Latest / The Christian Reeve Podcast / Adams Eberwein (Adams Wilson) | The Christian Reeve Podcast | #67 |
Transcript
- 0:00It's another episode of the Christian we've podcast, but
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- 0:25Hello. And welcome to another episode
- 0:27of the Christian we've podcast today's It is a professional
- 0:31Miss musician, so that again, professional musician.
- 0:35All the way from Philadelphia. His name is Adam ever wine, but
- 0:40he goes by the professional name.
- 0:41Adams Wilson. That's the name of his band.
- 0:44Welcome to the show. How you doing?
- 0:46I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
- 0:48And I should say it's, yeah, it's atoms with an S so it's a
- 0:51little weird. Yeah.
- 0:53So I was looking into this, and I was like, why is he done that?
- 0:55And then I realized there is actually a professional
- 0:58musician. I haven't heard of this.
- 1:00This but a professional musician called Adam Wilson and it was
- 1:05funny because when I was looking up your stuff, I remember seeing
- 1:08like a couple of shows that you'd played right and there was
- 1:13like a someone had put like, you know, the classic chalkboard
- 1:17thing where they've written the names and someone's written Adam
- 1:20Wilson. And I knew I just knew that it
- 1:23was someone like, oh, they must have just had a spelling mistake
- 1:26in their name, I'll fix that. Yeah, I mean, it's like, it's on
- 1:31album covers, it's on t-shirts or whatever.
- 1:34And, you know, it's in my email and so when I was whenever I was
- 1:37going back and forth like, you know, Club promoters or managers
- 1:41whatever is amazing, how often people would correct me on that
- 1:45and it's like, it's, you know, I blame my mom.
- 1:48She thought that it would be hilarious to name me.
- 1:50She thought we were related to John Adams, the American
- 1:53president. Oh, I understood the so your
- 1:55legal name is actually Adams ever wine and then that's why
- 1:58you've chosen to Okay. Hey, yes.
- 2:01I always thought people would be, you know, my last name is
- 2:04everyone and first of all, you pronounced it correctly which is
- 2:06unheard of almost everybody gets it incorrect.
- 2:08They say like ever wiener, you know, and so that's the name.
- 2:12I thought would be tricky. So Wilson is my middle name, one
- 2:15of two, middle names and so I was like, that sounds like a
- 2:18last name I'm going to do that to stop confusing people and
- 2:22instead the atoms tricks people trips people up more often than
- 2:26the everyone did. It makes no sense to me.
- 2:28I think it's kind of cool though.
- 2:30See unique, you know, it's something different.
- 2:33I mean I got the same thing. Sorry gone, please.
- 2:35I know it's at the I've only met one other one.
- 2:38I haven't met him. I found a person on the internet
- 2:40named Adams. I've only seen that one name in
- 2:43my entire time on this Earth. Yeah.
- 2:45So it's definitely unique. I haven't run into anybody in
- 2:48person. It's got it.
- 2:49I remember a feeling of Sorrow when I started realizing around
- 2:53the world that people started popping up with the name
- 2:56Christian Reeve because for so long it was this unique name.
- 3:00And by having the same thing with my surname where everyone
- 3:03assumes? Oh, you mean Christopher Reeves?
- 3:06It's Reeves and it's like, no, I know my surname.
- 3:09Thank you very much that it is what it is.
- 3:13Yeah, but yeah, since we're on the topic of your band, I find
- 3:18this very interesting because you've worked with a lot of
- 3:20different musicians with every single record that you've
- 3:23produced and As I understand it's like a different iteration.
- 3:29So like with every change within the band that reflects in the
- 3:34sound so like for two or three years, you'll be recording with
- 3:37a particular group of people and then you move on to the next
- 3:39thing. And I wondered, how does this
- 3:42actually impact the songwriting and gigging process for you?
- 3:46Like what the major challenges with that?
- 3:49I mean, for me it's you know, keeping a band set so.
- 3:54Well, let me back up like I Out as like just Church musician,
- 3:59right? That's all I wanted to do I've
- 4:02since become a, you know, non-believer but this was we're
- 4:05going back like, you know, 20 years and you know, so I knew a
- 4:09bunch of I was in a church that they played a lot of.
- 4:14They had a lot of musicians who were like actual gigging,
- 4:17musicians who played it, you know, clubs and bars and all
- 4:19that kind of stuff. I'm trusting on Sunday, they
- 4:21would come in. And, you know, they were these
- 4:24amazing musicians who were saying very, very basic music in
- 4:27the church, and they were always like, you know, jazzing it up
- 4:31and making it sound amazing and I was inspired by that, you
- 4:34know, and I kind of was just like, I want to learn from these
- 4:36guys or whatever. So, I started writing my own
- 4:38music and then I was like playing solo acoustic gigs at,
- 4:43like, coffee houses and things like that.
- 4:46And then I made an album and, you know, I got one or two
- 4:50people to help out, but I asked them if they wanted to be and
- 4:53they weren't available. So it just like then.
- 4:55To make another album and you know like a real studio and I
- 5:00needed like actual musicians because I was like I'm paying
- 5:02all this money I'm not going to walk in there with my lack of
- 5:05musical style. I wanted people who could really
- 5:07like bring up the you know the level of skill.
- 5:11So I hired people and I asked so I was like always asking for
- 5:15like two or three years I was going around.
- 5:17Literally everyone I meet and like you play music.
- 5:19If you want to be in my band like I just felt like a Salesman
- 5:22trying to push people into my van.
- 5:25And it like I realized like that became a full-time job almost of
- 5:30like trying to keep the band staff.
- 5:32So it was like part of it is really, really challenging
- 5:36because you're trying to find people that you work with.
- 5:38Well that brings something to the music.
- 5:41But, you know, you're also trying to find people that are
- 5:43reliable and that takes up so much of your time because so
- 5:48many musicians are not reliable. That's like part of musician.
- 5:51DNA is not showing up on time or not doing the Work that does she
- 5:57drives me nuts, man. Like seriously you're giving me
- 6:00PTSD right now. Yeah.
- 6:04And so it's like I mean I know it's always that push typical.
- 6:06That's like the downside, right? Is like trying to keep the band
- 6:09staffed is tricky but the upside is you know musicians love
- 6:14playing with new toys and when a new musician comes into the
- 6:17bandits a like it's a new shot to your system of like yeah like
- 6:23totally different. It's like getting a new
- 6:25instrument. It's you're totally confused
- 6:27with new Creative Energy because now this person is like oh you
- 6:30wanted to do that with you know this song you could do this that
- 6:33or the other thing. They're bringing new ideas and
- 6:35they're bringing new like just new energy.
- 6:37I guess it's way to put it and it's so like there's always that
- 6:41like honeymoon period where like a new batch of songs comes out
- 6:44of nowhere because a new person was brought into the fold so
- 6:47there's definitely there's upsides to going through bunch
- 6:49of Staff. You see the thing is with with
- 6:53your boundless. You this unique is that like
- 6:56Every single lineup change it's like completely different people
- 7:00because like I would understand if you would have like you know
- 7:02a band and then people drop in and drop out throughout the
- 7:05years but with yours, okay? Like for instance if we go to
- 7:08that 2015 2016 you have like a set ban there and then we move
- 7:12that sort of two, three years down the line and it's
- 7:14completely different people. And the only sort of fixed
- 7:17constant is yourself, and I find this really interesting in the
- 7:20sense that, like, obviously you're leading this whole thing,
- 7:24like you said, you know, behind the scenes, Is your kind of like
- 7:26trying to like spend all the time trying to just get this
- 7:29together, so I get that. And I've been there myself as
- 7:32well, so I know how that is, but I guess the thing that's really
- 7:37that's really interesting to me is like, what's the dynamic,
- 7:41like, with writing the songs? Like, since you know that like
- 7:44you're never going to leave the band?
- 7:45Like it's your badge. Your baby.
- 7:48How do you approach that? Like Because if you know, like,
- 7:52hey there's probably a limit on this, maybe they'll be in the
- 7:56band a year, maybe there'll be a couple of years, there's a fixed
- 7:58time on this. So do you kind of like sit down,
- 8:02you write the songs and then you invite everyone into chip in or
- 8:05do you sit down and jam with these people and really include
- 8:08them in at what, what does that process actually look?
- 8:10Like, every time, you know, it's different every time.
- 8:15So for the moment, the album that I'm about to release, you
- 8:20know, The process was I had I guess I should back up again.
- 8:25It's always hard to know where to start because the band's been
- 8:27going for so long, right. But like for the longest stint,
- 8:31I had was with a guy that I met off of Craigslist.
- 8:36My name is Matt Riley. Yeah, and we, you know, we had a
- 8:42live gigging band for I guess, like, 10 year, eight or nine
- 8:47years almost 10:00. And, you know, he and I were the
- 8:52only constant sin like, other people would come in and, but
- 8:56then I had a, you know, son in 2015 and a couple of other life
- 9:02circumstances, kind of prevented me from playing live anymore.
- 9:07I just did and I wasn't enjoying it.
- 9:09Like I do I realized yeah the the challenge of like getting
- 9:13into clubs and like promoting it and all that stuff stopped being
- 9:17enjoyable for me and I realized you know when you have a baby
- 9:20Like it's a very it's sharpens, your awareness of like what
- 9:27needs to stay in your life and What needs to go.
- 9:30So I just like I had to make some cuts to my schedule and I
- 9:35was like well the band is consuming like 75% of my time so
- 9:39you know, I'm just going to start.
- 9:41I'm going to stop playing live and I'm just going to record
- 9:44right? And so, you know, the band I
- 9:48ended that and, you know, every they went on the band that I was
- 9:53with at that time went on to become another band and they've
- 9:55since broken up because, you know, bands are unreliable and
- 10:00that's just the way things work. But then then I called up a
- 10:02couple of people who had been in the band and other forms at one
- 10:07point and I was like, let's just get together and jam and like,
- 10:09no pressure. We're going to play it live.
- 10:11We're not going to worry about what it sounds like.
- 10:13We're just going to play music and so we Probably like a year
- 10:17and a half just playing in my body Ryan's basement.
- 10:20And, you know, so half of the songs came from that and half of
- 10:25the songs came from like after covid hit.
- 10:29You know. I was writing stuff by myself
- 10:31because we couldn't Jam anymore so it's like this most recent
- 10:36album we're calling it parasite and host.
- 10:40It's just it's like half of jams and half of you know me sitting
- 10:44in my studio writing by myself. So what do you find as a better
- 10:48process in terms of writing songs?
- 10:50Because like, I've changed my songwriting process over the
- 10:53years, it used to be that, you know, I'd have the lyrics.
- 10:56Ready, I'd sit down and I try to kind of jam with people and like
- 11:00make the lyrics work around it, right?
- 11:03And that jamming element is still true of some solo song
- 11:06right now, so it's a little bit different.
- 11:08But I've noticed my process has changed now.
- 11:10Where I'll pretty much we'll just sit down and I'll be like,
- 11:14I feel like writing a song. Start jamming and like sort of
- 11:18seeing how it makes me feel and then I start, right?
- 11:21And I basically do both things at the same time, like the
- 11:24lyrics and the music, which I don't think that's the most
- 11:27effective way to do it. There's better ways to do it,
- 11:30but I don't know. That's just my style right now.
- 11:32But like what do you think is the best at all?
- 11:35What do you prefer doing and when you when your songwriting
- 11:38I, I think the biggest thing for me is, I love having the crutch
- 11:44of having someone else there to bounce, the ideas offer.
- 11:47Because I'm really, you know, I'm really insecure about my
- 11:51songwriting. Okay?
- 11:52Um, and I love when there's someone there, who has a better
- 11:56grasp on Theory or, you know, the mechanics to say, like, is
- 12:01this good, you know, I'm out. Like, I'll play something and
- 12:03I'll be like, I mean, that's terrible, right, right?
- 12:06Like, you know, you're kind of just like, okay, yeah.
- 12:08You know, seeking approval from that second party.
- 12:12I think that that brings better stuff out of me and like it's,
- 12:18it's probably not healthy mentally or emotionally to do a
- 12:21compelling. But it's like it's so much more
- 12:24productive because like it gives me that confidence when someone
- 12:27else says icono hey what are you doing there?
