Latest / The Dark Stuff Podcast: The Interviews / WEIRD NIGHTMARE: Interview with Alex Edkins // New Album 'Hoopla' and Tour! // METZ

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WEIRD NIGHTMARE: Interview with Alex Edkins // New Album 'Hoopla' and Tour! // METZ · The Dark Stuff Podcast: The Interviews

• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everybody, welcome to the dark stuff.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for tuning in today and giving me uh or watching from my latest video.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: As always, it's much appreciated.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: So today my guest is Alex Edkins of Weird Nightmare.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: You may also know him as Alex Edkins of the band Mets, as the two are one in the same.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: But the bands Weird Nightmare and Mets most definitely are not.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: From 2007 to 2024, Mets released five albums of blistering, intense, noisy punk rock.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: But somewhere around 2022, Alex released an album of music under the name Weird Nightmare.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: The album blew me away, and it sounded absolutely nothing like Mets.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: It had a lot more to do with psychedelic pop and 90s alternative guitar rock than molten metal.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Longtime viewers or listeners may remember that Weird Nightmare's debut album was my number seven in the best albums of 2022.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in between albums, Weird Nightmare released covers from the Trogs and the Ramones just to show how varied their influences are.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Recently, Weird Nightmare released its second full-length album, Hoopla, and has just embarked on a tour that will find the band all over North America and Europe.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, Alex, to both the dark stuff and New Day Rising.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Glad to be here.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: So um you just started off with the new um the new album just came out last week, correct?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Just last Friday.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: On Friday, yeah.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you a couple of things.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: So before I get started with all the weird nightmare stuff, let me ask you just one question.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is the current status of Mets?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Is Up on Gravity Hill gonna be your final album with as with that band?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh certainly for now it is.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we're we're calling it a uh indefinite hiatus, but really it's just all three of us deciding to like step away for a moment, catch our breath, and um, you know try different things in in life.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we had been going full tilt for I think almost 17 years, and uh so it felt like a good thing for the three of us.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: It was a a decision that wasn't easy because that was our passion and our life and our and our career.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it also feels like a smart decision for the three of us for for many reasons.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: But um yeah, so you know, I think we've all hit the ground running in in different directions, and it feels good.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't like a you know animosity.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: There was just like, hey, maybe we're just gonna this might just be the end.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, yeah, it was just this feels like we need to take a break.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: And uh like I said, lots of reasons.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to get too too into it, but I will say that you know, being in a band, for those who haven't tried it, it's a it's a pretty wild scenario.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you're living in close proximity with people.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, it can it can be difficult to you know for everyone to get what they need from that scenario and for everyone to to remain happy.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's a tough, a tough thing, a tough balancing act.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: So um there's always that in every band, there's always tension, but um, I think I don't think that was at the heart of our decision making.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's go back to the beginning of Weird Nightmare.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: So 2022 is when the first album came out.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, from what I understand, this was sort of like a COVID project, like you were doing this during lockdown or whatever.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, was this just for fun initially, or did you always intend to release this as a some type of project?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I always try to stay busy making things, it it but it like you said, it was a reaction to the lockdown.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we weren't able to get together.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: We had Atlas vending ready for release, and we kept pushing it back, and our tour dates got canceled.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so, in in a kind of way to just stay sane and to stay busy, I started going to the studio at night and uh you know cobbling together these songs.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: I had no clear idea what it was going to become um or what it was even for, but that was why it felt so fun and exciting.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it's great to make things with no parameters, with no um goal in mind, and that was certainly how Weird Nightmare began.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um then when I kind of took a step back, I saw that there was a record there.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: A very, a very sort of varied sound as far as a record goes.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think it has lots of dips and dives and stylistic changes, but I still thought, okay, this is cool.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: This is a record.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think this, and and I showed it to the folks at Sub Pop, and they're like, Yeah, we love this, let's put it out.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so that although that wasn't my intention, I was thrilled that that was sort of what the result, and um, you know, felt good for something to be made in a very altruistic manner to get that sort of attention and get that kind of uh release by a great label.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, yeah.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: No, subpop is great now.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you played all the instruments on the first album, is that right?
