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JOSH WILLS STORY OF THE YEAR · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Disclaimer, the views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_02: Listener descretion is advised.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: Over two decades later, the fan is still evolving, still scoring, and still writing music that connects with both long time listeners and a whole new wave of fans.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: We've talked about the legacy of Page Avenue, finding renewed momentum with Ferry Defeats, and the creative fire behind their newest record, Artist.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mic.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Caught on the Mic.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: And today I'm excited.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: I am joined by the one, the only, the Constable, Josh Wills, drummer, from one of the bands that helped define early 2000s post-hardcore and emo explosion story of the year.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: One of my most favorite bands.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: And if you ever listened to my bands in the past, man, we would ape the hell out of their shit as much as we possibly could.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: From the massive success of Page Avenue in the anthem of Until the Day I Die to their newest album, Arson.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: The band is still evolving more than two decades later.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna hate myself for pointing out that it's been two decades, and I apologize, Josh, because I totally sound like an asshole making us sound like two old guys.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: Josh joins me today to talk about longevity rediscovering their sound and what it's like seeing a whole new generation of fans discovering Story of the Year.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: How are you doing, my friend?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: I am great.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh that was a great intro.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I hope I live up to I hope I live up to the intro.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh dude, I tell you what, if anybody could live up to it, it's you, my friend.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's all good.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: I just, you know, I'm here.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: I just got done with a basketball thing with my kid.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: He did a little private training thing and just had to run back home from the community center.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Man, I tell you, uh when us guys that have played in bands for as many years as we have become parents, it is an amazing thing to see our kids get involved with the things that they love.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, man.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh I am a full-on basketball house.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's the the chosen sport of my children at this current moment in time.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that's all I do.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um other than my oldest now, we're we made him run track um to help his basketball later down the line.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um because everybody told us that's what he should do, and he doesn't like it currently, but yeah, it'll pay off in the end and he'll he'll see it eventually.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: So as I kind of set up in the intro, you know, 20 years, two decades.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what's your personal relationship with nostalgia like in regards to the history of the band?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm good with it.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: I I I love it.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: It it all it I mean at the bottom line is for me when I think about it, is I still get to do it for a living.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we we had a a period where we didn't do it like all the time, and some of us went and had to get quote unquote normal jobs, and you know, having that kind of perspective, you know.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Cause you know, in the early days we did so much touring, it was like record tour, record tour, record tour.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: So like you do get this sense of being kind of burnt, and it every year it seems like the same year over and over again.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to say that you don't in the moment you you don't really like appreciate it, I guess, as much as you should until you can take a step back from it and go, Oh, no, that that job's super rad compared to what else I could be doing.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like and just I feel lucky with it and I'm happy that you know, we decided to start up again whenever this kind of emo post-hardcore, whatever you want to call it, like has come back around and you know, we're able to um get back in the mix again.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, our our style of music has come back around.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I I I'm just ha I'm happy that we get to do it all like as a job still.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it's it it's crazy.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I I think it's it's funny because I I don't want to use the term casuals because that's kind of a that's kind of like an MMA term.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's like casuals, but like um, you know, your body of work, the story of year body of the work, is so deep that you know, I find story of the year tracks on every single workout playlist that I create, you know, from all of your albums.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, even the constant, like I love that get a laugh out of you on that one.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, I find your music all over my workout playlist, as I was saying.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, do you ever get tired of the fixation, everybody kind of bouncing back primarily to Page Avenue, and how everything that you guys recorded after that being measured against that?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I think we used to.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as younger dudes in a band and artist, you you put out music after that, and you know, we all uh you know, the second, third, fourth record, I think we all did that a lot.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you know, we you it's I feel like it's any band that has been around for a long time, you know, it it you're you're gonna have those records that you know, people who have been with you from the beginning that's what they want to hear.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I'm saying?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I I I do that.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like one of my favorite bands is Smashing Pumpkins, but like I only really listen to the first three records.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not I'm not saying that anything that they've put out past that is bad.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's just music has a way of doing certain things to you in formative years to where I you just have emotional like attachments to a sound and a song or a record, and I get it.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: I I mean I totally understand.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I only have a few bands where I'm I'm in from back to front, you know what I mean?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And um I understand it.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um it was it used to be frustrating, but now it's like without that first record, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like you have to appreciate it, and just your your relationship with those songs just kind of evolves over time.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's you know, there was a point in time where we were probably all sick to death of playing until the day I die live.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like I could not practice that song for 15 years and I'd still know how to play it.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: But like, as like I said earlier, as you get further on and you kind of are able to take a step back, it it you just find new appreciations for it and it the the meaning to us and us individually and as a band, they evolve over time, and now it's like I'm stoked to play that song because it's I could see what it does to the people in the crowd and how the reaction is to it.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, people found our band from that record and that song, and it's just you you appreciate everything so much more when you get older.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's just that you don't when you're 24.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like it um but yeah, I mean it's our relationship with it all is it's good.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now it it's an appreciation.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's um it allows us to do what we're doing now, and um our last two records have we've kind of just kind of gone back to that kind of the that style of songs, but with updated versions of our band.