- 12:28That's good. Like to be able to build a song
- 12:31faster and then you know to when you have two minds working on it
- 12:37to are more you know this People go away sometimes and I'll come
- 12:40back with like oh I figured out that bridge and it sounds twice
- 12:43as good as what I would have thought of, you know, it's like,
- 12:46you know, putting new ingredients into the recipe that
- 12:49you know I tend to get very what's the word I'm looking for?
- 12:54Like I fall into a routine where I just do the same thing over
- 12:58and over again. I think like having announced a
- 13:00second party, a second person, gives you an extra element.
- 13:04That helps you change it up a little bit, but I'll say, I'll
- 13:06say this. Like I don't have a A specific
- 13:09formula for something. I've been doing it for over 20
- 13:11years and, you know, some songs and if you talk to any creative
- 13:16person, I think you'll hear something similar.
- 13:18Like there's been times when I was driving home from band
- 13:21practice and I wrote three songs on the way.
- 13:23Yeah. Right.
- 13:24They just, it's coming like the muses there and it just like in
- 13:27your brain almost as if it's being downloaded from The Ether.
- 13:30Right? I'm not like a spiritual person,
- 13:32but it feels like weird and Supernatural, where?
- 13:34Yep, songs up here. And then there's other times
- 13:37where I spend like, Weeks in front of the computer with a
- 13:40guitar and like, you know, got a notepad or whatever and just
- 13:44it's shit, and nothing is coming and yes, like everything is
- 13:48frustrating and you're like, there's only, you know, there's
- 13:51only seven basic chords and I'm just like, I've used up my
- 13:54palette gone and and it's like a slog, but even stuff still comes
- 13:58out of that. Like you still sometimes can
- 14:01manage to get a song and it's like it took you six months to
- 14:05craft but you know, the process. Didn't feel as good, but the
- 14:10result is still just as effective.
- 14:13And sometimes those songs do, as well, as the ones that became
- 14:17supernaturally, I completely agree with you.
- 14:20That's exactly how I see it as well.
- 14:22I remember, when I was in my very first band, my one not very
- 14:25first. It was like my first proper band
- 14:28where we went gigging, blah blah blah.
- 14:29You know, I must have been about I think I was 17 18 when the
- 14:35band started when it ended, I was 21.
- 14:38So we went from About three years and we wrote together.
- 14:40So I would always write the lyrics and I had a heavy hand in
- 14:45the riffs, but like I kind of let the rest of the band.
- 14:48Like same as you, you know, like come together Jam.
- 14:51I've always felt that that was the best way to write music and
- 14:54I still to this day. I, you know, I would is a bit
- 14:57different obviously, doing solo stuff, but I still think nothing
- 15:00quite beats that feeling when you're like, yeah, we got
- 15:03something here, what's this? Yeah.
- 15:05You know that just that feeling is amazing but But yeah, I had a
- 15:09similar thing. But what happened to me was that
- 15:12band ended, and then I had a couple of bands after that and
- 15:16then I started doing solo stuff. But my solo stuff, when I first
- 15:19started was trash, it was terrible.
- 15:22It did kind of, I mean, in my opinion, I don't know, like,
- 15:24there's still some stuff there, there's like a 2013 EP that I
- 15:28did. That's like the last time I did
- 15:31something in a studio properly. And yeah, I think it was.
- 15:36Okay, but it felt like what you said it.
- 15:38Very forced. It didn't really feel like you
- 15:41know I was inspired and something came.
- 15:43It was like, okay this was the best I could do at that time and
- 15:46I was still, I think a very novice songwriter at that point,
- 15:50you know, I was learning to write music on my own which is
- 15:53very tough. But then years later, I had
- 15:56something like what you explain this kind of Supernatural,
- 16:00feeling, and it actually started with my poetry because that's
- 16:03something I just always done on the side where it's sort of
- 16:07sprung out of song. It will go.
- 16:09Well, this isn't quite a song. Maybe This is a poem and then
- 16:12that's yeah. But I remember that I stopped
- 16:15trying. If I make sense like I stopped
- 16:17trying to sit down and go, I'm going to do this and I just
- 16:20thought I'm just going to wait until an idea comes to me and
- 16:24ever since I made that decision personally I feel like I've made
- 16:28the best stuff I've ever made and I use that same approach
- 16:31with everything but music, poetry YouTube content, whatever
- 16:37the case may be, I just no idea comes and I'm like okay let's
- 16:40make it into something and I got to say I always feel like
- 16:43especially with music that's the best way to write because it
- 16:47will come from like a feeling or like a to am thought and you're
- 16:51like a shit and you got to get the pad and all oh no it's or
- 16:54whatever you know and I yeah maybe it's supernatural maybe
- 16:59it's it really does feel that way because it feels like Almost
- 17:04in a way. I like I feel like I was
- 17:05creating a bizarre like, yeah. People say, oh you're amazing.
- 17:09You're this, you're that. I don't even feel that way.
- 17:11I feel like we're more kind of like Messengers.
- 17:13Like the messages come from like some other reality.
- 17:18And we're just voicing it and kind of crazy way, I think.
- 17:25Like, you, you hit on something that I think, you know, for a
- 17:29while is writing like a music blog about, you know, about
- 17:32songwriting and Four minutes, and I can't think.
- 17:35And I think if I had to like when I was working on that, it
- 17:38kind of forced me to like, think about the process where I think
- 17:42before, I just was in the process, and I wasn't really
- 17:44stopping to think about, like, what is the Alchemy here.
- 17:47But, like, when I was writing the blog, it occurred to me that
- 17:49like a couple of times people have come to me and said, like,
- 17:54you know, you're prolific like what's your secret to like, keep
- 17:57writing more stuff. And my thing is just, I think
- 18:01it's input, right? Like, if you are, Just a
- 18:07songwriter, that's all you do at some point.
- 18:11I think the well starts to dry up a little bit and you get
- 18:14desperate and you make bad decisions.
- 18:17But if you're a poet and you're a songwriter and you're, you
- 18:21know, a visual artist, your photographer, filmmaker
- 18:24whatever, you're an Avid Reader, you know, your consumer of
- 18:28things. Like it's a lot the well stays
- 18:32wet a lot longer because you It's always like new things
- 18:38coming in, you become hungry for more things and therefore you
- 18:41create more things because like, there's more stuff going around
- 18:44in the blender. I'm like, there's like five
- 18:46different metaphors going on right now.
- 18:48But, you know, it's just like when people are people say to me
- 18:52like, you know, I'm out of ideas or whatever.
- 18:54Like I'm having a writer's block or I'm dry spell.
- 18:57It's like you need to go try something new like throw new
- 19:01wrench into it like go on a trip to a place that you would not
- 19:05normally Go like don't go to Disney World which I love, you
- 19:08know, I love Disney World, whatever.
- 19:10Look everyone, but like, go, you know, go camping in the desert
- 19:14or something like that. Go, you know, go on a date that
- 19:18you wouldn't normally go on, read a book that's totally out
- 19:21of your experience. You know, like one of the most,
- 19:26like, prolific moments, I had was after I read Ender's Game by
- 19:31Orson Stark was in Scott Card, like your, this is probably 12
- 19:35or 13 years ago. You know, it's such a random
- 19:38book. Like, I think it's like, even
- 19:41young adult or young adult, like it's not even meant for
- 19:44grown-ups, but I just like somebody recommended it to me,
- 19:47and I just was, like, completely inspired by that.
- 19:51And like all of my songs Just a whole bunch of new songs, just
- 19:55started flowing out where, you know, the it had started to slow
- 19:59down before that and I just thought like this one book had
- 20:03such an impact on me, right? Like so many songs came out of
- 20:05just reading During the Sig reading experience.
- 20:08And it's, I just think that's the thing is like, if you are
- 20:12doing you're just one person. You know, if you're just a
- 20:16filmmaker and that's all you do is make films.
- 20:18At some point, you're going to get sale, right?
- 20:20And you're going to be very boring to talk to you, but if
- 20:22you are, something was a hand and a bunch of different stuff,
- 20:25you know, it's a lot easier to stay energized.
- 20:28I couldn't agree more with you. Yeah.
- 20:30It's one of the things I've decided to do with my life is to
- 20:33try as many different things as possible.
- 20:36If an opportunity comes, I welcome it because it gives you
- 20:39more to talk about, you know. And if nothing else human humans
- 20:43with storytellers, that's what music is.
- 20:45It's a story, it's a it. So I thought this is how I felt
- 20:48about this thing, or, or this is a dream I had.
- 20:51Or this is my interpretation of this, or whatever it comes from
- 20:54many different places. I mean, fucking out, I wrote a
- 20:56song the other day that started as like a feeling about like an
- 21:02ex-girlfriend. And then it turned into like,
- 21:06Like a western song where I turned it into the list, like
- 21:10Legend of this woman who like is a badass Gunslinger like Janome
- 21:15in those that shit Discover, it grows it grows, but yeah, I
- 21:18totally agree with you. This reminds me of two random
- 21:23things but I'll draw them all together so firstly.
- 21:27Yeah, I think you just need to kind of go out there and do as
- 21:30much as you can. Like you said go out in the
- 21:32desert. Go on a trip.
- 21:33Go here. Go here.
- 21:34Try a different line of work. This thing that you feel
- 21:37uncomfortable about like especially doing things to bring
- 21:41yourself out of the comfort zone.
- 21:42I think is very important because yeah, naturally anyone
- 21:45that gets writer's block is just doing the same thing.
- 21:48Like you can't keep doing the same thing and expect different
- 21:52results. That's literally in sunny.
- 21:54And it reminds again, like I said, It reminds me of two
- 21:57things. It reminds me of this.
- 22:01What I was listening to like, I Charles Bukowski audio recording
- 22:04one time and he was talking about how like when people get
- 22:08famous writers, get famous, you know, when they first begin
- 22:11their really interesting because their life hasn't been changed
- 22:15by writing their, they're still, you know, tirelessly right in
- 22:19trying to get big. And then once they get big, you
- 22:22know, here they are hanging out and like cocktail parties and
- 22:25hanging around with other literary these people and, you
- 22:28know, but they're young. They're like, 21:22, they
- 22:30haven't. If they haven't done anything,
- 22:32what if they got to write about like, oh yes, you know I'm at
- 22:36these cocktail parties and this is where I'm at and it's like
- 22:39that's not relatable, if nothing else like writing, poetry music
- 22:44needs to be relatable because that's how people can relate to
- 22:48it. Like doesn't have to necessarily
- 22:50be about the lyrics but the lyrics I would say are a really
- 22:54big thing that draw you in and make you more relatable and
- 23:01Pushing that even further. It also reminds me of M and M
- 23:04the musician. Like when he first started
- 23:07writing music, it was basically him just telling his life story
- 23:11like, hey, you know, I grew up in Detroit, and life fucking
- 23:13sucks. And this is what it's like, you
- 23:16know, that and that's why people, you know, really related
- 23:19to him. Because he was just being real,
- 23:20is just being honest and saying it, how it was and people were
- 23:23like, yeah, I feel that way. Then he became famous and
- 23:28successful and OK, this is a bit controversial.
- 23:30Sugar, I'm going to say, I don't think his music is good anymore,
- 23:35because I feel like he just doesn't really have much to say
- 23:38and that's not a knock on him. I still think he's a great
- 23:41songwriter, but if you were to compare a song, He's written,
- 23:44Now versus a song, he wrote, you know the early 2000s there just
- 23:48isn't any comparison and I feel like it's because he isn't doing
- 23:52much like you say, he is just a musician and that's what it, you
- 23:57know, he he needs, maybe he needs to go off on a track.
- 24:00To the desert. I don't know.
- 24:01But I mean, if you look at bands like the Beatles, they did that
- 24:06they went into like India and various other places, I mean,
- 24:10okay. They were experiment
- 24:12experimenting with lot of drugs, so that does change things.
- 24:15But the point is, they went to learn a bunch of stuff went out
- 24:19into the world, learn different ways of life that new
- 24:21instruments, you know, and that shaped all of that music moving
- 24:25forward and expanded their career even more because they
- 24:29couldn't have just kept doing You know, their 50s era music
- 24:33because people would have been bored eventually, you know, and
- 24:35yes, they could have got bored of The Beatles.
- 24:38It was are amazing. But if they'd accept doing the
- 24:40same thing forever, you know, I mean and that's why I find it
- 24:43funny when when people are like oh why do why did musicians have
- 24:47to change? I like their old stuff and it's
- 24:49like if you just keep doing the same thing people will get
- 24:51bored. Yeah.
