Latest / The Scene Projects / Bari Phillips on Music's Journey, Overcoming Challenges, and Building Creative Communities

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Bari Phillips on Music's Journey, Overcoming Challenges, and Building Creative Communities · The Scene Projects

• 0:02
  Today's guest is songwriter and artist Kibari Phillips, penned behind Barry McKnight cuts
• 0:08
  like City of Angels and more, and a collaborator on Barry's World Records.
• 0:12
  Let's dive into the chat.
• 0:19
  This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
• 0:24
  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
• 0:29
  from across the Midwest.
• 0:32
  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
• 0:45
  Welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
• 0:47
  I'm your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today is Kabari Phillips, better known as Bari.
• 0:52
  Welcome to the show, brother.
• 0:53
  Thank you so much, man.
• 0:54
  Excited to be here.
• 0:56
  Yeah.
• 0:56
  It's a pleasure to have you, man.
• 0:58
  Before we get too far into all the things that you're doing now, which I'm sure is a very busy
• 1:03
  busy schedule on the day to day, we'd love to know a little bit about, you know, who you are
• 1:08
  and where you came from.
• 1:09
  So the floor is yours, brother.
• 1:11
  Yeah.
• 1:11
  For sure.
• 1:12
  So my name is Barrie McKnight.
• 1:13
  You know, as Bubba said, I'm a singer songwriter.
• 1:15
  I'm from New Jersey.
• 1:16
  I actually started with music, you know, way a little earlier in life.
• 1:20
  So I was in, like, the middle school choir, and then I took that all the way up to high school.
• 1:23
  Then I kinda stopped with music.
• 1:25
  And then, you know, life find music found me back.
• 1:28
  Music found its way back to me in life.
• 1:30
  You know?
• 1:30
  And it was, like, during the quarantine where I just started just making songs every day, and
• 1:34
  then from there, I just ran with it.
• 1:38
  I I love it.
• 1:39
  I was also a member of my middle school choir, middle school band, kinda through high school.
• 1:45
  In high school, I started playing in my dad's rock and roll cover band.
• 1:49
  Right.
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  And it's always been a part.
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  And even when it's faded from being a forefront of my life, it's always been there.
• 1:58
  Right?
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  I'm a guitar player.
• 1:59
  I'm a songwriter myself, and, it it always has an undercurrent.
• 2:03
  Right?
• 2:04
  And I I appreciate that, you know, where that time, you know, 2019, 2020 through, you know,
• 2:11
  some people, 2022, '23, '24
• 2:15
  Still going.
• 2:15
  Gave a lot of people that time to to dig into passions that they had maybe left behind in
• 2:20
  their lives.
• 2:21
  So I'm happy that the same happened for you.
• 2:23
  Yeah.
• 2:23
  I mean, it was exciting because, you know, not only has music well, it was a centerpiece in
• 2:27
  life at first, and then it kinda, you know, shifted to the background and then always finds
• 2:31
  its way back to the front.
• 2:34
  Yeah.
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  It will it's undeniable sometimes in that right, isn't it?
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  It's just incredible.
• 2:40
  You know?
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  Because here I was never even and to be fair, I was even timid to start with music because I
• 2:44
  was like, what would I talk about?
• 2:45
  That was always my biggest thing.
• 2:46
  How would I connect with someone?
• 2:48
  But then not even realizing just being a regular person is that's enough.
• 2:52
  Well, we all have a story, and that's what's been a blessing about having a podcast now and
• 2:57
  interviewing over 300 artists at this point in the last eighteen months is that no matter
• 3:03
  where we come from.
• 3:04
  Right?
• 3:04
  I mean, we're as different as we can get outwardly.
• 3:07
  Right, Barry?
• 3:08
  You're from New Jersey.
• 3:09
  I'm here in rural South Dakota.
• 3:11
  There you go.
• 3:12
  You're a beautiful black man.
• 3:14
  I'm as as white bread as they come and country, but our our stories can have such similar arcs,
• 3:20
  and we've already found common ground in thirty five seconds of a conversation.
• 3:26
  And that's to me what's beautiful about dipping into, you know, the podcasting world for me,
• 3:31
  and it's been such a blessing.
• 3:33
  And I I probably have a little bit more culture than, you know, most kids that grow up out in
• 3:39
  South Dakota.
• 3:40
  Right?
• 3:40
  When I hit 18, I read On the Road by Jack Kerouac and was like, wait a minute.
• 3:44
  You can just, like, hitchhike around and and and you don't have to have all the money to
• 3:48
  travel in the world and to you know, that kinda opened my eyes.
• 3:52
  Now granted the beatnik generation of the nineteen fifties and early sixties, much
• 3:57
  different than the, you know, late odds, you know, that that I grew up in.
• 4:01
  But I was able to go live that life for two, three years on the West Coast and and seeing
• 4:05
  Venice Beach.
• 4:06
  And I lived in Oregon and getting to see, you know, not only some of the most beautiful
• 4:10
  country in the world, but some of the places where original art was not only appreciated but
• 4:18
  fully encouraged.
• 4:19
  You didn't have a lot of cover bands necessarily in those areas that I was at where
• 4:24
  in South Dakota culture, while we do have original artists, it's mostly about cover acts,
• 4:29
  and that's how you kinda get paid in the music business.
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  So it it's it was kind of me coming back then to South Dakota later on in my, you know, early
• 4:39
  mid twenties and being like, look.
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  We can do this.
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  Yes.
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  We can play the covers and we can get paid, but can we also be introducing people to our
• 4:46
  original music as well.
• 4:47
  Like, they the two worlds can go together.
• 4:50
  They don't have to be diametrically opposed to one another.
• 4:53
  You know, it's exciting that you said covers because I always think about that, and I always
• 4:57
  think about the artists having an identity for themselves.
• 4:59
  If they're always chasing a different sound or trying to sound like someone else to let people
• 5:03
  know who they are, I don't think that's the best way to even introduce yourself to people.
• 5:07
  Granted, I will say a few years ago, I remember on YouTube, the biggest thing to do was to
• 5:12
  watch covers from, you know, just people who weren't the famous act, just other people on
• 5:16
  YouTube so you can see their rendition of the same song, and they would do it differently.
• 5:20
  So I I want to ask, when you say covers, are you meaning doing the same song and the same
• 5:24
  style, but it's just gonna be a different voice, or is that someone an artist coming in
• 5:27
  and just doing the same song but differently in their own way?
• 5:29
  See, and I don't know how to I don't know how to replicate someone.
• 5:34
  Right?
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  I don't I'm not a carbon copy.
• 5:36
  So I'm playing songs that people are familiar with, but they're always gonna be my way.
• 5:41
  And my way is kind of to to to pose them to you in kind of mashup form.
• 5:47
  So, like, the way I and and especially my early set.
• 5:51
  So, like, my first set, I've pretty much started with the same five songs for the last,
• 5:56
  say, year and a half where I when I come out to play, whether it's a full band show or it's a
• 6:01
  it's me doing a solo show, I start off with, like, fishing in the dark by the nitty gritty
• 6:06
  dirt band into they're the names evading me right now.
• 6:12
  But another, like, Copperhead Road.
• 6:14
  Copperhead Road, taking that into what I got by Sublime into some Steve Miller band Joker into
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  Wagon Wheel.
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  So I'm blending you and giving you the, like, hey.
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  I'm country, and I'm rock, and I'm gonna be a little bit of that kind of what I would call
• 6:28
  stoner music maybe with the Sublime stuff.
• 6:31
  Right?
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  Right.
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  Right.
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  Of, you know, giving you that because that's a taste of who I am.
• 6:37
  Right?
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  And that necessarily doesn't represent my original music that I'm going to play, but it
• 6:43
  represents me.
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  And, like, this is what I grew up listening to.
• 6:47
  These are songs that most people, no matter where you've grown up, you've probably heard
• 6:52
  them at least in passing.
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  I didn't grow up a country music fan.
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  My wife is from a little farm town, though.
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  So once we got together, all that stuff that I'd heard in passing, the Garth Brooks, the,
• 7:03
  you know, the the Brooks and Dunn or all of the Alan Jackson.
• 7:07
  Right?
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  Where I
• 7:08
  was Right.
• 7:09
  Aware of them, I wasn't really versed on their, you know, whole catalog of music until
• 7:15
  spending, you know, hours in the vehicle with my wife and just having it beaten into my head
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  all that nineties country.
• 7:21
  Right?
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  Where I was like, you know what?
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  This music isn't that different from what I grew up listening to in the rock and roll world
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  or music that I love from the sixties and seventies when rock and roll still had
• 7:33
  songwriters.
• 7:34
  Right?
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  Where I and and, you know, the music I grew up, my first love in music, you know, bands like
• 7:39
  Pearl Jam, the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
• 7:42
  Wow.
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  I was
• 7:43
  even very young in my life.
