Full Transcript for Good Kid

learned my history. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:54.560 I learned my first guitar was like a Frankenstein fake uh fender strata caster that just had a sticker on it, and I bought it from a youth shop and I thought it was a fender strat. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:57.120 It was just a fender sticker. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:01:58.799 Uh but that was like an electric guitar. 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:03.120 So I learned on an electric, and by the time I got to an acoustic guitar, my hands were so much weaker, I guess. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:04.640 I'm with you 100% on that. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:06.719 But Dave learned on a acoustic guitar stuff. 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:18.240 Yeah, anything finger picking, David's much stronger at in like uh chords and stuff like that, and I'm better at like maybe uh yeah, anything like on electric and and stuff like that. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:19.759 Sounds like you guys have worked it out. 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:24.879 Like uh in in my band, my we're we have two guitarists and we're always battling for lead time. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:26.479 So it's it's it's it's always a trade-off. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:28.000 I just buddy take it. 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:30.319 I don't want to take it sometimes. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:35.599 It's like there's some songs on this new album that we have where I just have to sit there and focus because it's like so hard to play. 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:39.840 But uh and then sometimes it's more fun to play rhythm on stage because you can jump around and whatever. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:41.520 Um but yeah, so that's my backstory. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:46.960 I play I've been playing guitar for I don't know, like 20, 21 years, something like that. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:48.159 Did you grow up in Toronto? 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:49.680 I did, grew up in Toronto, Canada. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:52.800 Uh Long and McQuaid is our like version of guitar center. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:56.319 Uh we don't have guitar center in Canada, unfortunately, or at least not in Toronto. 00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:57.280 McQuaid is great. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:02:57.759 Yeah. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:01.680 So the reason we're not in Canada is because Long and McQuaid is so good. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:02.080 Yeah. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:03.120 They're they're they're great. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:09.919 And that's where I got my uh I have a Fender telecaster telecaster that I have for like 20 years that I bought there when I was 16, something like that. 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:15.680 And saved up a bunch of money for like a year uh working crappy jobs and then got that an American telly. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.159 So do you have guitar addiction syndrome? 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:18.800 No. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:19.680 Well, what do you mean? 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:20.319 But it's a guitar. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:23.280 I mean, have you bought a bunch of other guitars since, or you're you're good with your telly? 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:25.439 I haven't paid money for a guitar since then. 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:26.719 Not actually, that's not true. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:30.080 I bought an I bought guitars like for specific things. 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:37.280 Like we uh came recording an album in LA and we bought like an acoustic guitar just to play with at the at the Airbnb that we were saying at to write more. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:38.879 Um but I've been playing this telly. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:39.840 This is like my main guitar. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:41.520 I actually just got a guitar from Fender. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:52.319 Uh they just did a reissue series of like um old, I'm sure you guys know, but they're like vintage, they're trying to replicate vintage guitars, and then they gave me uh uh 60s uh telly. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:53.360 So that's like the first time. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:57.120 It's actually become a problem for live shows because it's what is it, 10 dB quieter? 00:03:57.520 --> 00:03:58.240 6 dB quieter. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:00.400 Well, it's just the pickups are are 6 dB quieter than the other. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:01.680 Yeah, modern pickups are louder. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:02.000 Yeah. 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:03.199 Uh so it's interesting. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:05.360 Uh but that's like the first telly I bought in a while. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:06.400 I I love guitars. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:14.560 I love looking at them, but every time I go to reach for one, I just compare it to the guitar that I have, and I'm just like, uh I love I was like, would I actually play this over my telly and I always go. 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:16.079 Your first love is your true love. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:16.480 Yeah. 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:16.959 There you go. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:17.839 Yeah, exactly. 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:22.000 So David rhythm, rhythm guitar in uh in good kid. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:24.720 Um yeah, you and I met in high school before then. 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:31.279 Um I grew up nearby, lived in a small town in Ontario, and then I moved to I lived in China for a long time. 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:31.680 Okay. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.639 Uh moved to Shanghai, and then came back to Toronto. 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:36.000 That's where I met Jacob in high school. 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:36.399 Okay. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:38.720 You guys meet in high school, you go off to university. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:39.920 Were you part of the band? 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:41.680 Or like how did you find the other band members? 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:44.480 Well, you you and I were in a band before Good Kid. 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:55.439 And then um we went to university, and I think that's where we met the the rest of the band was like uh John, Nick, Michael, we were all sort of in the same well, you guys were in computer science. 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:59.519 It was kind of like a right place at the right time where

like everyone was in a project that was kind of dying down. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:06.160 So like mine and David's other band was like kind of ending at that point, and uh Michael played bass in another band and that was also ending. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:09.279 Um and we were all kind of looking to fill that void. 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:19.120 Like it I don't know if if you play in a band, we've all been playing in a band since like high school, and so it's a bit of like that routine of just showing up regularly weekly to like a rehearsal space at least once or twice a week. 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:23.120 Um and so when you do that and then you don't have it, it feels like there's a void in your life. 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:24.000 You know what I mean? 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:25.199 And you need to fill it. 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:26.879 And you feel like you need to. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:27.680 Yeah, you need to. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:28.879 And so like I liked it. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:33.759 I had so much time when you didn't have time on watch, watch TV on a Tuesday. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:34.079 Yeah. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:34.639 Yeah. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:39.120 So the we like we were all just kind of right place at the right time where all of our projects were kind of ending. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:42.720 And then Good Kid is probably like the third or fourth project for everyone in this band. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:50.160 And we just found each other um through like I was carrying a guitar to class one day, and Michael was like, Hey, you play guitar, I play bass. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:51.759 You guys want to do on a jam one day? 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:56.560 Um and then we like slowly pieced together the whole the whole group from there and then found people that we just like. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:05:59.600 And were you all studying computer science or no? 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:06.240 Uh actually most of us converted into like I think Michael, Nick, and John were studying computer science already. 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:09.519 I converted into computer science because of the boys. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:15.439 Um and David similarly like learned how to program for similar reasons because we were just around each other and it was just like I love it. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:16.959 I'm a nuclear engineer by training. 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:17.519 Oh, cool. 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:19.279 Which has nothing to do with my current job. 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:19.839 Yeah, yeah. 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:20.560 That's funny. 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:22.879 My brother my brother is a civil engineer, and then he was a drummer. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:23.839 Yeah, you know what I mean. 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:25.199 You know, just how it works. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:25.759 Yeah. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:29.439 Um, so you you kind of f find each other, you start playing. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:31.199 Like, when do you start writing your own music? 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:36.560 And like, you know, are you just playing around the the university, or like how do you start to get some traction here? 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:49.600 Yeah, that was the start, pretty much like we I think we were writing pretty early on because we had written songs in our other bands, but mixed in with mostly covers, just because that's how you start to like learn to like each other like musically and build that kind of like musical relationship. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:52.480 And pretty early on we we started writing songs. 00:06:52.639 --> 00:07:01.839 And I think pretty quickly we decided we had the choice of do we spend all of we had like a thousand dollars amongst the five of us that we like scrapped together from like our wallets. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:04.319 And we're like, okay, we have a thousand bucks, what can we record with this? 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:15.279 And our decision was do we record a really shitty EP, like a six-song EP with all the stuff that we have that is not gonna sound good uh because we're gonna do it all in like a day, or do we just spend this thousand dollars on one single song? 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:19.519 And we decided to do that, which was like the first one of the first songs we wrote called No Moo. 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:21.120 Um, we put everything into that. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:25.279 We spent we did it all in one day and then put that out, did pretty well relatively to like. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:26.319 We always put it out. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:27.120 How did you put it out? 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:30.319 Uh just like on YouTube, on I think actually just on YouTube at that time. 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:34.399 I don't even know if we knew like Did you do a video or did you just do the uh the audio? 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:42.319 We did illustration, just like a cover art with the audio, um, because we again had no budget to make any video or anything. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:48.319 And uh and so we just we have a a childhood friend named Gabriel Ultros who makes all of our artwork to this day. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:49.360 But he was like the first guy. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:50.160 We just reached out to him. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:51.680 I think we paid him like fifty bucks or something. 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:53.600 He's he's been with us on this tour, actually. 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:54.079 Oh no. 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:55.920 Just like hanging out and coming to the shows. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:56.160 It's great. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:08:06.240 Yeah, he's like a the sixth member of the band because he represents like the band is we have the five of us, but a lot of our uh front-facing stuff is like characters and illustration and kind of like a bit of a gorillas kind of thing. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:06.560 Uh-huh. 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:09.040 Um and yeah, so we just put up on YouTube. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:10.000 It did pretty well. 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:15.759 I think

