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From Local Roots to Global Stage: The Free Label's Story | Cole Mendez & Jacob Thompson · Behind The Village Podcast

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Our best music happens when we can take that
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and all sit in a room together and try to figure
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out, you know, how we can all put our little
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stamp on it. which took years to figure out the
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process because like there's times where you
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got to realize like, oh man, like these two or
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three people are like really in a zone right
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now. And maybe I'm not understanding exactly
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what they're hearing or I'm in a bad mood or
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whatever. I need to like remove myself for like
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30 minutes and go take a walk and then come back
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with like the killer lyric that's going to like
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make the second verse or something. So knowing
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how to like come in and out and navigate those
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spaces. Our guests today are Cole Mendes and
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Jacob Thompson from The Free Label. Cole and
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Jacob, very nice to meet you guys. And thank
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you for coming into the podcast, right? You guys
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are part of The Free Label band. We're two -sixths,
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yeah. Yeah, that's right, two -sixths. Two -sixths
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of The Free Label, yeah. So why don't you guys
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tell me a little bit about how the band got started?
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well i mean i remember meeting josh in 2017 i
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think i was going to york university and i remember
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the day i met him like the moment i met him it
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was just like oh god damn it i want to be hanging
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around with this dude for at least the next decade
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of my life and uh i think they were the band
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at that point was uh it was going by sneak easy
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it was a different name um different people and
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uh yeah i don't know if you've ever heard any
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of those tracks forgotten history here yeah but
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uh matt was really the first guy in the band
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that i met and we were all going to jazz school
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and hanging out and i remember getting a message
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from him on facebook being like hey man do you
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want to play a festival and i was like i'd never
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played a festival at that point it was like the
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biggest gig ever um and from that point i was
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hooked i remember we did that and then uh we
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played dundas square for something back in the
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day and nice fun yeah yeah it just uh that started
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in like 2017 2018 and then we were just kind
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of rolling really figuring stuff out like looking
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back it's so funny like to think we're still
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doing so much of the same things and i'm still
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doing the same kind of thing i was doing when
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i was like 16 17 just like being in a band making
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posters I guess we're better at it. We've been
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doing it long enough. But yeah, and then Jacob
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and Jason. So Josh is the lead singer and Matt's
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the bass player. Malik started off as our drummer,
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actually, when we first started out. He's our
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guitar player now. He's a great drummer, but
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he's a really amazing guitar player. And we went
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through a couple different members. And then
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I think, what was it, 2022 or three? Yeah, end
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of 2022. Yeah. When we got Jacob and Jason in.
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And that's when the band really became the band.
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You know what I mean? We spent so much time together
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between the studio and being on the road in the
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van and writing songs. Like, it's just, I don't
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know. This group of guys feels like what the
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thing, is and always has been yeah well just
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looking at your uh music videos that i have it
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just sounds it just looks like a lot of fun like
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you guys have been doing lives and are doing
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things on youtube that i was looking at it's
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just you guys just jamming and going along like
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it just feels like a very uh tight -knit kind
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of uh band like it's really cool to uh to see
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yeah i'm glad that comes across because that's
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one of the big things like we have so much fun
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that sometimes i wonder like i was like man if
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we could just have a camera crew with us all
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the time to capture this like i feel like it
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comes across well at our shows um and when people
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you know meet us in real life or doing things
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like this but i think you know the the internet
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thing we're trying to do is uh as much as we
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can to get that vibe across so i'm glad it's
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uh it's there but the the real it's just a little
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piece of how crazy and fun it is in real life
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That's awesome. What about yourself, Jacob? Because
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you were more recent in terms of joining the
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group. And what was that process like for you?
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Yeah, it was a bit of a whirlwind. Yeah, I was
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originally just subbing in as like a hired gun.
