The NAMM Show 2018 Interviews: Titans In Time

The NAMM Show 2018 Interviews: Titans In Time

The mighty Titans In Time is a hard rocking collective from Cleveland, Ohio in the grand tradition of Breaking Benjamin and Chevelle.  The band’s latest EP is entitled Atlas, and it’s a stunning adventure in sound well worth seeking out.  Titans In Time recently made their way into Southern California to attend this year’s edition of The NAMM Show at The Anaheim Convention Center.

Highwire Daze Online caught up with this up-and-coming Midwestern outfit to find out about their Atlas EP endeavor, future music on the horizon, their musical instruments of choice, and a whole lot more!  Read on…

Introduce yourself and tell me what you do in Titans In Time.
Vince: I’m Vince. I do vocals.

Nate: I’m Nate. I play guitar.

Matt D: Matt Devonshire. I play bass.

Matt B: Matt Bryson. I play drums.

Where are you guys based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
Nate: We are based out of Cleveland, Ohio. The music scene is very heavy – basically metal. They are very supportive, which is awesome. Every time you go to a show, it’s always busy. It’s been really growing, and there’s a really cool network of people that always go out to support shows.

Since we are at NAMM, we need to find out first and foremost, what is your instrument of choice and why?
Matt B: I play drums and I have a DW Collectors Kit. I got it custom made back in 2009 and I’m a pretty strong, devoted person to DW Drums. And I also play Soultone Cymbals –which I just got an endorsement from them earlier this year – I’m pretty stocked about that as well.

Matt D: Bass, and right now I have two main instruments. Zon Sonus 5-string and a Carvin SB 5001 5 string. I play it through an Aguliar pre-amp and SWR cabinet.

Nate: As a guitarist, I have two PRS Guitars and one Fender Telecaster. And I play it through a Fractal Audio X Effect and a custom 4×12 cabinet. And I play SIT Strings and have been incorporating a lot of GHS items as well.

Vince: As a singer, I stick straightly to Shure microphones. I use a Shure SM 58 live wireless and I use a Super 55 at practice and an SM7B for recording.

Your recent EP was entitled Atlas. Is there any overall story or concept behind the Atlas title?
Vince: We stuck to a Greek mythology concept with all three of our EP’s. So Atlas was the final one in the trilogy of Greek mythology EP’s we did. So we did Oceanus, Vulcan, and Atlas – and they are all Greek titans.

Select two songs from the recent Atlas EP and what inspired the lyrics.
Vince: We have two music videos on our EP. We have Lie To Me. I’m really into psychology, and studying people and what they do. And everyone lies. Everyone has a story that they tell when they lie. And we also have another music video coming out and it’s called Control By Fire. And that’s about when you build a relationship off of negativity, there’s nothing good that could ever come out of it. It’s always going to fail. The only thing you’re ever going to connect over is just the bad that has happened in your life.

How close are you to writing and recording all new material and will you still stick with the mythology concept?
Nate: We haven’t really discussed what we are going to do, as far as the mythology thing. I think we’re going to try and get away from that a little bit – and do something totally new. But we have been writing. We’ve written up to about 60 songs that we’re trying to decide from – and it keeps growing! We keep writing a lot of new stuff, which just keeps getting better. We’re just trying to pick what we’re going for with the next album. Hopefully we’ll record it and get it out before the end of the year.

How did your recent show with CKY go and did you get to meet them at all?
Nate: I didn’t get to meet them. They seemed pretty cool. We kind of sat and watched their sound check while we were loading in. They sound fantastic and seemed like cool guys, but we didn’t get to meet them. They were kind of on the bus, onstage, and then right back on the bus. But it was great and the turnout was awesome! Can’t complain about that show.

Matt B: Just hearing 96 Quite Bitter Beings live from watching Jackass and being into that band growing up and you actually get to see that live. It came full circle – I finally got to hear it live – and not just as a fan but as a supporting act too. It’s an awesome experience!

Nate: It’s something that’s a really awesome thing – being a band on the level where we are at now. We get to open for a lot of bands that we grew up listening to. Like we opened for Trapt and we were able to help sell that out. Being on that big of a show and also be able to listen to all of the songs that we grew up singing along to – I don’t know how to describe that feeling – it’s one of those unreal feelings.

Matt B: The music that inspired us to do what we do today – we get to share it with the people that got us to where we are. That’s a feeling that we can never compare – it’s just awesome!

This kind of goes into our next question. If you could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
Vince: Shinedown or Alter Bridge hands down. Those are my favorite bands. Those are the musicians who’ve inspired me the most. I’ve seen Shinedown live and they put on a phenomenal show. I think it would be very cool to play with them,

Nate: The one band I could think of off the top of my head would be Nothing More. Right now they’re doing something a little bit different with rock music – and the energy that they have onstage is just incredible. I always want to try and be able to match something like that and being able to play with a band like that would definitely push the boundaries.

Matt D: I would love to play with Deftones. I keep revisiting their music – every year I just come back to it. I would love to play with them.

Matt B: One band that has inspired me is Chevelle. They are a tight three piece band – they’re kinda heavy but they’re still catchy. That’s the band that really threw me into hard rock music. That would be a dream to open for them – or to tour with them.

If the music of Titan In Time was a donut, what kind would it be and why?
Vince: Our music would be a chocolate filled powered donut. It’s sweet, you bite into the donut, and in the middle there’s a little bit more.

What’s up next for Titans In Time?
Vince: On Monday we release the music video for Control By Fire. As of now we are working on booking our first tour of the year, which starts in April with Paralandra. And then we are writing and recording new songs – and getting ready to put together our next musical adventure.

Titans In Time are:
Vince Gillman – Vocals
Nate Milstein – Guitar/vocals
Matt Devonshire – Bass
Matt Bryson – Drums

(Interview and Photos by Ken Morton)

Titans In Time on Facebook