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iNTeRNeT FReNDz · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: 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.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: From 2020 to 2023, it's very hard to identify the silver lining.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: But the following gaps are the definitions of that silver lining.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: In this episode, I speak with my friends Michael and Rossi, two guys that came together during the heat of the pandemic from opposite ends of the globe and are now making fantastic music together under the name Internet Friends.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Today we learn their story and the exciting things to come.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mike.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, I have touched on this on my show so many times.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like there is a repetitive theme in the podcast where I talk about the pandemic and kind of things that have happened as a result.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: I personally believe that we are in the position to where not everything has fully shaken out, and it might not shake out for another 10 plus years.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: But behind every hardship is a silver lining.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I absolutely love stories like the one we're gonna tell today.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Two friends that met over the internet through the vessel of amazing art.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome to the podcast.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Rossi and Michael from the band Internet Friends.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: How the heck are you guys?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Woo! We're good.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: We're good, man.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: We're good.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Good, man.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you guys for doing the pod.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's been something I've been talking to your publicist for a couple of weeks now about setting up.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been really excited to talk with you guys.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh been listening to your two tunes, and I say this as the utmost compliment, and I so I hope you take it this way.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: When I listen to your songs, it's like I'm listening to a 2006 Fueled by Ramen compilation.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Those songs fit on that format perfect.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: I love the songs.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: So why don't you guys, without any further ado, take a few minute and introduce yourselves and let's talk about how internet friends came to be.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I'm Michael.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: I sing for Internet Friends.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I've been making music for the greater part of you know 10 plus years.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: Just uh yeah, I've been in a couple bands and just been touring and doing the whole thing, and it's my boy Rossi.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: What's up?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm Rossi.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um I uh I mainly write the songs in Internet Friends and play the instruments, um and yeah, so I'm like the other half of the team, so that's what we do.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I read your bio on your Spotify page, and it's kind of humorous because it says Yeah, okay.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: I read it.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: I've read it.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because I did that when I was really drunk.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: But that's awesome though.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, kind of going to how I introduced you guys, why don't you guys talk about how you met each other and how this project came to be?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'll try and condense this as much as I can without missing out too much detail because it's a very long story.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but at the time, I was I've I've worked in music on like the business side for a very long time.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I I was living in LA at the time.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm British born, I now live in Australia, and Michael's in Austin, hence the the name Internet Friends, because we're in two different, we're on two different continents.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well what was it?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Around February of 2020.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in order to continue living and working in Los Angeles, I was out here on uh a working visa.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: But the type of working visa that I'm on means that I have to go back to my home country where I was born, which is the UK, and go to the US Embassy and renew my visa every three years.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I I kind of pack a small suitcase and I fly back to the UK at the end of February.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm thinking I'm gonna be here for eight days.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just in and out, you know, stay in London real quick, maybe see the parents for a day or two, go to the embassy, get it done, fly home.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: And the day after I landed, that was when all of the airlines shut down, all of their embassies shut down.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I had to move back into one of my parents' homes and was kind of in my uh teenage bedroom again, which was very strange, you know, uh having not lived with them for 20 years, and it started with you know, you know, you're twiddling your thumbs, looking at the ceiling, thinking it's all gonna blow over soon, and two or three months go by, and you're just like, oh man, like I kind of need something to do.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I found my childhood guitar under the stairs, and it's just like a black and white Fender Squire, probably hasn't had the strings changed on it for like 10 years.