Latest / Caught on the Mike... / Mikey and Zayno of Strange Case

Transcript

Mikey and Zayno of Strange Case · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Cotton the Mike.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: And today we are hanging out with one of Southern California's fastest rising bands.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: They've toured nationally, shared stages with bands such as Sublime, built a million stream hit, and landed music on Netflix, and became the very first band signed to the sunburnt label.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Look at Xeno's background, for God's sakes.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, look at the guy, dude.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's right.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's right.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: That was a good intro.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: These boys are fucking coming up.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: They are coming out of these necks.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: These are the ones to watch for, bro.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's straight guys.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: See, anytime we can get a little bonus appearance from Jacob, it makes it that much better.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now we're under the record label right here, dude.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_04: I'm not 100% sure, but I think Zaino might like Sunburn Records a little bit.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_04: Just a little bit, right?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_04: Just a little bit.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: Now with the brand new album, Gone for a While, dropping August 8th.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: Strange Case is proving that the next wave of SoCal rock isn't just coming, it's already here.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: I am joined by Zaino and Michael of Strange Case.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: How the hell are you, fellas?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: Doing amazing.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: Thriving.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: Thriving.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having us.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: Dude, I am stoked to have you guys on.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: Michael sent me a link to the album earlier.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: I've been listening to it all day.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: I absolutely love it.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: I cannot wait.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: So the title says a lot.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: Gone for a while.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's dropping August 8th.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: Why was that the right title for this record?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, there was a there's a song on the record called Gone for a While, and this is a true story.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_04: It sounds like a cheesy uh I don't know, but this actually happened.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_04: Aaron, our bass player, started playing the little intro riff for that song.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_04: First thing that came out of my mouth was, I've been gone for a while.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_04: And I think we all looked at each other and did the Spider-Man meme, and we were like, I think that's the name of the album.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_04: And it stuck.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_04: We never changed it.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: So the album itself marks your first LP in years and reflects a new creative chapter following extensive touring and growth.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: Xano, from your perspective, what does this album mean to you?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's the first coherent, cohesive album that we put a hundred percent of ourselves into.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that's pretty crazy considering we've been a band for 10 years and different iterations of Strange Case, and it feels really good to finally put maximum effort into something and feel like it represents exactly who we are right now, and something that we're genuinely proud to share with everyone.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: We've never quite done that before.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: We've been diddling and distracted and you know, running around doing different jobs, and we're and now we've just locked in and focused on strange case finally, giving the project the the attention it deserves, and that feels really good.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: I love that I was talking to John Feldman earlier this week, John Feldman from Goldfinger.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: And the uh the comment came up was it takes 10 years to make an overnight success.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: So that's fitting.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's what they say.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: 10 years in the music industry to finally get your first big break, right?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that's pretty much been us.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Strange Case started dropping music in 2017, but Mikey and I were playing, you know, early versions of Strange Case under different names since 2015, 2014.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been a good about 10 years coming up.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: We shared some love for Sunburn at the start of this recording.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: You guys first band signed the label.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's a pretty unique distinction.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh what made you guys stand out before the rest of the world caught on to your music?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: And how is that relationship with the label and the man in the front seat evolved over the years?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: Man, yeah.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the cool part about the label is it's just right now only bands that we are directly connected to, that we believe in, that we all play in.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's just one big family right now, which is I think what makes some of the greatest art and the greatest memories and things for people to pay attention to is like this whole group and scene that's emerging from SoCal right now, from Jacob's Castle, Strange Case to Eighth Ball to our Uncles in Sublime, Jesse James Pariah, and even some East Coast fellas like Dylan Katron and you know Reefas.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, it's just one big collective.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: We all have different sounds, and they all fit really nicely together, despite being, you know, separated by genre labels.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: And Strange Case and Castle are the two that have kind of been at it the longest.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so we're just keeping it tight right now and you know, keeping it all family.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, I think uh I think the greatest art is created like that, you know.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: We just we have a good little thing brewing here.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: From your perspective, Michael, what's the evolution of that relationship been like for you?
