Latest / Caught on the Mike... / SUNBURNT

Transcript

SUNBURNT · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: 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_02: Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: Stunburn uses deep influences into its ideal and modern active.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: Joining me on the podcast today is Justin and Alex from the band Stunburn.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: Though they have been veterans for many years, Stunbirth is a relatively new project just coming together shortly after the pandemic.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: We talk about their origin story.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: I share my affinity for my first impression of the band, and we spend a little time sharing a sense of optimism as to what's to come.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mic.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Caught on the Mike.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you a little bit about my history.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: You guys know it.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: You watch the show, you listen to the show.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a former musician myself.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know, bands that I used to love: Story of the Year, Atreyu, like I used to love high-energy music, things that would get a crowd going and get them excited.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: This next band that I am about to have on got me excited.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Their publicist sent me their music.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: I jumped to Spotify, listened to it multiple times.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: I sent it to some of my friends.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: They were like, hell yes, I can get behind this.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to get all of you that are listening to this or watching this on your phones, on your TVs, wherever.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: I want to get you excited about this band.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: Alex and Justin from the band Sunburnt joined me on Caught on the Mic today.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: How the heck are you guys?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm good.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: What's up, guys?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: How are you doing?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: Ah, this is this is awesome, man.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: I I gotta tell you, I have probably listened to in front of me no less than like 10 times on the drive to and from work today.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: Heck yeah.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Hell yeah, man.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks for having us, Mike.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're stoked to be here and um we're stoked to chat and just kind of tell people about who we are and what we have yet to come.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: We have some stuff that's you know, brewing that we've been trying to get ready and get out there for what months, huh, Alex?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well let's let's get right into it.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, without any further ado, why don't you guys go one at a time?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: Alex going first, introduce yourselves and let's start talking about your origin story.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: Let's get the world familiar with Sunburnt.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well, I'm Alex.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I play bass and sing uh some vocals, some harmonies in Sunburnt.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, basically, I started doing music earlier on as a kid.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: My mom and grandma played piano, um, so kind of ran in the family, um, joined middle school band, picked up a bass guitar, and it was kind of the rest was history from there.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, met Justin around 2009-2010, and uh we were in a couple bands before that, and we've been friends ever since.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so similar, but I didn't join the high school band.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I'm not a nerd.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um just kidding.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I I started playing guitar first.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't really realize that I am I'm Justin Tyler.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: I I sing and play guitar in Sunburn.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I start first started playing guitar because I just didn't realize that I can sing.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I played started maybe taking lessons maybe I was like 12 or 11.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then you know, during that time era, it was totally like the emo, like taking back Sunday.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I had the sweatbands, I had, you know, the Dicky shorts, I had story of the year shirts, you know, all that hot topic guy was there like every weekend, grabbing some new merch.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Or emo was a buzzword.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I just kind of you know fell in love with that whole scene.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it was the MySpace days, so you you could really like kind of hone in on it.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And um I had some bands, I had some friends that were in bands like that were a little bit older than me, and I just kind of like was like, dang, I really want to be in a band, I want to play guitar.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so I started, I just for first joined my band when I was 14 just playing guitar.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't sing at all, was in that band for a few years.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, then I went solo.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's where I kind of met Alex.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: He started playing bass for me uh in my solo project.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: We're in another couple bands, and then uh COVID happened, and we were like, you know what?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start from scratch and just start something that we really are excited about, that we really want to do, because we've done a couple different genres.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: And this one, we're like, let's hone in on stuff that we actually are proud of, that we know that we're good at, that is from our roots.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: We all grew up listening to it.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: So we really honed in on the pop punk, rock, alternative sound, and it's what we're good at, you know.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's not like it's any secret, we're not trying to chase a you know, something that we're not.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that a lot of people try to do that nowadays, and so like we're like we're just trying to stay genuine to like our sound that we actually like know how to do and sound good at doing it.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, Will's not here, but Will actually has been playing music with us for some time, and he actually is the one that brought it to my attention.