GRAMMYs

Death Angel

Photo credit: Stephanie Cabral

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Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee: Death Angel's Rob Cavestany Reflects On The Success Of "Humanicide" & "Giving Up My Life To Music"

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Ahead of the 62nd GRAMMY Awards on Jan. 26, the Recording Academy caught up with the Cali-based guitarist, whose thrash-metal outfit is nominated for Best Metal Performance
Katherine Turman
GRAMMYs
Jan 6, 2020 - 11:25 am

Death Angel lead guitarist Rob Cavestany was more excited than a kid on Christmas morning when he heard that his band—who've endured impressive highs and commensurate lows—was nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Metal Performance for "Humanicide," the title track of the quintet's ninth album.

That excitement has only grown for the Northern California-bred metallers as the 62nd GRAMMY Awards show draws closer. We caught up with Cavestany right before the 2019 holidays—Death Angel was on tour, right up until their annual San Francisco hometown Christmas gigs. But the nomination was always in his head: "When you're a kid, this is like what you dream of in the back of your mind. I respect and love all kinds of music and so many of the people I worship in music have earned this achievement." Plus, he notes, "to top it off, Alicia Keys is hosting the GRAMMYs, and my love for Alicia Keys is well known."

Cavestany, who co-founded Death Angel with his cousins as a teenager in 1982, co-produced Humanicide. Lead vocalist Mark Osegueda joined in 1984; rhythm guitarist Ted Aguilar in 2001; while the rhythm section of drummer Will Carroll and bassist Damien Sisson, have been members for 11 years. If Cavestany's cousins are no longer members, Death Angel circa 2020 is very much a strong brotherhood, united by friendship, their fans and a passion for metal that includes cementing both DA's legacy and future. As the ebullient guitarist states: "We're not going to stop. This is what we do. This is what we live for."

2020 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Nominees List

How did you first learn about Death Angel’s GRAMMY nomination for Best Metal Performance?

I was in my bunk on our tour bus. It was literally like 5:30 in the morning and I was just starting to fall asleep because I’m quite the night owl and I also get insomnia. Mark, our singer, got the news from a friend. She texted him and said, "In about 15 minutes, they're going to release the information, but I just want you to know you're nominated." He had woken up to go to the bathroom and he saw his texts blowing up, and was like, "What the hell?!"

He came right over to my bunk and just started shaking me, "Rob, Rob, wake up!" At the very first I thought something terrible had happened. I could just see his face with the glow of his phone. He's like, "Look at this text. We're nominated for a GRAMMY!" Then we shook each other and we’re shaking hands and laughing. Then I just laid there going, "Am I dreaming?"

The song is "Humanicide," which gives the album its title. Can you tell me about the writing process?

The song has this very epic intro, so that's why it's the first song; it’s got this "saying hello" vibe, a very metal start to a song or record. I wrote that part when we were on tour with Slayer—us and Anthrax—for nine and a half weeks for our previous album [2016's The Evil Divide]. Being on tour with Slayer, you're inspired by some pretty heavy stuff. I watched their show night after night, being really, really impressed with their set and just how on top of their game they were. One of the nights on the bus, I wrote the foundation of the intro, the main, underlying rhythm. When we started writing for this new album, I was like, "Where is that thing I wrote on the Slayer tour?" I couldn't find it. I was searching like a surgeon! I found the piece started the writing off that.

And then Mark is the lyricist?

Then Mark got a hold of it and started working on the lyrics; I didn't hear the lyrics for that song until we were actually in the recording studio. The day he showed me the lyrics, right when I saw the title of the song I immediately knew it was going to be the title of the whole record. I was like, "What does that mean? 'Humanicide?' That's a great word, like, how metal does it get?!" I fell in love with the title before I even read the lyrics. I came into the studio and listened to what he sang, and it was one of those times where I just turned around and all I could do was give Mark a huge hug. I was like "Oh my God, YES!" The music and his lyrics and melody were just one of those natural pairings… boom!

One of the definitions of "humanicide" is the extinction of the human race by the human race.

And let it be known that we are a very, very, positive and positive spirit and energy kind of people and band. All the dark topics and brutal things happening in our lyrics or in our concepts are meant as a message or warning; a wake-up call kind of thing. We're not saying it should happen, but it's where we're going if we continue like this, so we need to do something about it, so that kind of thing does not happen.

Have you seen an increase in sales, streams, etc., since the GRAMMY nom?

I haven't looked at those stats yet, but somehow it just explodes in a whole network of promotion in and of itself. Tons of people are congratulating us and tagging us and it's given us this whole amazing push. We're on cloud nine every night. There's a great part in our set where Mark introduces a song off our album called "The Pack." Our fan club is called The Pack, and The Pack means us, our fans, the whole metal community. It's real inclusive; a unity kind of situation. When he's talking to the crowd, everyone's feeling it and all uniting in the spirit of metal. Then, then he drops it and says, "By the way, we got this amazing news that we've been nominated for GRAMMY!" And the way the crowd just explodes cheering for that! It's unlike any other, because they're so proud and they include themselves in it; Mark makes them included.

Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee: Death Angel

You've done a lot of records since 1982. What do you think coalesced in the world to make this GRAMMY nod happen now?

