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Bon & Miki of Stand Atlantic · Caught on the Mike...

0:28
SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Caught on the Mike.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: For 10 years running, Stan Atlantic have been figuring out who they are and what happens when you finally stop worrying about who everyone else thinks you should be.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Now they're embracing love, happiness, rawness, and complete creative freedom.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: With their new single, Next to You, officially out now, and their new album, God Breath, on the way in October.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: Stan Atlantic are entering their most unapologetically honest era.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Yet I am joined by Bonnie and Mickey of Stan Atlantic.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: How are you guys?
1:07
SPEAKER_00: We're doing good.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: We're really good.
1:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: How are you?
1:11
SPEAKER_00: I was just telling you guys I listened to the album and I absolutely love it.
1:15
SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: It's so good.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, Next to You is officially out now, and it's one of the clearest examples of this new era embracing love and happiness rather than feeling like you need emotional destruction to create something meaningful.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: What does Next to You mean to you now that it's actually out into the world?
1:38
SPEAKER_03: Now that it's actually out into the world, I'm I'm glad to be rid of it.
1:43
SPEAKER_03: No, I'm joking.
1:44
SPEAKER_03: Um it feels good.
1:45
SPEAKER_03: It's it was one of my favorite songs that we on on the record, I think.
1:49
SPEAKER_03: I think personally.
1:51
SPEAKER_03: Um when we originally wrote it, it it sounded so different.
1:55
SPEAKER_03: Like the vocals and stuff were were and the melodies were the same, but then the instrumentals, it sounded like this like weird, like indie so folk thing.
2:04
SPEAKER_03: And then um Stevie and I left the session and we were like, ugh, whatever, we'll come back tomorrow and just figure it out.
2:13
SPEAKER_03: We just weren't really vibing it.
2:14
SPEAKER_03: And then we came back the next day, or I came back the next day, and Stevie had like made it into a rock song, and I was like, oh my god, thank you, Jesus.
2:24
SPEAKER_03: Fuck and uh we both like got goosebumps when we listened to it, so that's still going strong in my heart, and it's what that's why it's like one of my favorites.
2:34
SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I kind of like to think of it as a song that it's like a love song you can send to your homie if you miss him.
2:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you're far away.
2:42
SPEAKER_03: But yeah.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: So was that the first time like a major revision had happened on a song that you'd walked away from and said, I'm not I'm not fucking with this?
2:52
SPEAKER_00: Like, was that the first time that had happened to you guys?
2:55
SPEAKER_01: No, we do that all the time.
2:57
SPEAKER_01: We always talk about like how uh on the last album, for example, we had a song called Warzone, and I think that was like version 18 or something.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's ridiculous.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: Like the final version.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like there's like some songs where like I think like Deathwish was one maybe where like it was like first off the bat, and we're like, yep, we got it.
3:16
SPEAKER_01: And there's other songs where we're like, uh it could be better, and then it changes so many times.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: Like just really depends, I think.
3:23
SPEAKER_03: It really sucks the life out of the song at the end of it.
3:27
SPEAKER_03: You're just like, we got there, but like at what cost.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys ever have like funny working song titles?
3:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, I know my old past bands way way, way back in the day.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: We used to name our songs off of obscure He-Man and G.I.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: Joe characters when you were in there.
3:45
SPEAKER_03: I wish we were that cool with it.
3:46
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes I think we just it's so like business for us now that we're just like, whatever, it's called finger.
3:52
SPEAKER_03: That's what we're calling it.
3:53
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
3:54
SPEAKER_03: But uh the one even Warzone, it used to be called See You Next Tuesday, which stands for like kind of I love it.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love it, I love it.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: You know, Bonnie, you talked about how in the past feeling good could actually make you nervous as a songwriter.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm happy, what the hell am I supposed to write about now?
4:17
SPEAKER_00: Was next to you the moment where you really realized that happiness could be just as good creatively and interesting as heartbreak?
4:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, kind of.
4:28
SPEAKER_03: I uh I think Velcro was the the number one of that, like the first thing that kind of set it all off.
4:35
SPEAKER_03: But next to you was the close second, I would say, because it was like that was the next kind of rock song that felt happy and vibrant, and I was singing about missing someone, and it was still a happy like song about love, essentially.
4:54
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I think it kind of more solidified the fact that like Velcro wasn't just a fluke, and we I do know how to do this, like it's okay, actually.
