It took the world 15+ years to digest the work done by a group of 20 yr old genius musicians. I bought Focus as a teenager when it came out 30 yrs ago, and it has been in my head ever since. Thank you for this podcast! the music, and sharing your amazing journey.
When Paul starts smiling when they talk about fans of Cynic, it's like he's gone back to that moment of when Kelly told him there's a load of Cynic fans out in the world. Love it.
Im glad Paul explained the reason behind chucks “war” with pestilence. Cause patrick mameli likes to tell everyone chuck disliked them cause they were better and their shows were better and chuck was jealous.
Ok I'm only halfway through the video but I can already give you guys a huge thanks for this interview, your choice of guests has been stellar so far. I rarely comment but after Kelly Shaefer, Steve Di Giorgio and Max Phelps I can't hold back a huge thanks, this brings so much insight to the bands I love the most. (side note: I hope you get Gene Hoglan and Bobby Koelble one day). Paul is right when he says the Hellfest was the first reunion show, I was there, I wouldn't miss it for the world, Wacken was a month later and even the Norwegian show where their concert was filmed took place a few days after. Hellfest 2007 was such a banger it had both Cynic and Atheist in their reunion tours. The sound was a bit crappy for Cynic standards but it wasn't their fault, all the scenes had a terrible sound back then, and despite that it remains a fabulous memory. I was lucky enough to see Cynic twice more after that, indoors at Le Nouveau Casino in Paris in 2008 and 2010. The latter remains to this day the best show I've ever seen in my life. And KC, I get what you say: "I'm nervous out of respect". This was EXACTLY how I felt for my very first in-person interwiew, which happened to be with Paul and Sean at this 2010 parisian show. I was a nervous wreck, speaking directly to my favorite muscians, asking them questions I had thoroughly prepared but somehow made less sense once I was seated at their table. Turns out they were extremely humble, easy going and lovable guys, Sean being more outspoken and Paul more shy and quiet, as you'd expect. Sean was so great at making me feel slightly less nervous, even coming back to talk after the show for a while. I have fond memories of this day. I grew up a fan of this early technical death metal scene from a very young age, and while Chuck passed away when I was 12, I had already been a fan of Death for a few years. So all my teenager years I grew up knowing I'd never get the chance to see Death, Cynic or Atheist live, most of my favorite bands were deemed to remain things of the past. I was overwhelmed with joy when Cynic and Atheist came back in the late 2000s, and somehow even happier when Paul and Sean took part in the first Death To All reunion. All these musicians coming back, giving us a chance to witness their magic in person, it was the best feeling in the world, I could finally catch up with time. So thank you Paul for bringing Cynic back, thank you for keeping both Reinert and Malone's memories alive. Ascension Codes is a masterpiece, an album that moved in ways I didn't expect. And thank you KC, Joel and Anthony for this podcast and the fantastic music you've made. Cryptic Implosion remains a cornerstone of death metal 15 years later!
Paul is such a special musician and huge asset to early death metal.... He deserves all the praise for the inspiration and huge musical moments he has graced us all with. Thank you Paul. And thank you for this podcast
The band Paul's thinking of is the 70's Dutch Prog band Focus. Famed Dutch guitarist Jan Akkerman was in the band. This is the best interview/discussion I've ever seen with Paul. Awesome that you guys were able to speak with him for over 4 hours.