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: So luckily, Amazon was still working in the UK at the time, so ordered some new strings, but just kind of cleaned up what I had, and I have my little I always carry my laptop and my and my little interface around with me just because I like even though I work I worked on the business side, I just like you know making tunes and stuff, it's just it's a hobby, it always has been.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um so and I hadn't written a song since I was maybe 14 or 15 years old.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: And when I was when I was uh uh like a young teenager, I used to do all the time.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: I was in bands before I worked behind the scenes on music, and and it was just fun.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: I just loved writing songs, but went down a different path, and I so I'm back in the UK.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: I I kind of I write one song with this guitar, and I think like oh that kind of wasted the the time of my afternoon, like that made the day go a bit faster.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, cool, I'll go to bed, and then the next day I wake up, I write another one, and then I'm like, that's pretty good, and then the third day I'm like, okay, something's happening, and then by like two two weeks go by, and I've got like a whole album, and I'm just like, wow, these are like the best songs I've ever written, and I'd like yeah, I don't I don't really know where they're coming from, but like I I've I've real I've got like a real uh like the bug bit me, the songwriting bug bit me again, you know.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, so so I just carried on uh what what happened?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like I carried on writing songs um until I I mean a few months later I kind of decided like I was loving this so much and I just wanted to be in a band again so badly that I could I started to slowly leave my different jobs in on the the music business side that I was doing with other people.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I I had in mind I knew the kind of front person that I wanted for the band and I was willing to wait for that, so I kept writing songs and I'm scrolling TikTok every day, just searching for you know vocalist, pop punk vocalist, pop vocalist, and then 18 months later, um by this point I'd managed to get back to Australia, uh, which is where my my now wife is, and since I've moved there, um, and Michael came up, and I just grabbed my wife and I was like, This is this is the guy, this is the guy.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: So uh so yes, I reached I reached out to to Michael on Instagram uh and we chatted for a little bit, and then uh I think something something like it was like a few days later, we jumped on Zoom, and I I just you know, I just heart on my sleeve just said it all.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: I was just like, this is where I'm at, this is what I used to do, this is what songs I have, had some demos recorded with like another vocalist friend at the time just to just to show people the songs, and uh Michael graciously agreed to give it a go, and then a week later I was in Austin with uh him and his girlfriend and the cats, uh, and we recorded a bunch of demos, and I think that week at Michael's house, um, that was like that was the real special moment.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think I I think I speak for both of us when I say like I don't know, there's there's been some moments in my life where like you you're you're writing something or you're recording something and you really feel like magic in the room, but like, and that and like people when they say that I kind of feel like that's a bit of an overhyped thing to say, but there really was like something different about it.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, so and then after that we what happened then?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: I I flew back to Australia and then we went on the search for producers, and uh we oh this is a fun part of the story.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: So we we we sent we sent a few emails out, like two or three emails out to some producers that we thought we could afford and that we thought would be within reach for us for the first EP.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh none of them got back to us, and so I so I I'm quite an impatient person, so I I started to get a little bit frustrated, and then I didn't even tell Michael because at the time I just felt embarrassed about doing this because it was such a long shot.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: But I found uh Matt Squire's email on the internet, and for the people for those people listening to the podcast who don't know who Matt Squire is, he he did Panic of the Disco's first album, he did The Boys Like Girls big album, he did the first two all-time low albums, and you know, a bunch of stuff since then, like pop punk royalty, basically, right?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I was just like, I sent an email, and I think Michael hit me up because he saw the email go out of our joint inbox being like, oh, like, nice, do you know what I mean?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: That night, two in the morning, just as I'm just as I'm almost asleep.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: For some reason, I didn't put my phone on do not disturb, and I felt my phone buzz, and my wife's already asleep, and my phone buzzed, and I was like, oh, I should check it.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it was Matt, it was Matt's email.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: He got back to me within a few hours, just like, love the songs, let's jump on the call, wanna work.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I turned the light on and I grabbed my wife and it scared her half to death, and I was like, Matt, email back, me email back, he wants to work, he wants to work.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then and then four or five months later, we were we were in Washington recording our first EP with Matt, and then it all just kind of snowballed from there.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's it's been amazing how how lucky we've been with all our opportunities so far.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because then after Matt, we went to do um four the same four tracks, but like piano and acoustic guitar versions with another producer that we never thought we'd you know, or at least I never thought I'd have a chance to work with called Courtney Ballad.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then and then now this is where we're actually in Courtney's studio right now because we're halfway through recording our second DP with Courtney, so that's why you can see like the all-time low on the world, you know what I mean?