5:04
SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: So did that influence the release cadence?
5:08
SPEAKER_00: Because you've already released Velcro as a single prior to Next to You.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: We well, those songs.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: Well, what I was gonna mention before too was um it's kind of cool that Next to You're now, it feels so long because it was one of the first songs we recorded.
5:24
SPEAKER_01: Velcro and Next to You were like one of the first songs we recorded back in November last year or something.
5:31
SPEAKER_01: So it was one of the big three.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it kind of feels crazy that like like it's been so long like since it's uh we recorded it.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, we actually jumbled the singles around a lot.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think Next to You was gonna come out earlier originally.
5:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and we we also like changed this release plan also while we'd already released one or two of them.
5:53
SPEAKER_03: We swapped it again.
5:54
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, we're pretty fluid.
5:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, pretty like whatever.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: No, yeah, I think Next to You was um going to come out earlier, but I think there was that thing of like obviously they're different songs, but like, yeah, maybe we were thinking that Velcro and Next to You were like kind of like not sister songs, but similar.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: So, like, yeah, okay, sister songs.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: So it's maybe it was too close together, it would be a bit weird, where like we kind of want to show obviously more parts of the album, which is why it got pushed a bit, but we were never gonna not make it a single, yeah.
6:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're gonna come back to Velcro here in just a moment, but I kind of wanted to take a step backward.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: You guys have been Stand Atlantic for about a decade now.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: That's an enormous amount of time to grow not only as musicians, but as people when you look back at the version of the band that made skinny dipping, what do you think that version of yourselves would be most surprised to see about in regards to the band today?
6:53
SPEAKER_03: I kind of got a question similar to this today as well.
6:56
SPEAKER_03: Um I think um just be like, damn, you're still doing this.
7:00
SPEAKER_03: That's crazy.
7:01
SPEAKER_03: Um I think the surprise would be that we're still we're still growing and like we're s we haven't hit like a weird like peak and then like drop-off thing or anything like that.
7:15
SPEAKER_03: Not that it's all about that, but I think we'd be like proud to see that like we're still able to like make a living out of this and like we're still in love with what we do, I think.
7:27
SPEAKER_01: Also, I feel like we talk about we talk about how with this new album at least, it's kind of like um in that mindset of like what if we wrote skinny dipping today about what with what we've learned.
7:41
SPEAKER_01: So I think then looking back the other way, you'd be like, oh, like you're still doing it, but like you're so much better now.
7:48
SPEAKER_01: You know what you're doing a bit more now.
7:50
SPEAKER_03: I I keep using the analogy of like it's like if you could do high school again, but with your brain now, like you're you you've got too much power, I think, in that scenario.
8:00
SPEAKER_03: Like it was like, damn, no one's bullying me.
8:03
SPEAKER_03: I know exactly who the fuck I am.
8:05
SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, so it's kind of like that, I guess.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: Is there any material you look at now a little bit more fondly than you did when you initially wrote it?
8:17
SPEAKER_00: Like some of your earlier material.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: Like, has there been such a creative evolution within you guys that you were like, man, maybe I took that song for granted back when we wrote it, and now it's I view it as a much better song now.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: Lost my cool.
8:38
SPEAKER_01: Trying to think of all our songs.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: There's so many albums.
8:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, I guess there's but that being said, I think we usually are pretty we cut a lot of songs um from live live sets.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: No, no, from albums in general.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: Like I feel like like even fear, I think we had like 20 something songs, and then we obviously cut it down to whatever it was.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: So all the songs that end up making it on the album we're pretty confident with.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: So if anything, I think there's songs that we probably cut that I listened to and I'm like, how did that get cut?
9:12
SPEAKER_01: That was actually a really good song.
9:13
SPEAKER_01: Like, uh, why is that not on the album?
9:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:15
SPEAKER_03: I think there's more of that than like thinking I think skinny dipping was the one that we had the least songs.
9:21
SPEAKER_03: I don't think we had really any uh maybe two B sides.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: Clicker concrete.
9:26
SPEAKER_03: Does it we had like two B sides or something on skinny dipping, so I feel like that has that album has more of a chance of us looking back and being like, oh yeah, we did take that song for granted.
9:37
SPEAKER_03: We had to put it on kind of thing.
9:39
SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I I feel like I feel like I've never taken any of the songs like for granted or anything, or like thought they weren't as good as they are.
