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Major League- Brian Joyce & Nick Trask · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: 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_03: Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: The early 2010s Emo and Fox Both teams produced a lot of bands, but only a few created that stuff with fans long after the tour has ended.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_03: New Jersey's main tourists were one of them.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: Building the following DIY way to get the balls for the story that started after a moment's time for a lot of people coming of age in that era.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: Now, nearly a decade after their farewell, the band is back together with the original lineup and celebrate the 15 years of the third fit.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_03: Today, Bryant Join Trap join the conversation as we connect the early days of the band with where Wife and Major Reek are today.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mike.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Caught on the Mike.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_03: And today's episode is a special one.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_03: For the first time in nearly a decade, New Jersey pop punk staples major league are back.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: And they're celebrating 15 years of The Truth Is and they're taking it back on tour.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_03: From BFW hauls and DIY van tours to international stages, this band helped define an era of early 2010s emo and pop punk.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: And after disbanding in 2016, which we were just talking about, they're reunited with the original lineup.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: And today Brian and Nick are here to talk about the reunion, the growth, and what this next chapter really means.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_03: Guys, welcome to the show.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for having us.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_03: Amanda, this is this is an exciting moment in time.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: April 30th.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: You guys start this tour with Hit the Lights.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you hadn't toured in nearly a decade.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: What was the exact moment when this went from what if to actually doing this?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it has yet.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's still so fresh.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Nick and I hadn't spoken in 13 years.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then we we got dinner one night last March.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't it wasn't really meant to be anything, just kind of like a hey, I would love to be friends again.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: We haven't spoken.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: We kind of had like a weird, murky thing.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so we got together.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: One thing led to another.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: We decided since it's been 15 years since the truth is, maybe we'll put the vinyl out.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people have asked for it for years and stuff, and now that we're talking again, it would be cool to do something.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that very quickly snowballed into that sold that record sold out, and then the uh we got the show offer.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: We were like, Do we want to do a show?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Do we uh and Nick was like, I haven't sang in 13 years.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about that.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um we we did the show, um, and then literally stepped off stage and uh Anthony, who was hit the lights manager, just like came over, put his arm around us, was like, How about a tour?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so um, so yeah, it happened really fast.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: It was uh literally a year ago to this day, like we had just started texting again.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's crazy to be now preparing for a tour.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_03: So wow, and you know, kind of picking up what you said there, haven't sang in 13 years.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: Like, kind of fill me in on what this experience is like.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's an experience, I'll tell you what.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, like uh so when I left, I kind of just forgotten, or not forgotten, but kind of like removed myself away from everything, right?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, we were kind of talking about social media, but I removed myself from social media and was like, I want to focus on a family.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I have a son, he's seven, and um, I ended up I've been farming for the past six years.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: So like I'm so far removed from everything.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and when we started talking about doing this reunion show, it was like, okay, I need to go see a vocal coach.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I need to start like doing things again.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, it's like going back to the gym, you know?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it was a it wasn't overwhelming per se.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think there was a lot of self-doubt of like, can I do this again?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because when I left, I was very stressed, and you could tell, you know, in my voice, and I was very self-conscious about that.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: So it kind of got into um building and boosting my confidence to be able to be on stage again in front of you know however many people.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, dude, I I I no way, shape, or form do I want to make any of this about myself.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: But the reason I asked you that because of my own personal morbid curiosity.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: I sang in bands from the mid-90s until 2012.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: And at least once a year, I have a promoter reach out to me and he's like, hey, look, why don't you get this band back together and let's do a reunion show?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I tell you, I am scared shitless every time I get asked to do that.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_03: For one, I am so far removed from the junior high girls' locker room politics of being in a band that I'm like, I can't do it anymore.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_03: And two, the physical thought of it, I'm like, no way in hell I would be able to perform like the Screamo level shit I was doing when I quit.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: Nah, man.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: I like so I ended up, I lost like 30 pounds in like three months.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I was hitting the gym, I was running five miles, you know, every day.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like it was if we're gonna do this, we need like we need to be good.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: Like we can't we can't just go on stage and just be like, all right, here we are.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we need to be good.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: Like we needed to make it worth it for people.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I I think you put a lot of pressure on yourself, but it's nice that uh all that pressure that we did put on ourselves came to fruition and kind of uh bloomed from there, you know.