within a week, it had like 10,000 listeners uh because it got on the front page of this Reddit thread called Listen to This. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:19.040 Um Reddit is really powerful when it wants to be. 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:19.600 It can be. 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:21.279 It's also really evil when it wants to be. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:22.160 100%. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:23.040 100%. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:26.480 But that thread specifically listened to this is a great thread for music discovery. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:30.319 They have all these rules like you can't post there if you're too big or like you can't self-promote. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:31.279 It has to be like organic. 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:36.720 Like someone has to find it, post it there, and it has to be, it's only for artists uh of a certain size. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:38.799 So like we actually don't qualify for that thread anymore. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:40.000 Like we wouldn't, they would take us down. 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:42.639 We aged out or we like grew out of it. 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:44.559 Um, but it's so cool for music discovery. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:45.200 So that was it. 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:46.320 That was kind of like the start of it. 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:54.720 I think after that, we're like, oh shit, I'm gonna put it on like Spotify and everything else because we didn't even know how to no one tells you how to put your music up and distribute it around the world, you know what I mean? 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:54.960 Yeah. 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:56.399 But YouTube is pretty easy. 00:08:56.799 --> 00:08:58.320 You know, researching how do I post on Spotify. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:00.240 So we did like CD baby or something at the time. 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:01.759 And uh I think it was CD baby. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:03.200 Yeah, and that was the start of it. 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:07.200 So but but at this time you're not making like, you know, millions of dollars. 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:08.080 So you're still in school. 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:11.840 Like you you finish up school, or do you like what what happens after this? 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:17.600 Yeah, I think this was probably happening in our last year or two of university. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:19.279 I can't remember the exact timeline. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:25.759 Um but yeah, we we finished up school like all at different times because we weren't all the same age or in the same years. 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:31.120 Um and we just kept kind of kept the same schedule every single week. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:33.840 We do Tuesdays and Thursdays uh band practice, no matter what. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:40.399 And so we just like Good Kid is a band of consistency uh over a long period of time, growing slowly over that time. 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:49.519 We never really had like I don't think the band's ever had like a like a big moment, you know what I mean, where like everything I think now

they call it a TikTok moment where a band suddenly overnight, right? 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:50.879 Just go viral and boom. 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:52.399 Yeah, and we've just never had that. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:55.039 It's just been like, yeah, like you said, like this steady climb upward. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:55.440 Yeah. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:10:06.879 And then every now and then a song does better than other songs, but it's not like uh it's been interesting being in this band because uh it really is a story of like just a group of friends uh being consistent over time, liking, enjoying each other, enjoying, going to band practice. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:11.759 Like I said, that like need to play music on a regular cadence weekly with a group. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:14.639 Uh, and then we just kept that for 10 plus years. 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:16.480 Aaron Powell What's your repertoire of songs now? 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:18.240 Like how many songs have you written? 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:19.440 What are we at? 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:21.759 We have that many for Ben S 10 years old. 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:24.960 By EP4, we had 25 songs. 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:32.000 Um then we had the acoustic album that we put out, the acoustic EP, which is another five, uh, which is 30. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:35.440 We'd released 10 on the official album. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:40.159 We also have the the 8-bit album as well for the video game soundtrack. 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:42.399 So somewhere like 40 to 50 songs. 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:44.960 So over over the last like that's not a small number. 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:56.000 No, it's also but for I guess as long as we've been a band, there were times where it felt like we were releasing music very slowly and uh being very meticulous about what we were putting out and that kind of thing. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:07.039 So so you achieved cult fame by um on Fortnite refusing to um invoke DMCA, which is a copyright protection. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:09.679 So a lot of people were starting to use your music. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:20.000 Um you know, you're getting well known at this point, I guess, and um, you know, you could have taken it down and you didn't, and I think that probably had like some really multiplicative effect. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:21.200 So tell tell me about that. 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:22.639 Like what what was going on? 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:24.639 Why'd you make that decision and what was the outcome? 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:26.639 Yeah, so that was an interesting time. 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:34.879 It was actually, I think what it was is YouTube and YouTube and Twitch were kind of like the Wild West when they came up and grew in popularity. 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:44.080 And their tools around like identifying when is something that is copyrighted music or any copyrighted IP in general was like very um nascent at the time. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:51.519 And I think through pressure and like getting probably sued to the ends of the earth from the like company whole like holders of IP, uh, they had to develop these tools. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:59.120 And at one point in time, it's not that like uh there was a switch on these platforms where they were like they started copyright striking creators who use it. 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:08.320 So we went from a world where like creators could kind of use anything they wanted, um, and they were it was kind of free reign to like now if they use it, they can't make money off their off their content. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:10.320 Um which you know, there's a bunch of reasons. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:12.559 It's not really I don't really have a moral judgment on it. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:22.080 It's more just like we went from a band that had like a bunch of organic use to suddenly people were worried about using our music um in their content because they were worried about getting getting strikes. 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:23.039 Getting a strike, yeah. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:32.559 Um and then for us personally, like we love there's nothing more rewarding as an artist than someone making their own art with your art or their own creations with your art. 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:36.960 Um so we were really bummed out that people were thinking that they couldn't use our music. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:39.039 And we're also completely we're an indie band. 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:40.320 We've been indie this whole time. 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:42.960 So like we can kind of do whatever we want with our music. 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:48.480 We don't have anyone who controls like like we don't have a label that says like, no, you can't make this DMCA free. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:49.120 You know what I mean? 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:50.799 Or you can't make this content ID free. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:52.080 So we just made the call. 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:56.000 It wasn't like I say we just made the call, we have to do a bunch of research and figure out like how does this stuff work? 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:58.799 How do we register it properly to make sure that it's not taken down? 00:12:58.960 --> 00:12:59.120 No. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:08.799 But um, yeah, we just we love the energy that creators were bringing to using our music because it clearly 2018? 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:11.120 Around 2020. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:11.919 2020. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:12.720 It was around the pandemic. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:16.080 It was close to the pandemic, yeah, 2019 was when that started happening, I think. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:17.039 When was the pandemic? 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:17.919 It was 2020. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:19.200 So it was around 2020. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:19.360 Yeah. 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:20.480 Is when that stuff started happening. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:24.559 Because I think also the rise of those platforms was when independent everyone's on YouTube and Twitch. 00:13:24.639 -->

00:13:26.159 So um that's when it happened. 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:30.399 So this presumably actually like really catapulted you in the conversation. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:37.600 I think it helped start a lot of the conversation, and those communities uh have a lot, they have their own communities, right? 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:44.240 So it's like when a big content creator uses our music, it kind of vouches to their entire audience that like, hey, I like GoodKid. 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:48.559 And doesn't not that there aren't a lot of creators that actively go out there and be like, you should listen to GoodKid. 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:51.519 But just them using it in the background of their stuff kind of validates that. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:14:01.679 And we get so many whenever a content creator uses our music, if they're big enough, like we see it in our comment section in our videos or like came here from from like Ludwig or came here from uh from this streamer. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:07.679 We've never really been like a household name band, but I think what's happened is like the household has kind of changed. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:21.759 Like it's no longer like this very like uh traditional way of discovering music, it's opening up now to things like YouTube and Twitch, and like these are platforms where more and more artists are being discovered, and that's where a lot of viewership is headed. 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:29.120 And so as that has progressed, I think people have been having an easier time hearing about our band and figuring out who we are. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:34.559 And yeah, I think us opening up to content creators is a lot of what's helped that move forward. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:35.039 Yeah. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:39.600 So how's like when you think about I mean 10 years now, right? 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:47.600 Um at what point did you start to get pool, like people wanting you to uh to play, to go on tour? 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:54.240 I imagine it probably at some point is difficult and it's a push, and at some point people are like really excited and it's more of a pull. 00:14:54.320 --> 00:15:02.240 Like, I think it's a bit of like the pandemic era was like after the pandemic is when when uh people took us a little bit more seriously, I think as uh artists. 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:04.320 We we like no booking agent. 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:08.799 There was a while where we we were doing pretty well, at least relatively, and at least what we thought was doing pretty well. 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:12.320 I think we had like hundreds of thousands of listeners, and no booking agent would touch us. 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:13.120 And it was really sad. 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:13.519 Really? 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:14.879 Yeah, and we were like bummed out about it. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:15.360 I don't know why. 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:19.360 I think maybe we didn't have the touring history or they just looked at us and they're

