Latest / Caught on the Mike... / Flight to London : Jimmy Mcgorman & Robb Vallier

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Flight to London : Jimmy Mcgorman & Robb Vallier · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:00
  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.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: What happens when two world-class musicians, each with decades of experience writing and producing for some of the biggest names in music, finally decide to make something for themselves?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: On this episode, I am joined by Jimmy McDormand and Rob Vale, the creative forces behind Flight to London, a set-pop project born from equal hearts, desire, and frustration.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about their journey from Berkeley College of Music to their debut album, Instructions for Losing Control, a record they describe as nostalgia, honoring the past while pushing pop music forward.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: From vintage sense and emotional honesty to creative freedom and artistic rebirth, this is the sound of two friends finally making the music they were always meant to.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mic.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Caught on the Mike.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I am sincerely excited.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: I have been listening to this album for a little over a month now.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: I took a road trip to Colorado, which is a seven and a half hour drive from where I live in Lincoln, Nebraska, Estes Park.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: I listened to this album the whole way there.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: I listened to this album the whole way back.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: I have a favorite song on this album, and it hasn't even come out yet.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'd like to welcome my new friends, Jimmy and Rob from the band Flight to London.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, how the heck are you?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's the greatest introduction of all time.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for the enthusiastic intro, Mike.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Man, that's uh that's that's awesome.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I I'm sincere about it though.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't bullshit.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: I just I I tell it the way it is.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And what's a lot crazy is you guys have coined the term nostalgia.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: That is such a fitting term for your style of music.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: It sets a tone, it sets a mood.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's everything I love about an album.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, sir.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Man, that's awesome.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: To to uh to quote Rocky, uh, I invented it, the term nostalgia.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I like when he's punching.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Remember when he's punching meat, and the guy's like, uh, has anyone ever done this?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, I invented it.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was an invention.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: But no, we we really appreciate it, man, because we um, you know, we're really proud of this record.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I know we'll we'll kind of get into that, but yeah, we we're we're having fun with it.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Rob and I just we have a blast making music together, and um we're really we're really happy that that people have started to uh to to dig the record.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it's it comes out in a couple weeks, but you know, the few people that have heard it so far have been enjoying it, and that that makes us feel great.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, when you um you know when you make a record, we we made this record at the right time in our lives.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: We did it together with I I you know, we made an album with somebody that I absolutely can totally respect.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: When it was all said and done, I mean, I I was just so proud of it that like, yeah, when one person likes it, to me, that's a win.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: Just hearing you say that, Mike, is a big deal to us.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: You know, when you're younger and you're like, why, you know, I have to sell 30 million albums, you know, to to feel like I'm a I'm a real star.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, just hearing one person or people that I didn't even expect to like it to call us and say, Man, that there's something very special about this.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: I can't stop listening to it.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that's a big deal for us.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's kind of set the table for when you guys got together initially.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: You guys have known each other for a long time.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: So why don't you guys one at a time kind of tell your origin story from your point of view?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: It all started for Jim and I in uh at Berkeley College of Music.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we both went there.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: I think I was a senior, I think he was a sophomore or something like that.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: And um we got to know each other there.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: And um, when you leave Berkeley back in the day, you went to three places.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: You went to Nashville, you went to New York, you went to LA.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I knew I wanted to go to LA, and I went out there with a whole group of guys that we went to school with, which was great because I was able to have a support group.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know anybody in Los Angeles, but I had like 20 guys that went to Berkeley with me, and uh it was wonderful.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I came out there first, and then um, and then Jim called me and said, Hey, I'm you know, I'm about to graduate, thinking about coming out there.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: So it was wonderful.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: We got together, we hung out, we stayed, we actually had apartments in the same complex.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and then Jim went off on uh you know touring with people, and I stayed in the studios.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and we had about a what, Jim, about 10 years, 15 years or something like that.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then I I actually caught maybe more.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we we we kind of lost touch for a while.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we lost touch for for yeah, uh quite a while.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and uh so I I actually was doing a lot of studio work by myself.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: I was sitting there doing all the engineering, the writing, the playing, the producing, and all that and mixing, and I was tired of it, tired of sitting in a studio by myself.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I I called Jim, I said, Hey man, I don't know where you are, what you're doing, but do you want to get together and just have a chat about maybe doing some writing or doing some producing or something together?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: And he's like, Yeah, come out to my house.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I came out and uh he's had a killer studio, and his wife who was there, who I had never met until then, she's an Iowa, she's an Iowa girl.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: She's from Okeboji.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Ah, yes, of course.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: And and so we um that that got me in the door.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: I was uh I was good.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: So as Rob said, we we lost touch for a while.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um he he reached out and and you know, I've always I always respected Rob and I always thought he was a great singer and a songwriter.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just it was weird after kind of not working together for so long, and then we kind of got together.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think probably one of the first things we did, we were just kind of mad at ourselves for letting so many years go by without working together, which was like, why haven't we been doing this for the last 10 years or whatever it had been?