I'm nearing the end of this EPIC interview and just had to jump on to say something because it's really uncanny... when you guys start talking about how Cynic influenced so many bands especially with the guitar picking doubles I immediately thought of the song "When Good Dogs Go Bad" from Dillinger Escape Plan... then seconds later Paul mentions DEP and how his friend pointed out "the Cynic part" - which FOR SURE is the same song!!!! I've been referring to that as "the cynic part" since 2002!!!! LOL I also have a couple of Cynic stories to share with the diehards that I'll have to come back and drop when I have more time as I was in contact with Sean Reinert (and Paul) for some years as a fellow drummer and my band even got to open for Cynic in 2014 (dream come true). PS. This is seriously one of the most in-depth interviews I have ever had the pleasure of seeing - it rivals anything Joe Rogan has ever done. Thanks for this guys, keep up the great work and thank you Paul for your genuine openness :)
Thank you, thank you! This is the interview I always wanted to hear from him. It's so great that, despite how deep, spiritual and cerebral he is, he still maintains that recalcitrant attitude of a young metalhead. Just pure authenticity -- I love this man. Side note: one of the items on my bucket list is to have him guide me through a ahayuasca session. Just got to the part discussing "Traced in Air" and seriously, the last time I was moved to tears was listening to "King of those who Know." that main theme hurts my soul -- in a good way.
Damn, it's been 30 years since _Focus_ was dropped? I was 13, now I'm 43. ⏲ Time is so f**ked up. Edit: this is by far the coolest and most extensive Cynic-related interview I've ever watched. Thank you all for these excellent Q&As with Paul & Jason. 🙏 2nd Edit: I, too, made several fart tapes in the 1980s.
Awesome episode. Conrats on having Paul on and thanks for always having consistently the best guests and interviews. There's not many other platforms out there for metal heads to be able to hear people like Paul talk this in depth about themselves and their music. Cynic was a massive influence on me and really opened my mind as to what music could be and made me realize that it really does need to be about self expression moreso than anything else. Keep it up guys, you're absolutely killing it. Ps. perhaps at some point you could also get Jason Gobel from Focus on here? Cheers guys, congrats again.
Seriously… “sorry for interrupting this gear talk on our podcast with a legendary prog musician but I’M actually not a musician so let’s change the subject again” like bro I don’t even know your name 4 hours later
The Berkeley show in 94 is awesome. I love all the live footage and recordings from the Focus tour. Especially Dynamo. The talk of snail mail reminded me about chain letters. Haven't received one of those since the 90s. You could kind of replicate it with email but it wouldn't be the same. Ram Dass, Alan Watts, and Terence McKenna are like the 3 Musketeers of psychedelics. McKenna introduced me to the concept of heroic doses among other things.
Ive watch this one live yesterday until 1am in the morning! Best episode so 👌 far. PS. Never thought Paul would've any contact with Slayer at such a young age...interesting tidbits.
This is amazing guys, thank you for this, Cynic is one of my favorite bands, it was beautiful to hear all this history from Paul, amazing amazing amazing
I always kick my self when I remember missing cynic ,cannibal(barnes) & blakkniss show at soma in S.D. caught them with faceless 15 yrs later at h.o.b. on my bday. Ftw RIP Sean & Sean . Dope kimono, Dope broadcast
Focus is hands down in my top 10 what a masterpiece of a album that changed everything for me, I had never heard music of that caliber before and just the vibe and mixture of jazz fusion is awesome and gives the album a real sense of originality. The riffs in celestial voyage are amazing, Especially that main riff! Love Paul and the amount of shit he’s gone through, all that darkness and still remains who he is is just inspiring and insightful on how to deal with life’s difficulties.
Wow this was a killer episode guys only just found your channel lots to go back and discover and never realized Paul was such a killer dude man he was awesome !!! Keep up the great work !
David Gates and Bread are awesome. Also didn't realise Mark Van Erp was with Cynic. Love his playing on Monstrosity's Horror Infinity ep and Imperial Doom.
@@noized77 Agreed. I do find the versions of the songs on the Horror Infinity ep (coupled with the dirtier production) to be even more brutal than the versions on Imperial Doom. Still love both of 'em.
1:31:30 I was literally just thinking that Fallujah is the modern day Cynic. It’s almost like they made death metal beautiful. Funny to see you guys commenting.
