Latest / Caught on the Mike... / Collin and Justin from WAKE ME

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Collin and Justin from WAKE ME · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Disclaimer.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entity that they represent listener description.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's having 15 death card rock covers 20 years.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And they have shared the state with some of your most favorite fans, including events 7fold and 100%.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Justin Ray and Colin Stanford of Wake Me join me on the podcast today and we learn a little bit more about their story.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mic.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, a lot of my backstory is in music.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I have a lot of music guests on.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: They say once you get past age 30 something, you stop consuming new music.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm here to tell you folks, that is absolutely a falsehood.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: I've been recently talking with the publicist, and she turned me on to this amazing band from Denver, Colorado, called Wake Me.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: The guys don't know it yet, but my most favorite song in the entire world is Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I was in the gym the other day.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: I decided to listen to Wake Me, and you guys got me through a few extra miles on the treadmill.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, Justin Ray and Colin Sanford from Wake Me.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being here, guys.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: How are you guys doing today?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Great man, great man.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: How are you doing?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: Doing well, man.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for doing the show.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean every word that I say.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: I've been listening to your stuff.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: I really enjoy it.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Your most recent single, finger on the trigger.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I've listened to that on repeat.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk a little bit about your origin story.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: How did Wake Me come about?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, basically in college, we started kind of a skate bunk slash post-hardcore band called No Fair Fights.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, a little bit of pop punk in there too, as well.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: But um kind of over the first couple years we did that, you know, we um we kind of hit a wall.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the guys were kind of finishing up school, wanting to move on to kind of normal life stuff.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: And me and the drummer were, you know, we were like, we haven't tapped into anything yet.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we had more of the kind of metal and you know, post-hardcore uh we had more of that bug.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: So just so happened to run into Colin and um he was looking for a band to play with right about the time No Fair Fights was kind of you know pittering out a little bit.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, he's like, hey, here's my uh here's a here's a he handed me a note in class.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't get notes from girls, I get notes from guys that play guitar.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: So that's right.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: But uh he says, Hey, I know you're in a band, you know, I'm just looking for guys to play with.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's me and a bass player, and like here's our influences and stuff.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm like walking away and I look down, and he lists like my absolute favorite band in the entire world as one of his bands that he wanted to kind of like you know be inspired by, which was Thrice.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: So um, so it was uh it was love at first sight from that standpoint.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: We um so we jammed and it was just like, man, it was honestly like it was like we had been playing together already as a band.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: So like just absolute magic with um Colin and Brian.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: He him and his like best buddy from previous bands joined me and my best buddy from previous bands, and that's kind of how sort of the first iteration of Wake Me started.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: We we took over the No Fair Fights name for a couple years, and we really leaned heavily into that like post-hardcore thing.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we were starting to listen to a lot of Kill Switch and uh as well.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: So this is kind of like mid to late 2000s, starting to age ourselves here, but um yeah, man.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: But uh all that time, you know, we're working full-time jobs and everything, and you know, the black hole of Denver, you know, um, and then just kind of flash forward, you just sort of the next chapter sort of started to get to that point to where some guys were just not wanting to continue progressing or you know, see that next summit.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: So um our bass player and drummer, both of our best buddies from like our earlier lives, both left us.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so yeah, so Colin and I like uh we're sitting there and we're like super bummed.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: We had just been working on new songs, and this is like kind of 2000 early 2010 time frame.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: And um we're just like, well, man, this might be it.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: I guess it could be done.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're adults now, we need to go do adult stuff, but let's just let's just fucking record these ideas that we have.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, who cares, you know?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: And so by the way, I'll I'll just inter I I've always thought about this like that.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: So Justin and I were actually living together at the time that that this particular moment happened, right?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I remember being, we're in a we're in the parking garage of this apartment complex, and I'm like, we're having this discussion, like, you know, what are we gonna do?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Are we just gonna, you know, whatever, just kind of not do this anymore?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: Or you know, it would be an awful shame to like let all these song ideas just die, you know, without ever having been realized and and brought into existence.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I just remember thinking, you know, if we're ever gonna fucking tell our story to anybody, like that that right there is a moment that like it was just that close to being nothing, you know.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: So we we we could have we could have just as easily decided to move on and not do anything, but we decided to just between the two of us, like, you know, fuck it, man.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: We we know how to work this recording shit.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just let's just finish writing all these songs and just make a record, you know, and see see what happens.