• 7:45
  Right?
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  But I grew up I was seven, eight years old, you know, watching MTV in the early, you know,
• 7:51
  early mid nineties before we moved to South Dakota, and I didn't have cable or, you know,
• 7:56
  satellite TV for another, like, five years after that, that I really I love songwriting.
• 8:03
  Right?
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  I love a song that can make you feel something.
• 8:06
  And Yeah.
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  But I also love hip hop music.
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  And I love, you know, I I I love yeah.
• 8:11
  I freaking love boy bands.
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  Right?
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  Who doesn't love some NSYNC or Backstreet Boys?
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  Like, come on.
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  Right?
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  Like, come on, man.
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  Those are just neighborhood classics at that point.
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  And and that's what I try to bring to the table.
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  So while, you know, I haven't worked in a Back street Boys song into the set list yet Yeah.
• 8:30
  Yeah.
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  I could, but it's going to be my way.
• 8:32
  I'm not coming out and doing all the dance moves and everything, but I can deliver the
• 8:36
  song.
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  And you're going to enjoy that because the song is now reflected or refracted rather through my
• 8:44
  lens.
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  Right?
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  I'm taking that light and kind of changing it.
• 8:48
  It's gonna be changed because it's coming from me and not from the original artist, and I'm
• 8:53
  not trying to sound like them.
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  I'm not a tribute act.
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  Right?
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  And Where
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  I think No.
• 8:59
  Go ahead.
• 8:59
  I was gonna say, and that was my whole point earlier because growing up, I would see people
• 9:03
  try to do the song differently.
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  And now I feel like I'm just trying to I'm starting to see a carbon copy of everything,
• 9:09
  and there's no more originality.
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  So that's why I was making that distinction of, are they, you know, doing the same song or are
• 9:15
  they doing it their way?
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  And then it was really cool to even hear we have another thing in common.
• 9:19
  You were going through your versatility.
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  You said I have a rock song.
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  You know, I have all these different genres, and I'm like, you know, that's exciting because
• 9:26
  even when I try to make songs, I don't wanna hear the same thing over and over.
• 9:30
  I might wanna try something new just to not only show that I'm experimental, but I'm not
• 9:33
  afraid to try.
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  And that's just I mean, that's just who I am.
• 9:39
  Right?
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  Like, I can't I can't help that.
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  I like, 17 different genres of music or a thousand different varieties of those 17
• 9:49
  genres.
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  Like, when you come to a starts and ends show, which is the name of my band, that you're going
• 9:55
  to get rock and country, but you're gonna get a little sprinkling of reggae, and you're gonna
• 10:01
  get a little spattering of, like, the songwriter is like, you're going to get a lot
• 10:06
  of different things.
• 10:06
  You're gonna get an indie rock vibe.
• 10:08
  It's not just the classic rock kind of side.
• 10:11
  So but it's very hard to, like, describe that.
• 10:14
  I used to call it rockabilly regga funk, and that was a little bit that was a little bit too
• 10:19
  much of a mouthful.
• 10:20
  So now I call it modern gypsy rock where it it is it is what it is.
• 10:24
  I I I'm someone who's very well traveled.
• 10:27
  Right?
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  I've probably covered 45 of the 48 contiguous.
• 10:30
  I've never been to Hawaii or Alaska, but it's on the radar.
• 10:33
  But I lived in Mexico for almost a year, on the run from some legal troubles in South Dakota,
• 10:39
  actually, but they loved American music.
• 10:42
  You know what my
• 10:42
  number one was?
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  A exciting story.
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  You you can't run over that.
• 10:45
  That sounds exciting.
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  Brother, that's why I had to start my own podcast was because I went on two or three
• 10:51
  podcasts.
• 10:51
  We don't have a lot of them in South Dakota, and I've been on the local news programs.
• 10:55
  I've been on the local news TV, like, 13 times in the last year, different stations, and
• 11:00
  there's just not much of it.
• 11:01
  And that was really the impetus for me starting my own media company was that my story was too
• 11:06
  big.
• 11:07
  Right?
• 11:07
  And and Joe Rogan, who's someone I listen to a lot, who's the number one podcaster in the
• 11:12
  world, that I realize is, like, I know a bunch of facts from his life because I've listened to
• 11:17
  him tell them, not on one podcast.
• 11:20
  I've listened to him say them on now probably hundreds of episodes of his that I've listened
• 11:24
  to, but him recounting, oh, I grew up in Jamaica Plains or, you know, these other facts
• 11:29
  of his life.
• 11:30
  That's like, oh, I need my own thing because I need to be able to tell this story and to
• 11:34
  recount these with other people and not just going on one person's program one time because
• 11:40
  I can't cover it.
• 11:41
  Right?
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  Like, I barely scratched the surface in a half hour or hour long interview.
• 11:45
  Even if you had me for three hours, we would go deeper on some of the points of my story.
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  But how is someone who has lived maybe eight or nine lives, different things that I've done?
• 11:57
  Right?
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  How do I encapsulate that into one conversation?
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  And the answer was that I couldn't.
• 12:03
  I needed, you know, thousands of conversations over the course of many, many years to get that
• 12:08
  out.
• 12:08
  And even though we have a thousand uploads on YouTube now, and 300 interviews with
• 12:14
  independent artists, I still only kind of recount the the major talking points.
• 12:20
  Right?
• 12:20
  I I haven't even gotten in the weeds with some of these things, so it was necessary.
• 12:26
  Well, I'll be honest with you.
• 12:27
  You know, since you are so open about your story, I open about mine.
• 12:30
  So I was actually arrested in China of all places, you know, some years ago.
• 12:35
  And when I was, you know, in the Chinese jail, the one thing I was always telling myself is,
• 12:39
  you know, when I get out, I'm gonna probably be bigger than any rapper out there, but I'm gonna
• 12:43
  do it by giving out the type of music that I think is a reflection of me.
• 12:47
  And it's so funny to see me now here talking to you, and I'm like, wow.
• 12:50
  I actually decided to take action on something I had that was just a thought in a moment where
• 12:56
  I couldn't even do anything about it.
• 12:58
  You know what I mean?
• 12:58
  Just to still have that drive to keep it going and bring it alive is just and just to see how
• 13:03
  you're moving with everything that you have going on, like, that's an inspiration.
• 13:07
  Well, I I thank you for that.
• 13:09
  That sounds scary as hell, to be perfectly honest.
• 13:11
  I almost went to jail in Mexico while I was down there.
• 13:15
  I avoided it, but I didn't I was an illegal alien.
• 13:18
  Right?
• 13:19
  Like, I was I was completely there illegally.
• 13:21
  My son was born down there.
• 13:23
  My wife was pregnant at the time.
• 13:24
  Now ex wife was pregnant at the time he was born down there.
• 13:28
  But seeing how much of a strain that we were on the community we were in and on the, you know,
• 13:34
  national government because we didn't have any money.
• 13:36
  We didn't pay for my son to be born down there.
• 13:38
  Like, their social their national health care system paid for my son to be born, that I I
• 13:44
  have a different take on illegal immigration in this country because I've lived that as an
• 13:49
  American citizen in another country and going, hey.
• 13:53
  We were just one person, but if there was millions of people doing the same thing that we
• 13:56
  did, how much of a strain would that be?
• 13:58
  So it's just perspective.
• 14:00
  And and how do you how do you deliver that perspective in a twenty minute conversation?
• 14:06
  Right?
• 14:06
  And the answer is that you you just can't.
• 14:09
  Right?
• 14:09
  Like, you need that time.
• 14:11
  And, Bari, it sounds like you probably need your own podcast to be able to deliver your
• 14:15
  story and to be an inspiration to others.
• 14:18
  Right?
• 14:18
  And that's really what the what it's about is the impact that we have on our community is is
• 14:25
  just so so deep, and it's so wide.
• 14:29
  And it takes time to realize those things.
• 14:31
  We've only been at this podcasting thing for a year and a half and really, like,
• 14:35
  wholeheartedly in it for, like, nine months.
• 14:38
  Like, I really started to go all in on this, in December, January.
• 14:44
  Right?
• 14:44
  December, I really started like, okay.
• 14:46
  Because I thought I was quitting my job in February 2024 to be a rock star, Bari.
• 14:50
  I was like,
• 14:51
  I had
• 14:51
  a bunch of gigs booked,
• 14:54
  and I
• 14:54
  was just like, man, I've did wow.
• 14:56
  This is happening.
• 14:57
  A file Right.
• 14:58
  Right.
• 14:58
  And then I got out there, and I'm playing nine to 01:00 in the morning for a bunch of drunk
• 15:03
  people, and I don't drink much anymore because it's impossible to maintain that five, six
• 15:08
  nights a week like we were doing at points, and to be party until, you know, three, 04:00 in
• 15:13
  the morning every
• 15:13
  night.
• 15:14
  Man.
• 15:14
  Right?