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: So, and and as Rob said, you know, my my wife's from Iowa, and so there's a there's a pretty strong connection there, um, and and they hit it off really well.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, and I think shortly thereafter my daughter was born, and you know, Rob's just kind of been around.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: But but what was it funny too is that we we wrote some songs that weren't for other artists over the years that we we talked about doing some songs for me as a singer, or maybe some songs for Rob as a singer, but we never had this desire or or we never talked about kind of doing a band up until maybe the last five years or so.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we would kind of joke about hey, we should do we should do our own record and you know and stuff like that.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: And um we were working uh with with a blues rock band uh of of all things um uh up in Napa Valley, a band called Mama Said, which got their name from the the Lenny Kravitz song.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: And um we we had done a record for them before where you know we we wrote songs with them and I produced it and they had asked us to to work with them again.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: And because of everyone's scheduling and and and the daily lives, we we kind of had to pack a lot in a very short amount of time.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so we ended up going up to Napa to write some songs with them, and we wrote an incredible amount of songs very quickly.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And they and I thought they were good too, you know, because usually, you know, if you rush or you know, you you can write a lot of things, but they're they're kind of not great or whatever.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: But we we seemed to be firing on all cylinders.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: And as we were driving back to the airport, um, I had actually driven my car and I was taking Rob to the airport, and we we just both kind of looked at each other and said, okay, you know, if if we can if we can write, you know, this quickly, this well, you know, for for other artists, and you know, we're we're getting input from them, obviously, which in ways is helpful, but in ways, you know, it's not always what you want to do.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we thought, okay, we need to just start, we need to try this.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and and as Rob said earlier, you know, we're at a point in our lives where I think both of us had chaste solo artist careers.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: And and when I say chaste, I mean not only chaste trying to be artists, but like we were chasing other acts and and and and that sort of thing.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Because when you're young, you you know, at least for us, um, you know, uh it's hard not to.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but we're now a little hopefully a little older and wiser, and we said, listen, we're not gonna chase anyone.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna we're gonna set a very strict set of parameters.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um we basically chose three slash three to five albums, and we said, look, we're gonna make a record, it's gonna be centered around these these albums that we love, that we have a a genuine, like deep love of.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: Rob, Rob and myself.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, it's obviously it's Tears for Fears and Peter Gabriel.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: But the one band that that we talk about, which isn't as well known, is a band called Scrittipality, which um, you know, if if you if you know 80s music, um, you know, they they had one pretty pretty large hit, but uh, you know, this is a band that for some reason Rob and I, we just listened to this record, these they had two albums.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: We listened to them a lot, and uh we loved that we had a deep you know mutual affection for the that album.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: So we said we want to make something that combines you know these types of records, but um, and that's what we did.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh I think we we achieved what we wanted to do.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Rob and I talked last week a little bit about Scritty Pality, and I'm not as familiar with them as I am some of the other artists that you guys um have cited, like Peter Gabriel.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm huge, I'm a massive, massive, massive Tears for Fears fan.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: My most favorite song is the working hour off songs from the best, dude.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's like and it's it's kind of symbolic as to why I've become a fan of your band.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Is that song in particular sets a mood, it it establishes growth, like it it has this great crescendo of feeling throughout the throughout the the song.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: So it's awesome to hear that referenced.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: And it's funny that that's a song that we you know one of the albums that we talked about, obviously Tears for Fears was was a massive influence for us.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Just not just because we love their songs, but also because it's a two-lead singer band, right?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that was something that was important to us.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we we decided early on, okay, we're both gonna sing all the choruses, and whether that's in unison or in one guy sings the melody and and harmony, uh, and then we're gonna trade off on verses and and you know, we'll kind of just see how it goes.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that process uh was actually surprisingly simple.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: We never we never really kind of argued about who was gonna sing what.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: We just would try it.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of times both of us tried, you know, different parts, and it became very obvious which voice or voices, you know, worked for this part.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: And we're both again pretty honest with ourselves about one of us would do a thing and go, man, I don't ever it is.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: Or you know, perfect example.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was um the first song we started doing vocals on.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: I got up on the mic, and when you're writing, you're not thinking about it's like, oh, that sounds good, we'll be able to sing it fine.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: It was some song that I think it might have been monsters, and I started singing the verse, and I was running out of air when I shouldn't have been, and it just wasn't singing right.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, Jim, just sing the song, you know.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: So uh there's a few of those on there, but we both like singing together, and our voices, even though they're a little bit different than each other, still kind of complement each other, uh, whether it's Harveys, like he says, or Unison, or going back and forth with each other.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think that's a that's that's what makes it kind of cool.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: If you think about Tears of Fears, you know, they would have one whole song they would do.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, one of them would do the whole song, and the other one would do the whole song.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: And it's kind of fun to do it almost in a um in a duet form.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: Almost all of our songs are now on a duet form, and I it's I like it.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you guys have you guys have such a solid blend uh of your voices, and not every band really has that whenever you have multiple singers.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like usually it's it's like one is really distinctively one guy, one is distinctively another.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: And yours, your guys' voices blend so well together.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's strange how don't sound very disjointed.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: I you know, because it is something that you would think, you know, if you got one guy coming in on a verse and then the other guy coming on the second half of the verse or whatever, or you know, you know, we don't do that all the time, but sometimes, you know, usually one of us will take a verse and then the other will come on in on the pre uh pre-chorus.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but it is is surprising how uh how that kind of worked out uh you know, with most of the album, it seemed pretty pretty natural.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about the album title a little bit.