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And then they decided they really wanted a keytar
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player for whatever reason. Part of it, I had
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to leave the band for a couple months for like
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family stuff. And me and Jacob have known each
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other. for like our entire lives we started going
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to like church choir together we were like five
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years old and he was the first person i thought
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of to uh you know be able to step in one because
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he's an amazing musician and but more than that
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i knew he could hang with the guys and i knew
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that the moment that josh and jacob met it was
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just going to be a disaster for everybody excellent
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that's what you want yeah yeah No, it was great.
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It was great. I remember the moment that Josh
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just, we were partying, right? And he stumbles
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into my room. He's like, Emma, you're in the
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band now, right? And I was like, oh, I don't
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know. Like, we got to, and he's like, okay, good,
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good, good, good. So here we are. Yeah. Amazing.
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So you're both, I'm not a musician, so I'm trying
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to figure out the right word. You're both keyboardists.
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Yes. But you're different in what you do for
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the band. So what is it? Well, Cole is a keyboard
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artist and I am a keytarist. A keytarist. Yeah,
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that's my main axe. You don't see too many of
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them around these days. Yeah, that's true. Someone's
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got to do it. Who are your biggest influences
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on the keytar, Jacob? Jan Hammer is a big one
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for me. I think he's one of the best to do it.
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uh you know edgar winter of course no dude i
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don't yeah wait they're these famous guitar players
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dude there's a lineage to this you know glad
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to see you're placing yourself in a tradition
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that's right that's right trying to take the
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place of the modern the modern guitar guy you
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know you know carrying on the sacred tradition
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that's right there's honestly not many of us
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few and far between so So why keytar? Well, I've
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always been, like, I've been always spiritually
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drawn to the instrument. Okay, well, it's funny
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because, I mean, when Jacob, like, was my replacement
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for a little bit, I mean, you were mostly playing
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piano, I guess, right? At the time, yeah. But
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we also have, like, Jacob and I used to jam quite
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a bit. And you've had a keytar. When did you
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get your first keytar? 2010, actually, I got
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my first keytar. yeah so there's a picture of
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jacob and i and we're both like 17 and 18 or
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something downtown or really uh uh jamming on
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the street i'm playing keys and he's playing
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keytar with his mullet and everything which i'm
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growing back out now by the way excellent everything
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comes full circle right that's right so uh yeah
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we've been doing this longer than it seems yeah
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it's it's talking about that i was gonna say
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talking about that you guys uh you mentioned
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that you were in orillia you guys are local here
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uh from here yes yeah we're in uh we're in a
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basement in washago right now i moved down to
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toronto for a while for for school and i think
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the band kind of started down there but we got
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to the point where we were touring so much and
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it just became such a hassle trying to sublet
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the apartment all the time and doing all this
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stuff i was like man when i'm home and not on
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the road i actually want to be home so yeah yeah
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moving back in uh with my parents has been amazing
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one because i like my parents a lot and they're
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super chill um but it means that i get to when
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i come home i get to be in the house that i grew
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up in be in nature the only downside is you got
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to drive two hours to get down to toronto every
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other day just to yeah keep everything moving
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but uh so when we can do stuff like this it's
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great yeah yeah Yeah, this will always be home
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for us. We love this place so much. Yeah, absolutely.
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I could never imagine another place taking that
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spot. So what was it like, I guess, growing up?
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You know, I'm assuming that you guys wanted to
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be artists from a very young age, you know, growing
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up here and trying to make it, right? Yeah, Cole
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especially. He won the Young Artist Award. Which
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I myself was never nominated for. Is that some
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kind of Kiwanis thing or something? It's a little
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bitterness. Clearly showed a lot of artistic
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promise from a young age. That was the ODAC Emerging
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Artist Award. I remember that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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That was cool. That was a long time ago now.
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I'm not emerging anymore. Yeah, you made it.
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yeah this is making it wow this is this is great
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honestly i was sitting in this room a couple
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days ago i don't know if you can see like the
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amount of gear it's kind of all uh beside the
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camera but i was thinking about uh when i had
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this room when i was 16 and i had like bunk beds
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and random stuff and now it's like a full -time
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studio room with gear that i could never imagined
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uh having like a Juno 106 and a pianette and
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I got a organ that I don't know if I'm allowed
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to say this on the internet, but I don't know
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if you guys are familiar with Lance Anderson.