• 15:14
  Yeah.
• 15:14
  It's impossible.
• 15:15
  And not to mention the damage you're doing to your vocal cords in that time and everything
• 15:18
  where I was just like, I don't want this as much as I thought I did.
• 15:22
  And it was at that point that the kind of teeter totter started shifting to where it's
• 15:26
  like, well, what do you enjoy doing?
• 15:28
  And what I really enjoyed doing was interviewing other artists and giving them a
• 15:31
  platform to tell their story and to talk about what they've gone through and what they're
• 15:35
  doing.
• 15:36
  And, yeah, now we're just hammered down on that.
• 15:39
  Yes.
• 15:39
  I still play some shows, but it the the music career is, like, more of an in for me to get
• 15:46
  the gas money to go to the places where I wanna go meet some of the artists that I've been.
• 15:51
  Right?
• 15:52
  Like
• 15:53
  I like that.
• 15:53
  Yeah.
• 15:54
  Because, I mean, to be fair, it's not some I I'm not sure I wanna be one of those artists
• 15:57
  that's just, like, you know, always singing on the stage and stuff.
• 16:01
  I would rather be the one that's kind of maybe connecting with people.
• 16:04
  Maybe you could just have my songs playing in the background.
• 16:06
  I think it's good it's I'm more of, like, a ambiance person, in my humble opinion.
• 16:10
  Just because also my first thing is I wanted to be a family man.
• 16:13
  I was like, ain't no way I could be a family man, a musician.
• 16:16
  That's impossible.
• 16:17
  So I I it never really attracted me.
• 16:19
  I'm like, if I have to, sure.
• 16:20
  But, you know, my main thing is I'd rather do that.
• 16:24
  Right.
• 16:25
  And I'm a father as well.
• 16:27
  You know, I got three kids, and that's that's another thing that hit me is that, like, when I
• 16:32
  was out on the road all the time, I was out on the road all the time.
• 16:35
  And, like, it only took a month of being gone half of it to be like, I don't like this.
• 16:41
  Right?
• 16:41
  Like, I don't I I I because I lost two years in prison to my kids, and I lost a year with my
• 16:48
  oldest boy while I was in Mexico.
• 16:50
  And, like, when I was there and made the decision to come back and to bite the bullet
• 16:54
  and to do my time and take accountability for my actions.
• 16:58
  Right?
• 16:58
  And I was selling weed.
• 16:59
  I didn't murder anyone.
• 17:00
  Right?
• 17:01
  I was selling weed.
• 17:02
  Now it's legal or, you know, at least it's medical here in our state.
• 17:04
  I have a license to to grow it or smoke it if I wanted to, right, which seems a little, you
• 17:09
  know, asinine at this point.
• 17:10
  But Right.
• 17:11
  That when I when I committed to taking that accountability, it wasn't so that I could come
• 17:17
  home and then just be gone from my kids all the time.
• 17:20
  Right?
• 17:21
  Yeah.
• 17:21
  And I travel a little bit here and there now, but, like, the month of July, I didn't go
• 17:26
  anywhere.
• 17:27
  Where in 2024, I was gone on tour most of the month of July when my kids were home and I
• 17:32
  could have been spending time with them.
• 17:33
  Now it's more like, well, tour while the kids are in school because I don't see them all day
• 17:37
  anyway.
• 17:38
  I see them for fifteen minutes in the morning.
• 17:41
  I see them for an hour after school.
• 17:43
  We eat dinner together, and then they're in bed.
• 17:45
  I was like, how much of that, like, time am I actually losing?
• 17:49
  Whereas the summertime, which is usually the time to get out and tour for most bands, like,
• 17:55
  my kids are at home all day.
• 17:57
  We could be at the swimming pool in the afternoon, and we could be, like, actually
• 18:01
  making memories together, throwing back flips off the diving board, and teaching them these
• 18:06
  things rather than being on the road hanging out with people that I I really just don't
• 18:10
  Don't know.
• 18:11
  Necessarily care.
• 18:11
  I don't know.
• 18:12
  They're not there to hang out with me.
• 18:14
  They're there to hang out with their friends, and I'm just the soundtrack to that.
• 18:17
  Right?
• 18:18
  Like, it's
• 18:18
  not entertainment at the end of the day.
• 18:20
  That's why I was like, I appreciate that life, but then I'd rather have something to come home
• 18:24
  to.
• 18:25
  And if I don't have that structure first, I'm not even interested in going like, I I
• 18:29
  understand I can meet people in the world, but, I mean, it's never gonna be a genuine meeting.
• 18:33
  It's not like we came together because we had an interest in ourselves as people.
• 18:37
  It's more of what we do.
• 18:38
  And that's cool, but I'd rather some be with in a corner with someone that sees me for me
• 18:42
  first.
• 18:44
  Yeah.
• 18:44
  And that takes time.
• 18:45
  I think you're gonna be an excellent podcaster, and I'm gonna keep pushing you on that, not
• 18:49
  just in this conversation, but, as we continue to to communicate and collaborate after this,
• 18:55
  I'm sure.
• 18:56
  Oh, a 100%.
• 18:57
  Because I do have some songs that I think might might be up your alley too, to be honest with
• 19:01
  you.
• 19:01
  I'm I'm going everywhere.
• 19:03
  Man, we're just we're we're networkers.
• 19:05
  Right?
• 19:05
  And that's connectors, and that's what the podcast for me has become.
• 19:10
  It's just the space to, hey.
• 19:12
  Come on my award winning podcast.
• 19:13
  Right?
• 19:13
  I was very blessed to win the content creator of the year award from our Midwest country
• 19:17
  music organization.
• 19:18
  But Bye.
• 19:19
  I won that because I when I bought the microphones thank you for that.
• 19:24
  When I bought the microphones, I knew what I wanted to do with them.
• 19:27
  I knew the community that I wanted to to support, and we're very fortunate to have an
• 19:32
  award show every year.
• 19:33
  And I took my microphones I was a new member.
• 19:36
  I joined in February.
• 19:38
  The award show was in April, and I was like, I'm taking my microphones with me.
• 19:41
  I'm setting up at jam night on the Friday before the show, and I'm gonna interview as
• 19:45
  many people as I can.
• 19:47
  Sat down and did 25 interviews that night.
• 19:49
  Man, met all these people.
• 19:50
  Hey.
• 19:50
  I'm Bubba Starts.
• 19:51
  This is me.
• 19:52
  Let's talk about you.
• 19:53
  And, you know, that's kind of what won us the award the next year.
• 19:59
  Well, now we're invited onto the red carpet, right, for the award show.
• 20:02
  I did 35 interviews.
• 20:03
  Right?
• 20:03
  So I just even though, you know, it's our job.
• 20:09
  Right?
• 20:09
  Like, that's our job is to be the ones.
• 20:11
  Like, this is where we're at.
• 20:13
  Even though I encourage everyone around us to do the same thing, we are very well, you know,
• 20:19
  I'm just built for it.
• 20:19
  I'm built for having a thousand conversations a night.
• 20:22
  I was doing it anyway.
• 20:23
  I'm just doing it in front of a microphone now.
• 20:25
  Mhmm.
• 20:25
  Right?
• 20:25
  Or doing it in front of a camera.
• 20:27
  I was already talking and having the conversations.
• 20:30
  Now I'm just actually capturing them, and that's what kinda led us to, I mean, I had the
• 20:35
  camera rolling all summer, Bari.
• 20:37
  I mean, that's just I got a movie.
• 20:39
  I just don't know how to put it together yet because and and we've connected with some
• 20:42
  editors and stuff now to where I think we have the wherewithal to bring it together and
• 20:46
  deliver something.
• 20:47
  But, you know
• 20:49
  If you need a soundtrack for it, man, I'm I'm happy to offer some tracks, bro.
• 20:52
  Now we're talking, man.
• 20:54
  Well man, I I own my stuff too.
• 20:56
  There's no life no leases, no licenses.
• 20:58
  We own it over here, so we have no trouble.
• 21:00
  I love it.
• 21:01
  Well and that's really what the movie is.
• 21:03
  Right?
• 21:03
  It's the soundtrack of our life.
• 21:06
  It's not just me going out and playing.
• 21:07
  It's me interviewing artists all over.
• 21:10
  We do what we call a songwriter showcase.
• 21:12
  So I sit down with seven, eight songwriters in a in a show, three, four hour show, and, we
• 21:17
  film it and broadcast HD cameras, and they get to share their art.
• 21:21
  Well, now those are able to go out on TruTV plus on Roku, Apple, Amazon, and to be out
• 21:28
  there into the world on TV.
• 21:30
  So when artists are coming in and giving us some of their time, now they can, you know, pay
• 21:35
  a little extra and see themselves on freaking Roku.
• 21:38
  And they don't have to build out the whole framework of that.
• 21:42
  I've already built the platform.