Can anyone make out who he said was homophobic? It's at about 1:24:40 it gets all jumbled as he says it. I'm always amazed when it's talked about how originally people hated Cynic. I saw that Cannibal Corpse/Cynic/Sinister tour in 94. People here in Pittsburgh LOVED it. Back then we went to shows with 20 or 30 people in our circle and every single one of us ran out and bought Focus immediately. We were completely blown away.
Wanted to mention Wehrmacht is chill... not a nazi thing at all more from that time period when they would use refs like that without knowing the unfortunate connections. Portland OG's!
It took the world 15+ years to digest the work done by a group of 20 yr old genius musicians. I bought Focus as a teenager when it came out 30 yrs ago, and it has been in my head ever since. Thank you for this podcast! the music, and sharing your amazing journey.
4 hours?? Man you guys are running one of the best podcasts ever imo
Agreed
When Paul starts smiling when they talk about fans of Cynic, it's like he's gone back to that moment of when Kelly told him there's a load of Cynic fans out in the world. Love it.
Im glad Paul explained the reason behind chucks “war” with pestilence. Cause patrick mameli likes to tell everyone chuck disliked them cause they were better and their shows were better and chuck was jealous.
Ok I'm only halfway through the video but I can already give you guys a huge thanks for this interview, your choice of guests has been stellar so far. I rarely comment but after Kelly Shaefer, Steve Di Giorgio and Max Phelps I can't hold back a huge thanks, this brings so much insight to the bands I love the most. (side note: I hope you get Gene Hoglan and Bobby Koelble one day).
Paul is right when he says the Hellfest was the first reunion show, I was there, I wouldn't miss it for the world, Wacken was a month later and even the Norwegian show where their concert was filmed took place a few days after. Hellfest 2007 was such a banger it had both Cynic and Atheist in their reunion tours. The sound was a bit crappy for Cynic standards but it wasn't their fault, all the scenes had a terrible sound back then, and despite that it remains a fabulous memory. I was lucky enough to see Cynic twice more after that, indoors at Le Nouveau Casino in Paris in 2008 and 2010. The latter remains to this day the best show I've ever seen in my life.
And KC, I get what you say: "I'm nervous out of respect". This was EXACTLY how I felt for my very first in-person interwiew, which happened to be with Paul and Sean at this 2010 parisian show. I was a nervous wreck, speaking directly to my favorite muscians, asking them questions I had thoroughly prepared but somehow made less sense once I was seated at their table. Turns out they were extremely humble, easy going and lovable guys, Sean being more outspoken and Paul more shy and quiet, as you'd expect. Sean was so great at making me feel slightly less nervous, even coming back to talk after the show for a while. I have fond memories of this day.
I grew up a fan of this early technical death metal scene from a very young age, and while Chuck passed away when I was 12, I had already been a fan of Death for a few years. So all my teenager years I grew up knowing I'd never get the chance to see Death, Cynic or Atheist live, most of my favorite bands were deemed to remain things of the past. I was overwhelmed with joy when Cynic and Atheist came back in the late 2000s, and somehow even happier when Paul and Sean took part in the first Death To All reunion. All these musicians coming back, giving us a chance to witness their magic in person, it was the best feeling in the world, I could finally catch up with time. So thank you Paul for bringing Cynic back, thank you for keeping both Reinert and Malone's memories alive. Ascension Codes is a masterpiece, an album that moved in ways I didn't expect.
And thank you KC, Joel and Anthony for this podcast and the fantastic music you've made. Cryptic Implosion remains a cornerstone of death metal 15 years later!
Paul is such a special musician and huge asset to early death metal.... He deserves all the praise for the inspiration and huge musical moments he has graced us all with. Thank you Paul. And thank you for this podcast
The band Paul's thinking of is the 70's Dutch Prog band Focus. Famed Dutch guitarist Jan Akkerman was in the band. This is the best interview/discussion I've ever seen with Paul. Awesome that you guys were able to speak with him for over 4 hours.