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Just like a grow a growing sound that still has that like that heart from the first record, you know what I mean?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like, you know, there were a couple times, you know, the second record we'd rebelled against the success of the first record, which isn't the smartest move, but you know, it allowed us to kind of get to where we're at now, you know, and then you know, and I feel like the Black Swan, that record was kind of a heavier version of the first two, but then I feel like on the constant we were chasing something, and we just we weren't in a great like space as a band, like not individually with each other, just rock was going by the wayside.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um we got pushed back into studio fairly quickly to do that record.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: We were all we all weren't very like into making that record.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then that's ultimately why we took our break when we took our break.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was just like, okay, let's take a step back before we run this train into the ground, and we can't come back from that.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, but it's like you know, you you gotta go through all those things to get to where we're at now, you know.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the the four of us are still fantastic friends.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like we're family at this point.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've known Ryan and Dan since I was 14, 15 years old.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've known them well over half my life.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's almost the same with Adam now.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like I met Adam when I was 17, maybe.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it's you know, we're coming up on 30 plus years with all of us, you know what I mean?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's um, yeah, it it just allows you to do more and be happier.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like it we can do what we can do now because of that first record.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't I I like that people love it still, you know.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, that's that's amazing.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I I was gonna point out, you know, we're gonna get into the two more recent albums here in just a moment, but one observation as a longtime Story of the Year fan from start to now is that one, two, three punch of the first three albums, I think established a sound that is borderless as far as genre goes with Story of the Year.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: Story of the Year, in my opinion, is its own genre, and I love that about your band.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: I I appreciate that because that's kind of how I've always felt about our band.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um you can we can play a lot of different things at a lot of different festivals or with a lot of different people that you wouldn't well some bands just can't do, right?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and um and I I've I have always felt that way, but you know, with the way people are, it's just they don't they don't see that necessarily either.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: They everybody wants to put somebody in a category, and you know, because like you know, people say we're an emo band, and but like I'm everybody has a different version of emo.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like my emo isn't what our band is.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: My emo is 93 to 98, like what what what what they call Midwest emo, you know, or like sunny day real estate, or even like you know, Fugazi, or that kind of stuff is what I think is emo.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: The promise ring, mineral, Jimmy World, like that's emo to me.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: My Kim is an emo to me.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we're not emo.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: The used is an emo.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's I don't see us like that.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: I just we've always just said we're a rock band.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, because we do it, we do a little bit of everything.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we don't get crazy heavy, like, but we also don't have an album full of just acoustic songs, you know what I mean?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we we do kind of a lot of different things, and we always have been able to, and that's uh to me, that's more of a a uh a compliment to Dan and Ryan because they're able to create and sound Dan can sound super heavy and screamy and punk rock, but he can also sing Fantastic 2.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then he also has this weird thing that I know I'm biased, but nobody can do what he does still, where it's this screaming that has a note, and it's it I I don't I don't I I don't listen to everything that's out there, but from the bands that came up when we came up, he's whoever whoever was screaming then, those singers don't scream live anymore.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: Right, they don't sound as good either.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm sorry, I'm not gonna say who or whatever, but I just from at we're at festivals and all these things, like I've heard other singers go, so Dan, you're you still scream?
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, well, yeah, it's that's what we recorded.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why wouldn't I you know what I mean?
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like he just he has developed some kind of something that his voice doesn't go out.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't so powerful.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: No, it doesn't.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's sounds better than he has in years.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then on the other side of that, you have somebody like Ryan who can write these intense, sick, like heavy riffs that are you know when he's playing a guitar.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh he he just has his own style that you know, everybody has their own things.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no guitar player plays the same, no drummer plays the same.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: But when he writes something, you can tell that he wrote it.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: And not just the heavy stuff, he loves beautiful melodies, and like he it's we like our band like so many different things as a collective unit that we're able to like do this large spectrum of music that um I enjoy.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad other people like I see you're the first person I've ever say heard say that we're like you think our band is like our own genre, like and I that's I've always felt that way.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that's why I always just say we're a rock band.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah, you know, yeah, and honestly, I think you proved that with the second album.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I know you point out the fact that maybe in the wake was a little bit of an overcorrection for Paige Avenue, but the thing that you guys accomplished with in the wake is you maintained the anthemic pun not intended nature of your choruses and like verses while adding a little bit of a heavier edge that yeah almost like and I just I mean this as respectfully as possible.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_02: You guys almost on that tour, particularly, took the hairband era and modernized it for a younger audience.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like that's big influence for us.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like we all, yeah, we're you know, we're our formative years were in the 90s, but we all grew up with MTV watching Headbanger's Ball, and you know, Dan's favorite band is Skid Rowe.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it like we all grew up with that, and Motley Crue, Dr.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Feel Good, like we all love that, and I and we we did we based a lot of our live antics on that era because it was fun.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, like people come to people come to see a show.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know what I mean?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and don't get me wrong, like I said earlier, the emo bands that I went and saw in when I was 13, 14, 15, they had their backs to the crowd and they stared at their feet, but it w it was different.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was a different like vibe.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like that was nobody cared that they did that, you know.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: But like we just I say we, I don't do as much as the rest of the dudes do live.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: I just you know, but like that's just we've always been we'd always wanted to do like crazy stuff live because that's what people like to the point where like for a large swath of time we sounded terrible live because of all the shit everybody was doing.