E198 A Conversation with AJ Channer of Fire From the Gods

>> AJ Channer: Yo, what's up? It's AJ from Fire From the Gods and you're listening to The Itch Podcast. Your man came on today to scratch it. Wagwon! We out here. Big up to The Itch Podcast. This is AJ from Fire From the Gods. Love ya.

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>> KC: My name is KC.

>> Dan: My name is Dan.

>> Aaron: And I'm Aaron. And this week we're scratching the itch for positive energy! Which is really probably an itch we should scratch all the time, now that I think about it. And I think we do.

>> KC: Mostly, yes.

>> Aaron: Yeah, especially for the interviews. But this week, I think it's above and beyond. We've got AJ Channer of Fire From the Gods and that man is a bundle of positive energy.

>> Dan: Yeah, he was just happy to be talking with us and we were appreciative of his time, that's for sure.

>> KC: Yeah. AJ is a guy that we've been wanting to have on the show for a while because the band itself is positive energy and... what would be a good way to phrase it? Human interest? Positive human interest.

>> Aaron: That's a pretty good way to put it, yeah. We love a band that has a message. Especially one of unity as opposed to divisiveness, which is what a lot of forces push people towards. And I think that describes Fire From the Gods pretty well. And plus, I don't do this often, but after you listen to this, I recommend just generally going on an AJ Channer interview binge, because the man is just fascinating. He's so thoughtful and has so much to say about so many things. That is clearly a person who has given thought and understands who he is and kind of knows where he sits on a lot of different things.

>> KC: We talk about this at the very beginning of the chat where Aaron kind of goes through his nicknames and he's very partial to Thug Zeppelin. But Metal Marley, I think, really fits him in that regard with the positive energy and making positive change.

>> Aaron: For sure.

>> Dan: We did back-to-back interviews. This was the first of two interviews. And one thing that both of these interviews made me kind of realize is that I'm not a fan of the music industry as it is nowadays. So I'm really glad that AJ Channer was on the same page as me when I was asking him about the success of Soul Revolution. Because I'm not a person that thinks in terms of streams and downloads. I'm old school. And, uh, especially when I'm talking about just the music I'm thinking about, like you said, an artistic standpoint and so when I asked that question, that's exactly what I was getting at. And I was so happy that he answered it how he did. I was so appreciative because I honestly had no idea because I really don't pay attention to those types of numbers. And it's really unfortunate too, because this interview and the other interview that we did are just two phenomenal artists, two phenomenal bands. And it's unfortunate when they have to constantly think about streams just to make sure that they can support themselves, because these are bands that should easily be able to support themselves. They put out great music, and I wish that more people did more to support them so that they could continue to just worry about making music as opposed to streams and downloads and all that fun stuff.

>> KC: Yeah. What I love about AJ is he's such a positive guy and he's just very open about himself and life and what he hopes that other people will end up doing with their life. And we need more guys like that around.

>> Dan: Yes.

>> Aaron: And one of the things that we are always fond of, which is he's appreciative and enjoys other people in the industry. We start this conversation, I'm just going to spoil it a little bit, geeking out about Corey Glover of Living Colour. It's like the first quarter of the conversation, and it's as much him as it is us. And I just love people that respect those who kind of set them up for their own careers and success.

>> Dan: Agreed.

>> KC: And as successful as they are, they're still kind of new in their rise in the rock industry, so it's still kind of new to him. And he's got a place where he wants to be, but, he's got to work a little harder to get there.

>> Aaron: It just takes time.

>> Dan: Yeah, I think almost every artist we've interviewed is like, "I got to put a good ten years in... and then ten years on top of ten years."

>> Aaron: I was gonna say, their first album, Narrative, was in 2016, so they're at eight now. So they're getting that first ten years as this incarnation of the group.

>> Dan: So we're definitely excited. We're going to be seeing AJ Channer and Fire From the Gods very soon on Shiprocked. And this interview is kind of one of three as a part of our unofficial Shipwrecked series, mainly done just because we're huge fans of the whole process.

>> Aaron: Oh, yeah. If you can talk to some guys before you see them on the boat, why not?

>> Dan: Exactly.

>> Aaron: Just more connections you've already made, more great bands that you can hype up for other people to hear.

