Latest / Caught on the Mike... / Zac Johnson of FRND CRCL

Transcript

Zac Johnson of FRND CRCL · Caught on the Mike...

• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mic.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a brand new episode of Caught on the Mike.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Joining me today is a band from Jersey.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: They've got a brand new album coming out on May 30th called Jersey Fresh.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Zach Johnson from the Friend Band Friend Circle.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: I almost said from the friend band circle.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, man.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: You think I was the one drinking the corona?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Represent.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, if I'm going to call it out, we might as well talk about it.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Zach, how the hell are you, man?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, man, awesome.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: I've uh it was a kind of a crazy hectic day at the day job, so I was really excited to get home and record this podcast with you.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: I've been listening to your music all dating all the way back to your 2017 album, uh, 2020 album, Internet Noise, 2023 album, sub uh Suburban Dictionary, and nice guy, the newest single sounds so thick and so layered.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: That production value is so good on that.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: How excited are you to unleash this album to the world?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm just ready.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm ready for it to be out already.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think at this point I'm just ready to have it out.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I would say I'm really excited.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Really excited.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So let's kind of take a step back and let's talk a little bit about the origin story, origin story of Friend Circle.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: How did you come together and how long have you guys been a band?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's been it's been 10 years since I met Aaron.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: We met in college.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's kind of romantic, like that, like a Solomon class, and we had the uh, you know, uh everyone introduce yourself and tell them something interesting about you, which I fucking hate.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like peace, social anxiety right there.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and for some reason I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna say I play guitar.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then Aaron said he played drums.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: So then we met each other, and then you know, that's how the two of us linked up.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then um Adam and I actually had a class together in high school that um was guitar class, which was like a new thing in my high school, they'd never done it before.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: And Adam uh I knew he played bass from that class, even though he was a few grades behind me.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then I guess Aaron knew him, you know, long story short from elementary school, so then we all linked up in that way.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like we always knew each other, but we we never really connected until like later on in life.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, as I mentioned, Nice Guy is such a thick and layered and well-written song.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: How has the process evolved from meeting at such young ages 10 years ago to where you're at right now?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I mean, we we dad had no idea what we were doing when we first started making music, and I still don't claim to know freaking anything.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I feel like I'm just winging it half the time, but I will say the one thing we do now, or that I do, is like I try to demo as much as I can and like actually record my ideas and try my best rather than like back in the day I would just sit in my room with like uh with an acoustic guitar and like just try to piece shit together.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um so in that in that respect I've gotten I don't want to say like good, but I know how to record myself enough and like the band enough to where we can really sit on ideas and mold them over, rewrite if necessary, and really dive into what we do musically.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of bands when they first start out, structure is a challenge, like understanding how good structure, song structure comes together, when to introduce the hook, how soon to introduce the hook.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm assuming those are all things that kind of cross your mind whenever you're piecing together uh a certain piece of music, right?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and no, like sometimes I it just kind of happens naturally, and sometimes it takes years.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like on late nights was a song in particular off the new album that took like five years to write, just because it's gone through so many different phases, and then like songs like Nice Guy just kind of happen like that.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like just because I was like maybe I was like going through something or whatever, and like the words just kind of fell in the place, the melody kind of fell in the place, and like the overall vibe just kind of made sense.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's different, it's different every time.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I that was always kind of my experience as well.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the best songs came out just organically and just came from like a jam session that just kind of went too long, and then I just sang something as a placeholder, and I'm like, wait a minute, that's actually not that fucking bad.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, exactly.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it it's different every time for sure.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So if you were to reflect back on some of who some of your musical influences, some of your earliest influences compared to some of your influences now, who would you say some of those artists or bands are?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think when I first like Theme University stuff is like definitely like Simple Plan, uh No Paz, No Hamlets, Just Balls, like uh Good Charlotte, Um Young and Hopeless record, um Anima the State, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket from Bling 2.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: It was like pretty pure pop punk roots with all of that, and then like probably five years into the band, not that I didn't listen to other stuff, but I really started to dive more into different genres of music and start to explore it.