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's just it's just been an amazing ride so far.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, Michael, you get this message from Rossi.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: You meet and interact via TikTok.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Where were you at at that point in time?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because I do want to talk about TikTok because that is kind of the other big anomaly of 2020.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if you were an early early adopter of that platform, it was really a great vessel to find an audience without having to manipulate or pay for an algorithm.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, people were seeking art out.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: So where were you at at that point in time whenever you guys first interacted?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so um I actually sing for another band called Foxera, and it was around like 2021 was when we were releasing music pretty heavily.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um that was around the time when I personally decided, you know, like everybody's talking about TikTok, I've been seeing it everywhere, like maybe I should try to figure out how this works.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah, I just started posting like random singing videos, and um after a while I started getting like a good feel for you know like the good format for my page essentially, and uh managed to like somewhat build a following over there.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah, I just like started posting there and I never really looked back, and I'm really happy that I did because otherwise, you know, I wouldn't be here.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's really crazy how the internet works, but yeah, yeah, I think TikTok is just a really it's a powerful place, and you know, I'm happy that I got on it when I did.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: I wasn't that early to the game, but I was early enough to where you know by the time we got to the Internet Friends project, I kind of had a good grasp on like what to do and like how to build our socials out and all that stuff.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I think TikTok is just so valuable.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: So musically, where do you find inspiration, Michael?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then Rossi, you can answer that same question.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I listened to a lot of like pop and RB stuff, just you know, lately I've been listening to a lot of the early 2000s like pop rock artists like Avril Levine or like Michelle Branch and all that stuff, especially with this project because it kind of like lives within the same you know time space.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I've always been really into just pop RB stuff.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: Kilani's like one of my favorite singers, Justin Bieber.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, always going back to them.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I grew up in like the metal core, kind of in the pop punk space too, but mostly in the metal core space.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: So that's uh I wouldn't be here without metal core, so I'm you know very appreciative of that drop.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: I I I'm gonna tell you, like, I haven't shared this with you guys.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a former musician myself, so and I've released several albums, and and yeah, it's it's funny because I tell people my very last show was playing with Aveng Sevenfold and Three Days Grace in my home market.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow! So um you wouldn't know it from the band I was singing in, but at that time I was all I was listening to was Jay-Z and Jason Isbo.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like that's nowhere near the uh genre that I was performing, but it it's it's funny where you find inspiration sometimes.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's in the most unlikely places.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: So how about for you, Rossi?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um for me, uh I think I can't I I answer this defin this question with with uh from a different place because my inspiration is all about songwriting.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like I would never I can play drums and I can play guitar and I can play bass, but I wouldn't say I'm a player.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm like I I do well enough to get by in the studio, you know what I mean?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: I could probably convince people when I were playing live, I could probably convince people that I can do it.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: But songwriting is my thing.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's the way when in music on the creative side, that's what I'm most passionate about.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: So answering that question from that perspective, I think the unique thing about my upbringing was that I were just like it sounds like both of us.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I was also one of the alt kids that had the Limp Biscuit t-shirt, the wallet chain, and the baggy jeans, you know what I mean?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I was listening to The Offspring and Lincoln Park and Newfound Glory and Cymbal Plan on my Sony Walkman, but at the same time, I was all I and this was my choice, this wasn't really someone else's influence on me.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: I was heavily into boy bands and girl bands.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: So next to my Lincoln Park CDs, I would have The Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, N Sync, Britney Spears, like I and no no absolute no shame about it.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: I still listen to all of that stuff now.