- 24:52End of it. Yeah, you begin to eat your own
- 24:55tail. You know.
- 24:56I agree with you 100%. It's like you know when you it's
- 25:00sort of like Like the, the blessing and the curse of being
- 25:03a non famous musician, right? Is like, you know, I've been not
- 25:08going away at this thing since the early 2000s and like, it's
- 25:13always been a part-time gig and, you know, there's been like
- 25:15there's been good moments where, you know, I've got invited to
- 25:20play my original music at people's weddings and like, you
- 25:24know, got a song in Netflix movie or, you know, got on a
- 25:29couple of different shows. Rupert.
- 25:31It's like you know I've always had that fantasy of like if this
- 25:35could be my full-time gig that would be amazing.
- 25:39But knowing in the back of my mind that as soon as that
- 25:43happens like then you're just bound to write, you know, about
- 25:48that experience because that's all you do, right?
- 25:50Like it's only a matter of time before you start writing songs
- 25:53about the road and you know it's just I feel like There's a
- 25:59blessing in not having it be with the struggle continues and
- 26:04then the struggle produces better songs because because the
- 26:07struggle continues, if this drug was no longer there, then you
- 26:10just sound like, I don't know, Weezer writing Beverly Hills
- 26:14right? We're just like talking about
- 26:16how awesome you are all the time which no complaints.
- 26:18Love that song. But you know, there's only so
- 26:21much you can get out of that. So yeah, I'm sort of grateful, I
- 26:25guess as a songwriter that I've never hit it big.
- 26:29Because, you know, it keeps the music coming.
- 26:32It's funny. You say that as well because for
- 26:34me, I used to be obsessed with becoming famous and successful.
- 26:37So, yeah. That's all I want.
- 26:39Mara and now, I mean, sure, that'd be great, but to be
- 26:43honest, I just want to be able to do this as my job.
- 26:46I don't even, I don't even care really about becoming really,
- 26:49really well known anymore. It's for me if I can just do
- 26:53this. That's I'm happy with that
- 26:55because it makes me happy and this beats doing it.
- 26:59Nine to five job, which is what I hate.
- 27:02So, yeah, I agree with you on that and all the way I said this
- 27:07in funny enough, in a recent podcast with another guest,
- 27:10like, I think it's better if you become famous later in life,
- 27:14like, you need to live a life in order to have something to talk
- 27:17about, you know what I mean. Like it's the struggles that
- 27:20people really relate to, like, like, you say, nothing who can
- 27:25relate to being rich and living successfully in Beverly Hills.
- 27:29Right. It's like this.
- 27:33Yeah. Sorry you know, like Bruce
- 27:36Springsteen is a great example, right?
- 27:37Dudes, been a millionaire for 99% of his career yet?
- 27:41He still writing about the struggles of the working class
- 27:43and people eat it up and I'm like, I don't, where is that
- 27:47coming from? You know, and he, I think he
- 27:50even said recently, that like all of his songs are based on
- 27:53mostly his dad's life because his life has been one of
- 27:56privilege. But I also think I'm going
- 27:59through this, you know, last year or two, I've been thinking
- 28:02about this a lot which is that, you know, Fame, is it really
- 28:08that great? Like I haven't had it so I'm not
- 28:11sure but I went through a small period where, you know I when I
- 28:17was playing in church it was a large church, right?
- 28:21It's about 1,000 people in and out over time not at.
- 28:25They weren't all in the building at the same time but it was like
- 28:27a thousand. People in the community and, you
- 28:31know, I'm up on stage and people began to form like attachments
- 28:36with me, even though I've never met them.
- 28:38And so, like I'd come up, I'd be walking through, you know, the
- 28:41church and someone will come up to me like, hey, I'm like, you
- 28:45know, the other day and they would just go on about their
- 28:47life story, you know, whatever it was, that was important to
- 28:51them. And I was like, I'm sorry, I'm
- 28:52Adams, how are you? Like, I've never met this person
- 28:55and they but they built this connection with me.
- 28:58Then their head Is very real and like, you know, that's like a
- 29:01such a small example of, like you think about, you know, being
- 29:06famous. People are doing that to you on
- 29:08a much larger scale, right? They think they know about you
- 29:12because you're writing these really personal songs.
- 29:14Yeah, you know, confessional things and talking about the
- 29:18dark moments of your life and so people, you know, relate to that
- 29:21and they form this subconscious connection with you where they
- 29:25feel like they know you and you know, that's weird.
- 29:30It's weird to interact with people when they feel that way.
- 29:32But second of all, the other big thing that I keep thinking about
- 29:35is like all of my heroes. Well, a bunch of My Heroes Have,
- 29:38you know, died over the past number of years, right?
- 29:42Like Chris Cornell Scott Weiland, Tom Petty, I'm missing
- 29:47a few but like, these people were not happy.
- 29:50Mmm. Right.
- 29:52They were at the peak of their game.
- 29:55And they were miserable, they were not thrilled about being
- 30:02the most famous musicians, on the planet.
- 30:04And so, like, I keep trying to remind myself like, You know, a
- 30:09Jim Carrey said that he wished, everybody could be rich and
- 30:12famous. So they could experience that.
- 30:14It's not all. It's cracked up to be.
- 30:17And I that has really stuck with me over the past couple years
- 30:21it's like maybe getting everything you want.
- 30:25Isn't really what you want and like sometimes like imagining it
- 30:31is more enjoyable than actually getting it and it's like that
- 30:36sounds like sour grapes. I think a People, like you only
- 30:39think that because you're not famous, right?
- 30:41It's like, sure, I would like to make money from my heart.
- 30:44That would pay my bills, all that stuff.
- 30:46But I also have to recognize that people at the Mountaintop
- 30:49have said, it's not that great at up here.
- 30:52Yeah, and that's the thing as well, like it's a couple of
- 30:54things here. One being famous is not what it
- 30:57was, you know, like anyone could become famous these days.
- 31:02So what you become famous for is key?
- 31:05You know, do people, are you just well know, Known for like,
- 31:09I don't know being on a reality show or are you famous because
- 31:12people respect your work and Revere you and stuff because
- 31:16it's that everyone loves to receive a compliment, right?
- 31:20Everyone loves to be showered with attention.
- 31:22But, you know, there are some people who need it, who crave it
- 31:25for their ego. And then, there are other people
- 31:27that are like, meh, whatever, right?
- 31:29I think for me, growing up, I really wanted it because I had
- 31:33self-esteem issues and I was really, you know, I felt like
- 31:36crap about myself and I thought, If I become famous, you know,
- 31:40maybe that's the key, you know, everyone will love me and I'll
- 31:43feel good about myself, but that's that doesn't work.
- 31:46You need to learn to love yourself first and foremost, and
- 31:50it doesn't really matter what people think, you know, it
- 31:52matters what you think. Yeah, but that's that recently
- 31:56in myself that you know, it shouldn't have taken this long
- 32:00to discover it that you know, my creativity is largely driven by
- 32:06trying to get other people to love.
- 32:08Me like, you know, I don't have that love for myself that I
- 32:13should have. And a large piece of me making
- 32:17shit is because I want people to say, oh my God, this is great,
- 32:21and you're great. And but then the, the crazy part
- 32:27about it is that even when someone says I love this, I'm
- 32:30like, no. You don't like, you know, I like
- 32:32push it away, right? Like, there's this weird thing
- 32:36that our brains do or at least my brain Where it's like you
- 32:39want people to connect to you with your art but then when they
- 32:44do you're like, you know, it feels weird to accept it.
- 32:48So you know, you kind of push it away and pretend like it's not a
- 32:51thing. But yeah.
- 32:52It's musicians aren't known for being healthy right?
- 32:57Like creative types of not speaking.
- 33:01Who was it? This maybe it was Morrissey.
- 33:04That said it like you know, He liked being like a sort of a
- 33:08tortured soul and I think like a lot of creatives.
- 33:11Yeah, we are tortured Souls. You know what I mean?
- 33:13It's like my life hasn't even been that difficult.
- 33:16But I can think of like low moments dark things.
- 33:19You know, things have happened, things that happen to friends
- 33:22and that realistically is where the good stuff comes from.
- 33:27You know, because it's like, we're as humans, were we
- 33:31gravitate towards Darkness, towards tough things?
- 33:34Yeah, that's why we love. Things like serial killer
- 33:37documentaries and stuff, it's like it's fucked up beds that
- 33:40it's fascination with that, you know, if everything's happy and
- 33:43go-lucky and stuff. Like, that's not really, not a
- 33:47lot of people can really relate to that.
- 33:48Unfortunately, it's great to feel happy and want to party,
- 33:51and dance, and be happy in the moment.
- 33:53But like, a lot of us are dealing with struggles, that you
- 33:56just don't see. And I think that when you listen
- 33:59to certain music that can make you feel, how you're feeling
- 34:04right? Do you feel like I Can relate to
- 34:06this, this is exactly how I feel.
- 34:08That's probably where that personal connection you were
- 34:10talking about comes from because like this person gets my
- 34:12struggle and it's like, well, it's not a unique struggle, you
- 34:16know, I thought, you know, we had a band, you know, when I had
- 34:20the live band going a bunch of years ago, you know, we were
- 34:24talking about things along this line and my drummer Bob asked
- 34:29me, like, he's like, who hurt you?
- 34:32You know, as we were working on a new song and it was I don't
- 34:36know how to write happy songs. I never had, you know, in my
- 34:40teen years, like, when I first started working on songwriting,
- 34:42my mom is, like, why don't you try anything happy?
- 34:44And I was like, what? Like I don't, I'm not happy.
- 34:48So, I don't know how to do that. And like, that has been the
- 34:50theme that has run through my music for the entire time.
- 34:53I've been working on it. So, my drummer says, like, who
- 34:56hurt you? Why is everything so miserable?
- 34:58And, you know, the guy that I've been in the band with the
- 35:00longest Matt was like, Adams is tortured soul is our Wellspring.
- 35:04Like, that's the only reason why we have new songs all the time
- 35:07is because like if he wasn't miserable, if you nothing the
- 35:11way, I mean, and that's just, that's the reality of it, right?
- 35:15It's like, you know, when you're there's only so many songs that
- 35:20you can write about like, you know, get on your I can't I
- 35:24can't even think of any other. I just was listening to this new
- 35:27album by Royal teeth and they have one.
- 35:29It's like, you know, we're going to make it happen or something
- 35:31and it's all just like positive like reinforcement, you know?
- 35:36Statements and it was just like I could never write this song
- 35:39not in a million years. Could I write the song?
- 35:42I I have to it, has to be. I just had a huge break up or,
- 35:46you know, something in my life, went wrong, somebody died.
- 35:50Like, that's the only thing I know how to do.
- 35:51It's only thing I know how to connect to there's these two
- 35:54songs that I've been listening to a lot recently that I really
- 35:58like happy-go-lucky Positive Vibes.
- 36:01But when you listen to the lyrics, they're actually really
- 36:04depressing. And I realized something dawned
- 36:06on me recently that a lot of the music, I love even because I'm
- 36:09obviously drawn towards miserable music, you know, I
- 36:12love me. The Smiths and Radiohead and you
- 36:14know gone gone gone right? And it makes me laugh because
- 36:18I'm like this is I'm just you know I'm a guy am exactly what I
- 36:24hate that kind of type of person that's like a muse sitting there
- 36:28like going woe is me and it's like I'm not that guy, but I
- 36:31love that. And that's totally how I write
- 36:33and that's totally what I mean to but I'm not a miserable guy
- 36:37but I sometimes feel like that and it's I don't know.
- 36:39It's that constant not understanding.
- 36:42Anything kind of thing but it's either.
- 36:45I suppose it's good as a creative.
- 36:47But yeah, there's this song recently by this British pop
- 36:51artist called KSI. He's a YouTuber is now going to
- 36:55music, right? And he released the song called
- 36:58lighter and the the songs like really happy-go-lucky dance
- 37:04Vibes, perfect summer tune, right?
- 37:06But the lyrics are about like, basically getting over a breakup
- 37:11and literally feeling Lights up more positive as a result of
- 37:14getting away from that person. And a similar song that I listen
- 37:18to. When I was growing up, in sort
- 37:21of the 90's early, 2000's Dance, the Night Away by the Mavericks
- 37:26same thing. The lyrics like the songs really
- 37:28happy. They were dancing like a like
- 37:30sort of like it's a country song but it's like kind of got that
- 37:33like Mexican vibe to it and they're all like hey so happy
- 37:36and go-lucky. But the lyrics are like
- 37:38literally basically. I got over this breakup and I'm
- 37:42happy. And if she calls tell her to
- 37:44leave me alone, because I'm really happy right now.