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And like it it's not it it doesn't like annoy me when people say like oh my god it's blinking too, but I'm like, you know, I think it's more than that, and like it yeah, it's cool to like put it in our uh social media, like you know, we sound like Blink, check us out, but like I feel like we're also more than that, and like Blink is just like Blink is like uh The Simpsons of pop punk music, whereas like every great idea has been done, and like there's so many of those like legacy bands that are done there.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I you know it's definitely changed a lot as far as like musical influences, and I'm always discovering new shit and it blows my mind.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I need to do more of that, I need to learn that, I need to listen to this.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: So it almost comes across sometimes, especially whenever I'm listening to newer bands, that Blink has kind of morphed itself into its own genre to a certain extent, because there's so many bands that have had that rooted or had them rooted as an influence.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think they're self-aware in regards to that?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: I I think a lot of bands are like I've met a lot of bands now, like, and it's funny because like a lot of the bands that I meet with the members that I get close with, we always bond over Blink 182.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the first thing that we talk about.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like uh this band uh Mindless uh from California, I think all of them were super big Blink fans, and I just so happened to be wearing my Blink shirt when we played that show.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we we hit it off right then and there, like my boy's an altar boy, same thing, like big blink fans.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it and then like to further add on to that, I saw this Rolling Stone article, they're like the fourth most influential band of all time, like next to like Led Zeppelin.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like I believe it.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it it definitely tracks.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: I I believe it.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: And the the crazy thing is, is like I think the internet in a roundabout way and social media has kind of blurred our sense of time, like in a really weird way.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like five years ago, ten years ago, felt a lot different than what it feels like now.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like the scope, scope of five years only feels like a year now, scope of ten years feels like only like five years.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you have all these different generations that are repeatedly being influenced by bands like Blink 182, Green Day, and I I'll even go so far to say like Fallout Boy, like the early Fallout Boy stuff, and in bands along those lines.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it's something I like asking as far as kind of figuring out who your range of influence is and what kind of inspires what you write today.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's so fair.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the pandemic effect, I want to say, too.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like 2020 was how long ago?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: There's no way it was five years ago.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like that shit still blows my mind.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like it was last year.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, I'm I'm so glad you brought that up because the a lot of the pandemic kids uh, you know, have been graduating high school like last year and this year.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: The kids that started high school in the pandemic like are now graduating, and it it does blow my mind how long ago that actually was when it just felt like you know, it in in when we were in the thick of it, it felt like it was never gonna fucking end.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, I know.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: I I hated it so much.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that was when internet noise just came out, and like that's something I always tied to that album.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, all right, we had all these plans, like we just put out Famous, it's still like our biggest song, and we're like, all right, this album's gonna be it, like we're gonna launch, and then like fucking whole world shuts down.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: I can't even go into Walmart without like putting on a mask and suiting up, and I'm just like, damn, like everything's gonna shut down shortly after, boom.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it was it was all done.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: So we had to adapt.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: So did you guys have the title for that album before the pandemic happened, or did you title it after the pandemic?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was before.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's fucking ironic, dude.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, weird, like a peek into the future, right?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like, but we were like we had a ton of different names.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like one of them was like do or die, and it was like it was before the album art was sent to us, and I had like this idea I was like, all right, what if it was like an army helmet?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like like the Blatoon movie, like fucking cover with like the helmet and the fucking uh cards on it.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Because like it was the hardest we worked on our music ever, and I was like, Alright, this is like do or die shit.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: And um I think I think at the time Dom, who was in the band, he was like, I'm not really bothering with this, keep trying different stuff.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: So then we um I forget who came up with it, but internet noise, because it was like breaking through the noise on the internet with our music, there's so much shit out there, and like I feel like exponentially it's worse now.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like everyone and their mom has a fucking band, and like, hey, yeah, everyone has the right to, but it's like so much more congested, like fucking traffic in the city, and so they go, Oh my god, dude.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's funny because you know, I think that's where my memories tie to in that year is how everybody was communicating, whether it be through how the TikTok boom that happened that year, people using Zoom all the time, and shit.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: I I can I can personalize it to myself.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: How many new podcasts started as a result of the fucking pandemic, dude?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right, yeah.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it really was.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was the year of internet noise for sure.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the meme where it's like like bro, does not need another podcast, like like there's so many out there.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like we did so many too, and I'm like, I don't want to do anymore.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm saying the same thing every time, like right.