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Smilin' & Slammin' with SAMMY from DRAIN · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  This year and next year and every year after. You can play counts because
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  we just were so stoked last time, man man, man only only.
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  I was doing some research obviously getting ready for this, and I was like,
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  man, it was January this year. That was you guys come out
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  with Comeback Kid. That was the first time I'd ever seen you guys live.
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  Dude. That was awesome. Where you at? I was in I
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  was at the Brisbane show. Yeah, oh the first night? Yeah yeah
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  yeah. Do you live out there? Yeah? Yeah, I live in
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  northern Brisbane. I'm actually a next Victorian, but I've been up here about
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  ten years. And then you got that was nuts. That was so fun.
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  There's that Felons Brewery. Yeah, in Brisbane. Yeah, it was
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  night before. It was awesome. Yeah. Yeah. That was our first
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  show with our dude on base. Yeah, basically was his first show ever.
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  He never played out of people. I remember, I remember you mentioned
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  that on stage. Now, is he Stu your bass plan? Now?
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  Is he he's a member of the band? Yeah, Like, I mean
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  pretty much, it's kind of weird, like a weird situation just because like
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  we've we wrote the last two albums with just like the three of us so
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  like when we write stuff, it'll be like the three of us. But
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  that's that's our, dude. We haven't played a show without him. Yeah
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  awesome, and don't plan to that. That's our that's our Yeah awesome.
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  Yeah, he just remember you mentioned that on stage and he had like this.
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  I was I still am a massive ugly kid Joe fan, right,
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  and then their bass player called out I'll never say he's not name right,
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  but as soon as I saw your bass player started playing like god, he
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  reminds me of the ugly kick Joe, but based playing live, which is
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  a fantastic thing. He's like, I'm so stoked to go back and not
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  be like nervous and playing, you know, because he's like that whole run,
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  I was like nervous, like gear and like things sounding right. Yeah.
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  It was, man, one of the things I remember most of it.
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  And this leads into what people can expect from your shows because I've been
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  following ever since. There was a guy that stage dive at and you guys
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  are playing at the bright Side again, which is cool. Now, there
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  was a guy that stage dive to the like stage right, and he actually,
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  I don't know if you saw it, he made an exit out of
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  the there's a door there, and I was like, I was at the
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  back. I was like, where the fuck did he go? He went
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  out the door. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's that's the end.
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  Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was. And you know,
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  coming over with a like a legendary band like Comeback Kid, like it was
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  a real treat man, And ah, it was how I was introduced to
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  you guys. It was ridiculous. So dude, I love that. Man.
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  You were so lucky to get to do that because, like, I
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  don't know, man, it's a it's a trip how that kind of stuff
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  works. Like you know, you play with certain bands in certain areas too,
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  you know, like physical bands that like aren't being at all in America
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  fashion of the interview here. So it's cool, it's cool. Absolutely,
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  Yeah, what's what's what's your dog's name? Ben? Hey? Ben?
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  He was shy, he's hanging man, He's like stoked. You're good,
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  you're good. Now you're coming out. This time you're coming out. We
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  we we got interrupted by technology with Comeback Kid. You know, it's just
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  such a legendary band and you know, just paved the way for so many
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  years. So for you guys to come out with what a trade and now
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  you're coming out with Anxious this time, and you got this is your own
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  tour, which is just the is gonna be lit man? Yeah, man,
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  I'm pus kind of shrivy, but I'm stoked, you know what,
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  Like we did yeah, because last year is a big year because we did
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  like, you know, support in Australia. If we did support in Europe
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  and then we did that was like shortly after that, so we did our
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  own headliner in Europe and now we're doing on headliner in Australia, which is
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  just crazy. Man, Like we've never I don't know, you know,
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  sometimes like we like were there. We had to do it. But I
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  think the shows are getting sold well and so I'm stove man. Anxious are
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  awesome. That's it's been cool too because they bring a little bit different sound,
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  you know, to the package. Yeah, and it's fun because you
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  know, they sent me a list of like all these different bands for each
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  city, so I got to like, you know, I don't know if
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  that's weird or some people were probably just like I like this guy's name.