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so with the band having ended in 2016, Brian, did you do anything musically after the band ended?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Nick left in 2013, and I was uh I just felt like we were just on the come up then, like hard feelings was kind of like doing its thing, and uh and I just wasn't ready, you know, to stop.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, uh we we had talked briefly, like I mean, Nick left, we all got together, we're like, hey, what should we do here?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what's the plan?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: And um we spoke briefly about it, and the guys were just like, Why don't you just sing?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you wrote most of the songs, why don't you just sing?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: This way we don't have to bring a new guy in, and then it also leaves the door open if like six months from now Nick's like, hey, that was dumb, sorry.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to come back, we don't have to kick another guy out, I can just step back the guitar.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, which obviously didn't happen, but um, so we continued for another three years and then uh basically got strong armed into not being a band anymore, label drama.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but um I again just this was all I was ever gonna do, you know.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like I at like 15, I felt like I signed a contract with the universe or whatever it was and was like, this is it forever.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So like um, you know, coming out of the band at 25, we broke up when I was 25.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: So like coming out of the band at 25, I was like, dude, I have no discernible skills, this is all I've done.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't like I can't even be a bagger at Whole Foods if I wanted to.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so like, yeah, I I continued doing music and now I like I produce for other bands and do songwrites, and um, and I have my own project that I've been doing as well.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and to kind of piggyback off of Nick and like the whole reunion thing as well was like coming back, my wife was like, Why are you so stressed and nervous about this?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: You still do this all the time.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I know, but not with that.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like part thing is such a different beast than this is what I'm doing now, because I do it at my leisure now.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if I want a tour, I'll go out and do a tour or something like that, open for somebody.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: But like, it's not something that I'm like hit the ground running, all this stuff.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: With that, it's it's got its own ecosystem, it has a fan base, it has and it with that also comes the pressure of making sure you sound like you used to, and or better, and like whatever else.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, there's just so much with it.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_03: That dude, that is that is number three.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_03: If I said the drama, number one, two, the physical capabilities, but three, having that damn polish, like you can't jump back on the stage and just like raw dog it, like you know, it's your first gig ever.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_03: Like, people are gonna expect the best of the best, and like you to be, if not as good, but better than what you left it.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're you're a thousand percent right.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that and I think that it was like uh the biggest like factor for us was we we're all in our 30s now, mid-30s, and whatnot, and we're looking at it as like so are our fans.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Some of these people might be coming with their kids, some of these people might, and chances are like these kids that were stage diving back then and front flipping, whatever, are now gonna be holding up cell phones and wanting to capture the moment.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: And and it also comes with the pressure of this one sucks and sounds bad, you're not getting booked in anymore.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, nope.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Let's try and be somewhat decent here, so yeah.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: So, 15 years later, how does the truth is feel differently compared to when you first released it?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good question.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'd say for me, it's a lot of like memories and nostalgia, right?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's uh there's a lot of memories tied to each song, and to kind of put myself back into that mental state of where we were.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of like there's some songs on the truth is that we talk about where like, why did we write that?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like we that's absolutely terrible.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like, but then you go and you appreciate it for what it is.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Like we were kids, and the things that we went through to write those songs, like that makes sense.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't I don't feel the cringe, you know, when we did that reunion show and we played the truth is from front to back.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't feel the cringe, you know, like I used to back in the day.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: This sucks.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: Why are we playing this song?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, you can appreciate it for where you were, for the memories and you know, everything.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like Take Me.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: Take me is, I think, one of my favorite songs now off of that, because it, you know, I remember we, my wife, or my she who was my girlfriend at the time, we were in New York City, or she was going to school in New York City, and we drove up and we parked the van and we surprised her.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: She came walking down the street.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: We opened up the side of the van and we played Take Me Acoustic in the middle of you know, New York City in the streets.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like, that's so sick.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I get to think about that every time I I sing that song now.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, from States Away, right?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's no longer about the relationship, it's about my family.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a lot of things that I can interpret differently now in those songs and really appreciate.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: How about you, Brian?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think the the it's yeah, the charm in it, like that we were so young.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I'd spent really after Major League, I wanted to remove myself so much from it.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh, because again, we're 19, 20 years old and whatnot when I was writing those songs.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: And and so I I realized as I got older, and I the more rooms that I got in, and writing rooms and whatnot, and you meet people and they're like, wait, you were in Major League?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, how is that an accolade?