Latest / Caught on the Mike... / Matthew Roads of Tropidelic

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Matthew Roads of Tropidelic · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Today I am joined by Matthew Rhodes to talk about the roads to the new album First Light, Creative Evolution, and how Tropedelic became one of the most unique success stories in modern music.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mic.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Caught on the Mic.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: And coming out of Cleveland, Ohio, with one of the most unique sounds in modern music, Tropedelic has quietly built, not so quietly, an empire on independence, resilience, and pure connection.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: From self-made festivals and red rock's performances to hundreds of millions streams and a brand new album called First Light.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: Matt Rhodes joins me today to talk about growth, grit, creativity, and what happens when a band refuses to sit inside of a box.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: How are you doing, brother?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: Good, man.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: That was uh that was an impressive intro.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for that.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: Dude, I'm impressed by your music more and more every day.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I was talking to Jackson from the elevators a couple of weeks ago, and my wife is the type of person she's like, she's gonna listen to what the radio wants her to hear.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I've turned her on to you guys and the elevators, and I say this without bullshitting you by any degree.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: You guys have become her favorite band.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's awesome.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Man, that's great.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, thank you for doing that.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, man.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: So, how stoked are you for this new album dropping later in June?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm very excited.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like we've come into our own, um, in the way they in the way that in a biblical way, you know, like it just feels like that all this work has led to this point, and I've always said that personal growth, personal progress, personality has always been reflected in what we do, but all those things kind of add up and transfer to professional, you know, growth, progress, etc.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we're all at a really great point.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the singles that you've released so far, Holiday, Out There, No Fear, Signals, and Follow Your Nature, you know, First Light feels really symbolic.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: Why was this the right album for this era of Tropodelic?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, for a lot of the reasons I said, I guess, is that truth be told, is, you know, I'm I'm the captain of the ship.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um for a long time I've sort of uh even at times admittedly deflected sort of that, at least title.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the responsibility has always been there.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: But um, so a lot of what you hear is a reflection of where I'm at in my life.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not to say that there isn't really significant contributions from a lot of other guys.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, particularly on this record, Rob, um, keyboard player, trumpet player, wrote a lot of a lot of the singles too.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: He he was the integral uh writer in No Fear and Out There.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, James, of course, writes.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Rex contributed significantly, but largely it's me at the helm.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: So for the most part, what you're hearing and the energy you get is kind of where I'm at at the time.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just at this really great point where I think, you know, dare I say I'm happy and um probably more at peace than I've really been in my adult life.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good call out because, from my observation, and kind of correct me if I'm wrong, but all these singles that you've released, they have kind of this through line that's almost like meditative and atmospheric to a certain extent.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: Very peaceful, and I really enjoy that.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm assuming that was intentional.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I will be 10 years uh off alcohol and hard drugs this year, and I'm a big proponent of sort of you know, baby steps in growth in life.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of how it happens.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: You that's how the band's grown, that's how I've grown personally.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: One thing allows you to level up to the other.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: So in all my years now, I got cleaned up, um, I've done all these things, and uh, you know, I quit a 20-year nicotine addiction two or three years ago.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I work out, now I'm down to this like reading thing.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I read a lot of books, and they're almost all self-help books because I'm a workaholic by nature, and I even when I'm relaxing, it's hard for me to reconcile, not like gaining something from it.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: And uh for like the last three or four years, I've probably read more books than I have in the whole rest of my life since like high school.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: So, and a lot of them are just like um instilling in me sort of principles, and uh some of them are like uh like a lot of Buddhist sort of uh philosophy and things like that anyway.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's certainly coming across, I think, in this music and a lot of where my head was at when I was writing these songs.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's uh another good call out.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: Is there a specific book that really kind of helped you turn the corner?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: So many at the right time.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I because I am like a workaholic and I don't I don't like to waste time, uh I used to for so long think that I would like take notes on a book or like think I had to like sort of like if I wasn't recalling this stuff, then it was kind of pointless, or like you know, I had to go back and review these things.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um now it's like it is a meditation within itself, and I and I put faith in the fact that subconsciously this stuff is sinking in.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: But it's amazing that I've dedicated myself to reading now, how stuff will hit me at the right time.