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Hey, hi, hello, and welcome to another episode of First Spin, the podcast that introduces you to up-and-coming artists before they hit it big, so you can say I knew them when.
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My guest this week is Theo Candell, whose brand new album, A Horse Named Friday, is one of my favorite releases so far of 2026.
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Theo and I talk about how a riddle led to the album title, being in New York during the Knicks historic run, how having his car broken into turned into a song, and then a 10-minute music video, and the famous stand-up comedian he went bowling with.
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Here's a snippet of his song Flight to JFK, and then my conversation with Theo Kendell.
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Let's go out in this town and make a little trouble.
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I gotta place the mind, drink a big old beer in a big old stein.
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We can knock them all back to our scene double.
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Run my fingers up and down while we're lying in bed.
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Let's go in the park.
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We gonna find a bit of grass till the sky gets dark.
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I'll bring hummus and a blanket and a bottle of red.
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And the clouds are folding bright.
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California fades away.
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My heart is full in life on its flight to Jeff K.
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If only just a few birthday.
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New York winners cold, the honey I run uttermost.
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My guest this week is New York-based singer-songwriter Theo Kendell, who I've been a fan of since his 2023 release, Flight to JFK.
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In July, he put out a short film music video for his song 710 Split, which is quite literally one of the most entertaining things I think I've ever seen.
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And just last week he released his second full album titled A Horse Named Friday, which is already one of my favorite albums of the year.
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Theo, welcome to First Bin.
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Hey, thanks for having me.
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I slid into your DMs, as they say, quite a while ago, and I typed out a message and it sent before I finished sending the message.
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And there's nothing you can TikTok only lets you send one message before the person responds.
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Yeah, I did.
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I've totally forgot about it.
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And I was like, what?
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Well, you just because it cut off after the word would.
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And so you just typed back would, which I thought was really funny.
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But thanks for uh thanks for getting back to me.
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You are uh signed to the network music group, right?
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Yeah.
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Um, how's that been?
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How long have you been signed to them?
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How has it been so far?
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I've been signed to them.
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Uh the first release I did with them was Eating and Drinking and Being in Love.
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So the first album that I did.
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So I guess I think I signed in like 2023, fall of 2023.
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And then we did that album.
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We've done, we did the eating and drinking and singing with my friends, and then we did um somewhere along the trail, volume two, and then now this album.
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And it's been great.
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I mean, they're they're a you know, they're like an artist forward um label.
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I think what I appreciate about them is that they put they kind of will throw a just deals at people in a good way, in a way that makes me feel like they have faith, or that they're not, you know, a lot of other labels will be like, well, prove to me your like prowess on social, prove to me you have it all figured out, or prove to me these numbers.
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And my numbers are not crazy by any means.
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And so, you know, taken a chance on me and shown some faith, and yeah, it's been nice.
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Yeah, I've interacted with network um a few times.
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I've had a few network signed artists on the podcast, and my interactions with them every time has been just fantastic.
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So nothing but really great things to say about them.
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You have some big life changes happening.
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You were just before we started recording, you were saying you're in uh in the process of moving.
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Um, I I understand you're moving in with your girlfriend this weekend.
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Oh, yeah, moving in on Saturday, uh, moving from like East Williamsburg to Park Slope, but we haven't lived together yet.
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So it's an exciting one.
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I know it's an exciting time.
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Is that um is that Grace?
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Yeah, that's Grace.
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Okay.
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And she sings on one of the songs on the new album, She's Mad, She's Magic.
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I I convinced her um to do it.
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We had done these singing videos before that.
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I mean, like literally my most viral video ever is just me and her singing in spite of ourselves, the John Prime and Iris Dement song.
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And she's a great singer.
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She doesn't really sing, and she does now a bit.
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And so we I got her into the studio, and then we went back to my little home studio and and like hammered out all the harmonies and everything.
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So that was it was really fun.
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It's probably my favorite song on the album, actually.
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I I really like that song a lot.
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Yeah, I wrote that one with um my friend Jack Kleinek, who produced all of Eating and Drinking and Being in Love and wrote on Teeth on that album.
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Um, and I wrote it with him and my other friend Riley Beatier.
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She's a great um songwriter as well in LA.
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And it was just during a random trip that I was in LA.
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Grace the story behind that song is kind of funny.
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Grace, for uh Eating and Drinking and Being in Love, when I was writing that album, she gave me um a book of poems by Frank O'Hara called Lunch Poems.
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And she had read the book and she had, you know, highlighted her favorite lines, and then I read it and I highlighted my favorite lines.
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And so I took uh some of the the song Lunch that's on that album was inspired by the poem Steps.
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Um and so for this album, Grace was like, I'm gonna give you another book of poems, like maybe this will help you.
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So she gave me a book of Charles Bukowski poetry, but I don't she didn't really know much about Bukowski.
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And so I read it, and he's like so misogynistic and so like brash and you know, I it's cool, like some of the writing is really cool, and I enjoy that era of poetry, but uh I don't think she was it's not like as it's not sweet, really.
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It's not like Frank O'Hara, which is like beautiful, like New York poetry.
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And I'm reading these Bukowski poems, and I'm like, oh my god.
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Like he'll be like, he'll like, I took a beer shit, and then I like and then I slept with this girl, and and he like, I'm I'm not gonna quote it actually.
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But there was one line, I felt like I owed it to her to use something from it at least.
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And so there was one line in there called and he goes, She's mad, but she's magic.
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Um, and I was like, that is sick.
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That's it.
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So then got in, wrote that song with them, and uh yeah, I do like that one a lot.
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There's a lot of there's a lot of great songs on the album.
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Um it starts with the title track, A Horse Named Friday, which kind of sets the tone of the whole album and is kind of a um it's a beautiful intro.
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Your guitar work on that is is really dialed.
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It's really cool finger picking guitar.
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Um where did that title come from and how does that kind of bring out the album as a whole?
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Yeah, the I think I had written that melody like years ago, not in the same way that I played it on the guitar on this album, but kind of a that that like the verse melody, I guess, um, or the verse slash like refrain thing.
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And I was playing around, I got into John Faye this year, um, and a lot of like the older like folk traditional finger picking stuff, which is kind of where I learned a lot of my stuff, my Travis style picking.
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Um and the song Sunflower River Blues, that's a John Fey song, is so cool.
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And I was just thinking, I I you know, I really like eating and drinking and being in love.
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I really love finger picking, and that's what somewhere along the trail is like kind of supposed to show when I put those out.
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And I I wanted a song that was like that.
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I was like, I need one where I can just play it live, acoustic, whatever, and record it like that.
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Um, and so I started playing around, figured out I could do it in the open tuning, and had written then like the first verse and chorus.
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I mean, it's really a it's like a verse, the like what do I do?
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And then a bridge, and then it's over.
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Yeah, it doesn't follow like a typical song structure.
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No, I you know, I tried writing different verses to it, and I it it just didn't feel like I needed to even come back to singing that.
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And so when I was writing The Bridge, I had come up with the name A Horse Named Friday because I was in this medieval mindset.
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I love medieval stuff, I love fantasy, sci-fi, and I love riddles also.
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Like when I'm on tour, I have everyone in the band give me riddles if I'm the one driving.
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And a classic riddle, it's more of like a joke than a riddle.
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But the you know, cowboy rides into town on Friday, spends three nights in town, leaves on Friday, the horse's name is Friday.
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And I thought that was funny.
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And I was like, you know, the the album, I think in some ways is a I mean we'll get we'll get it more into it, I'm sure, but it's um it's a quest album to me, which is which means that like similar to the song Sadness is a Sine Wave, it's like you go like when you're on a quest, you have all these side quests.
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That's like the classic thing.
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And it may seem like you've come back like you've gone backwards or or haven't made any progress, but in reality, like you're still just moving forward, you're still on on this path.
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And um however meandering the album is and however meandering like life is or can feel, I think it's important for me to remember that I'm still like moving forward.
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You know, I'm not I haven't actually walked, you can't actually walk backward.
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And when I was writing The Bridge, I wanted to incorporate a horse named Friday in that I kind of idea of it, and this is gonna be very long-winded, I'm realizing.
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I love it.
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There's uh I think it was in this book series that I was reading called Sun Eater, which is um a sci-fi series.
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It's so cool by Christopher Ryuchio, and it's um it's so oh no, no, no, no, it's not in Sun Eater.
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Actually, it's not in Sun Eater.
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That one is sick.
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It's in The Will of the Many by James Islington, which is also really cool.
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And there he uses this uh I can't now I can't remember whose quote it is.
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It's a it's a Greek philosopher, but the quote is like you know, uh you can't step in the same river twice, um, for it is not the same river and you're not the same man.
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Or a man cannot, whatever.
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And that was also very fitting to me in this idea.
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So that is where the bridge uh came from.
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That's that's the story, and you can do it.
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Oh my sweet daffodil, it's been a long time loving, and the lovin''s pretty good so far.
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Come up the hill, we'll make a mill.
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Well, it's been a long day coming and the coming never gets too hard.
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What do I do?
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What do I do?
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Cause I'm in love with you.
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What do I say?
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What do I say?
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Cause I feel okay, as I feel okay, is if you okay.
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I step into the river, I cannot step in twice, for I'm not the same man, and it flows into the night.
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We'll cross the shallow water, we'll ride into a town on Friday.
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I'll see this to the end.
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On Friday, we'll leave again.
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You listed some of your main influences as like James Taylor and Simon and Garfunkel, Jackson Brown, Jim Crossy.
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Is that the kind of stuff that you grew up listening to?
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How did you get introduced to all of that?
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Is that what your folks are listening to?
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Yeah.
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Yeah, no, my parents would play um, they'd play James Taylor all the time, Simon and Garfunkel, like the greatest hits.
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Um they would also play a ton of Carol King, and those just kind of unwittingly became my inspirations over the years.
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And James Taylor, like I was never thinking I could play like James Taylor, but as I got better at guitar and realized that like one like one of my things could be playing guitar well and and finger picking well, uh, I started to really dive deeper into the James Taylor style of picking, at least on some of the stuff, like the sweet baby James stuff.
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Later on, I kind of finally enjoyed Joni Mitchell.
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It was a weird long process for me, too.
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Um and it was actually the cover, the James Blake cover of Case of You that I was like, hmm, this is crazy.
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And then went and got into Joni Mitchell and John Prine and um and Jim Croce and you know it all I I really like the 60s, 70s era of folk.
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I I love the instrumentation and the simplicity, and yet there are interesting musical things in there that you wouldn't expect, but some of those like Laurel Canyon type artists.
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Yeah.
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Did you were your folks musical?
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Were they playing instruments around the house and stuff?
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Not at all.
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Not at all.
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I have a great grandfather who played the violin, and that's the only musician that I think has been in my family.
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So you picked up music at at a certain point and then you started pursuing it more seriously around college, end of college.
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Yeah, I well I started playing violin when I was like four.
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Oh wow, okay.
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So I was a classical, classical violinist.
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Because your parents wanted you to, or because you Yeah, they were like, pick an instrument.
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They were like, it would be fun for you to pick an instrument.
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And I had read there was some like children's book version of I think the three little pigs where one of them plays the fiddle, and I was like, that seems cool.
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And so I just started playing violin and was doing, you know, I was playing the concerts and orchestra and everything.
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And when I was now maybe 12, I guess, I got my first guitar and started taking lessons and figuring it out, and that was mainly because I was playing a lot of guitar hero at the time, and I was like pretty cool to play guitar and started writing songs then.
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Um and then as time went on, I got better at songwriting and in high school started playing shows, and then senior year I started booking shows.
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Like in I grew up in New York in the city, and so I just started booking shows for myself at you know, like the bitter end or pianos or what the random little places, and went to college at Vanderbilt because I wanted to be in Nashville, and then once I graduated, I was like, I'm gonna stay in Nashville, I'm gonna pursue this, and and that was the process, yeah.
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How long did you stay in Nashville before going after graduating before going back to New York?
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I was there so I graduated in 2019 and I was there for two years.
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They were like COVID-ish years, they were very much COVID years in the second part of that.
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Um, and then in 2021, I moved to LA and lived there for three years and then moved back to New York two years ago.
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Yeah.
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Two years ago, actually, like tomorrow.
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Oh wow.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Are you happy to be back in New York?
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Do you think that this is where you're gonna settle down permanently?
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Yeah, I mean, I love New York.
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I I couldn't say where I'll be for the rest of my life.
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I definitely a part of me will be in New York in in some capacity.
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I feel the most like myself in New York.
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In Nashville, I love Nashville.
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I like really love Nashville.
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It's an easy place to live, and um I was a a version of myself in Nashville.
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And when I was in LA, I was a different ver I was the LA version of Theo, and now I'm back in New York and I'm like, this is I am Theo.
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Like I am New York Theo.
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It it feels right, you know.
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I what do you mean by that?
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I'm curious as to what those different versions of yourself.
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I think I mean I was also figuring out who I was at the time, like in my early 20s and and mid-20s.
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And uh when I'm in New York, I feel you you're like swept into the current of New York the second you step out your door.
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In LA, you can stay at home all day and or drive somewhere, and you feel like you haven't really like dipped your toe into what the city is, unless you're truly like going and and seeking experiences in LA.
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And in New York, I don't know, I bike everywhere in New York.
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I love I have my bike, I love it.
