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Better Days Ahead With RYAN KEY From YELLOWCARD · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You guys.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: I'm Ryan Key from Yellow Card. I have a really
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: bad cold and I'm here to hang out and talk
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: about Better Day is our new record, which comes out
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: this Friday, October tenth.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Fantastic, Ryan, thanks for joining us, and I hope the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: album brings bended days for you with.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: You told I see what you did there? It already
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: it already has made it already has It's not even
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: out yet, and we're already having just just the best
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: chapter of this this band's career. I think we're right
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: in the middle of it right now. So the fact
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: that the album isn't even out yet, and then so
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: many amazing things have already happened for us around it
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: and with it, it's it's pretty mind blowing.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So the album does come out this Friday, out
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: type of tent. Mit, it's a it's been a while
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: between drinks for you. So how are you feeling this
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: time around? Is it a different feeling?
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: It feels Listen, we have made a lot of music
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: in our career, you know, We've made a lot of records,
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: We've written a lot of songs. In two thousand and eight,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: we stepped away from the band, not in the same
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: way that we did in twenty sixteen seventeen, but there
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: was in O eight there was sort of this feeling
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: of uncertainty in terms of what was going to come next.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: We had really gone up the first side of the
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: mountain extremely fast. You know, we went from practicing in
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: whatever garage we could find two being at the Video
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Music Awards in two and a half years. I mean,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: it was really rapid, and so we also kind of
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: came down the backside of that mountain equally as fast,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: and we didn't really know what was next. But we
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: found our way back to make a music in twenty ten,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: and we had an amazing opportunity to work with Hopeless Records,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: which is a label we've listened to since we were kids.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: You know, it's been a part of our life at
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: that point in twenty ten, has been a part of
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: our life for fifteen years or so already. So we
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: made a lot of music in the twenty tens, and
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: I think Yellow Card fans will tell you how much
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: they love that music, but you know, pushing it out
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: in terms of going to the radio, you know, the
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: size of the shows we were playing and just kind
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: of what we had to work with during that time.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: I think the feeling we have around Better Days is
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: the first time in a long long time where new
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: music from our band feels like it's going to have
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: a massive impact in our lives and as well as
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: those that listen to it. It's just been a really
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: long time since new music has been more than a
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: vessel to tour on, if that makes sense. You know,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: not that we weren't pouring ourselves into the records we
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: made from twenty ten to twenty sixteen. We certainly were,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: but the idea was kind of, Okay, you're done with
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: this record cycle, you got to stay on tour, Let's
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: go make another record. This one feels like more than that. Somehow,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: this one feels like a record that is not only
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: going to I think it's going to do three things.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: It's going to get people who love our band and
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: have never pswayed extremely excited. I think it's going to
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: pull back in people that may have wandered off through
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: the twenty tens, especially towards the end of our what
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: we thought was our career, when we made a couple
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: of records that really leaned into kind of our nineties
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: alternative kids hearts more than our pop punk hearts. You
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: know this record, I think we'll pull those people back in.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: And third, I really believe this is going to make
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: legions of new level card fans here in the States.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Better Days officially became our first ever number one single
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: at alternative radio. How does that happen twenty years after
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: the last song that we went to radio with? Twenty
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: years later? You know, I was texting with Travis Barker
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: about it that went like the day that it was official.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: I text him and said, we did it, brother, you know,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: we're here. This is so wild, And I had already
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: been thinking, I'm trying to you know, in my head,
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of another band that has a
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: story like this, where where you had this huge success
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: at radio with two or three songs, and then twenty
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: years passes and you know, pun intended radio silence, and
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: then you come out with this, this kind of revival
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: and this really charged track and it just works, and
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: you know, it becomes the most successful song you've had
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  Speaker 2: in two decades. And Travis on it, I didn't say that,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: He on his own texted me and he was like,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: I think my band and your band are the only
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  Speaker 2: bands I could think of that have this kind of story.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: You know, blinkt had number ones, multiple number ones before,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: but they also had this kind of long period of