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: At least, at least we didn't leave anything on the table, kind of thing.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, I can so relate to that.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: So similar, similar story.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: I walked away from music the first time, like right around 2006, 2007, and my ex-wife was pregnant with my daughter at the time, and I'm like, okay, I'm done.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to do the grown-up thing, it's time to quit chasing the rock star life.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: I spent nine months of her pregnancy sitting on the couch eating pizza, watching Scrubs reruns, watching myself get fat.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: My old bandmate, who is the guitarist, he comes over and he goes, I tell you what, we gotta do something and be active again.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: So we just started writing songs and we're like, okay, no pressure, no pressure.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're just gonna do this for us.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: We don't care if we draw 50 people at a club, yada yada yada.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Ends up being the biggest band that I've ever been a part of uh comes to fruition from a moment that's very similar to what you guys described when you were at that crossroads.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, how did you guys rebound out of that?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: We just kind of slog through, you know, we were none of us were married yet, or you know, whatever.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: We living together, still doing the bachelor life.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, like we come home from work and we just like, you know, fire up, you know, pull out the whiskey, fire up the rig, and just like trudge start tracking our ideas.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually got to the point to where we're like, shit, we okay, we need to record the like we need to record drums.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: We can't do that in the apartment.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: This is before all the like drum samplers and shit like we have today.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so we had um we had ties into like a really well-known extreme metal producer in Denver, Dave Otero.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so we reached out to him, and um, there's this kind of like insane metal drummer that was way overkill for what we were doing.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, he has he did sushi uh studio stuff.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: So, anyways, so it just kind of came together, and you know, Dave like took our tracks and you know, we recorded drums and we mixed it, and then man, at that point we was started realizing holy shit, this is um, and this was our sound of burning bridges record for No Fair Fights, and it it turned out to be just kind of like like a masterpiece, and and even the title of the album is sort of like the sound of bridges burning, you know, it's like this is the end of an era, but we're like kind of moving on from it.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: So we just kind of man, we just kind of like that doubt you just have to bury.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we just our create our desire to create music just took over.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't care or fo you know, we put our egos aside, we're not gonna play to thousands of people ever again, but we at least we can write awesome music.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: And out of that came our cover, Kiss and Burrows, which you know, flash forward a couple of years, that kind of caught fire a little bit.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so we wrote the cover, right?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: We we got that kind of in the bag and figured that one out, and that's a whole story in and of itself.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: But um, we also had this song on there called Sleep that while we were kind of finishing mixing and everything, Dave Dave was kind of sending over some tracks to some AR guys at um Roadrunner Roadrunner, which is the the label that Kill Switch was on at the time.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I remember what one of the guys was like super interested in it, and he was it it didn't amount to anything because you know when when he asked about the song, they were even thinking about like buying it or chip, you know, giving it to another band of theirs.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, well, it's just two guys, like there's there's no band.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like, so it's they're not, you know, you can't there's nothing to there's nothing to bring on board here kind of thing.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: But it honestly, I feel like it juiced us up to like um to realize that like well we we can we can write good enough songs to be noticed by a label of that stature, so that's awesome, right?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: And then that that means it's just a matter of like just doing this, just keep on doing it, right?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's you get get people back in the bands, get like permanent players, get this thing going, be an actual band again, because I I think the opportunities will come, and that's I don't know, we're just kind of enrolling with that with that mindset, and it's you know how it is, man.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's some that's kind of true and kind of isn't.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's sometimes you get a lot of cool opportunities, and sometimes you go a while before anything really comes along, but it's really just it feels like a battle of attrition sometimes.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's um we've been doing this for long enough where it's like we're gonna keep writing music and playing shows and putting ourselves out there, and it's just a matter of like we're outlasting some of the other bands, I think, and and keep trying to you know, keep trying to put out the best music we can.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I slowly but surely, I mean, you just look back on it, it's it has gotten us to a pretty decent spot so far.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: So have you guys ever considered the ebb and flow of like the rise of MySpace and then the rise of Facebook and then the rise of streaming shortly after, how that's played a part in some of our favorite bands' lifespans and our lifespans as musicians, because it felt like when MySpace came on, it was kind of like fishing in a barrel to build an audience and to build a following for your band, especially if you were in like a pop punk or a post hardcore, I would say warp tour style band of that era.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then Facebook becomes public domain, not just limited to college students, right around 2009.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you talk about how you guys kind of had that crossroads right around 2010.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then streaming really came into existence, what say 2012, 2013.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Have you guys ever considered how that has affected the lifespan of the projects that you guys have been in?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Man, that's a really good idea.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't think we've considered it directly.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think we've kind of been like incidental, like, oh, weird.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Someone wrote a Reddit post on our cover.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: They and like all of a sudden we just got tens of thousands of views on our video.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's actually what originally kind of put us above kind of like the run-of-the-mill local bands here in Denver, at least just whatever, you know.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that's a really insightful comment.