Kentucky youngsters Treazon have only been active a few years but are gradually becoming a powerhouse of a band. They are celebrating the release of their latest single “On Fire” and so we thought it was a great time to have a chat and discover more about them!

TheNwothm: Hey there Treazon how are you all doing? Let’s kick things of by finding out who is in the band and where you are from?

Dylan Nightingale: The current band lineup consists of Wayne McClung on vocals, Jaren McNett on drums, Braxton Blair on guitar, and myself also on guitar. We practice in Glasgow, KY which is where I’ve lived since 2020. 

Wayne McClung: I’m Wayne, I sing, and I’m from Lexington, KY.

Braxton Blair: I am Braxton Blair, I play guitar, and I’m from Cloverport, Kentucky.

Jaren McNett: Hey! Hows it going? My name is Jaren McNett, and I am the drummer for Treazon! Im originally from Cape Coral, Florida, but my family moved to Glasgow, KY when I was 2 years old!

TheNwothm: So you have only been around since 2021! Where did you all meet and how did you come up with the idea for Treazon?

Dylan Nightingale: I’ve been jamming with Brody since 2021, we had the idea of forming a band since then, but due to the area we live in it wasn’t too easy to find people into the same style of music, especially within our age-range. I picked up guitar at 15 years old with the sole intention of starting my own Heavy Metal band, especially since I really got into more traditional Heavy Metal at the time with bands like Heavy Load, Saxon, Blitzkrieg, etc.  I wanted to start a band more in the vein of classic Swedish Heavy Metal, the more obscure-side of US Heavy Metal, and French Heavy Metal. Because while there are a lot of great NWOTHM bands, most bands I feel either take more influence from NWOBHM directly or the Epic Metal scene, and I wanted to something more Melodic yet still Heavy. 

I met Wayne through BandMix, and I met Braxton through some musicians networking app that I’m pretty sure doesn’t exist now.  Jaren I met through FaceBook groups for musicians in our area, but I also had a connection to him because my mother is friends with his mom. 

Brody Busser: Dylan contacted me on Facebook one day mentioning that he was looking to start this kind of project and we began talking about music realizing that we had a similar kind of passion for 80’s hard rock & heavy metal.

Wayne McClung: I didn’t join until 2023 when Dylan messaged me on BandMix to join the band for two shows as a fill-in singer. I got invited to join permanently after and it was an easy decision.

Braxton Blair: I met Dylan through an app called BandFriend, I was looking for people in my band and he was looking for people in his. I like the project they had been working on, a few months later of talking on and off I eventually drove down to jam, rest has been history.

Jaren McNett: I officially joined Treazon at the beginning of 2024. I met Dylan in a facebook group for musicians back in 2022 or so. 

TheNwothm: Did you have any other ideas for a band name before you chose Treazon?

Dylan Nightingale: I did have a few, none of them were as good. I honestly can’t remember any of them now. I just knew that with the band name I wanted it to be something that was one word and somewhat easy to find over the internet for marketing reasons. 

TheNwothm: You are from Glasgow, Kentucky in the USA! What is it like in Kentucky for those of us who do not know? Do you have a big metal scene?

Dylan Nightingale: Not a huge Metal scene, the places where the most shows happen are in Louisville and Lexington which are basically the 2 major cities in Kentucky. Mark Jackson’s Metal Forge seems to book a lot of the shows in Louisville, he booked our first Louisville gig – so shout out to him!

Bowling Green which is the closest city to us has a decent sized music scene but not a lot of Metal. Tidball’s is a great venue though.

Wayne McClung: Kentucky has a very rich music scene across all genres! Country music is dominant here, but if you look for the metal scene we have some great bands all over the state!

Braxton Blair: Depends, cities like Louisville have a pretty solid metal scene. You sorta have to dig for it though in other areas.

Jaren McNett: Kentucky is quite nice! We have nice grassy hills, fried chicken, horse derby’s, caves, and even bourbon! Haha. Mammoth Cave National Park is not far from Glasgow and quite honestly, the caves are the best part of Kentucky in my opinion! 

 If you aren’t playing country, hick hop, bluegrass, or gospel, it’s gonna be tough to make it in the music business here in Kentucky, but certainly not impossible!