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like that was like a thing of like, what do you mean?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think that like the us coming back to it, like Nick said, you find the charm in it and um and the songs.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Nick was just here.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know, I don't even know how we're doing this right now.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: We were up at 5 a.m.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: driving him to the airport.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: He was just here this morning.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was back in Delaware.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so we um but like when we were writing here this week, uh, he and I, I just had those like feelings that I did when we were living together when we were 19, writing, you know, I don't like you whatsoever, things like that.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Where like he and I are sitting there and it's 2 a.m.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: and we're eating Tostino's pizza rolls, and just like, all right, what about this for the second verse?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think about this?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like kind of thing.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: And and now to do that, like, you know, at this age and come back to it, um, it it puts like such a nice little spotlight on that EP because it set the tone for all of this.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: It it kind of like it set the stage for, and like Nick said, the cringe of feeling it at the time as we were writing new songs, and you're kind of like, oh god, that thing we did three years ago.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: But now that we're so old, so much older and far removed from it, you you feel that like, all right, kid, I hear you.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I hear what you're going for.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's fun.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, yeah.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_03: So, has you know, I think we all have had that moment since 2020 and living through the pandemic where our relationship with nostalgia has changed so dramatically.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: So, having walked away from a project like Major League and then coming back to it, has that also influenced your relationship with nostalgia?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, absolutely.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's I think it's cool, right?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: So um, I talk about my family a lot when I talk about Major League and I talk about you know my journey.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I've I always, you know, tried to talk to my son about you know where I was because my wife was she was with me since the beginning of Major League.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like we've been together since she's she's been through all of that, you know, trying to talk to my son a little bit about it and show him videos on the internet, and he's like, that's cool, dad, you know, and just kind of roll his eyes.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: And then then he goes to that, you know, reunion show that we played, the William Center sold out 700 people, and he's like, What is this?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: This is awesome! And he understands now, like uh, you know, he understands that I'm going out to California to write music and to, you know, meet with people, and he understands about going on tour.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's cool that I get to share that nostalgia now.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's it's definitely a cool feeling.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's reinvigorated uh what I want in life.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know, before I I I talked to Brian a little a little bit about this while I was out there in California.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, but I'm I'm so content, right?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: I have I have a job, you know, I'm we don't make a lot of money, but I'm okay.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'd rather have time than money.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: But to be able to put my time and energy into something that I'm passionate about, I think is well worth that, right?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yeah.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know, the genre itself, and I correct me if I'm off base, but it seems to have a renaissance every five to seven years.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: Like where it dies off and then it comes back bigger than it was before.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: And and we've seen several iterations of that.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you guys came up in the VFW van DIY van tour era.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: What made that specific era of the early 2010s so special and can it ever be replicated?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be that like old man yells at cloud and says, like, and it can't be replicated, like what we had was special.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's versions of it because I I remember when we were first coming up and we would get shows with bands that we grew up looking up to and stuff.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And they would tell us stories like, yeah, but you guys don't know it like we did.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: You guys have GPSs now, we had maps out.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: So every generation has their thing, right?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I I do think for us the the special pocket that happened was we were on the cusp of what the internet was kind of bringing to things, and so we were still getting I feel like it's really indicative of like how the internet has affected my entire life because I also remember being a kid and riding my bikes to my friends' houses and going out and playing and stuff, but also remember my first screen name and when the internet was introduced to our house and all that.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's the same thing with the touring.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Our first couple tours, we did have an almanac.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: We like we were sitting there just kind of like, are you reading that upside down?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like we're going south right now, kind of thing.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and it turned into, oh my god, yeah, here we are.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, we have like access to like instead of pulling up to a mall and being like, Hey, you guys know of any shows going on tonight?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we're trying to play type thing.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're like emailing promoters because we found their thing on their website, on their MySpace or whatever it was.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so it made it a lot more accessible, but it also made it the wild, wild west.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because in today, what like especially for what I experienced with like my own projects and stuff, you have that like, oh, you don't just cold email somebody.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: You have to know somebody, they'll be expecting your email because you don't that's just not coaches, not what you do, kind of thing.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas like back then we were emailing everybody, and it and they were like, I don't know, are they someone?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've never heard of them.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: They're from New Jersey, they're trying to book a show in Shiprock, New Mexico.