I guess it's a number of factors. I wouldn't say "Humanicide" is our best song, though it is one of my favorite of ours. But we also have a lot other f**king killer songs and killer records that could have been in this position. It was more of a combination of everything over the last year. This album came out about six months ago, but before that, as we were approaching the album, we ramped up everything; our work ethic, our whole strategy. We kind of had to clean house. We had a different booking agent; we got a new management team—and we're self-managed now, basically. Within the band, we've defined each person's strong points and their forte and what we handle between me and Mark and Ted, and the other secret weapon is Ted's wife [Tricia Aguilar]. She's the person who's not in the band that's helping us, she's an amazing, brilliant woman who is very, very well versed in marketing and promotion. Also, we started to up our [stage] production, we got a new light guy. We invested a lot of money and time into what we're doing here. We have a team that is studying social media and our visibility exploded massively, like by the thousands. We don’t do anything weird or conform into some thing that's not us, but we're trying to use the weapons of choice properly.

A difficult part of the Death Angel story is your 1990 tour bus accident. In Arizona, en route to Vegas, the bus crashed, and drummer Andy Galeon was critically injured, needing more than a year to recover. At the time, DA were slated to be the opening act for the 1991 Clash of the Titans tour featuring Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax, but were replaced by Alice In Chains. From 1991–2001, Death Angel were essentially broken up. I can’t even imagine the depression and anguish that must have caused.

Yeah, absolutely. That was definitely, definitely one of the darkest points of my life. The dark cloud that we were living under… you just kept going, "Why did this happen to us?" We were rising, at the highest peak of what we were doing. We got a real hardcore lesson about how the business is, where if you're not moving forward then you're falling backwards. We were trying to stand still and recover from the shock of the accident happening. Soon as we stood still, our record label [Geffen] dropped us because we didn't immediately replace our drummer and get right back on the road supporting our album.

Read More: Alice In Chains' Jerry Cantrell Is Just Happy To Be Nominated (For The Ninth Time)

I think ultimately the karma points you earned from doing that is a win, though I know it certainly didn't feel like it.

I agree with you. I've thought of that a million times, trying to process it, going through my mind and my soul. The only thing is how badly Andy, our drummer, got injured. We're all totally recovered, but he's got permanent scars. I could say "Yeah, everything happens for a reason," because who knows what would've happened had we continued on? I think we would've peaked out and faded and we would never have been able to come back together again. But because we were forced to stop too soon and broke up the band right in the middle of everything, it forced us apart from each other. It forced us to do other things in life that we wouldn't have done.

We were just starting to go crazy; looking back at that point, I was like a whole different person. I was definitely drinking a lot and running around and getting really crazy. Everything was becoming surreal. I was getting lost in the non-reality of being, you know, a "rock star." We were being put on a pedestal. We were rolling with two tour buses and hotel rooms every night and I had just turned 21 on that tour. I mean, we were already drinking heavily under 20, underage. But at that point, I was a party monster, and I think I would have gone down a bad road. When that accident happened, it shocked me so hard. I stopped partying; I stopped doing all that crazy shit. I don't know if I would have even survived or what kind of guy I would have been had that not happened.

But now you're here, nominated alongside Tool, Killswitch Engage and your peers!

Out of the five [bands] in there, I honestly have to say—and Mark says on stage every night—we're the ones that are truly representing the metal sound of the metal category. All these guys have a metal thing kind of going on. But when you put those five records together and listen to them, and our album is the f**king metal record in there, that's for sure!

With the GRAMMYs thing going on, this is the highest high and the best push forward we have had since we got signed to Geffen and we had that feeling that something was happening for us. It's hard for me to allow myself to feel happy because Geffen jaded me so bad, it made me have such a wall up to protect myself from being hurt. I'm so cynical; like I don't think something good could happen to us. I'm accepting our grind and like, "Well, this is what we do. It's punk rock forever, but at least I get to play music." I mean, even now, yesterday I just had my first shower in five days. We still live like that. We grind hard, but now everyone's in a really good mood though!

And if you win?

Again, we are so conditioned to learning how to deal with bad news and sh*t happening to us that none of us had even mentioned to each other the possibility that we would win. We're just happy to be nominated. However! When you're alone in your bunk, thinking about it, at some points I'm like, "Sh*t, I better prepare a speech, and what do we do win?!" Of course I've played it out in my mind. Like if our name gets called, I could just see us like f**king totally in shock staring at each other. We are going to be hilarious because we are such the underdogs that it would be amazing. But um, yeah, we'll prepare a speech and hope and pray.

And a room full of big names there!

F**king right. Barbra Streisand over here and Lady Gaga there and I'm just going to go crazy 'cause I love these artists. I'm definitely not a one-dimensional metaller. I just hope I can speak to actually say "hi" and not just sit there like freaked out so hard! To me it's all about catching mojo. Every person's hand I can touch that that has "it." Someone I respect and admire like that,  I just want to get, get the mojo off them and give me some of that for whatever I do. Let me collect a little of the magic dust that's going around in that room.

Suits, tuxes, black jeans?