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, dude, I I tell you, I I started mine in the fall of 2020, and I thought, I thought to myself, you know, I was in the music business for a long period of time myself, and I thought to myself, whenever I started it, I just needed to do something creative so I didn't go stir crazy.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um most of the people that started podcasts around the same time, they don't have their shit going five years later.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: So there you go.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: So there you go.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: You made it, dude.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: If you made it through that time too, like I look at it the same way as I did like recording.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like by no means hit me up to record your album because I'll fuck it up.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: But like I've learned how to I learned how to use logic to the point where it sounds good enough for the ideas, like that that's the demo process.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not recording our official shit.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Hell no.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: There's way too much that goes into that.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not doing it.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's bring it from 2020 to 2025 and let's talk a little bit about Jersey Fresh.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: This album drops on May 30th.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: What was kind of some of the thematic influences that went into this album as far as lyrics and songs go?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, nice guy, again, I gotta keep singing the praises on that song and giving you your flowers on that.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: That song's fantastic.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: But what went into that album?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um a lot of fucking feelings, and uh in a way it was like getting back to where we were with internet noise.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I wanted to emulate that same sound where it it was more anthemic and like I kind of tried to picture myself on a stage with these songs when I was writing them, and I was like, I don't want to write some fucking avant-garde shit from like the suburban dictionary era where I'm just like that.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Was also like the pandemic phase, or I'm just like, let me just play this because this is like cool right now.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I I like a lot of stuff on that album, but I really wanted to dive back into like who I was, who the band is as a per as people, and we're from fucking New Jersey, South Jersey, arguably the worst spot for art.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: So we we said, fuck it, Jersey Fresh is the album name because we don't care anymore, and we're just gonna rep it.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Love it, love it, love it.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: And man, you I was just uh I was on your Instagram and I was looking at it, and you guys are really getting ambitious hitting the road in support of this.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna start at the end of May and you're gonna run until September.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's like some old school style touring, not like this satellite shit that everybody does anymore.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, it's all weekends though.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be fooled.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: But like we're like don't be fooled because like we're all like working and shit to support this band, and like we're all like, oh shit, can we do that with our time off and whatnot?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: But we are uh I'm like I would love to do this band full time, even if I'm dirt fucking poor.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like if I can support myself, that's all I want to fucking do.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna build a fan base in every city we fucking can, and then yeah, and it looks like you guys are getting ambitious with where you're going to as well.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, like some of the shit doesn't even make sense.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we're just driving out to Indiana to do one show and we're like, fuck it, we're just gonna do it.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because like you never know how it'll go.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't think we had any reach in the city Phoenix until we played a fucking show there, and then like it turned out great.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, okay, I'm gonna have this mentality from now on just be positive.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, even if it sucks, like driving 10 fucking hours, like let's do it, see what the fuck happens.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care if there's ten people there, that could be ten new fans.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I think that's a that's a process of you know, understanding what your work ethic and your routines are supposed to look like, and really kind of the cost of making it a career is you have to take those big swings.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: That way you don't like leave anything on the table and say, Well, we should have done this or we should have done that.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I'll hate myself if I never fucking do it.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'll I'll I'll be like, I'll be old and I'll be like, why the fuck didn't I do that?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like but um you're right.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: So in 10 years of doing this band, are there any experiences that you've had that you would have never imagined you would have had before you started this band?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think on our last tour when we played, we were playing with Fluorescence, and just like the amount of people that was there, and then like, you know, like it of course they were there to see the like the both of us, but still it was like one of those moments where our Aaron and I's first show was like me and him at a coffee shop, and I had a loop pedal and we were just making it work.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: And to like actually be using backing tracks and like a metronome and everything, it's just like surreal, dude.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I try to remind myself, like you know, it's been a journey, and if I've come a long way, we've come a long way as a band, and to celebrate the little things and not like get caught up in like oh, you know, we could be doing so much more, so many artists blowing up on social media, blah blah blah.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just trying to focus on what we can do and how far we can take it.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm cool with that.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm happy with that.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you mentioned the uh the SM word, uh, social media and streaming.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about both of those things because uh because I know a lot of bands have big big feelings about both right now.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I know bands that do not want to be content creators, and I know bands that fully embrace the process and you know are having some success because their song is used in a trend on TikTok or something along those lines.