- 37:46And I just like Jesus, like how many like actually happy songs
- 37:51are there were the lyrics are happy.
- 37:53They probably just don't. I mean the last one I could
- 37:55think of is probably that really annoying song by what's his
- 38:00name. Why for all that Despicable Me 2
- 38:05soundtrack? I think.
- 38:07So I'm happy. Yeah, that's funny about that is
- 38:12I feel When he was doing that, he probably was not happy at
- 38:15all, is because he probably had to do that like 50 times to get
- 38:18the video, right? And he's like, right did I have
- 38:21I swear, didn't he say somewhere that you actually hated that
- 38:24song now or I mean that's the thing.
- 38:26He's it's insanely talented producer and session drummer and
- 38:32you know he's got like when you once I found out that he existed
- 38:37and like I just started to see him pop up everywhere like in in
- 38:42my in my History. Right.
- 38:43It was like, oh, I didn't know that was him as, like, I think
- 38:47it's hilarious that he, then, you know, he gets this moment of
- 38:51Fame, you know, because he's again, he's a, he's a working
- 38:54musician. Who's been around for years and
- 38:56years and years, who is responsible for a lot of hits,
- 38:58but he was never in the public eye.
- 38:59Then he writes this crazy song about, you know, raising the
- 39:04roof and all that stuff and, you know, wears a silly hat and he's
- 39:10getting an Oscar and doing it. Doing the silly dances and
- 39:13whatever and I just think it's hilarious that like that's just
- 39:16how thing works, right? Like you get to make stuff and
- 39:19be in the shadows. But like if you you know, you
- 39:23write a silly song about being happy.
- 39:24Like all the sudden you can be on billboards and stuff like
- 39:27that. He's it.
- 39:28The interesting thing about songwriting as well as like many
- 39:32people that I've seen, who I was like, oh yeah, whatever happened
- 39:36to them. They made like this sort of go
- 39:38with it, like, in the 2000s and then they disappeared and then I
- 39:41found out. Oh, they've got into producing.
- 39:42Touring and holy shit. They wrote all of these songs
- 39:44and what's interesting about Pharrell.
- 39:46And also, Bruno Mars is obviously with with Ferrari.
- 39:50He was in any ID, the rap group thing, but he was mostly behind
- 39:54the scenes and Bruno Mars. Same thing for years, he wrote
- 39:57other people's songs, like he famously wrote Gnarls Barkley's
- 40:02crazy. And I remember one time seeing
- 40:05I'm going to chat so singing it and it's like, yeah, actually,
- 40:07it does kind of sound like his kind of a song and it's
- 40:11interesting what we were talking about with the Ego thing out
- 40:13here. I think a lot of them kind of
- 40:14think, like, you know what, I could easily have a whole career
- 40:18just doing songwriting and never be in the public eye.
- 40:20But what if, what if I just tried my hand at it, you know,
- 40:24and it's funny because those guys are really like they've
- 40:30probably quadrupled what they would have ever done just having
- 40:35that kind of a career by making themselves, you know, famous in
- 40:39their own right like, with their own music and It kind of stunts
- 40:43me that they hadn't done it sooner, particularly Bruno, Mars
- 40:46like with that voice. It's it's interesting but it
- 40:50could just be a case of time and like maybe he did tribe years
- 40:54before but it would just wasn't happening but it got so gonna do
- 40:59all. I was going to say was that it's
- 41:01funny how many working musicians, right?
- 41:04Other people's songs as well. Like I know Ed Sheeran's has
- 41:07written music for like Justin Bieber for example and I think
- 41:11Jesse ga He wrote some music for Miley Cyrus?
- 41:15Yeah, I mean the list goes on like they were right for each
- 41:17other and stuff and isn't that Miss Big Industry is a lot of
- 41:20money to be made in the industry, but I think people,
- 41:24you know, there's this logical fallacy that exists where, you
- 41:29know, someone will appear on, you know, the national Global
- 41:32stage and they'll had this huge hit and people will be like, oh,
- 41:37he's an overnight success. She's an overnight success.
- 41:39It's like, no, they've been working for 20 years.
- 41:43Slogging it away as a songwriter or, you know, as a backup singer
- 41:47or whatever. And the difference, maybe it's
- 41:51just that they got a connection that didn't exist before but it
- 41:53also I think belies like how much work goes into making that
- 41:58happen. Like there's a music label who's
- 42:01spending you know hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars
- 42:04on promoting that you know, like there's a publicist who's like
- 42:09coordinating, you know, uh publicity tour.
- 42:12You know, there's all kinds of hookers who are creating, you
- 42:16know, the actual like live music tour.
- 42:18You know, there's merchandise that goes into it, like there's
- 42:21commercial advertising like they, you know, it's an
- 42:23industry. It's one of the biggest
- 42:25industries in the world, right? Like where that it's all geared
- 42:28around. Like we take a product and we
- 42:31blast it out to the world through all these different
- 42:34channels. And you know, we as the
- 42:36consumers are kind of like oh that person came out of nowhere
- 42:38it. No, they didn't come out of
- 42:39nowhere. They cannot thirded strategy.
- 42:42That was, you know, trying to connect them with an audience at
- 42:45a certain time through huge amounts of work.
- 42:48And another thing that really strengthens that that argument
- 42:51as well as like when you see a musician, you know, like
- 42:54particular when you got ha, why did they go?
- 42:57They were really big for a while and then they disappear.
- 42:59Like, I know I covered this earlier but like A good example
- 43:03is Franz Ferdinand from the UK. They were really big in like the
- 43:07mid 2000s. They had that song.
- 43:09Take Me Out, was featured on in Guitar Hero II think.
- 43:13So, that gave it like a for international standing blah,
- 43:15blah, blah. Then they do a follow-up which I
- 43:18don't think the follow-up had quite as much International buzz
- 43:21but it did okay in the UK and then they kind of fizzled out,
- 43:24but they never stop playing. They never stop writing.
- 43:27They write music to this day but like you said, it's that
- 43:30particular strategy. She you know like at that time
- 43:33they had a bit of an 80s revival going on in at least in the UK.
- 43:38Yeah. And this was everything from the
- 43:40music to the the image and if you look at Franz ferdinand's
- 43:44image at the time, they had that kind of like emo hair going on
- 43:48which was very popular at the time.
- 43:49And emo is obviously a revamp version of the new Romantics
- 43:55movement from the 80s. So like nothing just happens by
- 43:58chance, it's all planned. Like I wouldn't even.
- 44:03I reckon there's a good chance that their record label even
- 44:06told them to, like, get dressed and get haircuts like that.
- 44:09And there's a good chance that happened.
- 44:11That's not a chance. That's a certainty.
- 44:13I was like, yeah, I use ago in a different life, you know, new a
- 44:19band that got signed to a big Christian legal and they were
- 44:22huge in that world. And even they, as soon as they
- 44:27got signed, they got stylist that took them out shopping.
- 44:30Got the new Utz and you know, dress them differently and
- 44:34they're like this is how you dress now, internet think that
- 44:37is everywhere like they're everybody's image is crafted by
- 44:42professionals and I'm not saying that as a knock, right?
- 44:45I think that's just a business. It's like you know, when you go
- 44:48to McDonald's, there's a team of people that brought you that
- 44:51hamburger. There's a supply chain behind
- 44:53that that, you know, put that meat in your face.
- 44:56It's not, you know, somebody just flipping a burger in the
- 44:59back and handing it to you like there's a whole process.
- 45:01Us that goes into farming you know you know having the cows
- 45:05and like feeding them. The right things that they're
- 45:08plump at the right time or whatever it is, you know,
- 45:11there's a whole chain that gets that to your face and it's like
- 45:14the same thing with music. There is a whole chain of
- 45:17Industry that gets to creates that thing before it reaches
- 45:21your ears. But it's interesting.
- 45:23You mentioned that happens in the Christian industry because
- 45:28okay I don't know much about Christian music.
- 45:30I noted its massive in America because obviously country music
- 45:34is huge in America like huge and there's some really good
- 45:38musicians actually. So, yeah, I've been, I've had
- 45:40people cussed me out for, like a country music and you don't know
- 45:43what you're missing. Okay, I've got one country.
- 45:46Yes it away, man. There's mean like Jerry Reed.
- 45:50Have you not got her dad? Jerry, I don't know him.
- 45:51No, no. Oh my God, you gotta check out
- 45:54Jerry. Reed, he's like the greatest of
- 45:55all time when it comes to country music like similarly
- 45:58for. Anyway, yeah, huge industry,
- 46:03especially in America and obviously there's a big
- 46:05connection to the Christian demographic in the, in the US,
- 46:09which is huge. And obviously that means there's
- 46:12Christian rock and Christian metal and that blew my mind,
- 46:16especially when I was growing up as this like metal Kid, Rock
- 46:19kid, I was like Christian metal, how does that work?
- 46:22And there's Actually a few there's a few bands in that
- 46:25industry that actually kind of slap hard, like quite well.
- 46:29But yeah, bring it back to the point.
- 46:32You said that, like the image matters and I would think hang
- 46:35on, if this music is about spreading the word of God.
- 46:38And, you know, spreading happiness and joy and God's
- 46:41word, and all this, why the fuck do they care about looks and
- 46:44stuff. Surely that stuff, shouldn't
- 46:46matter. You got tell me more about this
- 46:48man. What's going on?
- 46:49It shouldn't but it does, right? I hate even talk about it
- 46:51because I'm not That world anymore and I'm going back, I'm
- 46:54dating myself. But like when I was in that, you
- 46:57know, world like just as an example, there was a local
- 47:01touring vocal group that came to our church and that was their
- 47:05whole that they had a tour of us.
- 47:06You know. They traveled around the to one
- 47:09of the different churches. It's a huge industry of you know
- 47:14you have a built-in audience and like we're secular for: was
- 47:17secular performers Go and show up at different venues.
- 47:22It venues Christian bands, go around and play at different
- 47:25churches because they don't have to pack the house, it's already
- 47:28there. The audience is built-in and you
- 47:31know there's work that goes into that or whatever but you know,
- 47:34this band shows up vocal group better name for him.
- 47:39Every single one of them had, you know, this is going back
- 47:42years. They had like the blond
- 47:43highlights like the perfectly crafted, you know, hair that was
- 47:47just so and like it was two guys into women and they all, you
- 47:51know, we're fake blondes or at least they appeared to be, you
- 47:55know, like their hair was Flawless there.
- 47:58You know, they had the sequin t-shirts and all that stuff that
- 48:01were, you know, shiny and reflective in the lights.
- 48:03And, you know, all of their stage banter patter was like
- 48:07perfectly crafted. It was not, you know,
- 48:10extemporaneous at all and it just I felt like that reaction.
- 48:14You just had of like, look like that's how I felt when it was
- 48:16happening. I was doing sound for, you know,
- 48:20the Church of the time and I was just like, this is skeezy.
- 48:23I don't like anything about this and it's all like it's about an
- 48:26image, right? They can up there and they talk
- 48:28about, you know, oh, you know, they'll say things that sound
- 48:33like a sermon. But you can tell that they have
- 48:36written that very carefully. The time and it's going through
- 48:40the, you know, the drafting process.
- 48:42It's not coming off the cuff. Did you ever like see Christian
- 48:48acts that kind of would like, turn up and be like, yeah, we're
- 48:51megastars. We don't have to talk to you,
- 48:53like, we're, you know, like it. Did you get any of that or is
- 48:56that a bit too far? You know, I found that they were
- 49:01very personable and I did not get the impression that they
- 49:04were, you know, holier than now. Nice.
- 49:09No. I never had like a negative
- 49:11experience with them, but there was definitely like the level of
- 49:14celebrity, right? Like they were, they were the
- 49:17one band that I'm referring to do.
- 49:18Like, I don't want to name them. But, you know, they were very
- 49:20well known in the National Market.