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we probably don't give that enough credit of just good timing, I guess.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or waiting, waiting around long enough for good timing to happen.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: Getting old enough to where I I think like I think about something like that being like, all right, well, we're we're not so so touring is a kind of young man's game, unless you're like, unless you're really on a big time tour and you've got a lot of amenities and things like that, it can be pretty tough.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: But it's one thing that you know, streaming and and all those social platforms have done, one thing that that's done for us is like allowed us to grow our band without having to like you know commit to six months a year on the road kind of thing.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's uh and I think that actually happens to a lot of bands.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, well, you can't always tour and you can't do it the old-fashioned way.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: And if you can't, but you have this other really great tool to like gain fans and expand your fan base and like your your footprint and all that kind of stuff.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's actually been you know, for for as many, for as many downsides as there are in terms of like, oh, what do artists get paid per stream and all that other stuff?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: I really feel like it's a net positive for bands that you know aren't Taylor Swift and Metallica, you know.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: I am glad you answered that way, because I am not gonna lie, that was a Pandora's box statement question, because I did want to hear how you guys have adapted, because not everybody has adapted as well as others, and you make a really good point.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: You think of bands like I had Ryan Key from Yellow Card on, I've had the story of the year guys on, I've had Letter Kills on, and we talked about this new business model of the music business to where tours aren't necessarily as big of a thing as much as satellite shows.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like you might do two weeks worth of satellite shows, come home and not go out again for three, four months, where in the old business model that wasn't tenable.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like you had to be out on the road for six months to a year.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do you guys project your future in this new model that we're currently living with?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: The way you put it actually perfectly sums up what like our goals are as a band right now, because we we really haven't done a whole lot of touring.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, part of it is our fault, and you know, just the I think the resources in Denver have been, you know, it's it's just it kind of feels like an island here.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but anyway, I think I think that model actually fits really well with us because you know, we're we're all family guys now, and you know, we've fought through enough of other stuff going on in life that we know that hey, we there's an upper limit to everything that we can do, but like we can maybe we can eat our cake and have it too.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's like literally what we're trying to do.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: We're trying to, you know, really get the right team in place to help us push, you know, like like the publicity side of things, advertising campaigns, get our get our name out there, work with the right producers so we can grow our sound and be relevant and you know, get other people involved and excited about what we're doing.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then touring, you know, we're just kind of recently got you know, got kind of connected with some proper um booking help.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're just kind of at the beginning stages of that.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, just like I think it fits in perfectly.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: This it probably was a blessing in disguise that you know, we didn't, you know, our lives would be completely different now, like family-wise and all that, you know, stuff.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: If we would have had to commit to, hey man, let's go sell the shirts off our back to live out of a van for six months out of a year.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because I mean, to be honest, I don't know, it's it's kind of good, it's good all the way around, in my opinion.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: It just, you know.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: You talked about some of the producers.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: You guys have worked with some pretty amazing producers.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely want to get into the weeds on how you guys view recording because I know a lot of bands are now moving towards this singles platform where you're just focusing on one or two songs at a time as opposed to focusing on a whole album and curating music that way.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: But you guys have worked with Eric Ron, who's worked with Godsmack and Bush, Andrew Bales, who's worked with Jelly Roll, you worked with Joey Bradford uh from The Used, and he's actually working on some tracks with my friends and letter kills.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: What have those experiences been like for you guys?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And how have those producers brought out the best in Wake Me?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll I'll start, and I'm sure Justin will chime in with like his own opinions on this, but uh I just it has completely changed the way we write about music, the way we think about writing about writing music.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's um before when we were self-producing, which I I liked many aspects of it, right?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: But there is a tendency to be too close to the project.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you can't, you know, so it's it's tough to make decisions because everything's important to you.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: And like Sound of Burning Bridges, that that record took us like a year to do, which is insane.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, nobody can survive at that production level.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's just it's way too slow.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you're just basically waiting for magic to happen all the time and and not I I don't know, it's just a it's a very different setup.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: But the the first time we worked with um Eric Ron, we went out to his studio for what, just in a week, and we we came out, you know, three, four songs.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: And then that that was an insane clip for anything that we had ever done before.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like finished songs that just basically need to be mixed and mastered, and then there you go.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like, so we were amazed by that process, and it really was just um you know, get in there and let's make a song.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like, let's not worry about don't sweat some of the details sometimes.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: So you just gotta go and and try to try some stuff and experiment and just go with what works, you know, don't overanalyze.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, sometimes that's good, most of the times it's good, sometimes it's not, but you end up with uh just a an approach that gets you to the finish line and really forces you to only care about the most important shit.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like, are the melodies good?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: Are there hooks?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: Do the guitars, you know, do they sound big?
