Latest / Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond / The Art of A Cappella with Pentatonix

Transcript

The Art of A Cappella with Pentatonix · Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

0:15
Speaker 1: Pushkin, Pushkin. Just a quick note here. You can listen
0:32
Speaker 1: to all of the music mentioned in this episode on
0:34
Speaker 1: our playlist, which you can find a link to in
0:36
Speaker 1: the show notes for licensing reasons, each time a song
0:40
Speaker 1: is referenced in this episode, you'll hear this sound effect.
0:45
Speaker 1: All right, enjoyed the episode. Not long ago, I was
0:50
Speaker 1: having dinner with some old family friends. They have two
0:52
Speaker 1: daughters in their early twenties, Joanna and Annie. Joanna and
0:57
Speaker 1: Annelie are serious music people, super serious. So I said
1:01
Speaker 1: to them, if you could invite anyone, anyone on Broken Record,
1:05
Speaker 1: who would it be? And they both answered Tonics, not Beyonce,
1:11
Speaker 1: not Adele, not a reincarnated Elvis Presley. Pentatonics, an a
1:15
Speaker 1: cappella group from Arlington, Texas that got its start on
1:19
Speaker 1: YouTube that I'm going to guess most people over the
1:22
Speaker 1: age of thirty have never heard of. So what do
1:25
Speaker 1: we do? Well? We invited Pentatonics Unbroken Record, of course,
1:29
Speaker 1: where I have to admit I fell in love with him,
1:32
Speaker 1: even though I'm twice their age. My name is Malcolm Gladwell,
1:35
Speaker 1: you're listening to Broken Record. I met I'm Kirsten, I'm Mitch,
1:58
Speaker 1: I'm Scott and I'm Kevin and we are Pentatonics, and
2:02
Speaker 1: our name is based off the pentatonic scale, which goes
2:08
Speaker 1: on and on and on. Pentatonics Matt Sally bass vocals,
2:14
Speaker 1: Kirsten Maldonano mezzo soprano, Mitch Grassi tenor, Scott Hoying baritone,
2:19
Speaker 1: and Kevin o'lushila beatboxer, five members representing the five notes
2:25
Speaker 1: in the pentatonic scale. They're an incredibly charismatic group of
2:29
Speaker 1: twenty somethings who met in high school in Texas. They
2:32
Speaker 1: started out by uploading acappella covers of pop songs on
2:36
Speaker 1: YouTube and now they have sixteen million followers. But they
2:40
Speaker 1: really had the big time when they earned a spot
2:42
Speaker 1: on NBC's to Sing Off and won and now seven
2:46
Speaker 1: Pentatonics albums later, I got to meet with the group
2:49
Speaker 1: at GSI Studios in New York, along with friend of
2:53
Speaker 1: the show, public radio journalist and my co host for
2:56
Speaker 1: this episode, Daisy Rosario. By the way, they showed up
3:00
Speaker 1: early for the interview. In the history of rock and roll,
3:03
Speaker 1: no band has ever been early for an interview. They
3:06
Speaker 1: may even have walked from their hotel. I have no idea.
3:09
Speaker 1: Mitch was wearing the coolest code of I ever seen.
3:12
Speaker 1: Before the show, I hung out with Kevin, who turns
3:14
Speaker 1: out went to Yale speaks Chinese is half West Indian
3:17
Speaker 1: like me, and I feel like we could have just
3:19
Speaker 1: done a second show with Kevin riffing. They have a
3:22
Speaker 1: fifty city tour of arenas coming up this spring, but
3:25
Speaker 1: I don't think of Pentatonics as rock stars. There's something
3:29
Speaker 1: way better. We all got acquainted. Then they agreed to
3:32
Speaker 1: give Daisy and me a little demonstration of how their
3:35
Speaker 1: songs come together. That's basically how it happens. It's a
3:41
Speaker 1: simple formula, so that with that song. Okay, Now, on
3:44
Speaker 1: the degree of difficulty scale, if one is dead easy
3:48
Speaker 1: and ten is like insanely hard, where is that? That
3:50
Speaker 1: one's probably one of the easier ones, like a three,
3:53
Speaker 1: or it's a three? Oh yeah, can you give us
3:57
Speaker 1: a five? Let's just work up the scale. Five well,
4:01
Speaker 1: in terms of complexity would be like a six or seven.
4:04
Speaker 1: Got there? Why is that you said that was a three?
4:07
Speaker 1: Why is that a three? What's easy about is a
4:09
Speaker 1: lot of the background parts are really repetitive bump, and
4:13
Speaker 1: then other songs like like all over the place. Yeah, okay,
4:18
Speaker 1: So so the next one up is going to be
4:20
Speaker 1: like a five. Uh yeah, because that was a little
4:22
Speaker 1: bit tougher, but not too hard. She started just at
4:24
Speaker 1: the beginning, Yes, that's it. Yeah yeah, and then we
4:35
Speaker 1: end right before your solo. Yeah, do like a line
4:38
Speaker 1: of your soul and then we'll just like cut off
4:39
Speaker 1: right okay cool? So what wait? Wait? So why is
4:47
Speaker 1: that specifically? Why that's a little harder. Background parts are
4:50
Speaker 1: kind of playing off of each other to form one
4:53
Speaker 1: singular rhythm. Does that make sense? Yeah? Yeah. Also, if
4:57
Speaker 1: you get off, you off, you know, you have to
4:59
Speaker 1: be you have to hold down your part. Yeah. When
5:02
Speaker 1: is it harder if you if the song is slow?
5:05
Speaker 1: Is your job harder? If the song is just a
5:08
Speaker 1: different reason rest support? Maybe? Yeah. Slow songs can fall
5:11
Speaker 1: out of tune faster because we're holding long notes and
5:14
Speaker 1: they can start to be the tonal center can be lost.
5:17
Speaker 1: But fast songs, it can be just hard accuracy wise. Yeah,
5:20
Speaker 1: and your song is hard in a different way for
5:22
Speaker 1: each individual person too, Like the first like even just
5:25
Speaker 1: for the Christmas Show for example, the first half is
5:27
Speaker 1: so hard remain then everyone's like, oh, that's the easy
5:29
Speaker 1: part of me, and I'm like, oh, but it just
5:30
Speaker 1: depends on the person as well. Because that song we
5:32
Speaker 1: just did, it's really tough for you. I feel like,
5:34
Speaker 1: well you one of them. Yeah, but it is tough.
5:37
Speaker 1: There's there are especially parts later on where the beats
5:39
Speaker 1: like what's like you're just going everywhere? So I have
5:42
Speaker 1: to think a lot. But yeah, that one we've done
5:46
Speaker 1: a lot of times. I think god Rest is probably
5:48
Speaker 1: even a better example of like more difficulty. Yeah, seven
5:51
Speaker 1: or eight, because it's just okay, well to get to there,
5:53
Speaker 1: but wait, what what happens when you make a mistake?