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I've taped it up so it looks like a delivery guy's bike, and I have a little like milk crate on the back, and so no one fucks with it, really, is my reasoning.
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But also I like having a milk crate.
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And I bike everywhere, and I can be like I think New York is like a I don't know what the correct like analogy is, but it's got like a hard shell and a soft heart.
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And I think you know, the classic thing is like New Yorkers are are uh kind but not nice, and so you know, I could be like fuck you if I'm biking and someone gets in my way, but I think when you're on the subway and someone needs help, like someone will always help someone, and I think that is key to New York.
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And I mean, I was you know, I was here this summer when the next one, and I've never seen New York like that.
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And it was a beautiful thing.
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It it's a it's a city of juxtaposition and contradiction, and I it it just feels it's the I I I find those contradictions and juxtapositions in myself.
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It seemed like pretty much the whole country, other than maybe San Antonio.
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Antonio was uh a Knicks fan for those couple weeks.
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I was at a I was at a bar in West Hollywood during game, what was it, game five that they won?
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And you would you would have thought it was the Lakers.
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Like the the place was just absolutely erupting.
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Like everybody was so excited about the Knicks winning.
00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:17.279
It was it was a lot of fun.
00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:22.640
I mean, there are a lot of New York trans plants play also, but it was no, it was awesome.
00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:34.319
I was watching at a bar in Chelsea with some friends, and uh they won, and we all like thousands of us walked up to Madison Square Garden and they weren't even playing there.
00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:38.960
They everyone was just like getting drunk on the streets, and it was it was cool.
00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:39.920
It was really cool.
00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:42.880
There's a real energy in New York that is hard to replicate.
00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:45.839
Um I don't I don't think it is replicated anywhere else.
00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:47.519
I I live in LA, I love LA.
00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:57.599
I can't imagine living anywhere but LA, but I I recognize that it does not have that same level of of energy that that New York has, which can be kind of overwhelming sometimes.
00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:00.079
I mean, you grew up there, so you're probably used to it.
00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:11.519
But like I like visiting New York, but I'm also always very ready to go because I'm like, man, I'm just I feel like I've been running at like such a high level the entire time I've there, I'm there.
00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:12.799
I think that's fair.
00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:20.079
I mean, I I also live in Brooklyn now, which is a different pace, and I really enjoy that.
00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:26.000
Like, I think if I was still living in Manhattan, I would feel probably differently.
00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:29.839
Um, because you're really you really don't you I mean you can have your home.
00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:39.440
I think living in New York though, as opposed to visiting it, is different because you have your home and you like go back to your home and your home is your refuge and whatever.
00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:41.359
But no, I I mean I loved LA.
00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:46.640
I lived in Koreatown and um I was in a house there with some buddies and and I had a great time.
00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:50.559
But is Brooklyn Theo different than Manhattan Theo?
00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:54.559
Yeah, I mean I'm not a you know, I was I was only in Manhattan until I was 18.
00:23:54.960 --> 00:24:08.400
Um Brooklyn Theo is probably as much of a Brooklyn cliche musician as like people will be like, dude, I thought I saw you the other day.
00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:17.680
And I was like, it could have been anyone, it could have been anyone with like a pseudo mullet and a mustache in this neighborhood, like and wearing like car hearts, like it's fine.
00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:21.119
Like I am, I am that in many ways.
00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:23.839
Or like, oh, I saw a dude like drinking a Miller High Life.
00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:26.240
I'm like, yeah, you and me both, brother.
00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:29.599
Like it's I feel like Miller Highlifes are having a moment.
00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:32.480
Like, are they they're they're just really popular all of a sudden.
00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:34.480
I've just realized this in the last couple weeks.
00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:44.079
Well, I wonder if this is partly to do with just general inflation, and Miller High Life has somewhat resisted inflation.
00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:52.160
It's the cheapest beer in any bar you go to, other than like an arraganset in New York or like in the Northeast.
00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:54.960
But generally, you know, Oh, is that the clam beer?
00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:57.680
Yeah, it's the well, yeah, yeah, it's the one with the clam.
00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:00.559
Yeah, I mean, it doesn't, it's not like clam juice.
00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:02.240
Um, it's a kind of a funny story.
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:11.680
I had never heard of that beer before, and I was in Boston this last weekend and we were at Fenway, and I saw it, and I was like, I'm gonna get one of those because I've never heard of it before.
00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:17.519
And my wife went back up to like grab another round at one point, and she was like, Do you want anything?
00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:19.759
I was like, Yeah, get me another one of those clam beers.
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:21.759
And because I could I couldn't pronounce that.
00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.400
You you just said it, and I still couldn't pronounce it.
00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:29.119
Um, and so she went up to the bartender and was like, Can I have a clam beer?
00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:32.400
And they just fucking stared at her like she was crazy.
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:35.039
Yeah, and you're in fucking Boston too.
00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:41.759
No, I'd love I mean Narragansett is the Miller High Life of the Northeast, is in in my mind, at least.
00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:43.759
It's oh, what is it?
00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:46.000
It's there, the the slogan that's on their can.
00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:48.240
I had one last night, and it was like, it's so good.
00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:53.759
It's like it's like brewed on honor, sold on merit.
00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:57.599
And I'm like, God, that's so and the can is so good.
00:25:57.680 --> 00:25:58.559
It's a good looking bit.
00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:00.240
It's so new England, too.
00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:02.160
That's just like such a New England for it.
00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:03.359
Yeah, it's a Providence.
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:09.039
I think now it's Providence Rhode Island, is where they are based or something.
00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:11.680
But yeah, cheap beers.
00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:13.119
Everyone loves a cheap beer.
00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:20.240
I think people are getting a little sick of the you know, the I the IPA and and craft beer bubble has burst in well, at least in my life.
00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:21.359
No, mine too.
00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:22.960
I used to be so into them.
00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:26.480
My early 20s, I was drinking nothing but micro brews.
00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:36.240
Yeah, like you were like, Oh, I was like, oh, I'm gonna try a let me get a goza from this bar, or let me get a like$18 peanut butter milk stout.
00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:40.480
And I'm like, Jesus Christ, like I want a five dollar beer.
00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:50.640
Okay, we gotta talk about the seven ten split video.
00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:51.759
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:54.240
I'm just it's the video you did of it.
00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:56.640
That was a great, that was great.
00:27:56.799 --> 00:28:03.440
Yeah, that was I mean, I just you had been teasing it for a little while, and I was like, this looks like it's gonna be really fun.
00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:08.720
And then when it finally came out, I was like, oh yeah, this is exactly what I was hoping it would be and more.
00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:14.160
So I wanna I want to hear about how it all came together, where the idea for the song and then the video and all of that.
00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:17.680
Yeah, the song came from when I was living in LA.
00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:18.880
Well, I love bowling.
00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:24.559
Um, the people that know my stuff know I love bowling for no reason.
00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:31.759
I don't have a background in bowling, I just like it, and then started bowling alone in LA because the bowling alleys are awesome in LA.
00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:33.839
And someone was like, You should get your own ball.
00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:35.279
So I got my own ball.
00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:41.759
And then I was in Echo Park, like getting ice cream at what's that place?
00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:45.519
It's like it's like Fluffy McLeod or something.
00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:46.319
Whatever.
00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:49.359
There's some I don't actually know if that's what it's called, but it could be.
00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:56.640
Someone broke into my like they smashed the window of my car, they stole just my bowling ball.
00:28:56.799 --> 00:28:57.279
What the fuck?
00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:00.799
And I had and I had like a red rider BB gun that they also took.
00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:03.039
But like that, that's what they took.
00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:10.799
It was in a nice little leather bag, and I was so pissed, I was more pissed about the bowling ball than my car window.
00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:15.119
And so, you know, that week I was I was like, I want to write a song about it.
00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:22.000
And so I started writing a song where the verse is like, someone stole my bowling ball, and then the chorus was like, Well, I hope he's got a mean hook shot.
00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:23.119
I hope it's a perfect fit.
00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:26.079
You can give it everything you got, but you still end up with a 710 split.
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:34.240
And also, my car is a 2006 Honda CRV that has like 170,000 miles on it, and like everyone's telling me to get rid of it.
00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:35.039
I love it.
00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:43.440
So I wrote that chorus and then I realized that no one really would want to hear actually a song about my bowling ball getting stolen.
00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:46.319
It's like the least relatable thing that I could think of.
00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:53.119
So I was in Nashville doing a session with these guys, Colin Pastor, and Jake Finch, who were really sick.
00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:59.119
They did a bunch of Ash stuff, they've done Lucy Dakis stuff, like really good stuff.
00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:07.759
And um we were right, we were we were thinking what to do, and I was like, I have this chorus, I think it's a cool idea, but I don't know what the actual story would be.
00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:09.920
And they were like, What if it's a fictional thing?
00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:17.920
And I was like, Well, if it's fictional, then it has to be like this sad story about a guy's wife leaves him for the better bowler in the local bowling league.
00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:20.400
And so then we just wrote the song based off of that.
00:30:22.079 --> 00:30:23.599
I was playing it for a while.
00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:44.160
When it came time to do the music video, I have I had always wanted to do a mockumentary video in some way for no reason, other than I really like like documentary now and all the other, you know, all those kind of mock or like best in show.
00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:56.880
And I I was working with my friend Oscar O'Reilly, who's a really good director, um and writer, and you know, filmmaker and whatever, um, for a lot of the videos on this album.
00:30:57.119 --> 00:31:05.680
And Grace, my girlfriend, who uh is a great writer as well, and she had kind of been wanting to try her hand at some more screenwriting stuff.
00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:10.720
We met actually in college in uh in a screen screenwriting class.
00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:14.960
Um and I was like, this is the kind of video I want to make.
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:20.240
I think it would be fun to do a a mockumentary, and so we kind of like brainstormed it.
00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:22.000
Grace was like, I'll write the script.
00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:30.160
So she wrote the whole script for the video and created these characters with these names and and this storyline.
00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:43.279
And I got all my best friends to be in this music video and uh hit up like all these bowling alleys in Long Island and New Jersey and Staten Island and the one Lodi lanes.
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:49.039
Shout out Lodi lanes because they were the most reasonable bowling alley to deal with.
00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:55.920
And they were like, Yeah, whatever, you can do it for free, but like once people start coming in, I'll just charge you for the lanes like per hour.
00:31:56.240 --> 00:31:57.759
I was like, it's so fair.
00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:00.000
So we went, took us two days.
00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:10.799
We had a whole crew, we had a sound guy, we had a cinematographer, we had my friends as extras, I got the airbrushed t-shirts made by a guy in Harlem.
00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:16.319
Uh I got all the, you know, we had all the costumes and everything.
00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:25.200
And I didn't want to be the main character in it because I don't think I'm that good of an actor.
00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:33.920
And also, like with the way that Grace had written it, I was like, I am super into bowling, and this main character, this like lead manager is actually super into bowling.
00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:35.920
So let me do that.
00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:37.920
And my two friends Ben and Graham.
00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:41.039
Ben plays Rocco and Graham plays Barry.
00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:52.079
They're both actors, or they at a certain point were very much trying to be actors and have other things that they're doing now, but I knew they want like they were perfect for it.
00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:56.799
And Ben I mean the acting in it all across the board, yourself included, like the acting is so good.
00:32:57.039 --> 00:32:58.160
It's good, it's so well done.
00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:06.240
It's all pro it's like the I'm not surprised that you had a sound guy and a cinematographer and stuff because it it feels like it was, you know, very, very professionally done.
00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:11.519
Yeah, it was I it was the most that I've ever put into any music video.
00:33:11.920 --> 00:33:16.640
And I was talking to network and I was like, like, can you fund this in some way?
00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:18.960
Like, I think it's gonna be awesome.
00:33:19.119 --> 00:33:24.880
I still have to figure out how to truly promote it better because I I need to just get it out there more.
00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:36.960
But yeah, we filmed it, it was perfect, everyone was the perfect roles, it was easy, and then in the editing process, we brought in a new editor called Colton, his name is Colton Warren.
00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:39.279
Magic, like magic editing.
00:33:39.359 --> 00:33:41.119
It was really insane to see.
00:33:41.519 --> 00:33:45.359
And I mean, if nothing else, it's just fun.
00:33:45.680 --> 00:34:01.440
I think a lot of music videos are like farmed for the vertical content these days, or like what you can do on the shorts, and that's part of what I'm struggling with now is like figuring out how to cut it up and make it palatable because it is a better watch if you just watch it all the way through.
00:34:01.839 --> 00:34:02.880
It's so worth 10 minutes.
00:34:03.200 --> 00:34:04.000
It's what I tell everybody.
00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:07.519
It's so worth 10 minutes of your time to sit down and watch this whole thing.
00:34:07.839 --> 00:34:17.199
What I think you gotta do is if they're gonna do a second season of Born to Bowl on HBO, you gotta find a way to like sneak it into an episode of Born to Bowl.
00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:19.119
It would just fit in there so perfectly.
00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:20.719
I'm trying so hard.
00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:28.239
I I need to figure out who my contacts are at HBO or A24, you know, whatever, whoever I think those are the people that made it.
00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:29.119
Ben Stiller.
00:34:29.679 --> 00:34:30.639
Ben Stiller, that's it.
00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:34.000
Yeah, just get Ben Stiller on the on the phone and it'll we'll get it in.