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: I if they're coming through, I guess they might be somebody.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we're like, Yeah, dude, we're totally somebody.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and then we show up and there's like it's just like us and the stray dogs in the parking lot to play to.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but like, yeah, I think that that's what felt so special about that time was that we were seeing the transition happen of fans coming out of nowhere and they were just huge on the internet, and now they're on huge tours, and you're like, whoa, what?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: What how'd they do that?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so, well, they promoted themselves well and they, you know, were utilizing the contacts on the internet.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's also still the other side of it of like we were just pulling off the venues, being like, hey, we saw there's a show tonight.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Can we pull a 15-minute set?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, any way we can jump on this, and they're like, screw it, yeah, go ahead.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we're like, all right, sick.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: So there was like a balance, and I think that was like really, really something that I like, especially going back to the nostalgia thing, that I just like love so much about that time period.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, as the band got bigger and we did bigger tours and things like you know, whatever else, that that was all such a treat to have happen to us.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, when I tell these stories now, it's always from the like us sleeping in Walmart parking lot stories and stuff, and like us breaking into a water park in the middle of the night stories, like the things that like we did when like it was like super DIY and printing our own merch in the trailer and all that kind of stuff.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, there was just like there was just something about that cusp, that like Tumblr internet kind of picking up, but still being able to slip through the cracks and like you know, all that.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: You set me up so good for this next bit of discussion, because I think I I reference what I call the MySpace era of 2004 to 2009, because 2009 is essentially when it died and Facebook took over the world.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_03: But when I look back at the music industry at large, that was probably the last big, big, big bubble of the old school industry where you had a lot of DIYers learning self um soft marketing skills and how to promote themselves through soft marketing skills.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_03: You guys became a band kind of after the MySpace era and then ended the band in 2016 when there was a a vacuum.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_03: You guys essentially existed in like that pre-content creation era, so it was almost a little bit more wild west for you guys with that big gap, was it or was it not?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: No, it for sure was.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think I'll I'll let Nick finish this one off.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: But to start it, like, yeah, it when the band broke up, I didn't even know what Spotify was still.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I like genuinely.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I had joined another band after Major League, and uh and we were touring one time and they were like, Yeah, they're not iPod.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, Yeah, why?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, dude, just download Spotify.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: You 10 bucks a month, and you can listen to anything you want.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, What?
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it was like still so foreign to me.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: And now it's like wild to me because your Spotify numbers are everything.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's like these vanity numbers that everybody wants you to have, these like, well, what are your monthly listeners?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, who cares?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, our band's sick.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and it's like, but they don't care about that.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, Yeah, every band's sick.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you what what are your numbers?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that was not a thing for us.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was still very much like we would just show up and we're like, Yeah, dude, we're huge in Philly, don't even worry about it.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we can still and they had no metric.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: They had no metric for it.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: We were just like showing up.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, that that was like it was weird to see that transition.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then, like you were talking about earlier, coming out of 2020.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's all it is.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's all like if you're not if you don't have some numbers popping off on some sort of website, like come back when you do kind of thing.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: And and that to me is so scary.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I can't imagine how hard it must be now being a an artist trying to come up.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, uh, Nick, if you want to like piggyback off of that, but yeah.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, like the the amount of work that we put in, you know, back in the day was very much let's figure out money.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how can we get there?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how can we just put ourselves in those positions to build those fan bases and then grow, right?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, but we were you know, we were talking about emailing all of these booking agents, and I we were I was literally just looking through the old spreadsheet that I had of like all of these booking agents.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: I still have all their contacts and information.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: And um, but like that was I think uh what Made it so special was because we were experiencing things.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: We were experiencing it with the the community, with the fan base.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: And now I feel like you almost have to work even harder.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, uh it's it's almost more stressful now because there's no set way, right?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's I have to figure out what kind of content that are going to capture these people for 10 seconds to where they keep scrolling and don't forget, you know.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: Brian and I were talking about that before.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's like you're you're now on social media where you get everything in these little blips.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: And if you like something, you go, oh yeah, that's sick.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: And you don't immediately switch to go find out more about them.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: You just keep going.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: And then you try to remember, right?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: So how do you how do you make yourself um stand out in a like a vast ocean of all of these other artists trying to do the same exact thing?