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean when it first started, you know, we've made our little labels and stuff over over the years, and they've always just been a name, really, but it didn't really click for me until we did the first uh Sunburn tour.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_04: And if you went to any of those shows, you would have seen the first band go on, and then the second band was half the people from the first band, and then the last band was the other half of the first band.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_04: So that's when it really clicked to me.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_04: I was like, this is really just one big family, and I love that it's so tight-knit at the moment.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_04: Um it feels like no matter what sunburnt show you go to, you're gonna get the full sunburnt experience.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, the crew rolls up deep.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: We just did the sunburnt stage at the last Sublime Fest in Salt Lake City, and you know, we have all of our uncles playing on the big stage from Long Beach to Ball Stars to co-defendants, Ataris.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: But on the Sunburn stage, it's just all the Groms, you know, Jacob's Castle, nice and swell, eighth ball, strange case, untitled.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: And do we roll through with a squad of like 30 extra people that are just the homies that drive up, help out, you know, help make everything happen from you know carrying gear, setting up, um, photography, helping drive the van.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's just like a giant squad of like sketchy looking individuals, but it's just like the greatest group of humans.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we went to a couple bars the night before in Salt Lake and we just totally didn't fit in out there.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: We just looked like the most SoCal bros ever, but like we came in deep, dude, karaoke and fucking drinking and playing pool.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I just love seeing like the whole squad together.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's unlike anything I've ever been a part of.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm super grateful for our extended family.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_04: The best thing, too, is like on the Sunburn stages, every band that goes on, I'm genuinely like, dang, I don't know if I'm biased, but every band is so freaking good, too.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_04: Just like I always feel like we're the worst one on the lineup because I'm just like, every band is so talented.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_04: Don't sell yourself short, bro.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_04: You guys are messing with it.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, no, no, no.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_04: Being the worst band on the Sunburn stage still is still uh means you're a very good band.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, when I had Jacob on a couple of months back, that was the thing that I talked about with all of you guys is the family nature of just how you all collaborate and intermingle.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's amazing.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sure.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_04: I mean especially with Strange Case, that three of us have known each other since middle school, so it really does go go deep.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: Love it.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: Love it.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: Your music feels undeniably SoCal, but it doesn't feel like you guys are copying anyone.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: You're like crafting your own sound.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: How do you balance honoring that legendary SoCal sound while making something that's unmistakably strange case?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny, I was thinking about this the other day.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: When you first write your like couple songs off the bat when you're a Grom, you're almost basically combining like usually your first song is just a direct, different version of another song.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like you write like exactly like this Green Day or Black Sabbath or fucking Vandals Riff.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: You just like create your own version of that song.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then usually like another year or two down the line, you're like, I just combined this like doors song with this like Pennywise song, and like now it's got, you know, it's like a 50-50 rip of two songs, and you could tell the inspiration completely.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I I always have been like pondering this, like as you get to be a better songwriter, you're still pulling inspiration from all your favorite songs, like directly, but instead of having it be like a 50-50 mix of two songs, you've now spread it out to where it's like you know, 10% of 10 songs, and no one can even tell because it's you know become its own thing at that point.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's just what happens as you get older.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: You just try to blend and mix more and more and more and more cool elements and pieces of your song inspired by your favorite works of art until you have something that's you know feels truly original, but you know, if you really look deep, it's it's always there's a big old spider web going all the way back, you know, over a hundred years ago.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, and for this record specifically, um well, thank you, first of all, for the compliment.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_04: That means a lot.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you for saying that.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_04: And for this record, a lot of the songs we we like actually got together and wrote them together, um for a majority of it.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_04: And I know the three of us, like me, Zaina, Aaron, and Jackson as well, we all hear the songs differently.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_04: Like if someone has a guitar riff, we all have different ideas of what that guitar riff uh like what kind of sound that can be incorporated into, and we all put our different influences into it.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_04: So I think that helps with uh making a sound that's that might be slightly more unique than usual.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's so true.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like waiting for the weekend, I wrote it with just like these like uh like a drum machine kind of drums, and it was almost like this uh bedroom indie, like I don't know, like uh weird McDamarco-y sounding song with those chords.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then when I brought it to the boys, like if I was just to do it myself, like, you know, I wouldn't have done that sick bass line that Aaron's doing.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: I would have just been like post-punk, like picking down picking, which would have been cool.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: But Aaron took it and made it so rad.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then Mikey, I was gone this one day in the studio, and Mikey put his final touches on it, and he did all these sick harmonies that I wouldn't have never thought of.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then he had this like awesome guitar tone that almost sounds like it's just the bass with like fuzz on, but he's kind of just doubling it and like on the top on the E-string, and like, you know, that would have never happened, all those cool sounds and mixtures.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, you could bring some chords to people and they're all gonna play it differently and use different sounds and have different feel, and then that becomes kind of the band sound because everyone brings their own little you know idiosyncrasies to it and all their you know little differences.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: What do you hope fans think the first time they get to listen to Gone for a While start to end?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: Why isn't this band like way bigger, dude?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's the ultimate reaction, dude.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what the hell?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I have to agree with that.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: Is it isn't that the case already?
