Latest / Caught on the Mike... / MOVIESTARZ

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MOVIESTARZ · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Disclaimer, the views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: In a world that feels like it is crashing and burning every single day.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you just need to disassociate and get lost in a vibe.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: They plan on releasing a bunch of music in the near future.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: We talk all about that, the unique way in which they've met, and everything that's to come, let alone their closing line, Newport Leach.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Movie Stars joins me on the show today.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mike.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Caught on the Mic.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: My next guests have a pretty unique story.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: They met in line at a plus 44 show in 2006.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: That was when Blink was on one of their hiatuses, I believe, and everybody was heartbroken, and they just hit it off right off the bat and started talking, and that led to a friendship that has cultivated itself in a brand new project called Movie Stars.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: They've got a new release coming out called Club Punk, and I am glad to welcome Tyler and Alex.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Alex is a familiar face if you are watching my show on a regular basis from movie stars to the show today.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, how the heck are you?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: Great, man.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having us.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: Alex, welcome back.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: It just feels like we were just talking.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like not even yesterday, like a couple hours ago.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is cool.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: Alex is like the co-host on like Jimmy Kimmel that's like always there.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, don't even start with the Jimmy Kimmel shit.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: I I get told I look like Jimmy Kimmel.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: So Yeah, you have Jimmy Kimmel adjacent energy for sure.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: Adjacent, I like that.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: I like that.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: You guys could definitely like be at the same Thanksgiving table.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, you know what?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's a true story.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Growing up, I found out my dad had illegitimate children.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So like when people started making jokes about how much I looked like Jimmy Kimmel, it's like, fuck, I got another sibling.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: If Jimmy Kimmel's brother was in a band.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right, exactly.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like a wannabe hardcore band.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: What's that?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: Is it both of the entertainment world?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: Never know.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: So without any further ado, I'm gonna pass it over to you guys, introduce yourselves and kind of talk your background, starting with you, Tyler.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, so my name is Tyler.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: I sing and do uh lots of other things in Movie Stars.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um new project that we just launched, our first single, Club Punk, uh, this past March on 321.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um we've been in the studio with it for the past two years.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's like been from like our first, first, first demo to like getting the final final mixes.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's probably like a full two-year span.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we're super, super proud of the project.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's a full album that will be out by the end of the year.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um and this is just me and Alex have known each other since we were very, very, very young and um played in other bands together, did other things together creatively.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so this was kind of like a long time in the making, and it's we're super stoked on its final product.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: And um, yeah, I guess that's our quick background.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: And what's up?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, I'm here.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Alex.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I'm Alex.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I play bass and do a lot of the production stuff in movie stars, keys, programming, arrangement, and all that good stuff.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, tell me a little bit.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: You just touched on it before we pressed record.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: You guys also have a clothing line as well, correct?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we do.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh it's called Newport Bleach.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: We started it kind of unintentionally right around COVID.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: We were kind of doing it anyways before that happened, and then the world shut down, and we were like, oh, let's go print t-shirts.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and the idea was like, I always kind of hated the majority of like my favorite bands merch, like all due respect, majority of the time.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I've done graphic design and I've thought I would I always just kind of selfishly thought I'd make cooler graphics for them.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so then I just started making my own merch for bands I liked.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so it was just bootlegs basically, and but we found really, really, really nice blanks to get them on.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: So then it was like this kind of like luxury bootleg is kind of what we made.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um and people love it, thank god.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's so cool.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, we've done projects with like Hoku, like 90s kind of pop thing.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: We're doing a collab right now with Heidi Montag.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like we've been doing all her merch lately with um everything her and Spencer have been going through.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh artists like Gregory Siff and stuff like that.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: Just so it's just like a cool little thing that we've always done.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: And it's still not really we don't actually really make any money on it because I just put all the money we make from it back into like making cooler stuff.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, we've done nicer prints and nicer hats, and um so yeah, it's been like a super fun, kind of creative thing, just a little world to build.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: And it was always something that I saw like a bigger vision with where once we had, if I ever had like a new music project to also have our merch be there.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: Kind of like how um Mark and Tom from Blink did like Loser Kids back in the day, where then Loser Kids had like Macbeth and Famous and Atticus, and then they sold Blink merch and it was like this kind of cool little like they created their own like Tillies or like that kind of thing.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's its own ecosystem in a roundabout way.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so it's I've we've always hired like artists we just like that we find to like make graphics for us, and so it's just this little world that I feel like I've wanted to like create and kind of have all these things kind of work into it, and it's very like nostalgia-based and art-based, but then ultimately when people like we don't make anything shitty, like per like we'll we'll spend more like to make like a really nice candle, like where it does not just like a you know, we like spent time even like smelling the different ways of the candle or whatever, like yeah.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: So it's been super fun and yeah.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, like a chicken or the egg kind of conversation about that.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in what ways uh in in regards to movie stars, in what ways does the fashion influence the art or does the art influence the fashion with the music that you guys are trying to create?