00:34:34.239 --> 00:34:35.760
Um oh, that's so fun, man.
00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:36.400
That's so fun.
00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:38.159
I'm not much of a bowling person.
00:34:38.239 --> 00:34:41.760
I honestly didn't even really know what a 710 split was.
00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:49.280
I figured it out, obviously, from context clues, but um despite having no knowledge of it, I loved it.
00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:52.000
When you were bowling in LA, did you ever go to Highland Park Bowl?
00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:52.880
I did.
00:34:53.119 --> 00:35:11.760
Um I mainly went to Jewel City bowling in Glendale and Chateau 39 or Shadow 39, I don't know how people say it, but because I was living in Koreatown, so I just the the Shadow 39 is in it was like a five-minute drive from my house.
00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:14.960
Um and those were the main places.
00:35:15.039 --> 00:35:24.000
I once I actually once bowled with Hannibal Burris at uh Jewel City Bowling in Glendale in a weird series of events.
00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:28.239
Like he like followed my TikTok account at some point.
00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:32.880
I don't maybe he liked the music, and then he DM'd me and I was like, what's up?
00:35:33.119 --> 00:35:38.320
And I was like, we should bowl sometime, and he was like, Jewel City Bowling, 7 p.m.
00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:43.599
And so I just went, and then we just it was like just me and him and my other friend who was with me and we bowled.
00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:45.920
How random.
00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:48.480
Did you ever see him again or talk to him again or anything?
00:35:48.800 --> 00:35:53.760
I like have his number and I don't I haven't actually this is a good I should text him.
00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:56.000
I mean, I don't know if he'll respond to me now.
00:35:56.239 --> 00:35:58.400
You should you should send him a link to the video.
00:35:58.559 --> 00:35:58.880
I know.
00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:00.719
I I can't believe I haven't done that yet.
00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:01.679
That is crazy.
00:36:01.920 --> 00:36:03.199
Is he like really into bowling?
00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:03.920
Is that a thing?
00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:05.440
I don't I guess.
00:36:05.679 --> 00:36:08.719
I guess we just like had a LA story.
00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:12.960
Like literally, we just like had a nice time and like bowled three games.
00:36:13.519 --> 00:36:15.119
It was so funny.
00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:16.079
Yeah.
00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:17.519
It reminds me of that.
00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:22.000
Um, did you see that thing where JJ Watt was sitting at a bar somewhere?
00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:30.639
I think it was in New York City, and somebody tweeted and said that they were like too nervous to approach him like while he was there, but he's regretting it now.
00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:33.440
And like JJ Watt saw it and was like, Are you still there?
00:36:33.519 --> 00:36:34.000
I'll come back.
00:36:34.079 --> 00:36:36.800
And he like went back to the party to hang out with the guy.
00:36:36.960 --> 00:36:38.320
Yeah, that's cool.
00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:39.760
That is so cool.
00:37:45.920 --> 00:37:55.199
I wrote the station with the same guys that I wrote, Seven Ten Splits, so it's Colin Pastor, Jake Finch, and then also John Mark Nelson was with us that day.
00:37:55.440 --> 00:38:06.880
I mean, the story of the song was I was on this uh like songwriter trip with Evan Honer and a bunch of other awesome, actually Kate Stevenson and um Thomas Row.
00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:08.639
Oh, I like Kate Stevenson a lot.
00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:10.000
What's that song she just put out?
00:38:10.159 --> 00:38:11.760
Bum Bumblefoot or something?
00:38:12.159 --> 00:38:13.360
Uh Summerfoot.
00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:14.719
Summerfoot.
00:38:14.800 --> 00:38:15.679
Oh, it's such a good song.
00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:16.480
No, she's sick.
00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:21.280
And Kate is a friend of mine, and she opened for me on in May on the tour that I did.
00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:26.079
And there were a bunch of other great people uh on that trip as well.
00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:33.599
And we the last night we were there, we all went to a bar called the station in like Woodstock, I think.
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:43.760
And we did shrooms and did like it, we just like were not even coming close to measuring what we were taking.
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:53.519
And we just took it, and then I just like tripped super hard at this bar with a bunch of people that I was then had met like three days before.
00:38:53.920 --> 00:38:58.400
But we were all like it was this cool thing where we all were like friends immediately.
00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:03.039
And yeah, then that was that's the story of the whole song.
00:39:03.199 --> 00:39:13.119
It's just one night at a bar where I'm losing my mind, and I'm like playing pool, and I'm like coming up with these personas like a guy who just bought land in Poughkeepsie.
00:39:13.280 --> 00:39:16.079
That was like one of the personas that I came up with.
00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:24.960
And Poughkeepsie is like a town near Woodstock, and no one in the that was playing pool, like they all knew I was not this person.
00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:26.239
So it was super dumb.
00:39:26.320 --> 00:39:28.079
And I just we just like couldn't stop laughing.
00:39:28.320 --> 00:39:31.039
Did you get much writing done on this writing retreat?
00:39:31.280 --> 00:39:32.480
Yes, weirdly.
00:39:32.639 --> 00:39:42.480
I mean, we would wake up every day, go to the gym, and then we would come back, and then we kind of all split off and and write some songs together.
00:39:42.559 --> 00:39:47.119
Like I wrote the song with Kate that we've never put out, but actually is a pretty fun, funny song.
00:39:47.360 --> 00:39:52.480
Um, I wrote with Evan and then um Brennan Walter Coughlin Jr.
00:39:52.719 --> 00:40:03.840
who's great, John Brigham, um, who's great, and he's in this band Tobacco Road, and uh it was just a great everyone really was kind of productive.
00:40:04.239 --> 00:40:18.400
But I think more so those things are fun when you don't know anyone, when there's no pressure to like really grind super hard every day that you end up like the relationships you form, like I'm still friends with all those people.
00:40:19.119 --> 00:40:34.320
And there's something nice about that, like brought together by like a general love of the similar kind of music we were making, and then ended up actually being compatible people for friendship, and it's uh it's a nice thing.
00:40:34.800 --> 00:40:37.119
Yeah, I mean, because you never know how that's gonna go, right?
00:40:37.599 --> 00:40:46.400
You end up just going off with a group of people, and maybe you're not gonna get along at all, or maybe somebody's gonna take it way too seriously, and yeah.
00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:54.639
Do you like that process of writing collaboratively with other people as opposed to writing on your own, or is it just kind of two different exercises?
00:40:55.039 --> 00:40:56.400
I do, no, I do like it.
00:40:56.480 --> 00:41:00.559
It's different, it changes for me, you know, in phases.
00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:08.559
I think a lot of my favorite songs of mine are the ones that I write alone, and I think it's more because I can really take my time with it.
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:16.000
And sometimes when I'm in a session, you bang it out in one day, and it can be a really fun song.
00:41:16.159 --> 00:41:22.719
Um but it might not necessarily have the same depth to it, but then it also can.
00:41:23.679 --> 00:41:30.880
Um I'm trying to think of like like you know, like The Painters, which is a really fun song of mine that I love.
00:41:31.199 --> 00:41:33.280
Um that's on the previous album.
00:41:33.440 --> 00:41:34.960
That's on the previous album, yeah.
00:41:35.280 --> 00:41:37.039
Yeah, yeah, I like that song a lot too.
00:41:37.599 --> 00:41:41.679
And yet and like people love that song, and I love playing it, and it's really fun.
00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:53.760
Um but then a song like You know, Sadness is a Sine Wave on this album, or like Morning Dove, or Um A Horse Named Friday, like all the ones that I I've written alone.
00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:58.880
It's a different, it's a different type of song that I end up making alone.
00:41:59.440 --> 00:42:03.519
Which is why I also enjoy writing with people, because I never would have written The Station Alone.
00:42:03.599 --> 00:42:11.280
I never would have written Seven Tenth Split alone, um, or Ghost Lives, you know, or any of the ones that I collaborated with people to write.
00:42:11.920 --> 00:42:14.000
And that's the I mean that's the beauty of it, you know.
00:42:14.239 --> 00:42:16.079
No, you but you just mentioned Ghost Lives.
00:42:16.159 --> 00:42:26.000
Uh there's a line in it about uh you could have been a doctor or a star in the silver screen, which made me wonder if you weren't making music, what do you think you'd be doing?
00:42:26.639 --> 00:42:27.280
Hmm.
00:42:29.679 --> 00:42:32.400
I would like to be a writer as well.
00:42:32.960 --> 00:42:39.360
I have a fantasy book idea that I can't divulge yet because I think it's too good and I'm gonna work on it.
00:42:39.920 --> 00:42:43.039
I think I could see myself being a right like a novelist.
00:42:43.440 --> 00:42:56.719
Um I think in a definitely a different life where I wasn't so intrigued with the creative endeavors, I probably just would have been a lawyer.
00:42:57.039 --> 00:42:59.840
Like I probably I I but you know, no offense.
00:43:00.079 --> 00:43:16.559
Um I my dad's a lawyer, like I have a lot of friends in my life that are lawyers, and I was a good student and um enjoyed uh the academic pursuits very much so.
00:43:17.199 --> 00:43:28.559
And I think to find like if I had had no other creative outlets, I think I would have tried to find those creative outlets within industries that are like considered less creative.
00:43:28.719 --> 00:43:35.519
And maybe that would have been a lawyer, maybe I mean, you know, maybe I just would have been a consultant, or like maybe I would have gone into finance.
00:43:35.920 --> 00:43:37.280
Like, I don't know.
00:43:37.519 --> 00:43:52.559
I I think that when I find something that I am good at and passionate about, I can really throw myself into it, hence bowling, um, or any of the other like random ass things that I do in my life now.
00:43:53.039 --> 00:43:58.559
And I would like to think I would be a good, you know, I I could have been a good lawyer.
00:43:58.960 --> 00:43:59.760
I don't think I would have been.
00:44:00.239 --> 00:44:00.719
No, no doubt.
00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:02.000
I didn't have that in me.
00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:03.679
And like, you don't think so?
00:44:03.920 --> 00:44:04.719
I don't think I have.
00:44:04.880 --> 00:44:05.519
Like.
00:44:06.639 --> 00:44:07.280
Maybe now.
00:44:07.440 --> 00:44:09.679
I mean, I've seen your work in the 710 split video.
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:12.079
And I'm telling you, I think you could, I think you could act.
00:44:12.239 --> 00:44:12.960
I think you can do it.
00:44:13.199 --> 00:44:13.840
Maybe now.
00:44:13.920 --> 00:44:19.760
I was never comfortable really in my own skin until I was in my late 20s.
00:44:19.840 --> 00:44:23.519
So I think it would have taken it it would be now if I were to do it.
00:44:23.840 --> 00:44:25.360
How did that that's interesting?
00:44:25.519 --> 00:44:38.880
So how did um what I think is a very natural discomfort of being in your own skin in your 20s, how did that kind of inform or to a certain extent hold you back as you pursued music?
00:44:39.760 --> 00:44:59.360
You know, I think it may kind of be a chicken in the egg kind of situation where the more I've been on stage and the more I just talk to strangers like every day when I'm on tour, that is like part of the job, the more comfortable I've become.
00:44:59.440 --> 00:45:01.119
And I don't know if I can really pinpoint.
00:45:01.440 --> 00:45:05.840
I mean, I remember turning 26 and being like, this is pretty reasonable that I'm 26.
00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:32.880
And I mean, now I'm 29, so like, you know, it's been some years since then, but I think the process of doing music and having it be my name and having my songs be very much tied to the person that I am and the experiences that I've had have allowed me to feel more comfortable just being the person that I am.
00:45:33.119 --> 00:45:44.000
You know, I don't think I'm like hiding behind the songs, um, nor do I think I'm like cheapening my life through the songwriting and the performing.
00:45:44.559 --> 00:45:51.599
I think it's kind of been this weird process where I like I am the person that I am on stage.
00:45:51.920 --> 00:46:01.840
I'm a little more ridiculous on stage or like a little more like bubbly than I am in in regular day-to-day life, but it is still kind of an extension of me.
00:46:02.079 --> 00:46:07.840
And I think play, I mean playing music every night, it does that, I think, over time.
00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:09.440
You just get com you have to be comfortable.
00:46:09.599 --> 00:46:10.719
Everyone's looking at you.
00:46:10.960 --> 00:46:12.000
And I like it.
00:46:12.159 --> 00:46:14.800
You know, like it's not like I don't like it.
00:46:15.119 --> 00:47:57.280
And I think that definitely contributed to it to feeling, I don't know, you're feeling better now, speaking of playing on stage, you've got a tour coming up in September.
00:47:57.360 --> 00:48:02.800
Um, runs from what, the 15th through the 24th, something like that?
00:48:03.199 --> 00:48:05.199
Yeah, the first show's on the 15th, yeah.
00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:10.880
You're playing Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Salt Lake City, and Denver.
00:48:11.039 --> 00:48:13.199
What are you doing to prep for those shows?
00:48:13.360 --> 00:48:15.760
What are you most looking forward to about those shows?
00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:22.239
Yeah, it's the same band that played with me on the last in the tour in May.
00:48:22.320 --> 00:48:27.199
That was like the East Coast run of this whole thing, East Coast Midwest kind of run of this whole thing.
00:48:27.440 --> 00:48:31.920
And those dudes are some of my best friends and insane musicians.