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: time where you know, that wasn't their game. They weren't
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: really they weren't top of the charts. They weren't like
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: household name Blink Uantity two like you know and love
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: and and then they they got it back. And so
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: to hear that from him, after working with him for
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: over a year on this record and becoming the friends
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: that that I've had the pleasure and honor of becoming
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: as close as I have and we have with Travis,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: it was just really amazing to, you know, be having
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: that thought myself, and for him to fill in the
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  Speaker 2: blank by saying, the only band I can think of
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  Speaker 2: that's done this is Blink. So you know, we're in
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  Speaker 2: amazing company, and I really think that this record is
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: going to do wonderful things for our band, and we're
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: just if you can't tell, I'm I am sick as fuck,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: And if you can't tell how excited I am. I mean,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: it's I cannot believe it's this week. You know, It's like,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: of all the weeks for me to get sick it
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: would be released, but man, we're excited.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I think the main thing I took out of all
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: that might is if Sam Flung music's become fun for
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: you again and you're enjoying the process instead of being
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: rushed by the system.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Yes, we took a year to make this record. We've
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: never done that before. One of the things in the
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: twenty tens chapter of the band was it truly was like,
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: make the record, tour for eight or nine months, maybe
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: a month off maybe, and then you're writing and recording.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: And those recording processes were at most like ten weeks long,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: maybe a couple of months. And this record is the
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: first time in twenty years that we've had many, many
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: months to work right, not overthink, just keep writing. What
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: I loved about this process, and one thing Travis really
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: taught me to lean into was just keep writing. If
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: it's not If it's not a song that's going to
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: end up on the record, we don't need to keep
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: hammering it until it's it's dead, you know, just move
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: on to the next one. Finish the idea, flush it out,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: and move on to the next one. And having a
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: year to make the record allowed us to do that
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: on every single song, So you're getting these ten songs
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: are absolutely without question. I mean, I don't know if
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: they're the actual best songs, but they're the best songs
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: we could provide, you know. And so again it was yes,
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: that part of it that made it had a lot
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: to do with kind of energize, re energizing the process
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: and the band and not having these deadlines that were
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: just super strict. And you know, we've been really really
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: fortunate man coming back in twenty twenty three and touring
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: the twentieth anniversary of Ocean Avenue. Just from a business standpoint,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: that was the most successful tour we've ever done in
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: our career, which really allowed us to take time and
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: breathe and you know, take time off the road and
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: focus on making this album. And that's another thing. Back
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: in the in the twenty tens, it was was not
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: a luxury that we had. We had to we had
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: to keep, you know, not non stop recording and touring
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: because we had to make a living. That was that
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: was that was the only way to pay the mortgage,
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: you know. So this has just been a totally different
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: experience in the best possible way for everything from you know,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: working with Travis and and the other writers that we
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: worked with on the record, which is the for this
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: is the first album we've ever worked with any outside writers.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: But all three of the guys that wrote on the
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: record with us and with Travis are buds. They're they're
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: like tight good friends. You know. It wasn't we didn't
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: bring in like l a top line pop writers that
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: we had never met. It wasn't like songwriting sessions where
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: you show up. I tried that for a while, by
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: the way, when the band was broken up, to go
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: do it be a songwriter. I absolutely fucking hated it,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: showing up every day and just being like, hey, nice
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: to meet you, Let's write that, Let's write this piece
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  Speaker 2: of art together without knowing anything about each other. And
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: it just was not for me. Some people are so
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: unbelievably talented at that game, and obviously, right the biggest
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: pop hits the world has ever known. That's how those
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: songs get written. But anyways, it's every aspect of making
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: this record, you know, from from the Ocean Avenue tour
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: setting it up to finding a partner in Better Noise Music,
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: our new label, who have supported us in everything we've
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: done all the way, and you know, somehow finding ourselves
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: in Travis Barker's recording studio in Woodland Hills that was
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: not expected.
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  Speaker 1: We'll get to Travis a little bit later, but first,
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  Speaker 1: can we go over the album from a musical point
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: of view a bit daper and tell us what you're
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: done for this summer?
