Toothgrinder is a progressive metal band from Asbury Park, New Jersey. The four-piece consists of vocalist Justin Matthews, bassist/vocalist Matt Arensdorf, guitarist Jason Goss, and drummer Wills Weller.

The group formed in 2010 and is currently signed to Spinefarm Records. They recently released their debut album Nocturnal Masquerade.

The band spent a good portion of their summer on the Sonic Unrest Tour with Periphery, SikTh, and Chon.

I was at the New York City show of the tour on Wednesday, August 31st and talked to drummer Wills about the band, tour life, and just life in general. You can check out what he had to say below.

What inspired your band name?

Our band name is what we like to say is a feeling and not just a name. Toothgrinder is when you’re right in the middle of something, you’re in the heat of it, the thick of it, and you’re trying to push through. You’re grinding your teeth, you’re grinning, you’re bearing and you’re going for it. That’s kind of how the name happened. We thought it was a cool name, obviously, but it became such a deeper meaning with our live performance and just the emotions that come out in our songs and everything too. Toothgrinder is a feeling.

So I know you’re on tour with Periphery and I know it’s almost ending.

Yeah, tomorrow, sadly.

What was the best thing about this tour?

Oh my gosh, there have been a couple of cool things. Not only are all the bands just incredibly nice and just awesome dudes, we’ve had cool days off. We’ve had awesome days off. I loved our days off around the country because you get to see things that you normally wouldn’t, you know, being a nine-to-five’r in New York City or in New Jersey. My favorite day was probably our day off in Twin Falls, Idaho. We were on Snake River and it’s this big river in this gorge with a huge bridge that goes over it. We’ve driven over this bridge ten times, I don’t know how many times, but a lot of times. It was the summertime, so we rented paddle boards and kayaks and actually kayaked and paddle boarded under this bridge that we’ve driven over so many times. It was one of those moments where I was in the middle of this big river, I didn’t even know how deep it was, and I’m looking up, probably three football fields up at this bridge that I’ve driven over a bunch of times, and I just took a deep breath and was like, “Wow. This is just awesome.” It’s so cool. In New York, instead of looking at tall buildings, it was just rock. It was just big, huge rocks, so it was so cool, and it was like the most perfect day, so it was probably my favorite day of tour.

What was your craziest moment as a band?

Craziest moment, I would say, is signing a record deal. I feel like that might not be everybody’s goal, but I feel like it’s an integral part of what’s helped our band. Our label and everything has been so supportive with everything we’ve done. Creative control, songs, artwork, this and that, they’ve honestly just been an encouraging force. That’s been their job the entire time, and I think that was a real pivotal point of taking us from booking our own tours all the time and recording our own records to legitimizing this as a, lack of better term, business. You know what I mean? It’s kind of cool just because we’ve been friends since high school, all the dudes in our band, and it was just kind of crazy. We grew up playing in bands in high school, and as soon as we got out of high school, we pretty much started this band. We all went to college, did that, came back, and continued the band. This has been like our little baby forever. It’s so cool, the support that we get. It’s just been really cool to finally take it to the next level and really become a real band like Periphery or Killswitch Engage. We’ve had the honor of going on tour with so many incredible bands and that just inspires me to continue, but yeah. I think the record label was the real, “Whoah, I think we’re maybe doing something right.”

Can you explain Tooth Tuesdays?

Yeah. Everyone does social media and whatnot, and Tooth Tuesdays, we thought it was just funny; a play on words. It’s just to get people interacting with and checking our social medias every week. It’s cool because we just give stuff away. I did a bunch of drum playthroughs and when whoever won (whoever we picked) shared the video, they got a pair of my signature drumsticks from Vic Firth. They got a pair of those, they got a signed CD, and it’s just cool because who doesn’t wanna win something? It’s so easy, you know? We just do that and it’s funny because it keeps us on our toes. We did a really funny one. Unfortunately, Gene Wilder passed away just recently and our guitar player is a spitting image of him, so we did a funny side-by-side, “Make your best meme,” out of it, and it’s just little funny things like that, you know? Sometimes we give away tickets to shows, signed CD’s, records, drumsticks, a little bunch of everything. It’s cool. It just keeps everyone in the loop.

Can you talk about your daily shoe photos?

Oh, yeah! You think that’s cool?

Yeah, you’re on Day 20-something?

Today’s 30, I think yesterday was 29. It’s funny. I take the photo and I go to type whatever I’m saying, and then I forget what day I’m on so I have to go back to Instagram and check. So basically the thing behind it was just something fun to do on the road. I feel like someone’s shoes have so much character. If they’re just one pair you wear every day, they seriously tell a story. You know what I mean? I kind of rolled with it. It’s like the Tooth Tuesday thing. It gives someone a reason to always scope out what you’re doing and be like, “Oh, where are you today? What are you doing today?” So yeah, that was the base of it, starting with these awesome brand new white shoes and then going around the country and walking in dirty alleys and having rain days and playing in the grass and walking in New York. When we did the paddle boards I wasn’t even wearing shoes. I just had them on my paddle boards. It’s these one pair of shoes all across the country and in all these crazy environments. I just thought it would be so cool to capture that every day, and so I just went with it.

What’s some advice you’d give to aspiring musicians?

Follow your heart. If you’re passionate about it, you will absolutely do it. I’m a totally regular dude. When I’m home, I work a full-time job, I get stomach aches, I get runny noses, I’m totally normal. We’ve been able to play in this band and travel the country and meet bands that we were inspired by and we’re totally normal; we’re not like some crazy super-group, like awesome prodigies, so anybody could absolutely do it. I feel like you just need to work hard and if you’re thrown into the water, you’re gonna swim, right? You’re not just gonna be like, “Eh, lemme give up,” because you’re gonna fight for it. It’s the same thing with the music industry. If you want it, I think you’ll fight for it if you have the passion. You don’t always worry about what you know; it’s what you feel. I feel like if it’s positive and good, you’ll go for it and you’ll succeed. That’s at least the outlook that I’ve taken: being super nice and just trying to be positive and encouraging. That’s the only way to do it. I feel like everyone needs to encourage everybody.

What’s one reason anyone should check out Toothgrinder?

Because I think they’ll feel something when they listen to the songs. I think they might latch onto something we all write in our perspectives/fields. I feel like we convey a lot of emotion, especially live, and I feel like someone might attach to that. I know I do when I listen to them and I know I wrote the songs, or helped write the songs, but I still have a very near-and-dear emotional attachment to it and I feel like some people pick up on that, and that’s cool. I think that’s what they would do.

You can keep up to date with the band via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. They’re definitely hard workers, lively people, and seriously talented dudes. You’re making a mistake if you’ve never tried catching one of their sets. Here’s some of their music to hold you over for now.