Conversations with Pain Catalyst

Today we’d like to introduce you to Pain Catalyst. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Pain Catalyst started out as a five-piece band back in April of 2022. We were originally just planning on jamming together and playing a few covers, but we quickly decided to form a band and write music of our own. At first, we didn’t really know what form of Metal music we wanted to play, so we just labeled ourselves “Extreme Metal” since we all were familiar with different extreme genres of Metal music. Although, we later decided to label ourselves as a mixture of Thrash Metal and Groove Metal.

On the first of June, we performed live for the first time at Impulse Music Co’s “Open Mic Night”. We then went on to play the next open mic just a month later. Eventually, we played at a local house show and a few shows outside of Santa Clarita.

We went through a few different lineups changes over a short period of time, going from a five-piece band all the way down to a two-piece band for a time. At that time, the only band members were Nate Wiener, our lead guitarist and vocalist, and Tanner Bedaux, our drummer. But we soon got our two newest additions to the band, Nick Zazirski, our Bassist, and Tank Cady, our Rhythm Guitarist.

The four of us started to play more shows together, both in Santa Clarita and even some as far as San Bernardino. And now the four of us are like brothers who all share the same passion for playing music.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s safe to say that the beginnings of the band were pretty rough. For the most part, everyone in our original lineup had different views and goals, whether it be about the band, our music, or just life in general. And because of that, a lot of different arguments and disagreements would arise.

We also had a sexual assault incident with our original Rhythm Guitarist, which made us drop him from the band, as well as our lives. We then put out ads that we were looking for a new rhythm guitarist but to no avail. So we stayed as a four-piece. Later on, a disagreement over our first EP started, which eventually led our original Vocalist to admit that he had no enjoyment or interest in our music, causing him to leave the band. Shortly after that, our original bassist felt that the state of the band had started to decline and that we would be better off with a bassist that is more into Thrash Metal. So he left the band on good terms.

After that, it was just the two of us, Nate and Tanner. Then we had Nick, our new bassist, fill in at a show we had at The Corbin Bowl. He then joined the band soon after, and then we found our new Rhythm Guitarist, Tank. After that, it’s been smooth sailing.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We originally labeled our sound as a mix of Thrash Metal and Groove Metal, but we’ve been steering towards more of a Thrash Metal sound through our new lineup. A good majority of our lyrics sing about current problems in the real world, such as corrupt governments, political and social issues, and other related themes. We want our voices and others’ to be heard in hopes that we are making a change, even if it’s very, very small. But we do have some songs that sing about other things, such as violence, mental issues, or just anything we feel like writing a song about.

Pain Catalyst is also one of the few metal bands that are currently from the Santa Clarita music scene, but we hope that as we gain more traction, more and more people will form metal bands of their own, not just in our local area, but in other areas. It’s also something that helps set us apart from the other bands in the scene. The Santa Clarita music scene is mostly filled with Punk bands, so being a metal band is quite different, even if we’re playing Thrash Metal, a metal subgenre with hardcore punk roots. But we love our scene and the bands in it.

What matters most to you?
The thing that matters most to all of us is simply making music for ourselves that we enjoy and have fun playing. And through that, we can share our music with others and have them enjoy it just as much as we do. We’re all very dedicated to this band and we want to be able to go as far as we can with it, whether it be playing to small audiences at local shows or one day be playing to thousands at concerts of our own. We just want to be able to write music that we, and others, enjoy.

Not only that, but we also want to be able to share experiences with one another outside of the band. Because not only are we a band, but we’re great friends. And through this band, we’ve been able to make lasting memories, whether it just be hanging out in a garage late at night talking about who knows what, or traveling together, even if it’s not just to a show. For example, we all went to the town of Frazier Park together recently just for the fun of it, and it’s easily been one of our most enjoyable times together, not just as a band but as friends. As fun-loving as we are, we are also here to bring the heat and everyone should watch out for what’s in store

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paincatalyst.band.official/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOX7TXViRxv-MAkp7VSSt3Q
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4lCzuvTWmfGFvpaLrqt2Ib?si=oqW2VhJJRI2Nmteor3ZIig&nd=1

Image Credits
Quynn Lubs Impulse Music Co