Latest / LOYAL TO THE CRAFT / Jay Weinberg: New Father, New Music, New Chapter

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Jay Weinberg: New Father, New Music, New Chapter · LOYAL TO THE CRAFT

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: What's up, Adobe Radio?
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Mike Chapari with Loyal to the Craft here.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm joined by Jay Weinberg, a drummer and an artist, a good friend and someone that I've worked with for most of my career.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: We've done some incredible activations around the world and we've chased our dreams together.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm stoked to have you on the show, Jay, and hear about what you got going on in your world.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for being here, man.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man, of course.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for having me.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: You've got a lot of incredible updates in your world.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start first.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Family, you're a dad, man.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations, dude.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: How's how's it feel?
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: And what's been like the funnest uh point in your journey as a as a new father so far?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's been the best.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um, I'm lucky to have a lot of uh uh fathers and and parents, you know, um in the music community who, you know, it's like a it's a it's a certain special kind of needle to thread of being like a rocker and a parent, you know.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um like all parents have to thread many needles.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, balancing a creative life is uh is one of those things that I'm just really lucky to have, you know, many people like yourself, you know, to uh to lean on in in my community.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but so now experiencing it for the first time myself and and with my wife, um, yeah, our daughter's almost two months old.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it goes it goes by so quickly.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um so really trying to treasure all all of these, you know, little moments and um uh but it's just the best, you know, like all of those things that I had heard from um from peers and friends and and you know, watching you be a father, uh, you know, you and your wife having a you know wonderful little family.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like my wife and I have always kind of seen that for ourselves as well, and and gather the knowledge that we can because we have you know friends who have children who are like full grown and and stuff.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: And um it's uh it's just really a treat to to now be on that path ourselves and you know, taking care of this uh this little one who's surprising us every day and and she's smiley, she's beautiful, she's happy, she's healthy, 10 fingers, 10 toes.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's all that's all I really you know, it's all we really wanted.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but she's so much more than that.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, and yeah, we're just very thrilled.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, not as much the sleep is a little harder to come by, but like as a musician, sleep is often hard to come by.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like that's there's nothing new there.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um so uh so yeah, we're we're just thrilled.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, dude, amazing.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I appreciate the kind words, and you guys are gonna be incredible parents.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And this conversation I've been looking forward to having with you now that your daughter is here, you know, I feel like looking back on your career from the beginning, you know, the the Jay Weinberg story, playing hockey, obviously your dad being in music and you being inserted in music and in in in your entire life.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to kind of weave throughout this the family dynamic, some of the things you just touched on, lack of sleep, the hustle, you know, just the multiple things that you have to do as an individual that wants to have a career in the creative space, in the creative arts.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you've had all these incredible chapters from playing with Bruce Springsteen against me to slipknot to suicidal tendencies.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that what some people miss about your story is that from the outside, it seems like it just happens.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: It just rolls one to the other.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I think what a lot of young musicians, especially these days, miss is Jay Weinberg, you are always in the midst of multiple creative projects at once.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you're not just chasing success.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: You're not just chasing these projects.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: You're obsessed with creating.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: You've always been making art from the DIY merch, packing and fulfilling, you and Chloe in your home, designing things, writing songs, playing all the instruments.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Talk to me about the collaborative nature and spirit of who you are and you know, making music and creating on your own.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And the fact that sitting still is not an option for you, kind of rolling that into where you're at today.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: I, you know, I've never really been able to look at it with much objectivity.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've always just kind of like been motivated to do what I've always done, and that just doesn't stop, you know.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, I I think with time it just kind of snowballs into more and more.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like the more, the more I've done, the more I want to do.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, um, but no, that well, it's kind of you to say, um, I think, you know, for for myself, my reference points have always been artists who are, you know, lifers, you know, like people who you you see their entire soul or or hear it played back to you in the music.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like I that's that's the kind of artistry I really appreciate.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: And the people who take the time to um to really pursue it, you know, and and um, and that's why I think, you know, with a with the new chapter of like, you know, a way a bigger responsibility than than I have like to to myself or to my music or art or whatever in having a child, um, I think that also in some ways, even though like that's a that's a huger responsibility than like any of that combined that I take seriously, it also informs how I like view my my productivity or or my you know the the things I'm up to creatively, and it sharpens that focus in a way, I think.