that's beyond a blessing and beyond a privilege, I think, and that truly is a sim. Uh, I think it symbolizes living your best life while you can, because we all know what's going on in the world. I mean, honestly, we could step out of our office and get hit by that crazy transit bus tomorrow or worse yet we could have something crazy happen geopolitically on our shores or abroad, whatever. So why hold back? You only get one run around this crazy sun and I think it's cool that Mike's doing this, and I think it's cool that we're all part of this project and that you've got your podcast now, and there's nothing more communal and nothing more healthy than sharing messages and sharing ideas that people can relate to, as divisive as this country is especially and we all love America on this conversation and it breaks my heart to see what's happening in every part of the country. And it breaks my heart to see what's happening, you know, in every part of the country. This music, this album, will bring people together. Without a doubt, your podcast is bringing people together.
Speaker 1:The outreach I do with music, with podcasts, with books, whatever it's like a calling you have to do it Stump. Another friend that I've done a lot of stuff with was quoted on a podcast just recently of saying you know how would I not try to spread the word and get more data and educate more people on what's really going on out there, to bring people together. I would be doing an injustice to my country, to my fellow man and woman if I didn't do that and I think if more people had that mindset, I think we'd be a lot better off. Clearly and without soapboxing too much more. I talked about music and how it affects us.
Speaker 1:You want to move somebody. We can do it in a podcast. Why do we have soundbites? Why do we have videos? Why do we have hard-hitting intros? Because we move by music. It gets us in our gut and we go whoa, what's that I got to be part of what? Whoa, what's that I got to be part of? What I got to listen? I got to listen and this album is going to do that. Man, and you're, you're coming up, you're going to be filming, you're part of the team, right, mike? And this is, uh, this is going to be a good thing and having you on board to help us promote it and we're really grateful.
Speaker 2:Oh, man, Well, I'm excited and you know it. These are those things that the, the living legacies, right? It's like cause I? I ask people and, Mike, I'm going to get your your take on this too. You know, I ask people about their legacy, what it is they want to leave behind, how they want to be remembered and I know it's a weird kind of question too, because legacy is usually after death, Right, but I've always been.
Speaker 2:When I worked with all these indigenous elders and traveled the world and interviewed them, we talked about a living legacy and, like, what is it that you're doing now purposefully to leave behind? And you know, we can talk about, like the awesome you know designs you have with your knives here, and we'll we'll chat a little bit more on how people can learn more and order some V knives, but you know you talk about the music here. These are things that are going to be there for future generations, for your family, for your friends, for your fans, to be able to say you know what? He left his mark on this world. He tried to do something to leave it better, to leave a positive message, to shine a light on an area that needs to be shined, whether it's something that's already beautiful or whether it's something that's ugly and we got to focus on it, try to fix it and do something better.
Speaker 2:You know you've talked a lot about that, John, and and you know in your work and what you've had to deal with battling the cartel, right there's a lot of things that we need to be able to try to fix, and I think it's up to us, you know, to step up and do whatever we can, however we can, whenever we can, to make sure that we're leaving this better for the next person. So, with that, Mike, I was going to ask you cause I've asked John this in the previous podcast you know, as far as, like your legacy, um, and I feel like you know we've kind of talked about some of the things that can already be included, but what do you feel like, uh, with you know recording this and with all your knives that you've been a part of in the designing, how do you think about your own personal legacy and how do you hope that people are going to remember you from all the things you've done and been a part of in your life?
Speaker 3:a Big, important question, I think, for I think for everyone on this earth. Um, my, my personal belief is that we're not just here, but we're here with a purpose, but we're here with a purpose, and some find that purpose a lot sooner than others, and they get in and they get out quickly. In other words and this is going to sound odd the purpose of a six-year-old that dies because they got run over by a truck may have just been to teach the parents to watch over their children better. I think tragedy also has an element of growth, education and inspiration, and I don't think anything doesn't happen for a reason. I think some people you know, they live to be 107 years old before they find out what it is they were supposed to do here, and some people get their job done very quickly.