like, these guys aren't serious. 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:21.120 I don't I have no idea what the reason was. 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:31.919 Um and we ended up on a buddy, a friend of ours um booking agent see that was actually made for YouTubers, not like for YouTubers to do like bring their show on the road. 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:40.960 Uh and they were great, they're called Real Good Touring, and they were they were great to us at the time, but it but that was like our first break as like getting an agent to actually book a tour for us. 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:41.200 Yeah. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:48.320 Um and other than that, we were just that was 21 or so or right when you could the second we could like go do shows, that's pretty much when when we could. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:50.000 And then like tell me about that experience. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:51.279 Like, are you in a van? 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:52.879 Like what's at first, yeah. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:58.320 We we we did uh we did some band tours, um just driving around in a sprinter van. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:02.000 Um it was it's a lot easier when you're in the UK. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:08.559 Uh we did a we did our first like UK run, and that was in a sprinter van, but the the US ones were they're tough. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:09.600 They're long drive. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:10.320 They were cool. 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:14.960 Like that was the first time we got to actually see uh because we had played a million Toronto shows at that point, right? 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:17.279 Like the most bands you start up just playing your own city. 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:22.720 That was the first time we got to see like, oh wow, there's like fans that will come out to our shows around America. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:23.519 You know what I mean? 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:30.480 Uh and it was very cool for like a indie Toronto band that was just stuck inside because also Toronto had lockdowns much longer than most uh places in the world. 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:36.480 I think in 2019 we did um uh our first show in New York, and that was at Mercury Lounge. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:36.720 Yeah. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:45.279 And I think about maybe 60, 70 people came to the show, which was like at the time for us, like we had never been there before, uh, we were pretty s surprised. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:52.720 Um and by the time we got to our 2022 era of like touring, um, we just started to see bigger and bigger rooms. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:57.519 Yeah, we went from like 60 people to like a probably a sold-out like 250 people, and that was really cool. 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:02.559 Um and then now we just played two nights at Brooklyn Steel, which is like 1600 people or something like that. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:03.360 That always feels great. 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:04.240 It's amazing, it's insane. 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:05.359 Yeah. 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:06.400 Uh so that's really cool. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:08.160 Yeah, and uh, we played the Moroccan Lounge here. 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:09.680 That was our first show in LA. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:12.079 And then we just played The Novo, which is nuts. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:25.119 So uh yeah, so that but that at that time that was our first like ability to actually engage with like fans and be like, oh wow, like there's people here who actually really resonate with the music and they know the words and also people who travel, like people who drove in for that show specifically. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:27.519 Oh, come in from like Arizona, for example. 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:37.039 Like they came with like their I remember like three fans came with like custom good kid shirts that they had made themselves, and I remember that being like uh a really special moment for us. 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:40.640 Like just um Yeah, just fans who will travel and come out to see it. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:41.440 So cool. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:44.400 So you now 10 years in, 10 or 11? 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:45.440 I don't know, you know. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:47.519 A decade in. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:52.079 Um you release your first full-length record album. 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:56.480 Um and uh and that was just like a couple days ago, right? 00:17:56.799 --> 00:17:58.240 Like April 3rd, so about a month ago. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:17:59.440 Okay, so exciting. 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:00.400 Like, you know, how's that going? 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:01.200 Oh, it's great. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:03.200 It's so much better than we thought it was gonna go. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:28.319 This is what I was saying earlier, like we're an indie band, so it's hard to like we don't have the same kind of mechanisms or I don't know, I don't think anyone has guarantees, but uh it's really it was very rewarding to see the response to the record, how much people seem to like it, a lot of songs that we really love and care about seeing them doing so well, but also just seeing really again, it's like we just put it out a month ago, we've been on tour for three weeks, and people at all the shows like are singing the words and like they're gonna be. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:29.200 Wow, they know already. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:30.160 Yeah, which is crazy. 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:33.119 Because I go to shows all the time of bands I love that release a record. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:35.920 I'm not gonna lie, I don't know half those new songs. 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:40.319 So it's really cool that like our fan base has like part of our decision making. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:43.039 Like I I won't say which band, but I remember the same experience. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:46.400 I went to a show where the um the band played the entire new album. 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:47.200 Just say it. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:50.640 And then they're No, I can't I can't throw the drums under the bus like that. 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:56.640

But then they um they the last 20 minutes of the show, they started playing just all the hits. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:56.880 Yeah. 00:18:57.039 --> 00:18:59.920 And I remember the entire room's like, hey, yeah, like we're back in business. 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:07.119 And like, you know, it it's it's a little bit of a like um you know, you want to get the new stuff out, but fans want to hear the stuff they know. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:09.279 And so it's probably a little bit of a give give and take. 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:09.759 For sure. 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:10.720 There's a balance there. 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:13.279 And uh I think for us, like, we want to make sure we strike that balance. 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:26.480 But it's been nice to know that like, oh, we can try new things and our audience is receptive to it, or like that the album is doing well enough uh in terms of like our fan base engaging with it, uh that when we show up there and we play it, it doesn't feel like a disappointment. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:32.240 Which I think is like the fear, the insecurity in the back of your head is like, are they gonna be disappointed if they hear a new song instead of an old song? 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:32.400 You know? 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:32.640 Trevor Burrus, Jr. 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:49.359 It's a cool experience because like a lot of I think a lot of like traditional rock and roll bands have had that experience of like they put out songs that are hits, and then like when you start putting out new music and new music and new music, people just want to hear like the original, you know, like you know, like the killer is you're like, oh, just play Mr. 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:49.839 Bright's side. 00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:51.359 Want more of that kind of energy. 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:57.440 We have kind of the opposite experience where people are really engaged with our new stuff. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:19:59.680 And like we're finding that it's like the opposite direction. 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:09.839 Like a lot of our older songs get kind of like um less and less uh attention at shows, or like you can tell there's like an energy in the room uh that is reserved for those new songs. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:11.119 Like Cicada is a good example. 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:13.839 Like that song has been out for a month and a half. 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:20.000 And at these shows, it is easily the most excited our our audience gets is when that song starts. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:22.880 So it's yeah, so you're building. 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:23.920 Yeah, which is great. 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:25.200 It feels good to be building. 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:30.480 Tell me a little bit about your well, first of all, is it true that you all still have day jobs? 00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:31.440 No, not all of us. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:32.720 Some of some of us do. 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:34.799 Two of our guys, Nick and Michael, still do. 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:37.759 Uh, but me, David, and John have been full-time band for a little while now. 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:43.200 Uh but I I was working at Uber up until end of last or beginning of last year. 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:47.440 What was that like um working and touring at the same time? 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:50.319 It was crazy, I'm not gonna lie. 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:51.920 Uh it was exhausting. 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:57.119 But I didn't weirdly, uh so I worked as a programmer at Uber. 00:20:57.279 --> 00:20:58.480 It was good and bad. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:03.119 The good is that Uber is a global company, they have offices everywhere, and their offices are so nice. 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:04.000 They're so nice. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:06.400 So for me personally, sometimes it was a vacation. 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:13.039 Like the venues, because this is back when we were playing much smaller venues, and if the venue shower was bad, I would just go to the office because they were shower. 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:14.079 You know what I mean? 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:15.599 Uh so that was that was nice. 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:21.599 It's a bit of a privileged position, but also waking up every day at like seven in the morning so I could get a full workday in before soundcheck was uh was awful. 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:21.839 Wow. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:22.880 And that but that's what it was. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:33.119 It was just like get up early, uh, be the first out of the bus, go to the office, or go somewhere like a coffee shop, work a full like eight hours uh so that you can then be at soundcheck for three o'clock. 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:37.440 Um it was pretty much like endless, like from the second you wake up to the second you go to sleep, you're working. 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:38.400 That's gonna be intense. 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:39.599 It was intense for sure. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:44.000 But our tours are at that time weren't that long, maybe like three, three and a half weeks. 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:45.119 So it was manageable. 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:49.359 Hey, I just want to say thank you so much for listening to the podcast. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:53.759 We've actually been really overwhelmed by the response so far, so thank you for that. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:57.680 Uh, we have also noticed that a lot of you haven't subscribed yet. 00:21:57.839 --> 00:21:59.680 We have incredible guests coming up. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.680 I'm not even allowed to tell you who they are, but trust me, you don't want to miss this. 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:05.200 So hit subscribe. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:07.279 That way you don't miss an episode. 00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:08.880 Now back to the program. 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:14.720 Tell me about your thoughts on AI in music. 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:19.039 And um, you know, the tools are are pretty interesting. 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:22.960 Um there's all kinds of moral ethical issues around them,