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: What's your relationship with marketing your band on social media like?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I I wish we were a band that didn't need it.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like I wish our shit just blew up organically and like I I feel like there are bands like that, yeah.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like they're just non-existent online, but like their music's so good it just carries the weight of itself.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't hate social media.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen it work for us, and I've seen I've also felt like the low where like you put three hours into editing something and then it doesn't do what feels like anything.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I I like I kind of wish we didn't need it.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: But when it works, I'm happy with it.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I I'm pretty uh flexible with it, I guess you could say, but and at the same time, I wish it was like 1990, we could all fucking just tour and like not worry about it.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like it'll be so cool to just do fucking music and you know honestly, I'll I'll I don't even think you have to go that far back.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: You could go back to like 2005 whenever there was a platform like MySpace, and MySpace like made and broke bands every single day, especially bands in your genre.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like MySpace was tailor-made for the pop punk, the emo, the screamo, the post-hardcore, and all of those types of bands.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I just I really I'm gonna sound like freaking get off my lawn boomer, but I really wish social media was more simplified back to the way it was back then as it is now, because I view it as a valuable tool.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: I just hate the fact that everything is algorithmic based now.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, you know what I hate when like you see people that are like yeah, like they try to help musicians, and they're like, if you're not posting three times a day, then you're never gonna blow the fuck up.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, bro, fuck you.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't maybe today I don't want to do that.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like right, you know, like I I don't think there's any right way.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes a song just fucking hits, sometimes a video's just fucking great.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, then you get bands that are like they just catch for whatever other reason, and like I don't think anybody knows what the fuck to do.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're all just kind of fucking winging it.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, dude, uh you are you are speaking my language here in this particular situation, like, because it's no different for me as a podcaster, because that line between podcasting and content creation is so fucking thin.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's like I'm not aiming to be an influencer or this, that, and the other thing, but I gotta fucking make content if I want people to watch or listen to my show.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like it's like It is the absolute worst.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's my I I enjoy doing it sometimes, but when I'm not in the mood to do it, I just don't want to fucking do it.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: And like everyone is entitled to that.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like we all have lives outside of like being artists.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like, yeah, okay, like art is like your life to it to a certain respect.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I understand that, but like yeah, at the same time, it it becomes like redundant and repetitive.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: And like it makes me like kind of appreciate bands that maybe take a step back.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like I like I like what we're doing right now.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: We we used to do everything at once, like play shows, record, and whatever, all at the same time.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like so stressful.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like now it's like, okay, if we could do an album every two years, and like maybe a single in between, and then play a shit ton of shows, I'm cool with that.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, everything else in between, it's like I need some downtime.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And and the expectations of people to promote your stuff, you you made a really good point where there's a lot of people that say, hey, you need to be posting three times a day, you need to post this time a day, you need to do this, you need to create this many pieces of content.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: So all of that, dude.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: It it absolutely sucks.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: And and what's you know, what's funny in you know, just kind of sharing a kinship with you is you know, with before we started recording, we both agreed, like, we won't talk politics, we won't talk religion, but that's the clickbait shit, and that's just it.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, as a podcaster, I refuse to create clickbait.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna have some famous person on my show lure them in with some lurid question just for people to engage with my shit.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that is like that is the lowest form of like being insulting and dis and disrespect that you can have towards a person, you know.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: Unless they're like little Nos X and then you like they're just to trigger people in like when he did that, even I was like, Whoa, is he doing it?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's like a it's a bit.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, and and and I and I imagine like musicians kind of f fall into the same category.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, well, you know, I'm gonna get a scantily clad chick in my video, and because you know, she'll lip sync my song, and you know, all of a sudden people are clicking on every single post that I put up because they want to see her again, and it's like it's it's cheap and it and it cheapens the art in the process, and so it's it's really frustrating, I'm sure.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if any if anyone wants to do that with our music, I fully invite them to do it.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: There it was! You took the bait! You took the bait! Damn it.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: Right there, just sold sold it.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: So let me let me ask you, do you like the new way that music is released?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: I've been asking a lot of artists this on my show lately, like the trickle out release process as opposed to just boom, here's a single, six months later, here's the album.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um do I like it?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I've known anything else.