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like um when when my wife and I just you know found out that she was pregnant, it kind of like everything sort of really sharpened into focus of like what it is I want to do with my with my creative life.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, had a had a blast with my friends and suicidal tendencies um throughout 2024 and 2025.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um after an experience that like, you know, left me um, you know, a difficult experience of like, you know, uh having focused on one thing for 10 years, all of a sudden coming to a surprise abrupt ending, um, you know, left me with many questions and having to kind of like really examine like what it is that I'm I'm doing.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, my buddies in suicidal tendencies picking me up when I was down and and really reinforcing these messages of like you can't bring me down and and all these sorts of things was like that was exactly it.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: And going on tour with Metallica for a year doesn't hurt, you know.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, certainly.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: But but then like as I kind of wanted to shift a focus into like preparing for uh for a child to arrive, um, you know, I had lots to be done.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, our our living space was that of two creative people, not necessarily uh two, you know, two parents.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we had to really like do a lot of work um in our living space to kind of welcome this change and uh with a room where I played all my drums and did all my you know demo recordings and and painted all my stuff.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's our kids' nursery now.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I've taken on this project of I've wanted to do it for years, but actually like building a studio in my backyard.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then also taking on many projects that like I didn't foresee really, but it's been really a good change of pace.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas, you know, I'd spent uh lots of time on the road, which is like my happy place in a lot of ways.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I love the kinetic feeling of live performance.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's like something that all of us musicians are so drawn to is that like live experience and bringing our music all over.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, it's something I definitely like I've missed, I suppose, in in this kind of like focused time where I've been bringing this child into the world and just getting used to that.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but at the same time, it's been really refreshing to be like a little bit more of a studio rat than I ever have been.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, like making several records in the space of a month and uh some of that stuff coming out now.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like I did an album with a band called Fuming Mouth.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that album came out, you know, a month ago or whatever.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh super happy with with stuff like that.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um taking on different projects here and there.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: I have a uh my first crack at ever releasing music under my own name, um, material that I've written for I've been writing for years that has never fit any kind of one project.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: But as I've met many inspirational uh people in my life, and my heroes have become friends and and you know, peers, like we've always wanted to collaborate in some way.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um to now have like a hey, I have this song and I think you should be on it and make a whole project out of that is like has been really, really cool.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been, you know, eking that out into the world in kind of like singles form, uh, which will ultimately result in a full album uh at some point.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but yeah, it it is, you know, uh like I am a person, like I don't like to stay still, really, you know.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: I I like to I like to be active.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: And as I was saying before, you know, my reference points for people who are just like totally driven to, you know, to make stuff.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like no matter what the the circumstance is or the the project is, it's just like I'm I'm always just drawn to you know to doing things and um and and pushing myself in creative senses.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like a lot of these things have have gotten me out of my comfort zone, you know, not so much being like that whatever, the heavy metal guy, you know, that is always like a part of me.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: And and the fuming mouth record is probably some of the heaviest stuff I've ever recorded.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but doing things that are way outside of that realm is really exciting.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and my heroes are all people who like, you know, they run their own record labels, they do all the artwork in-house, they, you know, record their albums themselves and stuff like that.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: So um really being super community-minded with it, you know, like I record the drums for my, you know, I call it my anti-solo project because it's not a solo project, it's a collaborations project.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I go down, I go 20 minutes down the street from my house and record the drums for that, you know, and I go an hour up to my friend's studio where he has great guitar, you know, setups and stuff, and I record all the guitars there.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, and so really like taking a beat after, you know, um after kind of uh being put through sort of a meat grinder of sorts, uh, it's been really nice to recalibrate and um do things that are just like strictly fun and um and a little bit like a little bit more carefree in in a sense too, you know, like Mark from Fuming Mouth just asking me, Hey, I'm recording an album with Kurt Balou and I want you to play drums on it.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: I've always wanted to work with Kurt, and I'm like, yeah, absolutely, I would do that.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that stuff is very, very exciting.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: So um even though I was kind of like, you know, I'm I'm always like I've always been very drawn to being like monastically focused on like I've got this thing that I can just dive super deep into and just kind of cannonball myself into.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, none of these projects are necessarily that.