right? 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:25.359 Like it's training on other people's music. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:29.039 Um what's your your thought on you know how this is evolving? 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:42.960 Like, do you like it, do you not like it, do you like the fact that it can train on your music, but you don't get a commission or like a royalty or I think we're like we're pretty aware of like the existence of like AI as a tool in music, like in editing software. 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:56.480 Like if you use something like Logic Pro, it uses like technically if you're you know editing vocals, um, these things use AI in the background to sort of like make small adjustments or like make it maybe easier for the songwriting process. 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:04.000 When it comes to like generative AI and generating music from scratch, I think we find it a little lame. 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:05.759 It's a good way to say that. 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:07.759 It's not really something that we're interested in. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:13.839 Uh I think we just feel that music is a very human experience. 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:21.519 It's a human expression, and I think it's for me at least reserved for that kind of human um quality. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:27.039 And so when you when you generate music using AI, I I I feel I feel bad about that. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:28.960 Aaron Powell Yeah, I think I've I'm the same way. 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:39.839 It's like I just did a so we stream ourselves on Twitch, and I just did a stream where I was trying to see if I could identify AI music versus real like real music real music, I guess, for lack of a better term. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:41.039 And I could tell every time. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:42.000 It was so obvious. 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:47.920 Aaron Powell It's a little bit funny when you like when you read content written by AI, you're like, yeah, that's just AI. 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:53.440 Yeah, there's just like some odd inauthentic nature of it, and the lyrics it's like no human would write these lyrics, you know what I mean? 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:56.640 Like they're so bad or like corny or just like anyway. 00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:00.160 Like, shout out to my girl Zanya Monet, the the my AI goat. 00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:03.920 No, she's like, there's this one artist, and her music was so bad, it was so funny. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:05.599 But I was like laughing as I was listening to it. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:08.400 I was like, how and but she has like 700,000 listeners now. 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:09.279 Um I don't know. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:12.640 I think to David's point, yeah, similarly, like I think we're all technologists. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:20.880 We believe in using technology to like improve people's lives and you know, AI and or machine learning, like AI is kind of like a more modern branding of this stuff. 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:27.200 Machine learning uh has been leveraged in all technology, in your photo editing software, in your music editing software. 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:38.160 Like on that sense of like when we say uh using AI in music, I don't think anybody, most people in the world don't mind using it to like improve the underlying technology that you're using. 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:44.720 I think, yeah, to Dave's point, I also agree, like really I do not love uh uh AI generated art. 00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:52.480 And whether it's like images, video, or music, I think it um it's not even so much that I care that people are training off our music. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:54.319 I just don't think it's good. 00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:59.359 And I I have yet to see any example where I thought it was better than like a human. 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:01.839 It's also not like a new problem. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:09.440 Like, you know, there was early 20th, 20th century, there were no cars, for example, and then one day there were just many cars. 00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:13.839 And that also led to like, you know, traffic accidents and a high number of deaths. 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:19.920 So it's just like when you have this brand new or seemingly brand new technology, it comes with a lot of like chaos. 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:21.680 And I think that's kind of the stage we're at right now. 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:23.359 Certainly in the chaos age, yeah. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:26.559 And then eventually they introduce things for cars, for example, like seatbelts. 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:35.519 And so like that's kind of where we're at with like generative AI, is like it's such an unregulated beast that we haven't even had time really to like say, like, well, what are the rules? 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:36.720 Like, how can we you know? 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:38.400 I mean, YouTube was like that too, right? 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:39.119 Yeah, exactly. 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:43.039 YouTube disrupted a lot of websites and people's lives. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:50.880 And then eventually you have people who kind of like follow up and say, like, okay, let's let's slow down, let's add some breaks to this and like some rules. 00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:52.880 I just also don't know what problem it solves. 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:54.000 If like that's another thing. 00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:56.720 Like with the editing software, I understand the problem it solves. 00:25:56.960 --> 00:26:01.279 But like it's not like we live in a world where there's a shortage of musicians or artists or people that put their music out there. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:02.160 They're really talented ones. 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:10.720 Yeah, there's more music out there than anyone will ever consume, and there's more amazing musicians than you'll ever like honestly, I always we always say the best guitarists are the ones working at Guitar Center. 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:15.200 Uh it's not the people you see on stage. 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:19.759 Like any any you take

any guitar setter employee, they're a bunch guitars than the two of us. 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:20.880 I can guarantee you that. 00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:22.720 I'm a good songwriter. 00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:24.000 I'm not a great guitar player. 00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:30.400 But uh but uh yeah, like I don't I don't really it's not like we need generative art. 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:35.119 It's not like it's solving this problem of like, oh my god, if only we had more music, there's not enough music in the world. 00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:36.960 You know, there's infinite music already. 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:43.599 And more or less the difference between most artists is like, did the song resonate or do they have enough songs that resonate with enough people? 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:45.440 And is their story compelling enough? 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:48.960 And so I'm just like, I don't know, that's part of where my ick with AI art comes from. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:50.880 I'm just like, I don't I didn't need this. 00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:51.519 You know what I mean? 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:53.359 It's like I could have there's already enough here. 00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:56.799 And it usually it seems like it's from a sleazy mode of right now, at least right now. 00:26:56.880 --> 00:26:57.039 Yeah. 00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:07.920 Um, most people I think who propagate this stuff are people who just want to want to cut out the actual artists from the artistry, which I think is kind of like shitty. 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:08.319 Yeah. 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:08.640 Yeah. 00:27:09.039 --> 00:27:14.319 I read somewhere that you um in the most recent album wrote an unplayable lead. 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:15.200 Yeah. 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:16.480 Tell me about that. 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:17.759 Which which one? 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:20.160 Well, this is something that I was pretty insecure about. 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:33.519 And then all the conversation about AI art is interesting, like it makes me feel better about that lead because there's a lead in a song called East Side, and the way I play it is I'm just like sliding from the top of the neck and I'm just trying to like hit very specific notes. 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:35.759 And it's unplayable for a couple of reasons. 00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:38.079 Like one, it's very hard to be consistent with that. 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:42.720 Um and two, we recorded it and left in the mistakes. 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:46.079 So are you gonna play the mistakes or the actual right? 00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:47.359 Well, exactly. 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:55.039 Like, and and I can't ever I cannot recreate those mistakes because they were like me just my finger flubbing, you know what I mean, all my way from the bottom of the neck to the top. 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:58.160 And I remember when we were recording it with our producer, John Congleton. 00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:01.599 Um, I asked him, like, should I retake it or should I do