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's always been trickle out a single, trickle out another single, trickle out another single, and then eventually release the album.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it it's all the same shit.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: It just changes a little bit.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like I think, I don't know.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not a fucking expert.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think the new thing now, it's like record a song and then be like, should we release this?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm guilty of fucking doing it, because I see bands do it and it works.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't work for me.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: And like I'm fuck it.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't even care anymore.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to put I want to tease the song if people like it, cool.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'll be like, all right, it's out on the state, and then hey, we're playing some shows.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Please give us money and buy t-shirts.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's all it is at the end of the day.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like everything else is fucking bullshit.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's the musical version.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's the musical version of big news coming soon that every fucking band does.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: And everyone, everyone feels this way.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: I promise you, everyone feels this way.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like like some bands are fucking killing it and they do it really well, and maybe they have more resources to do it.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, hey, good.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be your biggest hater from the shadows.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm totally kidding.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm totally kidding.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Shit, yeah.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: So before the album drops, are you gonna do another single or are you gonna just kind of ride the high of nice guy?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we're we're gonna put out a new song called Forever.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's without bows, which is our our brand, I guess you could say, or whatever.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: People love it.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: I I think it's annoying because people were like, what does it say?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, well, fucking, I don't know.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Just try your best.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: But uh Don't you play Wheel of Fortune, motherfucker.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: But we got that.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: We might put out one more for feeling ambitious, uh, between, you know, just to like really hook people in, like, you know, I'm not gonna listen to this album.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't like the four songs, but hey, that last fifth one, you know.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see what happens.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, yeah, uh, May 16th, forever is gonna drop.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: What is uh what's your relationship with physical media?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: Are you gonna release this in physical copies or is it gonna be strictly digital?
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: No, I love vinyl.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I own some vinyls when I have extra money to spend on them because they're so expensive, but I think they're really cool.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad that they're back.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: Anything I feel like physical, yeah.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh, it's a way for artists to actually make money, besides like praying to God you land on an editorial playlist, which I mean in this day and age, if you don't have a fucking label, I uh or you go viral.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: I don't see that shit happening.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um I know some great bands are way bigger than us, and it's like they have the same struggle, and it's like, okay, it's nepo political bullshit within the music industry.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, fuck all that shit, dude.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to make music.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: I hope people like it, and you know.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's why we're doing our own label and shit, because I don't wanna I don't wanna play politics.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: So are are you releasing Jersey Fresh on vinyl?
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh you can pre-order Jersey Fresh on vinyl through our website or social media.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we got a t-shirt too, but yeah, we uh we're doing uh yeah, I think that's it.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: No CDs.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: No CDs, just vinyl.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, awesome, awesome.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: So if you were to kind of look into your crystal ball and be Zach Stradomus and look six months down the line and two years down the line, where do you see yourself in six months?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um we're probably still gonna be playing these shows.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I would like to start expanding my network of like writing music.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like I want to um I want to try new things with the process.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh my buddy Tyler is gonna help me do it in Nashville.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I think me and him kind of have some loose plans to like meet up at some point.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know when, because like our tour schedule is so fucked up.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: But um that's a six month, the two-year mark is the next album, for sure.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I've noticed in recent years, and I don't know if you have as well, but there is kind of this pop punk renaissance happening right now.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, from the podcaster perspective, you know, I get pitched a lot of bands pretty much on a daily basis.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: I go and I listen to the band, and if I dig what they're doing, I'll be like, hell yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna have them on.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'll follow them on the Instagram and and and and we'll make it rock and roll.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I have noticed an upswing in newer pop punk bands, borrowing from what we talked about earlier, the Blink 182 influence, and uh, you know, updating it.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: Is that something that you've noticed as well as far as being a music fan and somebody that plays with other bands?