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's that you know, do you do the drops hit at the right time?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: Do we have drops?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, like that kind of stuff.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's very you start focusing on the fundamentals of songwriting, which is what we wanted.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: We had spent so long kind of like tinkering around with like, oh, I want to make sure the listener knows how good of a guitar player I am.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's all cool and everything, but at the end of the day, it's kind of fucking you know, bullshit.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like the most important thing is is the song good, right?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: So that's we got training on that approach um with when we started working with Eric Ron and then those other guys.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll I'll let Justin kind of take it from there, but that's kind of my first impressions of that process.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, it I think that's spot on.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like, um, you know, we Colin and I like we're engineers, like we studied engineering in school.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you put us in a room together, like with with uh lots of time, we'll we'll do a lot of really cool stuff on like a very small amount of things.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: So the the whole idea of just like, you know, you're getting on a fast-moving train.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: We got five days to write three songs.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you can't you really have to detach your ego and your pride as a personal musician from the song.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: And we we had kind of mentally prepared for that because like, why would we pay this much money to work with the producer, come out to his studio if we're not gonna listen to what he has to say?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: So um, it was a really good growth opportunity, and we learned it in hand over fist because uh, you know, he made he also like kept us in our place, and rightfully so, in a lot of ways.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that that was honestly, in my opinion, the most impactful time as a musician, not only for me personally, when I was in the booth there singing on the same mic that you know, um all these greats had sang on and trying to keep up with that, but also just you know, this guy he can just shit out melodies, and it's like, well, but that's not the melody I came up with in the shower two weeks ago.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, who cares?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we're in the moment here, this is what's happening, right?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: Let's roll with it.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: So detaching the ego was the biggest lesson that I've I've taken away from from it.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the song is its own thing, we're all contributing to it.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's pretty much that's pretty much it, man.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: That was huge.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: So did you guys ever find yourselves in positions, maybe in this project or past projects, where you almost over bake or overwrite something because you're just being too damn over analytical as opposed.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: As opposed to just letting shit flow organically.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I know my experience with producers is that just just let shit flow organically and then we'll walk back through the details later.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: How has your songwriting changed?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of all of this, how has your songwriting changed since working with these producers when you are working on your own?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: The the easiest way to explain this is like the old way we used to write, it was like uh it had to be a unanimous vote on every single aspect of the song.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: And if you worked on something too much without the other guys in the room, when you brought it to the table, they didn't like it.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's super fucking frustrating because it's like, I just spent all this time and you like it.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: So um, but now we purposely don't share our personal ideas with each other, each each other, each other, until it's we're in front of a producer who's gonna be the ultimate deciding factor which ideas we should run with.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: So we've completely flipped it on its head to where like I don't want um like we want to save judgment for how good my little idea is for the moment that we're committing, instead of like, oh, listen to it for two, three, four weeks.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: So um it, yeah, we've completely changed everything and and um, but at the same time, like I think real music has to be genuine, it has to come from a real place.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not like we can just, you know, and every idea it just because you have an idea doesn't mean it's the right idea.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: So the more ideas that we have, like call Colin, now what we do is we we generate a bunch of ideas on our own from a real place, you know, whatever we're going through at that time, and then we bring it to the table, we try to sell the team on like, hey, here's what I want to write about.