ifitbeyourwill S06E24 • The Barr Brothers

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Think it's final time.
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Alright, people.
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Here we are again, another episode of ifitbeyourwill Podcast coming to you.
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I'm not reaching very far down the road, actually.
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Um I have Brad Barr from others coming in.
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Uh uh Montreal liver.
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Uh liver.
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He lives in Montreal.
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And uh and I have a liver.
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He definitely has a liver.
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Um, and we're just reaching out to to touch base.
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We've been trying to set this up for a while, and I'm so happy that we finally did.
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Uh the Bar Brothers just put out a record on October 17th with it hiss.
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And this is after an eight-year uh uh repo, we'll say, in uh proper uh French.
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Um and Brad is also was also in the slip and um usually dabbles in a lot of indie folk, indie rock, um singer-songwriter, um, an outstanding songwriter.
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And I was just saying how much uh let it hiss is just resounding with me so well.
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Um, Brad, thanks so much for taking some time and sharing some of you and your music.
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Well, thanks for having us, and thanks for doing this podcast and getting the word out about a lot of cool music that I you know discovered through yours, through through this podcast.
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It's really a it's a service to the Montreal you know music community and greater community.
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So thank you.
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Well, that's really sweet of you.
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I it's a passion.
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Um, I love music, I've been doing it forever and uh writing about it, blogging about it.
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Um, so I just feel privileged that I get to talk to such amazing artists um that I've been listening to forever.
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And the same goes too with you, Brad.
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I've been a long time fan, follower.
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Um there were one of your songs I think I probably listened to about a thousand million times, um Orphelia.
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Oh, um wait.
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Um is that do you mean um you mean uh us hold on?
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Yes, hold on.
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I know the song you mean it's uh it's not Orphelia, it's um Oscyla.
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Yes, yes, um, off of it's the it's the first or last song off the um Alta Falls EP, right?
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That's it, that's it.
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That's it.
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Wow, that's no, no, I was not expecting that song.
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Um yeah has such I don't know, it just grabs me every time.
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And like sometimes I get scared that I'm gonna listen to things too much, and then I'll just be like, all right, I've worn it out.
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That song will never wear out.
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It's gonna be like one of my alt-time songs when I eventually get put back into the ground where I came from.
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You want to know why you want to know why that that means a lot to me to hear is because that that was the song that um when I was in the hospital after my son was born, leading up to him being born, and in those few days after he was born, when we had to stay at the hospital for a few days, um, I just walking the halls because we're we're mixing that EP at the same time.
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And I was just walking the halls with this brand new baby in my arm, listening to that mix over and over and over again.
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Um that that one and and May 4th, because that was actually the day he was he was born, was May 4th.
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Um, so that song is really special.
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Every time the first notes come in, I'm really transported right back to that moment when he was born.
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It's such a song that brings you to this place that's familiar and comfortable and soothing um for me.
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Um, so I just I wanted to start with that.
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Well, that means a lot.
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Thank you.
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Brad, I heard that your interest in music, like this is a long time coming.
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Um your dad was a dentist, and I I I've been, you know, I I've been following you, listening to podcasts a bit and stuff, and uh the story kind of uh I I just love it that your dad um was a dentist who did, you know, rental work, and that there was a musician or a client that didn't have the funds to pay, but was gonna pay in lessons, music lessons, uh, for you and your brother Andrew.
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How how old were you when that uh when that circumstance happened?
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Um I was probably probably about sixteen.
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Andrew's 14.
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Um maybe a little he maybe a little younger, but I I think about 16 and 14.
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Um that actually that that relationship continued.
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He so the the first guy that came to town was Abdul Dumbia, came from Um Bamako, uh the country of Mali, and uh to teach at Brown University.
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And that was the yeah, that was the case.
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Um actually, I I think Abdul actually had the money because he had just been hired at Brown.
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Um it was uh it was his like cousin Issa who came.
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Um and Isa did not have money, and Isa had really bad teeth.
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And my dad uh fixed them up, and of course, yeah, like you said, he he um traded dental work for drum lessons.
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So Andrew started taking uh this is um dembase and uh and junjuns and um you know after after a few months of that, you know, they like Isa and his brothers and cousins would invite Andrew and I over to their house to just hang out while they watched watch TV and played drums.