9:48
SPEAKER_03: Maybe I have at some point, but I think it more so comes from like, damn, I wish the fans fucked with this song more because we want to play it live, or like you know what I mean?
9:57
SPEAKER_03: Like it's a selfish reason.
9:58
SPEAKER_03: We're just like, damn it, slept on, slept on, dude.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of those.
10:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: I could give you a 30-minute podcast on both fun.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: Well, moving into the future and the new album, God Breath, was there a specific moment during the recording of this where you all just collectively went, fuck it, this is who we are now?
10:21
SPEAKER_01: It was probably in the first recording, not like this is who we are now, but we were we live recorded this album.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: Um not sure if you knew that, but like, yeah.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know if you know that.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you know that.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh when we see it.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: Actually, we're gonna get into that.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um originally Bon uh before we'd even written any songs for the album, um, Bon and Stevie were like came up with this idea being like, hey, maybe we should like live record this album, like you know, something different.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: Um and we were kind of we were all down, but I think we were a bit scared.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: Um and luckily we kind of recorded this album in two parts.
11:01
SPEAKER_01: We recorded three songs in LA and then we did the rest in Australia like five months after.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: But um I think the three songs we did in LA were like really good because we did that, and when that was done, it was Velcro, Edge of Vegas, and Next to You.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: And when we got those back, especially Velcro, like there was just something in it, and like that you could hear, and like not necessarily that you get you can pinpoint, but you're just like, yes, this um that live sound, like there's just a feeling to it, and we can do it, and like we're not really scared anymore.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: And then like gave us the confidence really to do it live track the rest of the album, and then that kind of let us go back to Australia and then like finish the rest of the songs and like be like, Yeah, we can do the rest of this album live track, because yeah, we were kind of doubting it at the beginning.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: Not doubting, but like scared.
11:50
SPEAKER_03: It felt very felt very ambitious.
11:52
SPEAKER_03: Also, because we didn't we don't know any other bands that of our like like stature and uh like size or just our peers, our age even that have done this, so we couldn't even be like, yo, is this like easy?
12:07
SPEAKER_03: Like how does this go?
12:09
SPEAKER_03: Like we don't I don't even I don't know any other bands that have done it that we know personally.
12:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:13
SPEAKER_03: So it's like there was no one to even ask to see how that would go, even.
12:18
SPEAKER_03: Not that that yeah.
12:19
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, it was it was quite ambitious, but it was really cool once we once we did it, we realized, oh yeah, wait, we we do actually know how to play.
12:26
SPEAKER_03: I forgot we know how to play.
12:28
SPEAKER_03: What are we doing?
12:30
SPEAKER_00: You guys have been incredibly blunt about being bored with modern rock where drums sound the same and everything can kind of feel like a computer.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: So this was an intentional reaction against how overly processed and interchangeable modern alternative music can feel, wasn't it?
12:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, 100%.
12:49
SPEAKER_03: I think it just comes with technology evolving and stuff, which is totally natural, and people are gonna like lean into that and it becomes the the new norm, sort of.
13:00
SPEAKER_03: And um, I think also um just with that the pendulum is always gonna swing the other way, you know?
13:09
SPEAKER_03: So at least for me personally, and I'm sure the the guys agree too, that um there is just a lot of production-wise, I'm not trying to take away anyone's like songwriting ability or talent or like you know, artists are fucking sick still these days, but just on a production kind of level, there's just a sound that is just really the same, and it feels like a computer is just making making the art.
13:33
SPEAKER_03: And it whether you notice it or not, I think subconsciously you still do find that there's something that that just kind of lacks this human like connection that you're just kind of missing.
13:48
SPEAKER_03: And if everything's starting to sound the same and everyone's leaning into technology, like I feel bored.
13:54
SPEAKER_03: And I want to feel something real, like yeah, like I was listening to the I keep referencing this EP, I feel like it just like solidified it all in my brain, but it was like a limp biscuit.
14:06
SPEAKER_03: It was either their first album or an EP, I can't remember, but it sounded like ass production-wise, but it was so good because I was like, fuck, I didn't realize how much I'm craving this like feeling, and like listening to other bands like Rage Against the Machine and Korn and Slipknot.
14:21
SPEAKER_03: And I was going back and I was watching Blink Ready 2 live at Big Day Out, and it just again, it's like it's raw as hell, as raw as you can get, and it sounds so good.