5:58
Speaker 1: Like just keep on trying. No, I'm thinking, I'm thinking,
6:00
Speaker 1: I'm looking at you, Kevin. You just said there's a
6:03
Speaker 1: part of that song it's really hard. Sure what if
6:05
Speaker 1: you blow it? If you make a little air or
6:08
Speaker 1: does it so everyone else saw? I mean, honestly, you
6:10
Speaker 1: just keep going and thankfully, to be honest, I think
6:12
Speaker 1: there's a mystique in magic about beatboxing where nobody really
6:15
Speaker 1: knows that I've made a mistake, so I just keep
6:17
Speaker 1: going and like, seriously, there are times where I've drunk
6:20
Speaker 1: too much water and then I might burp, But then
6:21
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, it's a beatbox. So there's there's that
6:26
Speaker 1: mystique that kind of helps me out in that way
6:28
Speaker 1: where people don't know. I think it's a lot more
6:29
Speaker 1: obvious if they make a mistake. Yeah and speak on that. Yeah,
6:32
Speaker 1: oh yeah, yeah to speak on that. Kevin's really good
6:35
Speaker 1: at covering, so like because because the rhythm section thing
6:38
Speaker 1: will we'll play off of each other, you know, where
6:41
Speaker 1: the foundation foundational things. So I'll hear him a lot
6:44
Speaker 1: of times like mess up, but he'll like come back
6:46
Speaker 1: in on a different syncopated rhythm. So it's really cool
6:49
Speaker 1: and people I'll geek out over that kind of stuff.
6:51
Speaker 1: So it's so cool. Like when he messes up, he
6:54
Speaker 1: does a mess up. So basically he does a mess up.
6:56
Speaker 1: It's like good jazz. It's like, oh they make a
6:58
Speaker 1: mistake and then you're like, oh no, it was purposeful.
7:01
Speaker 1: It's like okay character, ok wait, okay, So next the
7:07
Speaker 1: next next level up was you had mentioned a song
7:12
Speaker 1: probably like eight to Yeah, okay, where do you want
7:15
Speaker 1: to go from? Oh? Yeah, let's go before you go,
7:18
Speaker 1: before you before you start? Why what's hard about this?
7:20
Speaker 1: What I want to listen for it? This one? It's
7:23
Speaker 1: pretty quick, it's very quick, yes, and the notes are
7:26
Speaker 1: all over the place for all of us. And then
7:28
Speaker 1: there's like this I don't even know how to describe it.
7:30
Speaker 1: I mean, I would say this one is much more
7:32
Speaker 1: based off of classical music, so that there's a lot
7:34
Speaker 1: of like counterpunnel melodies that are going in and out.
7:37
Speaker 1: So each thing has this very distinct part. But then
7:39
Speaker 1: if you get off, it makes it a lot harder
7:42
Speaker 1: to come back in. So I think that's but that's
7:44
Speaker 1: why we liked it, because we wanted to be something intricate.
7:46
Speaker 1: When people say I would never hear this anywhere, m
7:54
Speaker 1: oh yeah, the hell. Oh yeah, that's true. So I
8:00
Speaker 1: want to start there and then go through start Oh,
8:06
Speaker 1: let's do that, okay, and then we do it again
8:08
Speaker 1: and the end and then yeah, oh wow, wait now okay,
8:18
Speaker 1: Now is there of that little bit you just did?
8:22
Speaker 1: Are there specific? Is there a specific part that is
8:25
Speaker 1: the most challenging or is it also equal you get
8:29
Speaker 1: nervous when you're about to come to one specific part
8:31
Speaker 1: of that song? Not really. I feel like once we
8:34
Speaker 1: learned that one, that one's not nerve wrecking anymore. So
8:37
Speaker 1: it's kind of an interesting thing. It was challenging to
8:39
Speaker 1: learn and it was a scary feat to take on.
8:41
Speaker 1: But now that we know it have sung it so
8:42
Speaker 1: many times that I'm never really nervous about a part.
8:45
Speaker 1: There are songs where I will get like nervous about
8:47
Speaker 1: it every single time, but that's actually not one of them,
8:49
Speaker 1: like Hallelujah, or like one of our ballads where there's
8:52
Speaker 1: a high part. Do you guys get nervous about the
8:54
Speaker 1: same things or do each have your own idiosyncratic nerves?
8:57
Speaker 1: Really good question. Probably I'm nervous about lyrics because I'm
9:03
Speaker 1: figured the time. Sometimes actually maybe I don't want to
9:08
Speaker 1: rink it. I'll say it an Sometimes you feel like
9:13
Speaker 1: you're about to forget something, feel like you're about to
9:14
Speaker 1: forget something, and then right when it happens, do you
9:16
Speaker 1: remember it? Because of muscle memory and your stomach drops
9:19
Speaker 1: and your heart is pounding, and you like you can't.
9:22
Speaker 1: So we have three prompters on our stage. You'll be like,
9:26
Speaker 1: I don't know what when you said, you said you
9:31
Speaker 1: get nervous sometimes when you're learning a song, you said
9:34
Speaker 1: you it's seems overwhelming at first. How long does it
9:37
Speaker 1: take you to learn a song? What's that? What's the
9:39
Speaker 1: learning process? Looked like it really depends on the song.
9:43
Speaker 1: So I mean, for example, we've done these evolution covers
9:46
Speaker 1: right where we do a person's career, or we do
9:49
Speaker 1: evolution of music, like he was about to say, it's
9:51
Speaker 1: where we do. I mean we've done I think from
9:53
Speaker 1: Gregorian Chance up to now. And I think depending on
9:56
Speaker 1: how many songs and the difficulty of the arrangement it
9:59
Speaker 1: can take, it takes us different amounts of time to learn.
10:03
Speaker 1: I mean, what, there's some songs that we can learn
10:05
Speaker 1: pretty easily. I think, problem, why aren't you on a grande?
10:07
Speaker 1: We did that in a very very short period of time,
10:09
Speaker 1: evolution of music. I mean, it's probably took us a
10:12
Speaker 1: weak plus. But it was funny because that one we
10:14
Speaker 1: learned it and then we actually did it for a
10:16
Speaker 1: TV show, so we had to redo it and learn
10:18
Speaker 1: it very last minute. I remember that, Yeah, we were
10:21
Speaker 1: going to be on Ellen, and so we had to
10:23
Speaker 1: relearn it, and so the next day we performed it
10:25
Speaker 1: and it was just a totally it was Yeah, it
10:28
Speaker 1: was very very difficult. So I think when you have
10:29
Speaker 1: those situations, when when you have to learn something very
10:32
Speaker 1: very fast and it's intricate, that's when your mind gets
10:34
Speaker 1: muddled a little bit, and we usually learn everything on
10:37
Speaker 1: our own and then come to rehearsal and then if
10:40
Speaker 1: we all haven't learned, it comes together pretty quickly actually
10:42
Speaker 1: as a group. That's interesting. That's not that completely surprises me.
10:46
Speaker 1: So in the in the beginning, you might pick a
10:50
Speaker 1: song and then you will all go off on your own.