another take? 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:02.319 And he was like, why? 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:03.680 And I was like, because I messed it up. 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:04.720 He was like, but it sounds cool. 00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:06.799 And I was like, you're right, it does sound cool. 00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:07.680 And I just trusted him. 00:28:07.759 --> 00:28:09.039 I was like, all right, I guess let's leave it in there. 00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:10.880 But in my back of my head, I was super insecure about it. 00:28:11.119 --> 00:28:11.759 How are you gonna play that? 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:12.160 Yeah. 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:20.640 But now, like as we've been talking about it and we do more interviews and people talk about AI art, one of the things I love about this lead is it's you AI would never reproduce this. 00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:21.200 You know what I mean? 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:22.000 Like it's it wouldn't. 00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:31.440 This is a distinctly human feeling uh part, even though it's like crazy and sounds wild, but it uh it feels like distinctly me in in that moment, and I think that's really cool. 00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:38.480 Um I also wonder if we're gonna want to do because like we tend to try to go for perfection in our records, at least in our EPs. 00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:46.319 And then the rec one of the things we did on the record was having to let go of that perfectionism, and part of that was through the influence of our producer, uh John Congleton. 00:28:46.640 --> 00:29:00.240 Um and at the time we were way more resistant to it, but the more I think about it, the more I'm like, wow, that was I'm so happy we trusted him enough to like go with that decision because now it this record does feel way more distinctly human than I think it would have before. 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:06.160 Who I talking about like or thinking about influences, like who did you train on? 00:29:06.880 --> 00:29:07.359 Like music. 00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:13.359 Yeah, who's your your guitar influence and who I think we have like the same ones, right? 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:15.039 Maybe I think it's just the strokes. 00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:18.720 You know, I can hear the strokes like in your sound. 00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:18.960 Yeah. 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:19.200 Yeah. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:22.880 Definitely I was in a strokes cover band, so I learned every like Albert Hammond Jr. 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:25.440 part that it that existed for at least the first like three records. 00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:30.000 Uh Blake 182, I've learned every Tom DeLong part probably for the first like four records of that band. 00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:31.200 Mine's really embarrassing. 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:32.400 It's Dashboard Confessionals. 00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:33.200 That's not embarrassing. 00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:37.920 Like when I started learning when I was like 14 or 15, I was like, I'm gonna be the coolest guy. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:43.440 I'm gonna learn how to play all these like like really like corny love songs by Dashboard Confessionals. 00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:46.160 That's how I learned how to play uh acoustic. 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:48.960 Um Dashboard is actually he's such a good guitarist. 00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:49.279 And yeah. 00:29:53.039 --> 00:29:53.920 Yeah, Chris Carabba. 00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:58.799 Um I think our tour manager lives lives somewhat close to Chris growing up. 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:02.319 Uh Kelly Russell and Kelly from Block Party, definitely big. 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:05.440 That's the reason we probably play telecasters, is because of those guys. 00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:08.880 Um and those are those are like the main ones. 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:13.119 Those are like the main art like bands that I think I listened and played and learned every record. 00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:15.839 Oh, uh there's a punk band from Toronto called the Flatliners. 00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:30.720 And uh so Chris Crosswell is their guitarist and singer, and I learned a lot of his guitar parts and his like if I have if there's anything in a good kid song that kind of feels like there's a bit of a ska influence or like a scratch or like a like a wrist flick, I learned it from his records. 00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:35.920 Uh a couple Canadian groups, Billy Talent, big one for me uh growing up, and then um Song41. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:40.880 Um Dave Brown sounds one of the best guitarists I've uh had the pleasure of seeing. 00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:44.960 And um, I think the first guitar solo I learned was from Dave. 00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:46.079 It was uh Hellsong. 00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:49.039 Um yeah, that was the first guitar solo I ever learned. 00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:52.559 So tell me about like your you know crafting your sound, right? 00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:54.160 So you have these influences. 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:56.559 Both of you obviously love tellies. 00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:00.480 Um what other effects are you going for, like your board, your amps? 00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:10.960 Yeah, well, so on the record, I played uh this boutique Japanese pedal that Congleton had in his studio that he has like six of because every time it comes up, he just buys one. 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:12.640 It's called an expandora pedal. 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:13.519 I don't know if you've ever heard of it. 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:15.119 So it's like a random pedal. 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:25.279 It sounds like insane, but it has like three it has like it's just a distortion pedal, but then it has like three crazy settings, and every time you flip a switch, it just gets like more and more and more insane. 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:27.119 Um and I just love the tone of it. 00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:31.039 So I played that out of a super amp, uh, is what I what I was using. 00:31:31.119 --> 00:31:33.440 And then I use my telly for most of the songs. 00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:43.519 Um I like for my tone to be usually

I actually don't really love a good like a wet tone unless it's like a very specific aesthetic I'm going for for a song. 00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:47.200 So I don't usually put a ton of reverb or delay or anything like that on my guitar or chorus. 00:31:47.359 --> 00:31:50.880 It's mostly just like pretty raw, like light distortion. 00:31:51.039 --> 00:31:53.599 Maybe I'll pump up the overdrive for like very simple. 00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:55.279 Yeah, I like it, I like it pretty simple to me. 00:31:55.680 --> 00:32:03.680 One of the new sounds we got on the album was from the the Travis Bean line of guitars, those like huge aluminum, um really heavy, heavy guitars. 00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:04.240 Oh yeah. 00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:06.000 Um I became obsessed with it. 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:08.720 Also, just like the story behind it's really kind of fascinating. 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:11.440 Like this like the ones with the aluminum neck? 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:12.960 Yeah, yeah, the big heavy ones. 00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:13.680 Uh yeah. 00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:16.079 The sustain on those things is insane. 00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:16.880 Nuts. 00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:17.119 Yeah. 00:32:17.279 --> 00:32:20.160 And it has this like bite to it that's like really crazy. 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:21.039 It's just uh I know. 00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:28.160 Apparently the um the uh Foles, their their lead uh guitar um is uh is a bean. 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:33.599 And uh just crazy that it was a guy who was like really into BMX and then one day it was like, I'm gonna make guitars. 00:32:34.400 --> 00:32:35.759 A funny little transition. 00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:37.200 Yeah, we use that on a couple songs. 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:38.240 It sounds crazy but cool. 00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:39.920 So now Tornado is one of them. 00:32:40.319 --> 00:32:40.559 Yeah. 00:32:40.720 --> 00:32:44.640 But in general, I don't think we go too crazy with our tones except for like key moments. 00:32:44.720 --> 00:33:02.559 Like there's a song, uh another one that's also irre-replicable, and I haven't been able to replicate it from the record is uh solo in a song called Rift, and that's because I was like putting everything through these like pedals, but then Tongle didn't put my guitar through all of those like interfaces and these like other crazy machines that like I don't know to say it. 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:11.359 Uh it just like added a element of like randomness to every note that you played that isn't the same as like a del like a delay is a predictable is predictable, right? 00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:12.640 There's like some timed thing. 00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:16.640 Um but this one it's like every time I take took a take, it sounded completely different. 00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:25.759 Um and that's something I can't really replicate live because like I don't have that like other than using like a kill switch or something to like do it, like it, and even then it would probably not feel the same. 00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:32.640 So um so we did get more experimental in this record with tones, but uh but overall we still kept it like somewhat tame. 00:33:33.279 --> 00:33:41.039 So one of the unique things about your shows is how interactive you are with the fans, but also the online fans. 00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:42.160 So tell me about that. 00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:44.720 Like if if I'm at a show, like what is the experience? 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:46.640 Yeah, we uh do you want to take it, David? 00:33:46.880 --> 00:33:47.440 No, you go for it. 00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:49.119 There's too many options. 00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:51.359 Uh so there's a mix of things here. 00:33:51.519 --> 00:33:55.440 One, we love be to be in crowd engagement with uh the fans that are in the room. 00:33:55.519 --> 00:33:56.720 That's like the number one priority. 00:33:56.880 --> 00:34:00.000 Um, I think we've gotten pretty good at it, mostly out of necessity. 00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:03.519 We are not like to say to David, we're like the best worst live band. 00:34:03.680 --> 00:34:06.559 As in, like, we're not the tightest band you'll ever see. 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:09.840 Um, but we are the best at rolling with things when they go wrong. 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:21.920 And things at a good kid shows almost always go wrong, either due to our own ambition that like our crew is like we throw them six curveballs right before we're about to go on stage and then something naturally breaks. 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:26.480 Uh, or our bassist who jumps around a lot accidentally kicks somebody's patch cable out of their guitar. 00:34:26.559 --> 00:34:28.719 Um and we've had to learn how to like roll with those punches. 00:34:28.800 --> 00:34:34.000 Usually the way we do it is we find a way to like engage the crowd and make them feel like they're part of the show. 00:34:34.159 --> 00:34:37.119 Um and we've just kind of taken that to like the next level. 00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:39.119 Um, whether that's what what we do. 00:34:39.199 --> 00:34:41.679 We sometimes a fan gifted us Beyblades once. 00:34:41.760 --> 00:34:46.320 Um it's just like a toy where you spin like Beyblades and they fight, and we're like, well, what do we do with this? 00:34:46.480 --> 00:34:48.639 And we're like, well, why don't we decide what the next song is gonna be? 00:34:48.800 --> 00:34:50.480 Like, I want to play this song, you want to play that song. 00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:51.840 We bickered about it backstage. 00:34:51.920 --> 00:34:54.159 What if we just decide in the mosh pit with this? 00:34:54.400 --> 00:34:58.880 We say, like, open this pit up, and we jump down, we play Beyblades, and we get back up and the winner gets to pick the song. 00:34:59.119 --> 00:34:59.440 That's fine. 00:34:59.679 --> 00:35:01.360 Um, so we just like have a lot of fans. 00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:06.960 Usually we've discovered like when we engage with our fans and we give them that kind of energy, they come back