Speaker 3:For myself, personally, I have found that it has helped me tremendously since I made the decision to practice just random acts of philanthropy, just, you know, random acts of kindness. Yeah, I was. I was late for a meeting the other day and I happened to be at the grocery store and there was a black family sitting in their car, and there was a black family sitting in their car and they didn't know anything about cars or auto mechanics or anything. I don't think they even had a jack or a pair of cables or anything. And the whole family was sitting there, the mother was outside, they didn't have cell phone signal and their car wouldn't start. And you know, I very easily could have just said oh well, it sucks for them. The Lord's blessed me. Thank you, god, get in my car and head off to church, right? But I thought you know I'm about to have a meeting about how many more, how many more dollars I can make in my company. I'm going to I'll skip the meeting. I'm going to help these people. I'm going to, I'll skip the meeting. I'm going to help these people. And just the look on their faces was just wow. We prayed and God sent us somebody and I was there, somebody that God sent. And I feel like that happens a lot and you either answer the calling or you don't, but sometimes you're the angel that God sends and you may not know it that God's working through you that way and a lot of times, if you take the calling, that can happen, and it's such an empowering feeling to be able to help others. Nothing feels more powerful or God-like than to be able to affect somebody's life in a very positive way.
Speaker 3:So for me, I want that definitely to be part of whatever legacy is attached to myself, but also that you know I meant something, I did something, I created something. I left something behind with the knives. I did something, I created something, I left something behind with the knives. I don't. I don't want a customer that buys one of our knives to go, oh, you know, this is wobbly, or this, this doesn't work right, or oh, my screws came out, or I'll shove that in the drawer and get it. I want people to go, wow, this is very well made and I'm going to take care of it so I can give it to my son when he gets old enough that kind of thing.
Speaker 3:And I want the music to also be the same way. I want someone to look at it and go. You know, these people really put their heart and soul into this and this really means something. They're not just using a bunch of cuss words and they're not just talking about what they hate and what they love. They're actually showcasing some real issues that we all could take a lesson from and, you know, dive deeper into. And, like I said about the ambiguity of some of the lyrics is that they can mean something different for a lot of different people, but the key is to have meaning. And so, yeah, just to have to have meaning. And and if I'm, you know, I think, if you're, if you're going to be judged, I'm not religious. I don't agree with religion, but I do believe in God. So if you're to be judged at the end of your life, I don't think you're judged on the world's effect on you. I think you'll be judged on your effect on the world.
Speaker 2:Some powerful stuff there, man, thank you for sharing that Mike Well said.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Mike, Thanks.
Speaker 2:With you know, obviously we've talked about V-Knives, we've talked about music. I know that the music part of where we're going to send people. That's probably going to be the next stage and the next time we get together on websites and everything too, because there's a lot that's happening kind of behind the scenes at this moment with the, with the music, with the production of everything and and you know the rollout there. But for folks who want to go and check out some of these designs and these amazing knives you have at V knives, can you tell people a little bit about, uh, where they can go, where the storefront is a website and how they can follow you and your journey online?
Speaker 3:Uh, yeah, absolutely. Um, you can go to uh vknivescom online. We sell direct online. You can go to several different dealers, such as Blade HQ Knife Center. If you're a dealer, you can go to Blue Ridge. There's several knife stores around the country and around the world that sell our products. If you go to our website, there is a section where you can email us. As the owner and founder, I actually read every single email and if you want to send a message to me, I will get it and I will get back to you. I also publish my cell phone number and so if anyone needs to get a hold of me, I'm a pretty easy guy to get a hold of.
Speaker 3:We have a retail store in Eatonville, washington here. It's a small little mountain town, beautiful town. If you've ever wanted to go see Mount Rainier, you basically drive through right where my store is at to get to the mountain. It's a, you know, great little store. There's a nice little wine tasting room next to it. We know the owners there, brandy and Jeff. They're great people, um and and um. Yeah, besides that, you can visit us on Facebook. Our, uh, our, our tag uh for Facebook is uh at knife life and the same on Instagram at knife life, it's N? I F E, l I F? E, um, and we're we're pretty easy to search. So, um, we do have a Tik TOK channel, but we're we don't have a huge presence there, um, we don't. We have a YouTube channel. We don't have a big presence there either. We're still slowly trying to crawl up to getting our our uh, you know, traction with the social media and stuff.
Speaker 3:It's, it's the way of the world now. And you have to do it back. You know I've been doing this for 30 years. You know, back when I started, everything was magazine print. And you know, people, people sit on the shitter and you know, read the, read the magazines. And you know, now they, they do the same thing. They're just sitting on the shitter and looking at their phone.
