Over time I learned to just own my weird tastes and not care what other people think, but I think that’s just something that comes with age. The music I got made fun of for was actually pretty basic, my dad was just disdainful of anything that wasn’t his music. The name “Racer X” just sounded “gay” to him, and I got shit for the album cover of Soul Asylum’s Grave Dancer’s Union because there’s two naked children on it. To make things right, I never make fun of my own kids for their weird shit, and I try to teach them not to criticize other people over meaningless things either.

I hope you’ve also been able to heal from your experiences.

Also, I just discovered Archspire about a year ago and I agree that Bleed the Future is an absolute banger.