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but nonetheless, it's been really gratifying to be like, I'm over here doing this, and I'm over here doing this.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: And like, you know, I I feel like in that way, it's almost like I've been busier than ever, notwithstanding even having a child uh in the mix in the midst of all that.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, you know, I'm I'm I'm really grateful for for this period of time.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's definitely kind of I feel this centripetal force kind of just like it swirls into, I don't know, activity begets activity in ways, and I'm just kind of enjoying that ride.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dude, I think there's a lot of great things to pick up on there, especially for the youth musicians listening.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: We've shared this DIY artistic, community-minded, um, you know, just ethos for a long time since we started working together.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you're right, especially in this day and age, artists should have multiple revenue streams.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Artists should have multiple creative artlets and outlets.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it's almost becoming a necessity where a drummer should know how to run things in a studio or how to do X, Y, and Z beyond just playing drums and all the way down to artwork, learning how to screen print, learning how to press your own records and things like that, where that whole DIY factor that seems like a forgotten art from the early 2000s, 1990s, even before that, obviously, it's not now.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: And yours comes from such a place of you're not waiting for destiny to arrive at your doorstep.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: You're literally out there chasing it.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: And you're a hundred percent right.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it is scary as artists that, especially in the freelance world, whether you're a musician or have your own brand or business, where you're like, I want, I want to be having a stack for the next three years, knowing where everything is coming from.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: As artists that are out there chasing it, just doing the thing opens up more doors and thus more opportunities of getting yourself out there.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Talk to me about you mentioned the meat grinder of music.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Were there times in your life where you weren't able to express yourself creatively or artistically due to different projects?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Is this some sort of Jay Weinberg getting a lot of the past decade things out?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you mentioned it being kind of right place, right time to be in the midst of all this.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: But were there times and have you experienced, you know, some some creative muscles not being able to be flexed in certain situations?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, 100%.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, some of these songs, like I just released a song called Drown Fountain, uh collaboration with this amazing band from Canada called Soft Cult.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've had that song kicking around since 2013, you know.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and much of this material is stuff that I've been I've been honing for for years and years.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um but without you know, giving uh too much attention to any kind of one situation, um or you know, not having the legal ability to play music with other people, um was definitely difficult.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because I I look at I look at music as the at least the creation and the sharing of it, it's that twofold thing, you know, like the end of the creative process for me is the sharing of the thing, you know, like and at that point I can't go back and change it.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: I can't make any more adjustments, it's out in the world living its own life, and I get to kind of move on.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: So not having the ability to do that, um, I would create things and even collaborate with with people in private, but then knowing in the back of my head, like, oh, well, you know, nobody will hear this.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like uh, you know, all although I was super intensely focused on on one aspect of my creative life, you know, and and and happy to do so, uh like a little part of my creative self was like it was dying for sure.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, because it's like this is stuff that means a lot to me.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: These are songs that you know, still even 13 years later, after us after initially coming up with a song, I feel passionate to put the you know, the effort into getting it across the finish line and and is emotionally gratifying for me to put out there.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, so to you know, to be operating within a framework that doesn't allow for any kind of outside collaboration, not to mention, uh, I think that's the best way for musicians to develop and improve.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know, like when uh I don't know.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: I I love I love the idea of a of a singular kind of focused expression, like this is a thing that I do and I'm and I'm you know committed, obviously.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: But like with other things on the side that can't help but positively reinforce those other efforts, and you return to that table improved in some capacity and and and more dynamic in your expression because you were you know channeling other things elsewhere, and I just find that that activity just like it's all one, it's all part of feeding a greater body of work.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I've always considered that, you know, a healthy thing to be up to be able to um play and create with people of all sorts of disciplines, all sorts of backgrounds.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: And that's certainly like what I'm leaning into um with this project of this music that it's like I'm kind of primary songwriter of all this stuff and playing all the instruments for the most part, but then approaching other friends to bring it across the finish line.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, it it it definitely is like a mass kind of like purging of all that stuff.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know, I've got uh easily a hundred of these demos that I kind of I basically chose without giving away too much about what it is that I've been working on, it's like I chose kind of the seven favorite songs of the that played nicely together.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: That though they they stretch around stylistically and it's quite eclectic in nature, it is still focused, you know, where you can have a a song where you have George Clark, you know, screaming his ass off on sandstone, you know, a couple songs away from you know Mercedes from Soft Call with her voice of an angel on Drown Fountain, and they exist on the same the same uh album.