10:51
Speaker 1: And is it obvious to what your piece of it is. Well,
10:55
Speaker 1: sometimes we'll arrange in person and then we're kind of
10:57
Speaker 1: learning it as we're arranging it. But then more often
11:00
Speaker 1: we'll just kind of have ideas and then arrange it
11:03
Speaker 1: with our arranger, and then we have sheet music and
11:04
Speaker 1: then like a MIDI track for each of us. I'll
11:06
Speaker 1: just kind of learn our part. You can hear their
11:08
Speaker 1: parts the MIDI track, and then we'll just kind of
11:11
Speaker 1: come having it learned. We'll be back with more from
11:14
Speaker 1: Pentatonics after this break. We're back with more Pentatonics and
11:25
Speaker 1: a question from my co host this episode, journalist Daisy Rosario.
11:30
Speaker 1: From beginning to end, let's say, if you weren't touring,
11:33
Speaker 1: if you weren't doing everything, but you were just preparing
11:36
Speaker 1: between purposely trying to pick some songs, creating the arrangements,
11:39
Speaker 1: then learning. How long is that process? I think, once again,
11:44
Speaker 1: it really depends. It depends on our timeline. It depends
11:48
Speaker 1: on how focused we are on the project. Compare you know,
11:50
Speaker 1: if we're on tour, it might take us longer because
11:52
Speaker 1: we want to save our voices. I remember, we actually
11:54
Speaker 1: did evolution of music, or at least the pre arrangement
11:58
Speaker 1: of it. And when we say pre arrangement, it means
11:59
Speaker 1: picking the songs, kind of getting rough ideas of what
12:02
Speaker 1: the song is gonna sound like. I mean, I truly
12:05
Speaker 1: believe though, if you were, like you have completely free time,
12:08
Speaker 1: how long would it take? We could do an entire
12:10
Speaker 1: song in a day? Yeah, I agree with that. If
12:12
Speaker 1: we got it in the morning and picked the song
12:13
Speaker 1: and then arranged it's been that would take a few hours,
12:16
Speaker 1: and then each record our part or like learn it.
12:18
Speaker 1: I feel like we could do it in a day. Yea.
12:20
Speaker 1: How does decision making work in your in your group?
12:24
Speaker 1: It's actually really cool and organic and we we uh,
12:27
Speaker 1: we just all just bring an idea when we have it,
12:29
Speaker 1: and we talk about it and we're all inspired and
12:31
Speaker 1: you can feel the momentum, then we just go with it.
12:34
Speaker 1: But there's no like voting process or anything, and you
12:36
Speaker 1: don't have because you have no It's not like the
12:38
Speaker 1: Rolling Stones, where like Mick is saying we're doing this
12:41
Speaker 1: and everyone else is and Ron Wood is saying, okay, yeah,
12:45
Speaker 1: it's pretty definite. Yeah, And if you see multiple members excited,
12:49
Speaker 1: even if you're not as inspired, you'll be like, Okay,
12:51
Speaker 1: let's go with it because they're excited, and then see
12:54
Speaker 1: where it goes. Do you have five of you? Do
12:56
Speaker 1: you have? Do you have very divergent tastes in music?
13:00
Speaker 1: For sure? Yeah, tell me a little bit about what
13:03
Speaker 1: the kind of span is actually bad? Why did you start?
13:07
Speaker 1: I grew up on a lot of music theater like
13:09
Speaker 1: some of us, but I also grew up in like
13:11
Speaker 1: gospel music, in contemporary Christian music, Like I was the
13:14
Speaker 1: only allowed to listen to that growing up for a
13:16
Speaker 1: little bit. And then then I evolved into musical theater
13:19
Speaker 1: and then kind of jazz. I went to work at
13:20
Speaker 1: College of Music, so it was a lot of jazz
13:22
Speaker 1: in that school, and so I have a really eclectic
13:25
Speaker 1: amount of different types of music that I like and enjoy. Yeah,
13:30
Speaker 1: I would say mine is pretty eclectic as well. I
13:32
Speaker 1: grew up on musical theater, and then I've been listening
13:35
Speaker 1: to like singer songwriters like Sarah Brellis, and I grew
13:38
Speaker 1: up on like Regina Spector and then you know, all
13:39
Speaker 1: the pop female side as well. And I listened to
13:43
Speaker 1: some electronic music here and there, like James Blake I
13:45
Speaker 1: really love. Yeah. I started in musical theater as well actually,
13:51
Speaker 1: and was really really big into that and soundtracks. And
13:54
Speaker 1: I think, uh, that's where my pitch accuracy came from,
13:58
Speaker 1: is because I would always emulate musical theater actors, actresses
14:02
Speaker 1: and they you know, that's like a big part of
14:04
Speaker 1: musical theater that I really appreciated is that they were
14:06
Speaker 1: all very very precise and pitch accurate. And then I
14:08
Speaker 1: moved on to electronic music and specifically using vocals and
14:13
Speaker 1: electronic music and cutting them up and using them as
14:16
Speaker 1: instruments and and yeah, I still haven't I still haven't
14:20
Speaker 1: gotten out of that. That's that's the genre that I
14:22
Speaker 1: think really inspires me the most. Yeah, I like I
14:26
Speaker 1: like anything with harmony. I also grew up doing musical theater.
14:30
Speaker 1: That's how we all. Matt and I love pop R
14:34
Speaker 1: and B. That's like what I listened to Beyonce and
14:37
Speaker 1: Ariana Grande and Jasmine Sullivan. Anything where it's like pleasurable
14:40
Speaker 1: chords and like happy sounding music but with soulful vocals.
14:44
Speaker 1: It's really my vibe. Yeah. For myself, I grew up
14:48
Speaker 1: on classical music. I played cello and so because that's
14:52
Speaker 1: all kind of like him. My parents are very heavily Christian,
14:56
Speaker 1: so that's what we could only listen to in the house.
14:58
Speaker 1: That and then this radio station called Delilah. There's just
15:01
Speaker 1: a lot of soft pop that's literally like all my delia. Yeah,
15:06
Speaker 1: that's what we listen to all the time. And then
15:09
Speaker 1: when I kind of went to boarding school and then college,
15:11
Speaker 1: that's when I started learning about more like contemporary pop
15:14
Speaker 1: music and I started to just take as much of
15:17
Speaker 1: it and as I possibly can. Were you also involved
15:19
Speaker 1: in musical theater and no, I wasn't. Literally we just
15:22
Speaker 1: did this Wicked special and that's when I kind of
15:25
Speaker 1: was really my first Forriento musical theater because I didn't
15:27
Speaker 1: really know much about it and so but it's truly amazing,
15:31
Speaker 1: like the things that these people do. Oh my gosh,
15:34
Speaker 1: So what is it about? Since four four to five
15:38
Speaker 1: of you eight Pentatonics comes out of musical theater. What
15:44
Speaker 1: is it specifically about that world that prepares you for
15:48
Speaker 1: a cappella singing. Would you have been as adept at
15:51
Speaker 1: what you do if you would all have just been
15:52
Speaker 1: in bands in high school? I think it obviously there's
15:56
Speaker 1: a certain theatrical aspect, and I think acapella I don't
16:01
Speaker 1: know what it is. I don't know if if a
16:02
Speaker 1: cappella singers just feel like they have to what's the
16:06
Speaker 1: word I'm looking for, not compromise, but they have to
16:09
Speaker 1: sort of prove themselves as performers without backing tracks or
16:12
Speaker 1: instruments or anything like that. So it's become a very
16:14
Speaker 1: performative art and also just takes accuracy, and it takes
16:18
Speaker 1: accurately don't have any inments behind you, so if someone
16:20
Speaker 1: if you're flat, then it's like extremely noticeable. And so
16:23
Speaker 1: I think that in musical theater it's all about pitch accuracy.