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I think I'm hoping that we'll see um, you know, VFW shows and all of those things start to prop up, you know, pop up again, and you kind of go back into that old school mentality of, well, I'm just gonna fucking go.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm just gonna go there and I'm just gonna play.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like I saw a reel from Set It Off, you know, um, I think it was like a month ago, where Cody was showing um like how they had signs and they would bring iPods with their headphones.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: We did the exact same thing to malls.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's how we promoted our music back then.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: And that was so fun, and it was such a real interaction that it's so, so much harder now to make something feel real that's actually fake, you know?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's funny you just said something about the uh like you can just scroll up, but you have to keep their attention for like more than 10 seconds or whatever.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: What we got lucky about with that was we had to play these shows and be in front of them.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: There was no internet, and there was also no re-entry.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to stand here, baby.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like you just have to watch us now.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely, absolutely, dude.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: What was funny, I was I was in a text group with a couple of my buddies earlier this week, and we were actually discussing about how I feel, and this is just me shooting from the hip here.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like we're watching the slow um end of slow social media right now.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_03: Like AI is taking over everything so heavily that people are not gonna know what's real versus what's fake, what's synthetic anymore.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_03: That hopefully that does encourage people to go out in the real world and discover things the old-fashioned way again.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I am gonna be the old guy shaking his fist at the clouds, but we're right there with you.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_03: But like, I tell you, nothing made me happier than seeing Jimmy World play at an Arby's last week.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's like this is this is what this younger generation needs to see.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: And just for words of encouragement to you guys, and as a father of teenagers, specifically a teenage daughter that's sang in a band, kids are hungry for it.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: They are ready for it.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: They like I am seeing deposits of talent unlike anything I've ever seen before, and they have tools that we didn't have when we were younger, like to refine that talent.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_03: So I there is a silver lining behind those clouds that I'm currently screaming at.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: I I agree with you for sure.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: And also to that, I was going to say that I believe that the kids will be alright because I feel like they're they're so resilient.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna take that back because you just mentioned Jimmy Eat World playing the Arby's and all American rejects did that back backyard tour lesson.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: I just think people are gonna be alright.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think that the AI thing, we I think they they underestimate how and I they as in like the industry itself, because you know, um I think they underestimate like people yearn for that creativity, they want to see a human do it because they want to believe they can do it too.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: And if they can just sit there and type it into a prompt and everyone can do it, then that's not really like then what's the aspiration there?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: What's the like what are you going for?
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that like to to see Jimmy World do it and all American rejects.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: So now you have these bands that don't need to do this, they can go and play in Arena if they wanted to or whatever, but they are doing it, and then you have the kids that are also coming out, and like there's these bands like this band that I follow now, they're called Pool Scum.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: They can't be more than like 12 years old, they're a cool little hardcore band.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: But like these kids rip, and their shows are like sold out VFWs and like losing it, and and I just like it warms my heart because I'm like, it's not gonna win.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we can shake our fists at the AI clouds right now, but it it were we'll be alright.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, I don't know if the industry will be alright, but we'll be alright.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: The creators will be alright, and and I have faith in that.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe that's my like overbearing optimism, but so leaning into that optimism when talks of reuniting the original lineup started, were there difficult or healing conversations that had to happen first?
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, there was a lot of healing conversations.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think Brian and I um we both have the same exact story of we're driving up to this uh diner, the colonial diner, and we're sitting in our car, and I think Brian was talking to his wife.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: I was talking to my wife, my wife, and we're like, why are we doing this?
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: This is so stupid.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like, why are we even talking to each other?
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: You know?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then as soon as we walked in, uh Brian was Brian was sitting in the lobby, and as soon as I walked in, I just had this giant fucking smile on my face, and we gave each other a hug.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, it felt it felt like we were family, man.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like we we spent more time with each other than we did our actual families, and we lived together.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: So um, but I think we had to go through a lot of what we went through to where we could get to this point, and there was a lot of things we needed to talk about and just gauge each other because you know how it is.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_02: You get in you get in your head and you think something is a certain way and it's portrayed a certain way, and somebody feels a certain way about you.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: But reality, they're just human, you know, like we all make mistakes, and we were kids, absolute kids.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I'm glad that we were able to both be uh better in our lives to to come together and talk about this stuff because it's so important, you know, moving forward, like we we try to be really transparent in everything we do.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_03: You know, so I know that question kind of came out of the left field after talking about AI and social media, but there is uh a relevancy to it, and that's the fact that I think because of social media and everything that we have going on in society, our relationship with time is a lot different.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like you have a conversation with somebody and you say, Hey, the pandemic was six years ago, the world shut down six years ago on Saint Patrick's Day weekend, and you're thinking, no, it wasn't six years ago, it was a fucking year ago at best.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, no, it was six years ago.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_03: And so, because of social media and the fact that we're constantly inundated with scrolls and information non-stop, our relationship with time has just become shorter and shorter and shorter.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_03: So that real world aspect of reconnecting with somebody in the real world space makes you realize how much time really has passed.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_03: Am I off the base there?
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_03: No, 100%.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's funny you say that.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: We were just at coffee with a friend of mine while we were out here, and and we were talking about work tour in 2015 because Major League was on it and stuff.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: My friend made the joke.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: He was like, You know what's crazy?
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, What's that?