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like Ryan would cut the bass strings off of Adam's guitar mid-song.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, this all that stuff, and like my in-ears when I had them, like I it was pretty much my drums, Dan and Phil at the time, because Phil actually played the songs.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Adam and Ryan didn't play the songs all the time.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: So like it was that the show was more important than how well we played.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: We've corrected that now as as we've you know been longer in our career and be like, oh no, no, we have to sound good too, guys.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, I mean it that's just in that second record, it was a it was a rebellion of the success of the first record, but we still kept, like you said, the big choruses, and it just got a little more metal.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, dude, and and it was amazing, like seeing you guys live that tour.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: I remember going to Kansas City, so I'm Nebraska-based, so okay.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: I I remember seeing you guys in Kansas City on that tour with Funeral for a Friend in Anne Berlin.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: And oh, your opening was fantastic.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: As a matter of fact, you guys did an homage to 80s bands as the opening for the for the set.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: Either that or it was midway through the show.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: I don't remember exactly what we're doing.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: We would we would do we would do uh like a medley of like songs, and we we would throw in you know, we had a the one that I think you're talking about, I think was the first one that we did.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: It would have like Guns N' Roses in it, and like I think it even had like Cans it had Cans and but it also had it also had Michael Jackson and Rage Against the Machine.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like we just it it was fun for us, it was another fun thing, you know.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: So bringing this to the here and now, with the last album, Tear Me to Pieces, you suddenly started seeing a whole new generation of fans discovering the band.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: What was that moment like when you realized that younger audiences were singing the new songs just as loud as the classics?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like surprising.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like that on Tear Me to Pieces, it was the first time since Page Avenue that new songs were being sang as loud as old songs.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like and it was it's amazing.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's such a good feeling that uh your news the new stuff that we're creating is connecting with the you know, who even if it's old fans, they're still coming and singing the new stuff.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like it does it's just even you know, and I know like St.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Louis is a it's a different animal um when we play here, uh, but we just did the CD release show, and I mean I've seen video.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: I it's hard for me to hear when we're playing, like the crowd, but I've seen videos and like people were belting out disconnected and gasoline, and even the new newer ones that we hadn't been released before the day before the show, like you could hear it, like it wasn't just like a few people singing along, it was a lot of people, and it's just it's such like a cool feeling, like to put new music out that connects with people still.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, and I tell you what, man, I am so bummed I was gonna make the trip for that show because Kyle from Letterkills sends me a text and he's like, he's like, dude, are you gonna come out to the show?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Yeah, on Valentine's Day on like three days' notice.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, bro.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, I'm gonna pay for my divorce attorney, bro.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: People have said stuff to us about that, but we had done a Valentine's Day show before.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: A few years.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember how long, and it was fine.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: But we're all old dudes now.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: Expectations are different.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think about it because like me and my wife, we have never been like big Valentine's Day people.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're not either, but I just had to kind of.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I get you.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: I understand.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: So you said Arson might be the heaviest record since Page Avenue.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: From a drummer standpoint, what changed rhythmically or stylistically on this record compared to the last one?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't see the thing.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very self-degrading and self-deprecating about my drumming.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't really think about stuff like that.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: I really don't.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't go into a record going, oh well, I should try to do these kind of things.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: I just it's a combination of like playing along to the guitar because that's how I grew up.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: I I I didn't have bass player friends.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like my closest friends were guitar players.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: So when we would get together and jam or whatever band I was in, and I played with the guitar player all the time.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll I don't it took me a long time to understand that like the rhythm section is the drums and the bass.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so i I I just I that stuff I don't I don't really think about it.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: I just I play what I think like feels good, and then you you kind of edit from there.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you you as you grow as a musician and a songwriter being in a songwriting setting, you your drums can't they they're to me they're there to make people bob their head and get in like a flow, but they're also there to enhance vocals.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like two most important things on a record are drums and vocals.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Ask anybody who's in a band, any producer, drums and vocals are the most important thing because you want people to nod their head and sing along.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you know that that doesn't I'm not trying to take away from fantastic guitar players because I I am in a band with one, like but even he will tell you that.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like I when we go into like a studio setting, it's it's for one, like Ryan is Ryan, and he comes to the studio with 70 fully completed songs with drum demo drums and all, you know, so I have to kind of pick through that because I he has an idea, and it, you know, I want to honor that idea, but add my own spin on it.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then like you get into the setting with like a producer or another songwriter, and you you kind of like Frankenstein some stuff together sometimes, you know, and I'm I'm uh whatever's best for the song is kind of where I'm at with it.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, if there's something that like, you know, like Colin, our producer, Lincoln Park's drummer, he is a phenomenal musician, he is a phenomenal drummer, you know, he'll have like a thing that like they he demoed up that he actually played drums to.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: And like I have to like listen to that and go, okay, I like the vibe, but I need to do it how I would do it.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because he just plays differently than me.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's a trained drummer, like he put knows how to play gospel drums and jazz drums.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't I took two lessons my entire life.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: So like I learned by ear, I kind of cheat my way through some things sometimes just because that's how I that's the only way I know how to do it.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so like he just kind of you kind of go, okay, well, no, this part has to be done like this because this is what the song needs right here.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: But like if there's like a weird drum fill or something that like I don't I I can't play, let's just let's go there with it.