tenfold. 00:35:07.199 --> 00:35:09.360 Um and so there's that aspect of it. 00:35:09.519 --> 00:35:14.800 Also, it's a lot of our fandom kind of has a pretty big range of age demographic, I would say. 00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:19.599 So there's a lot of people where it's their first show they've ever been to, and there's people who have gone to a lot of shows. 00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:24.880 But I think it creates an interesting dynamic where like a lot of people don't know how to be at a concert. 00:35:24.960 --> 00:35:27.440 And especially I think with COVID, it changed the dynamic. 00:35:27.519 --> 00:35:36.400 There was like a whole era of kids who just didn't go to live shows and understand like this is how you mosh safely, this is how you crowd surf, this is how you do any of these, like they this is what the etiquette is. 00:35:36.719 --> 00:35:38.800 The whole generation just like missed a couple years there. 00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:47.760 And it's it was odd for me as someone who grew up going to shows like every week, where like the even like there was there's started becoming an interesting culture where people were like very protective of their spot. 00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:50.159 They're like, if I got here at this time, this is my spot. 00:35:50.239 --> 00:35:51.519 I'm like, that's not how it works. 00:35:51.920 --> 00:35:57.519 There's a mock bit and you fly out wherever you fly out, and that's where you end up standing for like a significant portion of this show. 00:35:57.760 --> 00:36:02.960 Uh so a lot of our interaction is also meant to try to teach the crowd of like it's okay to have a good time. 00:36:03.119 --> 00:36:07.519 You don't have to worry about like either how you're being perceived or like you don't be so protective of all this stuff. 00:36:07.679 --> 00:36:12.559 It's okay to just like jump around and scream, and like that's part of going to a live show and having that experience. 00:36:12.719 --> 00:36:14.559 Um, so there's that angle of it. 00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:22.320 Then there's like the online stuff where um I think Good Kid as a band, because we're indie, we always are trying to like push the boundaries of what an indie band can do. 00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:28.559 And so our LA show that we just played, we live streamed the whole thing on YouTube and Twitch and we let the which is not new. 00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:30.320 Like, I mean, other bands and artists have done that. 00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:33.119 Like all American rejects just did a thing like that at house shows. 00:36:33.360 --> 00:36:36.400 But what was new is we let the chat interact with the show. 00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:40.880 As in, for example, like we threw out beach balls into the into the crowd. 00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:45.280 And for every time like chat did a thing, we would add another beach ball until there were like 20 beach balls. 00:36:45.599 --> 00:36:46.880 Chat could buy merch for the audience. 00:36:47.119 --> 00:36:47.280 Yeah. 00:36:47.519 --> 00:36:49.519 And we would throw t-shirts into the into the crowd. 00:36:49.679 --> 00:36:50.000 Oh, really? 00:36:50.320 --> 00:36:51.280 Yeah, that was really fun. 00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:58.960 Uh we have this moment in our set where we like pop confetti cannons and we just increased the number of confetti cannons every time chat like did something. 00:36:59.119 --> 00:36:59.920 Um and stuff like that. 00:37:00.320 --> 00:37:03.760 We connected to our our visuals, which are like these big stacks of TVs behind us. 00:37:03.840 --> 00:37:08.639 And so um you'd have like uh Twitch chat would send emotes basically to the Oh cool. 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:08.960 Yeah. 00:37:09.199 --> 00:37:09.920 Or bubble machines. 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:12.079 We have these bubble machines that we use again for like a part of the set. 00:37:12.159 --> 00:37:13.119 And we had to cut that. 00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:14.079 We did have to cut that. 00:37:15.039 --> 00:37:16.880 It was literally like stopping power. 00:37:17.039 --> 00:37:18.639 Oh, not a good house. 00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:21.840 So eventually our sound, our sound engineer was like no more bubbles. 00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:23.360 Electronics, liquids. 00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:24.239 Yeah, exactly. 00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:25.599 And it's like we're slipping all over the place. 00:37:25.840 --> 00:37:28.320 And then some of some other stuff we'd let them like decide what we do. 00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:33.599 So there's this like giant TV stack that like has all our visuals, and I usually go up on top and I play that like unplayable solo. 00:37:33.679 --> 00:37:35.440 But then I was like, if do I jump off the TVs? 00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:38.239 And we let them decide if I jump off that TV stack or not. 00:37:38.480 --> 00:37:40.639 So overwhelming jump off the TV. 00:37:41.039 --> 00:37:41.599 That was the point. 00:37:42.079 --> 00:37:42.880 Was that a real question? 00:37:43.199 --> 00:37:43.440 Of course. 00:37:43.760 --> 00:37:43.840 Yeah. 00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:54.800 Or like I get we did that Guitar Hero thing where we played um we hooked up a big screen TV with Guitar Hero, or technically it's called Clone Hero, but it's uh pretty much Guitar Hero for anyone who doesn't know what Clone Hero is. 00:37:55.039 --> 00:38:05.280 And we play with a fan, we bring a fan up on stage, they play on Guitar Hero, we play we play the actual song with them, and uh we let the chat decide like what song was gonna be on that. 00:38:05.679 --> 00:38:11.840 Essentially what's happening is to the there's no song being played in the game the way it usually is, it's just a click track, and we play to that click. 00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:18.559 And so whoever has the headphones in playing the guitar hero segment uh is playing to our music live in the moment. 00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:22.000 And uh the first few shows, I feel so bad. 00:38:22.480 --> 00:38:23.840 Sorry, Detroit. 00:38:24.159 --> 00:38:29.360 Uh because we