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: It almost kind of feels like a manifesto.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: What did control mean to you guys, both creatively and personally?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I I actually said this to Jim one time.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: He was actually surprised by my answer.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: But uh for me, losing control is not fulfilling the dreams that I have or the plans that I have or a project that I have.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's so easy to curl up on a couch, you know, with a beer and uh and watch murder shows or whatever you know you do to just kind of waste time.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but I always need to uh stay on top of one like I remember when Jim and I sat down together to do this album.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, we're gonna finish this.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's happening, it's gonna happen.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I always wanted to I always want to stay on top of it to make sure it actually gets done.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: So that to me is losing control.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Your production approach feels very meticulous.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Lush Harmonies, vintage synths, and analog textures.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: What does your studio process look like when you're chasing that balance between retro and modern?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: Well, when we talked about the the albums, that like we had a a handful of albums that we were gonna use.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: We did the the same thing in a lot of ways with the instrumentation.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um right, Jamie.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean that's a that's a good kind of uh comparison.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we knew so the way we write songs is very traditional.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: So we all every song almost starts with me on the piano, but it's we use a CP 70, which is you know, the Yamaha CP70, which is you know, it's Peter Gabriel and and Phil Collins and Tears for Fears.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, so we decided that that would that would be kind of the the anchor for the entire album.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we started with that.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're of the mindset that you know songs should be kind of you know written where you could play it with one instrument and and what and a voice.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so we we start there and then uh we would probably come up with a groove uh the surrounding that.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: But we were actually the first weekend where we wrote almost half the album, we we were just kind of having fun because you know the when you write for other people, uh especially, you know, we write with a lot of younger singer-songwriters, um, you know, they don't really, you know, they're not interested in vintage synths, you know, or or you know, the sounds that were being used on on uh on Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins and Tears for Fears and Depe and Depeche Mode Records.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: And those were sounds that we really liked and kind of missed in modern production.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, our feeling was, you know, there's so many people that still love those albums so much.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't we make an album that reminds us of that?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: And and that that is in the production and in the actual sound.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: So we were we would sample sounds from some of those albums, you know, from certain drum parts or kind of strange sounds.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: And we did a lot of research and we saw what they used, what kinds of specific keyboards they were using.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we we have a we're very fortunate we have a decent amount of of you know actual actual hardware synths here in in the studio, but then with plugins, it's incredible because you know, like something like the CMI Fairlight, which is you know, to get your hands on that is gonna cost you 75 grand.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it's also not gonna be probably working right.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Or Yamaha CS80 or Jupyter 8.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we have these plugins where we can get really close to those original sounds.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a blend.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it was a big blend.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: I think sticking with uh a game plan on the instrumentation for the most part was uh was very helpful.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's easy to go in 50 different directions um when it comes to to the to the the sounds you want to use and the and the textures you want to use.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_02: But I think another interesting thing with this is you know, it's it was what would have been easy to just have a drum machine going, a couple of pads, and just say, okay, it's a simpop album.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: But we also uh brought in some friends, an amazing guitar player, uh Dave Levita, and uh he played phenomenal parts.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: We had John Button playing bass on it.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um so there's there is some humanness to it, human aspects to it, humanness.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, there so we did we didn't want to just keep it in the box or make it uh uh very digital.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we do have live players, which actually gives it a little bit of life, you know.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, awesome.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: No one's forgiven, the debut single.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it dives into anger, division, and media manipulation, very real emotions that we all have right now.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: How did that song come together and what message were you hoping to capture in that energy?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: One of the great things that that I don't even think we knew when we set out to make this record.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: I I didn't even almost realize we just thought it would be fun to sing together and write songs that had the melodies that we wanted and the sounds that we wanted.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: But I wasn't personally even thinking lyrically, and one of the great surprises was how how many song songs that I had in me and song ideas that I wanted to get out that we can't do working with other people.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, again, and it's nothing against them, but if an 18-year-old girl comes in and wants to write a record that sounds like Olivia Rodrigo or, you know, or Taylor Swift, they're not gonna want to talk about political things or they're not gonna want to talk about deep rooted societal things, uh deep-rooted psychology behind personal traumas or you know, thing, you know, things that therapy.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: And and when we started writing, I don't again, I don't even think we didn't even set out to do that.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we didn't, but we just started writing songs and let the let the musical, you know, uh the musical starting point t take us somewhere.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: And especially with everything that was going on in the world and in our country right now, a few of these songs just naturally came out in the frustration of our everyday lives.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: And and I'm proud of that because you know it's I I don't think we're being preachy, but I think we're I think we were coming from a place of genuine frustration, um with especially with with no one's forgiven.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you can read into it however you want, but the political landscape and and this division, it's hard to ignore right now.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: So that was a song that was born from our collective, just just absolute, you know, we just feel like we're overwhelmed with this stuff.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, to me, again, anything with a song that makes you feel less alone, that's that was my hope for it, you know.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Someone listens to it and goes, Man, I got I'm not the only one who's like beaten down by this, you know.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you guys have said that these songs capture your heart and your hurt.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: And and I I think we kind of covered that just now, but how do you translate something so personal into pop music without losing the emotion in layers of production?