TheNwothm: What bands on your local circuit and beyond are you listening to right now? Any you would recommend?

Dylan Nightingale: I saw Blood Curse open for Raven in 2021, they’re a cool band that have a sort of Speed/Doom Metal approach, Aaron from Blood Curse has been pretty supportive of our band too. We’ve also played a gig with Wolfstar who are a kinda Thrash/Epic Metal band, nice guys. These days I’m listening to a lot of Eastern European bands, particularly Magnit/Credo, Impulse (Bulgaria), Formel Eins, Aria, Galaktika, and Missio from Hungary. 

Wayne McClung: Recently I’ve been playing a lot of Bruce Springsteen, Deep Purple, and Prince. Besides the huge household names I’ve been playing a lot of Ace Monroe and Stryke Lightning.

Jaren McNett: I listen to quite a bit of black metal and doom metal. Gorgoroth is a great black metal band! Definitely worth checking them out along with Dark Funeral! If you are looking for slow, but heavy, check out Electric Wizard and Sleep!

TheNwothm: What do you all do in your spare time when your not making music?

Dylan Nightingale: Listening to music! Haha. I spend a majority of my free time listening to music and discovering bands from across the globe. 

Wayne McClung: I just finished my spring semester for college so I’ve been riddled with free time. In my free time I lifeguard, work out, play basketball and hangout with friends. If I’m not doing that I’m probably at a piano or have a guitar. 

Jaren McNett: I tend to my family. I have a 1 year old son who keeps me pretty busy! But I also tend to practice guitar, bass, or drums in my free time!

TheNwothm: So you released your debut EP  “Victim of Treazon” in 2023! What can you tell us about that release and did it take long for the songs to come together?

Dylan Nightingale: Most of the songs were written in late 2022 before we started recording, we were actually shopping some rough pre-mixes of the songs around online to try and find a local singer which didn’t happen at that time. So eventually I found Craig Cairns was doing paid singing gigs online, and he gave me a really low rate due to my financial situation so I went with him. He did a really good job and he definitely set the bar higher for potential singers trying out for the band. 

Brody Busser: Me & Dylan originally planned to write & release this demo since we have at this point come up with the riffs that would become the base of each song and were struggling to recruit any other band members at the time and so began bouncing ideas off of each other to formulate them into full songs. Once we actually got to recording and programming new parts it only took us a couple of sessions within a few months to get it all together, it felt like a very natural reflection of what we had as our original vision for this project.

TheNwothm: Out of the three featured, do you each have a favourite?

Dylan Nightingale: Desperate Eyes is definitely my favourite, it definitely captured the type of Metal I like the most in terms of the riffs and emotion of the song. 

Brody Busser: Both of the songs Dylan wrote are fun to play live & it feels like it connects us all to the roots of the band whenever we play them, soon we’ll also be adding my song to our sets which I’m anticipating, I can’t really pick a favorite though.

Braxton Blair: I have a personal attachment to Desperate Eyes, Dylan had sent me a private link to it, before vocals had even been put on it. I think it was right after a quick mix of the instrumental. I remember thinking that the melodic nature of the guitars and arrangements were very refreshing.

Jaren McNett: I really like Victim Of Treason!

TheNwothm: What kind of themes do you typically like to explore within your music? 

Dylan Nightingale: Freedom, relationships, history, spirituality/quasi-Biblical stuff (Spiritual Chains), rocking, basically 80s Heavy Metal themes. 

Wayne McClung: I like my music to explore various themes and not be tied to anything in particular. Lyrically I try to have a good balance of fun lyrics and meaningful ones. I think we need more fun songs in this world that everyone can enjoy, but I also think having the ability to express yourself in music is critical. 

TheNwothm: So how did you all become musicians? Are you all self taught?

Dylan Nightingale: I asked my parents for a guitar when I was 14, so I got one for Christmas that year and started playing more seriously when I was around 15-16. I’m self-taught for sure, I just know some rudimentary music theory (something I want to brush up on), and most things I’ve learned by ear or reading tabs. I got most of my picking techniques from the book Troy Stetina’s Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar. 

Brody Busser: All of my earliest memories involve music in some way, it was something I’ve always grown up entranced by. When I was around 12 I decided to pick up bass which soon also became guitar and later picked up drums. I’d say at my roots I’m mostly self-taught in what I do.