My wife is shopping for me right now. We've definitely discussed that amongst ourselves. We can't go in there like some damn chumps! This is the f**king night of our f**king lives and we're going to take it for all it's worth because we may never ever—probably ever—experience something like this again. This is a culmination of almost four decades of giving up my whole life to music and Goddamn if we're not going to enjoy the hell out of it! 

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Watch the 62nd GRAMMY Awards, airing live from the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 26 on CBS.

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FINNEAS

Photo by Luke Fenstemaker

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Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee: FINNEAS On Billie Eilish & "Doing Production That No One's Ever Done Before"

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The L.A. super-producer, up for five golden gramophones, also lists his soundboard inspirations and what he feels makes for a successful collaboration
Rachel Brodsky
GRAMMYs
Jan 15, 2020 - 9:19 am

If you followed L.A. pop wunderkind Billie Eilish's exploding career over the last few years, you no doubt are also familiar with her super-producer brother, Finneas O'Connell, who goes by the stage name FINNEAS.

The 22-year-old, who produced all of Eilish's haunting bedroom-pop debut WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? from the comfort of his own tiny childhood room in Highland Park, is also on a collision course with the upper echelons of fame. Since the enormous success of WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP..., not to mention its preceding singles and Eilish's 2017 EP, Don't Smile At Me, FINNEAS has become an industry household name, with five 2020 GRAMMY nominations (including Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical), high-profile collaborations with established pop royalty (he produced Selena Gomez's "Lose You To Love Me" and two tracks on Camila Cabello's latest album, Romance) and a burgeoning solo career all of his own, having released his first EP, Blood Harmony, in October. And that's all on top of being the youngest person to be nominated for Producer Of The Year since Lauryn Hill, who was 23 when she was nominated for The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill in 1998.

If the swarm of attention has affected FINNEAS, you wouldn't know it. When we hop on the phone to talk about his and Billie's first-ever GRAMMY nominations, he's casually out walking his dog, Peaches. When asked about his hyper-minimalist production style, where most of Eilish's songs sound near-whispered against a series of spare, tip-toeing beats, FINNEAS just says that he's not afraid of a little empty space. His main goal, ultimately, is to place the artist's vocal front and center. "It's like a room with furniture," he says. "To me, my favorite bedrooms just have a bed in them, you know what I mean? Like, you don't need lights, 16 pillows and, you know, armchairs and sh*t. You could just have a bed."

In the lead up to his and Eilish's first time at the 2020 GRAMMY Awards, happening on Sunday, Jan. 26 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, FINNEAS told the Recording Academy a bit about his reaction to earning five GRAMMY nods, his favorite past GRAMMY moments and why he doesn't necessarily want to work with his favorite artists.

FINNEAS | Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee

Congrats on all of your nominations! Where were you when you heard you were nominated?

I was asleep the second they came out, but I did wake up quite early. I woke up at like 6:45 a.m. and was like, 'Oh God, Oh my God, they're out." I've described it to people as like, the same feeling as like falling asleep on Christmas Eve except for like you might wake up and have no prep. That's kind of the line.

At what point did you connect with Billie to tell her?

I called my mom like, "You guys get Billie" and mom was like, "Billie's still asleep." I called Billie back later.

To what extent do your nominations feel validating? You recorded WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? in your bedroom. I expect the industry Powers That Be were eager to get Billie in a giant studio with a bunch of big-name producers.

Well, you know, we were doing okay before the album. We had an EP [2017's Don't Smile At Me] that did pretty well and we were going on tours, and so we were feeling really good about ourselves. There were really great producers that were interested in working with us. And that was appealing to us because we love so much music and sometimes the producer would reach out and they would have made music that we loved in our childhood. And it's like, "Oh my God, we should meet with them." Truth be told we were open to it but every time we would work with other producers and other songwriters on our stuff, it just was never very good. It just didn't work very well. And whenever we worked alone, we made all the stuff that we were proud of, that we're excited about.

And I think the GRAMMYs, I couldn't feel more honored and it couldn't be more meaningful to me because it's such a celebration of the actual creative process. And I think the other cool thing that I feel very proud of, it's like, you know, very rarely now are producers doing entire records or even entire songs. Like, [there will be] two or three different producers for a song, 20 producers on the album, and Billie had only one. And I'm very proud of that. I'm really proud that it's just me and her figuring it all out, making sure it was exactly how we wanted it to be. That made me feel really good.

I think that's really true. In the past, you could directly attribute popular albums to one producer. And today, popular albums feature a mixed bag of sounds and personalities.

All the albums that I grew up listening to were produced by one person. One producer and now it's like dozens of producers on each record, you know?

Totally. But then on the other hand, we’re living in a time where albums don’t necessarily need to sound cohesive to be marketable. The end goal, from an industry perspective, is to get individual tracks on whatever Spotify or YouTube playlist is trending.

Well, Billie and I like eclectic music. Like, our records have a lot of mix. I think it's more like, if you do an album with 12 different producers, you're going to sound like someone else's album because those 12 different producers are going to do other people's records too. That always puts me out, you know?

That makes a lot of sense. Well, speaking of other peoples' records, now you've worked on "Lose You To Love Me" with Selena Gomez and "Used To This" and "First Man" with Camila Cabello. What do you look for when considering working with different artists?