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Or except for drums, maybe?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and um, is that sort of how you used to do it with Mets?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, did you used to demo stuff by yourself where you played the instruments, or is that a different way that you worked with them versus doing your own project?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I would demo it changed over the years, actually.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think at first we were hanging out a lot, and you know, uh everything was exciting, and we would spend a lot of time in the jam space together.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so we'd flesh things out that way.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: As things progressed, I would end up writing like pretty solid demos with a drum machine and with bass and guitar and vocal ideas.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Once I had that, we would all meet up and uh work it out that way.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: So that's not to say that the songs wouldn't change once we got together, because they would.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh arrangements would change, and certainly like Chris and Hayden have distinct ways of playing their instruments um that would guide guide the song and the sound and everything.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: So it would always change, but yeah, it was it was similar to the weird nightmare thing in that yes, I would bring the the bulk of the song idea in, and then we would um kind of hash it out together.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, um, this is sort of a weird question, but do you consider Weird Nightmare a solo project or a side project?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know the difference.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, it's my main focus, I'll say that.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's right now it's um it's exactly what I want to be doing, and it feels like it's gaining some serious momentum, which is super cool.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: When it's time broken, yeah, it's sort of the the most honest expression of my musical self right now, you know.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I think what I listen to daily in my record collection and things like that, I think it's coming out through the songs, and it's also just a a great outlet for like the kind of music I want to hear and the kind of music I want to make.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think to answer your question, it's it's just it's yeah, it's it's my main focus for sure.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, were the songs when you started doing the first record, maybe, um, were these songs that you had stashed away over the years and just thought, well, this might not be right for Mets, or maybe I'll do this on something else, and then you just kind of had them there, or was this just some spontaneous kind of outpouring of of ideas?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: A few of them were were like stashed away, and then for the most part, they were pretty spontaneous, like this really fun um exorcism of pent-up ideas.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and same thing with this new album, Hoopla.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: It was just you know, uh, didn't take long to compile the the the songs and the demos and stuff before recording them.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I love that about uh Weird Nightmares that it's it's really second nature to write these sort of melodic uh like concise pop songs.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, and uh that feels good when your work uh when your uh process is is kind of streamlined and easy, it's really fun.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: And uh uh I I certainly don't see that changing.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's sort of like I can I can uh pump out these songs, but it's not to take away from it I think I don't think it takes away from the quality of the fact that it's like a fast thing.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think sometimes your first idea is your best idea.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: No, not at all.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think it's great, and in fact, I was saying on the air last week on my show that like this Weird Nightmare sounds like my record collection.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so if I were to sum up all the stuff that I have back here, take out heavy metal or whatever, because I have a pretty good metal collection, but like you take out the metal, and this is what my record collection sounds like is Weird Nightmare.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's why I was so taken by the album the first time I heard it, the original one.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: And my take on it at first was I thought the first album kind of reminded me of late 80s, early 90s, Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that time where they kind of crossed over a little bit when Jonathan Donahue was sort of in both bands, you know, hit to death in a future head in a priest-driven ambulance.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, I listened to it last night and I don't hear that quite as much as I as I remembered hearing it, but I really did like it.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I do think the new album continues on with the power pop influence.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: You got your jangly guitars guided by voices, the birds sound like a big influence on the new record.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the kinks, a little bit of the replacements, Elvis Costello.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Is that the kind of stuff that you were going for?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: You were thinking of when you when you were making the record.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: I I wasn't really going for anything that I can pinpoint.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I I figure that we're all as musicians, sort of we are the sum of our influences.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of the things you mentioned there, I do listen to and love and find inspiring.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, you know, I think that comes out in the mix, in the in the I like to always think of it as uh my record collection and things like that, and of course where you're at in life at that time, is just kind of blended up, and then you write, and uh hopefully you know nothing is I I never enjoy songs that are like blatant homage, uh like a blatant nod to something.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: I just want it to feel like the artist, and I I want it to feel like me when I'm writing.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, but I think I come by those sort of sounds and um influences really naturally, and I love certainly am a big just music fan and record collector.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I think uh it it's impossible, I think, to not share my love of some of those things with with people when I'm writing.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Let me uh let me take you back a little bit even before.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, how many instruments do you play right now, and how old were you when you started playing music?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think around 11 or 12, probably is when I started to really enjoy guitar.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my mom had an acoustic lying around that I don't think I played very much.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was always electric guitar that I was drawn to.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I when I got one of those around 11, I think, I started to go to my friend's house and he had a drum set, that kind of thing.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like when when it was when you find some people to you know jam with or to make racket with, right?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's when it really gets exciting.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: And certainly it was for me.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was just like, oh, okay, this is exhilarating, this is incredible.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um so but it wasn't super early in my life.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't say that I come from a musical family in any in any way.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, and I'm not, and you know, as a as far as instruments go, I think I can sort of fake my way through a lot of stuff and dabble just because of uh, but uh, you know, guitar is the main instrument for sure.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, guitar's your main instrument.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: So well, did you have bands as a teenager and high school bands, or was Mets your first band?