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He's a local legend and international legend
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on the B3 and he was my first kind of jazz teacher
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and he taught Jacob as well. Just a killer player
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and a really, really nice guy. He's got a show
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coming up at the Stephen Leacock House on the
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28th, actually. You guys are worth going to.
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Well, at the time, yeah, he was a big mentor
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to both of us growing up. Yeah, and I think the
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only dude around here that we could look up to
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who had actually done the thing and had done
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the things musically and artistically that we
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both aspired to doing at the time. So he hooked
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us up with... an organ back there, like a B3
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style organ. That's been an amazing addition
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to this room. And yeah. So where are we going
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with this? Just artistry. Yeah. I mean, it's
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funny, this microphone that I'm holding too,
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I got at a basement sale at St. Paul's church
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just a couple of days ago. And that's the church
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where me and Jacob met and we were in cherub
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choir and going through that whole process. And
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Blair Bailey over there was instrumental. to
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our, uh, development and yeah. But we've just
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always, we've always been performing like our,
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our whole lives. And we've always been like,
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since the, since the beginning, we've been performing
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together as well, whether vocally or, you know,
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on our instruments or in other capacities. I
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mean, I remember like my parents aren't really
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musicians. Um, But on my mom's side, you know,
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there's definitely a musical streak. But it was
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really my dad who, like, forced me into piano
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lessons early. And I always kind of wondered,
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like, why? You know, and I didn't really enjoy
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it for the first couple years. But then you get
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a couple years in, you're doing all this classical
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stuff, your fingers develop, and you're like,
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okay, well, now this is fun. And I always learned
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more by, you know, just sitting down at the piano
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and trying to figure things out and, like, being
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like, oh, these two notes sound good together.
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Oh, these two notes sound kind of weird. And
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just kind of figuring it all out. I remember
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getting like a 53 in grade 10 math and being
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like, okay, probably not going into the sciences.
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The door has closed. And then by that time I
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was like, I guess I'm going to do this music
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thing like full on. And I told my parents like,
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I'm going to go to school for music. And they're
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like, what? I'm like, this is the only thing
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I know how to do. This is the only thing you
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guys like taught me how to do. It's like literally
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the only thing I know. I'm not qualified to do
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anything else. What did you expect? We're not
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doing any after school math programs. And I remember
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we both went to the University of Toronto jazz
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program. And the single best piece of advice
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that I got there, it was like the first day you're
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walking in and the professor goes, if you guys
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can do. anything else anything do that but if
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you can't and you're determined to like live
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this musician life then we'll show you how to
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not suck at it yeah honest yeah yeah so what
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does that I guess look like or feel like now
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you know for both of you kind of committing to
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that aspect of being a musician you know and
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that's what you do and What is that? What does
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it feel like? It's a strange thing. And it's
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something I think about a lot is that I think
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the musician is one of the true classless professions
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and that you have highly successful, like high
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income musicians, like say like Beyonce or, you
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know, one of these big acts right down to like
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people performing in the local community center
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basement. But we can both be professional musicians.
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You know what I mean? And file our taxes as musicians.
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And it's one of the widest income gaps, I think,
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of any profession. And you see that when you're
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just living day to day as a professional musician,
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like sometimes you're, you know, sleeping on
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a couch in the basement of some dude's apartment
14:30
that you barely know. And then the next day you're
14:33
like at some villa in Miami partying with these
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dudes who own helicopters and who know Kid Rock.
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And it's just like the transition day to day
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is just wild. We were lucky enough to play Richard
14:48
Branson's private birthday down in the Caribbean.