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: And he was like, Work tour 2015 is closer to COVID than we are right now to COVID.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to throw up.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, dude, that sucks.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: But it's but you're you're a hundred percent right.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that is, I think that was the biggest part for me with Nick and I meeting up again, is that like for years I like Nick said, like, in my head had played all this, like, well, he probably hates me.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: We had this falling out, we had this thing happen, and then like I had said this when he left the band, and he had said this to this person.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: And like, there's all these things, and I think the longer that time went on, the more that I was like, man, if I could just get to talk to him again, I'll just let him know that like I just want to meet you where you are.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm I don't need to talk about all that stuff.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't need the like I don't need an apology, I don't necessarily feel like I owe an apology, and like once we were able to meet up again, that's kind of where the conversation went.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about some of the heavy things, like kind of right away, just like, hey, look, I'm really sorry about that.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: And both of us exchanged the you don't have to apologize thing.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh dude, you know, I did this though, and I did that.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I think once we realized that, like the redemption arc is like the best story ever told.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let people grow, man.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's there's like time has passed, and like Nick said he left when we were 23 years old, 24.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, dude, I think about my 23-year-old self now, and I'm just like, oh, buddy, you need a hug.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like, because like I thought that like I was supposed to have everything figured out, and I think part of that, my parents are young, so like my parents had me at like 19 and 21 and stuff.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: So like I was hitting milestones that my parents had hit, and I'm thinking, like, 23, my dad already had a two-year-old.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: What am I doing with my life?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, just all the pressure I was putting on myself, and now I look back, I'm like, dude, babies.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we weren't we weren't supposed to know what was happening.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think that that also helped with that, like having that time apart and that growing and healing process for all of us, not just Nick and I, but for the rest of the guys as well.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: When we all got back together, it there was this feeling of like, I want to meet you with where you are now.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I want to know who you are, who have who have you become, who is the father that you are now, who is the what jobs do you do?
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think that that's like such an important aspect when we talk about the transparency thing of where we are now and how we move forward is knowing where we are, knowing where our boundaries are with things, because there were no boundaries back then.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: We were we're just beating the shit out of each other in this little band.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like now it's like, okay, so where are our boundaries?
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's it's I don't know, it's just beautiful.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's the time apart has made me appreciate so much of what this is able to be this time around.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you almost took my next question away from me, but now that you guys are in the thick of it, what feels significantly different about this chapter?
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: I think it is.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think it is what you know, Brian's saying is like we're we understand each other.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like, there's no pressure.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: There's no like if you can't do this, you can't be in the band type deal.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's hey, can you can you make this happen?
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_02: And if you can't, okay.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_02: Are you cool if we have somebody else come in and make it happen?
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, for for what the majority wants to do.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: And everybody's cool with it.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_02: There's there's no obviously there's stress and there's other things that we put on ourselves, right?
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: That we're we're trying to learn the internet again, we're trying to do all these other things.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_02: But but we we're doing that to ourselves, it's not being put on us.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: And everything else that is so uh that affects us personally, I feel like there's nothing being put put on you that should affect you personally.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: Because when we started talking about this again, the main thing that we wanted to do was have fun.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_02: And if it's not fun, then what are we doing?
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: This is totally not worth it, you know?
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_03: So now that the toothpaste is out of the tube, what's it fan reaction been like learning that you guys are coming back?
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I had mentioned earlier that like we we wanted to make sure because our fans are older now and they're coming to our shows and probably gonna hold up their cell phones and capture it instead.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was completely wrong.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: We came out during that set, and the second the riff for I don't like you whatsoever started, I got pushed out of the way.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: Some dude front flipped into the crowd, someone else stage dove off the thing, someone jumped off the drum riser, and I was like, Oh man, we're back, baby.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I was like, I was picturing this thing being like just very like this will be chill, and everybody'll be like have their phones up and they'll sing along, and it was pandemonium, and uh and it was so I I had also mentioned it earlier that like bringing their kids out, like seeing kids stage dive and stuff.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like there was like my friend Alexa and Matt, they brought their son with them, and he's only like nine or ten years old.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: And like I watched Matt lift him onto the stage and then him turn around and jump into like Alexa's arms, and they like crowd surf them back and stuff.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: And like things like that is like to be a generational band is such a privilege.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: To be something that your fans can now introduce their kids to, and their kids are becoming fans of it, and we're seeing it even just on our social media and stuff, just seeing like I'll see somebody comment on it or whatever, and they're like, This is my first show, so cool! And you click on their Instagram and they're like 12 years old, and you're like, oh my god, 12-year-olds have Instagram, this is crazy.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: But to be a generational band is like what an honor, what a privilege to like span this thing.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and I just think it's beautiful.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think that it's like it's a really cool opportunity to have, and and especially for people like Nick and Matt are guitars who have their own kids as well.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because uh all in all, like my whole want to do this at all is to inspire people the way I was inspired by my creative fans.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hell yes.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: Want to create because I want I want other people to be like, I'm gonna do it better than that guy.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: And like, and it's like please do, please do, because it's fun fact, I have no clue what I'm doing.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, it's it's it's such a cool opportunity, and and I I feel so like warm-hearted with the way it's been received so far.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm gonna throw out some flowers because you guys are going out on the road with Hit the Lights.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_03: And fun little anecdote.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_03: So my buddy, he doesn't do it anymore.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_03: My buddy was a professional wrestler, wrestler.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_03: I'm talking like WWE AEW level professional wrestler.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: He's been on WWE television as an extra a couple times.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_03: His walkout song when he used to wrestle for one of the local organizations was the song Gravity by Hit the Lights.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_03: And and and hit it has become my like when it pops up in my workout mix and I'm in the gym, I'm like, fuck yeah, it's on.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like the gravity.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, oh yes, yes.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_03: So what's it gonna be like going out on the road with such a great band, like Hit the Lights?