I usually let it just be really natural. Like if an artist makes something that I love, I'll just reach out to them, and say like "I love your music." And then if they like what I do, they write back and say they're fans. Then we'll make something together. But I'm not very, like, thirsty. Like I don't try to work with artists because I think it would be a good career opportunity. I only want to work with people that make music that I love, like Camila, I truly love her first record. I just thought it was so cool and I thought, I just wanted to make an album with that artist. I saw her play live and I was blown away. I just thought she was a true pop star.

What makes a true pop star, in your opinion?

I think people who feel like they have something to say to me and people who have a really unique thing about them, whether it's a unique voice or a unique opinion, or unique life story, you know? Just something that really pulled me into them and makes me feel like they're telling a story that I want to listen to. 

One thing that stands out about WHEN WE ALL GO TO SLEEP is that, unlike so many of its peers, it’s the sort of record that sounds best in headphones. Is your production minimalism influenced by anyone?

Well, I mean there are so many producers that inspire me. I used to try to imitate production by certain people. And now I'm only interested in doing the opposite of that. I'm only interested in doing production that like no one's ever done before.

But yes, [I love] Kanye West, Timbaland, Rob Cavallo. So many producers are so good but I’m only interested in carving out my own thing, which seems to be the minimalist approach of making room for every element. You know, it's funny like talking a lot about me being a minimalist producer and really like there's a lot of layers but they're all out of the way of the vocal. I'm mostly just trying to make so much room for the vocal.

Yeah, I get the sense that many producers get nervous about unfilled space, if you will. Kind of like when you’re having a conversation with a quiet person and you automatically feel like you need to talk a little too much.

Totally. People are just trying to fill up the whole thing. Like it's a room with furniture. To me, my favorite bedrooms just have a bed in them, you know what I mean? Like, you don't need lights, 16 pillows and, you know, armchairs and sh*t. Like you could just have a bed.

So, I imagine all of this GRAMMY recognition has put you on a lot of artists' collab wish lists. Is there anyone you haven’t worked with yet that you’d like to? Who's on your wish list?

I don't actually have one anymore. I used to but I don't have one anymore. I feel like the thing that I've learned a lot is when you're involved in something, you don't always get to appreciate it for what it is as much. You're focused on the details and how you can make it better. It's kind of torture. I felt really lucky in that I've gotten to know some of my favorite artists; I get to tell them how important they are to me. But that doesn't always make me want to work with people. I feel like if I'm going to work with somebody, it's because I feel like I actually have something to add to them. Like, I don't have anything to add to Paul McCartney. You know what I mean? It's Paul McCartney, he's doing fine. I'm happy to just be a fan and go to the concert.

How do you envision splitting your time between working with artists and developing your solo work?

Well, I work with other artists sort of seldom, I'll do like a couple days a month with other artists. I try to be really careful about them. And then I work on Billie's stuff whenever she wants to. Whenever she's inspired, whenever she has something to say, whenever we're trying to finish something, I work on her stuff. And then whenever she doesn't have time or she's done a photoshoot or she's burnt out, feeling uninspired, I'll go work on my own stuff. 

You and Billie have talked a lot about watching the GRAMMYs from your living room at home in previous years. What was one of your favorite GRAMMY moments?

Man, every time Bruno Mars has ever performed, I've been so into it. There was that one performance several years ago that was Lil Wayne and Drake and Eminem and I remember just watching that and my head exploding.

Grammys Newsletter

Keep up to date on all the latest 2020 GRAMMY performers, presenters and host news here, and be sure to tune in to the 62nd GRAMMY Awards on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020, and broadcasting live on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

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The Cranberries

Photo credit: Andy Earl

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The Cranberries Reflect On Their First GRAMMY Nod: "Dolores Would've Been Delighted And Honored"

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While the beloved Irish band's Best Rock Album GRAMMY nod is no doubt a triumph, it is mostly bittersweet, as it arrives approximately two years after the death of their singer, Dolores O'Riordan
Rachel Brodsky
GRAMMYs
Jan 9, 2020 - 9:59 am

This year may mark the first time the Cranberries have been nominated for a GRAMMY (Best Rock Album for 2019's swan song In The End), but the Irish alternative rock figureheads have enjoyed mainstream success ever since their career boom in the mid-'90s, with ubiquitous jangly singles like "Dreams" and "Linger."  

While the band's GRAMMY nod is no doubt a triumph, it is mostly bittersweet, as it arrives after the death of beloved Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan, who passed away in 2018 of accidental drowning due to sedation from alcohol poisoning. After O'Riordan's sudden death, the remaining band members—guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler—teamed up with longtime producer Stephen Street to work on a posthumous album (the aforementioned In The End) comprised of her unfinished demos, which she started working on with Hogan after the band released 2017's orchestral record, Something Else. "It's a tribute to her, the band and our fans for the past 30 years," the Cranberries said in a statement upon receiving the GRAMMY nod. "Being honored with this GRAMMY nomination has made this whole process even more special." 