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Mets wasn't the first band that I played with, but it was sort of I'd say the first band that I would call my own.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um the other ones I was sort of you know following someone else's lead uh and loving that, but uh Mets was the first time it was like I was super focused on something.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: I had an idea in mind and kind of went at it ferociously, and uh yeah, and that would have been around 2007.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean I was not a young guy when that started.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: It was uh Hayden and I started it out of his basement, and you know, he had been in some really cool bands, but I hadn't done too much that I would mention, you know.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, so we got into it late, and it was I think it really helped us because we had sort of learned some of the things to avoid when being in a band, and and uh I think we knew enough that you know if we're gonna play a show, you wanna be ready for it, you wanna be super tight, and we kind of became quite regimented uh all throughout the meds years.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: It was like we were very serious about our practicing, our rehearsing, and our sound on stage, our our show, all of those things were um just built in from day one.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's the way it's the reason we kind of grabbed people's attention, is because when we came onto the scene, it was like a pretty fully formed idea and it hit people hard.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that was sort of because of some of the years we had already put in in other projects.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Someone only knew you, say, from Mets.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the difference in sound between Weird Nightmare and Mets is is pretty extreme.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now you kind of addressed this a little bit, but what was the general reaction to this new music from the people who knew you best?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: Most people that I know, um, they know me and they know and they know what I love.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's not a surprise at all.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I think melody and things were creeping into the Mets songs more and more and more.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it just wasn't gonna stop.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it was like, I don't think it surprised anyone I know.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: For people that don't know me and they just know the music of Mets, it's probably quite shocking.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um that being said, it's still to me, it's a punk rock record.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's a you know, it's melodic, but it's a distorted rock record.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so in that way, it's living in the same world sonically and aesthetically.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's coming from the same places, but it's more like you know, instead of dissonance, I'm leaning towards melody, which is what makes me really happy when I listen to records when you write songs now.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and maybe this is more in between Weird Nightmare, the first album, and Hoopla, the second album.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have a different sort of process or an idea, like, okay, I'm gonna do this one for Mets, or this is for Weird Nightmare, or this is for something else?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, do you approach it differently, or you just do your thing and it comes out the way it comes out?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think I kind of just do my thing.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: The process might be different.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like for Weird Nightmare, it probably starts with an acoustic guitar, like sitting on the couch, you know.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas Mets, it was like, okay, I'm sitting down, I'm gonna write a song, I'm gonna start with a drum beat on a drum machine, maybe do bass first.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like right so that was like a process of thinking about the three people in the band.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: And while this is like I think more of a traditional kind of songwriting approach where it's like you can strum an acoustic guitar in most of these songs, and that was a fun experiment that I I just kept going with.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: I just love it.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh and I think it's no surprise that when you do that, it's uh your songs go in a different direction.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: So, was there anything different in the way you approached this new record, hoopla, uh, than you did the first?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously, you have an outside producer, and I believe you have other people playing with you on the new record, uh, not just you.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, but was was anything?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what I guess what was the idea behind that?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Is it this is my new thing now?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm doing weird nightmare full time.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: I should do it in a more proper studio or other kind of way for musicians or anything like that, or no, not really, no, because this was done.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: This was so we still hadn't finished our Mets final tour when this was being done.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: So, like I said, sort of at the beginning of the interview, as I always I've got a a lot of projects on the go at all times, like a bunch of bands, and uh I do music for film and TV as well on the side.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: So it's there's always something, and this was this record had been finished um long before Mets sort of stopped being a band.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: So um there was no grand scheme like you like like you're saying.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think it was Seth's idea to sort of uh Seth engineered and mixed this record, and he had done a bunch of the Mets records too, actually.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: But he's like, let's make this, you know, not blown out as much.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Let's make this really big sounding and wide sounding and really make a good sounding record, because the first one was almost purposefully lo-fi, um, purposefully, but also I didn't really have much of another option because of the situation.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that just seemed like a good idea, you know, like why repeat yourself?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh that's how we went about it.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then when we brought in Jim from Spoon, it was like he's in the business of making meticulous, like beautifully recorded albums, and so we just kept on going with that idea, you know.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: We weren't trying to hide anything, we wanted the songs to shine, and uh we just had a blast with it.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it was not an in like some kind of plan, it was sort of just that's that's how it all um unfolded, and I I like to let things happen like that, you know.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, working with Jim was a bit of a fluke, he had just moved to town where Seth's studio was, so that was like serendipity, and then same with working with Lowell and Roddy, who played bass and drums.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's like those were the guys who I'd been chatting with, and uh Lowell had always been the drummer on these tracks.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, trying to say like it was it just kind of worked out that way.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Do you could you see a time maybe where Weird Nightmare evolved into more of a band, like in your in the old sense of like Mets where you have collaborators, or do you like it this way?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's your baby, and you kind of bring in people when you need to, but well, I'm getting yeah, I'm getting the best of both worlds, frankly, because when creating, there's a lot of freedom there.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: But on the road, like I've got this great bit group of guys who are lovely to be around and also amazing musicians, so it does feel like a band, you know.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we are a band, right?