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, in life too, but if I seek out certain subject matter, it's just nailing it on the head like at the perfect times.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: But there was one I read um called Radical Acceptance that was really important to me.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: I just finished one called The Way of Excellence, which I loved.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: It was just like so many light bulb moments.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, another one called Five Regrets of the Dying.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's all pretty like heady stuff.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, nothing like super highbrow, but you know, it's all self-help, mental wellness sort of things.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And because I because admittedly, like I, you know, that's been such a focal point of my life, but even you can get they say there's a thing in the sober community, which which I am on the outskirts of, um, but they say you, you know, you stopped using, but you never really got sober, you know?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something I've always thought about in my head is like, do I sort of have these like sort of internal problems still that you know I'm just kind of like, you know, white knuckling it or something?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the kind of stuff that I'm working on now that I'm I've actually like reached a stable point with a lot of the other things.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: It sounds like you're having a lot of self-factualization moments through this process with this new album.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Were there moments while you were making the record where you just kind of realized and a light bulb went off, and you're like, we leveled up here?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: I only in the sense that I felt some of this stuff more deeply than I've ever felt anything I've written.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um but it's been so beautiful.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, this book I just finished reading, and again, this stuff isn't rocket science or stuff that you haven't heard in your life, but it it there was a portion of it that was talking about how um we find ourselves, we self-discover through our craft, through finding out what it is that we're good at, developing our skills, and doing it every day.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the path to self-discovery and really the path to God.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Dare I say God.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um the way I felt writing uh this record was sort of like getting as close to you know God as I could, and you know, I'm very far away still, but I I wanted to get in touch with the deepest parts of myself, and um a lot of times that meant removing myself uh from anything.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: I would just walk around the woods for a lot of it or the lake or the shore of Lake Erie here.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, in the sense, I there I guess there wasn't a point where like we got so much better here.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: It just was a point where like I shed tears and I just like felt so deeply about this stuff.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I felt in a real way, in a real unclouded, um, authentic way.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: I I felt so deeply about some of this stuff that I can only remember feeling, maybe on like real sparse occasions with anything in the past.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's this moment where you realize that you're starting to make things for yourself again and you're starting to create things for yourself again where it doesn't come across as disingenuous.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's one of the things that I've really enjoyed about this new batch of songs, uh, specifically out there.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: I think I've listened to that repeatedly.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: I've used it as Facebook profile songs and Instagram profile songs over and over and over again.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think you are definitely leveling up and it seems very personified.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I really admire what you guys have going on right now.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Trop has always blended several different styles of music, whether it be reggae, uh rock, hip-hop, funk, brass, and alternative influences.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: Was there ever any pressure to kind of dive into one particular lane?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: Or have you always felt like we're just gonna write what we feel?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: I've always the latter.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's always been nah, I shouldn't say that.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: There hasn't always been pressure, but there's been pressure.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um nonetheless, we've always just written what we feel.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um but certainly as our careers progressed, you know, we get smarter and a little wiser about what it is we're doing and being effective and efficient.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um but there was never really any adherence to sort of bounds or expectations.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I still I'd rather there's any I'd rather be doing anything else than adhere to other people's expectations or what I do with my art.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: So um through and through, it's always been about me slash us first and the heart fire there and expressing our own creativity in a way that's comfortable for us.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think audiences today are way more open to hybrid sounds than maybe they were in the past?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's probably a double-edged sword.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: I don't the channels were far more narrow when I was growing up.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: You had mainstream radio, you had MTV.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and if you weren't piped into one of the, as far as you as you were just your average listener was concerned, that's all that really existed, right?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: There wasn't this birth of uh music available and art available.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: So in that sense, it felt like there was less, like there was you fit in one of these pockets, and that's kind of all there was.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um so now that you're certainly well aware that you could find a hybrid of just about any genre with another genre and ten bands that do it or artists that do it.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: With that comes also the like the overwhelming feeling of having too many decisions, you know, right?