- 49:23And, you know, they won double Wards and all that kind of
- 49:27stuff, which is the Christian Grammy and, you know, they were
- 49:32really nice guys. They were insanely good
- 49:34musicians, but I just ate was hilarious to me that, you know,
- 49:37before they got signed they were A quirky and like, you know,
- 49:40they would play like the Knight Rider theme song at their shows
- 49:44and, you know, they would do like a whole bunch of 80 songs
- 49:49and stuff like that. And they their songs had like a
- 49:51cool Edge to them, and I was always like these guys are more
- 49:55talented than they get credit for then they get signed and all
- 49:58of a sudden like their music turned into like three chord,
- 50:01you know, very basic, no, Rita hit songs.
- 50:06And, you know, they were and they and they were open about it
- 50:08like the You know, they had talked to one label and the
- 50:11label told them like you're not right for us right now, but your
- 50:14clothes, then they got to the other label.
- 50:16They did know addition and the labels.
- 50:18Like, if you do this that and this you work with our producers
- 50:21will get you there, and that's what they did.
- 50:23They, you know, became a product that was sold on the Christian
- 50:27market and it's like, I'm not in no way.
- 50:29Am I judging them for this? Like that's just the way it
- 50:32works, you know? It's like finding out how the
- 50:34sausage is made, sometimes a little bit upsetting and you.
- 50:38Have a look at it, the food the same way but that's just it's
- 50:41the nature of the business. This is why I never want to get
- 50:44signed by l.a. Yeah.
- 50:46Ever. Because if I had someone to turn
- 50:48around to me and be like, you have to cut your hair, you have
- 50:50to say this, you have to dress that way.
- 50:52I'd be like go fuck yourself. I did there that Jesus.
- 50:56I don't know. I'd have to see the check first
- 50:58then no, come on man. You can't sell your soul.
- 51:01Console yourself. I don't know.
- 51:03I got a mouth to feed, you know. I got a 45 year old kid like
- 51:06okay. Okay I'll for another way,
- 51:08right? Let's say I would record
- 51:10producer and I say, okay, I'll give you a check for two million
- 51:15right on right now, but I owned 100% of your music forever.
- 51:23All future realities everything. You earn goes to me, including
- 51:28merchandise. Yeah.
- 51:30Now I think that kind of thing, I would probably not like now as
- 51:34an older guy, you know, like I think that would hit me
- 51:38differently. That it would it when I was 25,
- 51:41okay? Because I've only because I've
- 51:43read about the experiences of people who've gone through that
- 51:46and everything turned out the other side and said, it wasn't
- 51:48worth it. Yeah, you know, Billy Corgan
- 51:50from Smashing Pumpkins talks about that a lot.
- 51:52Yeah. Like he was just fed a line of
- 51:54bullshit and told he was amazing in that he was the star of the
- 51:57band. And so he became that asshole.
- 52:00And then, you know, he realized like he abandoned his friends
- 52:04and like betrayed them and, you know, left them to rot and the
- 52:07band fell apart as a A little bit and he was like if I could
- 52:10take that back I would and you know I just don't think I've
- 52:17seen enough examples where the band's didn't get anything out
- 52:22of it. They end up owning the record
- 52:24label money because they gave up all their publishing.
- 52:26They gave up all their merchandising and now they've
- 52:29got nothing to show for it. And, you know, Taylor Swift is
- 52:32going through that right now. She's re-recording all of her
- 52:34songs because some jerk owns her catalog and she can't even In no
- 52:39way. Do I feel bad for Taylor Swift?
- 52:41But this is an example. Yeah, just as an example that
- 52:45it's not always what it's cracked up to be.
- 52:47And again, like I would seriously think about it.
- 52:55What's everyone's gonna price? Everyone's got a price, I mean,
- 53:00it's that whole chance, right? Like Rage Against the Machine is
- 53:03like, the, the poster children for anti-establishment, right?
- 53:07But their own, They're on a label, right?
- 53:09They were when they were playing, they had to make
- 53:13concessions about their music. I'm sure the music industry's
- 53:16changed now, they're like a lot of musicians.
- 53:18I've had on. We've had this debate.
- 53:20Would you go independent, would you go on a label?
- 53:21And I always say the same thing of like, well, I think it's
- 53:24better to get a distribution deal with a major provider, but
- 53:29still own your music because any kind of deal where you cut a
- 53:33deal. And, you know, even if it's like
- 53:3560, 60/40 or 70/30, they In a percentage, you know, that's
- 53:40money going to two people who didn't do anything for you.
- 53:43Like the most. And the thing is these days, we
- 53:46have the power of the internet. You don't need this like years
- 53:50ago to get your name out there. You needed a company to
- 53:54essentially all the record label to essentially workers like the
- 53:56marketing end and to promote you, but now you don't need
- 54:00that. You can do all of that shit
- 54:01yourself for free. So what can the label really
- 54:05offer? You other than Mass kind of
- 54:08distribution? Russian.
- 54:08That's really the only thing that's worth kind of going for
- 54:11these days. I mean and I think I'd say the
- 54:14one thing that they could on for you that I can't that I as a
- 54:17musician, come here, can't provide is skill, right?
- 54:20Like I am not good at self-promotion.
- 54:23I am terrible at it. And so like, you know, for so
- 54:29many years, I've been at the same level because like, I hate
- 54:33talking about myself, right? I hate going on social media and
- 54:37saying, hey, look at this. I did, you know, I do it because
- 54:41I know I need to in order for someone to hear it.
- 54:43And that's why I want the ultimate goal is for people to
- 54:45hear the music but like, I still am terrible at it.
- 54:49Despite having been involved in this business, quote unquote
- 54:54for, you know, almost 20 years. So, it's like, as a great
- 54:57example, you know, we went through one of those companies
- 55:03that licenses your music for film and TV and they put one of
- 55:08our Songs in a Netflix foam. And I was like, if you want to
- 55:12run, is that correct 2801? Yeah, yeah.
- 55:15It was on a movie called The, Keeping hours.
- 55:18Yes, that's right. Which is a decent movie.
- 55:21Like, I was actually surprised. I expected it to be a piece of
- 55:23junk, but it was actually cool. Yeah, it's a phone with Lee Pace
- 55:29and you know, they play he's like he's going through a kind
- 55:33of a moment where he's you know, him and his wife have divorced.
- 55:38Their son passed away. And so like, he's packing up the
- 55:41house, and he's just sitting there, drinking a beer, listen
- 55:43to Our Song, and like that was a holy shit experience, right?
- 55:46But, you know, I talked to a couple friends with her.
- 55:49Like, how did you get some good money on?
- 55:50That is like, no, I got like a couple tanks of gas out of it.
- 55:56Maybe. Well, hold on.
- 55:57Do you know, get like constant royalties from that song?
- 56:00Oh no, no, no. So that's the thing is like the
- 56:03licensing. Yeah, this is a whole thing.
- 56:06We're getting like, way far away but we're talking about industry
- 56:08now, right? Right?
- 56:09The the world of Licensing is a total.
- 56:14I'm not it is meant to put hands on the money of the Publishers
- 56:18and not so much the musician, right?
- 56:20So I same is really good industry.
- 56:22Then basically, in a nutshell, in the place of that right in
- 56:26the modern world. So, like the publisher now, owns
- 56:30that song in perpetuity and I ends we got 50% of the payment.
- 56:38The, the publisher got the other 50% and then because there's
- 56:41three songwriters I had to split it three ways.
- 56:43So it was like, maybe a tank and a half of gas for me.
- 56:48And then for the other two guys and like the publisher, if
- 56:52that's Ong, were to get picked up by somebody else, they would
- 56:56get equal payment as I would, and it's you notice if he put
- 57:01get picked up the huge still get money now.
- 57:03Like let's say it gets picked up things.
- 57:04So yeah, if there was another payment put out, I would get
- 57:0850%. Scent of it, I think.
- 57:09Okay. So you didn't get totally
- 57:10screwed. Like there's still something
- 57:12that's getting I'm not even saying I'm in no way.
- 57:14Am I saying I'm screwed? I'm just saying it's not like
- 57:17it's a fair deal because they did the work of going and
- 57:20getting that in a same movie that I couldn't do.
- 57:23Yeah. But I just I'm saying it's not
- 57:26what people imagine like. Oh you know, I wrote my rent
- 57:28check that month from, you know, ganesan know like it's some,
- 57:33it's some money. It's nice to get paid for your
- 57:36work but it's not, you know, The music industry has become so
- 57:40flooded with musicians who are able, you know, the
- 57:43democratization of music has made it such that anybody can
- 57:47make the music now, but anybody can make the music now.
- 57:49And so there's if you walk on a deal, there's a thousand a
- 57:54million people behind you who will happily take that deal and
- 57:58not care about whether they get paid or not.
- 58:01Yeah, but I kind of feel this like what we've been saying
- 58:04before you got to think about the future like things have
- 58:07changed, you know what I mean? Like even for you you took about
- 58:11like, okay, or if I did a deal with the record label, I can get
- 58:15skill from the dude, you'd be better off.
- 58:17Just employing someone to do your social media marketing for
- 58:20you. That would be better off.
- 58:22Long-term then signing with a record label because of these
- 58:26buki percentage deals. I got my I'm a business guy.
- 58:29So when I look at that I'm like okay Screwed is a bit of a harsh
- 58:32word, but I always think that the percentage should be in
- 58:36favor of the musician, tenotomy, it out, even if it's like, I
- 58:41don't know, 5545, I still think that's better, just because you
- 58:45have that controlling interest and, you know, you can get kind
- 58:49of, you can say, oh, I know, actually we want x x and x, you
- 58:52know, but if it's like 50/50 or weighted against you, you don't
- 58:56have it's the same as running a business.
- 58:57You don't have the kind of the say so, or or like, you know,
- 59:02you've got other people to answer to and I just think
- 59:04that's BS. When it's your own music, your
- 59:06own product that you've created tirelessly and put effort into
- 59:09it, you know, I don't know, maybe this is because I'm a
- 59:11musician. So I'm like fight the good
- 59:13fight. The screw the man.
- 59:14You know, it's like I get it and I've been there but I'm also
- 59:18like, you know, I try to be a little bit more.
- 59:22I don't know what like balanced about it.
- 59:24Now we're here because we went through this right where we
- 59:27went, when I had the gigging band.
- 59:30We To book a tour. There's all these peripheral
- 59:34company in my music blog, I wrote about this, I called him
- 59:37like Carpetbaggers, right? It's like once once, like
- 59:40musician music became democratized, all these like,
- 59:43little extra companies came out of the woodwork that are like,
- 59:46oh, we can help you, you know, will be the your record label
- 59:49for you. Like you still get to keep
- 59:51everything but we'll book your tour or you know, we'll get you
- 59:54played on Regional radio or, you know, the college circuit like
- 59:58will connect you, with the companies that book The Colleges
- 1:00:02or you know one of the other things was like will give you
- 1:00:06the mailing list of all the venues in your area and two
- 1:00:09contacts for them. You just have to pay a fee and
- 1:00:13then we'll provide you with the mailing labels and then you can
- 1:00:16send your one sheet out to them to get, you know, a gig.
- 1:00:20So we did pretty much like all of that and in almost every case
- 1:00:25it worked out to nothing, right? It like it ended up.
- 1:00:28I'm like I wouldn't call it a scam but it was like,
- 1:00:31Definitely, a situation that benefited them because they're
- 1:00:34getting money and we got nothing.
- 1:00:36So like you know, the guy that sent us the mailing labels for
- 1:00:40all the venues not a single one responding, I think we had over
- 1:00:44like 200 venues on they're mostly women responded.
- 1:00:48Most of them came back is not deliverable.
- 1:00:50So the labels were probably outdated or you know incorrect.
- 1:00:55Then we had another guy who like, he claimed to be a
- 1:00:59producer who worked with the, I'm not going to say the band
- 1:01:03name because I don't want to get sued.
- 1:01:05He worked with big label bands from the 90s and he was like,
- 1:01:09you know, I can take you to the next level or whatever.
- 1:01:11So we paid him some money because, you know, he kind of
- 1:01:13wowed us, he took us out to dinner and we were like, oh this
- 1:01:16guy's like the legit and, you know, he made a call to a studio
- 1:01:21for us where we ended up recording an album with them,
- 1:01:23but like all he did was call them, we could have called them
- 1:01:27but that's literally all the connection he made was he just
- 1:01:30said, like, I have this And they want to record.
- 1:01:32Are you willing? And they were like, do you have
- 1:01:34money? We're like, yeah, we have money
- 1:01:35and they're like, well, then you can record here.
- 1:01:38So, you know and then he disappeared.