>> KC: Exactly. And we're excited for you guys to listen to this interview. So without any further ado, here's our conversation with AJ Channer of Fire From the Gods. 

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>> Aaron: We are joined today by the Metal Marley.

>> AJ Channer: Yeah, man!

>> Aaron: Thug Zeppelin himself. A proud girl dad, we recently learned.

>> AJ Channer: Yep, yep, yep!

>> Aaron: And one of the most compelling vocalists in rock today, in our opinion. That is AJ Channer of Fire From the Gods. So AJ, thank you so much for being here. You've been a wishlist guest for us for a long time. We know time is a valuable resource and we really appreciate that you're giving us some of yours today.

>> AJ Channer: Thank you. Thank you, guys. Yeah, big up to ya Metal Marley. FFTG, my homies.

>> Aaron: That's right. You have a lot of great nicknames on your socials. So we just took those.

>> AJ Channer: Yeah, I know. I've been working on them for a while, dude. You know, I'm like, you know, "Let me go with Thug Zeppelin." That was actually a joke amongst the band. My drummer and I, we were talking, we were in the studio. Erik Ron, who did our last two records, American Son and Soul Revolution, and we were talking about like rock nicknames and shit and just Thug Zeppelin was one of them and I was like, "You know what, dude? I love Zeppelin. I'm from the streets, bro. (Laughs) And yo, I'm going with it." It stuck and people use it now. It's pretty funny. I like it.

>> Aaron: Nice! Well we were hoping we could kind of geek out for a minute to start. One of your newest releases from Fire From the Gods, is about a year ago, but still, you released a new version of "Thousand Lifetimes" that had the legendary Corey Glover of Living Colour.

>> AJ Channer: Yes!

>> Aaron: And holy cow, every time we talk to somebody, if his name comes up, everybody just glows. Like of people who are just respected and appreciated within the industry...

>> AJ Channer: Yeah, for sure.

>> Aaron: Yeah, he's got to be really high up there. So I would just love to hear kind of the story of how that came about, whether you guys interacted in person or whether it was sort of a "just layer vocals on the track" kind of thing.

>> AJ Channer: Yeah, for sure. Exactly. Big ups on recognizing. "Thousand Lifetimes" was such a big track on that record and we needed someone. We didn't necessarily go to the label like, "Oh, we want someone with a really big voice." But I'll tell you, when we first signed with Better Noise and Zoltan from Five Finger kind of took us under his wing a little bit and he became like our ipso facto manager at the time... Everyone in that camp was talking about, "Dude, we are really close with Corey Glover. We're very close with Corey Glover." And everyone had been throwing it around for about two years, even during COVID, and I was like, "So what's popping with this Corey Glover thing?" You know, "When is this ever going to really come to fruition?" And "Thousand Lifetimes," the opportunity presented itself and the label kind of just went for it and was like, yo, listen, Corey's interested. And by that point, the song was already recorded. It had already been out. As you all know, there was a version of it on the record, on Soul Revolution, with just myself. And they were like, "Yo, let's do this Corey Glover thing." And we were immediately like, "Yeah, let's do it." Because like you say, bro, he's kind of one of those underrated vocal legends in rock. And I don't know if it's specifically because they were like this black Red Hot Chili Peppers at the time or they had this, just this aura about them. And I'm going to be honest, I didn't really know much about Living Colour beyond "Cult of Personality." And maybe that's me showing my age and my ignorance on what else was going on with the band at the time. But that song was so massive and so huge that it really elevated this guy and his vocal style and everything that came out subsequent to it was kind of this very... The dude is just very good, you know what I'm saying? He's really like, I've hung out with Lajon of Sevendust. I've hung out with when JD, as in Jonathan Davis and Corey Taylor and all my big rock and metal idols. But he, when he graced the track, man, he blessed it, dude, because his voice, his range, the ideas, the soulfulness. Like, I feel like I've got a little bit of soul. And I like the fact that Fire From the Gods can bring a bit of soul into a genre which is otherwise delivered in a very standard... Metalcore is very standard. It doesn't really go beyond the rigidity of... Killswitch and then there's Lamb of God and then there's As I Lay Dying. And metalcore kind of stays in one lane. And when you have someone like Corey Glover that can be on this rock alternative metalcore song, it really added a different dynamic. So the process, he just went to the studio with Richie. Richie, my drummer, who also, does a lot of pre-pro and production for Fire From the Gods. So I wasn't there for the session, but Corey and I had talked, man. And dude, he just had all these really awesome things to say about being a black dude and being someone from my background and not being ashamed because, you know, I had a really tough time for a long time about who I wanted to be as a vocalist. And when he kind of just brought his two cents and really was like, "You can feel the energy, you can feel what you're saying." It totally uplifted me and it uplifted the song. And I think the version of it has actually done a lot better than the actual version. And granted, it's because we have a legend on the song, but the dude is also just... I mean, he has a presence, bro. And he brought it to the track and we're just forever grateful and thankful because no one's going to be able to say... that's like having Smokey Robinson on a soul song. You know what I'm saying? That's a legend, dude. Ah. And I can go around and I can tell people like, yo, even people that don't know rock and metal, they're like, "You don't know that song? Yeah. 'Cult of Personality.' Yeah." And I'm like, you know, that singer and all my homies, like older homies, they're not even into metal. They like Fire From the Gods because they fuck with me. But they're like, "Yo, yeah, that band, Living Colour, you should fuck with that dude." I'm like, "Oh, well, by the way..." And then they're like, "Oh, shit!" So the fact that outside of rock and metal, he's recognized as a legend and as someone with such a resume and such an aura, it just blessed Fire From the Gods And I'm glad that this part of our existence as a band was able and that Soul Revolution got the time of day to have someone like that on the track because we don't really do features. We've only done Sonny from P.O.D., and everyone comes at us. Even all the big dudes are like, "Yo, what's up, dude? I want to be on a song." And I'm like, "We'll think about it, bro."