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, dude, we need to like this is during COVID, by the way.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: He's in my kitchen, it's about my birthday in 2020, and he goes, We need to get in a band, and I'm like, all right.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like a week or two later, we had our first writing session, me, Alex, and Will, and we were writing demos for like it felt like I think a year or two before we actually like decided on a band name.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: We had we could not think of a band name, we wanted this this to be special because it's like we're getting to a certain age.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: We've done this how many times, you know, so it's like we need to make sure this is the right sound, the right brand, the right band name, and just hit go and just start on second base, like already, you know, just not like take our time with it.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: But this, like, we really like knew what we were getting into starting the band.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so we had like 40 demos, worked with all kinds of producers all around LA.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, we've gotten really, really lucky with just how quickly we got some shows and the producers that are wanting to work with us.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's been like pretty crazy.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, it's like it's crazy how fast it happened, honestly, just because we didn't have a band name.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we just to think about that, we didn't have a band name for like two years.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's this is kind of a common occurrence that I'm hearing about when I'm talking to fresh bands.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: Is there was a creative renaissance.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: If we were to find a silver lining about the whole COVID experience, there is kind of like a creative renaissance that occurred.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: You guys are probably the second or third band that I've talked to that said, you know what, it was in the heat of COVID, and we just got together and we're like, hey, and it's just just like I was telling you before we recorded, like I had the same thing.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I started this podcast as a result of like sitting around during that COVID era and being like, uh, okay, I I am on a slippery slope as far as mental health and everything goes.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: I need something to occupy me creatively so I can kind of have that outlet to the rest of the world.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: One thing you kind of mentioned that really stuck with me personally, and something I can kind of uh you know relate with you on is I stopped doing music at one point in time around 2006.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: My my daughter was about to be born, and I was like, okay, it's time, it's time to be a grown-up, yada yada, yada.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: And then I spent probably eight or nine months while my ex-wife was pregnant, like sitting on the couch watching Scrubs reruns and you know, getting fat.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so my old collaborative partner, guitarist, he started coming over and he's like, dude, you gotta start playing some music again.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and and I was like, Okay, if we do this, we have to do it right.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: The sound has to be right, the marketing has to be right.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: We have to be picky about what we release, what venues we play, what bands we play with.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's strategy.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: Not a lot of people talk about how the sausage is made sometimes.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: And whenever you were kind of telling the story about your guys' discussions initially as Sunburn, it really clicked within me because you know, it is about like maintaining a sense of standards, isn't it?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I think that yeah, you're totally right.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we're spending a lot of time, you know, money, we're all older in life, and so it's like if we really wanted this to be a serious thing, it has to make sense.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we're not gonna just be playing like some local pub, like all the venue's gotta make sense, and like the bills gotta make sense.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: No disrespect to the bars.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's just yeah, I'm not saying that's like bad or anything, but we've already done that.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: We did that for like you know, X amount of years, and we played so many crazy shows, and like, but now like we're in our 30s, and it's just like, dude, like we all knew I think that we would what we signed up for it, basically, is what I mean.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like we knew that we didn't want to go that route because we have done that for X amount of years, and we're just like we have I think the band name kind of ties into that sunburnt, just kind of being what was the word, Alex?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's just like Yeah, going through the ringer of uh you know many times and the music industry just being sunburnt on like the industry of just like it could swallow you and spit you back out, kind of thing.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, yes.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: So Alex, you've been playing music like even scholastically, like in school, you were you were playing in bands and and Justin ribbed you for it a little bit.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I mean it really started when I joined middle school band, like it literally happened when I picked that bass up.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: I was I just fell in love with it.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I was playing from then all the way through high school, and then you know, you it's the kind of the typical story.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't really like the cool person.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: I knew a lot of people in school, but I just never really fit in the whole high school thing, you know.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like you had to pick sides and hang out with these people, like yes, I just never had an outlet, so I had to, you know, all this music that I was into, I had to like find a show and ask my parents, like, hey, can you take me to a show?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just to find some sort of like similarity.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Yeah, I've been playing since then, and uh I've definitely dabbled in the different genres and stuff, but it's finally good to come back to something that I've really enjoyed doing in the first place, which is rock music, obviously, but I love everything though, like from funk to hip-hop.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's exactly what I was gonna ask you is you know, having that trajectory, including like curriculum-driven music throughout your life, how has your different influences like impacted what you're creating now with Sunburn?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I'll let I'll let you go first, Alex, and then I same question for you, Justin.