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I just can't play it because of the way he plays.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't take that and keep the vibe because that's what's most important is does it whatever I do, does it screw up the vibe of the song?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want that.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: So you just kind of take that and do you keep the same vibe but make it me.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of how I I generally go into almost every record, especially now because it's not like it used to be where we sit around for two months together in a room and keep playing the song over and over and over and over again together.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's very pieced together with a demo, and then you work with songwriters, and then that song gets taken apart and put back together, and you're not sitting at a drum set the whole time, they're building it on a computer, the demo, and then I have to take that demo and sit with it for a month on my own and play along to it, learn it that way, and then pick it apart, do whatever I want it, like see if see what works for me, and then we go record it, and then we change stuff in the studio.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: So then I have to go back and relearn the song after we're done recording it.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: Well, dude, let me let me remove a little bit of the self-deprecation for just a moment.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: I I having uh having played in bands for a number of years myself as a vocalist, you know, I haven't done it for well over a decade now, but you know, from the mid-90s on, it is a very rare thing to hear a drummer openly talk about serving the song as opposed to serving their part.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: So that is a huge compliment to you because I don't know how many drummers, and I'm not trying to talk shit or anything, but how many drummers I have worked with over the years that kind of get into the room and like we're trying to write a punk song and they're trying to put a tool part to it's like, dude, come on, quit jerking up out in the drum kit, just play.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean everybody's guilty of that, like at certain points in time.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like you the long I feel like the longer you do something in a collective group, you kind of get away from that, and you just want all you want to do is win.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever needs to win, you know what I mean?
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and don't get me wrong, I still have moments where it's like I'm precious about something, or me actually being the person that played it on the record.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, because there's there's a few things on the last two records that I didn't even play, whether or not because I was there or not there, or whatever he laid down as the demo just worked, and it's like let's not even change it.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's great, you know what I mean?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's fine because I have to play it live anyway.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody like it doesn't matter, you know what I mean?
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: And and there are times where I I still struggle with that, where it's like, well, I'm not a main songwriter in our band, like I don't come up with guitar parts and vocal parts, and so like for me, tracking drums is like that's my my thing for the record.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: But it's never like I need to play because I need to do this like crazy something or another.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's I I don't I don't care.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like do that stuff live.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Do something cool live, change it live.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: But on a r on a record where people are gonna listen to it over and over and over again, you gotta serve the song.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because that like what are you gonna is if you have a hundred people that listen to one song and you do some crazy cool drum part, two people are gonna go, ooh.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's just I don't yeah, there are time, there's time and place for it, and there are bands that are that, and that's fine.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like tool.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and I'm gonna be honest with you, as a drummer, I respect the shit out of Danny Carey.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to hear a four and a half minute tool song.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: I I I want to hear enema.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like I i I anything after that is like it's now we're making noise to make noise, and like I'm just not a big like math rock guy.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right, like not everybody can sit through an opus.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: No, I like a repeating chorus.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, yeah.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Call me simple, I don't care.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, but also there are bands that can do cool shit, and like I was late to the party, but sleep token.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I love sleep token because that drummer fucking rips, but it's not overly done.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's so well like that band you can listen to so many times and find new things like all over it, even like a separate from the drums.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's just I I you know that's just that's just my pre pre preference.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't need going in I that's just not you know, patterns are cool, but like I don't need it all over the song for me.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like my fate one of my favorite drummers is Herb from Primus.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like those first few Primus records.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: He's using a double bass, but it's not it's not that metal, like where it sounds fake, you know.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's tasteful, it's this accent, and you know, that's the how I grew like that's the stuff I grew up listening to and trying to play.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Not I can't I don't think I could play a prima song front to back, other than like my name is Mud.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: But like, you know, I but that's what I like to listen to.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: I like to listen to that, or I like to listen to Dave Matthews band.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like I I don't yeah, they get made fun of for our age group, but I I don't care.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't either.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a huge David Dave Matthews band fan too.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: They they write good songs, they're all phenomenal musicians, and Carter is a beast, and it's fun to watch and listen to.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, oh my gosh, I think we just became best friends.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, they had they have all these phenomenal musicians, but they still write songs.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, dude.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: They're not just they're not just jerking off on stage or on the record.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: I went and saw them in 2002 or 2003, and I like we get to the venue and I'm like, fuck, we have horrible seats.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's in Denver.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_02: When the show starts, I'm right behind Carter and I get to watch Carter the whole show, and I'm like, fuck, this these seats are awesome.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's the best, this is the best seats.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, but I I like I like that stuff, but like also I like Deft Tones.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Deft Tones is top one, two favorite bands for me of all time.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because Abe grooves.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's just a fucking it it's it's it serves the song.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: It serves their style of music.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and that's just the stuff that I like.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I don't necessarily play like any of those people.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'll borrow things here and there that I can, but I just kind of it with drumming for me, it's just like whatever like comes out and what I'm feeling.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think about it too much.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't sit there and go, well, I need to make like a super cool beat for this part and da-da-da-da-da.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's just I'm I'm a field drummer more than I am, like a technically efficient, like you know, rudiments guy.