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then if someone's like, man, I really resonate with that, then all of a sudden, like we're we're moving.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: But if someone's like, Yeah, you know, that's like pretty dark, bro.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not really feeling that, then it's like, okay, I need to keep it on the shelf.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so it's uh, I don't know, man, it's been flipped on its head entirely.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: And and to be honest, like we were at a point earlier this year where like we need to generate more songs, but you know, how do we come up with the funds to to pay these these fancy guys?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and we're like, yeah, let's, you know, for a hot minute that we look at each other like, no, we're never fucking self-producing again.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's like having like an an arbiter of like go no go on an idea and having that person not be in the band is so incredibly important for us.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: I I know that it might not be for everybody else, but we have just discovered that it is so much better for us, for our dynamic, if somebody else can just basically say, yeah, that's cool.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not digging that.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: And then we're like, all right, yeah, let's let's roll, let's keep the train moving.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we don't there's not often do we have to really die on a hill, like in the in the studio, which is great because we were 100% the opposite of that.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: What I just said.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: We died on a lot of hills.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: We died on a lot of hills.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's uh that over analysis can be the enemy of efficiency sometimes, couldn't it?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, dude, absolutely.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect is the enemy of great, I think.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like you just can't, you won't ever get there, first of all.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: So there's there's that obstacle to overcome.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, there's a reason why those 10 songs and Sound of Burning Bridges took 12 months, you know.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_02: But uh I I think something that's that's also nice about working with these producers, and especially with Joey, is that um, and and we kind of learned to not get too specific with our ideas.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like generally, when Justin and I have ideas, we usually kind of have the whole idea.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like, here's what I'm hearing the drum sound like, here's what I'm hearing, like a backing sense sound like, and all this other stuff.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_02: And we'll we'll do that, we'll construct all that in our demos, but um, you can't really get too attached to it because at the end of the day, you're gonna go in there, uh, and especially with Joey, and he's just gonna put together some shit that you did you could have never thought of.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I can't tell you how many times we've recorded something like at Joey's place where I'm thinking to myself, uh, I might have liked the original demo idea better, but then I A-B them at the end, and I'm like, oh Jesus.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was fucking terrible, it turns out, and uh, this is way better.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so I know it's a a chicken or the egg type question, but do you find yourselves writing more vocal melodies first and lyrics first and then music after, or vice versa?
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: How how do you go about that process?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: And are you collaborative with that?
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know lyricism is a very personalized process.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh again, that's like something we flipped on our heads a little bit.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I think over the years I've grown, uh, especially after with Eric Ron, I became like so obsessed with writing like good melodies, and and I've always been like a lyric guy.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, the way that I write now is like I want to write a chorus or like a vocal hook first.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: I grab my acoustic guitar.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: If you hand me electric guitar and say write a song, like turn up the game, all that shit.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: I like I literally my brain just breaks because I'm like, I did that for so long, and I just it just like I guess too painful to go back to that.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: But um, so as so I I think Colin will probably answer differently, but um that's just sort of the way I prefer to work now is and what's what's odd is like Colin and I like I used to be the lead singer up until like 2020.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: So now that we've swapped, you know, I'm trying to kind of like release some of the vocal stuff so that he, you know, Colin can really exercise his, you know, he's singing the parts now live.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: So um we're we're like working on on fully letting go some some of that stuff.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but at the end of the day, uh it works really well because I think Colin is when he we say, hey Colin, go write something.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: I do what would you do first, dude?