>> KC: We wanted to kind of stay on that topic a little bit because you've been on your fair share of features as well.

>> AJ Channer: Oh, yeah.

>> KC: Some of our favorites, like Islander and Memphis May Fire. Hyro the Hero.

>> AJ Channer: Yes. Let's go.

>> KC: What's that experience like for you, putting your voice into someone else's art?

>> AJ Channer: Well, the Memphis thing, that was kind of like a fanboy thing, because I love Memphis May Fire. And listening to every record of theirs, every record from the early southern metal days to where they are now, I've always been a fan of Matty's vocals, Kellen's guitar, Kellen's writing. So it was like, yo, we went on tour with those guys. I've become friends with them. We've hung out. And Matty rang me up and was like, "Yo, bro, we want you on a track." And I was like, "You're bugging. No, you don't." He's like, "Yeah, dude!" So the Memphis May Fire thing was like a dream come true kind of thing, because I really respect what they've done in metalcore and, like, the Warped Tour scene. You know, kinda the unofficial name of our scene is kind of, you know, the Warped Tour bands. And it was like, "Yo, for real, though, the homies want you on the track." And I got the call. I was like, immediately, I'm doing it. Islander, Mikey, Hyro. We're all real close homies. I mean, we get down. Those are my people. And Hyro, that's my G. I live in Texas now, and Hyro's from Houston. He's in France right now with his missus. But Hyro is one of those people that kind of embraced me in Texas. Anywhere we went, he was like, "Nah, this is AJ. This is my mans." Like, any of that, uh, Houston. When we're in the streets of Houston, nobody messes with me because of Hyro, you know what I'm saying? So Hyro's like a big homie. That was perfect. And the fact that it lined up, because I'd known about Hyro and we'd known about each other even before Fire From the Gods got into the whole Better Noise camp. And then we had the same managers and the same lawyers, and all that stuff started to kind of align. So FU2, that became, like, a serious track, dude. And look, man, that track, not to be patting myself on the back and all, but that track streams better than some of the songs with, like, David Draiman and the songs with Corey Taylor and stuff like that. So it definitely was one of those things. 

I've done a lot of features, but I don't really specifically take them all. And during COVID, you know, you have to make a little extra bread, you know, so I did the Islander stuff and I did the Hero stuff, but at the same time, it was like, "These are really good strategic features for me." I got asked by Body Count to do some shit, and I was like, "Yo, that's Ice-T, bro. Right? That's your man. That's the fucking TV cop. That's the cop killer!" But that didn't work out. And I was like, "Yeah, it's all good." And they were looking for something that I wasn't really into, so I wanted to be smart about it, but hopefully the day will come when someone, I don't know, maybe the Deftones... maybe that'd be like a dope ass... If I did a Deftones song, I think I could die happy. Ill Nino as well. Ill Nino feature. I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with Ill Nino, but Ill Nino was like a nu metal God, bro. And New York City kids, like myself, like tri-state area kids, we grew up on Ill Nino, you know what I'm saying? That's one of those bands that when they were like, "I remember you guys when you did this!" Like, that was one of those bands for us. So to finally grace an Ill Nino track was another one of those bucket list items as far as rock and metal is concerned.