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We got invited to play over in the kingdom of
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Bahrain. So we're rubbing shoulders with really
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high class people. But then the next week will
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be like... We'll be like in a motel in like the
15:08
middle of Idaho. There's like a bed that's mostly
15:13
springs. Yeah. Just watch in the van to make
15:17
sure nothing gets stolen. And so it puts you
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in this place where you're like, like he was
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kind of mentioning before, like we're doing a
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lot of the same things. And you ask that question,
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like, well, have we made it? You know, you can
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look at a lot of these accomplishments. Like
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we were also lucky to have a billboard in Yonge
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and Dundas Square. promoting our latest uh album
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songs for sienna which came out last fall um
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and uh got got to do like amazing things like
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play canada day for almost like just like maybe
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5 000 people downtown vancouver you know and
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then and then the next month we're like oh geez
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we need to we need to book more shows we need
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to you know we need to we need to do more right
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to make things happen so it's uh It's a huge
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kind of state of limbo, always. But that's a
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part of what it means to be a musician and part
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of the ride. And we're definitely here for that.
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Yeah, that's an interesting, you know. way of
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thinking just looking at it because i've never
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i've never actually thought about it but it's
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true like a lot of people i think romanticize
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the idea of being a musician and like you know
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you're famous and you own like 10 cars and like
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two helicopters and all these kinds of things
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and then like you said there's a very wide gap
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but like it's also we're also always told that
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being an artist is one of the hardest things
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uh you know to actually break through and to
16:41
do all these things so there's this weird like
16:44
thing happened in popular culture where you like
16:46
you're you're seen as like look at all these
16:48
people with money and then but you're not gonna
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make it yourself yeah right yeah that is such
16:54
an interesting dichotomy and it's really month
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by month you're like oh man we're just we're
16:59
it's like everything's happening right now this
17:01
is amazing right like the peak of like everything
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and then like six months later you're like okay
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wait like what maybe part of it is just like
17:08
you know getting used to different levels of
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or progress in the career. You know, everything
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seemed like before you do something, it seems
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impossible. And then once it happens, it's like
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it was always supposed to happen and nothing
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else could have ever happened. Right. So, yeah.
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But I'm very grateful for, you know, the things
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that have worked out in my life to allow me to
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live this kind of lifestyle, even with its drama.
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It's not for the faint of heart. You know what
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I mean? You got to be pretty, pretty resilient
17:42
sometimes. But the upsides are like amazing.
17:47
Huge. Yeah. Huge. The downsides are devastating.
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This is two ends of the spectrum. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
17:56
Yeah, yeah. It's a world of extremes out here
17:58
in every way. Was there a moment that felt like
18:06
a turning point for the group of you? or was
18:10
it like kind of a series of things happening
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like you said where it was like oh wow like oh
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there's traction you know i think once we had
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jacob and jason and like i i mean jason is one
18:21
of my favorite drummers in the city like every
18:24
like no offense to everybody else you're making
18:30
a lot of people upset here but uh i have a lot
18:34
of drummer friends all right and they're gonna
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be listening For the record, I think you're all
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great, all right? Yeah, yeah. Jason's pretty
18:42
good, though. He's pretty good. The opinions
18:44
expressed. The problem with drummers, there are
18:48
some drummers that you can't pay to not overplay.