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of what they talk about with it's like, you know, you used to go to the store, and I remember I was so into the alt rock scene, like when that was coming up in like the late 90s and then hip-hop too, that they had those CD catalogs, and I would like I forget what the name of them were, but they'd ship them to your house, like you could get 20 CDs for like 50 bucks or whatever it was.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd cut out all the album covers and I'd like collage them against like my bed frame and the walls and so forth.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: But if we got to go to the store and like buy a CD, you listened to that front to back and you valued every moment, and it was just so cool.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: And you're lying if you say that it's just as cool now to go on Spotify and like because there's just so much available, and with that comes in some way, like a dilution of the experience, right?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's just what what used to be special, going to the store, buying a CD, taking my party, or vinyl or whatever it was, now is commonplace and extremely accessible, which there's a lot of good things that came from that too, obviously.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you can, you know, it really is about in the same sense I talked about earlier, as far as how I write, I think also how people listen is they want something that speaks to them.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: So now it's so much easier to find something that speaks to you and you personally better than anything else.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's beautiful thing.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, you know, it's it's it goes both ways.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I agree, man.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I think that's why vinyl has had such a resurgence in the past, you know, five to ten years, is because people did miss that ritualistic aspect of taking that physical copy home, opening it up, doing the needle drop, and having that experience of listening to something front to back because uh attentions go so many different ways between streaming services and social media and all the like.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um just not what it used to be, I guess.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: Everything it's progress, you know.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure, for sure.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: So as of this recording, um, we're one week removed from you dropping the single, No Fear.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: It feels uplifting but deep at the same time.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: Can you recall your specific headspace that you were in when you were writing that song?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I can actually.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's such a it's such a like a I don't want you know, it's like a brave new world out here for me.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: I have a son, I have a young son, and I have a second on the way.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I just spent my whole for the for the most part, my adolf life was spent being selfish and and thinking of nobody but myself for the most part.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: And now, with all the clouds lifted and the utmost clarity in my thoughts, I'm faced with this reality that I'm responsible for far more than myself.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I've always had this feeling that I'm responsible for even more than my household.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like I so when I used to lay in bed and have anxiety about some self-centered BS here, something other people were doing, um, largely nowadays, when I still have anxiety lay in bed, it's about just like excess existential stuff, like what's like what's going on with our world right now?
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of world is my you know, my children gonna grow up in?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, what part do I play in this?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: What can I control and what can I not control?
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's really it's just like new turf for me, and grappling with that's been like uh uh challenging, but just like breathtaking.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm proud of myself that I've made it to this point, but the new challenges are like are daunting in a way that I've never experienced.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: But that and I look for because I'm very like uh pragmatic, so I look for small things, like I, you know, I read the books now and I try to meditate when I can and I say little prayers throughout the day.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: And this song was like uh like Have No Fear was sort of like this like mantra thing that I was saying to myself during this time, and like you know, like everything else, like I come in and out of this stuff, so like I'll be having a hard time for a few months dealing with some of the stuff in my head, and then I'll be okay and that sort of thing.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: But uh have no fear was something I just kept thinking about, and it was just one of the times, sort of like walking through the woods.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, Rob wrote we were on the bus pulling into Boston somewhere, and we kind of came up with that melody the yes, that is gone, it's a new day.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's sort of a melody.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: And what I often do is I'll come up with like the initial ideas right on the spot, like the melodies, and then I'll take them home and sit on them and come up with the so like the day I come up with the lyrics, I was you know in the woods or something, but that's what I was feeling, and that's kind of what I was grappling with when I wrote this song.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I would assume it's pretty safe to uh assume that um you write more from a place of personal vulnerability than observation.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Both.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think they go hand in hand, you know.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um another thing that you know I've come to a conclusion in these last few years that I I've never really had a problem being vulnerable or self-disclosing um or self-deprecating a lot of the time, but I uh I think being vulnerable is one of the strongest things you could possibly be.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I'm happy to be that and it helps me.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think I lived in uh sort of pull yourself up by your bootstraps, tough it out, keep it in sort of way for such a long time, it'll eat you up.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: And um I think you know, this is cathartic for me, and I hope it is for others as they listen, but first and foremost it's gotta it's gotta be that for me right now, you know.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I love that.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: Trop really feels like a true independent success story.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: Looking back and being vulnerable for a moment, what were some of the hardest years?