>> Dan: I just wanted to kind of reflect on the release of Soul Revolution a little bit. The third full-length album from Fire From the Gods. And I just want to ask, what factors would you contribute to the band seeming to reach new levels of success with each album?

>> AJ Channer: [Laughs] That record didn't do as well as American Sun! But in terms of popularity and in terms of people really understanding the message of Fire From the Gods, we did. In terms of that sort of success. So when you talk about streaming and the economic value of a career, it didn't do as great as we wanted it to do, and I'm openly admitting that. But in terms of people getting the message of Fire From the Gods and understanding the message of survival and the message about fighting against all odds and that, yeah, maybe American Son was my kind of love letter to the society that raised me. The idea of who we are as a people. And Soul Revolution came out of this, and especially the name... After COVID, when we started touring and stuff, like that, it just felt like the soul had just got sucked out of the people. And no matter the fact that people were coming out to shows, you know, all the guidelines and some people not wanting to come out to shows. I was talking to guys like Sonny from P.O.D., and they had gone out on tour, and he was, "Yo, how are the shows?" We were lucky enough for our first tour post-COVID to be with Korn and Staind. And Staind is a band that hadn't been on tour for ages. So all those shows were huge. But then we did a tour with From Ashes to New, and that was kind of, you know, bands on our level. So we went back to the club level. So you were interacting with people a little bit more. You saw you were going into cities that had been... the life had been sucked out of it. So Soul Revolution was kind of this idea that we need to unite on something bigger, and we need to unite on not just our ideals that we have of how society should run, but we really got to step up the way we treat and love each other. And Soul Revolution was just like that, man. It was just about that. And that's why a lot of these songs are a bit more melodic. I definitely matured as a vocalist. Richie and I, who do the majority and the bulk of our writing for Fire From the Gods, we matured as artists, and we really wanted to make a statement that no matter what the fuck you're going through, just keep your head up. Instead of there being a physical and violent revolution, let's change our heart, let's change our minds, let's change our souls. You know what I'm saying? So, yeah, in terms of people understanding the message of Fire From the Gods and that message spreading amongst the masses, I would say that Soul Revolution definitely compounded on the success and has taken us to a whole new light.

>> KC: I'm glad you said all that, because that's definitely what we, as a podcast, want listeners to take is the message behind your music and finding common ground with everybody versus the "us versus them" mentality that the world seems to thrive on. So we reiterate your whole message there.

>> AJ Channer: Yeah, man, thank you. I think it's important. It's been part of the message of Fire From the Gods At first, when people heard "Excuse Me," and stuff like that, they automatically were like, "Oh, you guys are a political band." And everywhere we went, "You guys are a political band." Because anytime someone says anything that has anything to do with a social commentary of any sort, you're immediately thrown into this "Rage Against the Machine. You're Rage Against the Machine! You're Rage Against Machine!" And any derivative, because don't get it twisted, the best form ever of hip hop and metal coming together and forging the best form of it, I think, has been Rage Against the Machine. No one's really done it better. So anytime that subsequent from that, any band that comes out that has some sort of message and has this sort of hip hop delivery, it's like, "Yo, Rage Against the Machine." But we weren't trying to be that, and I wasn't trying to be Zach. And let me tell you, Rage is my favorite band. But we weren't trying to make that kind of statement. We were just really trying to open the eyes of society and be like, "Yo, let's chill the fuck out and love each other, man. One love, brother. You feel me?"

>> KC: Yep.

>> Dan: Yeah. I'm really curious, as a dad of two boys, and I know, KC and Aaron... They're not quite dads, but they play the uncle role very well.

>> AJ Channer: Nice.

>> Dan: Since it's kind of a blind spot in our collective knowledge, I just want to ask, what impact has all this being a girl dad had on you?