14:31
SPEAKER_03: And people were connecting to the songs because they meant something, and they could feel the the people behind the music, which sounds so crazy, but uh yeah, and I just kind of wanted that for us too, because I feel like even we've done it ourselves, like Was Here was a very like electronic-based album, I would say.
14:49
SPEAKER_03: Um, and we're a rock band at the end of the day, and I want the people to feel that when they listen to the songs.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: Do you think there are things that a little bit of imperfection gives a song that perfection can't?
15:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, of course.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: I think that's the spark that what we you kind of hear in Velcro.
15:09
SPEAKER_01: That's the sparkle.
15:10
SPEAKER_03: The sparkle.
15:11
SPEAKER_03: And even like on a on a real level, I uh I was going through we were going through some like um uh like content or something, and like I was like miming to edge of Vegas, and I was like, why the fuck is it not lining up?
15:30
SPEAKER_03: Like I'm putting the chorus on where I'm seeing, like it should work.
15:35
SPEAKER_03: Everything else is working.
15:36
SPEAKER_03: Why is this not lining up?
15:37
SPEAKER_03: Like my lips aren't matching, and I realized it was because I lip synced to the first chorus, not the second one.
15:42
SPEAKER_03: I was like, damn, it actually that's how much it changed.
15:45
SPEAKER_03: It's like slight changes like that that you can just feel.
15:48
SPEAKER_03: And like, yeah, and when you listen to the song, you're not like oh that's out of time, or like that's slowed down or whatever.
15:53
SPEAKER_03: It just feels groovy and it feels natural, and that is the sparkle again working its little magic.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: Dude, I want to interject a personal anecdote in here because I've gone through that same exact process.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: Now, this was like a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: But every album that I was a part of, it's like you're recording to the click track, you're getting every single drum part absolutely perfect.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: You're tracking and tracking and tracking and tracking, and it's all perfectly set to a metronome.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: And then I met a producer, it was probably the third or fourth album I was a part of, and he was like, We are not using a click track.
16:31
SPEAKER_00: You are playing everything live.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna overdub some stuff, but you're gonna play everything live.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: And I shit you not.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: To this day, it's probably my most favorite album, songwriting-wise, that I've ever been a part of for the exact reasons that you guys are talking about.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: Those little imperfections add the soul to a recording in a big way that the computer robotic method doesn't.
16:56
SPEAKER_03: I think there's also something to be said that like that doesn't even just like heal something in you when you listen to the record itself and you're like, oh, if I like I can feel it, but it's like even us as a band, like we felt more connected to the songs because we were playing them together and like learning them together, and um I don't know, and we felt like a band again, I feel like.
17:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I feel like a lot of that can be taken away, especially now when you have to be you have to wear like 700 hats now, you can't just be a band.
17:27
SPEAKER_03: Like, so I think it was like super important to kind of like re-ground us as well in that in that way.
17:32
SPEAKER_01: In the selfish bit too, like just uh rehearsals are so much easier.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, we're gonna try this song, and you're like, oh, I kind of already know how to play it.
17:40
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's so weird when you're not like chopping it up and doing one bar or something because everything's too fucked, like yeah.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: Well, Velcro introduced this really open, affectionate side of the new era while next to you continues that feeling, as you guys both mentioned.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: Did you consciously recognize that you were creating a different emotional world for Stan Atlantic, or did these songs simply just come out that way?
18:09
SPEAKER_03: Um, a bit of both, I think.
18:11
SPEAKER_03: It was more so like they were coming out that way, and instead of denying it or trying to force it into something else, um just kind of rolled with it and wanted to kind of trust myself as a like a lyricist and a writer that I can do it.
18:29
SPEAKER_03: So it was kind of just a solid challenge, but um yeah, I think at the end of the day, I think we've all learned that nothing is gonna actually work unless you're just true to who you are and genuine to like what you're doing.
18:44
SPEAKER_03: And like if we're doing something that doesn't feel like us and doesn't feel right, it's never gonna land and it's never it's gonna feel forced.
18:53
SPEAKER_03: And I feel like fans and audiences can just sniff that out like a hundred miles away, whether they even realize it or not.
19:00
SPEAKER_03: But uh yeah, I think it was just something that just decide to lean in and instead of deny it, you know.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: Well, the title God breath is pretty massive, but the philosophy behind it seems surprisingly simple.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: Own your own truth, do what you need to do, and stop being afraid of the unknown.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: What does God breath mean to each of you now that the record is finished?