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um there I mean, there's too many to even like there's so many things that I've said this before, but when I look back now at all the stuff we endured, I just I can't fathom how we continued on.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like I just don't know.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: I still to this day I'm like, I don't understand.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that's different, I think, because some people get their first guitar and they're like, this is what I'm gonna do with my life, or like at some point down the line, they like really make a strong decision.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, everything else is going to the wayside.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: This is my first priority.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna go gung-ho, all my eggs are in this basket, that sort of thing.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still waiting for that.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I've never, that's never been me.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: I've always like, you know, most of us have maintained side hustles and done different things.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: And even when we're doing this in a major way as a first priority, it still was like very unclear what we were heading towards, what our goals were, why we were doing it.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: So, in that sense, all this BS that we've gone through between the breakdowns and the members and you know, all kinds of personal issues, and it the list goes on and on and on.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard to think now, like um how I slash we continue to power through this, aside from the fact that there's something bigger at work here that I can't quite understand.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm thankful for that.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thankful for every step of the way and all the stuff that we went through was so critical to where we are now.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Every every guy that was in and out of this band, every show, every breakdown, every situation, every album, every hour spent in the studio, it's it's all a part of the story.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I I have no I I have no qualms with any of it, and I'm fully accepting of every aspect of the story of this band.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Myself now because it's it just led us to this present, right?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it's all about this present moment, and that's where I'm at.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Cleveland is so deeply embedded into the identity of Trap.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: What does your hometown mean to you now, given some of the things that you've experienced?
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: I love living here.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, admittedly, I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but I went to school out here in Northeast Ohio, and I've spent more of my life here now than I have in in Pennsylvania.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: But there's nowhere else I'd rather be.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um I should say I I could live other places and they'd all be within a few hour radius, you know what I'm saying?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: I I also am a big proponent of the fact that despite the sports team's rivalries, if you go to the commonalities between places like, you know, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati, even Chicago in some ways, like we're talking about the same place.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: We're talking about the same post-industrial, Rust Belt cities.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I love them all because they're blue-collared, they're hardworking, uh things are cheap.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Life is dynamic.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I love the seasons and I love how my neighbors check in on me and we take care of each other.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I love how I can get to everything I need in like just a few minutes without any traffic or out any BS, and I just I can't say enough about this mistake on the lake over here.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: I love it so much.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's so dear to me.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: What did it feel like getting a highway adopted in the band's name?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: That was cool.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: That was an idea that we had a while back, and I think we've I think you're only supposed to have those for a couple years.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think we've long overstayed, but I'm not sure there's a line out the door to get those.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not really sure, but it's cool.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: And and we've and that's a part of it's also part of um kind of where I'm at in life.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: And and like, you know, and admittedly, James has been there for quite a while, is the service aspect.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Really trying to double down on that.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: I got some some cool ideas for some bigger ones that I'd like to try out um later this year.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: And we did a big uh benefit show for the food bank at the grog shop late last year, which is 15 minutes away or so um from kind of where we're headquartered, and uh it raised a bunch of money, and then we're we go to the men's shelter pretty regularly, do the highway cleanups.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: We just did another volunteer effort with fans at the Cleveland Food Bank.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it feels good, and like it it really is what life's about.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um so but but James has been doing it on his own and with the band for many years.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just coming around to realizing like, oh yeah, like service is such an important part, I think, of life period, you know.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_02: So well, that kind of builds to my next question is you guys have not only built a band, but actual community events like uh Sunny Days and Everwild.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: When did you realize that you wanted to create your own ecosystem around the band?
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: I still don't, I mean, like I it's what certainly would happen looking at it now, but just just like the story of everything else, and it was the only thing that was intentional was that I knew I was getting up the next day and like pushing this forward.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Very little else was like, this is what we're doing, we're gonna throw this festival, we're gonna do this and that.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I'm gonna get up and put an album out this year, I'm gonna play these road dates and play as much of them as as I humanly can, at least that was attitude for many years, and just keep going.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: And why I just kept getting up and doing that, um, I don't know.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: But the fact that an ecosystem sort of grew out of it and there's this community is really incredible.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm so blessed in life.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: I like if I checked out tomorrow, I'm not like I don't have regrets.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have I'm just so blessed and thankful.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: And like I get kind of choked up when I like really think about it.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, which I'm just you know, I'm just like everybody else.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's hard to sometimes just like stop and like realize how far you've come and take in sort of the what's going on right in front of you.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, it's it's it's awesome.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it just and I think that's part of the beauty of it, is that it didn't come from like we're gonna go out there and uh we have this whole strategy to like build it, just kind of build organically.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that's like that's the way things are supposed to happen, right?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: So that maybe's the best part.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's this uh synergetic feeling between two different but similar things that you talked about.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_02: You talked about service, and then you've talked about gratitude as well, and they are so symbiotic to one another that it it's amazing to see it kind of take shape in the uh the platform that you guys have created.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_02: Does building your own platform and your own ecosystem create more freedom for you artistically?