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: I've tried some people say that on the HPK video that people are commenting, like, how is how is this not a bigger song, blah blah blah?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Which is the first time I've heard that from this project, and I was like, Oh, that's so sick to hear.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like, people hear this and picture it's like a big band already, like that's that's you know, doing this for a living, and it's like we all like work our own jobs separate from this, so that's like really inspiring, makes me want to keep going.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_04: My favorite thing is uh, and not to discredit how people feel about us, but I've noticed over the last year specifically that people some people think we're a lot bigger than we are, so it always trips me out when they're like excited to meet us.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_04: I'm like, oh man, I just like I work a normal I work at a surf shop, you know.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_04: You can come and meet me there if you want to.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: Well, let's talk about why they feel that way.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you've got a song 27 Club that has already crossed over a million streams, which is a huge milestone.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: At what point did you realize that song in particular was connecting differently than the others?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: And why do you think people gravitated towards that?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, that one was really weird because we we had this little guitar riff.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Originally it was all surfy, it sounded like all a loss or something when we wrote it, or the growlers, like it wasn't fuzzy, kind of like black keys, like fuzzy riff like that.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: And when we started recording it, I remember doing the what inevitably became the final recording that we know now, um, and bouncing a little project of it.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: And we went to Las Vegas in like 2017 with the boys, and I remember having my headphones in and just listening to it on repeat, and I had never made a song and recorded one that like I was like couldn't stop listening to.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, wait, what do we do?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why is this just scratching an itch that like you know, it was like so weird because I've never had a song that we wrote or recorded especially that made me feel that way.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: So we were just like tripped out from day one, like, damn, this is sick.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we wanted to listen to it.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so pretty quickly after it came out, it was already like, I guess, connecting with other people.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't really know what that is, though.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I remember the night, the night we did the original demo of it, all of our friends were there.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_04: Our old drummer had a studio, and I think we were in there just working on it, and we forced everyone to come into the garage and listen to it, and we were like, this one's different.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_04: And then when Miles uh shout out Miles from K-Rock, actually it was Pat Corbett at the time, but Miles has been showing tons of love too.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so K Rock, they they streamed it, and we I mean, we were on Cloud Nine that that day, I think.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing, but I mean, isn't that what it's all about?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: Is like being the a fan of your work first before releasing it out to the world.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I always say if I don't like it, why should anybody else yeah, yeah, like why make music that you're not enjoying?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, people find it weird that you like maybe like your own music or listen to your own music.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: I get that a lot.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, a new song comes out that we just put out, and I'll like stream it, you know, for at least a week.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'll like put it on every day in the car and like listen to it and be like very proud of what we did as a fan of it.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: And people are like, Oh, you listen to your own music.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I mean, that's how you I fucking wrote it.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if it wasn't good enough for me to like enjoy, like, yeah, what Mikey said, why would you expect anyone else to like it?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: For sure, for sure.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: And another wave of like crazy moments that have turned out really well for you guys is your song Superfly ended up on the Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: What's that moment like?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: You're watching television and then suddenly you become part of somebody else's story.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that was a big one for me, for sure.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a huge TV film ed, so we got a call from our publisher, Steven, uh, at Rasine, who's amazing, and he kind of just nonchalantly told us it was gonna be on the show.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_04: We're just like, what do you mean?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_04: Because the movie obviously is huge, Maddie McConnell.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_04: So when we heard it was gonna be on Netflix, I was freaking out.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_04: I was doing an internship in London at the time, and that was kind of one of those times where we were kind of thinking that the band was slowing down.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but then when we got the news it was gonna be on the show, that kind of was one of those things that brought us back into wanting to make this new record for sure.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: So did that placement noticeably change the band's trajectory for you?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_04: No, I mean, not to sound ungrateful, but it was kind of like a background instrumental 30-second clip.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_04: So um but I will say as far as streaming goes, it got put on all the playlists for the soundtrack of the show, and that helped a lot.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_04: So I think that did bring a lot of fresh eyes to us.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, no networking is bad networking.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's still networking.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: So this past tour with Castle, Strawberry Fuzz, and Spray Allen was your biggest national run yet.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: What's the story from that tour that perfectly s sums up life and Strange Case?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_04: There's so many stories on that tour.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_04: I think the craziest this the funniest night, and this is probably mostly given the credit to Jacob for this, but we played a show in New Hampshire.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_04: And somehow we got the entire audience from that show to follow us.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_04: The entire Sunburn crew walked probably a mile to the nearest lake, and we got everyone to jump in the lake, and then we crashed in the green room that night.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_04: I think we stayed up after that till four in the morning playing a game called uh Grumpy Hog that we invented, which is basically hacky sack with your hands.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and uh it was just like more wholesome than anything, and I think that probably sums up the Sunburnt crew.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_04: I think we After playing music, we just like to like I don't even know how explain it.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_04: Just mess around, I guess.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: What's the biggest lesson you guys learn from playing in new markets?