16:26
Speaker 1: That's like like those are the best singers in the world.
16:28
Speaker 1: And it's very emotional too, and that's something we all
16:30
Speaker 1: really show emotion. I also think it takes a lot
16:34
Speaker 1: of hard work to be doing eight shows a week.
16:36
Speaker 1: I was very fortunate to being Kinky boot taller this year,
16:40
Speaker 1: and I learned so many like tricks of the trade
16:42
Speaker 1: from all these people that I was in the cast with,
16:44
Speaker 1: and I took all of that with me into our
16:46
Speaker 1: summer tour and onto this tour as well, and just
16:49
Speaker 1: everyone is just an amazing workout that they know when
16:51
Speaker 1: to say no, they know how to take care of
16:52
Speaker 1: their body, and I just it's just really inspiring because
16:56
Speaker 1: you think, like, you know, we go on a tour,
16:57
Speaker 1: a two and a half month tour or this tour
16:59
Speaker 1: and you know, this Christmas tour, and they can be
17:01
Speaker 1: so grueling, but these people are doing it all year long,
17:04
Speaker 1: like there is no stop and they get one day
17:06
Speaker 1: off and yes they can call out, you know, they
17:08
Speaker 1: can take a but that is that is their life,
17:11
Speaker 1: their entire time. So it takes a lot of work out.
17:13
Speaker 1: That they have families, they have you know, So I
17:16
Speaker 1: think that's something also just really beautiful about the craft. Yeah,
17:20
Speaker 1: does does see curious about the relationship you have to
17:23
Speaker 1: your audience. Does the when you do something that's really
17:30
Speaker 1: difficult in demanding that you're really proud of pulling off,
17:33
Speaker 1: do you think your audience realizes how hard it is?
17:36
Speaker 1: Do they are they are. They do you think you're
17:39
Speaker 1: appreciated by the casual listener, like the craft of it?
17:42
Speaker 1: I think they do. I think they do realize how
17:44
Speaker 1: difficult it is and appreciate it. I think that they
17:46
Speaker 1: appreciate more when it feels emotional, whether it's difficult or not.
17:50
Speaker 1: I think they respond more to the emotion of the
17:52
Speaker 1: arrangement than like the complexities. But I do think, especially
17:55
Speaker 1: the nerdier acapella lovers really like we also arrange for that.
18:00
Speaker 1: We make sure that we have specific quote unquote impressive
18:04
Speaker 1: moments in our songs so people will be like, oh, wow, acapella,
18:07
Speaker 1: I forgot they're doing it live, you know. Yeah, yeah,
18:10
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of the Bahamian Rhapsody, which is like, you
18:15
Speaker 1: don't have to know anyth about music. You watch your
18:17
Speaker 1: video of you guys doing that, You're like, oh, this
18:19
Speaker 1: is something amazing is going on here, and I don't know,
18:22
Speaker 1: you know, So it is kind of in that case,
18:24
Speaker 1: it really because the song, I guess is so actually
18:26
Speaker 1: talk about that song? That song is I might write
18:29
Speaker 1: the song is that about? Its demanding a piece of
18:31
Speaker 1: music to do? Is sure that one's really hard? Did
18:37
Speaker 1: you feel like you were taking a risk by trying it. Yes,
18:41
Speaker 1: we were afraid of it for a couple of years,
18:43
Speaker 1: put it off for six years. We talked about doing
18:45
Speaker 1: it for wow six years. Yeah. Yeah, But I think
18:48
Speaker 1: you touched on something that's really important, that it really
18:51
Speaker 1: the song matters that much, especially for the casual listener,
18:55
Speaker 1: because I think a lot of our fans are music lovers,
18:57
Speaker 1: so they do appreciate a lot of what we do intricately.
19:00
Speaker 1: But the thing is, we also want to reach a
19:01
Speaker 1: wider fan base, So I think it's so important that
19:03
Speaker 1: the song choice is so important so that people listen
19:05
Speaker 1: to it. They say, I don't even care or know
19:07
Speaker 1: that it's a cappella. I care that this is a
19:09
Speaker 1: song that they're doing and it it makes me feel
19:12
Speaker 1: so good, and I would like to listen to them more.
19:14
Speaker 1: So I think song choice for that reason is so
19:16
Speaker 1: important to us. We Can we do a little Can
19:20
Speaker 1: we break down Bohemian rhapsty for a moment here? Sure?
19:23
Speaker 1: Because I'm curious about Uh. First of all, there's so
19:27
Speaker 1: much going on in that song, and I'm curious to
19:30
Speaker 1: know what you think of as being the most interesting
19:34
Speaker 1: parts of that song from your perspective. I think the
19:36
Speaker 1: middle section of it, the Galileo. That whole part is
19:40
Speaker 1: very interesting because there's dueling choirs, but we have two backgrounds,
19:45
Speaker 1: so we're literally like, let them go, let me go.
19:46
Speaker 1: I love it. We're singing all these parts, and it's
19:48
Speaker 1: it's almost a little bit ridiculous, Like if you heard
19:50
Speaker 1: one of us singing our part, it would be hilarious,
19:52
Speaker 1: but we would like my word, will let you go,
19:59
Speaker 1: let me go, will not let you go, let me go,
20:03
Speaker 1: let you go, never, never, never, Like that's what I'm doing,
20:08
Speaker 1: like way higher, screaming these parts. As as you're doing that,
20:13
Speaker 1: can you give you individually do what you're doing. When
20:16
Speaker 1: he's doing that, it's pretty much the same we're doing.
20:20
Speaker 1: We will not let you let me go. Yeah, and
20:24
Speaker 1: you're like trying to catch a breath at any moment
20:26
Speaker 1: you can't let it let you go. Do you wonder
20:30
Speaker 1: how I Every time I heard that song, all I
20:32
Speaker 1: can think of is, how on earth did this song
20:34
Speaker 1: get written? Like the movie? And I was like every
20:39
Speaker 1: single song, I'm like, yeah, I kind of create a genius.