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think um I I think you need to follow it's a great question.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: I think once the lyrics I mean the song can be written, and once the lyrics are done, I think it kind of starts giving you its own roadmap uh as to Oh, okay, well, like a song like um uh the last song, Secondhand Smoke, is obviously a very uh a very serious uh uh concept, and we wanted it to sound cold and and uh and and like if you listen to the drum parts, they're very separated.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's not a drum pattern, it's these sounds kind of coming in and out.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I I think that uh uh you know if you if you open your ears up after you've written a song, I I think it's it's it's pretty easy to find that roadmap when you say, okay, well, okay, look listen to these lyrics, man.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: This is about frustration, or this is about loneliness, or this is about heartbreak, or this is about confusion, inner confusion.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you gotta follow those those emotions musically.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: It just doesn't work, you know.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, there's a there's a song on there as well called uh Osaka that people will be hearing just one of these days.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: There's a sense of loneliness to that song.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: The song is about two ships passing in the night, and uh that song was actually uh originally we sat down, we were trying to figure out what we were gonna do for lyrics, and uh Jim came up with this great idea about why don't we take a scene from a movie from the 80s or 90s and write it, you know?
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that that last scene in uh Lost in Translation where they don't say anything, uh, that was such a beautiful moment and captured both of us.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: So there's if you listen to that song, there it's just one lonely keyboard for the most part, kind of meandering through it while the two of us sing together almost in in perfect harmony all the way through.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then there's this saxophone solo in it that that that you know uh conveys frustration, you know.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: So I I think that if you listen to the if you read the lyrics and you listen to where the song's going, you just need to you need to follow it for better or for worse.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now I gotta ask a personal question on my behalf.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: When are you guys going to release Silence as a single?
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: And why is it not like right away?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because that is my most favorite song on the album.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it'll it's gonna come out.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna come out.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_02: We got a little, we got a little um things got a little sideways over the last like month because of this mogue, this mogue situation.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um so the you know, uh we're doing this wonderful uh project with Moog, this uh ad campaign with them, and they're doing it documentary style in the studio with us.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: So we wrote two new songs.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: And uh uh I think Silence probably would have come out after Walls if that hadn't if that Moog situation hadn't come in.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: We'll probably put it out anyways.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, nowadays you don't have to only have three singles, you can just keep going.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_02: Every song's gonna be a single.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's that that leads to a really good question.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Do you guys have big opinions about that?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm gonna tell you, I've done 200 plus episodes of this podcast, and what I ask guys on camera, and and the the answers they give me on camera is a little bit different whenever the record button stops.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, you know, like the the promotional and release strategy of this new music business that we're in now, where an album is basically 75% released before it drops.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's funny when we had our first in when we had our first inter uh uh meeting with our with our uh PR person, uh she's like, okay, so when do you want the album to come out?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: What did I say, Jim?
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah, this and this shows you this just shows you the personalities.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think we were on a call, it was like June 28th, yeah, and and Rob was like, July 1st, uh, we're gonna put this record out.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like literally like he was he he said 10 singles simultaneously.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: He was like, Yeah, it's he's like, Well, well, the record's coming out on Monday.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, What?
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: So you know, but again, but it it just shows also, I mean, Rob and I haven't been artists for so long.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I gotta tell you, Mike, it's this is the probably the biggest challenge for us.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's something that we we're dealing with.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um Rob and I would re- we just want to be in this room and in studios writing songs and and making records, and you know, eventually playing live and stuff like that.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but but the the the strategies and the social media campaigns and these types of things.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it's funny because we got together uh one the one of the first times after the whole record was done, and we were kind of supposed to our publicist said, Well, you have to get on and start doing all this stuff and thank everybody that we put the first song out.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: We did it for like I mean, it felt like 10 hours.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: It was probably 30 minutes, and I was like, I'm done.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm done, I can't do it.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I was like, I can't.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, we're done, we're done for the day.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: It was very Larry David of me.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, nope.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so true.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: So true.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: We Rob and I made we made a a deal that we weren't gonna chase on the making of the album in terms of songs, sonics, or anything.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then we had to remind ourselves we're not gonna chase anything.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Now, look, we're not we're gonna put it out and we're gonna try to promote it, but like, you know, one of our friends said, Oh, you guys should do like a TikTok challenge or something like that.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: And you dance, Rob, and then you point to Jim, and then Jim starts dancing, we're like, we're out.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're like, no, that's not happening.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it's tough.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a tough thing because we just love the music and you know, we we want it, we want it to be out, and and that's that's that's a bit of all the strategy we we know.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: That is a challenge for anybody with a legit creative endeavor right now, especially and and I'm just gonna I'm gonna throw the the ageism of all of us out there, like especially guar guys of our generation and such, because you know, I I think people's social currency is different generationally to where you know a younger generation is into the quick bits, to where you know, guys that are a little bit I'm not gonna use the word old, I'm gonna say seasoned, such as ourselves, guys that are a little more seasoned, like we like to tell the whole story all at once, as opposed to leading breadcrumbs all over the place for people to chase and follow.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, like even as a podcaster, like the social media game is awful, exhausting.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: It is, it is awful, and it's like and it what's what sucks about it, and I'm just gonna vent.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: What sucks about it is if you're not consistent about it, the numbers drop, like they drop dramatically.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, are we really at that place in society where the art itself doesn't speak for itself?