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_02: Do you feel?
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know the answer to that, honestly.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if it I'm not sure it would make a difference to me right now.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um I feel good.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: There was lots of this I think about this in cycles, so the out different album cycles, which for a long time was just every year.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: So you would just play a ton of shows and come home, and in the in between time, we were in the studio working on a record, and there wasn't much of a bass to speak to, really.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: So we it was just oh yeah, and we weren't we weren't even making 20 songs and picking the 10 best.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: It was just we were making 12 songs, and that was the you know.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I would say freedom, I'm a big freedom's like I'm big on the word freedom, but it certainly allows for some freedom creative creatively, I'm not entirely sure, but it's it's nice to know that there's people there that got our backs on not just like a fan level, but a friend level.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: And that is freeing, I guess, in that sense, is that we have a support system that we're really you know thankful for, and a lot of that was earned through shaking hands and you know, meeting these people on the ground and and you know, just being their being their friends, you know, and that's that's what makes it special.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um so yeah, you guys speaking of the shaking hands part, you guys have toured with everyone from like 311 to Lupe Fiasco to Dirty Heads.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: What have those experiences taught you about the value of longevity?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one, it's kind of crazy.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: The people when I when I started this band, if you had told me that list and some of these people that I have in my phone, like there's no way I would have believed it.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: And now that it's a reality, it feels sort of just you know normal.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of how it goes, right?
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of goes with things, right?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's um but I'm trying not to think that way anymore.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm I'm trying to let joy lead, which is what I've tried to do with a lot of this record, and enjoy what's happening now, enjoy what I do for a living, and not make it about rubbing shoulders with somebody or doing playing X venue or whatever it is, because oftentimes I'm finally realized when you get there, it's not gonna be enough, you know?
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: So there really is no other answer.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: There really is no other answer aside from being locked in and dedicated to what's going on in front of you right now and being in love with it.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's like that's peace, as is everything.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: But as far as longevity goes, I do firmly believe there is something to, you know, just holding on the longest sort of thing.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and some of the people you mentioned have certainly been around a long time, but some of them also like got big at a young age, and um which I, you know, I'm I don't I don't consider myself the youngest man anymore, but I I I don't plan on going anywhere.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I do think it's more of attrition, is that what they say?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, that's what it is.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I agree with that.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: Was there a certain artist or touring experience that surprised you more than others?
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like you went in with one expectation and you came out with another?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: I've learned to not let myself down.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or at least that's how I spent most of my years.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: So my expectations, Largy, were always expect the worst and get surprised.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'd rather that, I'd rather that than the alternative.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: So, but I always go into I'm much more comfortable now.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: But for many years, there we go into situations I'd be like, all right, I don't know these people.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: They might be my idols.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just stay out of their way and like I don't know what they're going through.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: And like that's kind of like, let's just like be very professional and like mind our Ps and Q's here.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: Cause like, yeah, I just you just don't know.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know what I'm saying?
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, but largely every situation that started like that always ended as friendships or everyone being really cool at a minimum, and um the scene's very tight, everyone embraced each other, the fans are super embracing, um, no matter what your age, sex, religion is, um, and that's a beautiful thing about the reggae rock scene.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: I agree, I wholeheartedly agree.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Tropedelic has reached a point now where the goals you originally had have already been surpassed.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_02: So, in terms, you know, we talked about gratitude and we've talked about a service, but what motivates you now that's different than maybe was in the past?
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think is what I just said a little bit ago, it's that I've I've honed in on the fact that it's gotta be my heart and my heart only that guide this process.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: And the difference now then what's different now than before is that I do have a family to look out for, so that's certainly like a top priority up there as well.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: But if this ever turns into, oh, I'm just doing this to pay the bills or something, uh I think I gotta find a new line of work.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's just not that's not what the that's not what I need, uh, that's not what the world needs.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: I've been blessed to also have other skills, so I I'm not, you know, if it comes down to where I'm just going through the motions, I'm out.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think that's ever gonna happen.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: But right now more than ever, I realize how very blessed I am to be in this position and how important it is that I'm led by my heart fire first and foremost, and the joy that initially brought me to this.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I think now looking back, it's although it didn't seem like joy at the time, it is what's kept me going through all the thick and thin of this for all these years.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's something like deep inside of me connected to something higher that has pushed us all forward.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good lead-in because if a younger Rhodes could see this version of Tropodelic, the festivals, Red Rocks, fans singing every single word, what do you think would surprise him the most?