18:53
You know what I mean? And Jason is the perfect
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balance of having so much technical skill, so
18:59
much virtuosity. but also having the restraint
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and the maturity of like knowing when to do that
19:05
and when to just settle into the groove and just
19:08
like feel great. And so once we had that as a
19:13
foundation and then Jacob coming in as an additional
19:15
vocalist and what the keytar really does is fill
19:19
out all the things that like the way I think
19:23
about it is. For me on the keyboard, I'm emulating
19:26
more keyboard instruments. So I'm doing like
19:28
pianos, roads, organs, claves. And Jacob does
19:33
some of that as well. But he's also like an entire
19:36
synthesizer with crazy leads and pads and a brass
19:39
section and a string section. It's like having,
19:42
you know, five more members of the band just
19:45
with the guitar. Yeah, I do. I do everything
19:48
else. Yeah, I just do everything. with the things
19:53
that no one else wants to do while i'll be playing
19:57
like the string part while singing the third
19:59
harmony while two -stepping just and what makes
20:06
that really effective too is that like one thing
20:09
we really pride ourselves on is that you know
20:11
everything with us is completely live and i mean
20:15
we don't even have you know any kind of like
20:19
auto -tune or anything on stage like everything
20:20
is as raw as possible and jacob really kind of
20:25
acts almost like what maybe the backing track
20:27
would be if we wanted to have extra stuff going
20:30
on he really fills in all that stuff and then
20:34
obviously like the solo breaks and all the crazy
20:36
other shit that you do but uh yeah no i would
20:40
say that that jacob and jason joining made it
20:43
feel like okay this is so this is undeniable
20:46
if we can get this out into the world then this
20:51
will be a thing but that's uh the hard part especially
20:55
taking six guys on the road you know you got
20:57
to eat got to sleep it's not uh there's a lot
21:00
of moving parts to getting out there but also
21:04
the commitment level you know from everybody
21:06
from that point just reached a new level of dedication
21:10
right not that we weren't taking it very seriously
21:13
the first couple years but uh yeah yeah that
21:17
was the turning point because you know like yeah
21:19
right turning point is that well i was just gonna
21:21
add on you know the bigger the band the harder
21:24
it is right to make everything work that's why
21:27
so many record labels these days just find a
21:30
singer that they like and just push single artists
21:33
one person yeah because you make way more money
21:35
right it's one person's hotel and food and living
21:39
expenses and put them on tour and then you know
21:43
it's way more profitable But I would like to
21:46
think that with more people on stage and without
21:48
using tracks, like you say, we can deliver a
21:51
more memorable and exciting and immersive musical
21:56
experience. No, I like it. And your sound, you
22:02
know, is quite... interesting like it's quite
22:05
unique like the the the the songs that you guys
22:08
put out is really is really cool how did you
22:09
guys find your sound i was trying to figure out
22:12
i was trying to research what uh what what your
22:14
your sound is like and it said something like
22:16
it's 70s disco 90s r &b and like funk and stuff
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like that like it's a mixture of a bunch of different
22:21
things just tell me about it i mean part of the
22:24
reason that it's called the free label is because
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it's impossible to put a label on it and right
22:28
we always felt comfortable like just making the
22:34
music that we wanted to make and not getting
22:36
you know boxed into like a thing but at the same
22:39
time you want to have a cohesive kind of you
22:43
know body of work and and statement and that
22:47
really came about over the years just by playing
22:50
a lot together and trying to figure out like
22:52
what we all matt said it best the other day actually
22:55
matt said like what is it that we can do that
22:58
nobody else can do like individually and collectively
23:02
And that's something that's taken years to really
23:04
hone in on. And there's lots of little musical
23:09
techniques and things and influences that we've
23:12
all brought together. But what makes it a band,
23:18
too, is that we write together. Somebody will
23:23
come in with something, some kind of chord progression,
23:25
some kind of theme, some kind of idea. But our
23:27
best music happens when we can take that. then
23:32
all sit in a room together and try to figure
23:34
out you know how we can all put our little stamp
23:38
on it which uh which took years to figure out
23:42
the process because like there's times where
23:44
you got to realize like oh man like these two
23:47
or three people are like really in a zone right
23:49
now and maybe i'm not understanding exactly what
23:52
they're hearing or i'm in a bad mood or whatever
23:54
i need to like remove myself for like 30 minutes
23:56
and go take a walk and then come back with like
23:58
the killer lyric that's gonna like make the second
24:00
verse or something um so knowing how to like
24:03
come in and out and navigate those spaces uh
24:07
took some time but yeah it results in a interesting
24:10
blend of of genres for sure yeah and how like
24:14
i it's it's interesting you guys being part of
24:16
the band right now it's really interesting to
24:17
hear that you know everybody is putting their
24:20
effort like trying to have their stamp in the
24:23
song and like you know different uh things that
24:26
are unique to you but still kind of complement
24:29
every everything right the other thing is that
24:33
i i've made solo music in the past you've made
24:36
solo music um at least speaking for myself like
24:41
it's a lot easier to write just sad, depressing
24:47
music, especially like by yourself. Like it just,
24:50
I don't know. We both have large catalogs of
24:54
sad, depressing music. Shout out to Shagwagon.