• 21:43
  You just gotta show up, contribute a little bit financially because it takes money to do these
• 21:48
  things.
• 21:49
  And I know that.
• 21:50
  Now now now you have your stuff out on Roku channel that you didn't have to go and build
• 21:56
  all those relationships and do all those things.
• 21:59
  Right?
• 22:00
  And it's like all this stuff has come to fruition.
• 22:03
  We have our own Internet radio station now, as well.
• 22:06
  Like, all this came in the last month, right, where I don't even know how to wield this
• 22:11
  superpower yet, where it's it's about having and the way that we market it is through our
• 22:17
  podcast.
• 22:17
  It's by talking about it and and getting this information out there through that and
• 22:22
  trickling it out.
• 22:23
  Our podcast is scheduled on I have episodes scheduled into March 2026 already.
• 22:29
  That's what it is.
• 22:30
  That's just from me coming home from tour in August and working for the last month.
• 22:37
  I gotta I gotta say, man.
• 22:39
  You've been nothing but an inspiration because I'm sitting here now, like, with ideas.
• 22:42
  I'm thinking, like, if I wanna do a podcast, I could say, I'm a recording artist.
• 22:45
  Who are you?
• 22:46
  And that could just be the whole idea right there.
• 22:49
  Boom.
• 22:50
  And and that's honestly what we've built.
• 22:52
  So I have the Midwest original music organization, which is for our artists to come
• 22:56
  in and kind of coach them into this is what I've learned about this industry.
• 23:01
  But, also, I have the Midwest podcasting organization and the Midwest podcasting
• 23:04
  network, and they're just they're private Facebook groups, but they're free to join.
• 23:08
  Right?
• 23:08
  But just to network and to be able to educate more people.
• 23:12
  I say podcast is how god is speaking through us.
• 23:14
  Like, these conversations with one to one or or how we're healing, how the world is healing
• 23:19
  itself.
• 23:20
  Right?
• 23:20
  Because it's getting people off of that social media bullshit and getting them into a real one
• 23:26
  on one conversation.
• 23:27
  And then the groups become group conversations.
• 23:30
  And then you get to take that once you have enough people in an area to get together.
• 23:34
  Like, hey.
• 23:35
  If you guys can get my gas money paid to come to your area, let's all get together, bring the
• 23:40
  cameras, we'll do songwriter showcases, we'll all hang out and network and get to hug each
• 23:44
  other, and then now you're building community.
• 23:47
  And that's why, you know, you see it in everything we do.
• 23:50
  Yes.
• 23:50
  It's a podcast, but it's a community.
• 23:52
  And it's a community of creators right now, but eventually, that is a community of the creators
• 23:58
  and fans of those creators as well.
• 24:01
  And we're just kind of in that creation phase right now.
• 24:04
  Right?
• 24:04
  You know, we're growing.
• 24:05
  We're we're blossoming, and the full realization of that may be years down the line
• 24:10
  still.
• 24:11
  Right?
• 24:11
  But I'm not gonna stop doing what I'm doing because there's maybe not the financial payoff
• 24:16
  yet, or we don't have a million subscribers on YouTube, or we like, whatever it is.
• 24:21
  I'm not chasing any kind of vanity metrics.
• 24:23
  I'm chasing one on one conversations with Bari, right, and and with a thousand other artists
• 24:29
  that we have scheduled out.
• 24:30
  You know?
• 24:31
  That that's what it's about.
• 24:33
  That's beautiful, man.
• 24:34
  I I gotta say this has been one of the most inspirational interviews I've ever had.
• 24:38
  Like, I I mean, I'm I'm at a loss for words is all I'm to say.
• 24:42
  Well, and that's because I've
• 24:43
  never connected with the person and and had so much in common.
• 24:46
  Someone just been intrigued.
• 24:47
  Like, usually, it's just like a it feels more of a transaction.
• 24:50
  You see what I'm saying?
• 24:51
  I'm like, this doesn't.
• 24:52
  I'm like, wow.
• 24:52
  I'm I'm interested.
• 24:54
  Right.
• 24:54
  Well and it is a transaction still.
• 24:56
  Right?
• 24:56
  It's a transaction of energy and of inspiration and intrigue.
• 25:00
  Right?
• 25:01
  I'm just as intrigued by you, and I'm sorry that I'm kinda dominating the conversation
• 25:05
  today
• 25:06
  telling you work.
• 25:07
  I'm excited to listen.
• 25:08
  That that I'm getting out about you.
• 25:10
  So maybe I should ask some questions and actually be an interviewer now.
• 25:14
  So, New Jersey, you mentioned, but you also mentioned not really wanting to to play out in
• 25:20
  the scene.
• 25:20
  Do you perform live now, or is it mostly just working in the lab and creating music?
• 25:27
  So I have some DJ friends that actually they are the ones that help me get live shows, and
• 25:32
  I've done one before.
• 25:33
  It's not that I don't wanna do it necessarily.
• 25:35
  It's more so I freestyle every song, so I genuinely don't know the words, and it takes me
• 25:40
  so much to practice them.
• 25:41
  And not to, like, say it as a complaint, like, oh, man.
• 25:43
  I'd hate to practice and get to learn my own songs.
• 25:46
  It's more so now it's it's take it's feeling more of a job, and it's more so, like, I wanna
• 25:50
  kinda keep it in the in the area where it's most authentic and fun, and I'm not sure that
• 25:54
  form of the of the job is my favorite.
• 25:57
  You know what I'm saying?
• 25:58
  So it's not saying I won't do it.
• 25:59
  It's not saying I'm not opposed to it.
• 26:01
  But if I wanna be a family man first, it's not gonna be something I'm gonna prioritize.
• 26:04
  I'd rather just build a community as we're saying, and then that's something I'd more so
• 26:08
  want.
• 26:09
  And I think I could do it other ways in 2025 than performing.
• 26:13
  Definitely.
• 26:14
  Well I think even just partnering with, like, brunch spots and stuff, and then we just
• 26:17
  provide the good vibes, and we say, hey.
• 26:19
  Sponsored by me or we're you know what I'm saying?
• 26:20
  Something like that.
• 26:21
  I think that's cool.
• 26:22
  Yeah.
• 26:23
  Networking connections, I think that's what the world is lacking right now more than anything.
• 26:27
  We don't need more performers necessarily.
• 26:30
  Right?
• 26:30
  There there's plenty of people that are willing to go out and perform their own music or other
• 26:34
  people.
• 26:35
  We need people that are gonna be that connection.
• 26:37
  And because attention is so divided, right, because we don't have you know, growing up,
• 26:43
  obviously, I loved Rolling Stone magazine because I could look right in there and I just
• 26:47
  like, these are the top people, and I'm meeting new bands and things like that.
• 26:51
  And they kinda lost their way, I think, and got a little bit too much into politics and just
• 26:57
  their magazine changed.
• 26:58
  And and the world changed around us.
• 27:00
  Right?
• 27:01
  When everything went digital, a lot of these magazines kinda lost what, what they were.
• 27:07
  They weren't the spot to go to anymore.
• 27:09
  And now it's just it's smaller communities.
• 27:13
  Right?
• 27:14
  And that's kind of what we've built.
• 27:15
  And that's why I encourage everyone I meet at this point to, like, you should have a podcast,
• 27:19
  especially if I identify something in you that's like, oh, you'd be good at this.
• 27:23
  Right?
• 27:24
  Yeah.
• 27:24
  Yeah.
• 27:24
  Interviewed me.
• 27:25
  You've interviewed me more on my own show than I've interviewed you.
• 27:29
  Right?
• 27:30
  Like, so it's obvious it's obvious that you would be really good at it, and your community
• 27:35
  needs it.
• 27:36
  Those DJs that are helping you to get onto the shows and that are out there spinning music and
• 27:40
  and doing their thing, they can probably connect you with a 100 artists right now that
• 27:45
  are up and coming that needs someone to ask them questions about themselves because they're
• 27:50
  not good at that thing.
• 27:52
  Right?
• 27:52
  And it's it's about having people that are willing to go do it without without the
• 27:59
  guarantee of financial gain.
• 28:01
  Right?
• 28:02
  And that's the problem is that because in this world and in our economy that, you know, you
• 28:08
  you feel like if it doesn't have a financial end to it, then it's not worth doing.
• 28:13
  And that simply is just not true.
• 28:16
  Yeah.
• 28:17
  And I I feel like that's how because I always one thing I always tell artists when I meet
• 28:20
  other artists is just don't forget what you're in it for.
• 28:23
  Because you're gonna get a million and 5 rejections, but, like, that's that shouldn't
• 28:26
  stop you because you'll always get rejected from something.
• 28:30
  You know?
• 28:31
  Bari, I sold magazines door to door.
• 28:33
  I've heard the word no and had door slammed on my face more times than I could count.
• 28:39
  And and in some ways, that developed me into the human being I am today.