00:48:32.159 --> 00:48:41.199
The prep is just me being like, it's gonna be the same playlist, maybe add ghost lives and about dreams, and like let's practice the night before the first show and see how it goes.
00:48:41.840 --> 00:48:46.239
The prep, I mean, like I said, like I'm moving on Saturday.
00:48:46.800 --> 00:48:47.760
It'll be like a week.
00:48:47.840 --> 00:48:50.719
I'm leaving on like the ninth, so it'll be a quick turnaround.
00:48:50.800 --> 00:48:54.000
And the prep is generally staying healthy.
00:48:55.360 --> 00:48:58.480
But like you can't do that much to prep like that.
00:48:58.559 --> 00:49:13.920
You can eat well and you can I can take my wellness formula, which is which is these little pills that actually these enormous pills that taste so bad, but have like every home remedy cure that anyone's ever made in one pill.
00:49:14.400 --> 00:49:16.000
But I'm very excited to get out to the West Coast.
00:49:16.079 --> 00:49:17.199
I haven't played there in a while.
00:49:17.519 --> 00:49:23.119
Uh I haven't been I haven't played in LA in a while, or any really any of the cities on on that list.
00:49:23.360 --> 00:49:26.480
So I am just excited to see the people.
00:49:26.719 --> 00:49:42.400
I I don't know if there'll be like more people than the last time that I've played there, but I think that people are excited for me to come out and I I just like meeting people and they tell me their stories, and I I love to hear them.
00:49:42.960 --> 00:49:45.440
Yeah, I'm so bummed I'm gonna miss the LA show.
00:49:45.519 --> 00:49:46.880
I've yeah, shit.
00:49:47.119 --> 00:49:53.280
I was hoping we could do this in person before the show, but yeah, I've already got already got engagements that night, unfortunately.
00:49:53.440 --> 00:49:55.360
But I'm sure I will I will catch you on the next one.
00:49:55.440 --> 00:50:00.480
Um, you're doing this cool thing too, where you're having local artists uh open each one of the shows.
00:50:00.719 --> 00:50:02.320
So how is how has that process been?
00:50:02.480 --> 00:50:07.280
Has it been cool kind of diving into different people's music and seeing who might fit?
00:50:07.519 --> 00:50:09.199
Yeah, it is very cool.
00:50:09.440 --> 00:50:17.039
I I actually have to announce those like very soon, but um it's nice to know.
00:50:17.599 --> 00:50:21.199
Like I made this whole Google form where people could be like, I'm like, why?
00:50:21.360 --> 00:50:28.320
And they'll be like, I've listened to your music, I like it, like, or like you've inspired me, or I just think we'd be a good fit.
00:50:28.400 --> 00:50:39.039
And I listened to all of them, and there were a ton of submissions, and I was I regretted it a little bit because there were like a ton of submissions, and I didn't want to necessarily have to go through all of them, but I did.
00:50:39.599 --> 00:50:53.440
And it's gratifying to know I think there are many people that don't make music that are fans of my music, and I think that's an unbelievable thing.
00:50:54.639 --> 00:51:00.800
It's also an awesome, awesome thing to know that there are musicians that are fans of my music.
00:51:01.119 --> 00:51:12.000
Because there are so many musicians that I'm fans of that have inspired me over the years that I would like you know would have loved to open for or or just have them hear my music.
00:51:12.079 --> 00:51:19.519
And um I I I do always try to keep that in mind when people send me their stuff and I listen to it all.
00:51:19.679 --> 00:51:32.320
And it's nice it just is a nice thing to know that like there are all these, there's just like a whole web of music influence that everyone has, and you could probably trace it in some way.
00:51:32.960 --> 00:51:44.800
And to be even just like kind of a node on that uh, you know, like neural network of music influence, I I am grateful for it.
00:51:44.880 --> 00:51:48.320
So I'm excited to see the people that I've that I'm gonna have open.
00:51:48.480 --> 00:51:50.159
Um I think they're gonna be great.
00:51:50.880 --> 00:51:52.480
Co-signed by Theo.
00:51:55.360 --> 00:51:59.599
The last section of the podcast is called Final Spin, it's just rapid fire questions.
00:51:59.760 --> 00:52:04.719
First thing that comes to mind if you could share a stage with any artist, living or dead, who would it be?
00:52:05.039 --> 00:52:05.840
James Taylor.
00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:07.119
No, John Prime.
00:52:08.960 --> 00:52:09.280
Yeah.
00:52:10.639 --> 00:52:12.719
I yeah, I mean, you could just do a trio.
00:52:13.119 --> 00:52:14.400
Let's I'll say those.
00:52:15.519 --> 00:52:18.400
Um, what was the first album you owned that was just yours?
00:52:18.639 --> 00:52:22.159
Uh it was American Idiot by Green Day, and I bought it on iTunes.
00:52:22.320 --> 00:52:24.000
No, no, I bought I don't know, I bought the C D.
00:52:24.159 --> 00:52:27.679
I bought the C D and then I brought it home and my mom was like, you can't listen to this.
00:52:27.920 --> 00:52:31.760
And then I did listen to it and I was like, fuck yeah.
00:52:33.440 --> 00:52:36.000
Um, I just saw a video, side note.
00:52:36.079 --> 00:52:38.719
I just saw a video of Geese doing a cover of American Idiot.
00:52:38.800 --> 00:52:39.280
Have you seen this?
00:52:39.519 --> 00:52:42.400
I haven't seen that yet, but I someone was telling me about it the other day.
00:52:42.559 --> 00:52:43.039
Is it good?
00:52:43.440 --> 00:52:44.400
It's pretty wild.
00:52:44.639 --> 00:52:46.960
Um, I I don't know.
00:52:47.199 --> 00:52:49.519
It's it's Geese doing American Idiot.
00:52:49.599 --> 00:52:50.639
I mean, like what you know.
00:52:50.880 --> 00:52:52.719
I can already it's definitely interesting.
00:52:52.960 --> 00:52:54.159
It's definitely interesting.
00:52:54.480 --> 00:52:57.760
They're making a biopic about your life, who's playing the lead role?
00:52:58.079 --> 00:53:02.079
Well, according to many people, Benny Blanco.
00:53:03.920 --> 00:53:04.320
Really?
00:53:04.480 --> 00:53:07.679
The Selena Gomez is that's the one I get a lot.
00:53:07.840 --> 00:53:13.039
That's like who really that's like one of those celebrity lookalikes, which is not a great one, or a little dicky.
00:53:13.360 --> 00:53:17.280
No, I that's just that's just curly hair, Jewish stubble, you know.
00:53:17.599 --> 00:53:18.000
That's it.
00:53:18.159 --> 00:53:18.639
That's it.
00:53:18.800 --> 00:53:24.800
That's kind of the I don't know if there's you know someone with a mustache, hopefully.
00:53:24.960 --> 00:53:26.880
At least somebody who can grow a mustache, right?
00:53:27.039 --> 00:53:27.760
Exactly.
00:53:28.239 --> 00:53:31.119
Is there an artist or a band you love that people would be surprised by?
00:53:31.440 --> 00:53:43.679
Well, I've been really listening to a shit ton of 90s country right now, like for the last like six months, basically non-stop at the gym and just like in my day-to-day life.
00:53:44.239 --> 00:53:45.039
And I love it.
00:53:45.599 --> 00:53:50.239
Like Alan Jackson or um Vince Gill.
00:53:50.320 --> 00:53:51.599
Like, I love Vince Gill.
00:53:51.679 --> 00:53:54.320
I think Vince Gill is like one of the best artists ever.
00:53:55.280 --> 00:53:57.199
Isn't he playing with the Eagles now?
00:53:57.840 --> 00:53:58.880
Oh, is he?
00:53:59.280 --> 00:54:01.679
Yeah, I think I think he's playing with the Eagles now.
00:54:02.079 --> 00:54:12.239
I mean, he did he had his tiny desk come out like in the last in this summer, and I couldn't believe how good he sounded.
00:54:12.480 --> 00:54:17.760
Like he's a true tenor voice, also, and he's just so good, and he reps on guitar.
00:54:18.480 --> 00:54:19.840
I love 90s country.
00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:39.360
I think 90s country is like, you know, whatever country is now, or like pop country is now, I think they all draw their uh lyrical roots from 90s country because so much of the stuff that they were talking about, all the tropes that you think of in like modern country music, were just being developed in the 90s and they were legit.
00:54:39.519 --> 00:54:54.800
They were like, even if they weren't, you know, actually like hunting and fishing and having their trucks, like they were mentioning them in genuine ways, and there's so much wit in the 90s country songs that I j I just love it.
00:54:55.039 --> 00:54:56.559
It's so good to me.
00:54:56.719 --> 00:54:57.760
It's so good.
00:54:58.079 --> 00:55:04.320
And then the final question is who's an artist with less than 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify that you think people should be listening to?
00:55:04.639 --> 00:55:10.480
Luke Hart H A R T opened my show in Manchester.
00:55:10.639 --> 00:55:12.800
He's a British artist, he's from Manchester.
00:55:13.119 --> 00:55:15.679
Um, he only has one song out on Spotify right now.
00:55:16.320 --> 00:55:17.679
It's called Biding.
00:55:18.079 --> 00:55:19.199
He's so good.
00:55:19.840 --> 00:55:21.440
He's so good.
00:55:22.719 --> 00:55:27.119
I I want him to be huge, and I think his songwriting is beautiful.
00:55:27.519 --> 00:55:34.800
And it's in this like kind of tradition of like kind of like Nick Drake, but not really.
00:55:35.599 --> 00:55:38.639
Um just great.
00:55:38.960 --> 00:55:40.239
It's really just good.
00:55:40.880 --> 00:55:41.280
Nice.
00:55:41.440 --> 00:55:42.800
I'm excited to check him out.
00:55:42.960 --> 00:55:49.119
Um speaking of things that are great, Theo Candel, man, I think what you're doing is just fantastic.
00:55:49.280 --> 00:55:57.360
Um, excited for for what's on the horizon for you and uh keep pumping this this new album, which is which is just fantastic.
00:55:57.760 --> 00:55:58.880
Well, thank you very much.
00:55:59.039 --> 00:56:00.320
I appreciate it.
00:56:03.920 --> 00:56:07.920
As you heard, Theo is going on tour this month, September 15th.
00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:24.960
He'll be in Portland, Oregon, September 16th, Seattle, the 18th, San Francisco, the 20th in LA at the Moroccan Lounge, which is one of my favorite spots in LA, September 21st in San Diego, the 23rd in Salt Lake City, and finally the 24th in Denver, Colorado.
00:56:25.199 --> 00:56:27.519
Go see him live, tell him I sent you.
00:56:27.679 --> 00:56:30.559
And then if you see him around Brooklyn, maybe you did, maybe you didn't.
00:56:30.719 --> 00:56:35.360
You can stream his brand new album, A Horse Named Friday, wherever streaming happens for you.
00:56:35.599 --> 00:56:41.039
And if you haven't yet, take 10 minutes of your life, I swear, and just go watch the 710 split music video.
00:56:41.280 --> 00:56:44.079
It will almost certainly be the best 10 minutes of your day.
00:56:44.320 --> 00:56:55.679
We talked about a lot of other great artists and songs in this episode, so go check out the Theo Candel first spin playlist with songs featured in this episode by Theo, his friends, inspirations, and other songs that just fit the vibe.
00:56:55.840 --> 00:56:56.960
That is all for this week.
00:56:57.119 --> 00:56:58.480
Thank you so much for listening.
00:56:58.559 --> 00:56:59.519
And you know what?
00:56:59.760 --> 00:57:00.960
Send this to your mom.
00:57:01.199 --> 00:57:02.800
I think she's gonna like it.
00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:30.800
Hey, hi, hello, and welcome to another episode of First Spin, the podcast that introduces you to up-and-coming artists before they hit it big, so you can say I knew them when.
00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:38.000
My guest this week is Theo Candell, whose brand new album, A Horse Named Friday, is one of my favorite releases so far of 2026.
00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:51.840
Theo and I talk about how a riddle led to the album title, being in New York during the Knicks historic run, how having his car broken into turned into a song, and then a 10-minute music video, and the famous stand-up comedian he went bowling with.
00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:57.359
Here's a snippet of his song Flight to JFK, and then my conversation with Theo Kendell.
00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:20.640
Let's go out in this town and make a little trouble.
00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:28.239
I gotta place the mind, drink a big old beer in a big old stein.
00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:32.079
We can knock them all back to our scene double.
00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:52.560
Run my fingers up and down while we're lying in bed.
00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:57.439
Let's go in the park.
00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:00.400
We gonna find a bit of grass till the sky gets dark.
00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:04.159
I'll bring hummus and a blanket and a bottle of red.
00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:11.039
And the clouds are folding bright.
00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:16.800
California fades away.
00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:25.120
My heart is full in life on its flight to Jeff K.
00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:31.520
If only just a few birthday.
00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:44.400
New York winners cold, the honey I run uttermost.
00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:52.960
My guest this week is New York-based singer-songwriter Theo Kendell, who I've been a fan of since his 2023 release, Flight to JFK.
00:02:53.199 --> 00:03:01.759
In July, he put out a short film music video for his song 710 Split, which is quite literally one of the most entertaining things I think I've ever seen.
00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:08.240
And just last week he released his second full album titled A Horse Named Friday, which is already one of my favorite albums of the year.