Special though it may be, the Cranberries' GRAMMY nomination in many ways marks the final lap the band will ever take, with no plans to tour or record any more music without O'Riordan. Drummer Fergal Lawler was kind enough to hop on the phone from his home in Ireland to talk about his feelings around the nomination, how he expects O'Riordan might have felt about it and how he's continuing to deal with the still-ongoing promotional cycle around In The End.  

What was your reaction when you found out The Cranberries had been nominated for Best Rock Album?

Just shocked. It was kind of like, "Oh my God. Yeah. Wow! I can't believe it. We've never been nominated." It was incredible really. It kind of took a while to kind of sink in. But yeah, just, it's an incredible honor really.

Do you remember where you were when you found out? I imagine you were already awake, with the time difference and everything.

Yeah, it was the afternoon. I was in my kitchen just having a coffee and I got a call from our manager when he says, "You heard the news?" And I said, "No, no. Is everything okay?" He said, "Yeah, we just got nominated for the GRAMMYs." "Oh my God! Brilliant."

How did Mike and Noel react when you spoke?

The same. So surprise and delighted, and kind of a little bit of sadness as well. Because Dolores wasn't there to share it with us, so ... But she would have loved that. She would have been delighted with that, so ... We're trying to focus on the positive, and not get too sad about it and just, you know?

I can't even really begin to imagine how complex your feelings must be about this, with the loss of Dolores.

Yeah, we were talking about that kind of saying like, "Oh, she would have loved [being nominated for a GRAMMY]. She would've been so delighted and honored to be nominated even regardless of whether we win or not.

The Cranberries | Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nom

And I know that the actual recording of In The End was not easy.

It's just such a difficult album to do. Initially the first couple of days I was kind of going, "I don't know if we can do this. I don't know if we can possibly get through the whole thing." It was so emotional.

But as we progressed, we kind of said, "Look, we have to do a job. We have a job to do and we have to make these songs as good as possible." We kind of said, "Look, we have to focus on our work and try and push down the emotions little bit, and get the job done. And pay respect to these songs and make them as good as possible." And I think that's what helped get us through it. You know? And then kind of towards the end of the day when Delores would come in to do her vocals, that would hit you again that she wasn't coming in.

And then the last listening back session was hugely emotional. Especially the very last song on In The End was just overpowering. And then we had to go out and do the promotion for it. And that was kind of really hard again because everyone was asking questions about the whole thing, but everyone was really, really nice and sensitive, which was fantastic. So that helped. But it was still very difficult to do.

That’s over a year ago I suppose. So I kind of thought that was the end of it. Let the album kind of live its life. Like you know? And then we went and got nominated for the GRAMMY. It's kind of like, okay, we're going to be doing more interviews and bring it all back up.

I don't know. It's probably healing. It's difficult at the time to do it. It's like therapy or something. It's difficult to sit down and talk to someone about your problems, but then afterwards you feel better. 

I thought about that too… the therapeutic nature of speaking to journalists about the album and now, its GRAMMY nod. But at least in therapy, you don’t have to keep telling the same stories over and over. Has that part been difficult at all?

Yeah, it's been okay. I've only done a small few interviews, so it's not too bad yet. Maybe as I do more it might get a bit more stressful, but I look after myself. I'm 48 years of age. I've been doing this for a while, so I know how to mind myself.

What have you been working on outside of the Cranberries? What is your day-to-day these days?

Day-to-day, I have a small studio beside my house, and I'm doing music for documentaries and short films, things like that. Something I really love, because you don't have to go on tour. You can work from home. And it's something, it's not drums, something different. So it kind of stops me getting bored.

What have Mike and Noel been up to? How often does the group chat these days?

We have like a WhatsApp group, we send messages every few days, just to see how things are doing. There's always something happening regarding the band. Once we finished the promo, we had a break for a while, which is nice. And now with the GRAMMY nomination there's more talks of prolonged doing bits and pieces. But musically I'm not sure what they're doing at the moment. I don't think they're doing much.

Recently you released a 25th anniversary box set of your first album. When In The End celebrates, say, a 10-year anniversary, do you expect that the band will be open to talking about it again?

Probably we'd have to go through older material and do interviews and talk about it. And it's kind of nice to, like, comb through an old photograph album and all the memories just pop in straight away and you're kind of an arm with that time or this time. So it's nice to revisit.

Over the course of the band's history, what are some treasured memories that you regularly revisit?

It's strange, when Dolores passed away, all the memories that came back were the early years when we kind of first started off and were traveling around in a van. And it was just a big adventure because I was 20, I think Mike was only 16 or 17. And we were just basically out of our teens and just having a big adventure traveling around the world, getting to see new countries and just have a ball, really. We had no money. We had like $10 a day I think to survive on. We didn't care. We just seemed to get by and just really enjoy it. Met loads of nice people. They're the kind of ones that last, those kind of memories.

This being your first time at the GRAMMYs, is there anything or anyone you’re most excited to see? Any albums you were fond of that were nominated?

Yeah. I don't know. The albums for me that I love this year were Thom Yorke, Anima, it's incredible. Lana Del Rey. Tool with Fear Inoculum. They're amazing. I saw them for the first time live this year. I couldn't believe it. I was blown away.