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, yeah.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, um I think I'll fast forward like right after high school.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I actually went to school for audio engineering and uh you know for production and things like that.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, I love the band idea, but then I got more interested in like the the behind the scenes side of it and how you know a song comes together, and I really loved that whole approach to it.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how does how like people get into a studio and they they just jam out all day and like come up with stuff?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how does that work?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I got into uh recording and you know, just having that knowledge of uh knowing how to record and um like produce and things like that really helped me along the way.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then coming into Sunburn, it really helped shape us much faster in the sense of uh getting an idea really quick.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: So, like if Justin had a guitar riff, you know, it's like okay, sick, let's lay that down.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: There's no like there's no like being stuffed, like, oh, what do we do?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: How do we like record this?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, it's just like yo, things are plugged in, like, let's record this idea and um let's build on it.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um but it's definitely helped me just be a good uh producer in some way and a good writer, songwriter in some way, because um I think for this band, um sometimes in other bands people get stuck with uh just being in that in that genre.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: I like to be able to think outside the box and look outside myself as a listener, like, oh what do you think the listener might like?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like not just be so head, you know, head in, you know.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be able to relate to the listener too, you know, like especially you know, us being serious, in a sense, and doing everything right.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: I I definitely wanted to keep in mind of the conscious things that you know people go through in these daily lives, like so with like the lyrics and things, like a lot of it's about just our daily situations, people the things that people go through, um, that stuff.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I hope that answered it.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: Well, how about you, Justin?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like, whose fingerprints do you find as far as like some of the influences for you?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, um definitely when I was picking up the guitar for the first time, I was playing like you know, Hawthorne Heights and like Taking Back Sunday kind of stuff.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: But as I got older, you know, I definitely like Alex, I do like a lot of like hip hop and RB stuff.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um in some previous bands we were doing like just like straight pop music and like the whole Radio Disney stuff.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's kind of like where that tied into.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: But ultimately, it's you know, I'm a big Beatles guy.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: I have a tattoo of just like, you know, and I feel like they're like the creators of pop rock.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like that's my strong suit is pop rock, emo, pop punk, that kind of vibe.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so a lot of the bands, you know, that I listened to growing up, um, definitely play a part in like our writing.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in depth, definitely my vocals.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like when whenever we're recording vocals, like I'm making sure that I'm in the right range.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like I'm singing like a super big pop song, you know, like I used to, and it just kind of felt like forced.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's like I'm literally singing and we're writing to my vocal range, and it makes it sound that much better when we're actually laying it down.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: And our producer um had the idea of also having Alex as a like a primary vocalist in the band, and and that's something that we never had done in previous bands, just me being the vocalist.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: But on our biggest song, Alex literally sings the chorus in front of me, and so it definitely adds that dynamic part.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Alex is a great singer and he doesn't realize that, but like that is our biggest song, and there's a reason why, because it has that different, I think it adds a different layer to what we're people are used to maybe hearing from from us.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so now going into different writing sessions, we're mindful of like writing different parts for each vocalist and and and therefore.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, um, but yeah, having Alex in the band and being able to have like ideas like already like in the bank, it bringing it to the table for a session, it makes the session so much easier because we have like a starting point and we're able to be like, here's what we have, and then the producer's like, okay, I like this one.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna start like we're gonna use this one as our foundation and our base, and then we're gonna write it from here.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: And like it's crazy to see what the demo that would it was originally that Alex wrote, what it turned into of an actual sunburnt song, and it's fully released and has like a ton of streams.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's like kind of crazy to see that come to fruit fruition.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think I think sometimes, and I can only speak from my own experience, but when you are the primary songwriter for such a long period of time, it can be really hard to give up the reins of that creative control to take somebody else's input or to say, okay, I have to check my own ego for a little bit and let this other guy sing this part, and maybe it ends up being the best thing you've ever written, and you would have never known if you hadn't done that.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: And it it I mean, I mean, and that's exact that's exactly where I landed on my last project.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, okay, I gotta allow the guys to be a bit more cre collaborative creatively, or else I'm gonna be writing the same shit I'd been writ writing for the past 15 years.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: So so it it it sounds like it sounds like you guys have found kind of like your formula, and you know, citing the Radio Disney thing, I think that brings up another good point is if you understand pop music and you understand song structure, you start to write towards the hook, which is naturally and organically going to draw audiences in.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Totally, and I think that helped a lot with our I think just overall our individual growth in our career with like music and just our songwriting capabilities.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because now when we get in a room with producer or songwriter, whoever might be, we are so click, we click so fast.