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, I'm guilty as charged.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: I I I do the same shit, and like sometimes I'll write a blink song on it, oh can't can't use it.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um as far as other bands, like newer bands, I'm trying to think.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: I I wouldn't say like directly.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: I I feel like and I'm I'm a big like machine gun Kelly fan, like I liked a lot of his stuff, but you could tell it was like produced by Travis Parker when he first kind of came out, and I'm like, oh, this is like a reimagined Blink Riff in a way.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: And at first I was like, I was pretty purist about it at first, and then I really listened to it and I was like, yeah, this is actually pretty dope.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny you mentioned that.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: I was Story of the Year used to ha do a podcast, they did the Page Avenue Crew podcast, and they were talking about their favorite albums that came out, and this is like two or three years ago, and it was the year the first Machine Gun Kelly pop punk album came out, and they're like, it is so much better than it has any fucking right to be.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like it was so good, and it got so much hate, and there's like a whole documentary about it, and I watched it and I was like, damn, I I'm even more of a fan now, and I didn't even want to be at first.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's weird, weird how it works.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna ask you my world famous closing question that I ask every single band, band member, podcast guest, fighter, whoever the fuck does my show, and that is what is your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today by using your experience and the way you see it?
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's a great question, honestly.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: Be uh be a good person, don't be a piece of shit.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's pretty basic.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um make art and don't care if anybody fucking likes it.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like it's so cliche.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like there's a better answer.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um It doesn't have to be complex.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: You you you hit it.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: Trying to think of something better.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like I feel like that's too generic.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like everyone's gonna hear that and be like, yeah, I'm gonna be a piece of shit tomorrow now because you said don't do.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like for me.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: I try to fucking like I I love the band process, so like for me, like I don't know, like I feel like it's my way of giving back in some way, shape, or form as fucking as fucking uh terrible as I feel like that sounds.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's just something I enjoy doing, and like it might not always make sense, but like it like logically, but it makes sense to me.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: So like it makes me happy, so I'm gonna fucking do it.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like if someone out there has that same drive to do something, even if it doesn't always make sense monetarily or whatever, fucking do it.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, do it because you like it.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I agree with you.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's power and reciprocal energy.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like creating things just to make somebody else's day better can make your day better.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: Or like acts of kindness seems kind of exactly.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and it can look so many different ways, but I 100% agree with you.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Zach, why don't you tell all of my listeners and viewers where they can find Friend Circle online?
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: Friend Circle is on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube, wherever the fuck.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: We have a website where you can buy our vinyl, you can pre-order our vinyl, you can pre-save it on Spotify now.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: It comes out May 30th.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, my name is Zach Johnson from the band Friend Circle.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: It has been great chatting with y'all.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: Mike, thank you so much for having me.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: This was the more fun podcast I've done in a while, so I appreciate that.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, I tell you what, we're gonna get this circulated into the world.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: More people are gonna know about you guys.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: I see that you guys don't have a date landed yet in my neck of the woods.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about it offline, but uh, hopefully we can run into each other in the real world and uh make this happen again.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think about that?
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: I would fucking love that, dude.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: Zach, that's awesome, bro.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for doing the pod.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: The world's a much better place with you and it, my friend.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: Damn, likewise.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: I want to thank my friend Zach from Friend Circle for joining me on the podcast today.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you follow them on all social media platforms.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're kind of hard to search out.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: So let's sell it.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: F R N D C R C L follows.