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think this I mean I would tell me and Alex, I used to stand in front of Alex's house and just like get high and talk to him for like three hours about like my vision.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: We still do, and we still do, and and it's just because like I see this so far, like I I see like already like second album stuff, but like I already know like visually so many things that like I want this to be.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: And um I was explaining it like that like 21 Pilots does I keep referencing them, and that we we reference them actually a lot in this where like they definitely create their own world in like from every piece of it from like the fandom, there's like a storyline, there's characters, there's art, it's like a like the video is like a movie, it's like it's very everything is so intentional, and I love when bands have every purpose of what they do is intentional.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's not just like hey, we made a great video, and then also here's the shirt.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I kind of like to have it all really like blend and be in this world is totally something I wanted out of this.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: So we were always saying, like, even naming the band, I've had this name movie stars for a while, just because I always thought it was funny how many like actors would always want to be musicians, and then how and vice versa.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I thought making a band called Movie Stars would just be kind of like ironic, and then I I already I thought of the merch of like I want to be a movie star to be like on a hat.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: I thought would just be like a cool, like LA, like kind of trendy hat to have.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: And so like that I was almost like thinking of the merch of the name of the band as a brand before we ever like had a song.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: No, that that makes perfect sense, and then and just kind of correlating that environment, like creating a culture around your art.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Alex and I were just talking earlier today about the generational differences from like probably the time when you guys first met around the peak of the MySpace era to now the peak of the influencer and social media era.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have things that set you apart now just because of how quantified there is, how how much art there is out there, how much music there is out there.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Alex, kind of you had a few hours to kind of think about it.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um kind of kind of give me your thoughts on on the differences and how what you guys are creating with movie stars and the clothing line differentiates from things that you've done in the past.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so yeah, as we like talked before, I know um like with movie stars, you know, I think the intentions are to make really sick music, um, music that we enjoy, right?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: But also branded in a way where let's say we make these like real, you know, as you know, we have this this cool clothing brand, but we also wanted to make movie stars sort of another clothing brand in itself.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: So uh maybe people find out about us because the movie stars' clothes are really sick.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then that's how they find about the music, or you know, movie star, you know, we have you know people that find out about movie stars in the music way, and then they figure out like, oh wow, they make really cool like clothing for this.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I think like setting us apart from different bands or artists, I feel like doing it in that way, I think makes us stand out more.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, if you know, if you didn't like movie stars but you liked the merch, it's still like a win-win either way for us, you know.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like we make dope, cool clothing here or or we make dope music there, and it kind of just I don't like how I feel like the misfits are now.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's like they don't really care if you listen to their music, they're like that skull shirt is like the most iconic thing.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there you go.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's just like it's just cool to have.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: And like I've at this point, I would assume they probably don't care because they sell so many things with that fucking skull on it.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: But like that's a win for them too.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_02: They're like, if you just fuck with this thing, they they created that just as much as they created the music.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like, that's like I see that as so much as much of a W, you know, or Joy Division or whatever.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Iron Maiden, uh Megadeth, like iconography and music has have gone hand in hand for as long as the music business has been in existence.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Misfits are a great example.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: My my daughter just started singing in a band, and I went to her show the other night and they covered hybrid moments, and I was just I was beside myself.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, Absolutely, holy shit, you know?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Full circle dad moment.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: It totally is a full circle dad moment, but it's like it it is it is a total packaging.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now, have you guys looked at um like visual side of things, like videos and like maybe what movie stars looks like as far as something somebody takes in visually while listening to the music?