• 28:43
  I didn't do it for very long, but I did it enough to be like, you can push through that.
• 28:47
  You can
• 28:48
  push through that.
• 28:48
  Motivate you or tell you sit down, do something else?
• 28:51
  Right.
• 28:52
  Well and I it was a little bit of both.
• 28:53
  Right?
• 28:54
  It was like, hey.
• 28:54
  You know what?
• 28:55
  You're more valuable just taking that guitar and going and standing on a street corner than
• 28:59
  you are going through and, hi.
• 29:01
  I'm Bubba, and I'm selling overpriced magazine subscriptions, and I'm never gonna win this
• 29:05
  contest that I'm trying to talk you into.
• 29:08
  But please please buy something from me today so I can stay at a, you know, motel six with,
• 29:14
  you know, 30 other people.
• 29:16
  Like, no.
• 29:16
  There was fun while it lasted.
• 29:18
  And as soon as it, like, started dragging me into, like, areas and regions that I didn't
• 29:23
  wanna go to, like, it was fun when I was doing the West Coast.
• 29:26
  Right?
• 29:26
  I was like, cool.
• 29:27
  Of course, dude.
• 29:27
  I've never
• 29:28
  seen places I wanted to be.
• 29:30
  Soon as they're like, we got to Phoenix, and they were like, alright.
• 29:32
  Next is Texas.
• 29:33
  And I was like, I think I'm good.
• 29:36
  Like Yeah.
• 29:37
  I think I wanna stay out here and see this part.
• 29:40
  You know?
• 29:40
  Because after Texas was Alabama and everything, I was like, I think I'm good on all that.
• 29:45
  Like, I I just I'm a go back to the beach.
• 29:48
  I'm a go back.
• 29:48
  You know what?
• 29:49
  We were just in, you know, Santa Barbara.
• 29:51
  I'm a go back there.
• 29:52
  That was that was nice.
• 29:53
  You know?
• 29:54
  And that's honestly been my vibe for a lot of things these days.
• 29:57
  I'm like, yeah.
• 29:58
  That's cool and all.
• 29:59
  Good for you, but I'm good on that.
• 30:00
  Right.
• 30:01
  And maybe that's something about being, you know, a a father first, being a little bit
• 30:06
  older.
• 30:06
  You know?
• 30:07
  I'm assuming you're probably not in your twenties anymore.
• 30:10
  Right?
• 30:10
  No.
• 30:11
  Big three zeros.
• 30:13
  Yeah.
• 30:13
  There you go.
• 30:14
  See it.
• 30:14
  I'm 39.
• 30:15
  Right?
• 30:16
  I'll be 40 next May.
• 30:17
  A lot of life behind me, but so many different lives where I got to go experience a lot of
• 30:22
  this.
• 30:23
  And I know for a fact that it's not for me because I'm that person.
• 30:27
  I need to go do it.
• 30:29
  I need to go do it.
• 30:30
  I can't have someone.
• 30:31
  I want Bari, inside baseball.
• 30:34
  I went to LA to sleep on Skid Row.
• 30:36
  Well, not sleep, but to stay on Skid Row and be a crackhead bum for a night.
• 30:39
  Because when my parents were telling me, you don't wanna grow up to be a crackhead bum
• 30:42
  because they'd seen that.
• 30:44
  Right?
• 30:44
  They grew up outside
• 30:45
  of Chicago.
• 30:45
  They had seen that.
• 30:46
  I grew up in rural South Dakota.
• 30:48
  I'd never
• 30:49
  seen seen it.
• 30:50
  I was like, how do you know I don't wanna be?
• 30:52
  And I went and did it for a night.
• 30:53
  I was thousand percent, you're right.
• 30:55
  Don't wanna be.
• 30:57
  Right?
• 30:57
  But I I just you know?
• 30:59
  And I don't know.
• 30:59
  That's probably a character flaw of mine, but it's also it's also given me all of this life
• 31:05
  experience that I can tell my kids and other people's kids like, no, bro.
• 31:09
  Trust me.
• 31:10
  You don't want to do that.
• 31:12
  Right?
• 31:12
  And here's the list of reasons why you don't want to do that.
• 31:16
  And I'm just yeah.
• 31:17
  I've never been a person that's like, you know, do do what I say because I said so.
• 31:21
  I have never been able to follow that.
• 31:23
  It's probably how I ended up in prison.
• 31:26
  Hey, man.
• 31:26
  Life has this way of just, like, not only having you sit down or redirect, but kinda
• 31:30
  pointing you where you need to be.
• 31:33
  You know?
• 31:34
  And I I can't feel like I was ever supposed to be anywhere than where I am right now.
• 31:39
  And if that's sitting in my garage studio, right, and and talking with people from around
• 31:45
  the world with different life experiences, but similar passions, man, I can't think of a place
• 31:52
  I'd rather be.
• 31:53
  At all.
• 31:55
  Not for
• 31:55
  Especially when you're in the driver's seat.
• 31:58
  Life is different when you're in the driver's seat too because I could tell you seem like
• 32:01
  you're very in the driver's seat, very hands on it.
• 32:03
  And for people that may not have that, I could see why they have the perspective of life they
• 32:08
  do because you seem to be super optimistic.
• 32:09
  You seem to be super there's nothing I can't do, and if I couldn't do it, there's no reason
• 32:13
  why I shouldn't try.
• 32:15
  You know what I mean?
• 32:15
  And there's just a lot of people out here where every time I'm around them, they're always
• 32:19
  telling me what they're discouraged by, but I'm like, that's cute.
• 32:22
  What what's your reason to keep going, though?
• 32:24
  Don't don't don't share what you're sad about all day.
• 32:26
  Let let's see what how we can get the gears in motion.
• 32:28
  We could be sad after we did it.
• 32:30
  I don't care how sad you wanna be after you did it.
• 32:32
  We could complain.
• 32:33
  Like, the way I break it down to people is, like, I used I used to be an athlete.
• 32:36
  Right?
• 32:36
  I was a runner, a long distance runner.
• 32:38
  Come on, man.
• 32:39
  There's nothing sexy about saying we're gonna run three miles.
• 32:42
  That that sounds exhausting.
• 32:43
  Like, come on, family.
• 32:44
  I know I trained for it, but Jesus is Lord.
• 32:46
  Stop playing.
• 32:46
  No.
• 32:47
  But then after I run the three miles and I'm tired as could be, I'm like, bro, you know how
• 32:51
  tired I am, man, but I'm happy I did it.
• 32:53
  Now I'm happy I did it.
• 32:54
  I'm overjoyed because I did it anyway, and I look at music the same way.
• 32:57
  You know, maybe I'm running my race, running my race, maybe I'm getting tired halfway.
• 33:01
  Cool.
• 33:02
  I'll still finish the race, and I'll train again, and I'll come back and run the race when
• 33:05
  I have all the energy in the world to get it to where I wanna be.
• 33:07
  That's all it is.
• 33:08
  I just tell people, keep running your race, don't stop, and then always remember as I said
• 33:12
  before, remember what you're in it for.
• 33:14
  You know?
• 33:15
  And those are just the driving points that I think are super important in someone who wants
• 33:20
  to be successful.
• 33:21
  And, I mean, again, I'm just so inspired by the conversation.
• 33:23
  I had so many different podcast ideas or just ideas to enact around conversation just from
• 33:28
  talking to you.
• 33:29
  You know?
• 33:29
  Because when I when I started music, I was I had moved back to New Jersey.
• 33:35
  It was right in the middle of the pandemic.
• 33:36
  Before the pandemic, I was living in New York, which I thought was the best place to be if I
• 33:40
  wanna do music, but I was never doing music at that point.
• 33:42
  I might have had a few introductions here and there, but I never took them seriously because
• 33:46
  I wasn't really I just wasn't in that space yet.
• 33:48
  You know what I mean?
• 33:49
  I think and as as I was saying, you know, we get guided back to the spaces that we need to
• 33:53
  be.
• 33:53
  And and now that I'm here in New Jersey and not in New York, I'm like, dang.
• 33:56
  I have all the music now, but it's like I don't have the outlet.
• 33:58
  I don't have the community, but it's like, that's an excuse on my part now.
• 34:02
  You know what I mean?
• 34:02
  Because if I really want it, I'm a find a way to make it happen like I always do.
• 34:05
  Your community is right here.
• 34:07
  Right?
• 34:07
  Your community is right here online.
• 34:09
  I mean, I've built I live in a town of a thousand people.
• 34:12
  Right.
• 34:12
  In the middle of South Dakota, I am I am an hour and a half from any town that has over a
• 34:17
  100,000 people in it.
• 34:19
  I am five hours from the Twin Cities.
• 34:22
  I'm five hours from Kansas City.
• 34:24
  I am lit as a in the middle of nowhere as you can get.
• 34:27
  Right?