Grammys Newsletter

Tune in to the 62nd GRAMMY Awards, which are once again hosted by Alicia Keys, on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020, and broadcasting live on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

GRAMMYs

Death Angel at the 2020 GRAMMYs

Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images

News

Death Angel Drummer Will Carroll Opens Up About Fighting COVID-19: "It Looked Like I Was Going To Die"

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"It was a rude awakening," the Bay Area percussionist tells the Recording Academy in an exclusive interview about his experience
Katherine Turman
GRAMMYs
Jun 4, 2020 - 11:20 am

It looked like 2020 was going to be a banner year for Death Angel. The quintet were still on a high from their first GRAMMY nod for the title track of their ninth album, Humanicide, and were celebrating their role as progenitors of the Northern California thrash metal scene on the sold-out Bay Strikes Back tour in Europe with Testament and Exodus.

But less than a month after the GRAMMY ceremony, the coronavirus had begun its sinister spread across Europe, and gigs were getting canceled. Less than two months post-GRAMMYs, Death Angel drummer Will Carroll had contracted Covid-19 and was on a ventilator in a medically induced coma, fighting for his life in a San Francisco hospital. Neither his fiancée nor his family was able to see him, as Carroll, a previously healthy and happy-go-lucky 47-year-old, suffered heart failure from the meds, and was "proned" 18 hours a day—turned face down—in a desperate effort to save him. He spent 12 days in a coma—time he recalls as rife with "bizarre visions, which I remember vividly; one of them was going to hell"—before turning the corner.

"It was a rude awakening," he tells the Recording Academy. "I don't remember the trip to the hospital or being at the hospital. So when I did come to after my 12 days of the coma, I was shocked. I was like, 'Where the hell am I?’ I didn't know if I was even in San Francisco, or the United States, for that matter."

By the time Carroll and other members of the tour were flying home from Europe to SFO airport, the drummer knew something was wrong: "I haven't had the flu in years, and I don't get fevers and cold chills and stuff like that," he says. "There were other people really sick before me on the tour bus, too." Members of both other bands on the Bay Strikes Back tour tested positive for Covid-19, but none became nearly as ill as Carroll.

Singer Mark Osegueda remembers that initially, while playing gigs in Europe, news of the virus "seemed mythological. I’m an optimist and of course you think ‘I'll never be touched by it or people I know will never affected by it.’ We're so safe in our [tour bus] cocoon here.” And the positive feelings around their GRAMMY experience was still fresh: "When we got nominated, I flipped out, and  telling my parents we were nominated just gave me a chill and brought tears in my eyes," the singer says. "It's a childhood dream come true right there. It felt really magical."

No one could have predicted that Carroll, who has been with Death Angel since 2009, would have gotten so sick. "My fiancée [Leeshawn Navarro] was going through hell herself at home. She was calling the hospital multiple times a day to check, and they were using words like ‘dire’ and ‘grim’ and ‘grave.’ So it looked like I was going to die," Carroll says. "When I did come to, the doctors couldn't believe it. They were coming in just to see for themselves, looking at me like I was a miracle. It was really scary when I saw the looks on their faces. like, wow, I must've been that close, you know?"

An article on Carroll in the San Francisco Chronicle quoted his doctors at the California Pacific Medical Center, saying that the hospital "tried every treatment they had heard about, from hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to the experimental drug remdesivir." As one of the early Covid-19 patients the hospital had treated, Carroll’s case, especially the use of proning, "changed how the California Pacific Medical Center staff handles coronavirus cases."

While Carroll isn’t a lyricist in Death Angel, he’s certainly given Osegueda plenty of fodder for a new record. The drummer is understandably a changed man. While those unfamiliar with Death Angel may have wrongly surmised that the band and their lyrics negative or Satanic, you couldn’t meet a more positive and friendly bunch of guys. As lead guitarist Rob Cavestany explains, "Let it be known that we are a very, very, positive and positive spirit and energy kind of people and band. All the dark topics and brutal things happening in our lyrics or in our concepts are meant as a message or warning; a wake-up call kind of thing." And, "Humanicide," with a creepy prescience related to the pandemic, is about the destruction of the human race, with lyrics like "Flames / When nothing's left, no remains / There's no one left to blame /Global denial /This is the reason all hope is lost." Cavestany explains, "We're not saying it should happen, but it's where we're going if we continue like this, so we need to do something about it, so that kind of thing does not happen."

Carroll, a huge fan of KISS and Twisted Sister with the tattoos to prove it, says that he was "into the dark stuff" prior to his Covid-19 drama, but now notes that his experience shifted his "outlook on spirituality. I kind of believe there is higher presence, a higher power. And between that and everyone's collective positive energy, people rooting for me and sending me messages to get well, I think that collective energy was what got me through it. I do believe in the spirit world now, and energy and karma and stuff like that."

Carroll has high praise for the medical team, who, once he was awake, asked him, "You get a lot of people calling you; are you famous or something? I said, ‘well, I play in a heavy metal band that's famous in the heavy metal world.’ They're like, ‘Oh, what's the band called?’ Death Angel. Then they were kind of like, ‘Whoa, and didn't have much to say, but they eventually looked me up and found videos of me, and were like, ‘Oh wow.’  I guess they were impressed," he says with a laugh. "But it was funny, between the name Death Angel and my semi-evil tattoos and weird band logos, they were taken aback a little." He did, however, play the GRAMMY nominee card. "Yeah. I definitely threw that in!"