00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:10.240
Theo, welcome to First Bin.
00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:11.759
Hey, thanks for having me.
00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:21.599
I slid into your DMs, as they say, quite a while ago, and I typed out a message and it sent before I finished sending the message.
00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:26.560
And there's nothing you can TikTok only lets you send one message before the person responds.
00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:27.360
Yeah, I did.
00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:28.319
I've totally forgot about it.
00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:29.360
And I was like, what?
00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:33.599
Well, you just because it cut off after the word would.
00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:37.520
And so you just typed back would, which I thought was really funny.
00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:40.000
But thanks for uh thanks for getting back to me.
00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:43.520
You are uh signed to the network music group, right?
00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:44.319
Yeah.
00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:45.439
Um, how's that been?
00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:46.560
How long have you been signed to them?
00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:47.439
How has it been so far?
00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:48.960
I've been signed to them.
00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:54.000
Uh the first release I did with them was Eating and Drinking and Being in Love.
00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:55.280
So the first album that I did.
00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:59.680
So I guess I think I signed in like 2023, fall of 2023.
00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:01.840
And then we did that album.
00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:10.479
We've done, we did the eating and drinking and singing with my friends, and then we did um somewhere along the trail, volume two, and then now this album.
00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:11.439
And it's been great.
00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:17.360
I mean, they're they're a you know, they're like an artist forward um label.
00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:38.879
I think what I appreciate about them is that they put they kind of will throw a just deals at people in a good way, in a way that makes me feel like they have faith, or that they're not, you know, a lot of other labels will be like, well, prove to me your like prowess on social, prove to me you have it all figured out, or prove to me these numbers.
00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:42.319
And my numbers are not crazy by any means.
00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:49.040
And so, you know, taken a chance on me and shown some faith, and yeah, it's been nice.
00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:51.759
Yeah, I've interacted with network um a few times.
00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:58.560
I've had a few network signed artists on the podcast, and my interactions with them every time has been just fantastic.
00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:01.040
So nothing but really great things to say about them.
00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:02.959
You have some big life changes happening.
00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:07.439
You were just before we started recording, you were saying you're in uh in the process of moving.
00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:10.560
Um, I I understand you're moving in with your girlfriend this weekend.
00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:18.560
Oh, yeah, moving in on Saturday, uh, moving from like East Williamsburg to Park Slope, but we haven't lived together yet.
00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:20.800
So it's an exciting one.
00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:22.399
I know it's an exciting time.
00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:24.399
Is that um is that Grace?
00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:25.600
Yeah, that's Grace.
00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:26.240
Okay.
00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:31.519
And she sings on one of the songs on the new album, She's Mad, She's Magic.
00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:34.240
I I convinced her um to do it.
00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:37.120
We had done these singing videos before that.
00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:44.720
I mean, like literally my most viral video ever is just me and her singing in spite of ourselves, the John Prime and Iris Dement song.
00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:46.800
And she's a great singer.
00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:51.279
She doesn't really sing, and she does now a bit.
00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:58.720
And so we I got her into the studio, and then we went back to my little home studio and and like hammered out all the harmonies and everything.
00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:00.079
So that was it was really fun.
00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:02.560
It's probably my favorite song on the album, actually.
00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:04.160
I I really like that song a lot.
00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:13.360
Yeah, I wrote that one with um my friend Jack Kleinek, who produced all of Eating and Drinking and Being in Love and wrote on Teeth on that album.
00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:16.720
Um, and I wrote it with him and my other friend Riley Beatier.
00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:19.279
She's a great um songwriter as well in LA.
00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:22.399
And it was just during a random trip that I was in LA.
00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:26.480
Grace the story behind that song is kind of funny.
00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:36.160
Grace, for uh Eating and Drinking and Being in Love, when I was writing that album, she gave me um a book of poems by Frank O'Hara called Lunch Poems.
00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:42.160
And she had read the book and she had, you know, highlighted her favorite lines, and then I read it and I highlighted my favorite lines.
00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:50.639
And so I took uh some of the the song Lunch that's on that album was inspired by the poem Steps.
00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:57.759
Um and so for this album, Grace was like, I'm gonna give you another book of poems, like maybe this will help you.
00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:03.120
So she gave me a book of Charles Bukowski poetry, but I don't she didn't really know much about Bukowski.
00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:25.519
And so I read it, and he's like so misogynistic and so like brash and you know, I it's cool, like some of the writing is really cool, and I enjoy that era of poetry, but uh I don't think she was it's not like as it's not sweet, really.
00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:29.519
It's not like Frank O'Hara, which is like beautiful, like New York poetry.
00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:32.800
And I'm reading these Bukowski poems, and I'm like, oh my god.
00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:45.120
Like he'll be like, he'll like, I took a beer shit, and then I like and then I slept with this girl, and and he like, I'm I'm not gonna quote it actually.
00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:49.519
But there was one line, I felt like I owed it to her to use something from it at least.
00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:54.240
And so there was one line in there called and he goes, She's mad, but she's magic.
00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:57.439
Um, and I was like, that is sick.
00:07:57.600 --> 00:07:58.000
That's it.
00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:04.399
So then got in, wrote that song with them, and uh yeah, I do like that one a lot.
00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:27.840
There's a lot of there's a lot of great songs on the album.
00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:37.440
Um it starts with the title track, A Horse Named Friday, which kind of sets the tone of the whole album and is kind of a um it's a beautiful intro.
00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:40.799
Your guitar work on that is is really dialed.
00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:43.039
It's really cool finger picking guitar.
00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:49.279
Um where did that title come from and how does that kind of bring out the album as a whole?
00:09:49.600 --> 00:10:05.840
Yeah, the I think I had written that melody like years ago, not in the same way that I played it on the guitar on this album, but kind of a that that like the verse melody, I guess, um, or the verse slash like refrain thing.
00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:22.799
And I was playing around, I got into John Faye this year, um, and a lot of like the older like folk traditional finger picking stuff, which is kind of where I learned a lot of my stuff, my Travis style picking.
00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:29.279
Um and the song Sunflower River Blues, that's a John Fey song, is so cool.
00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:35.039
And I was just thinking, I I you know, I really like eating and drinking and being in love.
00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:42.159
I really love finger picking, and that's what somewhere along the trail is like kind of supposed to show when I put those out.
00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:44.399
And I I wanted a song that was like that.
00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:48.960
I was like, I need one where I can just play it live, acoustic, whatever, and record it like that.
00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:58.720
Um, and so I started playing around, figured out I could do it in the open tuning, and had written then like the first verse and chorus.
00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:02.480
I mean, it's really a it's like a verse, the like what do I do?
00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:05.200
And then a bridge, and then it's over.
00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:08.240
Yeah, it doesn't follow like a typical song structure.
00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:16.080
No, I you know, I tried writing different verses to it, and I it it just didn't feel like I needed to even come back to singing that.
00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:25.679
And so when I was writing The Bridge, I had come up with the name A Horse Named Friday because I was in this medieval mindset.
00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:31.120
I love medieval stuff, I love fantasy, sci-fi, and I love riddles also.
00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:36.159
Like when I'm on tour, I have everyone in the band give me riddles if I'm the one driving.
00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:39.759
And a classic riddle, it's more of like a joke than a riddle.
00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:47.039
But the you know, cowboy rides into town on Friday, spends three nights in town, leaves on Friday, the horse's name is Friday.
00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:49.919
And I thought that was funny.
00:11:50.080 --> 00:12:10.960
And I was like, you know, the the album, I think in some ways is a I mean we'll get we'll get it more into it, I'm sure, but it's um it's a quest album to me, which is which means that like similar to the song Sadness is a Sine Wave, it's like you go like when you're on a quest, you have all these side quests.
00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:12.480
That's like the classic thing.
00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:24.320
And it may seem like you've come back like you've gone backwards or or haven't made any progress, but in reality, like you're still just moving forward, you're still on on this path.
00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:37.039
And um however meandering the album is and however meandering like life is or can feel, I think it's important for me to remember that I'm still like moving forward.
00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:42.399
You know, I'm not I haven't actually walked, you can't actually walk backward.
00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:53.840
And when I was writing The Bridge, I wanted to incorporate a horse named Friday in that I kind of idea of it, and this is gonna be very long-winded, I'm realizing.
00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:54.559
I love it.
00:12:54.879 --> 00:13:04.639
There's uh I think it was in this book series that I was reading called Sun Eater, which is um a sci-fi series.
00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:12.799
It's so cool by Christopher Ryuchio, and it's um it's so oh no, no, no, no, it's not in Sun Eater.
00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:14.240
Actually, it's not in Sun Eater.
00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:15.279
That one is sick.
00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:20.159
It's in The Will of the Many by James Islington, which is also really cool.
00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:26.159
And there he uses this uh I can't now I can't remember whose quote it is.
00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:35.440
It's a it's a Greek philosopher, but the quote is like you know, uh you can't step in the same river twice, um, for it is not the same river and you're not the same man.
00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:37.360
Or a man cannot, whatever.
00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:40.480
And that was also very fitting to me in this idea.
00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:44.960
So that is where the bridge uh came from.
00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:59.919
That's that's the story, and you can do it.
00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:40.399
Oh my sweet daffodil, it's been a long time loving, and the lovin''s pretty good so far.
00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:46.559
Come up the hill, we'll make a mill.
00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:51.279
Well, it's been a long day coming and the coming never gets too hard.
00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:53.840
What do I do?
00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:55.919
What do I do?
00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:57.519
Cause I'm in love with you.
00:14:57.679 --> 00:14:59.200
What do I say?
00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:01.360
What do I say?
00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:05.519
Cause I feel okay, as I feel okay, is if you okay.
00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:20.639
I step into the river, I cannot step in twice, for I'm not the same man, and it flows into the night.
00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:28.559
We'll cross the shallow water, we'll ride into a town on Friday.
00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:31.519
I'll see this to the end.
00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:35.840
On Friday, we'll leave again.
00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:44.240
You listed some of your main influences as like James Taylor and Simon and Garfunkel, Jackson Brown, Jim Crossy.
00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:46.480
Is that the kind of stuff that you grew up listening to?
00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:48.320
How did you get introduced to all of that?
00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:49.679
Is that what your folks are listening to?
00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:50.240
Yeah.
00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:57.600
Yeah, no, my parents would play um, they'd play James Taylor all the time, Simon and Garfunkel, like the greatest hits.
00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:07.679
Um they would also play a ton of Carol King, and those just kind of unwittingly became my inspirations over the years.
00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:30.000
And James Taylor, like I was never thinking I could play like James Taylor, but as I got better at guitar and realized that like one like one of my things could be playing guitar well and and finger picking well, uh, I started to really dive deeper into the James Taylor style of picking, at least on some of the stuff, like the sweet baby James stuff.
00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:35.679
Later on, I kind of finally enjoyed Joni Mitchell.
00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:38.159
It was a weird long process for me, too.
00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:45.200
Um and it was actually the cover, the James Blake cover of Case of You that I was like, hmm, this is crazy.
00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:57.120
And then went and got into Joni Mitchell and John Prine and um and Jim Croce and you know it all I I really like the 60s, 70s era of folk.
00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:09.599
I I love the instrumentation and the simplicity, and yet there are interesting musical things in there that you wouldn't expect, but some of those like Laurel Canyon type artists.
00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:10.079
Yeah.
00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:12.240
Did you were your folks musical?
00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:14.880
Were they playing instruments around the house and stuff?
00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:16.079
Not at all.
00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:16.880
Not at all.
00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:25.039
I have a great grandfather who played the violin, and that's the only musician that I think has been in my family.
00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:33.200
So you picked up music at at a certain point and then you started pursuing it more seriously around college, end of college.
00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:37.039
Yeah, I well I started playing violin when I was like four.
00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:38.319
Oh wow, okay.
00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:40.480
So I was a classical, classical violinist.
00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:44.400
Because your parents wanted you to, or because you Yeah, they were like, pick an instrument.
00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:47.200
They were like, it would be fun for you to pick an instrument.
00:17:47.440 --> 00:18:01.279
And I had read there was some like children's book version of I think the three little pigs where one of them plays the fiddle, and I was like, that seems cool.
00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:07.359
And so I just started playing violin and was doing, you know, I was playing the concerts and orchestra and everything.
00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:24.720
And when I was now maybe 12, I guess, I got my first guitar and started taking lessons and figuring it out, and that was mainly because I was playing a lot of guitar hero at the time, and I was like pretty cool to play guitar and started writing songs then.
00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:36.319
Um and then as time went on, I got better at songwriting and in high school started playing shows, and then senior year I started booking shows.
00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:57.039
Like in I grew up in New York in the city, and so I just started booking shows for myself at you know, like the bitter end or pianos or what the random little places, and went to college at Vanderbilt because I wanted to be in Nashville, and then once I graduated, I was like, I'm gonna stay in Nashville, I'm gonna pursue this, and and that was the process, yeah.
00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:01.039
How long did you stay in Nashville before going after graduating before going back to New York?
00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:05.599
I was there so I graduated in 2019 and I was there for two years.
00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:11.279
They were like COVID-ish years, they were very much COVID years in the second part of that.
00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:19.599
Um, and then in 2021, I moved to LA and lived there for three years and then moved back to New York two years ago.
00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:20.160
Yeah.
00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:22.880
Two years ago, actually, like tomorrow.