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And they would they would not watch the show that was on.
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They'd they'd keep the show muted, but when the commercials would come on, they'd unmute and watch the commercials and laugh at the commercials.
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Show would come back on, they'd mute it, and then we'd play.
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And um yeah, it gave us a gave us a really good sense of the sort of like the plasticity of a groove.
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Like, okay, everyone's doing this, everyone's locked into the same thing.
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Nobody's no um, you know, but when it comes time to the different soloists to do something, that's when it becomes very much an improvisation.
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So so everyone holding it down, the soloist going off, and then pass it off, which is kind of like how jazz works.
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Um but but like all all the smiles and laugh laughter, you know, like it was all about it's all about trying to like, you know, either kind of outdo the guy before you or or make everybody laugh with some like kind of incredibly inventive statement and twist on the rhythm.
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So I think at a young age, we that was really impressed upon us.
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Um along along with the idea um of helping people out, you know, our dad, our dad was um, you know, sort of just he he never said it out loud, like, you know, always help help people when they need it, but through his through his work and through his deeds, he really transmitted that like, you know, if you see someone on the side of the highway with their hood up in the air, pull over.
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Uh if there's someone begging for for money or something, you know, my dad would always give them some money, you know, and and and use your work to do some kind of service as well.
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Yeah.
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Uh which I'm, you know, I'm I I fail at miserably, but I at least um you know have that sort of you know goal to shoot for.
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Can I can I make mu music somehow uh useful to people?
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Well, I mean I my hands up, yes.
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Yes, I mean for me.
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So thank you.
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Oh yeah.
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Appreciate it.
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Um my question, like when did that spark though, Brad?
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Like why did you want to do that?
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Like, what was it about music that at such a young age you were so drawn to and and attracted to and really wanted it to be like it seems like you knew at that time that music was going to be involved in your life somehow, um as you go?
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Yes, for sure.
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I mean, but back then it was just uh it was it was less about you know trying trying to um you know do anything uh altruistic or healing with music.
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I just wanted to, you know, I wanted to rock out uh as much as any other kid that had MTV in their house.
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I you know, and and and my brother and I also just acknowledged that it was kind of the kind of the coolest thing we had.
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It was either skateboarding or music.
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And and I think once we met those those guys from West Africa, we saw just how kind of integrated it could be in in life in in in a like uh in a really fun way and saw how deep it could go.
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Um I think that was that was the thing.
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I'm I'm glad I caught on to the fact that music just keeps getting cooler the deeper you go.
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Um so it kept us always kind of scratching below the the surface of whatever new thing we discovered.
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So if it was um, you know, if it was uh some some cool, you know Miles Davis record, it's like, oh well, okay, who's playing on that?
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Oh, it's John McLaughlin.
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Oh, who's you know, was John McLaughlin playing with?
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Mahabhishnu, Zach Hirusane, Rabbi Shankar, and uh just kind of being able to follow it and then take whatever we could and adapt some part of our playing that way.
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So um, but yeah, it was a very, very early age, Andrew and I discovered that.
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But really in the beginning, it was just fascination with with uh rock and roll and whatever images we were seeing on MTV and and uh and cool cool records, cool record covers, you know, smoke smoking weed.
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Yeah, totally like the record cover was always just like it just looks so good, it must be good.
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Like so intriguing, it's opening these doors.
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Um yeah, I mean for for me it was it was cassettes, cassettes were my sort of gateway into the the material world of of music, and and and I I loved cassettes.
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I I you know still have my like crates of of cassettes and um yeah, they're magic.
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They're still relo they coming back again, it seems like records are always there, cassettes kind of weave in out of out of the culture of music now and then, and it seems like there's you know, lots of people put out cassettes now, which is great.
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I just I got rid of my get my cassette player, so I'm like gonna say it's very sort of yeah, you you can find them.
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I I I've got a couple, I have a couple kicking around.
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I I bring one to every show with me.
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I have a little handheld cassette that so I I'm still I'm still I still buy up cassettes when I find interesting ones, but um and and let it hiss came out on there was a a limited edition cassette, so um I don't have one yet, but it's out there somewhere.
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Awesome.
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And Brad, how did how do you and your brother collaborate?
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Like, could you walk us through that timeline a bit?
