The Downbeat
Craig Reynolds
The Downbeat Podcast is an award-winning heavy music podcast featuring in-depth interviews with the biggest names in metal, hardcore, and alternative music.
Hosted by Craig Reynolds, The Downbeat explores metal, death metal, black metal, hardcore, and metalcore through long-form, unfiltered conversations with legendary musicians and rising artists. Hear behind-the-scenes stories, songwriting insights, touring life, and honest discussions from across the global heavy music scene.
New episodes feature iconic bands, underground favorites, and the voices shaping modern heavy music.
Hosted by Craig Reynolds, The Downbeat explores metal, death metal, black metal, hardcore, and metalcore through long-form, unfiltered conversations with legendary musicians and rising artists. Hear behind-the-scenes stories, songwriting insights, touring life, and honest discussions from across the global heavy music scene.
New episodes feature iconic bands, underground favorites, and the voices shaping modern heavy music.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 31, 2019 • 1h 9min
Drew Dijorio - Stray From The Path
My guest this week is Andrew Dijorio who sings in my band Stray From The Path. We're currently on a US tour so we talked rubbish in a hotel room for a hot minute. We talk about touring, recording our new album Internal Atomics and there's also a lengthy section about Drew's alter ego: The Jingle Man. We also fail to decide what to have for dinner. Enjoy!
Oct 11, 2019 • 44min
Me #02 : A Literal and Figurative Headf***k (Q&A)
Hi it's me I'm back and the guest is me. Explaining a bit of what's been going on lately with me health-wise and some Q&A. Peace!
Aug 19, 2019 • 1h 51min
Alessandro Venturella - Slipknot
My guest this week is Alessandro Venturella, aka V-Man. V-Man plays the bass in a band called Slipknot. If you don't know who Slipknot are I don't think I can help you with this podcast. Me and V go back around 10-15 years so we spend a lot of time reminiscing about the UK scene from back in the day, our similarities as UK-based techs who are now playing in US bands, as well as HOW EXACTLY ONE JOINS SLIPKNOT. We also of course talk about the new Slipknot album 'We Are Not Your Kind' and its recording process.
Aug 6, 2019 • 1h 50min
Matt Garstka - Animals As Leaders
My guest this week is Matt Garstka, drummer of Animals as Leaders; and probably one of the best drummers in the world. I met up with Matt on his tour bus in Manchester during AAL's UK tour. We talked about drums A LOT: warm ups, practicing, music education (we share a love of old Hudson Music DVDs and VHS) as well as his own instructional video series. We also talked about his signature line of Meinl Cymbals: the Equilibrium hi hats and china. Matt is a wealth of knowledge and his passion for drums really shines through in everything he says, I'm grateful we had the chance to meet and have this chat. Top 5 this week is Meshuggah songs (obviously).
Jul 14, 2019 • 2h 23min
Mike Johnston
My guest this week is Mike Johnston. Mike is the owner of the most popular online drum lesson resource mikeslessons.com. At a time when online drum education was not what it is today, Mike started his website (against the advice of many) and built an empire. Mike is truly an inspirational speaker and thinker and we had a great chat. We talked about finding your lane in whatever you do, his old band days, THE IMPORTANCE OF TRAVIS BARKER, the meinl family, and much more. It's very refreshing to see someone in the industry who can be so business savvy yet so humble and it not be a front or a marketing gimmick, and for that reason (and others) this episode is a great listen even if you don't play the drums. I also only swear twice in this episode because I'm trying to be professional.
Jun 30, 2019 • 1h 42min
Will Thomson - Tattooer
Mh guest this week is Will Thomson aka @thomsontattoos. Will is the owner of Beacon of Hope tattoo in Brighton and we've been friends since we met at fellow downbeat alumni Dan Searle's wedding. As well as being a great tattooer he's also a flat earther and one of the most ridiculous humans I've ever met. We talk about how he got into tattooing, his new shop, the old deathcore scene and there's a couple of very funny anecdotes about his mum. This episode is barely about music and is very explicit. You have been warned.
Jun 11, 2019 • 1h 36min
Nic Pettersen - Northlane
My guest this week is Nic Pettersen from Northlane. Nic is a bloody good Australian bloke. And he's a bloody good drummer. A real ripper. I said all that stuff in an Australian accent. Enjoy
May 23, 2019 • 1h 52min
Matt Halpern - Periphery
My guest this week is Matt Halpern, drummer of Periphery. Matt and I are good friends and have known each other for around 9 years. He's a fantastic drummer (obviously) but also an accomplished clinician and, as I discovered during this podcast, an innovative businessman in the world of drums. We talked about dicks, and some other stuff. Does anyone read this?
May 8, 2019 • 2h 6min
Daniel P Carter
My guest this week is Daniel P Carter.We had a proper laugh on this pod. Dan is probably most well known for being the presenter of the BBC Radio One Rock Show, and his podcast Someone Who Isn't Me (SWIM) but he's also been a guitarist in bands like A, Krokodil, The Bloodhound Gang and loads of others. We had a proper laugh on this pod. Dan's a very interesting guy, he's a mystical, magickal entity filled to the brim of ideas and esoteric ramblings....which I like. He's done it all. He's a top lad. See ya!
Apr 22, 2019 • 1h 35min
Josean Orta - Fit For An Autopsy
My guest this week is Josean Orta, drummer of Fit For An Autopsy. Josean came to Brooklyn from Puerto Rico 8 years ago to find himself a band and it worked. He is an incredibly hard working drummer and a great dude who LOVES drums. We talk about DRUMS obviously but also about jazz, injuries, recording, microdoseing and much more. Bartender Drew from Stray pops in for a minute also.