Speaker 3:But you know, um, so we, we have to have more of a presence and and, and we plan to, um, eventually, it's just, it's it's such a slow road and it ended up, you know, kind of in the beginning it was this oh, everybody's their own promoter, everybody's their own marketer. Well, now, it's not necessarily that way. If you want to make any kind of a presence, you almost kind of have to pay a marketing team to go in and help you do it. So, um, but we're we're doing it slowly, but, yeah, vknivescom, you can find anything you need. Um, we've got some really great innovative products on there.
Speaker 3:We stand behind everything. We guarantee our. We have a lifetime guarantee on manufacturing quality. If, for any reason, you're not happy with the craftsmanship, we'll replace or repair Most of the time. Even if you break a blade or something, we'll offer you like a half price on a new one. Um, so we, we do great customer service. We sharpen all of our knives for free, for life. Um, so, yeah, we definitely pride ourselves in customer service. And yeah, I can tell you one thing um, I know money is really short for a lot of people right now and, with inflation and with all the economical struggles that families are going through right now, there's not a lot of people that you know want to go fill their car up with five dollar gas and drive out and buy a two hundred dollar knife, you know. But if you do, I can promise you you'll be happy with it.
Speaker 2:I can promise you you'll be happy with it, for sure, man, I mean, I, I'm serious, I have, I've bought many of these. Um, I love supporting, uh, both of you guys and what you're doing. I'd I'd love the. I mean, I, I use this every single day, guys. There has not been a single day that this is not on my hip. I'm using it constantly. I've cleaned deer with it. I've cleaned hogs with it. I'm using it constantly. I've cleaned deer with it. I've cleaned hogs with it. I've used it for different things at the ranch. Um, you know, I'm taking it out with me all the time. There has not been a single failure. There has not been any issues. I think I might've had to maybe tighten one screw one time, but I put it to the test and I. That's a testament of your, your quality and your craftsmanship and your dedication to putting out the best product. Is that it's something I can tell uh folks and I do often about this.
Speaker 2:You know, I did a giveaway of this knife and a hidden war copy of the book. Folks were super stoked about it. A lot of people signed up and I think a lot of people know it. So, even though you don't have to hire someone to to talk about that here. You know some people do. Yeah, here he's showing us right here. Go ahead and Mike show the logo there. Awesome, there it is, the knives. Nice, I will make sure to include that as well, too, cause I think, as we're talking, it's probably just focusing on whoever's chatting at the moment, so I'm going to overlay that and the website where people can go in, that's V N I V E S, and make sure that you guys go and check that out. Maybe we can do. Uh, we'll talk a little bit after the podcast, maybe doing a little giveaway and offering something there as well, maybe another book and another knife or something We'll. We'll sort something out.
Speaker 2:Awesome. So let's, let's do it, man, We'll, we'll, we'll. We'll kind of have all the details too. And so this rolls out. We should do a giveaway Everyone sign, you know, follow each other's pages and everything too. I want to make sure that, John, you give a second to you know, plug out where people can follow you and if you want to just maybe talk for a few minutes about, you know, for those who hadn't tuned in yet to the other episode about Hidden War, the second edition of the Forward by Jack Carr, Tell us a little bit about that. What's the difference between that and the first edition?
Speaker 1:Why folks need to go pick that up right now. Sure, yeah, everybody can reach me at johnnorriscom on my website J-O-H-N-N-O-R-E-S. The same on Instagram J-O-N-N-O-R-E-S. There are a lot of imposters. Just look for the verified check mark, which people are having trouble finding. The real people. Now, facebook is the same.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're about a year into the second edition of Hidden War, the second printing. We're actually in our third printing of the second edition. My friend Jack Carr wrote a fantastic foreword. I re-upped and completely modernized what has happened since the COVID lockdown, since the change in administration, the lack of border security, to kind of modernize what the trends have been from the first book. But we have everything that's in the first book included as well the mission chapters, how the team started, the political struggles, all the different things, and that's available in print copy. It's available in ebook, on Kindle. It's also available now in Audible, because I reread those sections. The Audible's been really the most popular version of that book, because people are listening to their books rather than reading them. They're listening and watching podcasts rather than going to other sources. A good thing, we're getting it out. You can certainly get personalized copies from me directly through a direct message or through the website or go to Amazon and get any format of that book that you want.