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: And sure, I definitely walked into the record feeling very
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: unsure of myself. I mentioned if you go back and
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: listen to the last two Yellow Card records that were,
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: for all intents and purposes to be the last two
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Yellow Card records, they don't really sound that much like
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Yellowcard and that had a lot to do with I
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: can only really speak for myself, but you know, I
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: write the lyrics and most of the melodies for the songs.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: We all work together on the music, we always have.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: But I was just really feeling pulled in a different
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: direction and just hadn't really been hadn't felt really connected
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: to the scene, the genre, the sound you know that
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: that made us the band that we are, and really
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: felt like it was time to experiment and try some
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: new things after you know, fifteen years in the band
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: at that point. So if you listen to those records,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: you can really hear the sort of the departure begin
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: and when the band broke up in twenty you know,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: March of twenty seventeen, we thought it was going to
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: be the last show we ever played together. I did.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: I wandered off into the wilderness to make my own music,
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: and you know, I started. I made three. I released
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: three EPs of my own. Two that were the first
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: one was very kind of Elliott Smith singer songwriter. The
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: second one was kind of like Elliott Smith Smith Explosions
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: in the Sky hybrid. And the third one was where
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: I really think if I had continued, if Yellow Card
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: hadn't gotten back together, and I had had the chance
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: to keep making my own music successfully, that's really I found,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: you know, found my sound. And I'm getting to that
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: how that has to do with this but with better days.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: But I found what I was looking for on my
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: last EP, and it was kind of like this ambient, electronic,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: dreamy just vibe. So I had been really disconnected from
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: pop punk for a long time, and so going into
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: the record, you know, knowing how important it was this
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: this one couldn't just be a tour an album. We
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: tour on and then on to the next one. If
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: we if we're gonna When the Ocean Avenue tour ended,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: we looked at each other and sort of said, is
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: that it should We should we hug it out and
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: say that was amazing. This is the biggest tour we've
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: ever done, and then call it again because that's it.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: We can't ride this nostalgia forever. It's it's not that's
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: not gonna work because and therefore our other option is
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: to go make a new album. But if we're gonna
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: do that after the success of that tour, this album
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: has to be something special. It has to really really matter,
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: and so, you know, no pressure. But then we find
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: ourselves with the opportunity but to potentially work with Travis,
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: you know, and we fast forward to get in the
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: studio and we're starting. And I really had trouble at
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: the beginning answering your question, you know, for myself, like
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: what is this? What am I doing here? And what
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: is this mean? And how do I fit into all
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: this as a songwriter. But typically when I make any
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: any music, any record, whether it's Yellow Card or if
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: I'm like producing with a band, or what's the first
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: couple of songs happen. The floodgates do kind of typically
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: open for me. And I've been saying people are probably
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: gonna get annoyed because I say the same thing in
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: every interview, but I love it. I don't know if
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: you remember the scene in Point Break where Keanu Reeves
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: goes in to get a surfboard and that kid says,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: surfing's the source man, and change your life. I'm not
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: a surfer. I'm not a surfer, but that movie is,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: you know, a childhood like pillar for me. And the
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: important thing with Better Days was we had to find
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: the source. You know, we had to find the thing
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: that made people fall in love with Yellow Card and
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: more importantly, the thing that made us fall in love
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: with Yellow Card twenty plus years ago. And that's a
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: really tricky thing to do at our age to not
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: sound like you're just copy pasting something from twenty years ago,
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: to not have it sound forced like we're these you know,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: we're forty four in our mid forties, and we found
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: our greatest success when we were in our mid twenties,
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: you know, so how do you capture that energy now?
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: But I tell you what, man, I just I think
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: we did it. I don't know how. I don't have
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: an explanation. I don't have like this is how we
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: found said source and why it doesn't sound forced, you know,
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: or like we're just trying to make Ocean Avenue Part two.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Twenty years later, it was somehow we just wrote these
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: songs together and there was a connectivity between the band
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: that I think has been missing for a long time.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Travis was an incredible leader and producer and mentor through
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: the process in terms of, you know, just for me personally,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: getting me back in the studio and charged up and
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: confident in myself and my ability to do what I
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: do best in Yellowcard, and all those things came together.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: And you know, I think working with our friends too,
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: writing some songs with some new energy in the room
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: really really helped as well, because they're just fans, they're
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: they're buds, and they're fans of our band, and they
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: were able to interject some musical ideas and things that
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: felt like, oh yeah, that sounds exactly like Yellow Card,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: but it feels so new, maybe because it's coming from
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: from you, you know, and so let's work on that idea.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: And I just I just feel like this record is
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: just it's something so special because we set out with
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: the mission, and you don't always accomplish the mission that
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: you know, the record comes out or the single comes
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: out or whatever, and you realize you've kind of fumbled
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: the bag. But I think that we somehow just fully
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: came through on this. I mean, I mean, we're all
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: we listened to this thing, and I you listen to it.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: I listened to it and feel that like twenty three
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: year old kid inside of me, you know. And so
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: I wasn't really trying to emulate that kid when I
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: was writing the songs, but when the songs were done,
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: it was like I could just sense this youthful energy
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: in myself. I could hear it, I could feel it,
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: and I felt like, man, you are fully reconnected to
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: this band and what the mission and purpose of this
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: band is, both in terms of reaching fans who love
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: the band, but also like no purpose and role of
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: plays in your own life, you know. And I think
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: I was. I go back and listen to Lift of
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: Sail and the self titled Yellow Card record again, and
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: you can hear me like searching for it and feeling
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: lost and not really understanding what it was anymore. And
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: so it's really cool to talk about it and just
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: know how special the process was and how it turned
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: out exactly the way we hoped it would.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Beautiful answer, Bright, that was really really how it felt, man,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah, you mentioned Travis Barker a
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: few times. He did come on board as producer for
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: this one, but was he always your number one choice?