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: We like we'll we'll bring something to the table, we have the foundation that Alex brought to the table, and it's just like boom, we have a song within six to eight hours, and we have a demo bounce of it, and it's just like it happens so fast, and it's like I don't think a lot of bands can operate that way unless you have that um I don't know, just like neutral, like like I I what am I trying to say?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like um we're we're able to collab pretty easily.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I I think what you're hitting on is the fact that creative people in general it's not easy.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: Well, they it's not.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: They listen to respond as opposed to being listening to learn.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: So whenever you kind of get a room full of people, they're like, Okay, I just want to respond to the thing that somebody's giving me feedback on instead of like taking that feedback in and saying, Oh, wait a minute, this is a guidepost to make me better and make my art better.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's kind of what I was uh touching on earlier.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like I just kind of learned over the years, you know, to take a step back, you know, from my own opinions, you know, like sure, I have an idea, and like, but when I come with an idea, it's like, hey, let's try this out.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: If it doesn't work out, well, let's try your idea out, you know.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I use I like to take that step back and and be yeah, I think being in the studio is super vulnerable.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like you have like these ideas in your mind, and you're like, I think it's a good idea, but it's a lot of compromising when you get into a room with like three or four other guys, and there's like all just as good as songwriting, maybe even better, but you have to be vulnerable and just be like, Hey, this is what I have.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: You can't be like nervous to show it because maybe it is a great idea or maybe it's not, and we like we move on.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just like we've kind of like have learned a lot that we've been in a lot of sessions over the last what couple years, Alex, and like Sumber has like become what it is now just because we've gotten good at doing that, and uh the I think that the newest single really shows the best of our songwriting, honestly.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I'm excited for people to hear it.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think one thing it was kind of a blink and you missed it point, but you talked about the MySpace days.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: And and and you know, if you were to compare the MySpace era, the early era of social media pre-streaming versus the post-streaming like influencer culture of that we're in right now.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: The one thing, and again, taking a negative and flipping it to a positive, the one thing is is audiences can see through authenticity more now than they could in the MySpace era.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: MySpace, it was all about image.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: How does your profile look?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: What do you guys look like?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: How fast can you get to the hook?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: And like, can how many sing scene girls can show up to your show?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: Where now it's like you write all these, you write all these songs, and like all people have to go off of is that first like, is this a song that I want to listen to start to finish?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: Is this something that I can invest in?
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: What's the band's story?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean, for God's sakes, you guys are doing a podcast right now, right?
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you're kind of showing how the sausage is made right now, and and and the more of these you guys do, the more that people are gonna learn about you and want to invest in your band for that reason.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's kind of an amazing thing about getting or putting putting yourself forward in this era of doing it versus back then.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'll I'll definitely hit on this because MySpace, I feel like those bands had it way easier in like the pure volume days and like in like MySpace because you're You just throw up a song and it's like everyone would hear it.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: Versus like nowadays there's just so much work that goes into it.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: There's a formula with like TikTok and you know, reels and all these different things that you have to do.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's it's a lot harder to get seen, but also at the same time, there it's a lot, there's a lot more platforms, I guess, for you for you to be seen, but there's a lot of competition.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I think um we kind of went into this us in and not no, you know, I'm we're I just we're not a TikTok band, and I will say that first and foremost, just because we're in our 30s, we're not gonna be dancing on a camera, doing you know, whatever might be lip singing, but I do know that the their importance behind content.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: I do know that, and so that's why we want to do these podcasts, we want to do um as much you know, shows as we can, and I think that's where we show our actual um you know trueness is when we're on stage and performing.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: But I know how important it is to do content.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen bands get huge because of it, of them, you know, singing their song in Home Depot or walking down the street singing their song.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we you see it, you see it all day long on TikTok, and it's just like so.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: I know that it can get a band big, but I think if we were to do it, it just would feel forced.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what we said going into this band is that we don't want to do something that sounds sounds and looks forced.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so Sunburnt has kind of danced around the content idea and doing and dabbling in it and doing that and doing what we can and what we feel makes sense where we're not looking like we're you know doing stuff that doesn't oh absolutely.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: I totally get what I totally were get where you're coming from, but I do I do think that there is a law of obsolescence that kind of got that comes into play as well.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: Because you're right, like the social media era that we're in now, there is just so much.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: When they say five minutes of fame, it literally probably is only five minutes in real time in the grand scheme of things.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: And that was more the point that I was getting to with the authenticity thing, is what makes music careers and careers in the entertainment business in general is longevity, right?