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_03: Does this tour feel like a time capsule of an era?
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_02: Dude, everything we've done is feels like a time capsule of an era, right?
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_02: We had like with the punches and Forever Came Calling on our reunion show.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like that was absolutely insane.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: That felt like 2012.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, to have to to do a co-headliner with Hit the Lights, we were we were talking about doing something more, right?
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_02: We were we didn't even play the show yet and we were itching, you know.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: We were just like, well, what if we did this?
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what if we did this?
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: And we talked about, well, just play like 10 one-offs, you know, a year and like that'll be it, you know?
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_02: And when we started talking about doing more, it was like, well, who should we do this with?
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_02: Hit the lights.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: Hit the lights would be sick.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: And they had the same thought when they were planning on doing something too.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_02: So for us to be able to do something with them again is gonna like it's unreal.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be awesome, man.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_02: The energy is gonna be super high.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I didn't have the privilege to tour with them, but Brian did.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, just hearing stories and meeting those guys for the first time when we saw that uh we went to their show with um Homegrown and uh Set Your Goals, like just meeting them for the first time, this is gonna be absolutely the epitome of fun.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like, that's what this is gonna be.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm so excited.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_03: So the million-dollar question is is this strictly a celebration run, or is this the start of new music in a true second chapter for major league?
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_03: It's the start.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is, man.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: I I I have to say, I uh like Nick coming out here this week.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: We we weren't sure.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: We were we were very much like, let's see how this tour goes, let's see what happens.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but Nick coming out here this week and the the batch of songs that we wrote while he was here.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I was the first to be like, hey guys, I'm really happy we're all friends again.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's a different part of my life, man.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: I am not that person anymore.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not like kick around on stage pop punk guy anymore.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'll put out this vinyl and we'll we'll do the record sales, but like that's as far as it goes.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: We got the show offer.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: I caved and was like, okay, fine.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: My wife was really egging it on because she had never known that part of my life.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: We met two years after the band broke up.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: So for her, she was like, Come on, come on.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you're not even allowed.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um she wasn't even allowed to watch the YouTube videos in our house.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, the video would come on, and I was in the kitchen, like, turn that off! Like, what are you doing out there?
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so, um, so like it was a it was a super hype thing.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: But after Nick being here this week in the batch of songs we wrote, I was like, damn, it's go time.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is like I think this is gonna be the beginning of something really cool.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I just feel really proud to be able to do it and and to showcase like the the last 10 years of us being apart and how it's coming together and being like, yeah, we didn't skip a beat.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, uh I think this is you know, it's so cool.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_03: So, with this new Genesis, Nick, how do you feel creatively as a vocalist in this uh in this new era of major league?
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_02: Honestly, so we've been kicking around some stuff for a while, and you know, before the to be really transparent, like we like to be, right?
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_02: Before the before the reunion show, we were in the studio just kind of recording some things, and that was that was a terrible experience for me, for me personally, because you know, I felt like I put so much pressure on myself.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_02: I put so much pressure on myself that I need to perform, I need to do this, I need to be up to, you know, up to par with not have done that forever.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, what Heart Feelings came out in uh was like 2012.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like that was the last, those were the last songs that I was a part of the writing process with to jump in there and I wanted to be good and I wanted to be great.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm really happy with how this session came around being in California because it was like the truth is, you know, we talk about nostalgia with the truth is.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_02: Another thing is the way that we wrote that is by I think I went outside to smoke a cigarette and I come in and and Brian already has something, you know, recorded, demoed out, and it's a riff.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, play that again, hook up the mic.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_02: This is and it's that like the connection.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_02: I had a vocal melody in my mind outside that I was working on.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's the best.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_02: And Brian had never heard it.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't hear what Brian was writing.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_02: And for us to like walk into the room together and go, this is it.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_02: We're on the same wavelength, we're not, we're on the same page.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it felt so good.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I feel I feel better about myself and more confident to what I can bring.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like we're back, you know?