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Like was it you that was going to Andrew saying, Hey, yeah, we want to rock out, and was it a mutual thing?
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And then how did that evolve as you guys got older into becoming the Bar Brothers?
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Or I guess the slip and then Right, the Bar Brothers.
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Yeah.
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What was that evolution between the two of you as brothers?
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Hmm.
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Well, Andrew's always been you know, the very supportive, kind of taken a really supportive role in our in our relationship.
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Um, you know, including music, including uh including just being his his own personality is is that of a like he's a giver.
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He will he wants to like bolster whatever whatever's happening there, he wants to make it come in and make it more interesting and more um alive.
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So and I think I always I was always a little more introspective.
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Um I'd you know, I'd kind of squirrel away and come up with riffs and you know the occasional lyric.
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It was um you know, it was uh and and then in high school uh we s we played like every single night.
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We went to a uh we went to a boarding school in um in Massachusetts.
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That was because it it had a good music program.
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All the all the music departments in in Providence we we weren't really that excited about.
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But even at even at age uh 15, 13, we're like we we want to be around music, and this school happened to have a a good music program.
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Get we got a scholarship there, and uh, and we're playing music uh every night at this school.
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So that that's where a lot of the language came together.
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Um we're listening to a lot of Grateful Dead, a lot of classic rock, and uh and started just sort of stretching out there.
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Um we were we were really focused on the instrumentation, like on the I'm sorry, on the instrumental side of music.
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I I didn't and the whole sort of all the years of the slip, really the end of the 90s and the first half of the of the uh 2000s was really focused on just the instrumental side.
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In fact, the songwriting, my songwriting didn't really take off, I would say, until I moved to Montreal in 2005 and um and started.
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I I don't know, I guess uh it was like maybe one of the first big life shifts for me moving moving here.
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Um But the the what the way Andrew and I worked in the slip, it was really just jamming.
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We would jam.
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We had a a third guy, Mark Friedman, on the bass, and most of that stuff came out of us, you know, trying to be uh kind of an electric, revved up, danceable jazz band, which is a a weird thing to aspire to.
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I don't really recommend it.
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Um but but for us, you know, uh a lot of the playing was was really just about interacting and just language and and and jam jamming.
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Um so yeah, then and and terrible songwriting, you know, terrible, terrible singing, terrible songwriting.
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I didn't really start to figure out my voice um until I moved, until I was about 30, I'd say, and and moved to Montreal and started uh focusing on that on that side of things.
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Right.
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Um what was that process like, Brad, of of finding your voice um and wanting to put it out there more?
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Um, well, it it came it came on the heels of like my first sort of big breakup in my life, like a seven-year relationship coming to an end.
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So a good a good dose of heartache helped.
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Yeah.
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Um moving to a new city and feeling kind of anonymous and and like uh I didn't know anybody.
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I knew Andrew.
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Andrew moved a month before me, and I I followed him just because I was I felt like I needed a change too from Boston.
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So having this kind of voyeur voyeuristic um angle to Montreal, having this recent heartbreak, the slip had had kind of decided to break up as well.
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So it was really like it was like a major discomfort, I guess, a major upheaval.
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And I I guess this that would have been a testament to the fact that you know these kind of shakeups can really have the yeah, you know, be the the bedrock or really the firmament for uh for a very creative um you know process that's about to happen.
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Yeah, totally.
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And and that process of was it like just practicing a ton and like playing with other people?
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Like, how do you how does one go about like where how do how did you eventually realize, okay, I'm getting to the spot where I want to be with my voice and I feel like I can, you know, I can put that out there and instrument, you know, instrumentation a little bit behind it a bit more.
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Well, I had a uh I had a I have a friend, one of my closest friends, his name is Nathan Moore.
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The nate Nathan Moore from Virginia, not not from the UK, and he's a songwriter.
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And uh I met Nathan in about around '98 or '99.
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And then I would watch Nathan do his shows where like people would be laughing and just him by himself on the guitar, laughing and crying during uh a single song.
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He he could just hold a room with his with you know, hold a room's attention with just the just the humanity in his songs.
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Um and I uh got was lucky to to have got to hang out with Nathan a lot.
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Um I I definitely suggest looking up his music.
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He's Nathan Moore uh.org in from from Virginia.
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Um so I had a I had a a really good mentor as far as like what what a song can be.