- 1:01:40So he took our money and ran like he took a large amount of
- 1:01:43money. Yeah.
- 1:01:44And we felt like fools, right? And we were fools, so it was
- 1:01:48right for us to feel that way because like we should not have
- 1:01:50given him money until like he actually did something useful
- 1:01:53for us. I think it's forgivable.
- 1:01:55They've been giving musicians like I like even for me like 30
- 1:01:59at the time. So I wasn't that young.
- 1:02:01Still do is to me like how do you know it's like life is about
- 1:02:06making these mistakes and learning from them as that.
- 1:02:08I think it's just now that we have more information and more
- 1:02:11access to know how these industries work.
- 1:02:14We know that there are options, I think that's kind of what I'm
- 1:02:17alluding to is that, you know, it's different.
- 1:02:19Like in the 90s, there wasn't options.
- 1:02:21Now there's options and it's like you don't have to put up
- 1:02:24with that stuff. I mean, I find it very telling
- 1:02:26that a lot of major musicians are going back to Independent
- 1:02:29labels like mac, the Marco. Famously went back to
- 1:02:33Independent label, think Kanye's, trying to get out of
- 1:02:36his contract and go independent now, Metallica, For example,
- 1:02:40they made their own record label in like 2015.
- 1:02:44Something like that, because they finally managed to buy
- 1:02:46their back catalog. And then they naturally
- 1:02:49re-released all their old music and their new music on that
- 1:02:51label because they'd only just been able to buy their masters
- 1:02:54out. So, it's like, I think there's a
- 1:02:57lot to be said for owning your own music and everything.
- 1:03:01Yeah, I hope that that's always the case, right?
- 1:03:04I don't ever want to lose control of my stuff, right?
- 1:03:07And it you know if if I was capable of doing the promotional
- 1:03:12work, I think I would be in a much better state, right?
- 1:03:16Like, you know, the band would be like but it's I don't know.
- 1:03:21I need to you're right. I need to connect with the
- 1:03:23people who are good at that and instead of maybe trying to do it
- 1:03:27all myself. But the opportunity does exist,
- 1:03:29I could do it. If I was You know, willing to
- 1:03:33put in the energy and the time, I guess.
- 1:03:34But yeah, in my perfect world, I had always hoped that someone
- 1:03:40would come along and he's like, I recognize the quality of your
- 1:03:43music and I would like to now bring what I can to it, which
- 1:03:46is, you know, the business side of it or whatever.
- 1:03:49And we had a couple people like that.
- 1:03:50We went through probably like, six managers over time, who were
- 1:03:54people, who thought they could take the band to the next level,
- 1:03:58and they all eat their head against the wall for For a few
- 1:04:01months or longer and then they were like, oh this is harder
- 1:04:05than it looks so you know, It's Tricky.
- 1:04:12Moving it Forward. Obviously you mentioned earlier
- 1:04:15that you got a new record coming out, now on your website, it
- 1:04:18states that you will, you're going to release the sub or sort
- 1:04:21of it was stated that you're going to release it last year as
- 1:04:25a follow-up to 2019, s under the mountain.
- 1:04:29Now, I think you mentioned the day earlier, might have got that
- 1:04:32wrong, but when do you think we can actually expect this next
- 1:04:34record? And more importantly, what kind
- 1:04:37of themes do you think it's going to cover lyrical?
- 1:04:39Like what's the direction of this new record?
- 1:04:42Yeah, so it did get push back a little bit.
- 1:04:45I was hoping to release in 2020. I was hoping to continue jamming
- 1:04:49with Dan and Ryan. The guys who work with me on
- 1:04:51this one and but then covid hit and you know, that really
- 1:04:55impacted our schedule. So I'm hoping that it will be
- 1:04:58done. It's in mastering right now.
- 1:05:00So oh excellent. Yeah, I'm hoping to get it back
- 1:05:03in the next week and then, you know, it should be out.
- 1:05:05I would think in, like a month or so.
- 1:05:08What was the name again? If the record parasite and
- 1:05:11host-parasite and host. Okay, yeah, so lyrically, this
- 1:05:17album is It's a whole long story.
- 1:05:20I'll try to keep it as short as possible.
- 1:05:22I'm really bad at telling short story, so I apologize.
- 1:05:24Hey, I'm going to bed of, man. I love story.
- 1:05:28So, when my son was born, his mom went through a real
- 1:05:34difficult experience. You know.
- 1:05:36I don't want to go into the details of it but basically
- 1:05:38like, you know, she had a huge, it just it devastated, both of
- 1:05:44our lives and we ended up splitting up, right?
- 1:05:47Thank you. But you know, it's all worked
- 1:05:49out for the She's you know, met someone else.
- 1:05:50She's happy, they've had another kid but, you know, it was a
- 1:05:54really difficult experience for me for, you know, you know, a
- 1:05:58newborn baby. I'm sure because he ended up
- 1:06:00being separated from his mom for a time and like, you know, and
- 1:06:03certainly for her. So after that experience, it
- 1:06:08just, it rocked my world, right? I was always a hesitant parent.
- 1:06:12I was not she convinced me to become a parent and, you know,
- 1:06:18And it was something I was worried about something I was
- 1:06:19very nervous about, and when he was born, you know, she kept
- 1:06:24saying, like, oh, it's gonna be great.
- 1:06:25Like, everything's gonna be fine.
- 1:06:26Stop worrying. And then when, you know, when
- 1:06:29all this went down, and it was like as bad and worse than I had
- 1:06:33imagined. With all of the drama, I was
- 1:06:36just like devastated and, you know, my world was pretty much
- 1:06:41over in my mind, right? Like, I didn't know how to be a
- 1:06:44parent. I didn't know how to be a single
- 1:06:45parent, certainly, and You know, I went to this really dark
- 1:06:49period Rogers like, this is, you know, it's over life is
- 1:06:54pointless, like I'm out. And so, you know, it was really
- 1:06:59heavy was really dark and I made I just realized I didn't realize
- 1:07:03at the time, I started making decisions that I didn't care
- 1:07:07about other people. I didn't care about myself.
- 1:07:09I didn't care what happened. I didn't hear about the
- 1:07:10consequences, so I just like, sorry.
- 1:07:13I've got, there's a guy outside working on. 70 fearsome, hammer.
- 1:07:18But I, you know, I didn't have any care about whether life
- 1:07:24continued or not and I made some really dark decisions that hurt
- 1:07:28a lot of people. Right.
- 1:07:29Like, you know, I was cruel to people, I was uncaring and I
- 1:07:36just went around as if I was the only person that mattered
- 1:07:39because I thought like life is pointless.
- 1:07:41So, why should I bother carrying all of that to say?
- 1:07:46The songs Under the Mountain, had a lot to do with like you
- 1:07:50know what, what brought all this on?
- 1:07:54Like is mental health, you know? Did this come from me?
- 1:07:58Is this coming from the people who made me write?
- 1:08:01This is coming from my parents, my grandparents who all had
- 1:08:04their own issues with mental health.
- 1:08:06You know, is kind of like delving into that Darkness with
- 1:08:08like a empathetic Approach parasite and host is like fuck
- 1:08:16that. Let's pretend that that was the
- 1:08:19right way to go. Let's pretend that you know
- 1:08:22ruining people's lives was the right choice.
- 1:08:25Lets you know it's kind of like living in.
- 1:08:30It's almost like embracing the dark side and saying you know,
- 1:08:35it was fun. Like the darkness is is Fun, the
- 1:08:40darkness is enjoyable, and there were good things that came out
- 1:08:43of it. And so I kind of like whenever I
- 1:08:47write songs like that, there's this kind of character I created
- 1:08:51in my head that you know because I'm just very I walk into a bar
- 1:08:56I am social anxiety through, right?
- 1:08:59Like I am worried about, you know, what is that person doing?
- 1:09:04Is that guy going to get in a fight?
- 1:09:06And you know, why is the music so loud?
- 1:09:10And did I just say the wrong thing?
- 1:09:11You know, I never and I never feel comfortable in social
- 1:09:14environment. This character in my head is the
- 1:09:18guy that walks in the bar as like everyone should be looking
- 1:09:20at me right now. long Square Under the Mountain was all like
- 1:09:26the self-doubt and the social anxiety and all that, you know,
- 1:09:29the the weaker side of it, but still trying to retain,
- 1:09:35Humanity, parasite and host is like Fuck it don't care.
- 1:09:40I'm the one that matters. Everybody else can you know deal
- 1:09:44and so it's like it's dark. It's dark but it's it's also
- 1:09:48more fun because it's like you know those people it's like a
- 1:09:52straight Rock album and I haven't made one of those for a
- 1:09:55long time. Hmm.
- 1:09:57And you know, Dad's going to say if I could just interject for
- 1:09:59one second, one of your, I think the earliest record you did or
- 1:10:04one of the early around, sort of 2009 to 2011 time was very
- 1:10:08Heavy. And it's interesting because if
- 1:10:09you look at your back catalog because I actually really liked
- 1:10:13your music, like I do thanks headed to my Spotify stars like
- 1:10:16this, this slaps. But what's interesting is, yeah,
- 1:10:18that very first record or one of the earlier ones is very Rock
- 1:10:21orientated, like quite very heavy and the rest of the
- 1:10:24album's go off on this kind of like, Acoustic country kind of
- 1:10:29vibe. I guess it's probably the best
- 1:10:31way to sum it up and then, yeah. So we're sort of like, full
- 1:10:35circle coming back to the roots are guess and going for
- 1:10:38something a bit heavier, which is interesting.
- 1:10:41Yeah, this one I you know, I tend to go through like I put
- 1:10:45stuff in the musical or the creative blender, right.
- 1:10:48And then you don't know what comes out until like six months
- 1:10:51to a year later, write it there's like a lag time.
- 1:10:54So I went through a year of just listening to nothing.
- 1:10:57But like, blues rock, like, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Gary,
- 1:11:03Clark jr. And and then like a lot of retro
- 1:11:09meaning Rock. So like The Black Keys or the
- 1:11:12Amazons and, you know, just kind of like and then I went a little
- 1:11:18deeper and just spent a while listening to nothing but like
- 1:11:21Buddy, Holly and Elvis, you know where I just wanted to get like,
- 1:11:24what is like what are the root components of?
- 1:11:27Rock like what makes this wide like?
- 1:11:29Because you listen to Jailhouse Rock.
- 1:11:31Write that song is like what I do 70 or 80 years old song is
- 1:11:35still amazing. It's not like it's not amazing
- 1:11:38as like a historical piece. It's amazing.
- 1:11:40Like, if that song came out right now, Elvis would be a bona
- 1:11:44fide star. Because like his voice in that
- 1:11:46like the grit, he puts on it and, you know, it's insane.
- 1:11:50How captivating it is? I was like, what is it about
- 1:11:54this stuff that makes So, damn good.
- 1:11:58And so like I spent probably like over a year year and a half
- 1:12:02trying to just, like, delve into that stuff and then see what
- 1:12:06comes out of it. And, you know, Ryan and Dan,
- 1:12:08both have different musical influences.
- 1:12:11And, you know, they brought something new to the table,
- 1:12:15right? Which is like when we were
- 1:12:17jamming we just would, like, put together a verse and a chorus
- 1:12:20and it was like because the band is there live, there's an energy
- 1:12:24to that that you don't get when you're just.
- 1:12:27With a guitar and your notebook, you know.
- 1:12:29So I think this one has a lot more up-tempo vibe to it than
- 1:12:33any of my previous albums. Cool.
- 1:12:36Yeah, no. Look forward to hearing the.
- 1:12:39So, since February now, do you reckon with in the next couple
- 1:12:42of months or whatever a particular date pain?
- 1:12:45Okay. So I hope so.
- 1:12:47I mean I don't have a date in mind.
- 1:12:50It's just as soon as possible, you know, like covid said,
- 1:12:53everybody back obviously but like with this Fees.
- 1:12:57It's always tricky because it's like you know once the mastering
- 1:13:00is done then you know we might have to go back and forth once
- 1:13:02or twice with the mastering guy and then then it's you know you
- 1:13:07put it on the platforms and sometimes there it's ready in
- 1:13:10like a week and sometimes it's ready in like a month and so you
- 1:13:12just, you never know, but I'm aiming for early spring at the
- 1:13:16latest given that your music is available on platforms, like
- 1:13:21Spotify and apple and apple easy available iTunes.