Death Angel: turning the world on to metal, one person at a time! Osegueda believes that metal "is definitely getting accepted a bit more now. It's a slow climb, but it's definitely more than it was say, even five years ago. It used to be the larger publications pretty much just covered Metallica. And when they did the Big Four show, then they covered the Big Four show. It’s an underground movement still. But undeniably there are sales that are reflecting that it's not declining. So I see an upswing in it. I don't know if it’d ever be, you know, as prominent as, say, R&B, or when rock was king. But I definitely see it as respected in a much bigger way now."

The band, who formed in 1982, has endured way more than its fair share of ups and downs, including a 1990 tour bus accident that ultimately caused the band to break up. They reformed in August 2001 for Thrash of the Titans, a cancer benefit for Testament frontman Chuck Billy. Billy, along with his wife, also tested positive for the coronavirus after returning to California from the Bay Strikes Back tour. Carroll’s finacee, who he was home with for several days before being hospitalized, tested negative for the virus.

As parts of the world slowly, amid much controversy, begin to emerge from lockdown, Carroll is close to being his old self, albeit more conscious of drinking (not much) and striving to develop the healthiest habits possible. Upon emerging from the hospital he had to learn to walk again. "I can't imagine people who were in a coma for a year or two, what kind of condition their body must be in, ‘cause I was only in one for 12 days and I couldn't walk," he says. "My muscles, I had atrophy all over the place, I came home and used a walker for first three or four days, and then I was able to walk on my own. Now I'm almost a hundred percent." On May 29, about two months after his ordeal, Carroll played drums for the first time since the last show of the Bay Strikes Back tour. "Everything felt as it should," he says. "I’m super stoked to be back on the horse."

Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee: Death Angel's Rob Cavestany Reflects On The Success Of "Humanicide" & "Giving Up My Life To Music"

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10 Unforgettable Moments From The 2020 GRAMMY Awards

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From Lizzo opening the show in grand fashion to Tyler, The Creator's fiery set, relive the magic below with our roundup of 10 unmissable moments from the 2020 GRAMMY Awards
Pamela Chelin
GRAMMYs
Jan 27, 2020 - 9:10 am

The 2020 GRAMMY Awards were a sight to behold on Sunday, Jan. 26, opening with a brilliant performance from Lizzo and Sasha Flute and closing out with multiple wins from 18-year-old pop wunderkind Billie Eilish, who swept the major categories (Best New Artist, Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Album Of The Year, respectively). Though the night had an unexpected dark cloud overhead with the recent news of basketball legend Kobe Bryant's passing, host Alicia Keys and the night's many performers came through with both respectful tributes and still-celebratory vibes. Relive the magic below with our roundup of 10 unmissable moments from the 2020 GRAMMY Awards.

Lizzo Poses With Her Three GRAMMYs

Lizzo Opens The Show

Singer/songwriter, rapper and flutist Lizzo, who took home three GRAMMYs—Best Pop Solo Performance for "Truth Hurts," Best Urban Contemporary Album for Cuz I Love You and Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Jerome"—opened the show with a stellar performance of "Cuz I Love You," which she dedicated to Kobe Bryant. Backed by a group of all-female string and horn players and all-female backup dancers, Lizzo, dressed in a floor-length black sparkling gown before switching into a futuristic leotard for "Truth Hurts," delivered a powerhouse performance, replete with her flute delivered to her onstage on a silver platter which was fitting for this queen who, like her "Truth Hurts" lyrics express, clearly won't ever be anyone's "side chick."

Alicia Keys & Boyz II Men Pay Tribute To Kobe Bryant

GRAMMY host Alicia Keys, with her hair tightly pulled back into a bun and dressed in a silver gown, adopted an appropriately somber tone when she opened the show and addressed the audience, paying her deepest respect to the tragic loss of basketball star Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna in a helicopter crash earlier in the day. Standing in the Staples Center, home to the GRAMMYs and Los Angeles Lakers, Keys referred to the center as "the house that Kobe built" as a photo of Kobe was displayed on an overhead screen. Keys asked the audience to hold Kobe, Gianna and all those who were lost in the helicopter crash in their thoughts, prayers and spirits. Keys was then joined onstage by Boyz II Men with whom she sang a beautiful rendition of "It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye."

Read More: Alicia Keys & Boyz II Men Give A Moving Tribute To Kobe Bryant At The 2020 GRAMMY Awards

Tyler, The Creator Burns Down The House

Rapper, singer/songwriter and record producer Tyler, the Creator, who won a GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for Igor and brought his mom onstage for his acceptance speech, wore his signature platinum blond wig (for his character Igor) and a pink and magenta suit and brought sizzling, amped up energy to a charged-up performance of "EARFQUAKE" and "NEW MAGIC WAND." As he sang and danced on a simulated street, with rooftop flames coming out of surrounding houses, he was joined by an army of Tyler, the Creator lookalikes, R&B artist Charlie Wilson (his Igor collaborator) and Boyz II Men as he rose up on a platform above the stage bringing the energy to a fired-up frenzy before taking it back down again. He ended his fiery, magnetic performance appearing to fall backwards on to the ground as flames burned all around.