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, I love hearing that because there is nothing better than to walk into some and hearing something fresh and those creative juices going right off the bat.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_03: And and dude, I tell you, like my the last band I was in, like, we had a whole third album written.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_03: I couldn't write a lick of shit to anything because I was putting so much pressure on myself.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_03: So I know exactly what you're talking about.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_03: Guys, I have absolutely loved getting to know you guys over the past 45 minutes.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like, it is just flown by like none other.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so with that said, my closing question, and it's my curveball question that I throw to everybody.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um, through your personal experience and everything you guys have coming up, what's your advice individually, one at a time, for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today?
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_03: Through your eyes, appreciate it.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: Appreciate what appreciate the world for what it is.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we talked about time.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_02: And time is so important that's something that you can't get back, and appreciate the time that you have.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_02: Even in the small things, you know?
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: My flight home sucked, but I got to experience something that I thought I never would be able to experience again, right?
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_02: And to come home and my family's super excited to to see me, and it's it's one of those things.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_02: Just take it day by day, minute by minute, second by second, and really appreciate things for what they are.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um I would say patience is something that I've always had a really hard time thing with, and I think with that patience comes uh I think a lot of the time.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: We like mistake people's just ignorance for malice, you know, um, which is something I did a lot when I was younger.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was just like, this guy didn't know better.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: We were both 23 years old, he didn't know any better than I did, but his ignorance in it, and also not and not being in my head, I'm thinking like this is sabotage.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like to meet people with, like I said earlier, like meeting them where they are and saying, like, okay, let me understand where you are with this.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: I try to do it a lot when I'm driving because I'm an angry driver.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: But to see to see a car, it's easy to get mad at a car.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then you pull up next to the person and you see it's an old woman, you're like, that's somebody's grandmother, dude.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: Don't like, you know what I mean?
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that like it's helped me a lot with things like that, where like it happens, and I just take that immediately commenting at this person below take a breather.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: Is it even real?
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: The person you're responding to.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: What's their profile look like?
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is it just a picture of a dog?
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: Then it's probably not a real person.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you mad?
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and that's the I that patience, that little second of just if you breathe it out, I think it will snowball and domino itself into the people around you, the experiences around you.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: And uh that's my whole thing.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_03: No, I love it, man.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_03: I I one of the things I do outside of this podcast thing is I uh I do commentary for um a fight organization, and my co-host he has this app on his phone that locks him out of social media for certain blocks of time.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_03: That's sick.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_03: And then and he and he has to do all these exercises and all the secondary screening shit to even get back into his social media.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_03: And and you're absolutely right, everybody could stand to take a beat before being so wrecked like reactionary because we are such an instant gratification world anymore.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I have one of those too as well.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh my wife.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_03: She just guys, why don't you tell my audience, anybody that's watching this or listening to this, where they can find you and your music online?
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: Everything social media is at major league nj, backslash major league nj.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh major league, good luck googling it.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty broad band name.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_02: Major LeagueNJ.com.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_03: Do NJ because I've looked up another major league before, and it's like some horn band from uh Louisiana, and I was like, man, I'd be excited to talk to these guys too.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_03: But no, for real, guys.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_03: Nick, Brian, I have really enjoyed this conversation.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_03: You guys need to know that you have an ally in me moving forward.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_03: Appreciate you so much for doing the show.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_03: The world is a much better place with you guys in it.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, brother.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate that.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_03: Mike Black.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_03: Once again, I want to thank my friends Brian and Nick of Major League for joining me on the podcast today.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_03: That was a lot of fun.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_03: I don't admit this very often, but I was just sitting back and listening to the episode, and I really enjoyed their perspective and their story.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_03: Make sure you're following them on Instagram, MajorLeagueNJ, and go check out some of their past music.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, there may be future music to come.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_03: While you're being generous with the follows, make sure you're following at Caught on the Mike on all social media platforms, and please subscribe to my YouTube channel.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: All of your support really helps grow the show.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_03: You can visit me online at www.caughtonthemic.com.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_03: I am long overdue for an update, but it's coming soon.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_03: And shoot me an email, caught on the mic at gmail.com.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_03: This has been Caught on the Mike with Michael Clark.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Michael Clark.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_03: Until next time, thank you.