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh even more to your point about like you know, having a hand literally in all of these creative aspects.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: I was just speaking with uh Paul Romano, my you know, my artistic hero's uh his artwork has graced some of my favorite albums of all time.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: And he pitched it to me of taking on the visual visual identity for this project.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh my god, like absolutely, you know, I'm a I'm a painter as well, and and had a vision for how I would do this sort of thing, but also like with my schedule just uh having a lot of things that I that I've been up to, I saw this as a way I was like, yeah, I would absolutely want Paul to take the artistic direction of this.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: So he and I were talking, we're coming up with Paul's idea and mine as well, where we've figured out, you know, getting all this stuff out there in single form, you know, one song at a time, um, gives us the opportunity to kind of tell a story with the artwork of all of it.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and because I chose these seven songs, I was like, well, there are seven colors in the spectrum of the rainbow.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Each single could be one part of the rainbow.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and and dip it, and and then the you know, the the color in is informed by the tone of the song, the color of the song that that I feel like when I close my eyes, I kind of I kind of see it.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that's sort of what we've chosen with this.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: And we've gone as far as to think of like, well, when we actually make a a release of this, a physical release, it'd be awesome to take it to the level of like, let's just get plain artwork, they're plain LP jackets, and let's do unique paintings of backgrounds of these colors, and we could silk screen the artwork of you know, the painting that he's done on each of these.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: So no one actual physical product of the of the album is alike, they're all unique.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, and I I really I really look at that as like such a fun art project.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: You get to keep it in-house.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, you get to as as a self-started, self-funded everything, you know, you get to keep the cost of it pretty low.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in that you're just doing it all by hand, doing it all yourself.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've always admired, you know, seeing my favorite artists do similar things.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it takes a like like you said, when when people might see I don't know, something on on the the level, something on a on a grand level, a bit, you know, like something imperceivably like I don't know how I would attain that, I don't know how I would reach that or whatever.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: But to break things down to their simplest forms of like the music world has always been very much the wild, wild west.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: And it's more so that today than it ever has been.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: So to take those tips of like doing things that feel right, that feel like they're based in expression and community and stuff.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um you then get to share that, and maybe that expresses to a younger artist out there that like, oh, that thing's possible.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: I just have to do it myself.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's like if if the thing that you want to exist in the world doesn't exist, it's on you to create that thing.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's kind of how I I look at all these uh these projects, and um, and to know that you know, my time spent in music and in and in art and just being at events and showing up and always wanting to be proactive in my life.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like I've always I I've never been comfortable being someone who just kind of sits around and lets life happen to them.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I've I've always been inspired by people who go out and do the thing, you know?
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and it just seems like the right thing to do.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um So yeah, that's where that's where a lot of these things are are are based in.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: And um though it is very, you know, disparate and kind of like I have my attention on many like kind of spinning plates in the air at the moment, uh there is something really exciting about that that I enjoy.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and like you said earlier, the ability, and and I'm gonna come back to this in a in a moment, but the it's so important to find your tribe and to find your people that will not only push you creatively, but also allow you to have that bandwidth and freedom to go express yourself in different ways.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because, like you said, it allows you to come back invigorated, refreshed, new, different ideas that just ultimately makes you a better insert what you're doing, musician, artist, whatever it may be.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I implore all the young musicians out there to go learn other things, learn how to record.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: When you're in a studio, don't just finish drums and, you know, go ride your bike for the rest of the time, like I did when I was like 19 years old and I regret it.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Sit behind the board and look at what they're doing and understand it and ask questions at the appropriate time so you can stack those skills.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: And like you said, getting your hands on the artwork, that's something I always enjoyed so much with you is like we designed all your drum sets together.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like you literally would hand paint different canvas pieces and we would scan them in and do the artwork.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that just lent itself to such a bigger story, certainly from a marketing perspective, which, yes, at the end of the day, we're all running businesses, we're all trying to get paid to do certain things that we love and we want to do on a daily basis.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: That certainly adds to that, but it also added to just the passion and ultimately the love that we shared for those things, creating a unique instrument that's then going to go be played and create music and inspire you night after night.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Really going down the rabbit hole and not just having things be at surface level is something that you've always inspired in me and I know a lot of people out there.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you this for all those projects that you've got going on, is this the end all?