Then he goes on to name Cynic’s first album Focus. We’re all connected.
i thought i had a good childhood until i realized i never made a fart tape
I'm nearing the end of this EPIC interview and just had to jump on to say something because it's really uncanny... when you guys start talking about how Cynic influenced so many bands especially with the guitar picking doubles I immediately thought of the song "When Good Dogs Go Bad" from Dillinger Escape Plan... then seconds later Paul mentions DEP and how his friend pointed out "the Cynic part" - which FOR SURE is the same song!!!! I've been referring to that as "the cynic part" since 2002!!!! LOL
I also have a couple of Cynic stories to share with the diehards that I'll have to come back and drop when I have more time as I was in contact with Sean Reinert (and Paul) for some years as a fellow drummer and my band even got to open for Cynic in 2014 (dream come true).
PS. This is seriously one of the most in-depth interviews I have ever had the pleasure of seeing - it rivals anything Joe Rogan has ever done. Thanks for this guys, keep up the great work and thank you Paul for your genuine openness :)
Thank you, thank you! This is the interview I always wanted to hear from him. It's so great that, despite how deep, spiritual and cerebral he is, he still maintains that recalcitrant attitude of a young metalhead. Just pure authenticity -- I love this man.
Side note: one of the items on my bucket list is to have him guide me through a ahayuasca session.
Just got to the part discussing "Traced in Air" and seriously, the last time I was moved to tears was listening to "King of those who Know." that main theme hurts my soul -- in a good way.
Man the world needs Cynic more than ever I hope Paul can continue Cynic with the current lineup. For Reinert, Malone, Chuck and the world.
Pauls music has touched me so deeply throughout the years
this conversation tells an unexpectedly beautiful life story. thanks 🙏
Damn, it's been 30 years since _Focus_ was dropped? I was 13, now I'm 43. ⏲ Time is so f**ked up.
Edit: this is by far the coolest and most extensive Cynic-related interview I've ever watched. Thank you all for these excellent Q&As with Paul & Jason. 🙏
2nd Edit: I, too, made several fart tapes in the 1980s.
Paul Masvidal is the man! Such an awesome guy and massive talent. Much love! Awesome interview guys! 🤘🏻🖤
Awesome episode. Conrats on having Paul on and thanks for always having consistently the best guests and interviews. There's not many other platforms out there for metal heads to be able to hear people like Paul talk this in depth about themselves and their music. Cynic was a massive influence on me and really opened my mind as to what music could be and made me realize that it really does need to be about self expression moreso than anything else. Keep it up guys, you're absolutely killing it.
Ps. perhaps at some point you could also get Jason Gobel from Focus on here?
Cheers guys, congrats again.
+1 for Jason, I'd love to hear his side of the Cynic story and his upbringing as a guitarist!.
This was an amazing interview and I have a new life goal to hang out with Paul one day. Great interview.
Killer episode with a fantastic musician! 🙌
I love how the flat brim brah brah shuts down the interesting gear talk to get into another hour of drugs
Seriously… “sorry for interrupting this gear talk on our podcast with a legendary prog musician but I’M actually not a musician so let’s change the subject again” like bro I don’t even know your name 4 hours later
The Berkeley show in 94 is awesome. I love all the live footage and recordings from the Focus tour. Especially Dynamo. The talk of snail mail reminded me about chain letters. Haven't received one of those since the 90s. You could kind of replicate it with email but it wouldn't be the same. Ram Dass, Alan Watts, and Terence McKenna are like the 3 Musketeers of psychedelics. McKenna introduced me to the concept of heroic doses among other things.
Best interview with Paul I’ve ever heard!👌
Ive watch this one live yesterday until 1am in the morning! Best episode so 👌 far. PS. Never thought Paul would've any contact with Slayer at such a young age...interesting tidbits.
It was hard to get threw this with out pausing and jamming out every once and a awhile
Great show
Glad to be tuning in for this one, cheers guys!
This is great. Paul's stories are hilarious, especially the one about Jesus cutting his hair.