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_04: You will learn that if you play for different audiences every night, every audience will act completely different than the audience the night before did.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_04: So if you're expecting to have the same exact even if you play the same set, if you think you're gonna have the same exact show every night, uh you're wrong because you'll be surprised at the vibe and things that go wrong on stage.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_04: You can't just plan to have a perfect tour and play the same set because it's it's not gonna be the same every night.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: The line is you want to make God laugh, make plans.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I think every show is different somehow.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_04: We've improvise something new that we didn't plan to do.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and depending on how many beers you have before the show, the set's gonna go completely different as well.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: Love it, love it.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: So you guys have built this band for nearly a decade with DIY mentality.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: What's one thing people underestimate about staying independent in today's music industry?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's like so expensive to be a band.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like to record an album.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like this was our first record where I didn't record and produce it myself, and I wanted to take a step back and go to someone I'm a huge fan of, which is John Joseph uh in San Pedro, California.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: And you know that like it just costs a lot of money to go record with other people.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we barely pulled it off thanks to Mikey's like massive credit card debt now, which we will be paying off in the next six to eight years.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that you know, that's a huge barrier, barrier to entry.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then touring is is really expensive too.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, bands only get a couple hundred buck guarantees, you know, if they're lucky when you're just starting off.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: So make that make sense.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: If you got to fit four dudes into a tiny motel six, that's 120 bucks a night, and then gas is 80 bucks for the day, and everyone needs to eat, you know, it's just like it's almost impossible.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you have to rough it out so hard, and we still do, you know, we still do.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: But it's finally starting to make a little bit of sense, you know.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: Without spoiling too much, which track on Gone for a While surprised you the most while making it?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: And which song do you think fans will connect with immediately?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna go with our song Drive Home, um, which will be the kind of focus track of the album.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_04: I I mean I knew we had something when we wrote it, um, but I wasn't like, oh my god, this is a hit.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_04: And then once we went in the studio, John added some like I don't even know what it is, Melatron or something.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_04: He he put his producer touches on it, and I was like, I think this one might do it for us.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_04: Um that's my answer.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I second that.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Gone for or I'm sorry, Drive Home has been my like favorite that I keep coming back to and listening to.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a very, very strange casey track from the melody, like in what I consider our sound.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I love that one.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think people are gonna connect with that one.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's our focus track when the record comes out, the kind of fake single.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_04: So and there were so many things that were surprises on that one in the studio that really make the song that we didn't plan to do.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_04: So I think that's another reason it feels like a new song.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I tell you, from listening to the album today, it's a very atmospheric record, too.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like you can listen to it, can kind of get pumped up, but you can also listen to it and just kind of kick back and relax to it.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like you guys balanced your the emotions of the record really well.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: That's something we tried to do.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_04: I I I always look at things like a film plot, like all goes up, you know, the climax and Finale is kind of like a big ballad.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_04: We didn't want to finish it on a high note.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_04: I mean it finishes on a high note, but I don't want to finish it on an upbeat quick one, you know?
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_04: You want to get there and then bring it back down and the album does.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: So I uh I think it's like a good set list.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: So you guys have gone from hometown shows to national tours, festival stages, radio airplay, and now a major album release.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: If we sat down again two years from now, hell, even six months from now, what has to happen for you to say, yes, this was the chapter that changed everything.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_04: I think if one of these songs tops 27 Club as far as streams and I mean I don't know.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_04: I'm just thankful if people listen to it still.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_04: We've been doing this for so long.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_04: So But yeah, I don't know.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_04: I think the more fans we get and people just like letting us know what their what our music has done for them, that's really all that matters at the end of the day.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_04: I'm more than happy working and as long as I can still play with the band every once in a while, then I'm stuck.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I feel like the the thing that would really click with me with the band with this project is like I said, the community is so important, and what we have with our label is building up all the artists together.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: So a win for one artist is a win for the others.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: But um in a lot of ways, you know, we have to do that because you know, a lot of these baby bands and projects that we're playing in aren't big enough to go do it ourselves, and you can't always play with the same four bands, you can't always play with the same label shows and piggybacking off that.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that's an amazing thing, and it's an amazing platform, and the community's there, but you know, there are going to be dates and tours where you just need to go on your own headline shows and go play.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so for me, it would really click like in another year or so after this record comes out and we we tour a little bit more if we could be self-sufficient to where you know we do all those label shows with our boys, um, and then we can still go out and like tour by ourselves, you know, and bring our music to fans without like these restrictions of not being able to afford to get to you know, Fayetteville, Arkansas or North Carolina or something, you know, because we can't afford to get out there.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_02: Guys, I have really enjoyed getting to know you.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, closing question that I ask everybody that does the show is individually, one by one, through your own personal experiences, what's your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today through your individual eyes?