Tyler, The Creator Wins Best Rap Album in 2020

Camila Cabello Honors Her Father

Singer/songwriter and actress Camila Cabello, who, in 2019, was the first Latina woman to open the GRAMMYs, wore a pink gown as she sang "First Man," which she wrote about her father Ajelandro. As Cabello delivered a tender and beautiful performance, home video from her childhood played on a nearby pink curtain that was erected next to her onstage. She ended her performance by singing directly to her father who was seated in the front row of the audience. Holding his hand, as tears streamed down his face, Cabello’s father kissed his daughter’s hand before standing up and hugging her. With the two locked in a heartfelt father-daughter embrace, it was an especially powerful moment given the sudden loss of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. 

Demi Lovato Gives A Heartwrenching Performance Of "Anyone"

Singer/songwriter and actress Demi Lovato, dressed in a sweeping white shimmering floor-length gown, became so choked up when she began to sing "Anyone," her new song which was written several days before she overdosed in 2018, that she had to stop her performance to begin again. Her emotionality and false start, however, added further sentiment and poignancy to her heartfelt and stunning delivery as tears streamed down her cheeks while she sang. While powerfully singing "Anyone"'s painfully naked lyrics "No one is listening to me," it was clear that everyone in the audience was absolutely listening. Lovato's performance, her first return to the stage since 2018, received a standing ovation from the audience.

Lil Nas X Takes Us To The "Old Town Road"

Rapper and singer/songwriter Lil Nas X, who won two GRAMMYs—Best Music Video and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Old Town Road"—made his GRAMMY debut performing the smash hit. Starting off solo, strumming his guitar and singing seated on a couch next to a Kobe Bryant Lakers jersey spread across a nearby armchair, Lil Nas X, wearing a black and silver sparkly cowboy hat and silver outfit, moved through a variety of ever-changing colorful sets where he was joined by  Billy Ray Cyrus, Diplo, K-pop seven-piece BTS, and 13-year-old viral yodeling sensation Mason Ramsey for a high octane and compelling performance before diving into "Rodeo" with "Big" Nas.

Lil Nas X | 2020 GRAMMYs Thank You Cam

Billie Eilish Gives A Raw Performance Of "When The Party's Over"

18-year-old singer/songwriter Billie Eilish, who won five GRAMMYs (Song Of The Year, Best New Artist, Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album) and her collaborator and brother FINNEAS delivered a stripped down, anguished performance of "when the party’s over" driven by Eilish’s emotional, raw and gut-wrenching vocals. Eilish, seated on a stool and dressed in sparkly Gucci pajamas with matching sneakers, kept her eyes closed throughout her anguished and mesmerizing performance as Finneas accompanied her on piano. 

Read More: Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee: FINNEAS On Billie Eilish & "Doing Production That No One's Ever Done Before"

Watch: Billie Eilish Wins Album Of The Year

Nipsey Hussle Gets A Worthy Tribute

L.A.-born rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was shot and killed last year at just 33 years old, won two posthumous GRAMMYs—Best Rap Performance for "Racks In The Middle" and Best Rap/Sung Performance for "Higher." DJ Khaled, John Legend, Meek Mill, Kirk Franklin, Roddy Ricch and YG paid an all-star tribute to the slain rapper in a hip-hop, R&B and gospel-infused performance that began with Mill performing a rap tribute to Hussle before being joined by Ricch for a new song called "Letter To Nipsey" followed by a powerful and affecting delivery of "Higher" by Khaled, Legend, Franklin, YG and video footage of Hussle. Photos of both Hussle and Bryant were shown at the end of the incredibly spirit-lifting performance. 

Rosalía Owns The GRAMMY Stage

Spanish singer/songwriter Rosalía, who won a GRAMMY for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album for El Mal Querer, performed "Juro Que" and "Malamente (Cap 1: Augurio)." Dressed in a white fringed, form-fitting bodysuit, Rosalía started her strong vocal performance standing next to full-length mirrors and accompanied by flamenco guitarists before breaking into a captivating solo flamenco dance. The charismatic and powerful Spanish singer was then backed by a bevy of red outfitted male dancers for a red-hot, memorable performance.

Watch: Rosalia 2020 GRAMMYs Backstage

Aerosmith Prove Rock's Not Dead

Aerosmith, who were honored during GRAMMY Week with the MusiCares Person Of The Year award, took it back to the '90s with their GRAMMY-winning hit "Livin’ On The Edge"—with Steven Tyler walking off the stage, directly into the crowd and running right up to Lizzo to join in for the chorus—before being joined by legendary hip-hop trio Run-D.M.C., who broke through and emerged from a graffiti-covered wall onstage, for a rocking rendition of "Walk This Way." Originally recorded in the '70s by Aerosmith and re-recorded in the '80s by Run-D.M.C. with Tyler and lead guitarist Joe Perry, the infectious energy of the collaborative performance and Tyler's signature stalking the stage like a panther provided a great throwback touch to the evening.

Read More: Check Out The Full 2020 GRAMMYs Nominees And Winners List

62nd GRAMMY Awards Wrap Up Show

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