Atheist - Tony Choy's first Atheist rehearsal (Spring 1991) 

some snippets about Atheist/Unquestionable Presence from The Scott Burns Sessions book: SCOTT BURNS: It was terrible when Roger died. Back then, there were no big tours for death metal - you did everything in a van. The fact he was killed in an accident on the road made it even worse. I'll never forget the funeral. Roger had a twin brother, Ronnie. It was brutal seeing him help lay Roger to rest. KELLY SHAEFER: Roger was my roommate. We had known each other since we were 12. It happened so fast. Scott and I have talked about Roger's death a lot, and it makes us both so angry. But we were still determined to continue since we had an entire record ready to go. We were supposed to do that tour, something small in Europe and then come home and do the album. Two months is not enough time to heal, but we decided to keep going. STEVE FLYNN (DRUMS): It was surreal. It was this weird, very weird transition. What made it okay was that we were already really close with the Cynic guys. It wasn't like, "Who the hell is this strange kid coming in here?" That would have been weird. We knew Roger absolutely would have wanted Tony to do it. KELLY SHAEFER: I remember coming in with the demos for Unquestionable. Scott had this enthusiasm about them, but we were still in that period where people were confused by us. [Laughs] We lost Roger eight weeks before we hit the studio. We had Tony Choy come in and play. He was established and familiar with the scene. It was still like a brotherhood working with Scott. I just always felt like he would give me the right advice. TONY CHOY: I just finished the Cynic demo. We were at Roger's funeral when the Atheist guys pulled me aside. They said, "We want to ask you something." I was like, "What's up?" They asked, "Would you like to be a part of the Unquestionable record?" I didn't even know what to say. I'm like, "Oh, well, I play with Cynic." They said, "Oh, no, we would never ask you to leave your band." Paul [Masvidal] was there, Sean [Reinert] was there, Jason [Gobel]. They told me, "Yes, of course, man. Tony, do it." Roger was a great friend. Pretty much, we were fans of each other's playing. I looked up to him. SCOTT BURNS: Roger helped write a lot of the songs on Unquestionable. Atheist and Cynic had a kinship, which helped when they asked Tony. If they needed someone to play Roger's parts, Tony was the only one who could do it. I knew Tony from Cynic and thought he would do a good job, but I kept in mind that Tony was not Roger. He brought a bit of Latin influence to Atheist. STEVE FLYNN: Roger would have wanted Doug Keyser from Watchtower. We approached him right after Roger died, but he refused. He didn't want to do it, which was a bummer because Roger idolized the guy so much. Doug was in the same vein as Roger. Tony was the logical choice to do it, no question about it. Tony was brilliant and learned every- thing right away. But, I don't think our music was his taste. SHAEFER: Tony Choy did a great job when he came in. Scott was concerned about him taking over for Roger, but it was business as usual. Tony and all of us had a different level of determination on Unquestionable because we wanted to make Roger proud and ensure the bass was represented. TONY CHOY: It was adventurous, it was fun, it was something where I felt that I belonged there. It's what I needed to be doing. It felt right. I never took it as, "Wow, this is a great opportunity." I didn't even see it like that. I was so conscious of what was happening that all that mattered was doing everything right. I also started playing with Pestilence since they were in Studio B, recording Testimony of the Ancients. They were my favorite death metal band because of Malleus Maleficarum. SCOTT BURNS: Tony's playing had a Latin feel. That was a slight worry since Roger was more of a Steve Harris [Iron Maiden] kind of player who attacked the notes. Tony tended to approach the songs differently. You can hear that Tony and Roger's tones weren't the same in the mix, but Tony fit those songs. Right off the bat, in the first song, "Mother Man, Tony gets a solo. He nailed it in the studio. TONY CHOY: It was about Roger and giving these guys what they needed because they were up against a rock and a hard place. Scotty was the instru- ment. Scotty was the producer. That's what the producer does. He gave you a particular sound and was pretty much the advocate. He would never take the essence from the guitar player or the drummer. He would just let them play. There were no Pro Tools and no editing. It was pretty much, "You better play, and if you need to do it again, you need to do it again." STEVE FLYNN: My kit on Piece of Time was this particle board, Tama. garbage type of thing. When I reached the end of Unquestionable, I sat in the studio, and Jim Morris stopped by. I said to him, "Jesus, it's so clear. What happened?" Jim goes, "Well, your equipment is better, and you guys now play much better. You're playing on real drums this time." I agreed with him. Plus, Scotty was better.