• 34:21
  unknown: Yeah.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_02: Well, let's touch on modernity a little bit and how the streaming era has impacted the band.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, in a time when music releases move so fast.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: How do you stay excited about songs that you've probably lived with for a long time and the trickle out release theory?
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you have for me, I have to stop listening to it.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because I said this earlier today on an another interview that I did.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: I've said this multiple times.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: I love our band.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, not just being in the band, but I like the music we make.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that might sound egotistical.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: I like our band.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: I like I wouldn't be playing in our band if I didn't like the music we played.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's people that like, oh, I don't I don't I don't really listen to our albums.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Why you don't like your music?
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like you know what I mean?
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we get it, you know, we finished we finished Arson in June or July of last year, and I listened to it a lot for like a couple months and then I have to like okay, I've listened to this too much, now it's just it's sounding old to me.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's old to me now.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: Not that it sounds old, it's just for me, this is old now.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: So then it's like Alright, well, unless we're getting ready to play a song live for the first time and we have to rehearse it, that's when I'll like pick that song up and I'll start listening to it a lot.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: But then like I still will kind of stay away from the rest of the record for a while until it comes out.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's like then I'll start I'll listen to it again every now and then, and because now everybody has it, and I you you're kind of listening to it with people for the first time again, you know what I mean?
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like because of how and I I'm glad this time our record label Sharptone didn't do what we did last time and release like five songs before the record came out.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, and I understand.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I understand why we did it because it was our first record in some years, like we're trying to like build this like excitement up over like a little bit of a longer period of time.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: I understood it.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: It was weird because that was the first record we put out in other Wolves was still in the streaming age, but we self-did that.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was a whole different process, like that was different.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: But that was the first record we put out where it was like streaming, streaming, streaming, streaming, streaming.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: I got it, but I was glad this time.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, no, we're putting two out.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: However, and and you know, the second disconnected was dictated by how well gasoline would do, and it did very well, so we kind of like waited a little bit longer for disconnected, and then see-through was like whatever, like the focus track for when the record came out.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it was different, it was weird.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but like I said, it's just like you listen to it, you listen to it because you're excited about it, and then you have to.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: I for me, I have to kind of go, all right, let's put that away for a while, and then I'll come back to it once we get closer to like releasing it and then having to play more new songs live, and then I really will dig back into it, and you know, I'll spend even before we you know rehearse for a tour or something like that, and I know we're playing, we're gonna we're talking about playing a few songs from a new record, I'll spend two weeks prior like by myself, just like playing along to it and relearning, you know, just kind of getting a feel for it again.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was gonna ask you uh as a follow-up question, but you kind of answered it for me, like how you feel about it as a fan and fan perspective, because there's a lot of times where I will look at a release strategy for an album and I'll see a single six weeks later, another single, six weeks later, another single.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: And by the time the actual album drops, you've already heard half the album.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: And like from my perspective, it's almost gotten stale to where it's like, well, man, it's kind of worn off some of the excitement for the rest of the album because I've already heard so much of it, and it's a kind of a bummer sometimes.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's a hard, um, it's kind of a hard thing to deal with and prepare for and strategize for because in this day and age, people's attention spans are so small that like it's not like before streaming where it's like all right, we're gonna put out a record, and we put the record out and it builds over time.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: Have you heard this?
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's getting passed around.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's just it's out a week later.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: I heard this.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's almost the office.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_02: You have to build it before it releases as opposed to releasing it and then letting it build it.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because once it's once it's out, everyone has it.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like everyone has access to it.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to go somewhere to get it physically and put it in your car or at your house or whatever.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's just right there on your phone and everybody has it.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so it it's it's like a yeah, it's a juggling act of like how do we do this and create anticipation for it, and also how do we like extend a record cycle, right?
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: To like, you know, so now you know it's just you gotta the planning is different, you know what I mean?
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's just weird.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: I uh you gotta factor in the whole social media component too, like wanting people to use your songs for reels and like different clips and the TikTok side of it.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, it's like it's exhausting to an extent.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and uh and it's if I and I will openly admit I am awful with social media.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like I don't post anything.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: If I do post something, it's a repost from our band.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: I just I'm not good at it, and it I and it's probably something we all need to be better at if we're wanna in this day and age, but I'm just so like adverse to like filming all the stuff that I do all day and da-da-da-da-da-da.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's just not I, you know, it's just not in my nature to like I'm at this restaurant and I ate this food, or I'm walking down the I I just I don't think about stuff like that.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: As much as I'm attached to my phone, when I'm out doing something, I'm trying to like be in it and not oh, I gotta record this, I gotta take a picture, I gotta post it, I gotta I I I don't even have TikTok.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: I I can't stand it.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: It it I it's we have I think the band has a TikTok account.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know who does anything with it, but we have one.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, if it was up to me, I would not have it on my phone, and I would just send stuff to whoever does our band one and just will you post this for me?