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  I like that. I was like, I'm just sit and listen to like
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  a couple of songs by every bandol. Yeah, so it's like it,
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  but because they're on the build, it's like, okay, maybe we get
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  out in the mor melodic or like pop sounding, you know, it's like
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  Tel's skin and Nick. Yeah, I'm sure as I just would beat down
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  and heavy, which I love, and some shows are like a little bit
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  softer, which is also sick. Man. It's it's yeah, like like
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  something anxious earlier and just you know, oh man, I think it's a
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  perfect, perfect sort of support for you guys, like just bring it,
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  bring it in slightly, get every uncomfortable and then just let you guys just
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  rile everyon. You know. I just it's gonna be a good time.
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  Yeah man, I mean, well do we get on? Like since we
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  started this year so good. We did like Australia, Europe full US,
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  and then we did Japan, Europe and going back to Australia. So between
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  all those tours, I feel like we've really got like locked in and kind
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  of when we went to Australia last time, it was like we were could
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  have played our songs, but we didn't play anything off this new album.
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  Yeah, and since we're in Australia. We've like really like kind of got
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  like better, like building our show. Yeah, you know for sure I
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  played now yeah. Now it's like I feel when we played like were it
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  would have played a good show. Awesome, man, awesome. Well yeah,
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  you guys, just and you release an album like living Proof just you
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  know, comes out in between all of that, it's all that madness just
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  and has the reception bane for the album dude, it you know what it's
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  been. It feels great, man, it feels like it's been great,
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  and it's just so crazy because like we just we didn't really get to experience
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  that with the first album because of COVID. So it's like, you know,
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  the first time we played you know this, the albums already two years
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  old. Yeah, so it's like whereas now when we got to play the
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  day that, you know, two weeks after the record dropped. Yeah,
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  and so it's just it's so cool man, it's you know, we'll say
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  that it's definitely been also interesting to see that. I'm like, okay,
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  I can tell like, you know, people don't they just it's not they
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  don't like the song. They just don't know that yet. You know,
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  maybe maybe they like the last song, you know, ten track album track
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  ten. They they maybe haven't made it to all way to track ten.
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  Yeah, I mean so yeah, they're not like leaving. They're just gonna
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  like watching like Bob and alah, but they don't know the words. So
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  like it's still it's it's been a great reception, but we still got a
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  lot of room to build it and keep going it, you know, yeah,
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  yeah, yeah, And I did notice just then, you know,
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  on track listings and things like that, because you know, we live in
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  a world where you can watch the data of the songs being played and it
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  just slowly dips off during the length of the album, and it is something
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  that you know is common. Yeah, just the songs get lost. Now,
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  one thing I noticed on the track listing for Living Proof it is good
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  Good Things. It's the second last song. Now that's a bit of a
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  yeah, bit of a power move because that song. I've got buddies who
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  I'm like, oh you got have you checked out Drain? And they're skaters
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  and they're punks and yeah whatever, and they're like, hey, I've heard
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  this song, Like, well, this song's pretty new. I actually know
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  this song had a buddy the other day, I checked it on and he's
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  like, oh, is this drain? Like, yeah, this is drained.
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  He's like, ah, right, So I'm like this is late in
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  the album. It's my moods. Yeah, that's awesome, man, Well
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  do you know what? And like, I don't know. I'm I'm learning
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  how to explain this. So we're all learning as we go with this whole
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  thing. It's really easy. For the longest time, I definitely suffered from
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  a like I know, I already know itself. I know how to do
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  this ship thinking I know all that stuff, and I'm like, like,
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  evert I want to do you know, three singles? And I was like,
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  oh, that's a lot, like you know, and do a single
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  every month beating up to the job and I was I was like, I
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  don't want to do it. But I was like, you know, let's
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  just these guys know what they're doing. Let me, let me like,
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  let go of the control and try. And sure enough, dude, every
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  song that's a single, those three songs pop man, and you know,
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  and then the other ones you could tell that's what they're like. I don't
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  know this, you know what. It's like, I'm so doing five singles
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  you know. That's why I'm now. I'm like, dude, that's the
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  age we're in. Yeah, and so because it's the same the last,
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  same last song. Because it was a single with a music video. Yeah,
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  dude, people know it and that's like, to be honest, that's
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  like one of the highlight parts of the set every time. People really stoked
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  about it. So it's it's cool, man, it's really Yeah. It's
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  like you guys just go so hot to the wall and yeah, it's just
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  every now and then, that's that song that you kind of need in a
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  set list where it's like the feel good song, you know. I like
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  it's yeah, yeah, yeah, I can get amongst this and get my
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  breath back and have a sing along and then just slam again. Yeah.