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and uh so yeah, I don't see any reason to switch that right now.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think it works well.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm I certainly love their input as far as you know, our live show does sound different than the record because those guys are adding to the songs and improving them, and they're they're helping like with segues during the set and choosing the set lists and stuff.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it does feel like a collaborative effort out when we're out there playing live.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now, these guys in your live band, they're not the guys who you just referenced that played on the record, right?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: They're different.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: His bass.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: He he was on the record too.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: And what can people expect at the show?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Is it just gonna be a a mix of the two records?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have anything else uh special to we and we got a couple singles that we had put out in between that will that we sometimes pull out live, but uh yeah, it's just a fun rock show.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's you know a heavy heavy show that uh I think people will enjoy, you know.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's uh still pretty loud and banging, but uh these songs have got a lot of nice harmony singing and stuff, so it's a nice mix.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you mentioned your uh other singles, and it's so funny because you did that.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um Our Love Will Still Be There, which I knew as uh the The Fluid covered it back in the late 80s.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know that when I did it, and I thought it was a fluid song, so I was like, Oh man, cool, weird nightmare covering the fluid.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's a oh no way, and then I found out it was the Trogs.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was like an idiot because somebody was like, You know, that's like a song from the 60s, right?
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, Oh, okay, I had no idea.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: The band is out on tour right now, correct?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yes, we uh what what do we have coming?
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: We're doing some shows uh in Ontario and out east in Canada pretty soon.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: We've been busy, we just finished a West Coast uh US run, and uh yeah, lots more to come in the spring and summer.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't have a ton more questions.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of want to just more or less introduce you and the music to the audience here, but I always end my interviews by asking people do you ever wish that the internet just didn't exist?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we went back to a time before it.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes let's say that.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's my answer sometimes.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um I remember a time.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm old enough to remember when there was no internet, and uh I think I think there's a lot that of good that comes from the internet and being connected and hyper um hyper connected and all this information at your fingertips, but yeah, I think it can lead to a lot of you know sad stuff.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think it can make people really down and depressed and sad.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I know that I'm happiest when I'm doing something else that isn't online.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that's probably why I put my head in the sand and make records, you know.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's that's my way of escaping.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I hope that everyone has that escape, you know.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think we all need to um uh log off or detach or whatever as much as we can, because as much as you know, it's a great tool for so much, it's can spread a lot of negativity and hate and things like that, and uh, we don't need that.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, and I also think about the way it's altered the music business in a real way.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh, music business has always been shady and corrupt, and you know, there's always been issues with you know people not getting as much money as they deserve, but now it just seems like everything is ones and zeros.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: You have no idea whether anything is real with streaming and and all of that kind of stuff.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: It just seems like this this can't keep going at this rate.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't understand how it works.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because and you're you're an artist, you know it.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's you can't make money off record, so you do have to to tour more and do other things.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: It just seems like this is just not very not thought through very well.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: No, well, I mean, it doesn't serve, it only serves a small percentage of the the people, like the the rec the record labels up top, and the uh one percent of musicians, but you know, um getting on the road and selling actual physical records is a way to make a living.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, but that's getting tough too, because you know, it's everything costs more.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: But certainly with streaming and everything, it is a very confusing thing.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what to make of it.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: I try not to get trapped in that game, you know, of trying trying to you know get streams because it doesn't do any real good um for the artist.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think it does it's great for the listener, and to have all the music of the world at your fingertips is a is a beautiful thing.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, but it's I think there there should be a way to price ideally to make it work financially.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: You said it, you know, you said it.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like let's let's figure it out, but yeah.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna take a lot of people with a lot of more influence uh to step up.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think well, and the people at the top, they seem to carve out special arrangements for themselves, and then everybody else is left with just the other arrangement.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: So it is gonna take somebody, maybe like a Jack White or Taylor Swift or whatever, somebody major, to say, look, like we need to make this equal across the board.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah, I'm not I'm not a big streaming supporter, so I am gonna hold up the new CD.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is called Hoopla from Weird Nightmare.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: You can buy it on CD, on LP.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: You can stream it if you must, but it is available on CD and LP.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: It is brand new.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: It just came out.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: Weird Nightmare is on tour right now throughout North America, and then later on, they'll be going to Europe.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, again, there's also this first album, the safe self-titled album from Weird Nightmare.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's of course the catalog for Mets and stuff, but we're talking about Weird Nightmare today.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Hoopla, the new record.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: It is amazing, folks.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: The first one came in my top ten at number seven in 2022, and I'm anticipating equally, or if not higher, placement for 2026 on this new record.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: So um, it is with this that I will tell everybody to check out Weird Nightmare on tour if they're coming to a town near you.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Buy this album hoopla at your local record store or subpop.com or wherever you get stuff.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't make any difference to me.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's up to you.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Alex, for agreeing to do this interview.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: And good luck on the tour.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope to see you on the 27th in St.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Paul.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: I look forward to it.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all right, thank you so much.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it.