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_02: And like the more people can invest in you as individuals, the the better your longevity you know tends to be.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, otherwise, otherwise, we'd be still talking about some of those MySpace bands that have kind of come and gone and come and gone and come and gone again, you know.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: So it's crazy stuff.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: So, Alex, before we started recording, you were talking about a show that you guys are gearing up for.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about that.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about the live.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of MySpace, um the show we have tomorrow, um, it's um with Hidden in Plain View.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they were a MySpace band.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: At least that's how I found out.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: They were a juggernaut.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're huge.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and the album that they are you know playing tomorrow, front to finish, is the album that, you know, or the songs that were on MySpace, but it's gonna be at the Echoplex.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's with us, another band that I'm actually playing into, and then hidden in plain view.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, has there been something that's occurred since you guys launched Sunburn that has surprised you as far as like who you're sharing stages with and some of the bands that have actually kind of learned about your band?
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I will say we kind of got, I don't know, our our very, very, very first show as a band was sold out at House of Blues Anaheim, and I feel like that was it set the bar really, really high.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Cause then, you know, we got brought drop brought uh dropped back down to reality.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: I after the couple last you know, the next couple shows after that.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: But like um, I was just surprised that our first show was even sold out and that people even came.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we opened for a band that's you know from Los Angeles.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we have been just we've just been super fortunate to be able to get on some of these bills.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um like most recently we played with a band called Winona Fighter, they're from Nashville, and they're just like killing it right now.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: They're just like going on their second run in the United States, and then they're gonna go over to Europe.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: But that's like, yeah, we we had a great time.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: We opened for them, up opened up for them down in San Diego, and that's also another surprising thing is that we've been able to not just play Los Angeles area, we've been able to jump down to San Diego quite a bit.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: We've actually played down there more maybe than up here in Los Angeles and Orange County.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Is we've played San Diego maybe six times, and that's some mark that's one market that I was not able to break in these previous bands, is that is to get down in San Diego and play venues.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's and so it's been cool to be able to play different markets, and I'm excited to continue that and expand our markets maybe to like the Arizona or maybe North Cal or you know central California.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we've been really fortunate to play a ton of shows in the SilCal area area opening for larger bands that are coming through on their tours.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um and a lot of it is just me just reaching out and just sending our EPK and just like, here's our Spotify link.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we've been people love it, you know, they dig it.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: There's a reason why we're on these bills, and I think it's our music shows that we're talented, and then you know, once we get on the bill, and it's just word spreads fast, and it's a small but yet large industry, and so people talk, and it's just it's it's a lot.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: I always tell Alex it's uh it's who you know, and we are in these rooms with these these people that are writing we're writing songs with, and word spreads fast, and you know, they're like those are good guys, and then next thing you know, we're on a bill with I'm not supposed to say this, but we have a couple of shows that we're announcing on Friday, but I think a lot of it comes from previous shows that we played with, who we wrote songs with, um, but we're announcing some shows on Friday that it's just like it's a full circle moment.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, damn, we just like uh yeah, that's that's so and so, and then it's like that leads to one thing, and then you get a show, and it's kind of it's kind of how it works, really.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've been uh we've been uh we've been pretty blessed.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like the last year, we've it seemed like we've had a sh show or two every month.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely the most shows we played in a band for the whole year.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think we played like over 15 shows last year, which is a lot for us.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was definitely like one per month, which is pretty good.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: Well, guys, I promise I will not tell anybody, but this episode is not dropping until Monday.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_02: So who were you announcing shows with on Friday?
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we just scored a couple dates.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, this band called Diva Bleach, they're from Arizona.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they are coming through on their West Coast tour.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna be playing Orange County, I think, in Los Angeles.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_02: Congratulations.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_02: That'll be amazing.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: So that'll be exciting just to kind of keep the momentum going after we release the single.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then yeah, we'll have some more shows lined up in the summer, probably.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: So if you guys were to look ahead and you were to kind of look six months down the line versus two years down the line, and I know that's kind of a wide span of time, especially in the entertainment industry where things are constantly changing.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: Where do you guys see sunburnt six months from now?
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: And where do you see sunburnt two years from now?