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Is or are you out there still looking for the ultimate gig, that gig that you can focus, say, 75, 90, 95% of your time on and get back out on the road at that level?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I sure, yeah.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh in a word, yes.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I think I think all of us aspire to, you know, to find the playing scenarios that we can plug in and feel alive and and really, you know, go the distance of like uh of um channeling something that that you know takes that focus and time and and and um uh the in the ways that it it packs your schedule and packs your your life and you're able to dig deep.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think, you know, uh much in the way that I've enjoyed being on the flip side and and you know taking some time to focus on starting my family, you know, with my wife and and you know, really just being like focused on that.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, at a certain point, like I think while it is so fun to be doing, you know, many disparate things, um I think my favorite part of of being a musician is like, like you said, finding that that tribe that you know you can you can really sink your teeth into something um um creatively.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that takes, you know, that takes many different shapes and forms, and who knows what those you know things are.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: And the the life of a creative person is is hopefully, you know, long and meandering and and interesting and full of collaborations that are unexpected.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, many of the things that I've all of the things I've ever done in my life have have been unexpected to to some degree, you know, and it's about like, you know, I've always I've always felt within myself like a complete inability to like say no to a thing that is just like, you know, I find many creative opportunities just like impossible to to like shy away from and seeing how I can sink my teeth into.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, while while many of the things I've been doing now are kind of like, you know, one foot over here and one foot over here.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh definitely there's a you know, there's space in in life to be like, you know, I'm passionately focused on, you know, this singular thing and have, you know, auxiliary things happen that that keep my, you know, my skills sharp and my my time occupied in other regards and whatever.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, but that's not but like you said, like it's it's not about um waiting around for you know those things to like knock on your door.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's plenty of art to be made, plenty of music to be made in in the meantime.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, and I feel like, you know, through these like collaborations that I've I've taken on, I've met and I've met so many new people.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: I have uh I've deepened existing uh friendships that were, you know, already like pretty meaningful in my life.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: But just like to be able to, you know, show up in a studio and have George Clark, you know, sing one take on my song that I wrote and and we share that now is like an incredibly you know artistically gratifying experience.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, I I think you know, being open to all those sorts of things, it's like it's the path that that we all find ourselves on um of uh of searching for the meaningful uh things or projects that you can you can really sink your teeth into.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: For my for from where I'm standing, I I appreciate and really like those like substantial, like I said, you can sink your teeth into kind of moments rather than like snacks here and there.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh which is fun, you know, which is which is sure fun.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh but yeah, you know, it's always kind of just like working towards like the the whole we'll see what's out there sort of nature of of being a musician.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but to answer your question, like, yeah, of course, you know, I'm open to all sorts of stuff like that.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Jay, I've had the chance to watch you and your relationship with Chloe over the years.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: I remember many, many years ago when you guys first met, you and I were uh you were at the factory, we were working on a drum project, and we went out to dinner and we're getting some sushi together, and you told me about her, and you were like, this is pretty awesome.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited about it.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: And now you guys are on the journey of you're already parents, you're becoming parents, and you're building your family.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's been obvious through watching you guys and touring and traveling the world with both of you, you know, it's obviously she believes in you unconditionally.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about the importance of finding those people, as we've mentioned now a couple of times, finding and building your tribe, your community.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: Do you how much do you think having somebody like that in your life, whether it's your life partner, friends, your bandmates, how much do you think having that person changes the risks that you're willing to take creatively?
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great question.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it absolutely does inform that sort of thing.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think I think the life that you know that I've lived to this point, um you know, it's it's brought me on a path that that led me to find someone like my wife, you know, like an artist in her own right and a creative thinker and um someone who's passionate about the things that I'm passionate about.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like that, you know, all that was incredibly clear from the moment we met.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um and uh but I but I think like it's through through the efforts you put into the world of like letting letting those things putting yourself in positions, I feel that like you you increase the odds of uh finding those sorts of people in your life by the doing of the thing, you know.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't have met her if it wasn't for my, you know, the risk I took of moving.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I grew up in New Jersey um until I was 24 and moved to Tana to Tennessee.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I've lived in I've lived in Nashville now for 11 years.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I I likely wouldn't have met her if it weren't for that risk that I took to to move down here, um, which my you know my creative life kind of led me here.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I think the same can be said the same can be said for uh creative partners and and you know, bandmates and all these sorts of people that have these roles in our lives of trying to, you know, whatever that nameless thing that we that's very abstract and hard to define of, you know, are we doing this?