00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:23.839
Oh wow.
00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:24.400
Yeah.
00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:25.440
Yeah.
00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:27.920
Are you happy to be back in New York?
00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:31.200
Do you think that this is where you're gonna settle down permanently?
00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:33.920
Yeah, I mean, I love New York.
00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:37.519
I I couldn't say where I'll be for the rest of my life.
00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:42.079
I definitely a part of me will be in New York in in some capacity.
00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:45.200
I feel the most like myself in New York.
00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:48.000
In Nashville, I love Nashville.
00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:50.079
I like really love Nashville.
00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:56.160
It's an easy place to live, and um I was a a version of myself in Nashville.
00:19:56.240 --> 00:20:03.039
And when I was in LA, I was a different ver I was the LA version of Theo, and now I'm back in New York and I'm like, this is I am Theo.
00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:04.640
Like I am New York Theo.
00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:06.240
It it feels right, you know.
00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:07.599
I what do you mean by that?
00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:10.559
I'm curious as to what those different versions of yourself.
00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:18.319
I think I mean I was also figuring out who I was at the time, like in my early 20s and and mid-20s.
00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:26.720
And uh when I'm in New York, I feel you you're like swept into the current of New York the second you step out your door.
00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:40.000
In LA, you can stay at home all day and or drive somewhere, and you feel like you haven't really like dipped your toe into what the city is, unless you're truly like going and and seeking experiences in LA.
00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:45.359
And in New York, I don't know, I bike everywhere in New York.
00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:47.359
I love I have my bike, I love it.
00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:56.079
I've taped it up so it looks like a delivery guy's bike, and I have a little like milk crate on the back, and so no one fucks with it, really, is my reasoning.
00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:57.759
But also I like having a milk crate.
00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:12.559
And I bike everywhere, and I can be like I think New York is like a I don't know what the correct like analogy is, but it's got like a hard shell and a soft heart.
00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:32.799
And I think you know, the classic thing is like New Yorkers are are uh kind but not nice, and so you know, I could be like fuck you if I'm biking and someone gets in my way, but I think when you're on the subway and someone needs help, like someone will always help someone, and I think that is key to New York.
00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:40.880
And I mean, I was you know, I was here this summer when the next one, and I've never seen New York like that.
00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:42.559
And it was a beautiful thing.
00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:56.720
It it's a it's a city of juxtaposition and contradiction, and I it it just feels it's the I I I find those contradictions and juxtapositions in myself.
00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:59.839
It seemed like pretty much the whole country, other than maybe San Antonio.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.960
Antonio was uh a Knicks fan for those couple weeks.
00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:07.680
I was at a I was at a bar in West Hollywood during game, what was it, game five that they won?
00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:10.319
And you would you would have thought it was the Lakers.
00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:13.920
Like the the place was just absolutely erupting.
00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:16.400
Like everybody was so excited about the Knicks winning.
00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:17.279
It was it was a lot of fun.
00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:22.640
I mean, there are a lot of New York trans plants play also, but it was no, it was awesome.
00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:34.319
I was watching at a bar in Chelsea with some friends, and uh they won, and we all like thousands of us walked up to Madison Square Garden and they weren't even playing there.
00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:38.960
They everyone was just like getting drunk on the streets, and it was it was cool.
00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:39.920
It was really cool.
00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:42.880
There's a real energy in New York that is hard to replicate.
00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:45.839
Um I don't I don't think it is replicated anywhere else.
00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:47.519
I I live in LA, I love LA.
00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:57.599
I can't imagine living anywhere but LA, but I I recognize that it does not have that same level of of energy that that New York has, which can be kind of overwhelming sometimes.
00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:00.079
I mean, you grew up there, so you're probably used to it.
00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:11.519
But like I like visiting New York, but I'm also always very ready to go because I'm like, man, I'm just I feel like I've been running at like such a high level the entire time I've there, I'm there.
00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:12.799
I think that's fair.
00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:20.079
I mean, I I also live in Brooklyn now, which is a different pace, and I really enjoy that.
00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:26.000
Like, I think if I was still living in Manhattan, I would feel probably differently.
00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:29.839
Um, because you're really you really don't you I mean you can have your home.
00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:39.440
I think living in New York though, as opposed to visiting it, is different because you have your home and you like go back to your home and your home is your refuge and whatever.
00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:41.359
But no, I I mean I loved LA.
00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:46.640
I lived in Koreatown and um I was in a house there with some buddies and and I had a great time.
00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:50.559
But is Brooklyn Theo different than Manhattan Theo?
00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:54.559
Yeah, I mean I'm not a you know, I was I was only in Manhattan until I was 18.
00:23:54.960 --> 00:24:08.400
Um Brooklyn Theo is probably as much of a Brooklyn cliche musician as like people will be like, dude, I thought I saw you the other day.
00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:17.680
And I was like, it could have been anyone, it could have been anyone with like a pseudo mullet and a mustache in this neighborhood, like and wearing like car hearts, like it's fine.
00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:21.119
Like I am, I am that in many ways.
00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:23.839
Or like, oh, I saw a dude like drinking a Miller High Life.
00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:26.240
I'm like, yeah, you and me both, brother.
00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:29.599
Like it's I feel like Miller Highlifes are having a moment.
00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:32.480
Like, are they they're they're just really popular all of a sudden.
00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:34.480
I've just realized this in the last couple weeks.
00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:44.079
Well, I wonder if this is partly to do with just general inflation, and Miller High Life has somewhat resisted inflation.
00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:52.160
It's the cheapest beer in any bar you go to, other than like an arraganset in New York or like in the Northeast.
00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:54.960
But generally, you know, Oh, is that the clam beer?
00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:57.680
Yeah, it's the well, yeah, yeah, it's the one with the clam.
00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:00.559
Yeah, I mean, it doesn't, it's not like clam juice.
00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:02.240
Um, it's a kind of a funny story.
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:11.680
I had never heard of that beer before, and I was in Boston this last weekend and we were at Fenway, and I saw it, and I was like, I'm gonna get one of those because I've never heard of it before.
00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:17.519
And my wife went back up to like grab another round at one point, and she was like, Do you want anything?
00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:19.759
I was like, Yeah, get me another one of those clam beers.
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:21.759
And because I could I couldn't pronounce that.
00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.400
You you just said it, and I still couldn't pronounce it.
00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:29.119
Um, and so she went up to the bartender and was like, Can I have a clam beer?
00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:32.400
And they just fucking stared at her like she was crazy.
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:35.039
Yeah, and you're in fucking Boston too.
00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:41.759
No, I'd love I mean Narragansett is the Miller High Life of the Northeast, is in in my mind, at least.
00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:43.759
It's oh, what is it?
00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:46.000
It's there, the the slogan that's on their can.
00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:48.240
I had one last night, and it was like, it's so good.
00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:53.759
It's like it's like brewed on honor, sold on merit.
00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:57.599
And I'm like, God, that's so and the can is so good.
00:25:57.680 --> 00:25:58.559
It's a good looking bit.
00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:00.240
It's so new England, too.
00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:02.160
That's just like such a New England for it.
00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:03.359
Yeah, it's a Providence.
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:09.039
I think now it's Providence Rhode Island, is where they are based or something.
00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:11.680
But yeah, cheap beers.
00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:13.119
Everyone loves a cheap beer.
00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:20.240
I think people are getting a little sick of the you know, the I the IPA and and craft beer bubble has burst in well, at least in my life.
00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:21.359
No, mine too.
00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:22.960
I used to be so into them.
00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:26.480
My early 20s, I was drinking nothing but micro brews.
00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:36.240
Yeah, like you were like, Oh, I was like, oh, I'm gonna try a let me get a goza from this bar, or let me get a like$18 peanut butter milk stout.
00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:40.480
And I'm like, Jesus Christ, like I want a five dollar beer.
00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:50.640
Okay, we gotta talk about the seven ten split video.
00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:51.759
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:54.240
I'm just it's the video you did of it.
00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:56.640
That was a great, that was great.
00:27:56.799 --> 00:28:03.440
Yeah, that was I mean, I just you had been teasing it for a little while, and I was like, this looks like it's gonna be really fun.
00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:08.720
And then when it finally came out, I was like, oh yeah, this is exactly what I was hoping it would be and more.
00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:14.160
So I wanna I want to hear about how it all came together, where the idea for the song and then the video and all of that.
00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:17.680
Yeah, the song came from when I was living in LA.
00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:18.880
Well, I love bowling.
00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:24.559
Um, the people that know my stuff know I love bowling for no reason.
00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:31.759
I don't have a background in bowling, I just like it, and then started bowling alone in LA because the bowling alleys are awesome in LA.
00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:33.839
And someone was like, You should get your own ball.
00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:35.279
So I got my own ball.
00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:41.759
And then I was in Echo Park, like getting ice cream at what's that place?
00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:45.519
It's like it's like Fluffy McLeod or something.
00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:46.319
Whatever.
00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:49.359
There's some I don't actually know if that's what it's called, but it could be.
00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:56.640
Someone broke into my like they smashed the window of my car, they stole just my bowling ball.
00:28:56.799 --> 00:28:57.279
What the fuck?
00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:00.799
And I had and I had like a red rider BB gun that they also took.
00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:03.039
But like that, that's what they took.
00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:10.799
It was in a nice little leather bag, and I was so pissed, I was more pissed about the bowling ball than my car window.
00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:15.119
And so, you know, that week I was I was like, I want to write a song about it.
00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:22.000
And so I started writing a song where the verse is like, someone stole my bowling ball, and then the chorus was like, Well, I hope he's got a mean hook shot.
00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:23.119
I hope it's a perfect fit.
00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:26.079
You can give it everything you got, but you still end up with a 710 split.
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:34.240
And also, my car is a 2006 Honda CRV that has like 170,000 miles on it, and like everyone's telling me to get rid of it.
00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:35.039
I love it.
00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:43.440
So I wrote that chorus and then I realized that no one really would want to hear actually a song about my bowling ball getting stolen.
00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:46.319
It's like the least relatable thing that I could think of.
00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:53.119
So I was in Nashville doing a session with these guys, Colin Pastor, and Jake Finch, who were really sick.
00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:59.119
They did a bunch of Ash stuff, they've done Lucy Dakis stuff, like really good stuff.
00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:07.759
And um we were right, we were we were thinking what to do, and I was like, I have this chorus, I think it's a cool idea, but I don't know what the actual story would be.
00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:09.920
And they were like, What if it's a fictional thing?
00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:17.920
And I was like, Well, if it's fictional, then it has to be like this sad story about a guy's wife leaves him for the better bowler in the local bowling league.
00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:20.400
And so then we just wrote the song based off of that.
00:30:22.079 --> 00:30:23.599
I was playing it for a while.
00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:44.160
When it came time to do the music video, I have I had always wanted to do a mockumentary video in some way for no reason, other than I really like like documentary now and all the other, you know, all those kind of mock or like best in show.
00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:56.880
And I I was working with my friend Oscar O'Reilly, who's a really good director, um and writer, and you know, filmmaker and whatever, um, for a lot of the videos on this album.
00:30:57.119 --> 00:31:05.680
And Grace, my girlfriend, who uh is a great writer as well, and she had kind of been wanting to try her hand at some more screenwriting stuff.
00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:10.720
We met actually in college in uh in a screen screenwriting class.
00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:14.960
Um and I was like, this is the kind of video I want to make.
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:20.240
I think it would be fun to do a a mockumentary, and so we kind of like brainstormed it.
00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:22.000
Grace was like, I'll write the script.
00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:30.160
So she wrote the whole script for the video and created these characters with these names and and this storyline.
00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:43.279
And I got all my best friends to be in this music video and uh hit up like all these bowling alleys in Long Island and New Jersey and Staten Island and the one Lodi lanes.
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:49.039
Shout out Lodi lanes because they were the most reasonable bowling alley to deal with.
00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:55.920
And they were like, Yeah, whatever, you can do it for free, but like once people start coming in, I'll just charge you for the lanes like per hour.
00:31:56.240 --> 00:31:57.759
I was like, it's so fair.
00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:00.000
So we went, took us two days.
00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:10.799
We had a whole crew, we had a sound guy, we had a cinematographer, we had my friends as extras, I got the airbrushed t-shirts made by a guy in Harlem.
00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:16.319
Uh I got all the, you know, we had all the costumes and everything.
00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:25.200
And I didn't want to be the main character in it because I don't think I'm that good of an actor.
00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:33.920
And also, like with the way that Grace had written it, I was like, I am super into bowling, and this main character, this like lead manager is actually super into bowling.
00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:35.920
So let me do that.
00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:37.920
And my two friends Ben and Graham.
00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:41.039
Ben plays Rocco and Graham plays Barry.
00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:52.079
They're both actors, or they at a certain point were very much trying to be actors and have other things that they're doing now, but I knew they want like they were perfect for it.
00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:56.799
And Ben I mean the acting in it all across the board, yourself included, like the acting is so good.
00:32:57.039 --> 00:32:58.160
It's good, it's so well done.
00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:06.240
It's all pro it's like the I'm not surprised that you had a sound guy and a cinematographer and stuff because it it feels like it was, you know, very, very professionally done.
00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:11.519
Yeah, it was I it was the most that I've ever put into any music video.
00:33:11.920 --> 00:33:16.640
And I was talking to network and I was like, like, can you fund this in some way?