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: Alex, I'll let you answer this um first.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh six months from now, I I mean, I can see us playing more sh more shows, honestly.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: And uh hopefully in those six months, those shows are somewhere else but California, you know, because obviously if it's if it's not us doing any content or anything like that, you know, being that TikTok band or whatever, it's us being at these shows and and and really connecting with the fans and you know, saying what's up and letting them know how real we are, you know.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're all just regular people, but you know, we're doing we're all doing things that we love, and we hope that you like it, and you we hope you come back to a show.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: But um in two years, hopefully there's a record label behind our stuff, you know.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um we haven't never gotten to that level yet, so you know, we're just praying all the time every day that that might, you know, may happen.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um who's to say, you know, that you need a record label, but it would be cool to even just kind of flex it a little bit.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: But um, but yeah, it is either like a an a cool tour or or being signed, you know, something that has something that makes sense with us.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I I I just want to keep playing shows and make more music.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, there's maybe two albums, three EPs along the way in that point in time, you know.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: So three albums, well.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: How about you, Justin?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: What do you see?
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: Six months, two years?
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh six months, you know, I'll raise the bar.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think that we will be signed and we we will have a booking agent.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: Woohoo! Yeah.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: So in but yeah, I think that in the six months, I think that you know, we we have been a band only for publicly, I think since like June of like 2023 is like when we first started releasing music.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been a short time frame, and within that time frame, we've been able to release some good stuff and play some good shows.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I think in the next six months, with like this year that we had already has gone by, I think that we will, you know, only grow.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, I would love to get back in the studio and start writing some more songs, um, just so that we have some in the pipeline after this next release.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think this next one will definitely is gonna put us more on the map um and open some more doors when it comes to you know, booking agents, record labels, more shows, more opportunities to write with other people that we're not, you know, used to.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then maybe in two years from now, I would say, yeah, like national tours and like maybe trying to get it overseas and like have a full album out, um, doing the whole thing.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think that we have a really good opportunity here to kind of grow on and um feel like we're we're getting there.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I think two years from now would be yeah.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I gotta tell you guys, like the thing that I've learned in this season of life with me doing this endeavor, and I kind of feel like you guys are in a very similar place just on the music side of things, is that collaborate collaboration era, that social collaboration era, like surrounding yourself with the right people.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_02: You know, um, there's a line that I love, and it's like collaboration happens at the top, competition happens at the bottom, right?
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: And so you align yourself with the right people, and you have no choice but to succeed.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_02: You surround yourself with people that you respect, people you think that are better at their craft than you are.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's just gonna push the bar for you guys.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I gotta tell you guys, I am a fan of your music.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm glad to call you guys friends now, and I I am here for you guys as much as you need.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_02: So after we're done recording this and this thing is out into the world, you guys know that you guys can reach out to me anytime.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_02: I'm in your corner for sure.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: Hell yeah, man.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's that means a lot.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you've we only just met 30 minutes ago and you've already Yeah, dude.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: Come out to a show or just come here.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: That means I gotta make the trip from Nebraska, but but but honestly, I I I probably need to get the hell out of Nebraska.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: But uh my closing question for each one of you is my most favorite question to ask to every single guest that does my show.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_02: And we talked before we pressed record, where we say, Well, we don't talk politics, we don't talk religion, so we can kind of talk around it.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_02: But my question is is what is your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today from your experience?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think I mean I have this on my mind all the time, but it change does not happen unless you change yourself.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: You have to figure out all the things about yourself, all the good and all the bad, and you have to be able to uh acknowledge it and correct those things in order to make the world a better place.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think uh Yeah, I'm drawing a blank, Justin?
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: No, you're onto something.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think that the more good that you put out in the world, obviously the world is gonna be a better place.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much hatred online, in person, just it like kind of bleeds like from our country alone, honestly.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like our country, people all around the whole world are looking at us and like, damn, this freaking country is just like just sorry, I don't want to get on politics, but yeah, just like we scream like hatred, like we're better than everyone.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: I I travel a lot, and so I've been to Europe a hundred times.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: I've been, you know, Japan, all these different countries.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: We are like just I feel like we're so behind when it comes to that, and everyone is so respectful everywhere I go.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: I I live in Long Beach and you know Southern California, and I'm blessed to be here and from here.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, there is a lot of people that are just like you know, one fake or two, they just don't know how to be a good person.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh whether just be like in the parking lot of a Trader Joe's like grocery store, you people are so frustrated, and it I think it starts from just them being unhappy at home or something like that, and then they just decide to go and be mean to someone in public.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so but a lot of that is also stems from being online and just like seeing stuff, and then it's like a hate culture.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um but we are just so behind with that, and and every time I go to Europe, I'm like so stoked to be there because everyone's just so so nice, everyone just like stoked to see.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'm a tourism and I'm spending money there, but like they're also like welcoming, and it's not like we don't really get that here.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it was a whole different world when I went to Japan.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: That was they're like light years ahead of everything, they're so respectful, so clean.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone is just like so nice, and it's just like well, our guitar is just going there in a couple weeks, and I'm just like so jealous.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I I I just think it definitely starts with one looking at yourself in the mirror and being like, Who am I?