KELLY SHAEFER: Steve and I argued about the birds on "Mother Man. He said, "Those birds, man. That's the least metal thing ever." I was like, "Exactly." Thankfully, Scott sided with me. SCOTT BURNS: I thought Unquestionable was a more mature album than Piece of Time. The songs are a little easier to get into, but that doesn’t detract from how technical it was. We even dropped in a short sample birds on "Mother Man." Still, Atheist songs were a lot to digest. They we so ahead of their time. STEVE FLYNN: It was a natural evolution in layering and complexity. Kelly was singing and playing guitar. Roger would write things with fingers that would be impossible for a guitar player to play. That also drove all the layering and the harmonies since we were fans of Iron Maiden and Mercyful Fate. These bands had all these multi-layered harmonies like Rush. The evolution was already there. You could hear the progression you lined up the order of the songs on Piece of Time from when they were first written until we recorded them. The very next songs that appeared on Unquestionable were just an extension. RAND BURKEY (GUITAR): I always called them "spider-walking riffs" that Roger would write. They always reminded me of a giant spider walking around. It always gave me an image of a big machine, and I though of a huge clock mechanism running. I always wanted to get it cruising for longer, and Kelly wanted to chop it up. It would have made for a wider audience and better songs. I'm not discounting anything we accomplished but those riffs filled the gap and were technical and neck-breaking. STEVE FLYNN: Rand would have these crazy ideas for songs that were way out there, and we'd be like, "All right, no. Let's bring it in." There was always lots of tension between Kelly and Rand. I was always like Jimmy Carter-the peacekeeper of the band. KELLY SHAEFER: Rand just didn't understand. He was a way superior guitar player to me. I think Rand felt that because I couldn't possibly be correct, I couldn't take these riffs and put them together. He felt there was something drastically different about the way I wrote. He was a little against it, so we had to fight a lot about it, but he had many brilliant ideas. Rand was a super unique part of how we grew, and Scott knew that as well. He just always had this thing with, "You can't just write a riff, and then we'll write another one and just put them together." I said, "Yes, people do it all the time, man. SCOTT BURNS: We worked really hard on Unquestionable getting everything tight. Atheist had such ridiculous song structures to where it was almost a surprise that they didn't turn on a dime. This caused a lot of issues between Kelly and Rand. They didn't see eye-to-eye a lot. They both antagonized each other. It never got physical, but there was a lot of friction. KELLY SHAEFER: Scott wouldn't rip you apart, but you would know the thought you messed up. If you didn't, then you were naive and blind [Laughs] It bummed Scott out that people came in unprepared. He was ready to put his whole heart into a project. Scott never took lunch. There was no "I'm going to go home for an hour. Scott kept working, so we would go to the store to bring him shit. It was a lot of work. Between him corralling all these young musicians and the work that went into making a record, I don't think people understand how different it was back then. STEVE FLYNN: Tony decided to go on tour with Pestilence instead of us. We were all set to tour behind our album and ended up in a really shitty place. Tony, he'll admit he made a mistake. He looked at it like, "This is more of a brass ring for me than Atheist will ever be. He made his own choice, but it put us in a really horrible position because there weren't just all these kids around that you could go to Berkeley and get for the band. TONY CHOY: Doing Atheist was a privilege for me. I was asked to do something that, little did I know today, would be regarded as something of the highest caliber. Look at that. Imagine if I would've said no, or I would've said, "Wow, no, I'm not prepared." I was like, "Fuck that. I'll get prepared. I accept." I said, "I accept, and let's go. Let's do it." Those records made me who I am today. It made me the musician, the producer, the person and the spirit I am today. SCOTT BURNS: It was disappointing that Tony didn't stick around with Atheist. That's when their lineup started to change. Soon, Steve was gone, and Kelly stopped playing guitar because of carpal tunnel. Then they decided to record the next album somewhere else. I loved Kelly and the guys and would have had them back at Morrisound in a heartbeat, but I understood their decision. KELLY SHAEFER: I'll take the blame for that. It was a money thing since we secured time in Gainesville to record at Pro Media for a smaller amount. We were able to spend an extra two weeks making Elements. I wish we had done Elements with Scott because it sounded so different from the first two albums. It was our first time making a digital record, which was a deterrent. It seemed like a shiny nickel at the time. Plus, the guy [Mark Pinske] worked with Frank Zappa. We were getting this great discounted rate and thought we were doing the right decision. Everyone was recording at Morrisound then. We thought we were being different by recording somewhere else to get a different sound. We thought, "Okay, we'll be cleaner. It will be digital and better for a band like us because we'll be able to hear even more." There was no time to second guess. STEVE FLYNN: When people would ask me over the years, "Why did you play?" It wasn't to be successful. It was to impress my friends and have my other musician colleagues go, "Holy shit, what are you doing? How do you do that?" That's what I was always after - the recognition among my peers that we were doing something extraordinary. I always wrote or approached my parts like, "Do I like what I'm doing?" Then listening to it, going, "I really love what I'm doing." I precisely wanted to do that. Then hearing it for the first time on Piece of Time and Unquestionable Presence was amazing. I was hoping to listen to it and listen to it well because you couldn't really hear it before. KELLY SHAEFER: Scott played more of a producer role than people would think. He was also engineering, but his role as a producer was just crucial. If it weren't for Scott, I can say there's no way that Beneath the Remains [Sepultura] or Piece of Time happen. We simply did not have the budgets, and we ended up exceeding those budgets. Scott is the reason for those records. He came in early and left well after we did. He was a calming, reassuring force that made us feel relaxed, knowing that our records would get done at a time when we were young guys unsure of how everything worked. I looked at him as someone who had it all together and knew what was happening. But he'll tell me today that he was flying by the seat of his pants. [Laughs] SCOTT BURNS: The beauty and downside of Atheist were their different styles and personalities. It made them unique but helped contribute to their breakup after Elements. Rest in peace, Roger. You were amazing.