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the problem is the things come in so quickly and then they leave so quickly.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, that's funny.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: I remember when we first started doing this, I asked uh I asked one of my friends, I said, we're gonna make an album, and they're like, Well, why don't you just make a bunch of singles and then just start putting them out?
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, because I want something that is a collection, a true collection of a moment in our lives of writing and producing.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: And that album should be listenable from beginning to end.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, and you know, instead of doing an EP, everybody does EPs.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: Jim and I are like, nope.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: We are going to do 10 songs on this record, no more, no less, and it's going to be a full uh, you know, a full album, you know.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I just and that's a rarity too.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's also a rarity, you know.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think also comes with age to not really care what anyone else thinks.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, you know, i I I I run across it with artists all the time.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um they're you know, because look, we're all just trying to get it out there, and and there's it's so hard, it's so competitive.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: But I I've had artists who, you know, they'll come in, I'll help them with their music, or Rob and I will help them, and they'll listen to our opinion for, you know, a variety of or or a certain length of time.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: But if if they then go to Starbucks and run into some manager who got somebody something somewhere along the line, they will listen to that person for three months, and then they will spend a lot of money and nothing will come of it.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then they'll, you know, a friend of a friend will put them in touch with someone else who did something, and then they'll listen to that person.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, you know, again, that's just that whole we're not gonna do that.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: And and like Rob said, we wanted to make an album, we didn't want to make a bunch of singles.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know, we don't want to do that.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: We wanted to make something that reminded us of Songs from the Big Chair or The Hurting, or you know, Security and all these records that we loved.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm uh looking forward to the day that album comes out, and I get we're gonna be doing vinyl.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna be able to uh buy vinyl on our website.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh I wanted I'm put I'm gonna put that up in a in a in a um you know in a frame somewhere and just say like and you can just look at it and go, I did that.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean, as opposed to it just kind of floating out in the middle of God knows where.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's like I can look at it and say, that is something I did when I'm 90 years old, you know?
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, yes, very important.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: What's funny is you know, what we were just talking about is how monoculture has just all but vanished.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: But taking something that has this nostalgia to it, it it's almost recreating monoculture and and physical media is a large part of that, you know.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, for for all the shit I could talk about younger generations right now, one of the most encouraging things that I've seen trending musically, so to speak, as the father of like three college girls and a high school teenage boy, uh is the re-emergence of physical media.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: They're getting back into collecting vinyl, they're getting back into CD.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: So that kind of gives me hope and optimism for the future of like full collections being a thing again.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_02: We had our conversation with our uh publicist yesterday about how the media is already getting tired of AI and are starting to shun the idea of well, it's an AI, this and that.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, we don't want that anymore.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_02: So I think people are gonna always come back to real somehow, some way.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: They'll always work their way back to somebody in a room playing a guitar and singing or playing piano and just singing, whatever, you know?
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: But I was just saying, like, I see it with my daughter with um even merchandise, like um sweatshirts and things like that.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: That the kids that want to that go to these concerts now, they want documentation in a physical form that they were there.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: They want a hat, they want a hoodie, they want a t-shirt, they want something that's tangible, which you know I think it's great.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, do you remember uh Mike, don't you remember having an album and like when you get it, you you were watching anything.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: You were listening, but you were looking at the cover or you were looking at the liner notes, and that was such a special you I mean that was your multimedia, right?
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_02: You're reading and you're listening, and you're looking at pictures on the that that are that are made by the band, you know.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: I I think that's something that uh it's so it's so simple and it's so beautiful, and I I hope we get back to that.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: Rob, I'm a big kid.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: I still do that shit.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: Good for you.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: We've all got it.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: I shit you not.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: In my dining room is my record player.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've got like all the old peach crates with all my vinyl on it.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I will sit down on the floor right next to the dining room table and start pulling records from the from the crates and start looking at the artwork and the smell, everything.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it is totally a full encompassing experience.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it is.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_02: And um, the tone of a record, there's something about that little going while that warm sound is coming out of your speakers, you know.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_02: I I just I think it's wonderful.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I, you know what's funny?