>> AJ Channer: You know, I was raised... the only real male role model that I had growing up was my dad, right? And my dad and my mom split up very early, and I had two sisters that I lived in the house with, and then I lived with my stepsisters when I was in England or when I was in Brooklyn living with the other fam, so I've always been around women, dude. You know what I'm saying? That's essentially... and now I'm just straight up outnumbered! I got three women in the house, bro. Two female cats, you know? But, I love it, man, because Gary J, who runs, who's a big kind of radio promoter in the rock and metal scene, when I had the first girl, he was like, "Dude, I know what you might be thinking. I know what it is, but just chill, bro." He's like, "It's so much harder to raise girls than it is to raise a boy." And I was like, "Why do you say that?" He's like, "So just take your time." Because he's like, "Raising boys. Not to take anything away from, um, what you're doing with your two boys, but raising boys... Dude, you just have to teach them how to be a man. And if you're already a good dude, they're going to get that. But with girls, you have to teach them how they should be treated. And I was like, "Wow, dude." Because a lot of the men that came in and out of my life as kids were not good dudes. You know what I'm saying? I experienced a lot of domestic violence as a child. I saw a lot of people put their hands on my mom, put their hands on my sisters, and I told myself, like, "I just cannot be that guy and I will not be that guy. And I don't want my girls to see that." But, dude, they're like boys, bro. They're animals, these two little girls. So, no, I'm just like, "Whatever, man. Fuck you, too, dude!" My daughter calls me "Bruh." My six-year-old, dude. So I'm like, "You aight, bro. You're going to be fine." And I'm fine. So I chilled it, dude. I love 'em to death. Do I secretly want a little AJ running around? Yeah! You know what I'm saying? I want a little dick swinger in my house. Another dick swinger, bro. It'd be nice. But the two of them, they're cool, bro. And they have very contrasting personalities. One is super into Frozen and the other one likes cars and guns and all that kind of shit, you know? And it's rad. I live in Texas, so it's like, "We're out here, bro. We are out here, dude."

>> Dan: I heard it's easier to raise girls when they're younger, and then boys are harder when they're younger, and then it's easier to raise boys as they grow older because of, like, what you said.

>> AJ Channer: Probably! I'm telling you. I just know it because their mom, too. Yo! My youngest the other day, the two year old, I was like, her name's Josephine, yeah? And I'm like, "Josephine, come here, come here!" She's like, "I hear you!" I was like, "Wait, what?" She's like, "I hear you!" And then I looked at her mom. I was like, "You know who that sounds like?" She had her hand over her face like, "Oh, my God," like a two year old. And I'm calling her. So I know the whole, like, "Fuck you, dad!" is coming one day. That's all good, too. That's all good.

>> KC: That'll be at, uh, age four.

>> AJ Channer: Yeah, exactly.

>> Aaron: We'll have you back on in about ten years, and you and Dan can compare notes about where the kids are at and how it's all gone.

>> AJ Channer: Yes, yes! Hell yeah.

>> Aaron: If I can pivot one more time. We're very excited. The Itch is about to make our, hopefully in full force, Shiprocked debut.

>> AJ Channer: Oh, tight! Yeah.

>> Aaron: And, from what we hear... so are you.

>> AJ Channer: It's the first time on the boat, baby!

>> Aaron: Yeah, we're very curious as to what you are looking forward to, what your expectations are in terms of the experience of hanging with other bands and everything.

>> AJ: I heard that hanging with people at shows is great. But I heard, like, there's NOWHERE to hide on the boat. And, they're like, "Yo, homies are in the pit with the speedos on," so I want to see the people with the banana hammocks just trying to get their mosh on and how weird everyone gets. But I doubt everyone's going to get weird. I'm ready, dude. I'm ready, bro. It sounds insane. I asked a lot of the industry guys like, "Yo, are you going to Shiprocked? Do you ever go to Shiprocked? And they're like, "Hell, no!" But the bands are all like, "Yo, bro, you're going to have the time of your life." So I'm buzzing. And there's so many homies on there. The I Prevail guys are on there. Beartooth. This is going to be, like, a homie... This is like the Warped Tour 2017 crew. We were all on Warped together, and now we're in the mainstream, kind of quote unquote "mainstream" rock scene, and we're maturing together, and these bands are growing. So this is just the next evolution, bro. Now we're on the boat. You know what I'm saying? I think, um, Matty's thinking about having kids, too, now, so we're all a little bit more mature, bro. I'm stoked, dude. This is going to be dope, bro. Yeah. I want to play shuffleboard.