• 34:28
  And, I've built all of this from nothing, from an idea that said, oh, you can have a podcast,
• 34:35
  but your podcast doesn't have to just be a podcast.
• 34:37
  Each podcast has its own network.
• 34:39
  And if each podcast has its own network, then you can build out as many as you want.
• 34:44
  And I just started filling up space.
• 34:45
  Right?
• 34:46
  I mean, we have a sports network.
• 34:47
  We have a political news network.
• 34:49
  We have a mental health and kind of that side of a network.
• 34:53
  We support nonprofits like Operation Combating Veteran Suicide.
• 34:56
  We support our high school, you know, athletics organizations, whether it's the football team.
• 35:02
  I do a coaches show every weekend with the head football coach where we break down tape and
• 35:06
  talk about his student athletes.
• 35:08
  We're at all the local things.
• 35:10
  My wife works at the school, so we get to be, you know, involved with a little bit more
• 35:14
  there.
• 35:14
  But it's about serving a community.
• 35:18
  And how are you going to do that?
• 35:20
  And for me, it's running my mouth and shooting some tape.
• 35:24
  How hard is that?
• 35:25
  You know?
• 35:25
  We all walk around with these cameras in our hands all the time anyway.
• 35:29
  What are you gonna use yours for?
• 35:31
  And for me, it was really learning in the last pretty much the last six months where, yes, I
• 35:37
  was serving our artist community and getting them on and sharing their art and doing that,
• 35:43
  but what more can we do?
• 35:44
  What more can we do for brands and organizations that need promotion?
• 35:48
  Because, really, at the end of the day, we're a promotion engine.
• 35:51
  Right?
• 35:52
  We are a content creation engine for people that don't know how to do that for themselves,
• 35:57
  or even if they do, just can't seem to get the traction to the wheels.
• 36:01
  Right?
• 36:01
  So we're kind of like the the transmission, I guess.
• 36:04
  Even if you have a high powered engine and you can output it, well, how do you actually
• 36:08
  transfer that power into something that gives you traction and propels your career?
• 36:12
  And that's what we're building is is here's the vessel for that.
• 36:16
  Here are the tools to help you along that journey.
• 36:19
  And, you know, that's that's kind of what the the organizations, you know, the Momos, as we
• 36:24
  call it, the Midwest Original Music Organization is is that it's the it's the car
• 36:30
  that everybody can get in and say, hey.
• 36:31
  We're all gonna go do this together, or it's the boat rather.
• 36:34
  A boat's a better analogy because we need people that are gonna row.
• 36:37
  If you're gonna get in and you're gonna be an anchor, you're in.
• 36:40
  We cut anchors loose because we're moving.
• 36:42
  We ain't trying to sit in harbor.
• 36:44
  We're trying to sail around the world.
• 36:46
  Right?
• 36:46
  And Get the gears going.
• 36:47
  Right?
• 36:47
  That's what I'm saying.
• 36:48
  And and if you ain't rowing and you ain't pulling on your end as hard as you can, then we
• 36:54
  don't have any room for you.
• 36:57
  Right?
• 36:57
  Like, we only make room for people that are gonna row and gonna help us get to that
• 37:01
  eventual goal, which is to never stop doing what we're doing.
• 37:05
  Right?
• 37:05
  Like, there's not a goal that says, oh, when we get here, we're there.
• 37:08
  No.
• 37:08
  There is no destination.
• 37:10
  The goal is just to keep the damn thing moving for as long as we can, have it outlive me, have
• 37:15
  it outlive every host that's involved now to the end of our careers, and to be able to pass
• 37:20
  this thing on to generations of creators.
• 37:24
  And that's, like, that's the gigantic goal.
• 37:28
  Right?
• 37:29
  And how do you quantify that?
• 37:30
  Right?
• 37:31
  Like, how do you put that on a piece of paper for someone to understand?
• 37:35
  And the answer is that you really can't.
• 37:36
  You just have to get them in the boat.
• 37:38
  Right?
• 37:38
  Like, what can I do to get you in the boat?
• 37:40
  And then from there, we'll just continue to grow together.
• 37:43
  100%.
• 37:45
  100%.
• 37:46
  Yeah.
• 37:46
  And that's how it and that and that's all I'm really looking for, honestly.
• 37:49
  Because, again, just like you, man, I live all the way in suburbs.
• 37:52
  I'm so far from everything, but I'm still excited to see about all see all the progress
• 37:57
  that I'm still able to make.
• 37:59
  Yeah, man.
• 38:00
  That's a
• 38:01
  tough with the studio and the show that all the people, all the artists in New York City wanna
• 38:07
  talk to.
• 38:07
  And you don't have to be there to be connected to the city.
• 38:10
  Right?
• 38:11
  Like, obviously, I to hear you wax poetic about NYC, it still means something to you.
• 38:17
  Right?
• 38:17
  And how could it not?
• 38:18
  You know, if you're born and raised around that area, it's everything.
• 38:20
  And in many ways, it's the heartbeat of the whole world.
• 38:23
  Right?
• 38:23
  Yeah.
• 38:24
  You know?
• 38:24
  Whether it's, you know, in complete shambles right now or not, you know, the city's changed
• 38:30
  a lot in the last twenty years.
• 38:33
  But Oh, has.
• 38:33
  Yeah.
• 38:33
  It's still still the hub and the cultural center of a lot of, a lot of what the world
• 38:42
  sees.
• 38:43
  Right?
• 38:43
  Yeah.
• 38:44
  And that may have shifted to LA for a period of time, or it may be, you know, in other parts of
• 38:49
  the world.
• 38:50
  Texas right now, if I'm gonna be honest with
• 38:52
  you. Think
• 38:52
  Think Austin, man.
• 38:53
  It's hard to deny that.
• 38:54
  I was in Austin walking around Sixth Street.
• 38:56
  I went to the mother ship.
• 38:57
  Right?
• 38:57
  No.
• 38:58
  Nothing was going on there, but walking through and just being there, you can feel the vibe.
• 39:02
  Right?
• 39:02
  You can feel that pulse on the streets and, oh, it's humming.
• 39:06
  But I think that it's all what I think is that you just have different heartbeats everywhere.
• 39:12
  In some ways, we're we're kinda becoming a heartbeat for the Midwest.
• 39:17
  Minneapolis used to be that for out here, and and they went through such a horrible, horrible
• 39:22
  experience with COVID and the the riots and all of it that people were just scared to leave
• 39:30
  their house.
• 39:30
  And in some ways, the Minneapolis scene is just starting to wake up again.
• 39:35
  And I think that that's better for the whole Midwest scene when it's like that.
• 39:40
  But that kind of deterioration has left a left an opening for someone like me who's a complete
• 39:46
  outsider to now come up there and have an have a footprint, right, where that wasn't even
• 39:51
  possible five years ago.
• 39:53
  I was never gonna be able to break in there.
• 39:55
  All of us South Dakota bands and everything were like, oh my god.
• 39:57
  If we could only play in the cities, now I'm invited up there with open arms with the
• 40:02
  podcast, with my music, with everything, and it really left the door open for a new generation
• 40:07
  of how things are done.
• 40:09
  And, now I I'm not stopping there.
• 40:12
  Right?
• 40:12
  I've already been trying to get into Chicago and Saint Louis and Kansas City and Memphis and
• 40:17
  our Little Rock and all these other places to just have a little bit of a footprint.
• 40:22
  Right?
• 40:22
  I don't need to be everything to everywhere, but I do wanna have a part of the scene in all
• 40:27
  these different places and to be welcomed whenever I wanna come through town.
• 40:32
  Yeah.
• 40:33
  I like that.
• 40:33
  You know, the you you're leaving me with, like, a world of ideas, man.
• 40:36
  I gotta say this is the most motivational conversation I've had in years.
• 40:42
  Well, good, man.
• 40:43
  Welcome to the boat.
• 40:44
  Right?
• 40:45
  Well, welcome onto the ship.
• 40:46
  And, you know, anytime that you need help with anything, you wanna call, like, you got my
• 40:51
  info.
• 40:51
  I'm an open book.
• 40:52
  This is all I do.
• 40:53
  I don't have a regular job that I go to, that I give I couldn't give someone else any more of
• 40:59
  my time.
• 41:00
  Right?
• 41:00
  Once the job started feeling like prison again, the paycheck didn't matter.
• 41:05
  I'll find money.
• 41:05
  At all.
• 41:06
  I'll some money.
• 41:07
  Right?
• 41:08
  Like, I'm very blessed in my career to be established to the point where I get paid
• 41:12
  pretty well to perform.
• 41:14
  Right?
• 41:14
  I'm making between 500 and a thousand dollars when I go out to perform at a show.
• 41:19
  Now I have to pay other musicians for those things, but I'm I'm making enough money, and I
• 41:23
  live in rural South Dakota, man.
• 41:25
  My my mortgage is $600 a month.