20:42
Speaker 1: It's so it's bananas. It's like it comes from a
20:45
Speaker 1: different musical universe. Is that what is that. What are
20:50
Speaker 1: the songs you've done that you feel have been kind
20:52
Speaker 1: of breakthrough? Did he know? Is what launched our first
20:55
Speaker 1: Christmas album? And then Hallelujah was huge? Can you talk?
21:00
Speaker 1: So it's funny you mentioned Alujah. I did a one
21:04
Speaker 1: of my podcast episodes of my other podcast, I did
21:07
Speaker 1: a whole episode devoted to that song, talking about all
21:10
Speaker 1: of the different versions over the years. It took twenty
21:14
Speaker 1: years to emerge. The original version is so different from
21:17
Speaker 1: what we associate. You know, we think of the of
21:20
Speaker 1: the Buckley Jeff Buckley version, or we think of the
21:23
Speaker 1: and I'm just curious how you approach So there's a
21:25
Speaker 1: song which exists out there in so many different done
21:29
Speaker 1: so many different ways, in different forms. How did you
21:33
Speaker 1: approach that song? It's and it's such a it is
21:37
Speaker 1: it is a deeply complicated song. Did you have a
21:40
Speaker 1: version you were kind of looking at or what was
21:43
Speaker 1: what was the process of putting your own imprint on
21:45
Speaker 1: something like that. We were trying to find like a
21:47
Speaker 1: beautiful Christmas song to do. Actually, we wanted to have
21:49
Speaker 1: a Christmas ballad for the year, and so we wanted
21:53
Speaker 1: to use these Christmas version of this Christmas version of
21:56
Speaker 1: Hollya with like Christmas lyrics, but then it ended up
22:00
Speaker 1: not working out. We had to use the normal lyrics,
22:03
Speaker 1: and we just like, but we loved the arrangement so
22:05
Speaker 1: much that we were like, let's just put it on
22:07
Speaker 1: the Christmas album. And I don't remember how we stumbled.
22:10
Speaker 1: I mean, it's one of the most famous songs ever written.
22:12
Speaker 1: I think that it was always kind of in on
22:14
Speaker 1: our short list of stuff we would eventually do. When
22:16
Speaker 1: it came to arranging it, I think we approached it
22:19
Speaker 1: very gently, and we wanted to make the arrangement very humble,
22:22
Speaker 1: and we didn't really want to do anything insane with
22:25
Speaker 1: it because it's such a beloved song and you have
22:29
Speaker 1: to be really careful with songs like that, you know.
22:31
Speaker 1: I also think what I love about this song, and
22:33
Speaker 1: I rewatched the video the other day and I hadn't
22:35
Speaker 1: seen it in a long time. I love and like
22:37
Speaker 1: when we're performing it on stage as well. I think
22:39
Speaker 1: everyone's part is very well suited for their strengths, and
22:43
Speaker 1: so it's really like touching and lovely to listen to
22:47
Speaker 1: each person singing these specific lyrics that are doing written
22:50
Speaker 1: in the way that it is. I think it's very
22:52
Speaker 1: moving and appropriate for all of us, so we all
22:55
Speaker 1: get the chance to shine, and then it all comes
22:56
Speaker 1: together at the end and feels very moving and impactful
22:59
Speaker 1: besides just being a beautiful song lyrically. You know, well,
23:02
Speaker 1: what's interesting about that song is that when you so,
23:07
Speaker 1: I've been listening to that song version of it forever
23:09
Speaker 1: and ever and ever. It's a song about it. When
23:12
Speaker 1: you hear it conventionally, it's one voice, you know, in
23:17
Speaker 1: this kind of you, you you don't associate it with
23:19
Speaker 1: the group, which is why it's so fascinating to see
23:22
Speaker 1: it reformed in a redone. Can you actually, can you
23:26
Speaker 1: do a little bit of it like the first verse,
23:30
Speaker 1: Oh what I was like in her birth? And that
23:32
Speaker 1: you get the be boxing, you get it to the
23:54
Speaker 1: can is it okay? If I just start crying. We'll
23:59
Speaker 1: be back with more from Pedatonics, including their recording session
24:04
Speaker 1: with the Great Dolly Parton. We're back with more Pentatonics.
24:13
Speaker 1: I want to talk about your the music you write yourself,
24:17
Speaker 1: and how what sort of the relationship between your own
24:20
Speaker 1: music and other people's music. How does that? Can you
24:22
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about the there's a there was
24:26
Speaker 1: is there was there a moment when you decided you
24:28
Speaker 1: had to start doing some of your own stuff as
24:31
Speaker 1: well to originally. Yeah. Yeah, we definitely decided to do
24:35
Speaker 1: and that's why we did our original album. We wanted
24:37
Speaker 1: to kind of branch out and start telling our own stories.
24:41
Speaker 1: But we do like love cover so much, so we
24:44
Speaker 1: started doing covers as well. But then more original stuff's
24:47
Speaker 1: coming next year. We like to do it all. Yeah,
24:49
Speaker 1: so you have another originals album coming in twenty nineteen. Yeah,
24:54
Speaker 1: that's we're working on it. When it comes out, we're
24:56
Speaker 1: not necessarily sure because I think the one thing that
24:58
Speaker 1: we learned about the original album process is that to
25:01
Speaker 1: write great songs takes time, and so we really don't
25:04
Speaker 1: want to rush ourselves. The first time we did it,
25:06
Speaker 1: we wrote i mean thirty four songs in maybe like
25:10
Speaker 1: a month and a half, and so that was and
25:13
Speaker 1: I think it was our first foray into songwriting. So
25:15
Speaker 1: this time we want to give ourselves some time to
25:17
Speaker 1: really say, let's let's see what stories we really want
25:19
Speaker 1: to tell, what sound really accentuates these stories, and how
25:23
Speaker 1: do we evoke the emotions that we really want to evoke.
25:26
Speaker 1: Since we've grown so much in twenty fifteen. If you
25:30
Speaker 1: write a acappella song from scratch, do you write it
25:35
Speaker 1: in a different way than if you are writing it
25:38
Speaker 1: for a kind of standard rock and roll band that
25:43
Speaker 1: there's multiple ways to do it. You can write it
25:47
Speaker 1: with the arrangement in mind, or I found what works.