24:56
Shout out to Payless Q. Shout out to Grant Ulysses.
25:00
Many more. But one thing with the band is like
25:04
we've really, that's just not the vibe of the
25:07
band. And that's, it's. that's been a tricky
25:11
thing to navigate for me sometimes is like making
25:13
music that makes people feel good and want to
25:16
dance and without being like shallow, you know
25:20
what I mean? At the same time. So I think that's
25:25
an ethos that we also really follow is like,
25:28
how can we make music that makes the world a
25:32
more enjoyable place to live, at least for the
25:35
duration of a song or a concert. and that's a
25:40
big thing with our concerts too is that we really
25:42
want that to be a place where you know you leave
25:46
there's so much crazy stuff going on in the world
25:49
if we can leave that at the door for an hour
25:52
and maybe you don't need to know what the person
25:54
beside you believes or what they're going to
25:57
do after the show but like in this moment we
26:00
can just be human beings in bodies dancing you
26:03
know and just being a society again yeah A hundred
26:08
percent, because I think a lot of that is missing
26:10
now. And as you said, there's so much contention
26:13
and polarization and, you know, all these things
26:15
happening in the world. And I really feel that
26:19
we need more of that for sure. I agree with you.
26:21
But I love how deep, I guess, the thought process
26:24
goes and how you guys are thinking about how
26:27
to create music or how to make someone feel when
26:29
they're in a concert or when they're hearing
26:31
your songs. You know, it's something that a lot
26:34
of people just don't. realize just how much not
26:37
only technique and experience and knowing how
26:39
to do songs and whatever but also the thought
26:41
process that goes into what kind of you know
26:44
feeling what kind of song is what kind of idea
26:46
do i do i want to leave in the world right what
26:49
kind of imprint do i want to leave in the world
26:50
i think that's really uh i think key but also
26:54
really interesting to actually hear from an artist
26:57
kind of talk about that One question I had, I
27:02
wanted to touch on your latest album, Sienna.
27:06
And is that out and released now? It is out and
27:09
released. Yeah. Yeah, you can listen everywhere.
27:13
And what was that timeline or process in terms
27:17
of creating that album? How quickly did it come
27:19
together? Was it any particular challenge with
27:22
this one? Well, I think the album really started
27:25
coming together. And I think the band started
27:27
to really... come together when we went on our
27:30
first tour out west in a toyota sienna and uh
27:36
this was right after i joined the band and uh
27:39
when we went out there we were already working
27:42
with a few demos but also started kind of coming
27:45
up with lyrics and writing new ideas all in that
27:48
uh all in that car which was cramped might i
27:52
add it was you know pretty big dudes with a ton
27:56
of gear in the back and we're all sitting like
27:58
this, driving through the mountain ranges of
28:01
the West. So it was a pretty memorable time.
28:06
And that's when we first all started kind of
28:07
hanging out and gelling as a group. And so that
28:11
just seemed like the most fitting name is because
28:13
that's when we really started to be a band together.
28:16
And that's when a lot of these songs kind of
28:17
came together. How long was it from that until
28:21
the record came out? It was at least a good year.
28:26
We recorded the songs at a studio in Montreal.