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: So did the opportunity more just sort of open up
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: and he ran with it.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: It came out of nowhere, dude. We worked with our friend.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: The first person that we entertained the idea of doing
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: some co writing with is a guy named Nick Long.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: He's a longtime friend of the band. He played in
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Ryan Mendez, our lead guitarist. He's Ryan's been in the
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: band for twenty years now. He joined in two thousand
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: and five, and he and Nick played in a band
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: called Staring Back way back in the early two thousands
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: together before Ryan joined Yellowcards. So Nick has become a
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: wildly successful songwriter and he works with Travis all the time.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: He worked a bunch on the New Blink record, and
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: he's worked on a lot of the MGK stuff and
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Avril and on and on and on. So when we
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: first were sort of open to the idea of working
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: with with co writers. Nick was the first name that
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: came up, and we hit him up, and it started
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: out as just like, let's come to LA for two
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: or three days and get an airbnb and some acoustic
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: guitars and put out, you know, get our phones out
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: and record some voice notes and see if anything cool,
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: if we come up with any cool ideas. And between
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: the time that we made that plan and when the
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: plan was actually supposed to happen, Nick hit up Ryan
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: and said, you know, I was in a session with
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Travis today and I mentioned that you guys were coming out,
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: and he said, bring him here to the studio. I
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: want to be in on those sessions. That sounds awesome,
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: and you know, I you might be like, come on, man,
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: but to me, it's like I'm there was this moment
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: of Travis Parker knows who my band is, you know
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: what I mean, Like I mean, like whether he likes
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: it or not, at that moment, you know, he's on
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: a pedestal, you know what I mean, And it's impossible
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: not to feel that way, and you know, so we're
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: just blown away. We go out there and the session happens.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: First song we wrote together with Travis and Nick is
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Barely Alive, which is the second to last song on
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: the record, and it's on the record and pretty much
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: exactly the fashion in which we wrote and recorded it
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: back in April of last year, and we finished the
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: sessions and there was this immediate feeling in the room
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: of like, we got to do more of this, you know,
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: And it went as far as Travis saying, I want
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: to make a record with you guys, you know, I
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: want to produce the record. And while we were while
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: our jaws were on the floor at you know, the
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: thought of this opportunity. We didn't have a record company
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: or you know, we didn't have any money. We didn't
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: have any there was no way to facilitate a Travis
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: Barker produced record where the whole band is going to
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: live in LA for however long and rent you know, play.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: We we all live in all over the country now
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: and it's so the next step was setting out on
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: the mission to find a partner in terms of a
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: recording company. And we're really lucky to land with better
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: days they've been, better days, with better noise they've been.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: That's been confusing the whole time. Yes, Yes to land
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: with with Better Noise, who have just like I mentioned earlier,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: they've just been incredible inter of support and back in
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: the band and just providing everything that you need to
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: make the best record you can make. So it we
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: really owe it to Nick Long. I mean that's he
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: is a huge reason why we're sitting here talking about
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: this today now.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Travis sours I play drumas on mud Be track on
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: the album, So you like, was that part of the
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: package deal as producer or was that another shoe?