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it wasn't till it wasn't until years later down the line when when I started to get into writing songs that I suddenly realized that a lot of that late 90s, early 2000s girl band and boy band stuff was written by not just the same group of people but mainly the same person, and we're talking about Max Martin.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: So um so I've always loved guitar music because of you know bands like Lincoln Park and The Offspring and stuff like that, but when you listen to really, really great pop music, uh like the stuff that Max Martin has written since you're like eight years old on repeat, you start I think you start to it like embed into your brain what a great melody should not not just sound like but what it should feel like so you merge those two things together and you have internet friends.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where that's where I come from.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I can appreciate that from so many different angles, because I was the same way.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: I would always I always tell people I was not a great singer, but I was a great front man.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: So and there is a difference, right?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're in the when you're in the rehearsal space, though, sometimes what's needed in the context and in the confines of the band is somebody that's really good at just putting the shit together and arranging parts.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like I think that's where the magic happens and so much is lost on simplicity.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure we've all worked with people that um probably want to overcook things because they wanna they want to impress their friends and their audience and their their friends and other bands and such.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so we've all been there.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: So what is it about this genre in particular that appeals to you guys asides aside from just your fandom?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know, growing up in like the warp tour like 2008 era was like kind of when you know when MySpace was around and all that stuff, like um, that was such a big part of my life, and I feel like a lot of what we have been putting out definitely has that like flavor to it.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: So for me, it's fun like reliving that you know part of my life.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that like emo and pop punk and all that stuff is making such a huge comeback with like the emo night rise and all that stuff, and so it is really just a fun time for us to uh you know kind of look back at other stuff and like but we have this new band that kind of fits in with everybody's old favorite bands, you know what I mean, with like a current flavor to it.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: For me, that's just been a ton of fun.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's been a ton of fun like revisiting the genre and stuff, especially because you know, I was listening to Pop Punk back then and going to all those shows.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and it wasn't really until Ross hit me up to be in the band and uh pitch me the you know the idea of the songs where I was like, you know what, I haven't like really given pop punk a chance in a long time.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like I love these songs.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's really cool to like go back to that, you know, or that like teenage part of life, you know, and then just that's uh I don't know.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's such an astute observation, and it's actually something where I was going to kind of steer the direction of this conversation because it does feel like pop punk and emo is having a renaissance, and I'd like to know from your perspective, why is that?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: And are you guys noticing it as well?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you're playing within the genre or or within the playground of the genre, but there is such a strong renaissance that I feel is popped up in the last two years or so.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you guys think that is?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think for I think it goes for everything that you could attach to nostalgia.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's a certain like everything, like even look at fashion.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: Fashion comes around in cycles, you know?
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: And mu music is just another fashion, so there's always going to be a point where something comes back around where people get into their you know mid-30s and go, oh man, I you know, they start reminiscing.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that's usually the start of something.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think I've I think our mission is the I I I love it when we get comments on our page and we get DMs from people just being like, Man, it's you know, it sounds like it sounds like the 2000s again.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: You remind me, uh it makes me feel like that.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great compliment to receive, right?
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: But our mission is bigger than that.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's we're like we're not here to do something new, we're not here to reinvent the wheel, although if that happens by accident, great.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, but we we have to break past this like we have to break past just being a part of something that's nostalgic.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like for me, I can like I've always cared about pot punk in particular so much because for the same reason that you said, like the you know, Enmer of Estate, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, Sticks and Stones by Newfound Glory, those About and uh uh alongside a bunch of others with a soundtrack to some of the best years of my life.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what I mean?