This is amazing guys, thank you for this, Cynic is one of my favorite bands, it was beautiful to hear all this history from Paul, amazing amazing amazing
First track on Carbon Based Anatomy, "Amidst the Coals" still chokes me up. So Beautiful
This is my first time watching your podcast and got here from Cynic's Facebook page. I really enjoyed you guys and this whole discussion.
I always kick my self when I remember missing cynic ,cannibal(barnes) & blakkniss show at soma in S.D. caught them with faceless 15 yrs later at h.o.b. on my bday. Ftw
RIP Sean & Sean . Dope kimono, Dope broadcast
My friend and I have 6 of the songs we videotaped at the Mason Jar in 1994 from a few feet away: ua-cam.com/video/6VLlrgmWxhg/v-deo.html
I luv your podcast brothers !!!! Great questions as always, entertaining. This cat has always been one of my favorite musicians.
Focus is hands down in my top 10 what a masterpiece of a album that changed everything for me, I had never heard music of that caliber before and just the vibe and mixture of jazz fusion is awesome and gives the album a real sense of originality. The riffs in celestial voyage are amazing, Especially that main riff! Love Paul and the amount of shit he’s gone through, all that darkness and still remains who he is is just inspiring and insightful on how to deal with life’s difficulties.
This one's a gem of an episode!! Cheers guys
Dude, this was sick…..just followed on Twitch. Excited to check future episodes out!
Hell yeah!
Wow this was a killer episode guys only just found your channel lots to go back and discover and never realized Paul was such a killer dude man he was awesome !!! Keep up the great work !
David Gates and Bread are awesome. Also didn't realise Mark Van Erp was with Cynic. Love his playing on Monstrosity's Horror Infinity ep and Imperial Doom.
Imperial Doom to me was the perfect Florida death metal record. It balances out the technicality and the brutality just right.
@@noized77 Agreed. I do find the versions of the songs on the Horror Infinity ep (coupled with the dirtier production) to be even more brutal than the versions on Imperial Doom. Still love both of 'em.
Man, this episode really was a well done forum, feeling the feels 🙏
I was at the 2 Berkley square shows, Cannibal and Cynic. O ya!!!!! Great memories ! Me and Mike Hamilton went like we did all the old school shit.
Bravo, amazing interview/podcast
Simply amazing!
😸
one of my main inspirations in the metal sphere !
i didn't want to give this a like because it was at 69 likes, but i did anyway. Thanks! that was a great interview!
1:31:30 I was literally just thinking that Fallujah is the modern day Cynic. It’s almost like they made death metal beautiful. Funny to see you guys commenting.
Sweet vocoder at 47:26 😎
Fantastic vid! Paul is a fuckin legend, indeed.🔥
Still waiting on that sequel
4 hours! Didn't feel like much actually 😅
My dream is to be as dripped out as Paul is here.
3rd Rock from the Sun!!
I wonder if Paul was ever into Jiddu Krishnamurthi. Cali, Ojai and all that...
Can anyone make out who he said was homophobic? It's at about 1:24:40 it gets all jumbled as he says it.
I'm always amazed when it's talked about how originally people hated Cynic. I saw that Cannibal Corpse/Cynic/Sinister tour in 94. People here in Pittsburgh LOVED it. Back then we went to shows with 20 or 30 people in our circle and every single one of us ran out and bought Focus immediately. We were completely blown away.
Nevermind it was Sean. Sometimes I'm too impatient to wait for the answer and post a question before finishing 😂
Was that an enneagram referrece at the end
WHERE. IS. MAKING. OF. FOCUS?!?!?!
I guess (i hope) it will be released on sept, cause the album was released on the 14th of sept 1993, so this year marks its 30th anniversary. 🎉
KC is my favorite. Speak up mate!
Jesus literally created Cynic.
Wanted to mention Wehrmacht is chill... not a nazi thing at all more from that time period when they would use refs like that without knowing the unfortunate connections. Portland OG's!