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: I can kind of go away from it.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I've got just like you, I've got my record player and everything.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_02: And you kind of go away from it.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe I'm in the car and I'm listening to a bunch of stuff on Spotify or whatever.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: Then we'll, you know, we'll my wife and I'll have have dinner one night and we'll have some cocktails, and she'll pull out like she loves Amy Winehouse.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you put that on on a record, and it's like, oh my God, it just sounds so wonderful.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, we gotta keep that, we gotta keep that going.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: What's what's funny is there are certain genres of music that I've convinced myself or trained myself actually sound better on vinyl, like Bill Evans Trio, uh Dave Brubeck, uh John Coltrane, like like that's the stuff, especially this time of year.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever we get to late fall, early winter, that's that's what I want to listen to on vinyl.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: But that being said, so think about the Boston album, the first Boston album.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: That is made for a record, man.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_02: You put a record on with and you hear that Boston album.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it just sounds so tight and so wonderful.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_02: Even listening to the Mono Beatles albums, they sound so good.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's what they were made.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_02: They were made for that.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, Jim and I were talking about this yesterday about how records are um we say records, but like how albums were in the 90s were made to sound good on CD.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and some some of those albums that sound so great on CD because that was the medium that they were focusing that mix on.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's a great point, too, you know, like probably that seal album.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't would love to hear that again on CD as opposed to you know Spotify or whatever.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yep.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk flash forward.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: What comes next for Flight to London?
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: You've called this album the beginning.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: What does the next chapter look like?
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: And are you already thinking about the next sound evolution or live performances?
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we actually already started really writing for whether it's record number two or whatever it may be.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as Rob said earlier, um, you know, we we have a relationship with the the company Moog synthesizers, which we use on the record.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: And um we we talked with them about doing a collaboration um because when we were we have a friend who's in branding, and when we first you know were making the record, he heard a couple tracks and he was very interested.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, he said, Well, who would you want to work with from a branding perspective?
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, that was one of the companies that we really thought was was uh important because what they do is what we're trying to do is to kind of take you know something rooted in history, rooted in you know classic analog and you know and and uh amazing architecture, but then push it forward, you know, and and that's what we're trying to do with you know the this the type of music that we love.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we they they asked us to if we wanted to do a collaboration and we were gonna do a recreation of some of the songs we've already written, but I thought, you know, we're we were kind of already itching to write new songs uh again, you know, because I know this is you know, we're just putting it out, but those most of those songs were written probably nine months ago or or whatever it was.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: So we just got together and we started writing some new material, and uh we we have two new songs, and they're gonna be part of a feature with that with uh with Mook.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that that's uh on the horizon.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um we'd love to play live.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's been a little tough with both, you know, of all of our schedules and trying to uh you know coordinate that.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but you know, we we like I said before, we love writing and producing.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I think we're gonna just continue doing that um and and trying to get the music out there and see where it goes.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say, I think, I think we'll obviously naturally evolve a little bit.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: We do like the we do like the the sound that we created on this album.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean I think it's gonna be there's gonna be still a lot of that in whatever we do.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, we're gonna always try to branch out a little bit.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_02: I think this like this one of the songs on this um on from Mogue uh called Elephant is a lot more scritty pality than than than the album that we've done.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: So that that in itself is a bit of branching out.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um but uh yeah, I mean I I think it it we all naturally evolve.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm as as curious as you are as to exactly how that's gonna happen, but it will, and it'll happen in a good way, I think, because we both the great thing about being in this band is we both check each other, we both check what we're doing, and we can check each other without being like getting butthurt about it.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_02: If something doesn't work, we usually both know it, and it's great to be able to bounce things off, or if we just go, eh.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of times when we're writing lyrics, we'll both go, doesn't sing right, that doesn't sing right.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_02: We'll get a word, and it's like, and then I'll be like, really?
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'll sing, I'll be like, yeah, it doesn't sing right, you're right.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_02: That's always a big one for us.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: It'd be like, nope, nope, that's too soft, that's too, you know, that word's too soft for that moment.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_02: So it's great to have a collaboration, I mean, you know, to collaborate with somebody else.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm looking forward to it myself, but I'm really looking forward to playing live.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I know we're gonna it's gonna sound awesome.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_02: Hopefully, we'll be doing that in the new year and see where that takes us.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we just want to keep, we just can want to keep moving forward, you know?
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, and I gotta tell you guys that that new music urge, it it's palpable.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like you get an album in the can and you're just waiting to release that album, but you've already have a half another album written, and you're like, oh yeah, shit, I want to put out this new stuff.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm already tired of this old stuff.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me an artist that doesn't feel that way for real.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's so true.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm sure it's the same way when you play live.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, Jim could speak to this, but like, you know, you play 47 shows or something like that, and you're playing all the songs that every, you know, the new stuff that everyone's hearing, but you like you said, there's gonna be a five or six in your pocket, and you're like, I can't wait for that one to, you know, to get out there and play that too.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_02: But it takes time, doesn't it?