Speaker 2:Excellent. Well, and I definitely strongly urge you guys to go to his website order from them. You've been so kind to autograph some copies and whenever you're sending out the trailblazer, you sign the box and everything too, which comes in an amazing box. I'll send some. I'll load some pictures here so people can see they are phenomenal. Great presentation. I love it.
Speaker 2:And, guys, I really am super excited that we got together today and be able to talk about medicine, the upcoming album Evolution, we're talking about the Trailblazers series with V-Knives and just all the important things I think we brought up today to talk about collectively, that we need to have this kind of discourse and being able to get behind. And you know we love our country, love talking about wanting to keep this as pure and beautiful as we can, and, you know, out in the woods and you know, around the table and in politics and everything we all need to. You know, shine a light on the goodness. And you two are wonderful gentlemen who've been doing some great things and I'm just I'm honored to be friends with you guys and be able to have you on here, and it means a lot to me that you guys join me today right on.
Speaker 3:I got one more really super important thing. This is the, this is the most important thing um my, uh, my drummer, as I my drummer, as I mentioned, corey, who is also our project manager here in the factory.
Speaker 3:We had just gotten some pretty serious news about his wife. That was very unexpected. She all of a sudden has found out that she has stage three cervical cancer, has found out that she has stage three cervical cancer and she has had several bouts of radiation and now going through chemotherapy and it has been a super burden and a super struggle for him and her. And they have a GoFundMe page and I would like to ask if you could put this on the podcast and urge some people, even if you could give five or ten bucks. We know money's tight, but we've gotten a lot of thoughts and a lot of prayers, but thoughts and prayers don't pay these guys bills and we'd really like to bring some awareness to her GoFundMe page.
Speaker 3:It's GoFundMecom forward slash Valerie. It's spelled V-A-L-O-R-I-E. Dash needs, dash, our dash help. But if you just go to GoFundMe and type in Valerie, it'll bring the page up and she could definitely use any kind of donation that you know from anyone. Anyway, and that's it. We would really appreciate that and kind of helping to spread that out there. It is a really really super tough thing. It's nothing that you really think about when you're seemingly young and healthy and stuff. Something like this pops up and it can just crush your entire world. So we would ask people maybe go get $5 or $10 or whatever they can.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll put it in the description, in the show notes. Here there'll be a direct link. I'll make sure that our family contributes as well today. Um and financially and as well as, uh, you know, our keeping her in our thoughts and prayers and, man, that's it. Appreciate that, absolutely, absolutely, no, it's, uh, my pleasure to help any way I can there and our prayers are.
Speaker 1:You know, our prayers to valerie and and Corey right now are huge, as Mike mentioned, but you can also go to my Instagram page through my link tree. There's an open link to that. Gofundme and with what you're doing, george, to supplement, that will really, really help and we appreciate your support, brother.
Speaker 3:Thank you, you can also find a link to that on the V-Knives website and V-Knives Facebook.
Speaker 2:Okay Well, we um v-knives website and v-knives facebook. Okay well, we will keep that out. Make sure you guys anything you can help out with would be phenomenal and make sure you're going and supporting everything that mike and john is doing. Uh, guys, again, thank you so much. It's been a truly an honor and a joy to get to know you guys better, um, and I look forward to having you guys on again when we're about to announce medicine evolution, because that album is coming, the debut for mike velicamp and uh man, I just cannot wait and, guys, you know we're gonna have to play a little bit of hidden war for for people.
Speaker 3:So oh gosh I think we should I think so, I think so, so we're so, so we're going to sign off.
Speaker 2:We're going to let you guys listen to some amazing music here, and maybe a little teasing, a little like guitar solo, cause you talked about being a lead. Now, man, that solo kicks a major ass we're going to share with everybody. Gentlemen, thank you Once again. This has been a joy. Thanks.
Speaker 3:George, Thanks man. Thanks for having us on. Thanks George. Thanks man. Thanks for having us on. Awesome. Yeah, Can't wait to do it again.
Speaker 2:All right, we'll talk to you guys soon. Let's see if those lasers can come up again. I don't know that did it last time.
Speaker 3:Get those lasers going. Get those lasers going.
Speaker 2:Cheers fellas, Y'all take care.
Speaker 3:Cheers. Thank you.
Speaker 1:We go into the night as brave men go, our faces streaked with woes of war, as we danced with death a hundred times before.