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I've so I'm always gonna have a soft spot for it.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um I will say though, I mean, I'll I'm gonna say something maybe a bit controversial now, it's gonna piss some people off, but before I started writing songs, like the that was when the I think the pop punk thing started happening again because you know it was at the point where MGK had just started he just picked up a guitar and he started singing instead of rapping, you know.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: So, and because he's massive, like I couldn't escape not hearing him, and I kind of liked what I heard, and I was like, oh, well now I've got some time to sit down.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what else is going on in pop punk?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because I haven't been listening to this music in the last 10 years.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I started going through Spotify, going through the pop punk playlists, and I've it was all crap.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like I was so I was so I was so annoyed at like to like it actually.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: I got this is a better way to put it.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: I got so annoyed that the people that were supposed to be the biggest in pop punk were were not everyone, but largely putting out and writing such rubbish songs that that inspired me to be like, well, if they're not gonna do it, I'm gonna do it.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what I mean?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: If that like I like I love neck deep was like a game changer for me.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: I love what Stave Chance were doing and still doing now.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um but largely everyone else, it was just it was the same bands.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was simple plan again, it was Newfound Glory again, and I'm I'm never gonna I'm never gonna like talk shit on those guys or any of those kind of legacy pop punk acts if you want to put it that way, because the way I see it is those bands, they they left every they they left a a leg they they left a baton for the next legacy of pot punk sorry the next generation of pop punk bands to pick up and run with, but hardly anyone pick picked up that battery.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: Why do you think that is?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've got my opinions on that too, and actually they're very similar to yours, but why do you think that is?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think about this all the time, and I don't know.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think a large part of it had to do with why why rock died, like around the same time when I say rock died, what I mean by that, just to clarify before people start in the comments, what I mean by that is like there was a clear moment where Um DeLong left Blink or he was doing Angels and Airwaves in that time frame, and it like in that time frame, I feel everything got boring.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: You you turn on Kerrang or you turn on uh TRL and you look at the music videos, three to four years before you had good Charlotte on there like popping bottles and having party videos, and then suddenly you've got Tom DeLong in an air in a in a like a an airline hangar doing angels and airwaves.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: Cool song, but if you're a teenager that's just coming through puberty and you're you're deciding what you're you're trying to figure out yourself, you're trying to figure out what your identity is, and you see a mu a boring music video of some heavy band playing in a forest or an abandoned warehouse, and then you flick the channel over and you see rap, which is super exciting, there's girls everywhere, there's there's flashcars, there's chains, you go, Well, I want to be part of that.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that I think that's why I think I think that's why partly rap got so big and has been the biggest thing, still is the biggest thing at the moment, is because for a teenager trying to find their identity is fun, it looks way better.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: It looks way better to attach yourself to something like that than that.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'm gonna I'm gonna kind of add and build on what you're saying because I I I come from a similar vantage point, but the way I kind of construct the timeline in my own head is the different social media networks and the advent of streaming and the industry simply not being able to keep up with it and stay ahead of it.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, because what you're talking about largely is the visual aesthetic.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh MySpace was fantastic for that.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: But when MySpace basically faded away and Facebook became the larger marketplace for social media, that visual aesthetic went away, and then it all became text and words.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then at the same time, a few years later, uh music pretty much goes all the streaming, MTV is pretty much all but non-existent.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: So the things that used to get people excited about pop punk and rock are just not even there anymore.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean you think about you think about Instagram.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: Instagram didn't even come to light and become public, you know, for people other than Apple users initially until 2012, 2013.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: And whenever you're kind of discussing these things in a vacuum, like that visual aesthetic just wasn't there, and it's really maybe that's something where another area where the pandemic has benefited this sense of nostalgia and this renaissance of pop punk because people had no choice but to sit at home, scroll the tiki-talkie, go through the YouTube, and then the visual aesthetic of things did come back.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because let's let's be honest, I mean, all things being equal, pop punk for a long time was a very image-based genre of music.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it still is.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean that's just kind of my thoughts.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think you're absolutely on the right track, and I agree with you, but that's also my thoughts.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: I just to kind of build on that a little bit.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: No, I I agree with you too.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think it's definitely a mix, but yeah, like I said, I yeah, I don't think you can put it down to one thing.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's something that I think about a lot.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: So having met each other on the platform, since we're already talking about it, having found each other through TikTok, um Michael, what are your thoughts about that possibly not being a tool moving forward?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, it's a little bit scary.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, actually, the funny the funny part about that is that Ross lives in Australia, so we can still technically use it if we really want to.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_02: We're really lucky in that regard.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: VPNs, everybody, use your VPNs.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's it.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's uh it's definitely a little bit scary, but I think you know, Instagram's kind of try they're kind of figuring it out.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know, everybody's got short form content kind of like unlock, and it is a little bit different.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I feel like it's definitely harder to get a viral video on Instagram than it is on TikTok for us specifically, but yeah, I don't know.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm thankful that we got in on it when we could, and um we're definitely gonna utilize the platform to try to get people off the platform.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's like a big thing with TikTok, is you're using the platform to get people to Instagram, to YouTube, you know, you're trying to get people to Spotify and all that stuff.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess we're just gonna continue to do what we're doing and trying to build the other platforms, and you know, in nine months or whatever it is when the time comes, I guess we're gonna have to see what happens.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm super glad that we did it when we did.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_02: It always takes a tiny bit of luck.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:53
  unknown: Yeah.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody that's ever done my show before, and maybe and to all of you that haven't, um, the first question I always ask before we press record of my guests is are there any anything off limits?