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and sometimes you have to have that asshole in the band that puts their foot down and say, we got to play the stuff they know first.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: Trust me, I I was that asshole.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was me.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_02: That's me.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: Jim's gonna be like, dude, we're gonna do a full, we're gonna do a ragah version of uh just to keep it interesting to himself, to himself, and keep it interesting.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: That won't that won't be me.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_01: That won't be me.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: No, but what is strange though is Rob and I were saying the other day, you know, when we made the record, we we were, you know, you get into a uh like a black hole of time, and now that it's finished, we almost don't even know how we made that.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like it was just a strange because it was so kind of kind of quick.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, because you know, I I do a lot of touring with the goo-dolls and and and a lot of production, and Rob's got other production and things going on.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_01: And when we were together, we had to be extremely focused and extremely present because we don't we we don't live in the same city and we we have a lot of other things going on.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: So when we would get in this room, I mean 12 hours would fly, and it was like what and then we would kind of you know we'd be exhausted, and then we'd, you know, the next day we'd listen and go, Oh my god, like what we did all that or whatever.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you know, now that it's done, like we'd listen to it.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we're like, I don't even know how did we get this done, or how did we even you know figure this all out?
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: And because we were just kind of we just kind of had our head down, you know.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we we we had plans to have somebody else mix the record.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we were, in fact, we'd we'd had a great conversation with David Baskum, who's a very he's a legendary mixed guy who did the Tears for Fear stuff, and he's done Dupeche Mode, and he's worked with Gabriel, British guy living in Bath, England.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and you know, we the reality was that it was like we are our heads are so into it right now.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_02: Having a third brain come in at the, you know, at the at the one-yard line, and it it our heads would have exploded.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_02: So we we said, okay, that's it.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna just have to mix this ourselves.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: Now we had uh some friends come in and help us do some engineering stuff here and there.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, we just sat there and mixed that thing.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh then then we Jim would go off for a week and do something, and then we'd come back and it'd be like, okay, here's our notes.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_02: And our notes would be the same on on every uh every mix.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_02: So we would just go back in there and tweak.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but yeah, it's even funnier.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_02: We're uh Jim was just sitting down to figure out the chords, you know, and stuff for the and Jim's like, Wait, what is that chord?
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_02: We how did we wait a second, wait?
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_02: This is a little, it's not as easy, even though you wrote it yourself.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's like he says it's like we somebody else wrote it.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's very weird.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually gonna ask that if you ever had to reteach yourself your own song.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, well, this record, you know, one of the one of the things that that was wanted to do was we didn't we wanted to write songs that had key changes and melodic movement that that that that wasn't really centered in one key necessarily all the way.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it wasn't a hard and fast rule but we we we tried to challenge ourselves within the writing of the songs because you know a lot of those songs that we love they they play chords that are out of the key they have you know the bridges go to different places um and they just keep it very interesting and so by nature of us trying to do that which was pretty challenging for some of them we I we I was just playing random chords random things and say does this work and you know and then we would try a thing and no no no and then you know sometimes I would come up with something or rot we'd hear something and go me is that maybe you know and then and then it's like I think I think it can and then we would do it and we would just kind of go for it.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then again like when we tried to go back and check it out I was like what did we do?
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: What is this?
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know so it was kind of fun um and and and that's one of the things I'm really proud of.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know new music and I'm not putting it down by any means you know there's a lot of very simple chords going over and over and over and over and over and over.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_02: And um the albums that we were that that that we're still listening to 30 years later are the ones that are interesting enough to keep the interest going.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_02: You listen to that Scritty Pality album one of those albums where like the hurting by Tears for Fears it's it to me it's just as interesting today as it was when I heard it the first time.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_02: So um we wanted to stay in that kind of vein, you know, and and find little things that would make it interesting enough so when you heard it for the 30th time like you said uh you'll find something new in it.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know it's it's it's funny you mentioned that like you know uh I was listening to Sting the other day an Englishman in New York came out and and like I listen it had been a long time since I'd heard it and I was like God he had he threw a lot of swerves in that song.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're not musically inclined the drum break the the the New York the New York yes yes yes and it's like if you're not musically inclined you're kind of you're kind of like what the hell is this he made songs midway through and then came back to it but but it it's awesome you know Sting and the police are influences that we don't mention a lot but I but I know that they're both for us they're massive they're they're they're in the conversation because that guy changes keys in every song it's like and you don't feel it that's the cool thing about it.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: After chorus too there's a key change or a bridge that goes in a different you know it's either chorus in a different key bridge in a different key um and and you know we we love the police I mean you know it doesn't really come out I don't think we sound anything like them but their influence is is definitely there.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: I think we I think we both like intellectual pop things that make you think a little bit more a little bit less about going the about the club and a little bit more about some uh emotions or things outside in the world that that you can that you would be surprised to to be able to connect to you know I love I'm a big XTC fan I love XTC I think Andy Partridge is one of the greatest lyricists of all time um I grew up listening to Rush I grew up listening to you too I mean talk about lyrics I mean that band is unbelievable so uh I've always Jim and I both have always loved m good melodies and uh and then and hopefully with those good melodies come some interesting chord progressions and lyrics so that's what we tried to do on this to give it a little bit of a little bit of thought you know I love that and it's it translates really well in the album and I I don't think I would have listened to it as much as I have and I have listened to it a ton guys uh if I didn't truly love it and I absolutely do love it.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_00: So why don't you tell my audience when is instructions for losing control going to drop?
