Philadelphia rockers The Age of Truth crashed onto the scene with their 2017 debut album Threshold. Since that release, the band has been building a following everywhere from the stages of Jewett City, Connecticut to the Spotify playlists of Mexico City.
The Age of Truth performed to an eager crowd at Maryland Doom Fest 2019 on Friday June 21st. I was able to catch up with bassist William Miller and guitarist Mike DiDonato in downtown Frederick the next day to talk about what drives the band and what they have coming up for their growing fanbase. Miller and I had something of a “pre-interview” at the bar before we went outside for the real thing.
“You are a bass player and you also seem to be the operator and the founder of this band — ” I began.
“Co-founder,” Miller clarified. (The other co-founder being Mike D.)
“Co-founder. So tell me a little about that…”
“Bass players are the smartest motherfuckers in the world.”
“I agree, cheers!” Cue the clinking glasses.
“It’s real, it’s real life. […] We never have to be stars and we hold it all together. Bass players are the fucking glue that without it, everything falls apart. There are so many operators that do this shit DIY, it’s always the bass player that’s the operator. Look at Yes… The reason I play bass is because of Chris Squire — and he was the operator too. Geddy, operator. Lemmy, operator. […] Steve Harris, operator. It’s the way the mind of a bass player works — we don’t need the adulation, we just need to get to the destination, and that’s it. It’s cool.”
Our conversation shifted to day jobs — turns out that Miller is a certified financial planner, and I shared with him that I’m a school librarian. This led us to discuss some of our favorite books…
“I’m a fucking book addict,” said Miller. “And the best part of it is that my job is reading too. In high school I didn’t give a fuck about reading, but as a grown man I read more books every year.”
“What kind of things to you read?” I asked.
“I love history and I love financial history. I’m really into that because I always want an angle, an edge on what I’m doing. I read a ton of those books, but I read everything. Love science fiction… I reread Dune last year. God that book’s fucking epic. Now you realize that all the stuff that’s in there is Islamic, the mythology…. And that’s a weird twist, seeing the same book through different eyes.”
I’ll leave out our IPA-fueled ramblings about information literacy and misbehaving kids that followed… Check out the video below for the “official” word on The Age of Truth:
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Great interview. Side note I want to go to the library with a metalhead librarian.