00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:18.960
Like, I think it's gonna be awesome.
00:33:19.119 --> 00:33:24.880
I still have to figure out how to truly promote it better because I I need to just get it out there more.
00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:36.960
But yeah, we filmed it, it was perfect, everyone was the perfect roles, it was easy, and then in the editing process, we brought in a new editor called Colton, his name is Colton Warren.
00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:39.279
Magic, like magic editing.
00:33:39.359 --> 00:33:41.119
It was really insane to see.
00:33:41.519 --> 00:33:45.359
And I mean, if nothing else, it's just fun.
00:33:45.680 --> 00:34:01.440
I think a lot of music videos are like farmed for the vertical content these days, or like what you can do on the shorts, and that's part of what I'm struggling with now is like figuring out how to cut it up and make it palatable because it is a better watch if you just watch it all the way through.
00:34:01.839 --> 00:34:02.880
It's so worth 10 minutes.
00:34:03.200 --> 00:34:04.000
It's what I tell everybody.
00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:07.519
It's so worth 10 minutes of your time to sit down and watch this whole thing.
00:34:07.839 --> 00:34:17.199
What I think you gotta do is if they're gonna do a second season of Born to Bowl on HBO, you gotta find a way to like sneak it into an episode of Born to Bowl.
00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:19.119
It would just fit in there so perfectly.
00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:20.719
I'm trying so hard.
00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:28.239
I I need to figure out who my contacts are at HBO or A24, you know, whatever, whoever I think those are the people that made it.
00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:29.119
Ben Stiller.
00:34:29.679 --> 00:34:30.639
Ben Stiller, that's it.
00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:34.000
Yeah, just get Ben Stiller on the on the phone and it'll we'll get it in.
00:34:34.239 --> 00:34:35.760
Um oh, that's so fun, man.
00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:36.400
That's so fun.
00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:38.159
I'm not much of a bowling person.
00:34:38.239 --> 00:34:41.760
I honestly didn't even really know what a 710 split was.
00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:49.280
I figured it out, obviously, from context clues, but um despite having no knowledge of it, I loved it.
00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:52.000
When you were bowling in LA, did you ever go to Highland Park Bowl?
00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:52.880
I did.
00:34:53.119 --> 00:35:11.760
Um I mainly went to Jewel City bowling in Glendale and Chateau 39 or Shadow 39, I don't know how people say it, but because I was living in Koreatown, so I just the the Shadow 39 is in it was like a five-minute drive from my house.
00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:14.960
Um and those were the main places.
00:35:15.039 --> 00:35:24.000
I once I actually once bowled with Hannibal Burris at uh Jewel City Bowling in Glendale in a weird series of events.
00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:28.239
Like he like followed my TikTok account at some point.
00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:32.880
I don't maybe he liked the music, and then he DM'd me and I was like, what's up?
00:35:33.119 --> 00:35:38.320
And I was like, we should bowl sometime, and he was like, Jewel City Bowling, 7 p.m.
00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:43.599
And so I just went, and then we just it was like just me and him and my other friend who was with me and we bowled.
00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:45.920
How random.
00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:48.480
Did you ever see him again or talk to him again or anything?
00:35:48.800 --> 00:35:53.760
I like have his number and I don't I haven't actually this is a good I should text him.
00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:56.000
I mean, I don't know if he'll respond to me now.
00:35:56.239 --> 00:35:58.400
You should you should send him a link to the video.
00:35:58.559 --> 00:35:58.880
I know.
00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:00.719
I I can't believe I haven't done that yet.
00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:01.679
That is crazy.
00:36:01.920 --> 00:36:03.199
Is he like really into bowling?
00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:03.920
Is that a thing?
00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:05.440
I don't I guess.
00:36:05.679 --> 00:36:08.719
I guess we just like had a LA story.
00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:12.960
Like literally, we just like had a nice time and like bowled three games.
00:36:13.519 --> 00:36:15.119
It was so funny.
00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:16.079
Yeah.
00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:17.519
It reminds me of that.
00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:22.000
Um, did you see that thing where JJ Watt was sitting at a bar somewhere?
00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:30.639
I think it was in New York City, and somebody tweeted and said that they were like too nervous to approach him like while he was there, but he's regretting it now.
00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:33.440
And like JJ Watt saw it and was like, Are you still there?
00:36:33.519 --> 00:36:34.000
I'll come back.
00:36:34.079 --> 00:36:36.800
And he like went back to the party to hang out with the guy.
00:36:36.960 --> 00:36:38.320
Yeah, that's cool.
00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:39.760
That is so cool.
00:37:45.920 --> 00:37:55.199
I wrote the station with the same guys that I wrote, Seven Ten Splits, so it's Colin Pastor, Jake Finch, and then also John Mark Nelson was with us that day.
00:37:55.440 --> 00:38:06.880
I mean, the story of the song was I was on this uh like songwriter trip with Evan Honer and a bunch of other awesome, actually Kate Stevenson and um Thomas Row.
00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:08.639
Oh, I like Kate Stevenson a lot.
00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:10.000
What's that song she just put out?
00:38:10.159 --> 00:38:11.760
Bum Bumblefoot or something?
00:38:12.159 --> 00:38:13.360
Uh Summerfoot.
00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:14.719
Summerfoot.
00:38:14.800 --> 00:38:15.679
Oh, it's such a good song.
00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:16.480
No, she's sick.
00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:21.280
And Kate is a friend of mine, and she opened for me on in May on the tour that I did.
00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:26.079
And there were a bunch of other great people uh on that trip as well.
00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:33.599
And we the last night we were there, we all went to a bar called the station in like Woodstock, I think.
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:43.760
And we did shrooms and did like it, we just like were not even coming close to measuring what we were taking.
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:53.519
And we just took it, and then I just like tripped super hard at this bar with a bunch of people that I was then had met like three days before.
00:38:53.920 --> 00:38:58.400
But we were all like it was this cool thing where we all were like friends immediately.
00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:03.039
And yeah, then that was that's the story of the whole song.
00:39:03.199 --> 00:39:13.119
It's just one night at a bar where I'm losing my mind, and I'm like playing pool, and I'm like coming up with these personas like a guy who just bought land in Poughkeepsie.
00:39:13.280 --> 00:39:16.079
That was like one of the personas that I came up with.
00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:24.960
And Poughkeepsie is like a town near Woodstock, and no one in the that was playing pool, like they all knew I was not this person.
00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:26.239
So it was super dumb.
00:39:26.320 --> 00:39:28.079
And I just we just like couldn't stop laughing.
00:39:28.320 --> 00:39:31.039
Did you get much writing done on this writing retreat?
00:39:31.280 --> 00:39:32.480
Yes, weirdly.
00:39:32.639 --> 00:39:42.480
I mean, we would wake up every day, go to the gym, and then we would come back, and then we kind of all split off and and write some songs together.
00:39:42.559 --> 00:39:47.119
Like I wrote the song with Kate that we've never put out, but actually is a pretty fun, funny song.
00:39:47.360 --> 00:39:52.480
Um, I wrote with Evan and then um Brennan Walter Coughlin Jr.
00:39:52.719 --> 00:40:03.840
who's great, John Brigham, um, who's great, and he's in this band Tobacco Road, and uh it was just a great everyone really was kind of productive.
00:40:04.239 --> 00:40:18.400
But I think more so those things are fun when you don't know anyone, when there's no pressure to like really grind super hard every day that you end up like the relationships you form, like I'm still friends with all those people.
00:40:19.119 --> 00:40:34.320
And there's something nice about that, like brought together by like a general love of the similar kind of music we were making, and then ended up actually being compatible people for friendship, and it's uh it's a nice thing.
00:40:34.800 --> 00:40:37.119
Yeah, I mean, because you never know how that's gonna go, right?
00:40:37.599 --> 00:40:46.400
You end up just going off with a group of people, and maybe you're not gonna get along at all, or maybe somebody's gonna take it way too seriously, and yeah.
00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:54.639
Do you like that process of writing collaboratively with other people as opposed to writing on your own, or is it just kind of two different exercises?
00:40:55.039 --> 00:40:56.400
I do, no, I do like it.
00:40:56.480 --> 00:41:00.559
It's different, it changes for me, you know, in phases.
00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:08.559
I think a lot of my favorite songs of mine are the ones that I write alone, and I think it's more because I can really take my time with it.
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:16.000
And sometimes when I'm in a session, you bang it out in one day, and it can be a really fun song.
00:41:16.159 --> 00:41:22.719
Um but it might not necessarily have the same depth to it, but then it also can.
00:41:23.679 --> 00:41:30.880
Um I'm trying to think of like like you know, like The Painters, which is a really fun song of mine that I love.
00:41:31.199 --> 00:41:33.280
Um that's on the previous album.
00:41:33.440 --> 00:41:34.960
That's on the previous album, yeah.
00:41:35.280 --> 00:41:37.039
Yeah, yeah, I like that song a lot too.
00:41:37.599 --> 00:41:41.679
And yet and like people love that song, and I love playing it, and it's really fun.
00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:53.760
Um but then a song like You know, Sadness is a Sine Wave on this album, or like Morning Dove, or Um A Horse Named Friday, like all the ones that I I've written alone.
00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:58.880
It's a different, it's a different type of song that I end up making alone.
00:41:59.440 --> 00:42:03.519
Which is why I also enjoy writing with people, because I never would have written The Station Alone.
00:42:03.599 --> 00:42:11.280
I never would have written Seven Tenth Split alone, um, or Ghost Lives, you know, or any of the ones that I collaborated with people to write.
00:42:11.920 --> 00:42:14.000
And that's the I mean that's the beauty of it, you know.
00:42:14.239 --> 00:42:16.079
No, you but you just mentioned Ghost Lives.
00:42:16.159 --> 00:42:26.000
Uh there's a line in it about uh you could have been a doctor or a star in the silver screen, which made me wonder if you weren't making music, what do you think you'd be doing?
00:42:26.639 --> 00:42:27.280
Hmm.
00:42:29.679 --> 00:42:32.400
I would like to be a writer as well.
00:42:32.960 --> 00:42:39.360
I have a fantasy book idea that I can't divulge yet because I think it's too good and I'm gonna work on it.
00:42:39.920 --> 00:42:43.039
I think I could see myself being a right like a novelist.
00:42:43.440 --> 00:42:56.719
Um I think in a definitely a different life where I wasn't so intrigued with the creative endeavors, I probably just would have been a lawyer.
00:42:57.039 --> 00:42:59.840
Like I probably I I but you know, no offense.
00:43:00.079 --> 00:43:16.559
Um I my dad's a lawyer, like I have a lot of friends in my life that are lawyers, and I was a good student and um enjoyed uh the academic pursuits very much so.
00:43:17.199 --> 00:43:28.559
And I think to find like if I had had no other creative outlets, I think I would have tried to find those creative outlets within industries that are like considered less creative.
00:43:28.719 --> 00:43:35.519
And maybe that would have been a lawyer, maybe I mean, you know, maybe I just would have been a consultant, or like maybe I would have gone into finance.
00:43:35.920 --> 00:43:37.280
Like, I don't know.
00:43:37.519 --> 00:43:52.559
I I think that when I find something that I am good at and passionate about, I can really throw myself into it, hence bowling, um, or any of the other like random ass things that I do in my life now.
00:43:53.039 --> 00:43:58.559
And I would like to think I would be a good, you know, I I could have been a good lawyer.
00:43:58.960 --> 00:43:59.760
I don't think I would have been.
00:44:00.239 --> 00:44:00.719
No, no doubt.
00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:02.000
I didn't have that in me.
00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:03.679
And like, you don't think so?
00:44:03.920 --> 00:44:04.719
I don't think I have.
00:44:04.880 --> 00:44:05.519
Like.
00:44:06.639 --> 00:44:07.280
Maybe now.
00:44:07.440 --> 00:44:09.679
I mean, I've seen your work in the 710 split video.
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:12.079
And I'm telling you, I think you could, I think you could act.
00:44:12.239 --> 00:44:12.960
I think you can do it.
00:44:13.199 --> 00:44:13.840
Maybe now.
00:44:13.920 --> 00:44:19.760
I was never comfortable really in my own skin until I was in my late 20s.
00:44:19.840 --> 00:44:23.519
So I think it would have taken it it would be now if I were to do it.
00:44:23.840 --> 00:44:25.360
How did that that's interesting?
00:44:25.519 --> 00:44:38.880
So how did um what I think is a very natural discomfort of being in your own skin in your 20s, how did that kind of inform or to a certain extent hold you back as you pursued music?
00:44:39.760 --> 00:44:59.360
You know, I think it may kind of be a chicken in the egg kind of situation where the more I've been on stage and the more I just talk to strangers like every day when I'm on tour, that is like part of the job, the more comfortable I've become.
00:44:59.440 --> 00:45:01.119
And I don't know if I can really pinpoint.
00:45:01.440 --> 00:45:05.840
I mean, I remember turning 26 and being like, this is pretty reasonable that I'm 26.
00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:32.880
And I mean, now I'm 29, so like, you know, it's been some years since then, but I think the process of doing music and having it be my name and having my songs be very much tied to the person that I am and the experiences that I've had have allowed me to feel more comfortable just being the person that I am.
00:45:33.119 --> 00:45:44.000
You know, I don't think I'm like hiding behind the songs, um, nor do I think I'm like cheapening my life through the songwriting and the performing.