- 1:13:25Okay. Yeah, it's any streaming
- 1:13:26platform. So Amazon Apple Spotify put it
- 1:13:29out everywhere. Like, if she did have to go into
- 1:13:33specifics, but like, I've heard a lot of stuff in the media
- 1:13:35about how musicians kind of get screwed over and plat, you know,
- 1:13:40you don't really get a lot out of these platforms.
- 1:13:44As far as I money, money is concerned, like, how has it been
- 1:13:46for you like? Is it, is it worth it?
- 1:13:50You know, can you, can you kind of make a living off it?
- 1:13:52Or is it just kind of like, you know what?
- 1:13:54We've Stuff out there. And that's the most important
- 1:13:57thing. Yeah, so this is where I'm
- 1:13:59really bad at Christian is I do not do well with the business,
- 1:14:02right? And when when I was a gigging
- 1:14:06musician, people would come up to me and be like it's your
- 1:14:09album for sale. I be like, you know, I don't
- 1:14:10even putting up paying for it, just take, you know and that
- 1:14:16that is the reaction that all the other band members would
- 1:14:19have when you motherfucker, like that's that's gas money for us.
- 1:14:25I just don't know what that is. I don't know why I have that
- 1:14:31inclination because it's stupid, it's really dumb, right?
- 1:14:35I can get it. I get it.
- 1:14:36I think it's fair. Like remember when I first did
- 1:14:39my very, very first record like we did sell it, but I think we
- 1:14:44did give out a certain amount of copies for free because you have
- 1:14:46to like, you can't charge that you.
- 1:14:48I mean, you can charge your friends but they're yeah, I
- 1:14:52know, I know that feeling that you talking about you does make
- 1:14:54you feel about. Initially.
- 1:14:56But In fairness, if it's a stranger, why shouldn't you
- 1:14:58charge you money for it? You know, it's your work.
- 1:15:01It's I mean and it's not like I didn't put work, you know it's
- 1:15:04years of effort in some cases right?
- 1:15:06Like a year or two worth of work, it's every minute I'm not
- 1:15:09at my job. Like you know I'm working on
- 1:15:12this in a lot of ways and you know so it's a dumb, it's a dumb
- 1:15:19thing. I don't know why I do it but all
- 1:15:20of that the say with streaming no we don't make any serious,
- 1:15:24can you Hear that drilling out there.
- 1:15:26Icon area told me. Okay, so yeah, whenever with
- 1:15:29streaming, you know, we don't make a ton of money off of it.
- 1:15:34It's fractions of a cent per play.
- 1:15:36Okay. So you know, I think in order to
- 1:15:40make real money off of streaming you have to have like millions
- 1:15:42of downloads and I'm never going to be in that spot.
- 1:15:45I don't think so. Maybe merchandise is the best of
- 1:15:48everything potentially. Yeah, we definitely made more
- 1:15:51money from shirts and stuff like that.
- 1:15:55When we have the live band, but I think it's harder to do that
- 1:15:59over. Like once the gigging is over,
- 1:16:01if you're not getting any more then, you know, there's like
- 1:16:05that in the moment feel when you're playing at a bar or
- 1:16:09Winery or something, you know, people been drinking and they're
- 1:16:11like, they want to come up and talk and they want to be
- 1:16:13friendly and I cannot buy a t-shirt or whatever you know
- 1:16:16that that connection doesn't exist when your body and you say
- 1:16:20that but maybe you should try your hand at online.
- 1:16:24I'm digging. That's a lot of musicians have
- 1:16:26been doing obviously because they've not been able to sort of
- 1:16:29perform in normal normal venues. And interesting thing I found is
- 1:16:33that a lot of them are treating it that that busking approach.
- 1:16:36I think it's kind of cool because you have that kind of
- 1:16:38like, livestream element where people can request.
- 1:16:41So obviously for the fan base, for Adams Wilson, you know,
- 1:16:44people can say, hey can you play this?
- 1:16:46And you could be like yeah and play it and there's that element
- 1:16:50and maybe that's way to make money and stuff in there.
- 1:16:54It's certainly worth it. I know time is obviously a
- 1:16:57tricky one, but the good thing about that is you can choose
- 1:16:59when you do it. Obviously with the gig it's
- 1:17:01always in the evening. You have to weigh not
- 1:17:04necessarily on last, you know, like there's good and bad to it
- 1:17:08but you know with streaming it's like you're in control.
- 1:17:13Yeah. And they get there.
- 1:17:14I'm not sure. You know I think I've toyed with
- 1:17:17that with different models of release you know like there's
- 1:17:21the one album called it the postcards project where we spent
- 1:17:25over a year writing and recording an album or song every
- 1:17:30month and we would make a video for the I would make a video for
- 1:17:35the Saint Augustine hope so. You know it was like every month
- 1:17:44putting out a new song and you know promoting it on social
- 1:17:46media and stuff like that. I was like, I feel like this is
- 1:17:48more connecting than just putting out an album once.
- 1:17:54Streaming and just seeing what happens, right?
- 1:17:57It was like, every month, it was a new time to engage with the
- 1:17:59fans and it was, you know, it was a fun experiment but it was
- 1:18:03also like super time intensive and you know, it's draining.
- 1:18:07So you know, I tend to prefer things more like that where it's
- 1:18:12it's ongoing creativity. You know, the performance side
- 1:18:15of it for whatever reason has just never really.
- 1:18:18I don't have that bug that some musicians have with, can't wait
- 1:18:23to play the live and I can't wait to get This in front of
- 1:18:24people I'm like rather just hand them an album right?
- 1:18:27Like I'd rather than listen to it in the room time when they're
- 1:18:30comfortable like when you're driving, I think I just get so
- 1:18:34nervous about I get caught up in my own head when I'm performing
- 1:18:39you know, I don't have that thing.
- 1:18:41I just watched a concert of Jeff Buckley from, you know, the 90s
- 1:18:47obviously. And I was amazed like, he seemed
- 1:18:51like he was lost, right? Yeah.
- 1:18:52Like he's caught up in it and You know, he's like being a
- 1:18:56little bit extemporaneous, like some of his riffs, it seemed
- 1:18:59like he was toying with them a little bit.
- 1:19:02You know, they're sort of jamming, and I was just like, I
- 1:19:04never got there. I never got to that place where
- 1:19:06I could just let go and maybe it, maybe it was an act.
- 1:19:09You know, maybe he was like, in his head thinking, like, well, I
- 1:19:11need to go to a 60 or, you know, he's like all the calculations
- 1:19:15were in the front of his mind and he just makes it appear as
- 1:19:18though he's lost in the music. But you know, I know I have
- 1:19:23known musicians. Who can, you know, they can
- 1:19:25drink or they can smoke up or whatever and they'll just get
- 1:19:28lost in the music and really let go.
- 1:19:31I was never able to do that and I think you know playing live on
- 1:19:36the internet would also I think bring me back to that his face
- 1:19:39so I don't know. I don't know if that's the right
- 1:19:41that play man. There are musicians that do.
- 1:19:44I think a gorilla's is a good example of that.
- 1:19:46You know, they have performed live but they have sort of said
- 1:19:49that it's like really expensive to set up the whole you know,
- 1:19:52animated thing and you know I think it's fair like I'm the
- 1:19:55same I prefer writing music to playing it like playing is fun
- 1:20:00but yeah I don't I have had those moments here and there
- 1:20:05where it's been like a really good vibe and I think I would
- 1:20:07still do it but I don't think I would do it to the extent that
- 1:20:10other people do it. I would do it.
- 1:20:11Like sparingly you know like here and there and I yeah I
- 1:20:15don't feel that Rush that other people feel but there is a rush
- 1:20:19from creating music and I guess it's just different.
- 1:20:22Isn't everyone has their different likes and dislikes.
- 1:20:24It's just feel like it's more reward.
- 1:20:26It's more tangible. It's more rewarding.
- 1:20:28When you you know you work on a song and at the end of it you
- 1:20:32have a thing and you can't hold it in your hands anymore but you
- 1:20:35can listen to it right? It's there it exists and it's a
- 1:20:39time capsule you get back on it and say like that's what I
- 1:20:42sounded like at the time. And like that's I remember
- 1:20:44working with Ryan and Dan and like you know we had that like
- 1:20:48back and forth you know when we were jamming in the basement or
- 1:20:50whatever when you're playing live It's once it's ephemeral,
- 1:20:56right? Like once you're done playing,
- 1:20:58it's over and you can have the memory out of it, but like so
- 1:21:02much of that memory is colored by your more modern experience,
- 1:21:06right? Like things that have happened
- 1:21:07since then. So it's like, I have you memory
- 1:21:11is a, I have a whole, we could go on for an hour, probably on
- 1:21:15my feelings on memory, but I think like, you know, memory and
- 1:21:17most cases is, like is misleading, right?
- 1:21:21Like like say, You know, say we had a show and I was really
- 1:21:26worried about, you know, the booking manager didn't get back
- 1:21:30to me until like the day before we didn't have a chance to
- 1:21:32promote it enough and like, you know, the person that I was
- 1:21:35really hoping, you know, to show up, didn't show up or, you know,
- 1:21:40and like my anxiety about that would color my memory.
- 1:21:45Like whereas a person in the audience is like I was a great
- 1:21:48show. Like, you seemed like you were
- 1:21:49really and I had this experience over and over and over again, I
- 1:21:53would be caught up in. Details of like, oh, that show
- 1:21:55in terrible because x y z and then I would talk to an audience
- 1:21:59member that, that was one of my favorite shows of yours.
- 1:22:02You seemed like you were so lost in the music.
- 1:22:03I'm like, that is a lie. Yeah, you were completely
- 1:22:06misled, but I mean, that's great, right?
- 1:22:08It's, it's everybody takes away from it their own version of it,
- 1:22:12but I feel like with an album, It's a record.
- 1:22:16It's cut in stone, you can't go back, you can't change it, it's
- 1:22:20there. I mean you have a different, you
- 1:22:22have a different approach to it over time.
- 1:22:24Time, right? Like, maybe new things that come
- 1:22:26into your experience and you see it differently?
- 1:22:28No. No.
- 1:22:30You know, you're onto something that I think you're right.
- 1:22:32Actually our feelings about certain memories change because
- 1:22:36our perception of life changes. So in that moment, it felt a
- 1:22:40certain way but we reflect on it differently later.
- 1:22:42But yeah, I suppose, if you remember, how something made you
- 1:22:45feel, which is generally, what humans?
- 1:22:47Do you forget what people say, and such I think that's kind of
- 1:22:52the element behind it, isn't it? Like, for instance, that when I
- 1:22:56think back to like, like an ex-girlfriend or something and
- 1:22:59I'm like, oh yeah, the good times is that.
- 1:23:01Yeah. But what about the bad times?
- 1:23:02Remember how that made you feel? And it's like, oh yeah, oh no,
- 1:23:06wasn't all like cuz it's that rose-tinted glasses effect as.
- 1:23:09Yeah, I mean, I've delved into this a little bit with like, you
- 1:23:13know, reading some papers or, you know, listening to podcasts
- 1:23:17or whatever and more and more. I've learned that the brain is
- 1:23:24Is a committee. It is not a single unified
- 1:23:28whole, right? That we imagine it as and so
- 1:23:31like when you recall a memory, it goes through your creative
- 1:23:35portion of your brain, it goes through your emotional state.
- 1:23:38It goes through your trauma state, right?
- 1:23:41And so, like, it colors the memory where you think?
- 1:23:45You know, like if your present experience is like right now,
- 1:23:47I'm going to fear State, I might remember a certain thing an
- 1:23:53event from the past in a negative way even though maybe
- 1:23:58two days ago when I was in a happy State, you know, I was
- 1:24:01drinking. I'm hanging out with my buddies
- 1:24:03and I'm like, yeah, I remember that time we did that thing and
- 1:24:05I'm like, it's in a positive light because I'm now in a
- 1:24:07positive light, we're like and I'm not a scientist, right?
- 1:24:11I'm just, I've just, I've done a little bit of reading and you
- 1:24:15No, I'm not claiming to be an authority on this, but it's
- 1:24:17just, it's been what I have discovered, has been accurate to
- 1:24:20my anecdotal experience. And I feel like, you know, this
- 1:24:23is so crucial in songwriting to write it affects like when you
- 1:24:28stop and think about how these things work, it factors into the
- 1:24:32way that you create. Because you're like, you know,
- 1:24:36you can channel that more by setting up the circumstances for
- 1:24:39it, right? Like I can put myself into a
- 1:24:41negative head space or maybe I could try and steer.