28:31
That was a great experience. That studio was
28:34
just so vibey. Actually, if you go on, we have
28:37
a live session on YouTube. It's a mix of songs
28:41
from the album and then some other older songs
28:44
live at Dan Duran Studios. But that's actually
28:46
the place where we recorded the majority of the
28:48
record. But yeah, it's a cool process too. Like
28:53
the way music's made nowadays. you tend to like
28:57
make a demo in like a basement like this or in
29:01
the car or in a hotel and then take parts of
29:05
that into a studio because you need to record
29:06
drums better or do this better and then you listen
29:08
back and you're like oh man there's a certain
29:10
magic in that demo in that the way that you could
29:12
hear like the background of the hotel or something
29:14
and you drag some of that audio back in and it
29:18
becomes this big like i don't know just mashup
29:22
of uh different places that you've been in different
29:25
places that you've recorded and that's i think
29:29
something that uh you can hear a little bit more
29:31
on dancing on your own and got a little something
29:34
for you as well and i think will be even more
29:37
apparent on our forthcoming releases but uh yeah
29:42
it's a trippy process for sure yeah that's cool
29:46
yeah for sure I also have like so many songs.
29:52
I have like, you know, version one, version two,
29:54
version 27, version 36. This is the one for real
29:56
this time. It's done. And then you go back to
30:00
version three and you're like, oh, that was actually.
30:03
Yeah, that was it all along. How do you know
30:08
when I guess the final mix is the one or if you've
30:12
gone too far? You never know. You just have to
30:16
cut yourself off. Yeah. at some point it's just
30:22
release what we have i think it's good enough
30:24
yeah yeah yeah and then you and you put it out
30:26
you're like that's okay and then you come back
30:29
in three months you're like yo this tune was
30:31
amazing yeah you gotta give it you gotta give
30:34
it time though right like musical perception
30:36
is so strange like how much it varies from performing
30:40
or recording to listening back to what you recorded
30:44
It's like just like three chords can sound like
30:47
so many different things based on your vantage
30:50
point. Right. And time, right? That's pretty
30:56
cool. Oh, you guys are playing in the Mariposa
31:03
Folk Festival this year as well, right? Yes,
31:05
we are so excited to be doing that. Yeah, we
31:08
can't wait. We've both been going to Mariposa
31:10
every year for our whole lives. So this is a
31:15
real homecoming for us. I know the band has played
31:17
it two times before, I think. I remember, I think
31:20
in 2019, they do like a Mariposa showcase where
31:25
bands audition. And we actually won that in that
31:29
year. So we got to perform through that. And
31:33
then I guess we did an all right job. So they
31:35
invited us back a couple years later to do the
31:38
pub temp for real. And I was at that show, actually.
31:43
Really? Every year. I thought, wow, this is a
31:47
great band. This is pretty good. You had no idea.
31:51
I can see myself here. And do you know when you're,
31:57
do you know your schedule yet for when you're
31:59
playing at the festival? Saturday night. Saturday
32:02
night, yeah. Pub tent, be there. Pub tent, Saturday
32:05
night. There you go. Yeah, exactly. And then
32:07
Sunday we're doing a workshop in the afternoon.
32:10
I'm not sure exactly what time. Oh, what's the
32:13
workshop about? I mean, the best part about Mariposa
32:16
is that they have the main stage, they have the
32:19
pub tent stage. Pub tent stage is the sickest.
32:23
But they also have all these little stages all
32:26
around the grounds, right, where what they do
32:28
is they take two or three different artists and
32:30
they bring them together to kind of collaborate
32:32
in real time, like improvised. You know, they
32:35
might play. One band might explain the chords
32:38
to a song and have the other band kind of join
32:40
in or bring in another vocalist or a soloist.
32:43
So I'm not exactly sure who we're going to be
32:46
playing with yet. But that's always such an amazing,
32:51
like, just creative and artistic moment. Yeah.
32:54
Because you're seeing something that's never
32:55
happened before and will never happen again.
32:57
Yeah. Well, they do so many, so many cool, as
33:00
you know, right? They do so many cool things
33:02
at these stages. Like I saw there was this one,
33:05
one stage just off to the side where Gordon Lightfoot
33:07
is talking to maybe only like 50 people and we're
33:10
all like up close and he's just, and he's, you
33:13
know, he's not performing. He's just kind of
33:14
breaking down like how he wrote some of his songs,
33:17
you know, stuff that would just get like millions
33:21
of views if it was, but you know, that was like
33:22
way back in the day. So no one's filming it.