• 41:27
  That's what I see, that's why I need that's why that's the only thing that stopped me from
• 41:30
  going to the city because this is definitely never you're never finding that.
• 41:33
  Bro, I interviewed someone that lives in Brooklyn yesterday.
• 41:36
  Spencer Brill's got a band up there.
• 41:38
  Spencer Brill Music.
• 41:39
  Great guy, indie rock artist, amazing conversation.
• 41:43
  But his rent was $2,800 a month, and I was like,
• 41:46
  how do
• 41:47
  live?
• 41:48
  How do you live?
• 41:50
  I was making $50,000 a year at my job, and it was a pretty good job for South Dakota.
• 41:55
  But, like, how do you your rent is more than that.
• 41:59
  Your rent is $36,000 a year?
• 42:02
  What the
• 42:02
  Come on, family.
• 42:03
  That's wild.
• 42:04
  Like yeah.
• 42:05
  I I can't even fathom it.
• 42:07
  Right?
• 42:08
  I can't I'm just like that.
• 42:10
  Our house costs $85,000.
• 42:12
  You pay in rent in three years, you would have paid off my home.
• 42:16
  Right?
• 42:17
  And Mhmm.
• 42:18
  Do you really need to be there?
• 42:20
  Do you you know what I mean?
• 42:21
  Like and that's I think people are gonna continue to ask themselves these kind of
• 42:26
  questions over the next, right, over the next, you know, several years as so many of us, so
• 42:32
  many people have been pushed out of the workplace anyway, whether they just don't have
• 42:37
  a job anymore or they work from home.
• 42:39
  Like, does your home need to cost you $2,800 a month?
• 42:43
  Probably not.
• 42:45
  Hey.
• 42:45
  You said it was an indie rock, musician in in Brooklyn?
• 42:50
  Yeah.
• 42:51
  What was his name again?
• 42:52
  I wanna definitely check his stuff out.
• 42:53
  Spencer Brill.
• 42:56
  Spencer Brill was b r I l l.
• 42:59
  C r b r Yeah.
• 43:02
  He was great, man.
• 43:03
  And his episode probably won't be airing for a a little while, but he got a cool band and and
• 43:08
  a cool indie rock scene that they're in.
• 43:10
  He said it was kinda like, you know, a throwback to bands like Weezer and Death Cab
• 43:16
  and and that kind of stuff.
• 43:17
  So I was, you know, in.
• 43:19
  Brother, I don't I my calendar link's just out there now.
• 43:22
  Right?
• 43:22
  I don't know the people that
• 43:23
  are signing up for my stuff.
• 43:24
  I didn't know who you were.
• 43:26
  I asked Chad GPT.
• 43:27
  Who is Kabari Phillips?
• 43:29
  Okay.
• 43:29
  This is
• 43:29
  this is who he says he is.
• 43:31
  You know?
• 43:32
  Let's get on.
• 43:32
  Figured.
• 43:33
  Yeah.
• 43:33
  When you were reading, was like, that's definitely Chad GPT.
• 43:35
  Was like, that's so because it's super cool that I was still so spot on, though.
• 43:38
  Like, that's awesome.
• 43:40
  Yeah.
• 43:40
  Well and I just started doing that, like, two weeks ago, and I was like, oh, I've been
• 43:43
  screwing up by not doing this for eighteen months.
• 43:45
  Right?
• 43:45
  Like
• 43:46
  It not only it doesn't save time, it's, you know, it's very it's it's a quick intro.
• 43:51
  It's everything you actually need too.
• 43:52
  You know what I'm saying?
• 43:53
  Like, I I think that was perfect because that's that's what I do.
• 43:56
  Yeah.
• 43:57
  And is it is it absolutely perfect and spot on with what it does all the time?
• 44:01
  No.
• 44:01
  Sometimes it needs to be edited.
• 44:03
  Sometimes I get on, and you're like, yeah.
• 44:04
  My name's pronounced like this.
• 44:05
  I'm like, shit.
• 44:06
  Give me two minutes.
• 44:07
  I'm a jump over in Zoom real quick, record a new intro, pronounce your name right, and then
• 44:12
  I'll go back and but it's just so easy.
• 44:14
  And because I have the experience now of, you know, of having the producing experience,
• 44:22
  right, that it can do it, which I screwed up on.
• 44:25
  I should have been running my banners this whole time.
• 44:27
  Sometime I need I need a producer in the background to handle some of this stuff because
• 44:31
  when I get trapped in the conversation, man, that's all I wanna do.
• 44:34
  Right?
• 44:34
  Right.
• 44:35
  I I just wanna have a conversation with my new friend and tell them about me and to hear about
• 44:40
  them and just, like, that's what this show is to me.
• 44:43
  And is it always great content?
• 44:45
  I don't know.
• 44:46
  I don't ask the people who are watching.
• 44:47
  Right?
• 44:48
  Do you do you
• 44:49
  want a good time.
• 44:49
  Yeah.
• 44:51
  And that's how I'm if I'm if I'm as motivated as can be over here, I'm pretty sure we just
• 44:55
  motivated an army of people.
• 44:58
  And even and the hard part is is I've equated it to, like, you know, it's a ripple effect.
• 45:03
  Right?
• 45:03
  We're throwing all these stones out in the ocean, and and there may be people that don't
• 45:07
  see this stuff for two, three, four years down the line, but then they're going back and
• 45:11
  looking through the archives and like, damn.
• 45:14
  And by that time, you may have been on the show three, four times.
• 45:17
  Right?
• 45:17
  Like Come
• 45:17
  on now.
• 45:18
  There's nothing that says you're on once that you can't come back.
• 45:20
  You know?
• 45:21
  When you get that podcast up and going, I wanna have you back on so we can talk about that.
• 45:25
  Right?
• 45:25
  Or or you got a new song coming out, and that's how I am with all the artists that I'm doing.
• 45:29
  So while we have new guests coming on all the time, I love talking to a guest who's been on
• 45:34
  before too because now we get to catch up.
• 45:36
  Oh, hey.
• 45:36
  What have you been up to?
• 45:37
  You know?
• 45:38
  Because otherwise otherwise, we don't get together.
• 45:41
  As artists, especially as musicians or as touring musicians, like, we're busy.
• 45:46
  A lot of people I know that are playing four or five nights a week, and they're not anywhere
• 45:50
  close to me.
• 45:51
  Right?
• 45:51
  Because I'm in the middle of freaking nowhere.
• 45:54
  So I don't get to see my friends unless they're on the show, and that's just the reality that I
• 45:59
  live in.
• 46:00
  Wow.
• 46:01
  Yeah.
• 46:02
  And it's like that
• 46:03
  too because, you know, once you're you mention that as an artist, even if I'm trying to get a
• 46:07
  feature or work with someone, that's usually been very difficult too.
• 46:10
  We never have the time.
• 46:11
  The schedule is never never you know, they never meet, all that.
• 46:17
  So yeah.
• 46:18
  No.
• 46:18
  I'll definitely be interested in coming back too if you if since your calendar's out there,
• 46:22
  you know, I'll see it.
• 46:22
  I'll just be like, hey.
• 46:23
  Let's see if you're free this day.
• 46:24
  I'm I'm dropping the project this day.
• 46:26
  Hey.
• 46:26
  Let's talk about it.
• 46:27
  There you go.
• 46:28
  And that's Oh, go ahead.
• 46:30
  Go ahead.
• 46:30
  No.
• 46:30
  No.
• 46:30
  No.
• 46:30
  You go.
• 46:31
  I want to ask.
• 46:31
  You mentioned you had a Internet radio, going as well.
• 46:35
  Do you do you allow submissions from, independent artists for that?
• 46:38
  Yes, sir.
• 46:39
  That's all it is.
• 46:41
  So how do I go about submitting a song?
• 46:43
  I'll send you a form.
• 46:45
  Send you a form, and then, you'll fill out a little q and a in that as well.
• 46:48
  We write for a a magazine called Tumbling Rock Zine in Minneapolis.
• 46:53
  So the q and a sections are gonna become part of what we start sending to them, to the
• 46:58
  editors there as far as what they might want to include in their magazine.
• 47:02
  But we have other magazines that we're tied to as well.
• 47:04
  Like, we are the the longer I do this, the more connections that I make.
• 47:08
  I'm covering the Josie Music Awards, which is an independent, kinda country rock more in that
• 47:14
  genre.
• 47:15
  But, I mean, they have they have former winners of theirs that are on the voice right now, on
• 47:20
  Snoop Dogg's team.
• 47:21
  Right?
• 47:22
  That's important.
• 47:22
  So but I'm there as media covering the event now on November 2.
• 47:27
  We'll be down there in Nashville covering that at the Grand Ole Opry.
• 47:31
  Oh, snap.
• 47:31
  That's great, man.
• 47:32
  Congratulations.
• 47:33
  You got a lot going, man.
• 47:34
  That's Thank you.
• 47:35
  Beautiful.