19:24
SPEAKER_03: God breath means October 23rd to me now.
19:27
SPEAKER_03: That's all it means.
19:30
SPEAKER_03: Just to release date, baby.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: We had this, like, we always have this moment where like we're very like an impulsive band, and like we'll be like last minute, like we'll have everything locked in, and then like if our manager's like, cool, like we're gonna send it off, we're always like ready to change something.
19:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
19:45
SPEAKER_01: I remember like Bon, like the day before we send everything off.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: Bon's like, I think we should change the album to Dog Breath.
19:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so true.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: Had to had to be like, We still want to do that.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like part of me was like, Yes, and the other part of me was like, nah, that sounds like so much work.
20:03
SPEAKER_03: Dude, we we always have two wolves inside of us.
20:06
SPEAKER_03: It's like silly, stupid, goofy, or like try and be real for like two seconds of your life, please.
20:13
SPEAKER_03: Not real, but seriously.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: Are you guys one of those types of bands that once you have an album in the can, you're just like, okay, I'm ready to be done with it.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready to get this off in the world because I have so much more in my creative back pocket that I can't even access until I've purged myself of this one.
20:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's kind of true, actually.
20:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, a little bit of both, I feel like I'm yeah, I there's parts of me that like when the record's done, I'm like, oh fucking, I gotta start thinking about the next one, don't I?
20:44
SPEAKER_03: I just know the calls coming like soon.
20:47
SPEAKER_03: Uh and so there's always like that kind of thing where I'm like, let's not release it for like another year, maybe, and then I, you know, I'll be ready for the next one.
20:56
SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I think it's it's always it always feels really good once the record is out.
21:01
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure you agree.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: Also, sometimes it feels so long like hearing all the songs, and then obviously you hear it so many times when you're recording it, practicing it, and then like listening to the mixes, listening to the masters.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: Right.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: I feel like we've kind of gotten past that stage already to the point where I'm like, okay, cool, like it's ready to go, and I'm like, oh, it's not even out yet.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know.
21:22
SPEAKER_02: You get so used to just having it in your little bubble that then yeah.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: Well, so one of the things I put down in my notes and something that's been coming up in interviews with you guys, and I really love this because I've been quoting it myself on several episodes of the podcast lately, where I talk about the issue of longevity versus virality because it feels like we're in a war between the two things right now.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite things you've said about this era is the idea that you're more interested in longevity than chasing little moments of.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Viral fame.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: In a music industry that is increasingly rewarding whoever can create the biggest 15-second moment.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: How do you consciously resist temptation?
22:12
SPEAKER_03: There's no temptation.
22:12
SPEAKER_03: We don't know how to go viral.
22:16
SPEAKER_03: No, it's coping.
22:18
SPEAKER_03: We don't know how to do it.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: We don't like viral virality.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: What's the point?
22:22
SPEAKER_01: We just don't know how to do it.
22:25
SPEAKER_03: My take on that is that we have had our moments of what do you want to call viral.
22:33
SPEAKER_03: Like our some of our videos have gotten millions of views or whatever.
22:37
SPEAKER_03: And it seriously does not change the anything about your life in real life.
22:42
SPEAKER_03: It doesn't change anything.
22:44
SPEAKER_03: Maybe streams go up a little bit, but it's like also we have those moments which are fine, but we also know that our whole career is built on none of those.
22:56
SPEAKER_03: So we are pretty safe and set knowing that we have this like sick foundation that is we know people will come to our shows, hopefully, please, um, and buy our records and people connect to our band on a real life kind of level.
23:12
SPEAKER_03: That if we do have those viral moments, that's great.
23:15
SPEAKER_03: That's like positive, of course, but it's just a dopamine hit at the end of the day, it doesn't mean anything to your career.
23:21
SPEAKER_03: And um, I think it's cool that we have the foundation so that it we're not really tempted by like trying to go viral or anything.
23:30
SPEAKER_03: We're just kind of if it happens, it happens.
23:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: Take it or leave it, yeah.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: It's it's crazy because the algorithms, so to speak, are changing every single moment.
23:42
SPEAKER_00: And I had an artist on recently, a pretty big artist, and they said that 3,000 engaged fans is worth more than 300,000 passive followers.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, million percent.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: I think that that was so genius.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a really good way of thinking about it.
24:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'd rather play like a friggin' 150 cap venue of people going absolutely nuts for our songs versus like an arena that people kind of are just chilling doing nothing.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: We're also in this weird kind of time where like I think we're kind of getting over the hump, but like people judge a lot about a band by Instagram followers, right?