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to think about it.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: I I and that's that's so counterproductive to this day and age and being and like you know, trying to promote yourself and your band and stuff like that, but I just people are just this too much, in my opinion.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you know, you go to a show now, I'm in the I'm playing a show, and all I see is the phone.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and it's just like it's such like a catch-22 of like, okay, these people are gonna post this stuff, it's gonna help us, but also oh, you're you're you're kind of missing the experience because you're so worried about I got the I gotta clip this song, I gotta clip this song, I gotta post it right now, I gotta put it live.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I just wish people could just come and just be in the moment of the show and not have to worry about posting things.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know what's funny?
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I I'm one of those people that I it's so funny because there's a duality to it, like because I was guilty of doing it at this show, but I noticed other people weren't.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_02: I went and saw Atmosphere, Cypress Hill, and Farside last summer.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, cool.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, such a good show.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, I kind of looking around, I'm taking little clips of Atmosphere, and I'm looking around and I'm like, you know, not a lot of people have their phones out, and this is the first show I've been to in a long time.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe that's a genre thing, maybe it's who was performing.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_02: I I think everybody was so high they couldn't operate their phone.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_00: Fuck yeah, probably what what is this?
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: Who put this in my pocket, man?
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it could have been like an age thing, too.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, for sure that plays.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like I went and saw Deft Tones when they came through here six months ago, I don't remember when it was.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like there's that and because I love Deftones so much, it was so rad.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited to see what happened, what is happening with them right now.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: This like giant, massive, like over resurgence, bigger than they've ever been.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: But like, and there's so many young people at the show this show and Certain songs you saw all the phones come up, like when they played Change, or you know, uh my mind's blanking.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: Digital back of it.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like the phones go up, everybody's, you know what I mean?
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just like, oh guys, you just you're you're you're kind of missing what's happening because you're staring through a screen and you're can you're side you're sidetracked with like I gotta do this.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like, oh, like, and I, you know, it's but that's their thing now, you know what I mean?
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I just I don't think they don't know any different, but it's like they feel like they're missing out if they're not telling people where they're at.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just like, uh, it like I said, it's a it's a catch 22 because it helps us when it happens, but they're I also just let's make, I'll just put your phone down, put it down and just watch.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: Be be here with us, you know.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_02: Well, let's talk a little bit about the camaraderie that you guys have within the band.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_02: You guys all grew up in the same scene in St.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_02: Louis.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_02: You went to school together, you guys were friends before the band even started, and I think a lot of that wled through while you guys were doing the Page Avenue Crew podcast, which was one of my favorite podcasts for the the three years of the pandemic hell that we were living in.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um how important is that shared history to the fact that story of the year is still here today?
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's the most important.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, when you're in a band and you tour and it's a business, it becomes a business.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I've seen and heard about so many people that started out friends, they get into a band and then business things get in the way and people want more than other people feel they deserve, and da da da da da and whatever the infighting that happens.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like for us because we were friends for so long prior to like it becoming a business and like having to rely on that y you're you're doing those businessy things and money becomes involved, and I think it's helped us a ton because I mean it's just there's no there's no ego.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, it's I I mean they're more than friends at this point.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: If it's family.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and families fight, families get into arguments, but you know, it happens.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: It is what it is, but we've just been doing it for so long and we've been we're such good friends, and it like that kind of trumps any kind of anything like that happens internally, you know, a little stupid argument.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: We haven't had like a big major argument with the four of us in ages.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_00: If we get into an argument about anything, it's usually Adam with someone else, and he'll op he will openly admit that he's his brain's wired a little different than the rest of us.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the way he views the world and how how he moves within it can be contradictory to like me, Dan, and Ryan.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you you get aggravated, and and I'm me and Adam's arguments usually go from like one to ten real fast, just because he'll raise his voice, I raise my voice, and now we're motherfucking each other, and you know, it over something stupid, like over something that doesn't make any has no bearing on the you know, whatever.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: And um but like you get over it, like it's just like okay, sorry, dude.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, got out of hand.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I just it I think just being such good friends and spending so much time together before we actually were made to spend time together, you know.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it like I talk when we're home, I don't necessarily see everybody all the time, but like Ryan, I if I if I'm gonna have to like pick like Ryan's my best friend, like he will be my best friend forever.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: I talk to him almost every day.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, we trade stories about our kids and sports, and you know, she did this today or he did this today, and like his team, you know what I mean?
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like we're doing dad, we're trying to have dad talks, not yeah, business band guy talks, you know what I mean?