were still like working out the kinks and stuff, but as the tour progressed, I think people caught on to what we were doing. 00:38:29.519 --> 00:38:33.440 So they just started bringing their champions and people like they were bringing their own guitar heroes. 00:38:33.840 --> 00:38:35.920 Their own guitar guitar signs that are like a track. 00:38:36.719 --> 00:38:38.239 I 100% at osmosis. 00:38:38.480 --> 00:38:42.400 Uh and so yeah, we were hoping for that, and uh they delivered. 00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:45.119 So people started just coming to the show like so much more interactive. 00:38:45.199 --> 00:38:45.599 That's amazing. 00:38:45.840 --> 00:38:46.960 Yeah, and it's just kind of cool. 00:38:47.119 --> 00:38:49.840 Like it's it's a fine line, and we were very cognizant. 00:38:49.920 --> 00:38:54.639 We don't want we never want those like online antics to impact the show in a way that feels distracting. 00:38:54.800 --> 00:38:58.639 But I think all of the decisions we made were very much like it felt it just felt natural. 00:38:58.800 --> 00:39:03.199 Like having more like having beach balls in a pit is not a crazy thing, you know what I mean? 00:39:03.440 --> 00:39:07.519 So like it it just felt uh an extra level of interactive and and cool. 00:39:07.679 --> 00:39:09.519 So I was pretty pretty happy about that. 00:39:10.079 --> 00:39:10.480 Great show. 00:39:10.800 --> 00:39:12.159 Very innovative opening the bar. 00:39:12.480 --> 00:39:12.559 Yeah. 00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:13.360 That's kind of the goal. 00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:16.480 Hopefully we want to try to see like and that was just the first time we've done something like that. 00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:18.079 I can't wait to see like what we could do next time. 00:39:18.320 --> 00:39:19.679 So when is Rolling Stones? 00:39:19.760 --> 00:39:20.719 When are they going to do that? 00:39:21.199 --> 00:39:22.800 I feel like Rolling Stones are already doing it. 00:39:22.960 --> 00:39:24.719 I feel like they would they would spit on us for that. 00:39:27.039 --> 00:39:29.199 I think there's some there's definitely an error of the phone. 00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:31.519 I think Mick Jagger needs help in his live show. 00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:32.239 That's true. 00:39:32.320 --> 00:39:34.639 I think he's probably fine. 00:39:35.199 --> 00:39:35.599 Yeah. 00:39:35.840 --> 00:39:40.000 Uh yeah, that's so that's like that's our kind of ethos and and mindset for a lot of the things we do. 00:39:40.079 --> 00:39:43.119 And uh like there's a lot of one small tangent on this. 00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:46.159 Like there's a lot of artists that will be like, no phones at my show. 00:39:46.559 --> 00:39:46.880 Oh, really? 00:39:47.199 --> 00:39:47.280 Yeah. 00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:48.960 Or they like tell everyone to put their phone down. 00:39:49.119 --> 00:39:50.079 I usually I don't like that. 00:39:50.400 --> 00:39:51.440 I saw Neil Young do that. 00:39:51.679 --> 00:39:52.239 Yeah, yeah. 00:39:52.800 --> 00:39:54.719 He's like, turn off your phones. 00:39:54.880 --> 00:39:56.320 And it's like, oh, I don't like that. 00:39:56.480 --> 00:40:02.880 I'm I mean he's already grumpy to begin with, and he's yelling at like someone pulled a phone out and he's yelling at like this random person in the audience. 00:40:03.360 --> 00:40:06.400 I I'm of the opinion that like you need to give them a reason to put their phone down. 00:40:06.719 --> 00:40:20.480 And so for us, when there's when there's a million beach balls in the pit and you have to use your hands to lift them up, or we do like a crowd participate participation thing, we're like clapping along to like a part, or you we split the crowd and we make them do a wall of death for the first time because they don't know how to do it. 00:40:21.840 --> 00:40:22.159 Or crowds. 00:40:23.119 --> 00:40:25.920 You can't be putting your phone up when you're in the middle of a mosh pit, you know what I mean? 00:40:26.079 --> 00:40:31.360 Like so, I'm more of the opinion give give the audience a reason to be in the moment rather than telling them to be in the moment. 00:40:31.760 --> 00:40:32.079 I love that. 00:40:32.159 --> 00:40:32.320 Yeah. 00:40:32.880 --> 00:40:35.519 Tell me about your guitar center experiences. 00:40:35.679 --> 00:40:37.199 Have you spent much time in in the stores? 00:40:37.360 --> 00:40:39.599 Like any any any memories you'd like to share? 00:40:40.079 --> 00:40:42.800 Guitar center is always like our savior, to be honest. 00:40:42.960 --> 00:40:47.360 Because like like I said, we're not from we're from Toronto where uh we don't necessarily have guitar centers. 00:40:47.440 --> 00:40:53.840 And at home, when you're going to a guitar shop, it's usually like it's either a regular thing, you just pop in, you like hang out or look at guitars and window shop. 00:40:54.159 --> 00:40:58.960 Um but guitar center for us is almost always the place we go to when we need somebody to save us on tour. 00:40:59.119 --> 00:41:02.400 So whether it's like our aunt, like one time my aunt broke at a Fender Blues Jr. 00:41:02.559 --> 00:41:05.280 that I was trapped touring with, it broke, ran to a guitar center. 00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:06.079 You know what I mean? 00:41:06.239 --> 00:41:09.599 Um or the other day I didn't have my brand of picks that I like using. 00:41:09.760 --> 00:41:14.159 Um and for me particularly, like I'll drop my pick if it doesn't have like the cat tongue. 00:41:14.639 --> 00:41:23.360 Actually, I was I think I gave I had a bone to pick with some of the people who came because you didn't have the specific brand that I liked, which is uh Snarl, if you know like Snarling Dog, they have these like red brain picks. 00:41:23.679 --> 00:41:27.679 Um and there wasn't any at the store when I went and I was like, but I still got like the same kind of grip. 00:41:28.079 --> 00:41:32.719 We got our acoustic guitar for um songwriting at the Hollywood Guitar Center. 00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:35.360