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Um I just hadn't really had the time because the flip was kind of doing so much touring.
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We just tore and tore, and I I I guess I I I finally in 2005 had a chance to pause and look at my own songwriting.
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And and you know, and I thought about Nathan.
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He was this sort of like um diamond that I could shoot for.
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And uh I guess that's when I really started paying close attention to the lyrics and to like and and to my own voice, making sure that I was writing in the in the right keys for my voice.
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Um, you know, feeling comfortable not trying to sing as much as it was kind of tell telling uh some of my own experiences.
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Um I think that I think that had a lot to I'm still still working.
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I mean, I think I think let it hiss is probably the closest I've gotten to to that.
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Um but yeah, that that was it.
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The record is you know outstanding and I I I can feel that maturity of of time and practice and effort and contemplation going into it.
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What how do how do you approach songwriting, Brad?
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Like what's what circumstances need to be around you for it to be able to blossom?
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Because I know that before Let It Hits came out, there was a period where you know you weren't putting much out uh for the world to see.
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Does it is it a long process for you to come with a song or or sometimes it's like lightning in a bottle and it just strikes?
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Like, could you talk us a little about your process of writing?
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Sure.
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It's usually a long process.
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Like the song, the song I'm working on the most right now.
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I think I started that.
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I started I must have started that like the first riff probably came around six years ago.
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Um I'm just getting to the chorus now.
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Uh I I take a I I don't I'm not I'm not a good study in like how to how to write a song.
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Um the the songs themselves are I I would stand by them as like you know good all good songs, but the process for me is is really kind of feels like working with Mercury.
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It feels like I I could I've been clo I've been clocking in every day um for the last week and a half and I haven't I haven't gotten much.
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Um you know I kind of like sometimes I like I find airports are places where I I I end up writing a lot.
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Um I find when my body is in motion, my um my my thoughts and my songwriting.
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I wrote I wrote some verses on a ferry recently.
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I I seemed I seem to enjoy writing in motion.
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Um but uh I don't have like I know I don't have a really great practice for for punching the clock um and coming up with results.
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Uh in fact, if anyone's got any suggestions, I'm wide open to it.
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Is it just a matter of though, like you said, stamping that you know, stamping in okay, it's it's focus time here, like even if it comes up with nothing that you just allot that time, that necessary time that it takes to no, no.
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I wish it I wish it were.
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I wish it were.
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Like today, um I guess I mentioned I've been at the studio every day.
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That's just to do like there's just like uh half a dozen sort of little projects I've I've been meaning to finish, mostly for other people.
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It's all kind of procrastination on my stuff.
00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:10.160
I what I do is I I something arrives, it's usually got something to do with the instrument.
00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:15.920
The instrument feels good in this position, at this at this place in the neck, and this line.
00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:19.039
And um, and I try and grab one lyric.
00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:30.400
If I can grab one lyric at the moment of its inception, uh I I can I can usually carry that song with me for sometimes, you know, years and years.
00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:45.759
If if there's a a line that's like at least at least then I have something to kind of latch on to and um you know, sort of churn on a little bit and and sometimes put it down for two years and and I'll still remember, okay.
00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:52.799
That there's that one there's that one word, that one name name or somebody's name or just one little line.
00:22:52.799 --> 00:23:01.519
So I do I have learned that if I can attach a lyric quick enough to a sort of melodic or chordal idea, um, the song stands a chance.
00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:19.599
I like too um you've been putting some posts on Instagram lately where you're showing different, you know, fingering on the threats on on the neck of you know, instruments of like, all right, you can play G here, move it down here, and it like I just find like I love that.
00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:35.759
And it's so inspiring to see how you can change um you know this the chord structure and then throw in all of these different little elements and it just like you know augments um really quickly.
00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:41.680
I I've just been loving those videos that you've been posting lately about thank you different chords.
00:23:41.839 --> 00:24:03.440
Um you know, I figure I figure um I'm 50 this year and uh I think it's probably time to start sharing some of my some of my little secrets, you know, like anything anything could happen now and uh it's a good I mean uh it's not that it's not that morbid.
00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:07.519
It's really just you know like why not why not just share some things.
00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:13.839
I actually have really I I really have liked um the correspondences I've I've developed through that.