>> Aaron: There you go.

>> KC: Well, you'll be seeing us on there, so we'll be sure to say hello.

>> AJ: Hell, yeah. Oh, rad. Let's kick it. Let's kick it. Let's have a drink with. 

>> Dan: Absolutely. Yeah.

>> Aaron: We'll have The Itch and Fire From the Gods shuffle board game. I could do that.

>> AJ Channer: Yeah, man. And we're going to Jamaica. My folks, I'm Jamaican, so this is a massive opportunity for even some of my family members to come out and kick it. When we get to Ocho Rios, I don't know what the setup is going to be like, but I've told everybody. My mom told everybody. We'll see. My brothers and my sisters, they're all stoked, man, that all live in Jamaica, so we'll see, man. I'm buzzing. My missus is buzzing, too, because she doesn't really go on the road with me quite a bit. And this is like, a crazy opportunity. And a lot of people on this have been into Fire From the Gods for years. And our early days when we were a super super tiny, broke baby band till now, where we are. So a lot of those people we've known, and they've been like, "Yo, Shiprocked. You guys got to go to Shiprocked." For, like, the last five years, "Shiprocked. Shiprocked. Shiprocked." And we're like, "All right." And our driver is this dude called Dom. He drove our bandwagon and stuff on the road for a few tours. And he's like the mayor of Shiprocked, bro. Everywhere we go, he's like, "Oh, I got some of the Shiprocked family coming out to see you tonight." He's this old dirty Italian dude from Queens, so he and I get on pretty well. So he's been buzzing. He's been telling all his homies, "You got to hang out with Fire From the Gods." So we're stoked, bro. Stoked for the boat.

>> Dan: Yeah, it's a lot of fun. And just seeing your peers and hanging out with your peers is what I've been told is probably one of the best things.

>> AJ Channer: Yeah, yeah.

>> Aaron: AJ, thank you so much for joining us today. It's a pleasure to hear your story. And sooner than later, we hope to hear more of it. I'm sure you're working on something and it'll be a matter of time.

>> AJ Channer: Oh, yeah. We got a lot of cool shit. We got a lot of cool shit that we're working on, man.

>> Aaron: Well, thank you very much again. We're really looking forward to seeing you guys and so many others on Shiprocked. It's going to be a blast.

>> AJ Channer: Big ups. Big ups. Big ups, man. I started a record label called Audio Pariah Entertainment. So when you guys get a chance, man, just hit the interwebs and check it out. Are you guys Star Wars dudes? I signed a band called the Mandalore, and, it's kind of like Galactic Empire in a sense. They dress up like Mandalorians, though, but so it's all about Mandalorian, lore and culture. And the first song myself and Richie wrote for the band called, "This Is the Way," obviously. So they're on Audio Pariah Entertainment, as well as a band called Yung Mo$h. And I'm looking to pad the roster, build on the roster over the next year or so. So check us out, man. Audio Pariah Entertainment. Fire From the Gods, we definitely have a new record coming out, new tunes coming out this year. So everyone just keep an ear out. Keep an eye out, and I'll see you mans on the boat.

>> Dan: And you are welcome back to come promote your record anytime.

>> AJ Channer: Awesome. Thank you.

>> Dan: So thank you very much for listening to The Itch Podcast. My name is Dan.

>> KC: I'm KC.

>> Aaron: And I'm Aaron.

>> AJ Channer: Yo, I'm AJ. Hi! Thug Zeppelin, Metal Marley. You know, wagwon. One love. I love you dudes. We out here. In us we trust. Peace.

>> Dan: And until next time, when push comes to shove, then I'm not giving up.

>> AJ Channer: Yes! Alright, lads.

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>> Aaron: If you enjoyed what you heard in this episode, please subscribe and tell a friend about The Itch.

>> KC: Check out the show notes for links about the episode, as well as our new music playlist and where you can hear us every Sunday night and.

>> Dan: You can interact with us at itchrocks.com. Or on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Gmail. All at itchrocks. I-T-C-H-R-O-C-K-S.