Used to be that way lol

​@@Trahzylegends dont die

no problem at all. I would recommend to buy Unquestionable Presence re-issue from Season of Mist, I think 2015 or 2016, CD/DVD version ;) Really, loads of interesting stuff in there, not just this rehearsal, for example 'Steve Flynn Drum Cam Footage from Morrisound Studios ' ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tmLkjOi_E_Q.html or Tony Choy's first ever show with Atheist ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jA6Bz8DZN9g.html

Ya they were neighbors in the same practice studio lockout :) forgot if they were in some other booth or if they shared this one, demo era Cynic

@@hexed8749 I believe Tony Choy was a member of Cynic at one point.

​@@danieltroche6019yes !

true

So sad he hasn't been able to get his life together.

@@yngvebalmsteen9174 I know nothing about it. Apparently he runs his own studio or business.. not sure he's doing bad

@@yngvebalmsteen9174 What happened? Drug addiction?

Every member of the band was the talent :P

Thanx man!

hendrix's strings weren't upside down though

You had to play like this when you were recordig to tape. Sure, there was a possibility to edit or punch in certain passages but in general, the stuff had to be spot on.

​@@BigMuff75so true

Albert King style. Hendrix restrung it so that the strings were not upside down.

@@adamk8683 I did not know that, thanks for that tid bit.

​@@adamk8683💯

Dan Swano and Buster Odelom play the same way.

The funny thing is is that the guitar is actually a left handed guitar but the strings are still upside down, presumably because that's just how he learned to play so he restrung it like a right handed guitar

Ugh I woulda been 16. So old 😂😆

It's kinda absurd how good Tony is. This is big boy bass playing. Insane.

no problem, cheers!

I was JUST now thinking about these being the same storage rooms from the Morbid Angel reversal videos! And that they shared em with some metal giants of the time!!! Adding Atheist to that list is so sick. Kudos to you for mentioning the rehearsal videos from these storage units. I grew up with this music, I love rewatching, or gaining new knowledge of it all.

P.s. awesome that we are both watching this on the same day, being that many of the comments and views are from yesteryears!!

Saw em in baltimore, blew my fuckin mind. Neck still hurts.

Yeah? Even with the new younger guitarists? I have the chance to see em in 3 months

don't forget Tony Choy was still a member of Cynic at that point, maybe that's why Paul Masvidal was there as well. Yeah, that rehearsal place is very similar to Morbid Angel's one ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5rEFSg1py18.html

@@MrMalco1976 That makes sense. It wasn't until yesterday I realised Tony Choy had played in Cynic before Atheist and Pestilence. The Morbid Angel link is the one I remembered. Great old school times indeed.

@@DrummerMikeNielsen I love those times!! Check this interesting interview with Jason Gobel, loads of information about history of Cynic toughriffs.weebly.com/interviews/interview-with-jason-gobel-cynic

@@MrMalco1976 Thank you for the link. That was some interesting reading.

Kelly (Shaefer) said it was filmed by Sean Reinert, that's another Cynic member in that room

true words. anyway, they were 22/23 y old (Tony Choy 20) at that time

@@MrMalco1976 truly insane !! I just did a deep dive panel livestream on my YT channel tonight if you check my avatar that’s the YT channel. I reached out to Kelly about 10 days ago to see if he’d be interested in tearing these albums apart with us and do a quasi interview as well but never heard back … he seems like a super cool dude, but doesn’t appear he ever uses FB or IG much so I’m not sure who to get in touch with to send him a link in case he wants to watch it.

​@@MrMalco197620?! 🤯

@@theesweetscience2084 okay, actually 19!! (Tony Choy, born June 11, 1971)

One even has the strings upside down.

There's a lot more of them than you would think. Dick Dale, Albert King, Otis Rush, etc (Some examples in metal include Buster Odelom and Dan Swano). A lot of people think Jimi Hendrix also played with the strings upside, but he would actually restring his guitars to the "correct" way before turning it upside down. I actually play the same way, there's problems with it, most guitarists who play upside-down ended up doing so because they. A) Didn't have access to good left-handed guitars or. B) They didn't realize they were playing it "wrong" and were too stubborn to just restring the guitar...