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you guys said politics, and I'm the same way.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: I don't discuss politics, I don't discuss religion, I don't discuss things that are divisive.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: But if I can offer a very vanilla, like middle of the road, not left, not right, purview on this TikTok situation, all I gotta say is that an app made for the people and that is the voice of the people, to have a government agency, no matter what side of the political fence, want to ban it, tells me that there's a problem.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: There's a disconnect between your government and your people.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: If if that is the one thing that both sides of the political fence can agree on, we have a problem.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think it is any coincidence that this is happening during an election year as well.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's also true.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean it's it's also during an election year, and I it's I don't know, if it really was a matter of national security, it would have been blocked a long time ago, and it would have never been talked about.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: A higher agency would have blocked it.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: So there's my soapbox comment for the day.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I mean, it's like the way I see it is it's you know, a lot of a lot of the people that follow us are on uh follow us on TikTok, but if t if if we if if TikTok is the main thing that we rely on, we're not a band.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like the foundation of everything we do is a mix between the songs that I write and the way this guy delivers them.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like if though if those things if those things are great and we do our job, then it doesn't matter what the app is, like good music will always sell itself.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, you know what I mean?
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: So so I don't I don't really I I don't I'm I don't really worry about these things too much, you know what I mean?
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because you're gonna let your you're gonna let your music do the talking for you, not a platform.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I think we hope so, yeah.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like and the way you know like coming from like Michael's been in, you know, big bands before, and I've been in the music industry for a long time, so we're quite seasoned in in our approach to this, and we talk about like our roles a lot, and we view this band like a sports team.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the best way to look at it.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: And that's and that's not to say that me, like I've like I've heard Michael's stuff that he's written.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Michael's a great writer, it's just that for now I just have a big bank of songs.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I look forward to the day that me where me and Rykel Michael set sit down and we write together, but at least for right now, we know our positions and it's working, you know?
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: So you guys are currently just sorry, I I will I will never sing.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: I have the worst singing voice you've ever heard, and I'm even worse at harmonies.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: So you guys are currently working on an EP right now.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: What is in the future for internet friends in the immediate future?
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about what's gonna happen over the course of the next six months and maybe where you see the band going in the next two years.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good question.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: Big question.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: I think for the foreseeable future, right now, we're not like we don't have any plans to do like live shows or an album or anything, but we are focused on like putting a single out every month for as long as we can.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um until we run out of money.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_02: Until we run out of money.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, so we're we're just sitting here, you know, making as as much content, as many videos, you know, and then and we're releasing the songs, you know, obviously as EPs, you know, they'll waterfall out one single at a time and then turn into a body of work at the end.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, that's our plan right now is just you know, continue building the socials, the community, um, you know, just have everything all working together.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I think I think community is the big word there.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like that's that's that's everything to us right now.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and we have we're yeah, we have our Discord server, the friend zone.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: For anyone out there, the friends want to hear, and they've got this part this this this uh this far through the podcast and want to check it out.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: You can find the link in our bio.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's a good time, it's just like-minded people, like we all like the same music, we chat every day.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think since since apps like Twitter, when that started, however long that was ago, like things have changed where there used to be a big gap between the creator and the fan, so to speak.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what I mean?