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  And it's crazy because it's like, you know what we were like, let's
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  we just like the song the original. Let's just try it, yeah and
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  see what happens, you know, And now that when we play it,
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  dude, it's it's like if you put a video of us playing that song
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  and you put on mute, and you put on any other of our songs,
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  it would still will go off the same way. Kids are still stage
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  diving. There's still so it's it's not like where people just like stand like
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  kind of board like. So, yeah, it was really cool because now
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  it's like, well, you know what, not that we want to do
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  that, but if we want to play different sounds, kids still react to
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  it the same way. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I love about that,
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  you know, that hardcore punk whatever scene. You know. It's it's
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  just it's one of those songs I grew up with, you know, and
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  it's like yeah, yeah, it's you know, like Penny Wise have those
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  songs, and you know mad Ball have those songs. You know, it's
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  like that's your song. In my opinion, it's like, hey, everyone
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  knows it, but it's the feel good song. It's the and it's awesome
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  that people are still going crazy because you know, it's just I love that.
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  I love that song. And what I noticed about you guys, it's
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  just it's like it's no other way I was trying to descriptive words. It's
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  like just a big party. You know. It's a feel good party.
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  It just really is, and people picking each other up and just doing the
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  thing we did when we were like when I was a kid, that was
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  like etiquette, and there's that etiquette there. It's like I'm gonna we're gonna
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  smash on, but I've got to if you fall, you know, And
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  that's that's so cold. Yeah, that's the vibe. Man, Dude,
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  I don't know, you know, if someone's asking about this recently and I'm
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  not like, I'm not like a political guy like I just I'm just I
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  don't like, you know, that's that's something I really like follow super deeply.
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  You know. I'm just like, look honest, because you don't really
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  talk about the politicans that we play. Like, dude, the world is
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  so crazy, it's so hectic, like for thirty minutes, if we can
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  make it so everybody who's here is like not thinking about anything, Like,
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  like, the songs are serious, the songs are real, the lyrics they're
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  not like it's not like a joke by any means. It's very It means
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  a lot to me. But I'm just like, I don't have to make
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  it feel that way. You know, a song about like, you know,
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  I don't know one of the songs about you know, I seem to
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  get pretty stressed out. Yeah, but I don't want if I want the
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  crowd to feel stressed out. We have fun, have fun. If we're
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  thirty minutes, enjoy and you walk away and be like, wow, I
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  feel that much better. And now I'm going to start my day tomorrow on
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  a good note and maybe do my own way. And man, it comes
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  across man, it comes across me and my buddy Shane. We were at
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  a band together for years. We went and send you guys at the start
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  of the year, and that's how we felt. That's exactly how we felt.
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  Like, oh man, that was that was I feel good, Like,
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  honest to god, it was like, yeah, it just has that
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  vibe you guys. Just yeah, it's like this hardcore thing with a smile.
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  It's awesome. Man, It's it's infectious. Yeah, and it's good
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  to be distracted, like the world's crazy. We go to We go to
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  gigs to get away from this. That's why I was in bands, you
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  know, That's what we do, is why we love music. It's it's
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  meant it's an art form. It's meant to be like, hah, distraction
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  good distraction is good man. That's my thoughts. Especially you know, it's
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  like talking about like street stuff. I mean, he's just like a boyd
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  streets around trouble, you know, like that's cool, man, that's cool.
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  Yeah, I'm glad that it's like kids received well man, I'm still
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  you Brisbane or what dude. I'll be there, yeah, I'll be at
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  the prison shows, debate anywhere to get to the Gold Coast show or the
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  Brizee show. It's my daughter's birthday, so I had to kind of swing
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  it, but I'll be there. I mean, she I wish, I
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  wish. I'm trying to get her that way. I can't force it,
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  but I'll be there. Man. I actually did give you a handshake last
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  time I saw her, but I'll introduce myself a bit better next time.
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  So yeah, please come by. I don't want to want to want to
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  get to you know, give aise some love of person. Let's go.
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  Awesome, man, that'd be great, all right, Sammy, Yeah,
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  look forward to it. Yeah, yeah,