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously it's self-serving.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: We have self-expression that we have to get this stuff out of our bodies to, you know, to be to like almost regulate our our minds.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there is also power in sharing creativity and trying to leave it for a world that um, you know, is is desperate for all the positivity and and creativity that that it can get, um, and wanting to be a positive proponent in that kind of world.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but to just keep showing up in those spaces, because that's how I've met anybody that I've had a positive um creative experience with or meaningful artistic experience with has always been from the the sheer nature of just like showing up, going to shows, going to art things, being open to possibilities, um, and being open to the you know, the reality of like a life in in the creative arts and in in music is not just a straight line from A to B or A to Z.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like goes all over the place and and it's incredibly unpredictable and difficult.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: And as anything that's like worth doing and worth persevering through is, you know, um it is it is kind of the classic thing of like if any if it was easy, everybody would do it.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, in in some aspects, like you you find the people who are are willing to um you know take it on the chin and keep going and just keep doing stuff and and you know persevere through whatever obstacles might be in their way.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: Those are always my favorite artists anyway.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I feel like the friendships that you make that are, you know, that are kind of um put to the test through the rigors of leading an artistic life.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: Because like, look, it's it's like the life, the life of outlaws, you know, we exist without outside of the framework of your quote normal kind of way of existing.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: And we're we're drawn to it for those reasons.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then as you like grow within it and discover the the more complex it gets and stuff, it tests your resilience.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I think um, you know, the friendships and collaborators that stand the test of time within your own life are the people who are willing to um stick by your side through difficult times and and willing to see things through, you know, and my my wife is a tremendous example of that, um, you know, having endured much uh, you know, along like alongside myself of like, you know, this is um this is a life that we lead together and we have a vision for, you know, what it is to lead a life that is positive, that that is healthy, that has good people around us, um, and uh and and we we feel very fortunate in that, that like our creative community, such as awesome folks like yourself, um, you know, that's what like that's what keeps a lot of this going, you know, especially when the going is tough and and you sometimes you know, the creative pursuit is is like it it tests your stamina, you know, in in ways.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: And um but to feel love for it inherently and keep that fire alive within yourself um is made tremendously easier by the the allies and and comrades you have by your side that you only meet and you only enhance those relationships by continuing to do the thing and and showing up, showing up when you're tired, doing the thing despite how you might feel or or or whatever.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's uh you know being loyal to one's craft as it is, you know, it's it's all it's all incredibly important.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but these aren't just like these aren't just um catchy phrases and and you know, like yes, in in the music, you know, quote unquote industry, it's like such an ugly way to kind of phrase things because uh being musician, being a creative person and an artist is so much more than just being industrial about it, you know, it's it it's so much more than that.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: So in the ways that uh I can, I like all of these efforts to um to get out of the gross muck that all that, you know, can become um and do things for the right reasons.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: And um, like you mentioned, the you know, the drums that we made together when we ended up, you know, putting my artwork on on drum shells for people to permutate and and to you know create their own things with their own works of art with super awesome experience.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: We also, it was at the height of COVID lockdown stuff, and and we had the idea of like, hey, we're already doing conversations like this on on the internet all the time.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: How about for everybody that buys one of these things?
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I want to say thank you face to face.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so let's just have a QR code thing with the snare drum or with the drum set, and they can scan it and set up a zoom thing just like this, and we can talk about it.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, hey, you just got this drum or this drum set.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about it.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: How cool is that?
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, in that way, it it makes things that it's like obviously.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: I I never look at my creative path or or the things that I've done as as anything.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't know, it's hard, it's hard for me looking at any any kind of object it with any objectivity, but let's say for the sake of argument, there's somebody who you know looks up to the things that I do or have done, um, and can feel a genuine connection with myself as the artist and the crafts person who made this thing that we're now, you know, sharing about the enjoyment of that.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, how is that anything but positive?
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great thing that we're lucky to do.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, not everybody gets to do that.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I look for that sort of feature in like all the things that I do because I appreciate it as a fan first.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm a fan of many artists, many bands.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: And and I appreciate when I can tell they've gone through, they've gone the extra mile in everything, they've overturned every stone in making something the best that they could.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, why would you do anything any differently?