25:50
Speaker 1: That's just too much for me to think about. So
25:51
Speaker 1: for me personally, I always just like to write it
25:53
Speaker 1: with a piano or something and just write the song
25:56
Speaker 1: and then and maybe some ideas will be inspired by
25:58
Speaker 1: the fact that we're going to do at acapella, but
26:00
Speaker 1: I just don't want to like get caught up in that. Yeah,
26:03
Speaker 1: I think. And now I'm really interested to see how
26:05
Speaker 1: the songwriting process goes in the future because now we've
26:07
Speaker 1: all been writing in an individual product for other people
26:09
Speaker 1: as well. So now I feel like initially when we
26:11
Speaker 1: went into the first songwriting situation, it was like, all right,
26:15
Speaker 1: we have to write a really cool song, but it
26:17
Speaker 1: also has to be a cappellas there were so many
26:18
Speaker 1: limitations already said on it. So I'm interested to see
26:22
Speaker 1: what the new process is because I think it will
26:24
Speaker 1: be different for everyone, just based on you know, it
26:26
Speaker 1: can't be the same everyone's songwriting process is different in
26:28
Speaker 1: general anyway. So yeah, or we'll have like a songwriter
26:32
Speaker 1: pitch us the song and it'll be an amazing song,
26:35
Speaker 1: but it's like the production that makes it cool, and
26:37
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, well, now I cant do it. Yeah,
26:38
Speaker 1: this is this crazy drop. I was like, I'm not
26:41
Speaker 1: sure that's gonna be right for us. For you guys
26:43
Speaker 1: picking songs and when people approach you, how quickly can
26:47
Speaker 1: you kind of assess like, oh, this is something we'd
26:50
Speaker 1: really be able to hook into versus Oh, actually that's
26:53
Speaker 1: a nice idea, but it doesn't play to what you do. Yeah.
26:58
Speaker 1: I think it's gotten easier as we've done this more.
27:01
Speaker 1: I think in the beginning, I remember, even when we
27:03
Speaker 1: were writing original songs, we tried songs. There's one called
27:06
Speaker 1: Love Again where we did like an electronic drop, and
27:09
Speaker 1: then quickly afterward we realize this just does not work
27:11
Speaker 1: for us. So I think as time is gone and
27:14
Speaker 1: we've tried so much, because in the beginning of any
27:16
Speaker 1: you know, band startup, if you want to call you,
27:18
Speaker 1: you're doing a lot of experimentation. So I think now
27:21
Speaker 1: we've really honed in on being able to say we're
27:23
Speaker 1: working with songwriters you know, I don't think this is
27:25
Speaker 1: going to work. But also we do try to let
27:27
Speaker 1: things kind of see how they take form, because sometimes,
27:31
Speaker 1: you know, when we're arranging the original song in our style,
27:35
Speaker 1: we realize, oh wait, there's a way that we can
27:37
Speaker 1: change it for our own purposes. So it kind of
27:39
Speaker 1: really depends. But yeah, it's it's it's a fine balance.
27:43
Speaker 1: It's a hard thing. What does it mean it doesn't
27:45
Speaker 1: work for you? What is that There's a difference between
27:52
Speaker 1: vocally being able to produce this song as opposed to
27:55
Speaker 1: emulating a sound that is not properly going to be emulated.
28:01
Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense. I feel like it's just sweet.
28:04
Speaker 1: If it's gonna be boring, that's that's kind of my gauge.
28:08
Speaker 1: Like we try to do like this Muse song and
28:10
Speaker 1: it's like so beautiful, and we were like we have
28:13
Speaker 1: to do it, and there's like them, they had already
28:15
Speaker 1: had kind of a cappella things happening in it, and
28:17
Speaker 1: so we were trying to arrange it. But there's like
28:20
Speaker 1: it for what they did with it, it worked, but
28:22
Speaker 1: when you put our spin on it, it it was hard
28:24
Speaker 1: to make interesting. It was madness. Yeah, because it's kind
28:30
Speaker 1: of like similar melodies over and over, and it just
28:32
Speaker 1: it's like the slow build and like a ton of belting,
28:35
Speaker 1: and like it would just kind of sound, i don't know,
28:39
Speaker 1: lackluster if we did it and we wanted to take
28:42
Speaker 1: something and completely flip it on its head and then
28:44
Speaker 1: make it special for us instead of just like a
28:46
Speaker 1: worse version of the original. The ever, I'll say this,
28:54
Speaker 1: one thing that I think we've really learned is that
28:57
Speaker 1: you know a lot of producers, whenever you're singing a song,
28:59
Speaker 1: it's focused on the track, how amazing the track is.
29:02
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying like certain production parts that are
29:05
Speaker 1: like drops and stuff like that, but just how cool
29:06
Speaker 1: the track is. That's the bed of the music. They're
29:09
Speaker 1: going to say exactly. And we realize, like, that's not
29:12
Speaker 1: something that we do very well, because I think a
29:14
Speaker 1: lot of what a cappella is is the build and
29:17
Speaker 1: the emotion behind the build and transitions, and so we
29:20
Speaker 1: always have to make sure that whenever we're arranging a
29:22
Speaker 1: song or doing a song like that has to be
29:24
Speaker 1: a very crucial part of that arrangement. And so that
29:29
Speaker 1: I think that's one reason that we can quickly tell
29:33
Speaker 1: whether a song is going to work or not on it.
29:34
Speaker 1: The track is great, but we realize there's not going
29:36
Speaker 1: to be a build that allows us to really showcase
29:39
Speaker 1: what we do, so well we scrap it. Is there
29:41
Speaker 1: a can? I ask? Is there a balance that you're
29:44
Speaker 1: looking for? Because one thing that really does strike me
29:47
Speaker 1: when I listen to your covers is like covers are
29:50
Speaker 1: It's lovely when somebody really like reinterprets a song and
29:52
Speaker 1: makes you hear it in a different way. But that's
29:55
Speaker 1: you are making me hear it in a different way
29:57
Speaker 1: in one way and then another way you are scratching
30:00
Speaker 1: a very satisfying itch right Like. It's like like there's
30:03
Speaker 1: clearly the recognition of like the elements of whatever the
30:07
Speaker 1: song is and why we love it. I think you
30:09
Speaker 1: guys always nail that while still making it sound in
30:14
Speaker 1: a way that highlights what you do. And the same
30:16
Speaker 1: with your voices. I find them to be both your
30:19
Speaker 1: Your voices are terribly distinctive and then at the same
30:21
Speaker 1: time can disappear into mimicking you know what is familiar
30:26
Speaker 1: about a song that we loved, And there's just to me,
30:28
Speaker 1: such an interesting tight rope there, and that's exactly what
30:31
Speaker 1: we try that's always our first conversation, where like, how
30:34
Speaker 1: can we hold on to what makes the song special
30:37
Speaker 1: and but also like make it completely different so people
30:40
Speaker 1: won't compare. It's like, it's definitely a balance. So that's
30:44
Speaker 1: so that's part of the criteria there is that it
30:47
Speaker 1: has to kind of do both. It's a balance. Yeah,
30:49
Speaker 1: you don't want to change. You don't want to flip
30:50
Speaker 1: a cover so intensely that people are like, now it's lost.
30:53
Speaker 1: I don't like this song. It's bad. You want to
30:55
Speaker 1: keep that what the magic was. That's why we chose
30:57
Speaker 1: to even cover it. So but yeah, but again make
31:00
Speaker 1: it around. When you Scott, when you were talking about
31:04
Speaker 1: the ones that work are the ones that tap into
31:07
Speaker 1: the emotionality of the song. Curious about what is a
31:11
Speaker 1: difference in Is there a difference in the way that
31:13
Speaker 1: a listener responds to a sound made by an instrument
31:19
Speaker 1: and a sound made by a voice. Is it easier
31:22
Speaker 1: for n acapella band to tap into the emotionality of something?