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh November 21st 21st.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes November 21st yes and it'll be still I still get stuck on Tuesday release days.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's the Friday thing still fucks me up.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know I'm still I'm still kind of freaking out that we're putting it out around the holidays you know because like back in the day you'd be like oh you can't put it out during the holidays Aerosmith's putting something out you know so yeah I'm still freaking out about that uh but yeah so we're gonna uh we're gonna I'm in fact this this week I'm getting everything organized for the uh pressing of the album so it's kind of cool because this company will you order it they will press it just for you and send it out to you um and that's kind of instead of us having to buy 10 000 albums hoping somebody buys them um but yeah I'm gonna be doing that this week putting that together it's gonna obviously be on on the Spotifies of the world and the Apple iTunes music and all that stuff and um hopefully we'll have a hopefully we'll have a video coming up one of these days for walls.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's we're in the middle of doing that's another thing we're in the middle of of it's in the works.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's in the works.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_02: And there's all it's funny when we talk to our publicists it's like there's always going to be something happening every about two or three weeks with flight to London for the next couple of months.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_00: So um you know hopefully people will uh you know check out um the flight to London dot music uh or find us on Instagram uh what is it Jim is it flight to London Music right at I think Flight to London music I think is yeah yeah yeah so um just hopefully hopefully people will kind of keep track of what we're doing because there's going to be a lot of new things happening over the next couple of months so I love it I love it guys my final question and my closing question and you guys can answer one at a time keep it keep it simple and true to yourselves but what's your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today through your eyes and your experience I mean look uh you gotta we're having a lot of problems in this country with people who just refuse to listen to somebody who seems to be from a different uh point of view or a mind different mindset.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_02: We gotta get back to finding uh general kindness towards each other and just uh listen and not not as much not so much talking a little more listening right Jim uh but that's but it's an inside joke but yeah it's an inside joke uh but uh I think that's right now for me that's that's what we have to do is show a little kindness and and just do a little more listening.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna say that I mean in general kindness i is is a it it's a free thing to do.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know it it doesn't it really doesn't require any more effort.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_01: I actually think it requires less effort than being uh you know combative or argumentative but I think and not to get too heady on it but the root of it is every person is powerful.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_01: Every everyone can walk into a room and uh affect the room in one way or the other.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh that's something I you know I think about a lot and as a person with a somewhat larger personality I know that if I walk in a room as the best version of me that that room's gonna be that room's gonna be better.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_01: And if I walk in as the worst version of me that room's gonna be worse.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was Bono was talking about he he's had a line somewhere where he said oh you know a song came on and it changed the temperature in the room right and I always loved that I thought you know so I know that you know a lot of times we think our opinion doesn't really matter or we think we're small and we no one's really paying attention to us but anybody each person can go into a room or a situation a family gathering whatever it is and and go man I'm gonna be the best version of me in this and I think if we well try to do that a little bit more we might lighten up a little bit you know that's all I got I love that I love that my friend has that I've had on the show as a co-host for some future episodes that are going to drop his line always is the way you do one thing is the way that you do everything.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I I think that that kind of summarizes both of your guys's points about kindness and open-mindedness and the ability to communicate a lot better than the way that we have been I as a guy that uses a digital platform podcasting you know it's funny to hear me shame social media but sometimes when we've given everybody a soapbox and everybody tries to use it at the same time it's it's a it's uh an effort to see who the loudest person and can be in the room at all times.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's a great point so true so true.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: Wow Jimmy Rob I am so glad to know you guys now I'm a fan of your band um you guys call me a friend because I'm definitely calling you guys a couple of friends I am flight to London their album instructions for losing control drops November 21st 2025 ladies and gentlemen go check it out as soon as possible uh I I will firmly say this and I don't have to say this just because the guys are in front of me one of my most favorite albums of the year easily check it out as soon as it drops I am so excited Jimmy Rob thank you guys so much for doing the show the world is a much better place with you guys in it.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man thanks Jim Mike we appreciate you buddy I want to thank my friends Jimmy and Rob from Flight to London for joining me on the show today instructions for losing control drops November 21st make sure you check it out on your favorite streaming platform or better yet go check out the band and give them your money show them how much you love them by buying their merch and buying their album I had a great time talking with these guys this is not going to be the last time you hear from them or of them on Caught on the mic.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you follow them on Instagram at Flight to London Music.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_00: While you're being generous with the follows make sure you're following Caught on the mic on all social media platforms give me a visit at my website www.caughton the mic dot com go to my YouTube channel click that subscribe button go watch a few episodes and give my videos some love this has been Caught on the mic with Michael Clark I'm Michael Clark till next time thank you