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Born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario, John Neadow started out as a bassist in a band called From Then On when he was in grade 9. Originally, he was captivated by Michael Jackson’s Thriller album, but he credits bassist Mark Hoppus of Blink 182 as his main reason for wanting to play bass. John currently plays bass for the Niagara death metal band Duskwalker. This talented bassist is capturing attention and slowly making his way to the top.
Who Is Duskwalker?
Formed in April 2015, Duskwalker consists of Joey Scaringi on vocals, John Robinson on guitar, John Neadow on bass, and Cale Costello on drums. Since joining Duskwalker in the summer of 2022, it’s been quite an eye opener for John Neadow, and he’s really got to experience the rockstar life. Playing show after show, driving down to Illinois for a huge metal festival, and even working on recording a new album, John quotes that “joining the band is his biggest accomplishment in music so far.”
Duskwalker’s new album is planned to be released sometime in 2023. “The album is a mixture of death metal, thrash metal, and death n roll. It’s a throwback to all of our influences, 80s thrash metal, but still with a lot of death metal influences to it,” explains John. He credits bands like Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under, Bolt Thrower, Massacre and Death for helping him get in the zone. Although, his main influences for getting inspired and creating music are Rex Brown from Pantera, Jason Newsted from Metallica, and David Ellefson from Megadeth.
John thoroughly enjoyed writing and recording the new album. Despite many of the bass riffs already being written by the previous bassist, Matt Grabon, John was still able to be creative. “I added a lot of bass to make it my own, while also staying true to Duskwalker’s tone.”
John Neadow Talks Gear and Technique
To keep the ideas flowing, he watches other bassists on YouTube, and he tries to play bass at least once a day for an hour. “I’ll get an idea in my head and try to get a riff going. Sometimes I’ll watch certain guys playing songs and I get inspired. I’ll try to do a technique they’ve done and try to put my own spin on it or make it work in the context of Duskwalker,” John explains.
The Duskwalker bassist is always down to talk gear. “I use LTD guitars, Tech 21 Sansamp Bass Driver V2, Diamond Bass compressor pedal, EMG pickups, Ernie Ball strings gauges 130 to 65, and 1.5mm D’Addario guitar picks.” John is always on the hunt for the latest and greatest, but he’s pretty happy with his current setup. “Most metal bass players play a 5-string, but I play a 4-string bass tuned like a 5-string. My bass tone is very bass and treble driven, or mid scooped to put it another way.”
Overall, John considers being a part of Duskwalker to be a dream come true and the place where he truly belongs. “It’s like a brotherhood and a family. John [Robinson] is the dad. Me, Cale, and Joey are the sons. John [Robinson] and Cale are the brains and they started the band with other guys.”
Metal Mayhem South of the Border
To this day, John’s most cherished moment so far with Duskwalker was playing Full Terror Assault last September. The four day event takes place in Cave-In-Rock, Illinois. “It’s a giant field in the middle of nowhere,” John describes. “I didn’t even have cell service most of the time.” It’s a once-in-a lifetime event that he still gushes about. “It was the biggest thing I’ve ever played. My first open air metal festival. I got to play with some of the biggest bands in metal history and some of the best up and coming bands. For instance, I got to play with Suicidal Tendencies and Skinless who are two of the originals from the 80s and 90s. And I got to play with 200 Stab Wounds who are an up and coming band.”
John reminisces about the awesome experience he had with his bandmates. “The atmosphere was metal head heaven. Anyone who loves metal in general, should experience that at least once in their life. There’s nothing else like it. You can literally get on the side of the stage to see your favourite bands which is basically impossible to do anywhere else. They’re actually at the merch table so you have a better chance of meeting them.”
What’s Next for Duskwalker and John Neadow?
As for John’s future with Duskwalker, he has high hopes and aspires to share the stage with other legends in the metal community. “I’d love to play with some of my heroes like Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under, Metallica, and Pantera. It’d also be cool to play with new bands too like Gatecreeper, Undeath, and Sanguisugabogg,” John says.
Duskwalker will continue to make appearances in the future. John Neadow finishes off the interview by giving us a glimpse of what’s in store for the band and their fanbase. “We have a bunch of shows coming up for the new album. All our main places like Toronto, Hamilton, and Niagara area. We’re also planning to play a few shows in the States like New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. That’s all we have planned for right now but there will be more.”