@@nonzerovolta2541 I agree, it's just what you're used to. Plus; if you don't challenge the norm, you can't innovate. It still freaks me out though 😁

yes. btw. Kelly (Shaefer) said the video was filmed by Sean Reinert

@@MrMalco1976 Thats killer! R.I.P Sean.. One of the greatest drummers to ever grace our ears.

What I suppose Rand did is that he started playing guitar left handed on a right handed guitar and learned that way. The guitar on this video is clearly a left handed one. The knobs and the cable input are on the lower part of the body. He basically stringed his left handed guitar upside down beacuse he learned that way

@@ritualdeathmetal Makes sense, yeah. I have a sinistral friend who did the same thing.

@@Youcifer yeah it seems logical. He probably started with a right handed guitar upside down and he learned that way so probably when he got that V he needed the knobs and the input down there but beacuse he learned that way he insisted on playing upside down. I mean it's not easy to learn everything over again.

@@ritualdeathmetal ah yeah ofc. nice band, btw! checked out your EP :)

@@Youcifer thanks! There's more stuff coming soon. A brand new straight old school death metal style ep.

Steve Flynn Drum Cam - Morrisound 1991 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tmLkjOi_E_Q.html

Kelly said it was filmed by Sean Reinert

@@MrMalco1976 the guy sat in front of the drum is Paul Masvidal, it fits with Sean Reinert as video maker

@@nicolacopetti5265 and Tony Choy was a Cynic member at that time

Kelly said this one was filmed by Sean Reinert

On Kelly’s podcast he was talking to Paul and apparently Kelly and Chuck did not get along

Apparently he was a massive hater.

small snippet from the upcoming book about Scott Burns : Paul Masvidal:“You can hear some Atheist-type riffs on Human. It’s funny because Chuck had a weird, contentious relationship with Kelly [Shaefer]. I remember Kelly visiting us in the studio, and he and Chuck just didn’t get along. They had this weird dynamic. Chuck wasn’t nice to Kelly, and I was never sure why. Atheist were so much in their own world. They were visionaries, so maybe there was some degree of jealousy because Atheist was pushing the envelope. It was like, “What the fuck is this music they are making?” Kelly Shaefer: “I’m going to be as respectful as possible here. I think Chuck was threatened by Atheist. When Borivoj Krgin was about to sign us to Mean Machine Records in mid-1987, we played a show in Tampa that Chuck attended. Chuck called Borivoj the next day and told him that everyone left the room when we played, and it sounded like a “train station.” It made Bori question the deal. We still signed with Mean Machine, but what Chuck said never sat right with me. Chuck slandered Atheist to anyone who would listen, saying that we only listened to jazz and were “false metal.” He initially shunned technicality and the jazz philosophy applied to extreme metal. It wasn’t until our friends, Sean Reinert and Paul Masvidal, joined Death that Chuck recognized the value of furthering the intricacy of metal by fusing top-notch musicianship, something we were already eyeballs-deep in. He was at least a fan of Psychotic Waltz and Watchtower. Chuck is owed a world of respect for his early visionary, brutal, horror-type music, but he didn’t plan the tech-metal revolution. He showed up late and didn’t bring beer or weed! “

@MrMalco1976 I wouldn't be surprised. That documentary I watched of Death a few years ago made Chuck look a little douchebaggy with the way he fired many people and messed up his bandmates getting paid due to planning tours and then not wanting to do them. No wonder he had so many guys in his ranks.

@@MrMalco1976 ironic that Death ended up getting so much credit for pushing technical death metal. I guess they always were more popular and accessible than Atheist

That's Rand Burkey for ya. Or more accurately, Rand Mf Burkey \m/ 🔥🔥

yeah, try to get recent Unquestionable CD/DVD reissue. Loads of fancy stuff, this rehearsal included shopusa.season-of-mist.com/atheist-unquestionable-presence-cd-dvd

@@MrMalco1976 Apparently they don't have it

@@jorgecaicedo1982 www.discogs.com/release/7355889-Atheist-Unquestionable-Presence

upside down!

yes, and Kelly said it was filmed by Sean Reinert

yes

It was recorded on a 1991 camera dude

I honestly don’t think KIDS understand this..And, Ihave 4..They know about ATHEIST. And soon their friends will also. Its only a matter of time

metalshockfinland.com/2015/07/16/atheist-stream-previously-unreleased-live-footage-of-the-formative-years/ and it was shot by Sean Reinert according to Kelly

Enthralled in Essence

songs from Unquestionable Presence

What?

no, Sean Malone played bass on Focus. Tony recorded Unquestionable Presence, Testimony of the Ancients, and a few more