00:45:44.559 --> 00:45:51.599
I think it's kind of been this weird process where I like I am the person that I am on stage.
00:45:51.920 --> 00:46:01.840
I'm a little more ridiculous on stage or like a little more like bubbly than I am in in regular day-to-day life, but it is still kind of an extension of me.
00:46:02.079 --> 00:46:07.840
And I think play, I mean playing music every night, it does that, I think, over time.
00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:09.440
You just get com you have to be comfortable.
00:46:09.599 --> 00:46:10.719
Everyone's looking at you.
00:46:10.960 --> 00:46:12.000
And I like it.
00:46:12.159 --> 00:46:14.800
You know, like it's not like I don't like it.
00:46:15.119 --> 00:47:57.280
And I think that definitely contributed to it to feeling, I don't know, you're feeling better now, speaking of playing on stage, you've got a tour coming up in September.
00:47:57.360 --> 00:48:02.800
Um, runs from what, the 15th through the 24th, something like that?
00:48:03.199 --> 00:48:05.199
Yeah, the first show's on the 15th, yeah.
00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:10.880
You're playing Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Salt Lake City, and Denver.
00:48:11.039 --> 00:48:13.199
What are you doing to prep for those shows?
00:48:13.360 --> 00:48:15.760
What are you most looking forward to about those shows?
00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:22.239
Yeah, it's the same band that played with me on the last in the tour in May.
00:48:22.320 --> 00:48:27.199
That was like the East Coast run of this whole thing, East Coast Midwest kind of run of this whole thing.
00:48:27.440 --> 00:48:31.920
And those dudes are some of my best friends and insane musicians.
00:48:32.159 --> 00:48:41.199
The prep is just me being like, it's gonna be the same playlist, maybe add ghost lives and about dreams, and like let's practice the night before the first show and see how it goes.
00:48:41.840 --> 00:48:46.239
The prep, I mean, like I said, like I'm moving on Saturday.
00:48:46.800 --> 00:48:47.760
It'll be like a week.
00:48:47.840 --> 00:48:50.719
I'm leaving on like the ninth, so it'll be a quick turnaround.
00:48:50.800 --> 00:48:54.000
And the prep is generally staying healthy.
00:48:55.360 --> 00:48:58.480
But like you can't do that much to prep like that.
00:48:58.559 --> 00:49:13.920
You can eat well and you can I can take my wellness formula, which is which is these little pills that actually these enormous pills that taste so bad, but have like every home remedy cure that anyone's ever made in one pill.
00:49:14.400 --> 00:49:16.000
But I'm very excited to get out to the West Coast.
00:49:16.079 --> 00:49:17.199
I haven't played there in a while.
00:49:17.519 --> 00:49:23.119
Uh I haven't been I haven't played in LA in a while, or any really any of the cities on on that list.
00:49:23.360 --> 00:49:26.480
So I am just excited to see the people.
00:49:26.719 --> 00:49:42.400
I I don't know if there'll be like more people than the last time that I've played there, but I think that people are excited for me to come out and I I just like meeting people and they tell me their stories, and I I love to hear them.
00:49:42.960 --> 00:49:45.440
Yeah, I'm so bummed I'm gonna miss the LA show.
00:49:45.519 --> 00:49:46.880
I've yeah, shit.
00:49:47.119 --> 00:49:53.280
I was hoping we could do this in person before the show, but yeah, I've already got already got engagements that night, unfortunately.
00:49:53.440 --> 00:49:55.360
But I'm sure I will I will catch you on the next one.
00:49:55.440 --> 00:50:00.480
Um, you're doing this cool thing too, where you're having local artists uh open each one of the shows.
00:50:00.719 --> 00:50:02.320
So how is how has that process been?
00:50:02.480 --> 00:50:07.280
Has it been cool kind of diving into different people's music and seeing who might fit?
00:50:07.519 --> 00:50:09.199
Yeah, it is very cool.
00:50:09.440 --> 00:50:17.039
I I actually have to announce those like very soon, but um it's nice to know.
00:50:17.599 --> 00:50:21.199
Like I made this whole Google form where people could be like, I'm like, why?
00:50:21.360 --> 00:50:28.320
And they'll be like, I've listened to your music, I like it, like, or like you've inspired me, or I just think we'd be a good fit.
00:50:28.400 --> 00:50:39.039
And I listened to all of them, and there were a ton of submissions, and I was I regretted it a little bit because there were like a ton of submissions, and I didn't want to necessarily have to go through all of them, but I did.
00:50:39.599 --> 00:50:53.440
And it's gratifying to know I think there are many people that don't make music that are fans of my music, and I think that's an unbelievable thing.
00:50:54.639 --> 00:51:00.800
It's also an awesome, awesome thing to know that there are musicians that are fans of my music.
00:51:01.119 --> 00:51:12.000
Because there are so many musicians that I'm fans of that have inspired me over the years that I would like you know would have loved to open for or or just have them hear my music.
00:51:12.079 --> 00:51:19.519
And um I I I do always try to keep that in mind when people send me their stuff and I listen to it all.
00:51:19.679 --> 00:51:32.320
And it's nice it just is a nice thing to know that like there are all these, there's just like a whole web of music influence that everyone has, and you could probably trace it in some way.
00:51:32.960 --> 00:51:44.800
And to be even just like kind of a node on that uh, you know, like neural network of music influence, I I am grateful for it.
00:51:44.880 --> 00:51:48.320
So I'm excited to see the people that I've that I'm gonna have open.
00:51:48.480 --> 00:51:50.159
Um I think they're gonna be great.
00:51:50.880 --> 00:51:52.480
Co-signed by Theo.
00:51:55.360 --> 00:51:59.599
The last section of the podcast is called Final Spin, it's just rapid fire questions.
00:51:59.760 --> 00:52:04.719
First thing that comes to mind if you could share a stage with any artist, living or dead, who would it be?
00:52:05.039 --> 00:52:05.840
James Taylor.
00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:07.119
No, John Prime.
00:52:08.960 --> 00:52:09.280
Yeah.
00:52:10.639 --> 00:52:12.719
I yeah, I mean, you could just do a trio.
00:52:13.119 --> 00:52:14.400
Let's I'll say those.
00:52:15.519 --> 00:52:18.400
Um, what was the first album you owned that was just yours?
00:52:18.639 --> 00:52:22.159
Uh it was American Idiot by Green Day, and I bought it on iTunes.
00:52:22.320 --> 00:52:24.000
No, no, I bought I don't know, I bought the C D.
00:52:24.159 --> 00:52:27.679
I bought the C D and then I brought it home and my mom was like, you can't listen to this.
00:52:27.920 --> 00:52:31.760
And then I did listen to it and I was like, fuck yeah.
00:52:33.440 --> 00:52:36.000
Um, I just saw a video, side note.
00:52:36.079 --> 00:52:38.719
I just saw a video of Geese doing a cover of American Idiot.
00:52:38.800 --> 00:52:39.280
Have you seen this?
00:52:39.519 --> 00:52:42.400
I haven't seen that yet, but I someone was telling me about it the other day.
00:52:42.559 --> 00:52:43.039
Is it good?
00:52:43.440 --> 00:52:44.400
It's pretty wild.
00:52:44.639 --> 00:52:46.960
Um, I I don't know.
00:52:47.199 --> 00:52:49.519
It's it's Geese doing American Idiot.
00:52:49.599 --> 00:52:50.639
I mean, like what you know.
00:52:50.880 --> 00:52:52.719
I can already it's definitely interesting.
00:52:52.960 --> 00:52:54.159
It's definitely interesting.
00:52:54.480 --> 00:52:57.760
They're making a biopic about your life, who's playing the lead role?
00:52:58.079 --> 00:53:02.079
Well, according to many people, Benny Blanco.
00:53:03.920 --> 00:53:04.320
Really?
00:53:04.480 --> 00:53:07.679
The Selena Gomez is that's the one I get a lot.
00:53:07.840 --> 00:53:13.039
That's like who really that's like one of those celebrity lookalikes, which is not a great one, or a little dicky.
00:53:13.360 --> 00:53:17.280
No, I that's just that's just curly hair, Jewish stubble, you know.
00:53:17.599 --> 00:53:18.000
That's it.
00:53:18.159 --> 00:53:18.639
That's it.
00:53:18.800 --> 00:53:24.800
That's kind of the I don't know if there's you know someone with a mustache, hopefully.
00:53:24.960 --> 00:53:26.880
At least somebody who can grow a mustache, right?
00:53:27.039 --> 00:53:27.760
Exactly.
00:53:28.239 --> 00:53:31.119
Is there an artist or a band you love that people would be surprised by?
00:53:31.440 --> 00:53:43.679
Well, I've been really listening to a shit ton of 90s country right now, like for the last like six months, basically non-stop at the gym and just like in my day-to-day life.
00:53:44.239 --> 00:53:45.039
And I love it.
00:53:45.599 --> 00:53:50.239
Like Alan Jackson or um Vince Gill.
00:53:50.320 --> 00:53:51.599
Like, I love Vince Gill.
00:53:51.679 --> 00:53:54.320
I think Vince Gill is like one of the best artists ever.
00:53:55.280 --> 00:53:57.199
Isn't he playing with the Eagles now?
00:53:57.840 --> 00:53:58.880
Oh, is he?
00:53:59.280 --> 00:54:01.679
Yeah, I think I think he's playing with the Eagles now.
00:54:02.079 --> 00:54:12.239
I mean, he did he had his tiny desk come out like in the last in this summer, and I couldn't believe how good he sounded.
00:54:12.480 --> 00:54:17.760
Like he's a true tenor voice, also, and he's just so good, and he reps on guitar.
00:54:18.480 --> 00:54:19.840
I love 90s country.
00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:39.360
I think 90s country is like, you know, whatever country is now, or like pop country is now, I think they all draw their uh lyrical roots from 90s country because so much of the stuff that they were talking about, all the tropes that you think of in like modern country music, were just being developed in the 90s and they were legit.
00:54:39.519 --> 00:54:54.800
They were like, even if they weren't, you know, actually like hunting and fishing and having their trucks, like they were mentioning them in genuine ways, and there's so much wit in the 90s country songs that I j I just love it.
00:54:55.039 --> 00:54:56.559
It's so good to me.
00:54:56.719 --> 00:54:57.760
It's so good.
00:54:58.079 --> 00:55:04.320
And then the final question is who's an artist with less than 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify that you think people should be listening to?
00:55:04.639 --> 00:55:10.480
Luke Hart H A R T opened my show in Manchester.
00:55:10.639 --> 00:55:12.800
He's a British artist, he's from Manchester.
00:55:13.119 --> 00:55:15.679
Um, he only has one song out on Spotify right now.
00:55:16.320 --> 00:55:17.679
It's called Biding.
00:55:18.079 --> 00:55:19.199
He's so good.
00:55:19.840 --> 00:55:21.440
He's so good.
00:55:22.719 --> 00:55:27.119
I I want him to be huge, and I think his songwriting is beautiful.
00:55:27.519 --> 00:55:34.800
And it's in this like kind of tradition of like kind of like Nick Drake, but not really.
00:55:35.599 --> 00:55:38.639
Um just great.
00:55:38.960 --> 00:55:40.239
It's really just good.
00:55:40.880 --> 00:55:41.280
Nice.
00:55:41.440 --> 00:55:42.800
I'm excited to check him out.
00:55:42.960 --> 00:55:49.119
Um speaking of things that are great, Theo Candel, man, I think what you're doing is just fantastic.
00:55:49.280 --> 00:55:57.360
Um, excited for for what's on the horizon for you and uh keep pumping this this new album, which is which is just fantastic.
00:55:57.760 --> 00:55:58.880
Well, thank you very much.
00:55:59.039 --> 00:56:00.320
I appreciate it.
00:56:03.920 --> 00:56:07.920
As you heard, Theo is going on tour this month, September 15th.
00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:24.960
He'll be in Portland, Oregon, September 16th, Seattle, the 18th, San Francisco, the 20th in LA at the Moroccan Lounge, which is one of my favorite spots in LA, September 21st in San Diego, the 23rd in Salt Lake City, and finally the 24th in Denver, Colorado.
00:56:25.199 --> 00:56:27.519
Go see him live, tell him I sent you.
00:56:27.679 --> 00:56:30.559
And then if you see him around Brooklyn, maybe you did, maybe you didn't.
00:56:30.719 --> 00:56:35.360
You can stream his brand new album, A Horse Named Friday, wherever streaming happens for you.
00:56:35.599 --> 00:56:41.039
And if you haven't yet, take 10 minutes of your life, I swear, and just go watch the 710 split music video.
00:56:41.280 --> 00:56:44.079
It will almost certainly be the best 10 minutes of your day.
00:56:44.320 --> 00:56:55.679
We talked about a lot of other great artists and songs in this episode, so go check out the Theo Candel first spin playlist with songs featured in this episode by Theo, his friends, inspirations, and other songs that just fit the vibe.
00:56:55.840 --> 00:56:56.960
That is all for this week.
00:56:57.119 --> 00:56:58.480
Thank you so much for listening.
00:56:58.559 --> 00:56:59.519
And you know what?
00:56:59.760 --> 00:57:00.960
Send this to your mom.
00:57:01.199 --> 00:57:02.800
I think she's gonna like it.