• 47:35
  Yeah.
• 47:36
  That's and it's it it only continues to grow.
• 47:39
  Right?
• 47:39
  We have no idea where it's going.
• 47:41
  Actually, we're we have Kevin Gates tickets that were given away for Live Nation because
• 47:46
  Nice.
• 47:47
  Because there's not people in South Dakota that are doing what we're doing and talking to the
• 47:52
  people that we're talking to.
• 47:53
  Right?
• 47:54
  So they're like, well, hey.
• 47:55
  Can you because there's no hip hop radio station in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
• 47:58
  Surprise.
• 48:00
  They're like, we have we have nowhere to promote this show to people.
• 48:04
  So I've been able to utilize some of our connections and to get into there, and that's
• 48:07
  at one of the biggest arenas in the state.
• 48:10
  Yeah.
• 48:10
  Well, I mean, that's that's incredible.
• 48:13
  Oh, I did also wanna ask.
• 48:15
  I'd love to utilize some of our some scenes from, you know, our conversation as content at
• 48:19
  all.
• 48:19
  Would that be possible?
• 48:20
  Is there any way I I wasn't recording anything.
• 48:22
  If you ever have a moment, just any kind of segment.
• 48:25
  I have I have a video editor myself.
• 48:26
  I could chop it up too.
• 48:28
  I'm gonna introduce you to some stuff that is gonna blow your mind.
• 48:31
  All of this this entire episode can be cut up into a battle.
• 48:36
  It'll probably be more like 30 shorts because we've been talking with for a while, but it'll
• 48:40
  happen in about five minutes.
• 48:42
  It'll take me longer to download it and upload it than it will for my editing software to spit
• 48:46
  it all out with descriptions and captions and everything.
• 48:49
  Oh, my boy got it going.
• 48:51
  That's Oh,
• 48:51
  yeah.
• 48:52
  Hey.
• 48:52
  You don't get to a quarter million views in six months on YouTube without having some really
• 48:56
  powerful tools in your pocket.
• 48:58
  I don't spend any time editing anything.
• 49:01
  Right?
• 49:01
  And that's what I'm trying to now turn people onto is like, hey.
• 49:04
  These are the tools that I use.
• 49:06
  This is what you should be doing if you want to crack the code.
• 49:10
  If you wanna crack those algorithms, this is what you need to do.
• 49:14
  You the days of going viral and having one thing that goes out there and all of a sudden
• 49:18
  catches fire, your chances of that happening are literally one in probably trillions now
• 49:24
  because of the amount of AI content that is coming out.
• 49:27
  Right?
• 49:28
  So those days of, like, you know, 02/2016, right, where you could drop something, it went
• 49:34
  viral, and now you're a big star.
• 49:36
  That shit ain't happening for nobody.
• 49:37
  So give up on that.
• 49:38
  Learn how to be a creator and and just volume.
• 49:41
  Pure volume.
• 49:42
  Yeah.
• 49:42
  Is it is it credible?
• 49:44
  Can you can you build trust with the community?
• 49:47
  Can you do what you say you're going to do?
• 49:51
  Because the Internet will suss out bullshit faster than than it ever has.
• 49:56
  Right?
• 49:56
  Mhmm.
• 49:57
  And, that's where we just were like, no.
• 49:59
  We're gonna do 12 interviews a week.
• 50:00
  We're gonna post them up.
• 50:01
  We're gonna have our whole if you go on our YouTube page, I have I have literally not just
• 50:06
  telling you that I have content ready to go.
• 50:08
  You can see it.
• 50:09
  In all of my premiers, it looks like a cable TV network.
• 50:12
  Show after show after show for months on end.
• 50:15
  This is what's coming out because I need to be able to prove that value to potential sponsors
• 50:20
  and advertisers to say, no.
• 50:22
  I'm not just telling you that I'm doing something.
• 50:24
  Here's the proof.
• 50:25
  Here's all the episodes that you could be a part of.
• 50:28
  Show me the money.
• 50:29
  Right?
• 50:29
  Instead of going, I have an idea and, yeah, we're doing some things.
• 50:33
  Why would anyone trust me?
• 50:34
  But you can trust that, oh, there's all okay.
• 50:37
  Yeah.
• 50:37
  Cool.
• 50:38
  Sounds good.
• 50:38
  Yeah.
• 50:39
  Here here's the check.
• 50:41
  Wow.
• 50:43
  Yeah.
• 50:43
  You gotta show and that's another thing I was I was telling myself the other day.
• 50:46
  You gotta show your work.
• 50:47
  So every time I open my Apple Music page or just any of them, I'm like, wow.
• 50:50
  I have so much stuff here.
• 50:51
  That's beautiful.
• 50:52
  So I'm showing people that I'm here.
• 50:54
  Because I was talking to another artist the other day, and some artist he was talking to
• 50:57
  someone trying to get them on a feature, but the artist that he wanted the feature, they
• 51:02
  didn't have much music out or anything.
• 51:04
  And they were like, oh, well, I charge this.
• 51:05
  And the other artist was like, how can you charge, but no one sees what you've done?
• 51:09
  We don't even know the quality of what you're able to do.
• 51:11
  It this is not even, like, something we would be interested in.
• 51:15
  Yeah.
• 51:15
  And that was kind of what pushed me into podcasting too is that, like, I don't write
• 51:19
  songs like that anymore.
• 51:20
  Right?
• 51:21
  Like, if if I would've if we would've had all this home studio equipment when I was 22 and I
• 51:27
  had all of the access to things that I do now when I was writing out, when I was just raw and
• 51:32
  and everything was affecting me and everything that affected me, I wrote a song about.
• 51:36
  And if I would have that, sure.
• 51:38
  I could go out and and freaking be a superstar now.
• 51:41
  But, yeah, I I don't have that anymore.
• 51:44
  Like, I I write maybe a song or two a year if that.
• 51:47
  Oh, wow.
• 51:48
  You know, I'm trying to, like, go back and write.
• 51:50
  You know?
• 51:50
  I'm just trying to record the 30 or 40 songs that I had written back then and get those
• 51:55
  recorded now and to show that to people.
• 51:58
  But I can't keep up with the amount of output that is demanded of an artist these days, but I
• 52:04
  can do a podcast and talk to artists that are doing that.
• 52:07
  Yeah.
• 52:08
  Hey.
• 52:08
  You know, I have a great idea for our our next meeting if I book when I well, not if.
• 52:12
  When I book one, would you would you be open to just, you know, we could listen to the songs
• 52:16
  and then, you know, you could just give me your opinion on whether you like them, don't like
• 52:18
  them, don't leave it I just wanna hear your raw thing.
• 52:21
  Love noise, Vari.
• 52:22
  Oh, gotcha.
• 52:23
  Every every Wednesday at 9PM central, we go live on our YouTube page, and we have an artist
• 52:29
  on.
• 52:29
  They share three of their songs, and, we listen to them live on the air.
• 52:33
  Some of people have performed acoustically on the air for us.
• 52:37
  Oh, cool.
• 52:38
  But we just kinda hang out.
• 52:40
  We get to talk about the songs instead of the artists.
• 52:42
  Right?
• 52:42
  Like, today is
• 52:43
  more Yeah.
• 52:44
  Getting to know you and you getting to know me.
• 52:47
  Love Noise is all about the music.
• 52:49
  And it's
• 52:50
  yeah.
• 52:51
  You can book in for that next week.
• 52:52
  We need a guest.
• 52:54
  Awesome sauce.
• 52:54
  Yeah.
• 52:55
  Again, if you share all the information, man, I'm with you.
• 52:57
  I'm I'm prepared to send everything you need because I'm definitely interested in Internet
• 53:00
  radio and the love, music.
• 53:02
  Love Noise.
• 53:03
  Love Noise.
• 53:04
  Excuse me.
• 53:04
  Yeah.
• 53:05
  You're all good.
• 53:05
  It's first time you heard of it.
• 53:06
  I forgive you.
• 53:09
  Hey, brother.
• 53:10
  Go ahead and share with us everywhere that people can find you and where they can connect
• 53:14
  with you as well, and then we'll talk a little bit off camera when we're all done here.
• 53:18
  Yeah.
• 53:19
  For sure.
• 53:19
  So, guys, pleasure pleasure for bit.
• 53:21
  Excuse me.
• 53:22
  Thank you so much for having me here, man.
• 53:23
  My name is Bari McKnight.
• 53:24
  You can find me on all major DSPs at Bari McKnight and then also on Instagram and all
• 53:29
  social media networks at Bari McKnight as well.
• 53:33
  Bari, thanks for some of your time today, man.
• 53:35
  I'm looking forward to chatting after we get off camera here and, continuing to just be a
• 53:41
  friend for a long time to come.
• 53:43
  So thank you for some time, and thank you for being part of the scene.
• 53:47
  Salute.
• 53:47
  Likewise, man.