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, but you know, I I see Dan more than I see the other two because I live closer to Dan, and every now and then I'll I'll go to the bar and you know like we'll see him there and whatever.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like our the friend group is we're just in the area together.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, but like I it's just it just helps a ton.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um because you have such shared history, you've seen each other at super low moments, you've experienced all the high moments together.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_00: We went through the terrible shit with having to like take a break and how that was, and you we we've done all of this together, and now it's just like all we want to do is win and play music and make a living doing it.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then that stupid petty shit that comes up, it doesn't matter.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like we're forty we're in our mid-forties.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_00: It it to be able to still be doing this after this long, you gotta have you gotta have that friendship.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's kind of first and foremost, it has to be fun.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like it we don't make like I'm sorry, we just we don't make enough money to do this and it not be fun.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like having fun is number one.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_00: Got what we have to make some money, because you know, we're our mid-40s.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_00: We have a house at houses and mortgages and car payments and kids and sports and all the things, groceries, you know.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta be able to live.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, but ultimately, like it has to be fun at all times.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: I not I don't want to say at all times, but like the whole enveloping thing is fun.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's gonna be times where it's harder than others, and you're when you're in the moment, you're like, fuck, this sucks.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to go do this.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: But like then you gotta kind of go, oh well, if I don't do this, what what else am I gonna go do?
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh like, you know, I'm I don't think the four of us are innately built for regular jobs and being happy at regular because I I went and did a regular job.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I was I'd you know, because we didn't break up, we would still do shows every now and then.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'd go away from my job for a weekend and come back and go to work on Monday and go, oh, that's way better than this for me.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's but i it to your earlier question, it's it's immensely important that we're we're we're friends with each other and because that matters more than the band.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it just does because the band can end tomorrow for one run reason or another, but I don't want my friendships to end.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, because it's they're my like family and it has to be like that, and I don't want it to not be like that.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: So like decision making and any kind of infighting argument, most of that stuff is just because you're around each other too much.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like you get you got pet peeves with the way people do things on a bus that's 180 square feet, you know what I mean?
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's just certain things that you just kind of you g you gotta deal with, and sometimes that stuff kind of boils over, but then because we're such good friends, like 15 minutes later we're making fun of what we just argued about.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, yeah, like I think I think you hit the nail on the head, and I think that's that's the thing, like the other thing about you guys is you guys always lean into humor, and humor breaks a lot of ice, man, and it can break some cold moments like that.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, 70% of our dialogue is movie quotes.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like we can't, like, if we're even if anybody is even remotely trying to get like serious and emotional about something, and they'll say one word.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is what and and then all of us, it's whatever this funny movie quote.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_00: Or then it's just everybody's laughing, and you kind of gotta go, I'm I'm so sorry.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like, continue what you're trying to like get out.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I just but we do it to each other.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's not like one person is the only person that does it, like most of our dialogue is done in movie quotes.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_02: Well, considering that legacy and that brotherhood, think about the here and now.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_02: If a 16-year-old kid was discovering Story of the Year for the first time right now, what song would you want them to start with?
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great question, man.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's so hard, dude.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard now that we have like, what do we have, like seven records?
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's very difficult because they kind of each album is its own thing.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's its own, like, and I have such different feelings on each song from each album, what it means to me, and it's hard to relate to well, especially 16-year-old kids nowadays.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like right, right.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, but like I mean, it sounds cliche, but like until the day I die, like it it it encompasses a lot.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like that those lyrics can be for any relationship.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_00: It could I mean that song initially is it's it's about us as bandmates.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a boyfriend-girlfriend song for us.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_00: But lyrically it can be.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_00: It could be about your best friend, it could be about your mom, or you know what I mean?
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's just it's a great like all-encompassing kind of like relationship song.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um I mean, I s I mean nostalgia aside, I still think that song holds up as a song.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, you know, but you know, if I had to go like something newer, um I would say something like I go, I guess it also depends on your mood.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like I think 3 a.m.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_02: is a fantastic song.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_02: Dude, that is.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_02: That is.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_02: I just listened to the new album front to back a couple of times today, and I that one stood out for sure.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or I mean, if you're if you're in a if you're in a mood like into the dark, or I don't want to feel like this, like those songs hit, those are my two favorite songs from the record.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um Yeah, I guess it's I mean, that's a that's that was I've never been asked that before.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's a fantastic question, dude.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh thanks, dude.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's a hard question to answer, 100%.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_02: It is, it's like asking somebody to pick their favorite child.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_02: What would you say?
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_02: What would you say from our collection?
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_02: Here's a fill here's a very philosophical answer for you.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_02: I would tell a 16-year-old kid to listen to Take Me Back, and then five years later, listen to that song again and see how it's changed for them.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good pick, dude.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_02: And then if modern, like if we were to go to newer story of the year, war is such a banger.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_00: Damn.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good song.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_00: Dude.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_00: My favorites are usually the ones we don't play.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, from Tear Me to Pieces, I love sorry about me.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm but I'm I'm I'm a mushy emo kid from the 90s.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I my dude, when I like when I tell you, like when I was 13, 14, 15, 16, I you couldn't tell me there was a better lyricist than um Chris, the singer from Mineral.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like those that the soul-crushing lyrics, dude.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, but uh you know, it's just I g I guess it's just kind of whatever your personality is and what you're going through in the moment, you know, like I that's why I think those like Midwest emo bands resonated with me when I heard them because I was in high school and you know, you're going through all the emotions, you know what I mean?