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'll let you answer.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I would I would definitely pick up my electric guitar.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm I am a I'm a guitar player first, there's no question about it.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, to be honest with you, I like in terms of creating an idea, it's it's really whatever it is that pops into my head.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like sometimes it's you know, sometimes it's a guitar part that I think is really cool and that and then I'll just have to go, you know, to the to the cave and like figure it out and record it and lay it down.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes it's a it's a a chorus melody.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like that's happening more often now that that we're in this mode of writing is to really think, you know, these verses and chorus ideas from a vocal standpoint have come up in my brain a lot more frequently.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_02: But it's kind of just whatever whatever that magic thing, like it just happens out of nowhere.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, oh, that could be a neat thing, you know, and you're kind of working it through in your mind, and then you get to a point where you can you know lay something down as a demo.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I guess it's kind of it it just depends, really.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: I think the focus lately has been on on vocal parts, but I'd say the lyrics typically come we're we're sort of a uh melody first approach in terms of writing writing vocal parts.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: So there I I know that some you know some guys have just like a journal of basically poetry and then they create song lyrics out of that.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that I'm definitely not that way.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm I usually have like a melody and a cadence in mind for how I want, you know, where I want the words to land, you know, and all that kind of stuff.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: And then I try to write lyrics that do what I'm thinking the best, but also you know, mean something and and sound good and you know are clever, or it's so that's that's a really tricky thing to do.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_02: I I feel like that's um that's where the most difficult work is.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: Talking about songwriting, and we kind of mentioned both of these covers in particular, uh, your 2017 cover of Kiss from a Rose, which everybody knows from the Batman Forever soundtrack.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: That is like the soundtrack of my youth.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um that got attention from Guitar World magazine as being one of the best hard rock covers of the last 20 years, and um I you guys seem like very humble guys, so I let me congratulate you for those accolades.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: But like I said, everybody wants the rule of the world, one of my most favorite songs.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is my most favorite song.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Who am I kidding?
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Do you find that doing covers and throwing covers in a set or recording a reinterpretation of a song sparks new life into some of your existing material and some of your creative process?
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_02: Dude, it's so funny because we we were just so we were out in St.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: Louis this last weekend doing like uh mute more music video stuff with our buddy uh Juan Ibanez, and uh we had well, you know, one of these late night um whiskey/slash wine conversations of that exact question.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_02: I was wondering, like what sometimes when we break out the everybody wants the real world cover in a set, I'm playing it, and in my mind I'm thinking, like, is this the right crowd for this song?
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I I I'm trying to figure out like if it's how it's gonna be received, you know, and and the question of like, do we should we always play it?
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's it's something that you know will grab the attention of a lot of people and is pretty recognizable, despite, you know, are we playing to a crowd of uh five-finger death punch fans, or are we playing to you know, a crowd of yellow card fans?
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like very different crowds, usually.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_02: So, but I think the consensus is as long as you it's a it's it's fun as hell to play live, and as long as you have like conviction behind it and you believe in it, I think it's what we landed on as a group is like you you gotta you gotta do shit like that because it's you gotta have the confidence.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I think people will appreciate what you're doing, even if that's not why they came to the show, you know what I mean?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: That's not like the specific sound you came for.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I've I personally have so much fucking fun reimagining tunes like that.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um those are those those two songs specifically.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, when that song came out with uh Batman Forever, I was obsessed with it, and I was like, why do I like this not rock song so much?
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like I fucking love this song.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it took Justin, you know, brought it up.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, we should cover this.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, I love this song, but dude, I just don't see it.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: And he just kept that idea alive.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then one day, I think one night, you and I were kind of working on it, Justin, and it started to like I started to understand that that actually that song was actually uh a closeted rock song this whole time.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like it it needed to like just get some juice, like somebody needed to plug in electric guitar and just let it rip.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_02: Because it once we kind of once I realized that it that it was gonna be awesome, I was like, oh, I'm all in now.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, you were right, I was wrong, let's do this.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: See, at the end of the day, we're all showmen.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like any of us that have ever set foot on stage and played to a crowd of people, we understand what kind of goes into the mechanics of making a good rock show.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to like saturate it or under saturate it, pull the curtain back a little bit too much.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes having those covers in your arsenal are also set savers.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you've ever had a bad night, you throw that cover in the middle of your set, and your whole show has been completely rescued.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the rest of the set, everything that happens after that, that crowd is going to remember, and they're gonna remember you for.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's maybe it's gimmicky, maybe it's I don't know, but it makes a rock show so much better, man.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Even when I see some of my most favorite bands cover like journey songs or whatever, I'm like, shit, yeah, they pulled it out.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let's, you know, respect, right?