00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:20.400
People write me with I uh you know uh qu more more questions or asking me if I could post this song.
00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:35.440
And I think um it's sort of a a role I didn't really expect to enjoy that much, but uh the that that of like being able to teach these things because um yeah I never thought I had a knack.
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:36.880
Oh yeah, you do.
00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:43.279
I mean it's your delivery is so calm and like it it feels effortlessly, you know.
00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:46.319
And I pick up my guitar, I'm like I can't fucking do that.
00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:49.920
Wait, when they're rewinding that video again.
00:24:50.160 --> 00:25:00.720
Um I try and I try and do a couple sim a couple really simple ones, yeah, then a couple more challenging ones, play a song here and there, but I'm glad it's been inspiring.
00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:02.559
That that's that's all I really too.
00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:06.880
I really appreciate it too, just reading what people comment and that interaction.
00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:21.519
I mean, it's it's through the X's and O's, but it's still you know, it has meaning to it, I find, you know, and it's uh it's fun to bring communities together, even though you might not well, you don't know any of these people, but you have this commonality, which is really cool.
00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.480
Yeah, and and now I kind of feel like I do actually.
00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:31.279
There's uh you know, at least a handful, at least a dozen or more people that have like you know reached out direct message or something.
00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:37.519
And I've got a gotten a couple of students um through it, people I do like Zoom lessons with through that.
00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:43.200
And uh yeah, I like I like being able to pass along some information.
00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:51.119
But I mean I think I think any guitar player, any musician that's put in any time in their instrument has something to share.
00:25:51.119 --> 00:26:04.960
You know, I I learned I think it also came up from learning a lot just once once I finally decided, okay, I'll I'll sign on to Instagram and I'll sign up and get put put my name down and started started um scrolling about.
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:08.160
I was like, oh, I'm learning a lot from from these players.
00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:11.839
Maybe I can uh you know lend my voice to that conversation.
00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:12.720
Totally.
00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:21.200
Well, I mean, and the ultimate is uh putting a record out, I think, um of of connecting with the world.
00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:23.119
Um once it's out there, it's out there.
00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:27.599
I mean, regardless of the plastic it's on or the cassette reel that it spins in.
00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:31.759
Um I wanted to talk about let it hiss in the collaborations.
00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:42.160
Um you seem to have connected with some really kindred souls that that um just you created these really amazing um songs together.
00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:44.240
How do how did those collaborations?
00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:52.799
I mean, I imagine they were all a little bit different, but did you know ahead of time like that you were gonna reach out to certain collaborators for certain songs?
00:26:55.039 --> 00:26:57.119
Um no.
00:26:57.119 --> 00:27:00.640
Not until the songs were basically done.
00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:08.880
Um did I uh did I really and Andrew and I figure it out.
00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:24.960
We uh you know, like like we like I said, it it it took quite a quite a while to get all the songs to a certain to the point where we felt like we could see them and hear who who would who would sound good on them.
00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:33.359
Um and uh and we yeah, we wanted to have the thing kind of in shape before we pitched it to a friend.
00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:39.759
Um so like uh like with Jim James um on that song English Harbor.
00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:49.039
Uh I I've been we've been um friends since like 2006 or 2007 when the slip opened for My Morning Jacket.
00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:55.359
And um and then the Bar Brothers opened for My Morning Jacket again in in like 2017 or something.
00:27:55.359 --> 00:28:00.799
And uh I always knew there was gonna be an opportunity to ask Jim to sing.
00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:04.799
His his voice is is one of my favorite voices in rock and roll and folk music.
00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:12.640
So um and English Harbor was I mean the the melody at the beginning, I think I just always heard Jim.
00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:21.200
I feel like I was maybe doing an impression of what I would think Jim James would hear on that song when I when I in the opening line there, opening melody.
00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:36.240
Um and I think just uh yeah, there was a a real feeling of like, okay, we we've been working this record by you know just pretty much by ourselves, Andrew and I in in our studio here, which is where I am.
00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:39.440
Let's get some let's get some friends involved.
00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:44.640
Um Elizabeth Powell, we called Elizabeth uh for the song Run Right Into It.
00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:56.400
It was kind of like once the thing was more or less done, it was very easy to say, like this one is this one's for Lizzie, um, this one's for Ariel, this one's for Chloe Pelgag.