- 1:24:45The steered away from being quite.
- 1:24:47So - by trying to think about, you know, a time that I was
- 1:24:50happy, whatever, you know, there's different ways you can
- 1:24:53toy with it. And I think live music is just
- 1:24:57another example of that, where it's like, whatever head space
- 1:25:01during at the time versus the head space here and now that
- 1:25:03you're recalling. Yeah, totally agree.
- 1:25:06I'll add to that as well. Something that you touched on
- 1:25:09that. Like, another person's
- 1:25:11perception of the same memory is key in that Like I remember
- 1:25:15reminiscing with an old friend about something and they said,
- 1:25:18oh that's not quite how I remember it.
- 1:25:20And it's interesting, you know, because that obviously the
- 1:25:23perception of the memory is equally as important as the
- 1:25:26details. Because particularly like if we
- 1:25:29take like a, like a workplace scenario, where you see things
- 1:25:34that went down in a certain way and another person has a
- 1:25:36completely different understanding of the situation.
- 1:25:39And technically, you could argue both people's perceptions are
- 1:25:43correct because it's their own. Perception of that event.
- 1:25:46And, you know, it's not to say that it's wrong.
- 1:25:48But like, sometimes that can kind of stray away from the
- 1:25:53details that we often forget about the details, because we're
- 1:25:56so caught up in the emotion of the event and the feeling like
- 1:25:59you said, it's an interesting thing to think about, for sure.
- 1:26:03I mean, you know, this is come up a lot with with mental health
- 1:26:06because they talk about it, you know, I'm someone who struggled
- 1:26:08with depression for most of my life and, you know, they talk
- 1:26:12about when a Item of depression is that it colors, your life
- 1:26:18experiences and your memories and you begin to think.
- 1:26:21I've always felt this way. Hmm, even though objectively,
- 1:26:27you can come up with examples or proof that that is not true.
- 1:26:31Well, your brain. It's almost like a poison where
- 1:26:33it's like, once it's in there, it seeps into all of the other
- 1:26:37aspects of your brain and says, hey, you've always been a
- 1:26:40miserable asshole and that's never going to change, right?
- 1:26:43It affects your past, your present, and your future.
- 1:26:45Sure. And that for me at least has
- 1:26:48been so true. Like there are times when you
- 1:26:50know, you talk to loved one and they're like you weren't
- 1:26:54unhappy, then you were thrilled with life, you know, you were so
- 1:26:58happy about, you know, getting married or you know, about what
- 1:27:02the band was doing or this or that other thing and then your
- 1:27:05brain is like, no, no, we've always been miserable and we
- 1:27:07always will be. And so, the same thing happens
- 1:27:10with the audience, right? Where You know, so many examples
- 1:27:14I could point to where somebody is.
- 1:27:17Like, I thought this, you know, this song is about X thing,
- 1:27:21right, X, whatever. Imagine scenario in their head
- 1:27:25and they would come up to me and be like, you know, hey, this is
- 1:27:29what that songs about, right? I'm like that song.
- 1:27:31I made that up. It has nothing to do with that.
- 1:27:33Like they're like, this was from your life experience.
- 1:27:35When you were going through that breakup, right?
- 1:27:37Look, no, I'm totally pulled it out of thin.
- 1:27:40Air has no bearing on my real life.
- 1:27:42It's whatever, but to them, that's what it was about.
- 1:27:46And I'm like, that's, you know, art is relative right?
- 1:27:49Like what it means to me is not what it's going to mean to you
- 1:27:53and you take from it whatever you want.
- 1:27:56And that's, that's totally legit.
- 1:27:58That's what it's for. It's, you know, I once I put it
- 1:28:02out into the world, I've done what I can do with it and now
- 1:28:05it's up to the person who's viewing and listening to it to
- 1:28:11Define their own. Ants and I can't I have no
- 1:28:13control over that. I want to sometimes I really
- 1:28:16wish I could say. No, it's not, you know, the
- 1:28:19thing that you imagine it's about.
- 1:28:21But you know it's I have to kind of let go, right?
- 1:28:23There's a, there's a separation that happens once it exists in
- 1:28:29the world. It's now up to the audience to
- 1:28:31decide. So what are you doing for a
- 1:28:35living? Then like how are you?
- 1:28:37So keeping things going, I work for A literacy curriculum
- 1:28:44company. So, they make, yeah, there's
- 1:28:47nothing to do with music, but it does have a lot to do with
- 1:28:50creativity, right? Like so I manage a team of
- 1:28:52audio-visual, like people who make websites people make
- 1:28:55videos, okay? And, you know, like I'm sort of,
- 1:29:00you know, I'm like a manager of that team director, whatever you
- 1:29:03wanna call it, where, you know, they create stuff and I, you
- 1:29:08know, support them in that. And sometimes I get to jump in
- 1:29:10and help making actual thing when we're Over when we're busy.
- 1:29:13But for the most part, it's kind of a managerial role cuckoo
- 1:29:19cuckoo. If you had to sum up your music
- 1:29:24career with one sentence, what would it be?
- 1:29:30As you can see from our discussion so far, and not good
- 1:29:33at one-sentence answer. If I could sum up, maybe you can
- 1:29:38hear in one sentence. I'd say something along the
- 1:29:41lines of It's honest. And it's about the challenges
- 1:29:52that I have faced personally. and, It's heavy, you know?
- 1:30:00Like it's I've never been able to make light music and it's
- 1:30:03always going to be always going to be honest.
- 1:30:04It's always going to be heavy. And I don't mean heavy like, you
- 1:30:07know, guitars heavy. I mean, like it's going to be
- 1:30:10dark. It's gonna be moody, but it's
- 1:30:13going to be real. So the sentence not several
- 1:30:16paragraphs. Jeez, I'm sorry.
- 1:30:19That's right. I can't do it.
- 1:30:27What's the biggest life lesson you've learned so far?
- 1:30:34This I can do in one sentence. I think there's a quote be kind
- 1:30:38to everyone you meet for everyone is facing a great
- 1:30:41battle. And I'm butchering it probably,
- 1:30:45but that I might get a tattoo of that because it's so true,
- 1:30:52right? Like I have a, an internal
- 1:30:55battle. I have external battles.
- 1:30:56Like, I've been slogging through stuff, everyone, but everyone
- 1:31:00does. Everyone has that major conflict
- 1:31:02in their life and like people still managed to function
- 1:31:05despite that, and it's amazing to me like people go on,
- 1:31:10despite, you know, losing their loved.
- 1:31:13Is or you know, getting fired or you know their child hates them
- 1:31:18or whatever, you know. Like all these huge things that
- 1:31:21have devastated them or change the course of their life forever
- 1:31:25and they still managed to be human and that blows me away.
- 1:31:30It's inspiring. One thing I liked about as well.
- 1:31:33Is that like years ago? I used to be very selfish and
- 1:31:39sort of like angry at the world, you know.
- 1:31:41Like World everyone has this white I don't I have this or
- 1:31:44fuck everyone, fuck everything and certain things have happened
- 1:31:49throughout the years, difficult times difficult moments, seeing
- 1:31:55friends, die, stuff like that. I think that kind of begins to
- 1:31:59shape. Your perspective of things and
- 1:32:03makes you kind of think, you know what, this is actually,
- 1:32:06what's important in life. And when you start to gain that
- 1:32:10sense of perspective, that's kind of what I'm alluding to, I
- 1:32:14think that that just changes everything.
- 1:32:16And what I really want to add to what you were saying is that, if
- 1:32:21you have the capability to be nice to people, and sort of
- 1:32:26spread joy and kindness in the world, when your life is not
- 1:32:32kind of full of that in your life is hard and things aren't
- 1:32:36going your way. And so, So forth.
- 1:32:39Then you're beginning to get to that level where you need to be
- 1:32:42because people often talk about like the human spirit and I
- 1:32:47think a lot of people in the world are missing that they
- 1:32:50don't know what that means. And what it really means is
- 1:32:52like, you know, sometimes you watch those movies and like you
- 1:32:55know, it's giving you that smarmy message and like
- 1:32:59someone's there for someone else.
- 1:33:00But that's that's the reality. Like I think often in life.
- 1:33:04Life is like a movie and you see those surreal beautiful.
- 1:33:08Moments the birth of a child, someone helping a homeless
- 1:33:13person. Like I see a lot of stuff when I
- 1:33:17do my volunteer in work and I get that feeling afterwards.
- 1:33:22Like I sit back and I reflect on it and I'm like, wow.
- 1:33:25Like that was pretty as pretty moving, you know.
- 1:33:28And it's that stuff. It's an Indescribable but I
- 1:33:33think that you're right, if we can somehow just keep being
- 1:33:38nice. So the keep spreading that
- 1:33:39kindness. Then we're headed in the right
- 1:33:42direction. I think so.
- 1:33:43Yeah, I couldn't agree more with you absolutely.
- 1:33:48As we draw things to a close today.
- 1:33:51Do you have any sort of final thoughts that you'd like to
- 1:33:53share with us or maybe an upcoming project that you'd like
- 1:33:57to share with us? Just an update?
- 1:34:00I mean you know the music is the biggest thing for me right now.
- 1:34:04Yeah, the album parasite and host should be out in a couple
- 1:34:06months and like it's You know, it represents the input from me
- 1:34:11but also from Dan Ilion, Ryan Busby who know that you guys are
- 1:34:15just so critical and making it happen.
- 1:34:17And, you know, it's there's some weird Voodoo that happens when
- 1:34:25creative people get together. And, you know, a new thing is
- 1:34:28made, you know, I like I have a kid but I also feel like every
- 1:34:32album is a kid in its own way. Hmm.
- 1:34:34You know it's like it's a thing that was so you were so Focused
- 1:34:39on at the time for you know you spend years of your life trying
- 1:34:42to make this thing happen and then it does and I'm you know, I
- 1:34:46feel like some guy from the 1930s, I've got like 10 or 11
- 1:34:50kids out there right now. You know, and they're all off,
- 1:34:53living their own little life and they mean things to other people
- 1:34:55and yeah, you know. So I like I always, if I could
- 1:34:59ask anybody to go back and listen to other albums and stuff
- 1:35:01like that, I think that would be my other big thing is like,
- 1:35:04yeah, I'm working on this new thing, but I've also got, you
- 1:35:06know, a pretty Large back catalogue.
- 1:35:09That still means a lot to me. And I hope means something to
- 1:35:11other people. Absolutely.
- 1:35:13And I would, I would second that.
- 1:35:15I think you've got a fantastic back catalog.
- 1:35:18I was, I was really sort of surprised that it hasn't got
- 1:35:21more sort of recognition because this is genuinely good music.
- 1:35:23And I'm not just saying that because he's my guest like, I
- 1:35:26mean, it like this. I don't often, you know, add
- 1:35:30people as music to my Spotify unless it's like, I really like
- 1:35:33it. And I want to hear it regularly
- 1:35:35and when I heard Adams music, I was like, this is This is good
- 1:35:38stuff, you know. So yeah.
- 1:35:41Thank you. Not all right, man, I'm for
- 1:35:43everyone listening to the podcast that make sure you go
- 1:35:47and check out his music by if you can and support Adams,
- 1:35:52massive, thank you for appearing on the show.
- 1:35:54It's been an absolute pleasure getting to know you and then
- 1:35:57talking to you. So thank you Kristen.
- 1:35:59This has been a hugely entertaining for me.
- 1:36:01Thank you for having me. I really appreciate you making
- 1:36:03the time to do this and you know you seem like an awesome person.
- 1:36:06So as for Being Human likewise man, it's been a pleasure and to
- 1:36:11everyone listening to the Christian Reef podcast, whether
- 1:36:14you're listening on YouTube Spotify, Apple podcast Google
- 1:36:17podcast, let me know tweet at me, let me know where you're
- 1:36:19listening because it'd be good to know.
- 1:36:21And you guys I see you guys listening but I don't see you
- 1:36:24guys talking. So let me know.
- 1:36:26I want to know and as always if there's a particular topic or a
- 1:36:29particular guests that you would like to see on the show in the
- 1:36:31future, please let me know. My DMs are open.
- 1:36:34Thank you for listening. Peace out one laughs I'll see.
- 1:36:37See you in the next one.