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and there's certain songs that like just are iconic too.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I we've we've had a lot of covers over the years that we've turned down, like discussing it, because it's like it has to meet that very specific criteria.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, otherwise, people are gonna be like, oh, cool, whatever, but they're not gonna want to go listen to it over and over.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, it's uh we had to Colin was the one who was like calling into doubt that song because it does feel like you know, we're opening for Revenge Sevenfold, right?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: You got all these like like uh big um you know metal fans and like from where they used to be, it's like we're we're singing this like really poppy vocal vocal melody, and it just doesn't feel right in the moment, but then you know, you look up past the lights and you see everyone singing along, you're like, Yeah, we're fine together.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's it's a hell of an icebreaker, that's for sure.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's just it's one of those things.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_02: I always, you know, it's it's there's just a little bit of doubt.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, is this gonna go over well?
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, but you have you have to commit to it because you can't look like you know, timid about playing the song.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_02: And uh sure enough, usually somebody says something at the end of the show.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, oh, and you guys play Tears or Fears.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I was like, okay, cool.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_02: We were justified.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, absolutely.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about your most recent single that is Finger on the Trigger.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's talk about that, how that song came about, and what else you guys are working on.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about the future a little bit.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that one.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_01: So we we went to Joey's our first session with him back in, I actually think it was end of 2021, August 2021.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh yeah, like the vibes were super just amazing with Joey out of the gate.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um and like that song in particular, we came into the studio like a little bit late, as usual, as musicians do.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: And um he was just like listening to something on on his, you know, he was just like listening to something, which sometimes he does, you know, while he's waiting for us.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: And we're like, I think Colin leaned over to me, he's like, Fuck, I wish our stuff sounded like that.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Hey guys, I wrote a chorus idea, let's check it out.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: And we're like, whoa, so we can work on that idea.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so Joey actually came up with the top line on that um when we came in.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: It was just like we instantly like were in it.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that that song probably I think that song came together the quickest out of all of them in that session, if I remember correctly.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I don't know, Colin, what your memory of of it was.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's yeah, that's exactly right.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: We that it did come together super fast.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: I we were kind of tinkering around with with some of the ideas um for that song in a previous day, and it was kind of like, ah, this is you know, it's really not going anywhere.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_02: We'll just we'll we'll table this one, we'll work on other shit.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_02: And we walked in that day, and he's just listening to this banger of a chorus, and I was like, oh fuck, man, I wish our shit sounded like that.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we we get in there and he's like, Oh yeah, no, I'm working on your stuff.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, oh, you know, yeah, let's let's do it.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, which is great because you know, it we just hopped in there, banged it out.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_02: It was it came together super fast.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: It was we didn't overcomplicate anything.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: We got to try um some different, you know, vocal approaches, and it ended up being.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think what I like about it the most is that that was one song where when we went into Joey's as a band, we're like, yeah, let's really focus on the heavy shit this time.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: You know, let's let's let's get like a heavy sound.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the the the songs we got out of out of that session are like not heavy, like traditionally, you know what I mean?
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: They're not like just rippers on guitar, but um they're just so different and fresh feeling.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: We definitely came out of that session super energized, and and finger on the trigger is one of the reasons why is because it you know that song is just not typical for us, and it was felt really good to feel like we were taking some risks, uh, and and that those risks turned out to sound really good as a band for us.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, what's what's coming up?
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: What are you guys working on now?
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: So, November we we did another batch with Joey.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got um got four more tunes that are um kind of in mixing right now.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: We were actually we're just out in St.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: Louis shooting um a uh a few music videos and some really cool stuff that um hopefully we'll get to talk about at some point.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's kind of off the beaten path when it comes to music videos.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: So um we got four more songs and we're doing we're doing a really cool feature that um we can't talk about yet either.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: But um, so that we're gonna have uh some really cool shit.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think we um it's a continuation of our first session with Joey.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's at the same time, I think we we sort of hold a little bit from some of our our you know Eric Ronde's on it, at least with the some of the ideas.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it might be kind of a neat blend of um, you know, kind of what we were doing right before we met Joey and then what you know what Joey has helped us kind of find as well.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: So um so we're doing that, you know, we're we're booking some tours, um, well, probably just one one regional tour towards the end of this year that like a headlining, small headlining thing that we're gonna do.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um maybe even come by come through Omaha.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um working on that now.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, and then yeah, we're you know, we're obviously trying to get on with some bigger tours right now.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: We've got a uh awesome dude that's helping us out.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, just try to spread the word.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, we're we're still we're still kind of nobody's uh, you know, someone's gonna have to take a chance on us when it comes to that kind of thing.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: So um yeah, it's a busy year for us.