24:22
SPEAKER_01: Like people be like, like, should we support this band or should we take this band out?
24:27
SPEAKER_01: Like, they're pretty big, look at their followers.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: But there's so many, and obviously there's like exceptions for everything, but I've seen so many artists that have maybe like two to three times the followers that we do, but then their headline shows are like a quarter of what we do.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
24:43
SPEAKER_01: Like the same thing.
24:44
SPEAKER_01: It's not a bad thing, like they're just doing what they're doing, but like it's the same with Spotify streams too.
24:49
SPEAKER_03: It's like you can't just look at someone's monthlies and know how big they are necessarily.
24:54
SPEAKER_03: Like there's Australian artists that have like nowhere near the amount of monthly followers as other big bands, but they sell out like arenas here or something.
25:05
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
25:05
SPEAKER_03: Like it's there's just the internet stats just don't equate to real life, and you can't like put any money on which one's gonna affect the other, really.
25:17
SPEAKER_03: Like, it's just so arbitrary, in my opinion.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: I so agree, and I I think that applies to almost any in industry.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: I could talk about this, we could have a whole podcast about this, Nike.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: Another thing.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: You know, uh, I I just recently had a documentarian on, and he has worked with every big name in the business, and he talks about that right now, this moment that we're in.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: He's like, you'll go look at somebody that's got 2.5 million followers, and you'll ask, how the fuck did they get this many people to follow them?
25:52
SPEAKER_00: And if they have 2.5 million followers, why am I just hearing about them right now?
25:57
SPEAKER_00: And then it kind of raises the question of like, how much is AI and paid impressions and everything else kind of playing into this?
26:06
SPEAKER_00: And how much of it is just surface level stuff to create new opportunities.
26:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there's so many cheat codes now.
26:14
SPEAKER_03: It's like, what's the point of even caring?
26:17
SPEAKER_03: Who literally who gives an actual fuck?
26:19
SPEAKER_03: Like it's so easy to.
26:22
SPEAKER_03: I feel like during COVID was the worst where like I personally felt really uh like the numbers were all you had because we couldn't play shows or anything.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: Right.
26:32
SPEAKER_03: Like you I felt kind of glued to like, and I felt really sad or whatever it was.
26:37
SPEAKER_03: I just felt like my whole self-worth was like based on these fucking stupid numbers because it's all you have to go off like your success or anything.
26:49
SPEAKER_03: And I think since then um I've really worked on just not giving a fuck about that, and and it's proving more and more that it's just so inconsistent, and it doesn't matter, and as long as you're happy and like doing what you want to do and you're making ends meet or however that whatever that means for you, like that's all you can fucking do.
27:10
SPEAKER_03: You can't just sit there and care about that all the time.
27:12
SPEAKER_03: It just ruins everything, I think.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just create cool shit.
27:17
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, just do your own thing.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, do you think that chasing virality can actually prevent an artist from developing something that lasts?
27:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:29
SPEAKER_01: But also, like yeah, not always, but yeah.
27:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:32
SPEAKER_01: There's people that are, you know, there's people that that are chasing virality, but also are just good at what they do.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
27:40
SPEAKER_01: Like some people it's the same as like just multitasking.
27:43
SPEAKER_01: Some people are good at multitasking.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: Some people can do that virality stuff and be good, and other people, yeah.
27:47
SPEAKER_01: But if you can't multitask and you're just doing virality, then yeah, then it's stupid.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: You need to be able to back it up.
27:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: We can't multitask, but that's why we're skipping the virality button.
28:00
SPEAKER_02: There's yeah, there's so much to say in that whole conversation.
28:03
SPEAKER_02: I feel like there's a lot to say and a lot to uh Yeah.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Man, I I overly fixate on it sometimes.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's just because of the spaces as you talked about earlier with artists, no matter what you're doing, whether it be a musician, a podcaster, an actor, actress, whatever, the number of hats that we have to wear now, as far as our own personal marketing and our per own personal brands now is so much more than what it even was 10 years ago.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: It's it's insane.
28:35
SPEAKER_03: And you're expected to be good at all of them.
28:37
SPEAKER_03: Like right.