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I like I think that that still is something that can work now.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's still a personality type, if you want to call it that, that someone like a Drake or a Kanye can pull off.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm not Drake and he's not Kanye.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what I mean?
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we we love people, we love chatting.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what that's like the community aspect of what we do is is everything for now.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: The eventual goal is playing live.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's that's what I we both really want to do, but it's not gonna happen overnight.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's make great songs, build the community.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think enough people understand that parasocial relationships are the future.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: And they either work against it or they embrace it, and the people that are successful are the ones that are embracing it.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that that's a fantastic concept, and the idea of pushing forward a community is that's that's great.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: You guys got it figured out.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: My compliments to you on that.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: So my closing question that I ask every single guest that's on the podcast, whether they beat the hell out of people for a living, or they make or they make chase ghosts, or they're making awesome music like you guys.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: What is your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today?
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: You guys can go one at a time.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think that we both just want to provide an escape for people, you know.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like we don't take ourselves too seriously, like we just want to be like a source of entertainment, and I'm hoping that you know we can inspire people to want to be in bands, to create, to, you know, absolutely hope that we can provide that escape, and I I think that providing that for people does change the world, you know, little at a time.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: If we can impact one person's life, like that makes me feel really good personally.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, yeah.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I totally agree.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: And since you stole my answer, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, um, I'm not gonna say something lame like practice gratitude because we all know that.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm gonna say no, actually, I've got a great answer for this because this is something that has recently changed my life, and by the looks of who you interview, and you know, you clearly go to the gym as well.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um get in the gym and have a discipline.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: Have something, have something like for me, like one of my disciplines is that I'm very new to it, I'm only six months in, but not while I'm out here because I'm recording, but jujitsu, I'm really into it.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I think having having like the gym and some kind of martial art or discipline, like a sport, um, something hard to do, preferably early in the morning, um, it changes you, it makes you a kinder person, it makes you more level-headed, and if you can carry that through the rest of your day, then that's that's gonna make an impact on other people's lives because of how you get yourself.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the privileges I have getting to talk with people from all walks of life, I tell everybody that people that listen to my podcast will be like, Man, I'm really not into UFC or MMA, and I'm like, it's because you have preconceived notions of what it used to be.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: It is a totally different thing now, it's not human cockfighting anymore.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the kindest, most well-rounded people I know are professional fighters, and you are absolutely right because they uh embrace that exact mindset that you're talking about challenging yourself for the purpose of bettering yourself.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, I love this.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad that we are now internet friends.
• 38:42
  unknown: Oh yeah!
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's good, man.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Mike, Mike, did you know this is I don't know if you knew this, but this is the first interview we've ever done, ever.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: Ever.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: First podcast, first interview ever.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm gonna tell you, there's gonna be it's gonna be a challenge for anybody to top it.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: I think so, man.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think so.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, oh my gosh, Michael Rossi.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: I want to let you guys know.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, I am glad we are now internet friends.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: The world is a much better place with you in it.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for doing the show today.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thanks, man.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having us on.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, had a great time.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: I want to once again thank my friends Michael and Rossi for joining me on the show today.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: You can find internet friends on all streaming platforms.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: Go check out their music as soon as you can.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you give them a follow on all social media networks.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: I want to also thank my friends at Big Picture Media for helping set up this interview.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you are giving me, caught on the mic, a follow on all social media platforms.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: Check me out on YouTube.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: All episodes are now also in video format.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you give me that five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and however high you can rate me on Spotify.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: You can also visit me at www.caughtonthemic.com.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: This has been Caught on the Mike with Michael Clark.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Michael Clark.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, thank you.