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, when you get a little older and I feel like you can transition a little more to like not sad lyrics, but about the same subject.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're listening to Glass Shaw, and it's angry.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's angry lyrics about the same subject matter.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like stuff like that.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, it's it's it's one of those things where you it's where where you're at in the time, you know.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_02: Well, my brother, I have really enjoyed this conversation.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_02: Michael.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_02: Me too, dude.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is the second interview I've done today where we barely talked about the new record, and I love that.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_00: I know we're promoting a record, but like you you get into these cycles where you do interviews where it's I know what we know what we're doing, we're promoting a record, and sometimes the the questions are the same.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I love doing stuff like this, like long form.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, where it's let's talk about things other than just we made this new record.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_02: Feels like we're just talking about fucking life.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_02: That will promote the record.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_02: That will promote the record, you know?
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're we're in the same boat here.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_02: All right, jumping back on script.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_02: So I asked this question of all of my guests.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's my closing question for every episode of the show.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_02: Through your experience, through everything you've been through with Story of the Year, and maybe some of the things that you've experienced outside of Story of the Year, what's your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today?
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_02: Ooh.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um Tolerance.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_00: I tolerance of other people.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_00: I uh I think if the world has become so divisive about anything that you know, like they're just louder because they spend all of their time online doing that stuff.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm uh you get guilty of it, you go down rabbit holes, and you get in an echo chamber, and like your feed becomes the same loop.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_00: But like my the main thing for me is like tolerance, just be a good fucking human being.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, like it's just be kind to people, stick up for other people that that not don't necessarily they can't, you know, for themselves.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_00: The world will be s uh so much better if people were just nice to each other because I'd I'm just a dude from St.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_00: Louis that's in a band.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm not super highly educated.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just it's I've been everywhere, a lot of places around the world, and tolerance and just being kind is it's the best it's the best way you can be.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like you know.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_02: I agree with you, man.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_02: Small acts of kindness can change the world on a grander scale, and it has a compounding effect.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_00: Look around you.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_00: Don't look at your phone, don't be down on Twitter and Instagram, and uh all the all that does is make people angry, and then they are angry out towards people, you know.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_00: Just be kind, hold the fucking door for somebody.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like you know what I mean?
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like pay attention to more than just yourself.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it feels good too, man.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, yeah.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and if you like, just simple things.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you have it, pay for somebody's meal.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_00: Who cares if that person needs it or not?
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_00: Just do it.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, who fucking cares?
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like what you're gonna you're gonna spend 40 bucks on uh somebody's meal or you're gonna spend 40 bucks on some fucking piece of shit, something that you're gonna get rid of in six months because it breaks.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like and you never know, you could pay for that person's meal and that could change their fucking day.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:01:51
  unknown: Absolutely.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's just kindness and it tolerance.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_02: I love it, dude.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_02: Ladies and gentlemen, arson is available now on your favorite streaming platforms.
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_02: You guys have physical copies, don't you?
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think so.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_00: Probably.
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_00: I I have I here, I have one.
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_00: I have look at that.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh, that's beautiful.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_02: That's beautiful.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a vinyl nerd myself.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_02: I I knew you guys did.
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_02: But check out Story of the Year.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_02: Check out their whole catalog.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_02: I have been a lifelong fan of this band, and even more so of the people involved with Story of the Year.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_02: Josh, I enjoyed this conversation, brother.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_00: Me too, dude.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_00: It was it's one of my favorite ones I've done.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate it.
• 1:02:39
  SPEAKER_02: That means the world, and I, you know, I gotta tell you, man, the world's a much better place with you in it.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for doing the show, man.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, thank you very much, dude.
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me on.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it so much.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_02: I have made no secret that Story of the Year has been one of my all-time favorite bands for a long time.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_02: It was a pleasure getting to sit down, hang out, and chat with Josh.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_02: Make sure you check out Story of the Year's new album, Arson, available everywhere.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to buy a physical copy, that vinyl edition looks amazing.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_02: Make sure you're following Story of the Year on all social media platforms.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_02: Give my friend Josh Wills a follow on Instagram at Josh underscorewils29.
• 1:03:21
  SPEAKER_02: He'll be tagged in the commentary of this promotion.
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_02: Guys, this was a lot of fun.
• 1:03:27
  SPEAKER_02: While you're being generous with follows, make sure you follow at Caught on the mic on all social media platforms.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_02: And you need to subscribe on YouTube.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_02: You can also visit me at www.cotonthemic.com.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_02: This has been Caught on the Mic with Michael Clark.
• 1:03:43
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Michael Clark.
• 1:03:44
  SPEAKER_02: Until next time, thank you.