28:41
SPEAKER_04: It's stupid.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, crazy.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's talk about the real.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: You guys have gone from Australian local heroes to playing around the world, topping charts, accumulating hundreds of millions of streams.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Congratulations, and sharing stages with some of the biggest names and nothing and sharing stages with some of the biggest names in music.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: What do you think has kept people emotionally connected to your band through all of those changes?
29:12
SPEAKER_03: We usually lock them in a basement somewhere and just make them awesome.
29:16
SPEAKER_03: Maybe I can't say that in like maybe I can't say that.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: No, please do.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: I think that's highly, highly entertaining.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: I I'm hoping, I don't know.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: I feel like there's no definitive definitive answer.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm hoping it's just because we're just being real.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: We're just putting out music and hoping for the best.
29:36
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we're just we're just chilling.
29:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we're just chillin'.
29:40
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
29:41
SPEAKER_03: We're not media trained, we've got nothing.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're just here putting out some bangers every now and then and then having fun.
29:48
SPEAKER_03: To be fair, I I feel like I've said this a lot over the years, which is like I always feel like maybe we're here because we are proof, like we are the dumbest versions of ourselves possible, and we are here to prove that you can literally do anything no matter how dumb you feel.
30:09
SPEAKER_03: Like it's okay, and like just chase whatever the fuck you want to do.
30:12
SPEAKER_03: It's not that serious.
30:13
SPEAKER_01: As long as you're having fun, yeah.
30:15
SPEAKER_03: Whatever you want.
30:15
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, not to circle back to the virality thing, but do you think that sense of authenticity is really what connects people with you guys?
30:25
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's why they're engaged with your music as well as they are, because you have to be fans of the shit you create first before you ask the world to be, right?
30:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
30:35
SPEAKER_03: I think if we knew the answer, we wouldn't be here to do this.
30:40
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
30:41
SPEAKER_03: I I really don't know.
30:42
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure it's not just like one thing, but um obviously having good music helps, and I think we really work on making sure that is the that's the most serious part of our band, I think, is the actual songs.
30:55
SPEAKER_03: Um and then everything else is like, eh, what are you gonna do?
31:00
SPEAKER_03: You gotta fucking just do you.
31:02
SPEAKER_03: Like, what do you I don't know?
31:04
SPEAKER_03: Just don't be addicted, people, and I feel like usually it's pretty good.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: So if the new album represents finally giving yourselves permission to be completely yourselves, what do you want the next 10 years of the band to look like?
31:18
SPEAKER_01: Um steadily keep going up.
31:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let's keep on going, keep on trucking.
31:23
SPEAKER_03: Whatever longevity means, that's that's what it's gonna be, I guess.
31:27
SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, I feel like we're I don't like thinking about that far ahead in the future, but I I would hope to think that we're all just like still having a good time and able to still do what we're doing.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: Have one viral moment.
31:44
SPEAKER_03: Have one just please have one viral moment, please.
31:49
SPEAKER_03: So much to be gone, please.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: I tell you what, I'll throw this on the table.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: Once a week, we get together, we have a call like this, and we spend 15 minutes trying to create one that benefits all of us.
32:04
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
32:09
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it'd be a natural viral.
32:10
SPEAKER_04: It's gonna be natural viral.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be authentic.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's gonna be real.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: Well, the album drops on the onset of the holiday season.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: What do you hope a listener kind of feels the first time they get to listen to Godbreath start to finish?
32:29
SPEAKER_01: Spooky season.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know anything about that.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: It's not really holiday season in Australia.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: It's getting into summer for us, so it's like Yeah, yeah, it goes to Halloween and then Thanksgiving and then Christmas here in the States.
32:43
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: It's really weird, isn't it?
32:45
SPEAKER_01: Because there's songs like Edge of Vegas, where I'm like, yeah, I want everyone to just like drive in that like summer star.
32:50
SPEAKER_03: Album I want that.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but then you guys are going into winter, so I don't know.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh sit it by the fireplace, autumn leaves.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: In the woods somewhere, and fucking headphones on, raking leaves in the yard, doing chores.
33:05
SPEAKER_03: To be fair, I feel like a sunset in the northern hemisphere in that time of time of year is is really nice, isn't it?
33:12
SPEAKER_03: Isn't that when you get the cotton candy vibes?
33:14
SPEAKER_03: Or am I losing my nut?
33:17
SPEAKER_00: No, no, you you're right.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: You're right.
33:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
33:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there you go.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: You can still drive with the album going.
33:23
SPEAKER_01: You can still do it.