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um, that's kind of I don't know, if um if there's anything worth doing, there's it's worth overdoing, you know, it's worth doing to the fullest extent.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well said, man.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: My brother and I used to say that all the time when we were kids starting the drum company.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: Let's take it up a notch and like go way outside the box.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you're completely right, man.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I can I can say, you know, watching your journey from the day we met, you literally drove your car up from Jersey to the to the factory in Massachusetts and spent the day together talking about potentially working together, all the way down to, man, like, and you're right, you're very right.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope people literally rewind Jay's last answer because not only can you doing the thing open up doors to create your community and find the people that you're meant to be with.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not a shut yourself up and don't go out and try things because you're scared of failure or you're afraid of potentially whatever it may be in a in a in a in a damaged uh relationship, those things do happen, that's life.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: But not only will you find the people that are supposed to be in your life in a positive way and help amplify you uh to get you to your fullest extent.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: Man, the things that you do and the passions that you find from just doing the thing, from the second you drove up to the shop and we started working together almost 20 years ago to all of the things that we did together, activations at with vans.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: I threw you ideas of Jay.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna get up in your suit, in your mask, and you're gonna play a song at 9 a.m.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: with your double kick and you're gonna just crush it.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: Cool, in front of thousands of Vans, North and South America employees at a sales meeting.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, let's go.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: Let's Yumi and Chloe go to Japan, and the three of us are gonna put on a week-long clinic and we're gonna go to different cities.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: And in doing that, yes, it's difficult.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, things go wrong.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: But in doing that, every single time for me, anyway, it was the moments around it breakfast, dinner, the long drives where we were like, hey, that didn't go so well.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: What if next time we did this?
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: Or hey, next clinic, let's take it up a notch again and let's do this.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: Let's create even more of a spectacle.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's one of the things that I learned in working with you directly and the people that we had around us, Brandon Steiner and all the homies in the drum community.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was that posse, it was that community, but it was also the let's while we're together and while we're having this session, let's dig way deeper and like just throw out all the what ifs.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that to me is where like the gold is.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you can dig and you can find those people to get to that point, wow, that all the things you just said can go to on a rocket ship to the moon.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: And the fact that, you know, like your favorite artist has failed more times than you've even attempted, you know, like that's sort of like that's sort of an ethos to live by.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: That like success is only made of many, many, many failures or you know, trials and errors and perseverance, yeah, um uh resilience, stick to it, uh, uh sticking to you know your guns.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: If you have um the right if you have, you know, the right moral center, the right heart, the right attitude, um, I find you'll you'll feel fulfillment in the things that you do.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you'll find the resilience uh to do those things.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um and yeah, it's it's it is like the the collaboration.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: All the things that you and I have done over 16, almost 17 years now, you know.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's the kind of like that's the kind of stuff growing up when I was 15, 16 years old, of like, I want that someday.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: I want I want the connection with a collaborator that endures, you know, that length of time, that that amount of um, you know, uh uh to to experience all the things that that we have together and um and still have reasons to high five and laugh and and enjoy the efforts that we put into the uh this stuff, you know.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's no there's no sugarcoating it for anybody that is a younger person wanting to get involved in you know in the creative arts.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's not at any level, it's not, you know, for the for the faint of heart.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's not the easiest thing to do.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: Is it worth doing?
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: If it's in your heart to do it, absolutely.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: You'll find the reasons to keep doing it, um, uh despite all odds, you know.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you've led by that example, I've followed that example, you know, and and I think um, yeah, it's so important to uh, you know, especially you know, in a age where we it's so easy for individuals to kind of make islands of themselves and isolate and live not actually connected to one another, you know, it's so pervasive and really difficult to rise above that just because like every everything surrounding us is is begging us to be distracted and to be distracted from one another and to be distracted from reality and and and all this.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: So if we can find, you know, the rebels who who truly want to find something special and share that special thing in the world and and create something um with a true heart with to to leave behind something positive, uh, or or at least generate positivity, you know, and that helps us get from day to day.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's all about really like you know, finding the reasons day to day to feel better about existing as a person for myself and for many of my peers and friends and and allies.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's like that's music, that's art.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the reasons to to keep doing stuff.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so when you find those people, like hold them close, you know, because that's valuable.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: 100%, man.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well said.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: Jay, I really appreciate your time, man.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: It was so good catching up with you.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so stoked at all the projects you've got going on, and I'm also stoked for the ones that the world hasn't seen or heard yet.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you're a testament to all the things you just said, chasing your dreams and not letting things get in your way.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: So appreciate your friendship, appreciate your time, especially now when uh time is is of the essence.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: I I really appreciate uh you jumping in here and and spreading the love and spreading your knowledge um over your over your career, man.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, dude.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: Always a pleasure.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: All right, you too, man.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk to you again soon, dude.