“There’s a whammy dive riff that’s diabolically tricky. I’m already panicking about the day I play it live”: BTBAM have always fused metal and the unexpected. Now the band’s sole guitarist, Paul Waggoner has to live up to fans’ lofty expectations

Paul Waggoner.

When Between the Buried and Me started writing their latest album without guitarist Dustie Waring, who exited the band in 2023, Paul Waggoner says the remaining quartet were excited about the unknown.

Waring, who first appeared on the band’s 2005 album Alaska, will not be replaced on a permanent basis. Sometime in February’s Tristan Auman continues as a live member to augment Waggoner, bassist Dan Briggs, vocalist/keyboardist Tommy Giles Rogers and drummer Blake Richardson on stage.