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Definitely a shock. I mean we you know, we I
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: don't know if he produces a record with a band
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: and they have a drummer, if he's still like, well,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: I'm going to play drums on the album or I
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: actually never had that conversation. But we are our buddy,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: Jimmy Bunkist plays drums with us on the road. He's
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: our friend from Sweden. He's been our touring drummer for
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: almost ten years now. His last name is spelled b
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: r U N k V I S T and uh.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: But but he you know, the band in its current
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: form for a long long time has been the four
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: of us. It's been Josh, Ryan Sean and myself. So
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: you know, as far as I understand, Travis just recognized
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: that we didn't have a drummer, so he just jumped
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: in and started playing drums, and lucky us for you know,
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: for that to be the case. So yeah, just sitting
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: there on those first sessions and hearing my own voice
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: on a track and watching him play and record to
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: it completely surreal.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Dude, I bet you was. We better wind it up
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: right because he got other people to watch some of
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: your time. But I'll just leave off with you, Like
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: you've spoken a lot about refinding your passion of the
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: music and tapping back into your youth and stuff like that.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: But what sorts of things did Travis actually bring to
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: your overall sand on the album? Like, what was his
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: contribution aside from just being a producer.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: Well, obviously, the drums are undeniable. I mean, you hear
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: some of the songs that start with the drums and
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: it's like you, if you didn't know he played on
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: the album, you might say that sounds like Travis Barker
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: played on that album, you know, But I think I
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: touched on this a little bit earlier. He was just
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: such a good leader. He was such a good producer,
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: and when you walk in there the first time, you
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: know him as the drummer of Blank Twine eighty two
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: and the drummer of all these other amazing projects, and
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe the best drummer of our generation. And
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: we've worked with the same producer since two thousand and
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: three or late two thousand and two when we started
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: working on Ocean Avenue. All of our albums we recorded
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: with Neil Avron, and Neil doesn't do much producing anymore.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: He's pretty much exclusively a mixer, So there was always
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: going to be the conversation of who's producing the album,
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: and it's you know, it's not going to be Neil,
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: which felt alien to us at the time before this
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: all came to be. But once we got in there
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: and realized how invested Travis is in every single note
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: you're playing, we realized that this was gonna be gnarly
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: in terms of the collaborative nature of the writing and recording.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: You know, he'll just sit in the back and kind
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: of wait and let everybody cook, and then if you
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: get stuck, he'll just pop up with an idea and
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: it's the right idea and I think you'll hear on
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: the record just how focused the songwriting is. There's no
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: fat to two on. It's just it's like just essentral
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: rock and roll from start to finish. And you know,
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: that's a big focus in his studio, and every experience
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: with every producer is different, but he really focuses on
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: do we need that in this song? You know's what's
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: the best thing for this song. And having the chance
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: to work on the album for so long and write
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: so many I think we wrote fifteen or twenty songs
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: or something. It's way more songs than we ever ever
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: write to completion for a record, and you know, it
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: wasn't hard to choose the best ten. But the process
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: and the freedom to be able to just keep writing
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: was really a big part of how he does things
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: and I think helped us make the record as rad
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: as it is. I really really hope that the success
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: that we're seeing with the record so far in terms
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: of the single going number one, and we're really excited
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: for Bedroom Posters, which is going to be the next
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Full Court Press single. I'm not sure when, but we're
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: making a new music video for that one and see
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: how that goes. But you know, I'm really hopeful that
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: all of this points to us making another record with
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: Travis down the road. I mean, I haven't. We haven't
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: had that conversation yet, but yeah he did. Yeah, there
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: you go. Sorry I didn't text you, Travis, sorry and
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: tell you directly, but I think he knows how excited
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: we are about this partnership and how how just honored
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: we are to have him be a part of our
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: story and a part of Yellow Card Fantasy Robal.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Thanks for you, Tom Man. I know you struggled to
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: be there with your sickness, but it's six and you
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: just broughtened my day up. Brother. You're a breath of
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: fresh as the album here's the out type of tent
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: and everything Ryan said about it is on the money.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: You had to listen last night and really good at
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: quality album bright So best of luck with it.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: Thanks man. We can't wait to get back there. I'm
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: sure it'll be the usual sort of end of the
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: touring cycle. We'll finish up in Australia Japan as we
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: always do, so we'll see you guys. I don't know,
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: a year and a half or so, maybe