Wayne McClung: I started singing when I was nine in triple threat classes. I quit at twelve and played tuba in band for awhile in school. When I was sixteen I started to come back to theater and performing as I took guitar and piano lessons. Greatest decision I’ve ever made.

Braxton Blair: I am, I got my first electric guitar on my 16th birthday, I’ve been addicted since. Ha.

Jaren McNett: Well, about 10 years ago, I picked up the guitar. Once I got the basics figured out for guitar, I bought a bass. Then a drum kit! I come from a family of musicians, particularly drummers. But yes, I am self taught on each instrument!

TheNwothm: And do you have any prized instruments in your collection?

Dylan Nightingale: Currently the guitar I enjoy the most is my 80s Fernandes RST-50, it’s a Japanese guitar styled after a ‘70s CBS-era Stratocaster. I always wanted a Strat in cream color with a big headstock, due to my guitar influences such as Jonas Hansson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Ritchie Blackmore, John Norum, and Uli Jon Roth.  

Braxton Blair: My Tele I play live, it’s been to every gig I’ve ever played. And you can tell because it’s very road worn. Very sentimental piece.

Jaren McNett: I would say my most prized instrument would be my 7 string ESP LTD!

TheNwothm: Back in March you released your new single “On Fire!” Tell us about the single and is this a hint at perhaps an album?

Dylan Nightingale: On Fire came about not too long after Wayne and Braxton joined the band last year, I was working on some riffs and decided to try writing in a lower tuning than usual. Currently our plan is to release a few demos before we play at Blades of Steel Metalfest in Madison, Wisconsin. I definitely want to get a nice polished sounding EP or LP out soon, but it’s a matter of us getting some financial backing so we can do a more professional recording. And I’m also hoping to get us some proper distribution before then. 

Wayne McClung: “On Fire” was so much fun to write. We were trying to write for the riff in October and during the chorus riff I kept saying “she’s on fire.” After that it just stuck and I eventually found some old verses in my notebook to finish the song. 

Jaren McNett: On Fire is the first Treazon track that features my drumming! It was a lot of fun recording On Fire, especially the little drum intro! A hint at an album? Hmmm… I guess only time will tell… maybe keep an eye on Treazon and see what happens! Make sure you follow us on all social media platforms to stay updated!

TheNwothm: You are with the label Black Writs Records! How did that collaboration come about and how have they helped you progress as a band?

Dylan Nightingale: We aren’t currently with Black Writs unfortunately, as Emil had some personal issues and wasn’t able to access the internet for a while I believe. It basically came about because I saw that Emil liked some rough pre-mix demos I put on Soundcloud, and I decided to reach out to him to see if he’d be interested in putting it out via his label. He agreed and uploaded it to his YouTube channel Rare & Obscure Metal Archives, which sadly got terminated a few months ago. It was definitely a huge help in getting our name out there in the underground Metal scene, and I’m still very grateful to Emil! 

TheNwothm: Looking at the rest of the year, are there any shows you have got lined up for fans?

Dylan Nightingale: We have our first show in our hometown of Glasgow, KY on June 14^th with the rock band Cadence. Then we’ll be playing at Tidball’s in Bowling Green again on the 15^th of June. We also have our first headlining gig at the Breckinridge County Fair in Hardinsburg, KY on July 6^th. There’s a couple more Kentucky dates before we play at Blades of Steel Metalfest in Madison, Wisconsin in August. 

TheNwothm: Where can fans buy your music and merch?

Dylan Nightingale: They can buy our music from our Bandcamp site, merchandise we have a Spreadshop set up for now, just to help get our fans some merch at a relatively low cost. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/treazonmetal

Bandcamp: https://treazon.bandcamp.com/

Jaren McNett: We have a Bandcamp where you can buy our merch!

TheNwothm: Anything else you would like to mention? 

Dylan Nightingale: We’ve just released our latest demo Lady of the Night earlier this month, it’s available on all of our streaming platforms such as Bandcamp, Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music/iTunes, Deezer, Tidal, etc. Check it out! 

Jaren McNett: If theres a Treazon show near your town, you definitely want to come see us live! Thats where the real energy is at!