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: Do I need to be this you know, type of person when it comes to being like rude and you know, uh in just like I don't know, I I this is a hot topic just because I see it a lot.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: I have a son and I I don't want my son growing up in that in that world, but he's going to be, and so he's only like one or gonna be too soon, but like he's gonna be going to school, and there's other kids that have that household that are like they don't preach what I'm trying to say, and he's gonna they're gonna go to school and they're gonna start you doing that, and you know it it just like kind of sucks that we're in this kind of world right now, and I just hope that it does start to change as we kind of grow on, but it it takes time, and I feel like over the last several years we've we have really gone hit downhill as a country, and hopefully, music one is a is a great you know alternative to turn to if someone is not feeling great or down on themselves or not confident or they're frustrated with things.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think music is a great thing to turn to because especially like a live show, just you you go there, you can lose yourself in the music, you can focus, you you can make friends, you can go there by yourself, and you and everyone is there for one purpose is to enjoy a show and a live band that everyone likes and enjoys.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like Coachella was like this last weekend and next weekend.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people go there just to you know have fun and escape from reality.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if you're like really feeling down or like upset that your life is not going the way that it should be, I think music is a really good thing to turn to.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: I gotta tell you, and this is me taking optimism and gifting it to you um as a father of teenagers.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I've got I've got three teenagers all in high school, or well, actually, four four teenagers all in high school, and um they laugh at um the our generation right now and the generation above because of how divided and how spiteful and how hateful everything is.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_02: We're we're kind of like a mockery to the younger generation, and I'm not mad at that because that gives me the promise of what's gonna happen tomorrow.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_02: Because I do have faith that through art, through culture, through um just the ridiculousness that they are seeing every day, the future generations are going to be repairing um all the discord that's going on right now.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I I hope so.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_02: I really hope so.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I understand your concerns as a as a father of a toddler, and I I'm I'm here to tell you, man, there's promise, and just keep optimistic, and you are definitely setting the right example with your mindset.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_02: So, guys, tell my audience where they can find you online, everywhere.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we are literally on every platform, um, but mainly um Instagram, we are sunburnt.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: At we are sunburnt um is also pretty much every tag that we have on social.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: So at we are sunburnt.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we have a new single dropping next Friday, the 25th, April.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's called Promise.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's featuring Jaden Seeley.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: We're stoked for everyone to hear it.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um Alex, anything to add there?
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um come out to the show.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: Come out to the show.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, if you have the opportunity to see Sunburnt Live, check them out.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: I need to jump on a plane and go catch a show and just hang out with you dudes.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_02: But uh seriously, guys, uh this has been a pleasure.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_02: I enjoy your music.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_02: I hope after this episode drops, anybody that follows me goes and follows you guys.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, it's just the uh, you know, every everybody's gonna win by the time this is all.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_02: Appreciate that, man.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be on something big or you're gonna interview somebody huge and you're gonna trip yourself out.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_02: That's honestly, man.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna talk offline about that here in a few minutes.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_02: But Alex Justin of Sunburnt, thank you guys for doing the show.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: The world is a much better place with you in it.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, man.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_02: We appreciate it.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having us.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_02: I want to thank my new friends Alex and Justin from Sunburn for joining me on the podcast today.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_02: Make sure you give them a follow on Instagram at DRSunburnt.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: Check out their music on Spotify or whatever your preferred streaming platform is.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_02: They are an awesome band.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_02: I can't wait for all of you to check them out and check out the trajectory of their career.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's going to be an exciting one.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_02: While you're being generous with the followers, make sure you are following Caught on the Mike on all social media platforms.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate that subscription on YouTube.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_02: You can also visit me at www.cotonthemic.com.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_02: All booking inquiries can be sent to caught on the mic at gmail.com.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_02: This has been Caught on the Mike with Michael Clark.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Michael Clark.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_02: Until next time.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.