31:25
Speaker 1: Is voice more powerful? That's a really good question. We've
31:28
Speaker 1: never been asked out before. I think it depends on
31:32
Speaker 1: what specifically moves people. But I personally am more moved
31:35
Speaker 1: by vocals because it's more people singing lyrics, it's more
31:38
Speaker 1: people's storytelling, and so that moves me. And I'm really
31:42
Speaker 1: moved by harmony. But everyone responds differently to things. It
31:45
Speaker 1: seems so that the majority of people. This is quite
31:48
Speaker 1: a broad statement, I would say, but from what I've
31:51
Speaker 1: gathered and judging by our fan base and what they enjoy,
31:54
Speaker 1: it seems like people really just enjoy vocals and that
31:59
Speaker 1: really really moves people emotionally, even on like American Idol
32:03
Speaker 1: and the Voice and like, people just really tune in
32:05
Speaker 1: and it really moves them. I also think that people
32:08
Speaker 1: are just really moved by passion if you're passionately singing.
32:11
Speaker 1: One of the most amazing performances I've ever seen is
32:13
Speaker 1: so random. Was at like a Christmas concert and it
32:16
Speaker 1: was a girl playing violin, and she just the way
32:18
Speaker 1: she was moving her body and performing was so beautiful
32:22
Speaker 1: to me. It like has stuck with me, and I
32:23
Speaker 1: that's the first time I feel like I've always been like,
32:25
Speaker 1: you know, inquire and like move by the harmonies, and
32:28
Speaker 1: but I think it's just like if someone's really passion
32:31
Speaker 1: about it doesn't matter what instrument you're telling a story
32:33
Speaker 1: your storytelling and that's their that's their voice in a way,
32:36
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, maybe because we have so many people singing,
32:39
Speaker 1: we have a little bit of a head start, and yeah,
32:41
Speaker 1: and making something emotional. I wouldn't my want to talk
32:46
Speaker 1: about what one of my favorite of your songs, which
32:48
Speaker 1: is Julie, how did that? First of all? First of all,
32:56
Speaker 1: Dolly partner, I know that's Can we just say a
32:59
Speaker 1: few words about how she is awesome and she's she's
33:05
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I can't wait to tell you these stories.
33:07
Speaker 1: She's the best person in the world. It came about
33:10
Speaker 1: in the most random way. So we were working with
33:13
Speaker 1: Cracker Barrel and so she shut up at the same time,
33:19
Speaker 1: just randomly, and then they kind of brought us together
33:21
Speaker 1: and we're like, do you want to do a medley
33:23
Speaker 1: with her? And we were like, we'd love to do
33:25
Speaker 1: a medley. All our songs are iconic, but maybe we
33:26
Speaker 1: just do Joe Lee because that would be so epic.
33:29
Speaker 1: And she was like, I'm down for whatever. I'll be there,
33:32
Speaker 1: And then we went to the studio and showed up
33:36
Speaker 1: at it was like seven thirty am was our call time.
33:38
Speaker 1: We walk in with like breakfast and sweats, like not
33:41
Speaker 1: at wake ya. She's in full glam. There are thirty
33:44
Speaker 1: minutes early makeup, hair out. But she's like, I'm ready
33:47
Speaker 1: when you all are. She's just I was like, you
33:48
Speaker 1: are amazing. And we changed a few things in the song,
33:51
Speaker 1: and what did you change? So we shortened we shortened
33:55
Speaker 1: it and like less space between the verses, just little
33:59
Speaker 1: tiny things. We were singing it with her, and then
34:01
Speaker 1: she was messing up because she's used to doing her
34:03
Speaker 1: version for the last fifty years, and we were horrified,
34:06
Speaker 1: and I was like, we can change it back. I'm
34:08
Speaker 1: so sorry, we're ruined masterpiece. I was like having an
34:11
Speaker 1: anxious meltdown, and she was like, no, I want to
34:13
Speaker 1: learn y'all's version. And she was taking notes and learning
34:15
Speaker 1: this new version. I mean, like the best attitude, the
34:17
Speaker 1: entire time, best attitude, so happy and like loving it.
34:21
Speaker 1: And then she was like, this is the best version
34:22
Speaker 1: I've ever heard of this song. I love you guys,
34:24
Speaker 1: like I want to work with you all again. It
34:26
Speaker 1: was so cool. Wait when I the version the video
34:28
Speaker 1: I saw was that that would have been a I
34:32
Speaker 1: guess this. I think it was the official video. Is
34:34
Speaker 1: that a live performance that you're doing, which she gives
34:37
Speaker 1: you the where she where she where? She does a
34:39
Speaker 1: low five at the end of the song with you guys,
34:41
Speaker 1: you know that one. So what we did is we
34:43
Speaker 1: went into the studio and we did sing it in
34:45
Speaker 1: one take and then and then and then we filmed
34:47
Speaker 1: the video. Oh it is a live take, but it's
34:49
Speaker 1: not that see yeah, yeah, I just thought that was
34:52
Speaker 1: And did did you had she heard of you before?
34:57
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know, to be very honest.
35:00
Speaker 1: So just so Cracker Barrel brings you together and I
35:07
Speaker 1: was like, wow, I loved that. That's a brilliant example
35:11
Speaker 1: of what you've been talking about. The song. It's a
35:14
Speaker 1: different song. It sounds the same and if you weren't,
35:17
Speaker 1: if you're not paying attention to oh it's Julian and
35:19
Speaker 1: then you're like when you see it, you're like, oh no, no,
35:21
Speaker 1: it's a different. The feeling of it is so much,
35:23
Speaker 1: it's so much I don't know, it seems more. I
35:27
Speaker 1: don't know what it is. The idea of just all
35:29
Speaker 1: of you on stage like that, it just it was
35:31
Speaker 1: a different It's becomes a kind of group experience, it
35:33
Speaker 1: becomes it's not as sad Okay, it's more about the
35:39
Speaker 1: arrangement of the book. No, No, it's more the original
35:42
Speaker 1: is super sad. I mean it's like it's all but
35:46
Speaker 1: that one. There's a kind of joyfulness that comes the
35:49
Speaker 1: nostalgia of the song. Maybe, yeah, you're all enjoying it.
35:52
Speaker 1: She's having so much fun and we're just fangirling over
36:00
Speaker 1: her energy. Is she just creates this atmosphere of happiness
36:03
Speaker 1: that's like really amazing. I can't I didn't even want to.
36:06
Speaker 1: I don't know how old she is. I don't think
36:08
Speaker 1: it matters, but like it is, she is, So that
36:12
Speaker 1: is some kind of some kind of amazing thing going on.
36:16
Speaker 1: What are you gonna do more things like that? Yeah? Absolutely?
36:22
Speaker 1: So who would you love to do? Who would you
36:25
Speaker 1: not love to do? A collaboration? Yeah, we've been we've
36:29
Speaker 1: been talking about Ariana lately. Thought that would be so awesome.