00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:58.960
Um Moonbeam.
00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:00.400
Thank you.
00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:05.359
Um yeah, we we knew uh we wanted Chloe to sing on that.
00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:09.519
And and then we realized, oh, it'd be so nice to have her sing in French.
00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:11.519
Obviously, that's her language.
00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:24.640
So she she took it and uh transcribed my verse that was in written in English, transcribed it into French, uh like poetically, like like she she sent back verses to me like do you think is this an okay?
00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:26.000
How do you feel about this?
00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:27.200
I took some liberties here.
00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:31.599
I took I was like, Yes, it's all perfect, it's all perfect if you if you like singing it.
00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:34.480
Um and she she nailed it.
00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:48.160
Both both um Chloe and and Josie Adams, who sang on English Harbor, both sent us back these like wicked vocal arrangements, like more than more than I ever could have anticipated myself.
00:29:48.160 --> 00:30:04.880
Like they they they probably should have gotten some kind of like producer credit on that because the the parts that they gave were um were more than just you know I'll sing a backup book, they were like very uh in my opinion, now integral to the song.
00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:07.200
That's impressive.
00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:07.920
Yeah.
00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:10.640
Brad, kind of like you've had a bit of distance.
00:30:10.640 --> 00:30:12.319
The record came out in October.
00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:14.880
How are you feeling about it?
00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:24.960
How are you feeling about uh it being out there now and people having listened to it and you know, reading reviews and feedback from you know, family and friends and stuff?
00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:26.400
Where where are you at with it?
00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:32.079
What how do you how do you how do did it end up the way that you had uh envisioned it to?
00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:38.559
Um yeah, I would say uh a hundred percent it did.
00:30:38.559 --> 00:30:48.079
I mean I I envisioned myself, you know, um I I have a wild imagination and a lot of delusion.
00:30:48.079 --> 00:30:55.680
So like, you know, I I won't even admit to half the things that I, you know, envisioned.
00:30:55.680 --> 00:31:10.400
But the the fact is um I'm so happy with the way the record turned out that that's that's the only thing I really need to be, um, need to concern myself with as far as my own how I'm happy with.
00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:18.079
Like the state of the music industry makes it more and more difficult to know what kind of an impact thing it has.
00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:30.480
There's it's um, you know, we could go on and on about um where this the state of the music industry is and and how an artist or a band has to struggle and w what it takes these days.
00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:54.000
Um but I I I knew all all that going into this, and I there's things I can accept about the world I'm in and the and the music business and really just had to focus on like am I the most honest I can be on this record and are these songs being produced in in the kind of the coolest way possible, the most like del delightful way?
00:31:54.000 --> 00:32:00.160
Like are people are people gonna are people gonna do I think people will get something out of this?
00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:03.920
Including myself, and the answer has just always been yes.
00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:13.119
So I I don't uh I I I don't really uh I can't really require that much more of uh of a record.
00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:14.160
So yeah.
00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:16.799
Beautifully said I I love it.
00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:17.839
Thank you.
00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:22.799
And it is uh delightful um in listening to it.
00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:25.920
Um you achieved that for me again as well.
00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:30.319
Um Brad, in and kind of bringing things to a close here again.
00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:31.759
Thanks so much for taking some time.
00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:33.519
This has been such a a truth.
00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:38.400
Um thoughtfulness into the questions I ask.
00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:41.839
I just it's it's been great to to have this conversation.
00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:47.599
Um what can we expect down the road for the Bar Brothers into 2026?
00:32:47.599 --> 00:32:51.279
Um I see that that you do have some tour dates and stuff.
00:32:51.279 --> 00:32:54.160
Um what's what what can you tell us?
00:32:55.279 --> 00:33:00.720
Um so we have we have plans to release at least one or two songs.
00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:10.880
This are plans, some we'll we'll see if we'll see if we can stick stick to them, but to release uh one or two songs that were outtakes from Let It Hiss before the the tour.
00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:17.200
So in February, we're hoping to release at least one, maybe two songs that that didn't make the record.
00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:22.160
Um really beautiful songs that I that just were kind of like misfits.
00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:38.720
Um uh we have February, March, April, May going through uh eastern US, um, Midwest and Western United States into Canada, uh you know, and yeah, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, Hamilton, and I think.