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna book one more session towards the fall, and and I think we're kind of landing on trying to make these past two sessions and one future one into a full length for early 2025.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: So it feels like we've been doing the single thing long enough that you know that's definitely the name of the game, but there's something about a full length where we can, you know, we can do a couple songs that we don't have to like, you know, be worried about.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's the way we want it.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: We don't have to worry about if it's a single, we don't have to do a music video for it.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think we want to experience that again.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, so that that's kind of where things are heading right now.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Lots, lots of work and hopefully a little bit of touring.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think one of the things that we're low-key excited about is like getting to write some some songs that take a little bit more of a musical journey than you know, just you know, three minutes, get in, get out, like make your point, you know, do that, which is which is cool.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_02: And that's fun to write like that.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_02: But it is also fun to do like we used to do, which is like, you know, four or five minute long uh musical exploration kind of thing.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_02: That shit's cool too.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_02: So it'd be fun to kind of maybe have one or two of those that can glue all the those singles together.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was just a guest on another podcast and we had a discussion about this, and you know, we touched on it earlier in this episode, where most bands are doing the trickle out release process anymore, as opposed to telling a whole narrative like through an album.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: I remember whenever I would listen to some of my favorite albums back in the day, it was like listening to a story from start to finish the highs, the lows, the three-act play.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta know where I'm get going with this.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited for you guys in that regard to get to experience that again, especially in this era of streaming where if you're not releasing it today, you're not releasing it fast enough.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no doubt, man.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, dude, the pressure, the pressure, the yeah, and it's just like the content has to like constantly just be flowing out of you, you know, in one way or another.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_02: And that's which that is a lot of pressure.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: Shit, our algorithm's changing.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: We haven't released a song yet.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_02: God dang it.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody fucking post something.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, you guys have no idea, and it affects absolutely every single one of us, from podcasters to musicians to athletes, everybody.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: We are an algorithm world, and we're just a bunch of algorithm girls in this.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_02: I will, you know what?
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna be fucking stealing that when I'm gonna do it.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: Usually my wrap-up question is an off-the-wall question, but I love asking it, and I'm gonna ask you guys one at a time or take turns, however you want to do it.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: But what is your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today?
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think just being genuinely nice and caring about people and where they're coming from, simple as that.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you gotta know where someone's coming from to understand the decisions they make.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I think just by doing that, it disarms a lot of misunderstanding that can lead all kinds of different places.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, holy shit.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: That that's a that is a um very tough question to answer.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_02: But I think something that I try to practice, and I think if if more people did this, it would probably be a good thing, is that it, you know, most things, most conflicts or most disagreements that you can think of, there there is something to be understood from the other side of that um of that coin, whatever you're facing.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_02: So just knowing that, you know, somebody's got a whole lifetime worth of experiences and difficulties and challenges and to to form where they are at that moment in time.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_02: If you're having an argument with somebody about whatever it is, uh, there's always something that you can probably agree with in terms of where they're coming from.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that disarms people um and kind of you know, just having that realization that it's it's like at the end of the day, we a lot of times we get faced with the same shit out here.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, just try to understand one another is a huge deal.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: Wake me, based out of Denver, Colorado.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: Check them out on the streaming platforms.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: Do you guys want to plug anywhere people can find you and follow you?
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Instagram.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: We're the most active on Instagram at Wake MeOfficial.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, that's kind of the best place to connect with us.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: You'll find all our links there.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_02: So we're on Spotify, YouTube, all that.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: And guys, I cannot implore you enough.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: The people that are listening to this right now, go check out their Spotify feed.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: I've had a lot of fun with it over the course of the last week.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: Justin Colin, it has been a pleasure getting to know you guys.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: The door is always open.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to have you guys on again in the future.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we can talk offline about some Omaha stuff as you mentioned.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I just want you to know the world's a much better place with you guys in it.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being here.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, so thanks.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having us, man.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's a pleasure.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: Look up WakeMe, listen to their catalog.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you like hard rock music, these guys are doing it right.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: I want to thank Justin and Colin for doing the show.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: And my friends, and thank Victure Media for making the tests.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you're giving WakeMe a follow on Instagram and while you are being generous with those social media followers.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you are following.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: Start on the mic, start social media platforms.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: Check me out on casting platforms.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: I can wait.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: Check them out.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: Michael Clark.