36:32
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that we would work well with
36:35
Speaker 1: Imagen Heap. She just because she's so she uses her
36:39
Speaker 1: vocals in such interesting ways and she's so incredible and creative.
36:43
Speaker 1: Can I tell you my Imagen Heap shows? Please yours?
36:46
Speaker 1: This is years ago. I was at some random conference
36:49
Speaker 1: in Maine of all places. It's Saturday night, and I
36:52
Speaker 1: realized by miss by totally that Imagen Heap is there.
36:56
Speaker 1: I have no idea why she was there. So I
36:58
Speaker 1: find myself at like two in the morning with Imagine
37:00
Speaker 1: Heap and these two other people. I have no idea
37:01
Speaker 1: who they were. We were and we were singing George
37:04
Speaker 1: Michael's songs by the water It remained, it remains probably
37:13
Speaker 1: the greatest if to go of by life. I can't
37:14
Speaker 1: believe that hilarious It was like and her the genuine
37:20
Speaker 1: affection she had for George Michael, and it made me
37:22
Speaker 1: think I had sort of like, hadn't realized what incredible
37:25
Speaker 1: songs they were until she started singing them with us.
37:29
Speaker 1: I mean I was doing a bad job. She was
37:31
Speaker 1: doing an amazing job. But I can see, Oh my god,
37:34
Speaker 1: will you please do something with him, Jennifer listening, Will
37:38
Speaker 1: you do George Michael with Yeah? I was wondering if
37:44
Speaker 1: if reality were not a problem, if you could go
37:48
Speaker 1: back in time or anybody, I mean, if they're vocalists purely,
37:51
Speaker 1: who would you love to work well, Michael Jackson, Patsy Klein.
37:57
Speaker 1: I don't know why we were in country music world.
38:02
Speaker 1: Matt you said Michael Jackson, which Michael Jackson saw do
38:06
Speaker 1: you think is a Pentatonics? I think, oddly enough, human
38:10
Speaker 1: Nature would be really cool. It's such a different type
38:13
Speaker 1: of song, and it's I mean, man in the mirror.
38:15
Speaker 1: You know you have all the hits. But I think
38:16
Speaker 1: that won'd be a really cool arrangement we could do
38:18
Speaker 1: with his voice over top. I actually we could do that.
38:23
Speaker 1: We paid a lot of money. Can you imagine if
38:25
Speaker 1: we did like a dueling acapella thing with Jackson five?
38:28
Speaker 1: That would be jack and I wish you do. I
38:35
Speaker 1: come back to this idea of this like sense of urgency.
38:37
Speaker 1: When I'm watching you all so engaged with each other.
38:40
Speaker 1: It doesn't just feel like you're performing because there is
38:43
Speaker 1: an audience there, Like it feels like you're all physically
38:47
Speaker 1: connected and would have to be physically responding in some way.
38:49
Speaker 1: I mean, you really are using your voice as fully
38:52
Speaker 1: as instruments, and you don't get a break the way
38:56
Speaker 1: a lot of musicians to yeahs here exactly. I was
39:02
Speaker 1: wondering if you notice the difference between when you're performing
39:05
Speaker 1: as the group versus solo, just physically how you interact
39:09
Speaker 1: It is so so different. It's very different. Hard for
39:12
Speaker 1: me now to do anything without the group because it's
39:16
Speaker 1: like we're such a unit now and that's just how
39:17
Speaker 1: I perform for six years that I'll do, like I'll
39:19
Speaker 1: like sing it. I'll even sing for like fifteen people
39:22
Speaker 1: at a part little jam session, and I'll be like nervous,
39:25
Speaker 1: like more nervous than I would be on stage in
39:27
Speaker 1: front of ten thousand people. It's like it's a very
39:29
Speaker 1: interesting way your body responds because you feel so lonely
39:33
Speaker 1: when you're singing. It made me like sad because like
39:36
Speaker 1: it's so cool to play off the different energies on
39:38
Speaker 1: stage and whether it's instruments or you know, it's so
39:40
Speaker 1: great when it's just like us and vocals and stuff.
39:42
Speaker 1: But when you're like sitting there by yourself and if
39:44
Speaker 1: there's a track going on, you're like where is everyone?
39:47
Speaker 1: Like I'm just like boring too, yeah, performing by myself,
39:52
Speaker 1: and I'll be like this is not as engaging and
39:53
Speaker 1: I don't feel as confident in it. I feel like
39:55
Speaker 1: what I'm doing right now is boring to them, and
39:57
Speaker 1: I don't want to bore anyone. And and like also
39:59
Speaker 1: our trio when we're singing parallels it's like such a
40:02
Speaker 1: safe space you can just like sing without like feeling. Yeah,
40:05
Speaker 1: it's very interesting. Can I you into doing one last song?
40:11
Speaker 1: Do you have a request? Do you have a class?
40:14
Speaker 1: Well we were talking about Joe Lee, we don't have
40:17
Speaker 1: you don't Will you be Dolly? Okay, we'll have to
40:23
Speaker 1: do something you can Yes we missed it, Yes we
40:27
Speaker 1: are missing Dolly. It occurred to me I could do
40:31
Speaker 1: like part of that Christmas to me or something, or
40:34
Speaker 1: it won't be Christmas in the stairs or why did
40:37
Speaker 1: you yea? Let you pick something that something that you
40:41
Speaker 1: is there something that you really love? You can't sleep
40:44
Speaker 1: love part I can't sleep the first person course, that's nice.
40:47
Speaker 1: I could do that because that's pretty. So you wanted
40:50
Speaker 1: to started out at the beginning to and it's original.
40:55
Speaker 1: M are you coming at the pre course? Okay, we'll
40:59
Speaker 1: go through the first chorus. Okay, cool m bomom because
41:09
Speaker 1: A tell me right, Oh my gosh, my boys can
41:15
Speaker 1: do this and oh my, that was really lovely. Thank you.
41:28
Speaker 1: That was Pentatonics from GSI Studios in New York. To
41:32
Speaker 1: see when Pentatonics are in your town, check out p
41:36
Speaker 1: dot t dot x Dotofficial dot com and we've made
41:40
Speaker 1: a playlist of our favorite pentatonic songs for you that
41:43
Speaker 1: you can check out at broken record dot com. Broken
41:46
Speaker 1: Record is produced by Justin Richmond and Jason Gambrel, with
41:50
Speaker 1: help from me a LaBelle, Jacob Smith, Julia Barton, and
41:53
Speaker 1: Jacob Weisberg. Special thanks to my co hosts Rick Rubin
41:57
Speaker 1: and Bruce Hadlam and my co host this week, Daisy Mosario.
42:01
Speaker 1: Our Broken Record theme music is by Kenny Beats. This
42:05
Speaker 1: show is brought to you by Pushkin Industries. I'm Malcolm
42:09
Speaker 1: that show. Yeah. I