33:24
We're all just like, this is crazy. And there
33:29
was a, there's another stage. Way earlier, where
33:34
Cole and I performed for this improvised dance
33:39
group led by another Aurelia local, Beth McKean,
33:43
who's actually now doing some clothing design
33:46
for us. Nice. Yeah, she, I don't know if you've
33:50
seen any of our bell -bottom pants that we've
33:52
been wearing recently. Six dudes going out in
33:57
public, all wearing bell -bottom jeans is definitely...
34:00
We get a lot of catcalls, for sure. Which I love,
34:03
which I love. But yeah, Beth helped us out with
34:08
that for our show at the Axis Club back in April.
34:10
And we're going to be working together to do
34:12
a number of things for Mariposa and then moving
34:15
into the future. So that's, yeah. Yeah. But when
34:20
we played with her, it was like, what do you
34:22
mean, 45, 50 minutes straight? of playing with
34:26
nothing nothing prepared and cole and i that
34:29
was that was another case where you know we didn't
34:31
you know we we'd known each other but i think
34:33
at that time we hadn't played and in a while
34:36
and so we both show up to this gig she's like
34:38
okay you're gonna play for about an hour straight
34:40
just follow me we're gonna so it's me me and
34:44
cole at keys and she's like bring it up bring
34:47
it up okay okay and she's like more more you
34:53
know And even, you know, not knowing him super
34:57
well in that situation, we were still able to
35:00
just improvise and make something happen for
35:02
an hour straight, you know, with a bunch of hippies,
35:05
you know, out there dancing and getting weird.
35:08
So, yeah, now we're doing the same thing. There
35:13
you go. Well, you both have to be pretty talented
35:16
to just start riffing for an hour. We're okay.
35:20
We're okay. Cool. Yeah. So for me, that takes
35:29
care of all the questions that I had written
35:30
before. Is there anything that we might be missing?
35:35
Got to plug the music, you know, go listen to
35:36
our latest release. We got gals for you, got
35:40
a little something for you and dancing on your
35:42
own. And, you know, come out to a show. We're
35:46
traveling all over the place. Well, before Mariposa,
35:50
we're going to Electric Forest in Michigan. We're
35:52
headlining the Winnipeg Jazz Festival just like
35:53
next week. And there's a million things before
35:57
and after that. If you go to our website, you
35:58
can see all the dates. But yeah, come say hi.
36:04
We're friendly people. And honestly, the live
36:06
show is the place to be. If you like what you
36:10
see on Instagram and you like the music, it's
36:12
10x. It's even better. It's even better. I know
36:16
it's hard to believe. But it's even better. And
36:19
where can people follow you if you know your
36:21
handles on your socials or your website? Yeah,
36:24
so the band is called The Free Label, but it's
36:26
Free Label Love on just about everything, Instagram,
36:30
TikTok, YouTube. I'm sure there's others. Yeah.
36:34
Google it. And obviously people can go find your
36:36
music on Apple, Spotify, wherever they listen
36:40
from, right? And if you come to the show, you
36:42
can get a vinyl. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well,
36:47
we're planning on going to the Mariposa Folk
36:49
Festival this year for sure. So we'll come say
36:52
hi. Definitely, definitely come out to that one.
36:55
And that's, that's the one other thing I'd like
36:57
to say is that we're just so excited to be playing
36:59
that show in our hometown for a bunch of friends
37:02
and people from around here and people from all
37:04
over. So it's going to be a great time. Yeah.
37:07
Amazing. Well, thank you guys very much for joining
37:10
us. It was, it was pretty awesome. Like I learned
37:13
a lot about, about you guys. That's cool. Sweet.
37:16
Yeah. Yeah. It's our pleasure. Thanks for having
37:18
us. Thank you for listening to the entire episode.
37:22
All the links and info you heard in this conversation
37:24
will be featured in the show notes on our website,
37:26
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37:37
And I'll see you next time.