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_04: Um I will say just try not to judge people right off the bat, you know, everyone's going through their own thing.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_04: So as long as we can all find a way to love each other.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_04: Then I think that's the key.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_04: And listen to music.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: You just gotta so please, but you just treat other people how you'd want to be treated, you know.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people get big for their britches, they get or or people feel insecure, so they start, you know, like uh being mean to other people, right?
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like you see that in music a lot.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: You you meet somebody who's secretly insecure because we're all artists and we all are more sensitive than you know your average Joe probably.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: But some people will take that and they'll put on this like hard, tough facade trying to like put other people down, you know, when that's just coming from a place of insecurity.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I I honestly feel like working on yourself is so important.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: Getting to a place where you don't need any outside validation from anybody.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: You just feel good as you, you feel comfortable being you, no matter what that looks like, no matter what it sounds like, because if you're good with you, you're gonna treat other people right.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, the people that are hurting other people are because they're not right with themselves.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: And you have to fix that problem internally.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I would just say, you know, try to get good friends around you that can help point out those things and, you know, show you where your plot holes are.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, if you're not cool with yourself, you're gonna start treating your friends like shit, you're gonna treat your business partners like shit, and you know, you just make the world a little harder to deal with, you know.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're a good person, you can go out there and help other people, you know, because you're good with yourself, you know.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's a big one for me.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm always trying to work on that, and I'm grateful to have a lot of people like Mikey and Jacob and Kevin Zinger around me that always keep me grounded, always tell me when I'm being a dick or when I'm fucking up, and you know, where I can fix those things.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not surrounded by yes man, I'm surrounded by you know very supportive people that care about me.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: How stilt are you fellas for the release show?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man, that's all I think about.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: Until the show's over, that's all I'm thinking about.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_02: So plug it.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: Tell tell everybody that could be watching this or listening to this right now about your release show.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, August 8th at the Echo in Los Angeles album release show.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_04: It's our first headline show in two years, I think.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_04: So um man, if there's a bunch of people there, I might cry, honestly.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know, I don't know.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the last time we did a real album release show was in 2019 for too bad, too sad.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: And somehow we were able to wrangle like 250 people, and I have just this like this fear that we can't wrangle like 250 people like all these years later, you know, still in in our hometown.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it would be really nice to just be like, okay, we're good, like we did it.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, I'm sure it's gonna be great though.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very, very excited.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm looking forward to it.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's all up from here.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: You guys are an amazing band.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: Manifest that shit.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna do more than 250 people, you're gonna pack the shit out of it.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: 500 people more.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: That vinyl that you posted on social media the other day.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_02: Man, people are gonna be stoked to get their hands on that.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I know I'm stoked to get a copy of it.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, gotcha.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: Guys, tell everybody where they can find you, the band, everything that you're up to online.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: At Strange Case on Instagram, at Sunburnt Records on Instagram.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: Come hang, give us a follow, Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, YouTube, YouTube Music, Title.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: Wherever you stream music, you can find Strange Case.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: Only only friends, vinyl, a real piece of CD, some sunburnt bootleg CD.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: We got real music, we got digital music.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Come out to a show, man.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: So, Michael, are you making the trip to Colorado this week for the Fiddler's Green show?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_04: Oh man, I wish.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: Dude, I wish you were too.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: My wife and I are flying out there just for that.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll see you guys out there.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: Hell yes.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe maybe I'll make a last-minute uh last minute trip.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_04: That sounds really funny.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, shoot me a text.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: We'll hang.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: So, Zayno, Michael, thank you so much for doing the show.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: You guys know I'm a friend of yours.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a friend of Sunburnt.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a friend of everything you guys are doing and every project you guys are connected to.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_02: The world's a much better place with you guys in it.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for doing the show.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for having us, dude.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_02: You're the man.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you.