00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:41.759
Um, so yeah, North America, some Europe.
00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:50.319
Um and then we we a couple of things we want to just keep releasing music.
00:33:50.319 --> 00:33:54.960
That's the main thing, is like, you know, it took it took eight years to get this record out.
00:33:54.960 --> 00:33:56.720
That was for a lot of reasons.
00:33:56.720 --> 00:34:05.599
Um that was for a lot of reasons that you know, I think I think where we've arrived now, it's like let's just keep let's just keep putting stuff out.
00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:11.920
Like we I think we I think we got over that hump and and now it's like I just want to keep producing.
00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:26.639
We have a whole uh sleeping operator two, which are uh about 10 or 12 songs that were left off the first sleeping operator in 2014 that are all like pretty much ready to go.
00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:34.800
Um so there's a whole like Sleeping Operator 2 that we almost released it before Let It Hiss, but I didn't want to kind of muddy the waters of the new release.
00:34:34.800 --> 00:34:43.280
So so that should come out, I'm hoping at the uh end of in fall of 2026, Sleeping Operator 2, if not early 2027.
00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:49.599
Um and then I I wanna I'm gonna put out a record of uh a solo, another solo record.
00:34:49.599 --> 00:34:54.079
Um yeah, this one with with singing.
00:34:54.079 --> 00:35:14.320
Um I've only ever put out instrumental solo records, so be because usually my my best songs I save for the Bar Brothers, but uh I'm s I think I'm starting to see the ones that okay, this is this can go this way, this can go to my solo, this can go to the Bar Brothers.
00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:19.280
So um I'm hoping to at least release a single or two.
00:35:19.280 --> 00:35:22.159
Um you know, by the end of the spring.
00:35:22.159 --> 00:35:23.679
Uh I've got a few songs.
00:35:23.679 --> 00:35:27.039
I've been really enjoying playing solo sets lately too.
00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:30.239
Um Andrew's been out with Mumpert and Sons a lot.
00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:32.559
Uh he's the the drummer in that band.
00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:48.079
So I've been getting this opportunity to play some solo shows and feeling really just you know really lucky that to to have that space and and feeling like I can finally uh what's the word?
00:35:48.079 --> 00:36:01.840
I can finally really sink into it for for what it is and all the potential that a solo set has and the potential to connect in smaller rooms um with people that are like listening.
00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:05.039
Uh so that's been that's been so fun.
00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:06.960
I'm very excited to do more of that.
00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:12.159
But um yeah, that's a that's a that's a you're a busy guy, Brett.
00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:18.639
You got uh a lot happening all the way into 2027, 2028.
00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:25.360
Um I'm so happy to hear about um a new solo uh release possible down the road.
00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:33.760
Um and I will definitely try to come and check out one of those solo performances if they pop up uh if I'm in and about town.
00:36:34.159 --> 00:36:37.119
I'm I'm I'm gonna do one in January somewhere.
00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:42.000
I've got a few people uh um I've been calling about just booking something.
00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:45.519
So and and yeah, I I intend to and I'll let you know.
00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:46.880
Yeah, I'd love to.
00:36:46.880 --> 00:36:49.599
I'd love to attend and uh I'd love to meet you in person as well.
00:36:49.599 --> 00:36:51.599
It's been uh a real pleasure.
00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:52.960
Um likewise.
00:36:52.960 --> 00:36:58.000
And I I just wish you all the best, Brad, with uh this new record, which is just outstanding.
00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:05.760
People go get it, listen to it, catch a show if you can, buy a record or a cassette, um, support these artists, they need it.
00:37:05.760 --> 00:37:07.519
Um, thanks so much, Brett.
00:37:07.519 --> 00:37:08.079
This has been great.
00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:08.880
Thanks, Chris.
00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:10.079
Yeah, thanks for taking the time.
00:37:10.079 --> 00:37:13.199
Thanks for your thoughtful questions, and I I do hope to meet you in person.
00:37:13.519 --> 00:37:14.159
Awesome.
00:40:27.039 --> 00:41:16.719
I know you've compromised more than your sanity And probably even more than I ever know Don't worry we're all not fine We just play alone Fight and settle this song for you If you need to take it out We'll take it out with me On my hands, my feet, my chest, my walk and we can't hear whom rain without following Was it ever okay?