I think we um How was that uh that experience, Hollywood? 00:41:35.679 --> 00:41:36.159 It was great. 00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:37.280 We saw the the hands. 00:41:37.599 --> 00:41:37.920 Oh yeah. 00:41:38.480 --> 00:41:41.920 I saw like corn and limp biscuit and uh Lincoln Park. 00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:43.039 I was like very excited about that. 00:41:43.360 --> 00:41:46.719 Steve I's hands are enormous. 00:41:47.039 --> 00:41:53.760 I met him and I shook his hand and he just swallowed my hand with his, and then I looked down, his his hands are down there, and they're I mean they're gigantic. 00:41:54.079 --> 00:41:57.440 I saw like one member of Sonic Youth had some big hands in there. 00:41:57.760 --> 00:42:01.760 Uh but that yeah, we were when we were recording the album, actually, that's where we picked up our acoustic guitar. 00:42:01.920 --> 00:42:07.199 Just we needed a guitar for um just like between studio days if we were like doing some songwriting. 00:42:07.280 --> 00:42:08.239 Aaron Powell But that store is beautiful. 00:42:08.320 --> 00:42:09.199 That's like your flagship store. 00:42:09.760 --> 00:42:10.400 Yeah, I love that. 00:42:10.559 --> 00:42:11.920 I just love spending time there. 00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:18.079 Yeah, well you can get lost in a guitar center for like hours because you're just sitting down playing and trying different guitars and you have the different rooms. 00:42:18.159 --> 00:42:21.679 The acoustic rooms are all nice and they feel nice because you keep them like temperature controlled. 00:42:21.760 --> 00:42:21.920 Yeah. 00:42:22.079 --> 00:42:25.360 Uh and it's just like it's got kind of a Willy Wonka's chocolate factory feel to it. 00:42:25.599 --> 00:42:27.039 And you walk in, you're like, what do I do first? 00:42:27.199 --> 00:42:28.800 There's so many, so many cool things. 00:42:29.119 --> 00:42:31.599 Yeah, and I mean there's a fair amount of vintage product there too. 00:42:31.679 --> 00:42:35.360 So like you know, pick your era and yeah, vintage amps and has fun. 00:42:35.679 --> 00:42:36.400 No, it's really cool. 00:42:36.559 --> 00:42:40.719 Um yeah, so our our experience with the guitar center on the road at least has been pretty awesome. 00:42:40.800 --> 00:42:43.679 And we yeah, it's like our go-to place for anytime we need anything. 00:42:43.920 --> 00:42:46.960 Yeah, it's uh I think that is a a story often told. 00:42:47.280 --> 00:42:48.159 By touring musicians? 00:42:48.320 --> 00:42:48.480 Yeah. 00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:48.719 Nice. 00:42:48.960 --> 00:42:50.800 Yeah, because wherever you are, there's gonna be a guitar. 00:42:51.039 --> 00:42:52.800 Like you have a problem, there's gonna be a guitar center. 00:42:53.039 --> 00:42:55.199 What's your favorite guitar center in the in the world? 00:42:56.000 --> 00:42:56.880 Oh, it's Hollywood. 00:42:57.119 --> 00:42:57.440 Hollywood? 00:42:57.519 --> 00:42:57.599 Yeah. 00:42:57.760 --> 00:42:57.920 Cool. 00:42:58.000 --> 00:42:58.079 Yeah. 00:42:58.239 --> 00:42:59.679 Nashville is pretty cool too. 00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:16.239 Um and Un Union Square is pretty good, but uh Hollywood is um like I I was in Hollywood a little while ago and um I just you know walked up and started talking to this kid and he was playing a Les Paul and had this like thick Scottish accent. 00:43:16.320 --> 00:43:19.280 I'm like, oh, you know, so you know, we're you're from Scotland? 00:43:19.440 --> 00:43:22.320 He goes, Yeah, and he goes, I got my dad to take me over here. 00:43:22.559 --> 00:43:25.760 He had his dad fly to LA to visit that guitar center. 00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:26.239 Really? 00:43:26.719 --> 00:43:28.400 And his dad was there, and he's like, he's like, yeah. 00:43:28.559 --> 00:43:33.679 He goes, he convinced me that he would literally die if he couldn't have like a Les Paul. 00:43:33.760 --> 00:43:35.679 And so we are here trying every single Les Paul. 00:43:35.920 --> 00:43:37.440 He couldn't get a Les Paul in Scotland? 00:43:37.679 --> 00:43:38.159 I guess not. 00:43:38.320 --> 00:43:43.840 He's like, you know, we you know, your selection of guitar stores in in the UK is just not very good. 00:43:44.159 --> 00:43:44.480 Interesting. 00:43:44.800 --> 00:43:47.920 And um, and so they literally flew to to Hollywood. 00:43:48.159 --> 00:43:48.559 That's crazy. 00:43:48.719 --> 00:43:49.360 That's a cool story. 00:43:49.519 --> 00:43:49.679 Yeah. 00:43:49.840 --> 00:43:51.039 Uh wow, that's wild. 00:43:51.199 --> 00:43:57.039 Uh do you uh with with the guitar centers, do you visit the locations often, or is it just like Yeah, yeah. 00:43:57.119 --> 00:43:58.800 I mean, I i it it's kind of funny. 00:43:58.960 --> 00:44:05.280 Um The only way to understand how your customers are experiencing your company is to be out in the field. 00:44:05.599 --> 00:44:07.119 Like the truth is out in the field. 00:44:07.280 --> 00:44:09.199 And you can sit in an office. 00:44:09.360 --> 00:44:16.559 You can sit in this office and it's perfectly nice office, and you have no idea what's going on with your customers until you're actually out there talking to your customers. 00:44:16.800 --> 00:44:17.199 Makes sense. 00:44:36.559 --> 00:44:36.880 That's cool. 00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:37.599 Can I ask? 00:44:37.920 --> 00:44:44.800 Okay, because I have a perception personally that like guitar, it seems like to me, guitar music and guitar content seems to be like growing. 00:44:45.280 --> 00:44:46.800 Do you see that in guitar sales? 00:44:47.119 --> 00:44:48.559 Are guitar sales going up? 00:44:48.719 --> 00:44:49.760 Or is it like is it? 00:44:50.159 --> 00:44:52.079 We we are growing our guitar business. 00:44:53.920 --> 00:45:03.599 You know, the music industry in the United States has uh since 2021, it went through this giant explosion after COVID. 00:45:03.679 --> 00:45:07.519 Everybody got bored and took up a hobby, which was basically playing guitars. 00:45:07.760 --> 00:45:11.360 And the industry like did

this giant peak and then collapse. 00:45:11.760 --> 00:45:18.320 And then it's just been kind of um the industry's been flat to down a couple percent every year, which isn't great. 00:45:18.559 --> 00:45:26.159 Um, and we've been growing, but that's just because we've been getting better at serving our customers and they're giving us you know more of their business. 00:45:26.400 --> 00:45:37.679 But the industry itself is kind of like flat to down a little bit, and um and like we need to rekindle people's passion and excitement about making music. 00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:44.400 There's something really just primal about making music. 00:45:44.559 --> 00:45:52.000 If you go back and you look at the paintings in caves from 10,000 years ago, there's you know, they're drawing people making music, right? 00:45:52.159 --> 00:45:54.480 It's just something about the human experience. 00:45:54.800 --> 00:46:00.159 And um we see a lot of growth in um you know electronic music. 00:46:00.400 --> 00:46:06.480 What you're doing is important because you're inspiring people to um to pick you know write songs and pick up instruments. 00:46:06.559 --> 00:46:08.719 And you know, I think we all play a part in that. 00:46:08.960 --> 00:46:09.679 Yeah, that makes sense. 00:46:09.760 --> 00:46:12.480 I mean, people come up to us all the time and are like, I learned guitar because of you guys. 00:46:12.559 --> 00:46:13.119 And that's cool. 00:46:13.199 --> 00:46:14.079 That's like the coolest compliment. 00:46:14.320 --> 00:46:14.719 That is so cool. 00:46:14.880 --> 00:46:18.159 Yeah, because it's like we're talking about who did we look up to and who did we learn guitar from. 00:46:18.320 --> 00:46:32.719 And it's like And there's someone who's like, you know, you're someone's asking someone five years from now who was your your uh um your your mentor and like who created your uh um your your sound, and like, oh man, Jacob and David, those those guys. 00:46:32.800 --> 00:46:34.000 Yeah, like they just had it down. 00:46:34.079 --> 00:46:36.480 And like I that was my first song, and like that's how I, you know. 00:46:36.800 --> 00:46:43.039 What's crazy is we're getting to a point where we can maybe meet some of these people that like I said, we almost were on a bill with Block Party at a festival. 00:46:43.199 --> 00:46:43.599 You know what I mean? 00:46:43.760 --> 00:46:45.519 They were just playing the other day, unfortunately. 00:46:45.599 --> 00:46:48.480 But like I would have ran to them and I've been like, oh my god, I love you guys. 00:46:48.639 --> 00:46:49.679 You're my favorite. 00:46:49.920 --> 00:46:57.199 Uh and similar, like if what you know, yeah, we're starting to get to a point where we're getting getting on these some of these same bills, and it's kind of crazy to think about that. 00:46:57.280 --> 00:47:03.519 Uh I'm hoping that one day that'll happen with like someone who learned from us or something and come up to us and be like, oh my god, I learned from you guys. 00:47:03.840 --> 00:47:04.800 Absolutely going to happen. 00:47:04.880 --> 00:47:05.039 Yeah. 00:47:05.280 --> 00:47:05.679 That's great. 00:47:05.840 --> 00:47:06.320 That'd be cool. 00:47:06.639 --> 00:47:06.800 All right. 00:47:06.880 --> 00:47:09.119 Well, um, I'd like to just thank you for joining. 00:47:09.199 --> 00:47:10.559 It's really great to get to know you. 00:47:10.719 --> 00:47:12.639 Um, congratulations on the new album. 00:47:12.800 --> 00:47:15.440 Congratulations on uh your current tour. 00:47:15.519 --> 00:47:21.119 Uh, we had some uh a few of us uh you know came and saw your your show in LA and they were like, these guys are off the hook. 00:47:21.280 --> 00:47:21.920 Hell yeah. 00:47:23.119 --> 00:47:24.400 They were raving. 00:47:24.639 --> 00:47:28.400 And so uh can't can't wait to see you guys just continue to build that momentum. 00:47:28.559 --> 00:47:28.800 Thank you. 00:47:28.960 --> 00:47:29.360 Appreciate it. 00:47:29.679 --> 00:47:30.239 Nice to meet you. 00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:31.119 Nice to meet you too. 00:47:32.079 --> 00:47:36.159 All right, and until next week, uh hope you enjoyed the show. 00:47:36.239 --> 00:47:40.559 Uh, make sure to click the subscribe button and uh see you next week.