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh just like the man that I've become in life, I just uh, you know, without getting into too much detail, it's just like there were some real dark days.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I feel like I just I'm so blessed to be here, and I and I don't think you ever could have convinced me back then that this is where I end up and you know, with a family and you know, some some relative small level of success and the festival every everything, just the friends and relationships and neighbors and loved ones I have, and uh I just really for the first time and you know I'm thankful for what I have and not worried about what I don't have or wallowing in my own BS or anything like that.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_02: But uh so when people finally hear First Light front to back, what do you hope that they walk away feeling?
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uplifting.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that they feel uplifted.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: I hope they can get some peace out of it.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's certainly what was driving me writing a lot of this, you know, and I'm not responsible for all that.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um but that was my goal, and that's that is my goal to myself as as part of like some of like the existential thoughts I have and uh being responsible for something bigger than just myself.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: I am committed to putting out positive music, and I don't think I've ever really like firmly made that commitment before.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: We've made a lot of positive music, um, but it's never been like I'm not interested in relaying negative anything.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't want to perpetuate anything like that.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's not to say that we can't be real or you know, authentic with other sides of ourselves or anything like that, but I want the overreaching message to be positive.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I certainly think more than ever the album is a positive one.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_02: So if someone has never heard Trap before, is this the album that you would give them the intro with?
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'd like to be remembered by this music.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: So yes, that's this would be the one I give them.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_02: Well, dude, I have thoroughly enjoyed this conversation, getting to know you on a deep level, and I am super excited for this album.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you guys have some road dates coming up with Little Stranger Summer Tour, some festival dates.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: How excited are you to put this music in the live setting in front of everybody?
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm real excited.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm gonna enjoy every step of the process and be there and be present for it.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I'm stoked to see everybody out on the road.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: Dude, you should like savor and the spoils of all of this because you totally deserve it, dude.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_02: I I I sincerely mean it.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you have succeeded in making uplifting music.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_02: I have never listened to your song and not had a good day, or your music and not had a good day after.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_02: I chuckle to myself whenever I'm sitting in my living room and my wife pulls in the garage and she's blasting falling down and singing along to it.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like, that's that's a life, man.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_02: That is a life.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_02: So uh thank you for all of that.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, man.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, my closing question, brother, and I ask this every single guest that I have on the show, and it's kind of leaning into your personal experience.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: And it is what's your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today through your eyes and your experience?
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: Start with yourself.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um start with yourself and don't be deterred by thinking that anything you can do won't make a difference because if we all start, then it becomes a collective push.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: And frankly, it boils down to kind of what we talked about too is most of what you think you want to change, you are not in control of.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: And focusing on that will just drive you crazy.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: So just focus on what you can't control, which is yourself in your backyard.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: And by backyard, I mean community, you know, like on there.
• 38:57
  unknown: Yeah.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, tell everybody that could be watching this or listening to this right now where they can find you guys online.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Spotify, YouTube, all the standard stuff, Google Tropedelic, you'll find lots of places to see things.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_02: Dude, I cannot wait.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_02: June 26th is the drop date for the new album.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_02: I am stoked, brother.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_02: Rhodes, thank you so much for doing the show, man.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_02: The world's a much better place with you and it, my friend.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's my good end.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_02: Good question.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_02: Good end of me.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_02: I want to thank my friend Matthew Rhodes for joining me on the podcast today.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_02: First life, drop June 26th.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_02: Make sure you are following Dropedelic online for all the updates.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_02: Check out the albums, all the singles, they have released so far have been fantastic.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_02: While you're being generous with follows, make sure you're following at CaughtOntheMic on all social media platforms.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_02: Make sure you give my YouTube channel a subscribe.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: It helps the show grow and share a favorite episode with one of your good friends.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_02: You can also find me at www.caughtonthemic.com.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_02: To learn more about the show, full episode catalog there.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_02: Shoot me an email, caught on the mic at gmail.com.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_02: This has been Caught on the Mic with Michael Clark.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Michael Clark.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_02: Until next time, thank you.