33:23
SPEAKER_01: It's still kind of warm, right?
33:25
SPEAKER_01: October?
33:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're not getting it yet.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: I I man, I tell you what, if there's I live in the Midwest, and then if there's ever proof that global warming actually exists, it's here in the Midwest.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: Our summers get longer and longer and longer and longer and longer every year.
33:41
SPEAKER_01: I've got it.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: This is what we need.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: We need you to drive out in sunset if you have a car.
33:46
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a car, get your parents to drive you.
33:49
SPEAKER_01: Your nearest tricept to drive you.
33:51
SPEAKER_01: And then open the windows, full, put on the songs, and then put the heater on blast.
33:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the heater going.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: You can feel the summer.
34:00
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you feel the heat, but then you feel the coolness from the breeze of the windows.
34:05
SPEAKER_01: That is actually a vibe.
34:06
SPEAKER_01: I've done that before.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: I haven't, but it sounds illegal.
34:08
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: It's good.
34:10
SPEAKER_01: It's good.
34:10
SPEAKER_01: It's good.
34:11
SPEAKER_01: But you should do that and then listen to the album.
34:14
SPEAKER_03: That's what and make sure you you can be alone if that's your preferred choice.
34:18
SPEAKER_03: But if you have like your best friend, partner, dog, cat, parrot, like just enemy, your best enemy, could be crazy, could be bonding.
34:28
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, I feel like that's the vibe.
34:31
SPEAKER_03: That's the vibe.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: So if you could send one message back to the four people that started the band over 10 years ago, what would you tell them?
34:41
SPEAKER_03: Change the name, you fucking idiots.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: Listen to your manager and change the name.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: Our manager literally was like, okay, before you do anything, like, do you want to change the name?
34:55
SPEAKER_01: What did you say?
34:56
SPEAKER_02: I'll tell you what I said.
34:58
SPEAKER_03: We said, nah, like, you know, this we've changed it already, and like the Sydney local scene already knows that we're Santa Lake.
35:06
SPEAKER_03: Now we can't change it again.
35:07
SPEAKER_01: The 40 kids.
35:08
SPEAKER_01: The 40 kids really know the name already.
35:12
SPEAKER_03: Liked our Facebook page, like, really.
35:14
SPEAKER_01: The name's gone viral in the Sydney scene already.
35:16
SPEAKER_03: So stupid, so dumb.
35:18
SPEAKER_03: But a name is what you make it, I guess.
35:21
SPEAKER_03: So here we are.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, absolutely.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: Well, my closing question that I ask everybody that does this show, and I love their individual perspectives, and I'd like to get each one of yours individually, is what's your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today through your eyes and the things that you've experienced personally?
35:44
SPEAKER_01: People need to stop overthinking, chill out, and just be nice.
35:50
SPEAKER_01: Go to fucking therapy.
35:52
SPEAKER_03: Go to therapy.
35:53
SPEAKER_03: I'm so serious.
35:54
SPEAKER_03: Even if you're not mentally like ill or anything like that, just go to therapy, dude.
35:59
SPEAKER_03: Like, so serious.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
36:05
SPEAKER_00: I have thoroughly enjoyed this conversation.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: 40 minutes has flown by like none other.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you guys let everybody know where they can find you, the band, and your upcoming release online?
36:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh the internet.
36:19
SPEAKER_00: The internet.
36:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh God Breath is out October 23rd.
36:22
SPEAKER_01: You can find us on Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, anything, just Stan Atlantic, type it in.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: Just Google it.
36:31
SPEAKER_03: Bank.
36:32
SPEAKER_01: And you'll find Bon in our house.
36:35
SPEAKER_03: All right.
36:36
SPEAKER_03: Scary.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: And I gotta, I'm gonna give everybody my personal endorsement that's listening to this or watching this.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: I've listened to the album.
36:47
SPEAKER_00: It's absolutely fantastic.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: I love the whole process that went into it.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I did a little research before recording this episode.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: And I really cannot say it enough.
36:58
SPEAKER_00: I've really enjoyed getting to talk to the two of you and getting to know you over the last 40 minutes.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having us.
37:05
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
37:06
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
37:08
SPEAKER_00: Mickey, thank you so much for doing the show.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: The world's a much better place with you in it.
37:13
SPEAKER_03: I just noticed that Mickey put Binky as well.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: I know, isn't that funny?
37:18
SPEAKER_03: I didn't even notice that.