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we just uh so the the video for Club Punk is also out.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: So that's something cool.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: We could also be like, while you're listening to this after, you could hit pause right now and then go watch the video, then come right back, or do whatever version you'd like.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: But uh the video Maybe I'll even link it in the bio.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: Very nice.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: So the guy that's doing our album art, all the single art, and also did this first video is this artist me and Alex both love.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: His name's Bill Green.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: He goes by hands out of pockets on IG.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he just has such a sick style that is very like childlike, but punk, but like detailed, and it just it looks like stuff you would like draw in your binder back in the day, but like also could be like at the Met Gala, you know?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's like it's so well done, and I just I love his style so much, and I felt like it was the exact visual way I saw movie stars, right?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: And it was just because it was it's kind of chaotic, but it's chic, and it's like I don't know, there's um it just kind of hit a lot of marks, and so um like it that's how the the first merch was, and you know, we'll take a lot of that.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: But the video he did is this like kind of stop motion, hand illustrated.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's every single like second was hand done or edited and chopped.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: So it's very cool.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: He did a phenomenal job of that.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um and like just with that, I purposely didn't want us to be in the first video because I didn't want to be like, what's up?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: I'm singing, he's playing guitar.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: It just feels so like you know, and then like we're in a field, we're on a stage.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it I I just feel like it's just too easy to do, and it's just very easy to lean on that whole, you know, the band thing.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Not not that not necessarily a bad thing, but you know, um, I think you know, me and Tyler talk about it all day with the visuals, and I think uh one group that stood out was the gorillas.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they don't really, you know, I I still to this day don't know what they look like, but you know, like you know what they look like from their visuals, you know, they have this whole like animation, this whole illustration.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think like intentionally we were going for more of that in this project.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that's a that's a good um good parallel to to make and kind of leading into my my next question is you know, reading through your guys' bio, it sounds like you want to lean into your influences, but also create something that's substantially different.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I I'm kind of interested to find out what the pathway to that difference looks like.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean the way we did so many of these demos was so like I would just mob over to Alex's place, he had a little home studio set up.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: We would he'd be like, Alright, play me something you're listening to.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: I'd kind of play him like my like top two, three favorite things I was kind of jamming recently.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then we would just kind of like be like, what's the next song they would make?
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: And we kind of just did that.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: We would kind of just capture a little energy, whether it was like like a newer artist that we took, we listened to a bunch, was like Upsall or Sophie Powers, um Bear Hands, things like that.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like, very like we love the blend of the kind of punk, pop punk world that we grew up on with just production-wise guitar tones, drums, that kind of anthemic thing.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but we all we both also love, love, love like EDM dance, house.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: Alex loves hip hop, you know, so much.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like so, and like production-wise, like I always love the interesting, kind of sonically like stuff that grabs me in a more unique way, and like a Britney Toxic, like right, that like violin dun dun dun, like, and that's up to like a chopped-up sample, weird, like turned around thing.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: But it was like, I want a bunch of I want us an album to be a full album of that.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how to give me a full album of toxics, and it was kind of like how do we do that, but also be something we could be live and still be a band, and but also could we go play like an EDM festival?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we've talked about the live portion of this being like maybe two ways, like we could maybe do like a live set if it was if like the situation called for it, but then also be able to go do like a chain smoker show if that ever happened, you know?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, yeah, that makes perfect sense, and kind of have it still be able to be both things.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like I always thought it'd be cool to be the pop punk band at the EDM show, like you know, and and also vice versa.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like that kind of yeah.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, how fully fleshed out is your live show?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Have you have you guys played live as movie stars yet?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: We have not.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: No, it is that yeah, that's gonna be a whole beast in itself, but I'm stoked.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: So so what does a movie star's live show look like as if it were to happen per chance, like this week?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: Dang.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: If it happened this week, uh I probably have like two friends come play guitar and drums, and then I just kind of rip it on vocals, and we probably have some tracks going at some point.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and we'd say fucking go nuts with the lights.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's probably what we'd say.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like take the light switch and like watch these Alex wearing multiple hats and multiple projects and in involving yourself as a producer as well.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I do want to touch on the hip hop thing because I know my backdrop might not reflect it, but I'm a massive head.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we we're gonna talk touch on that here in a minute.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um how are you able to delineate or separate yourself from things that the different projects that you do from a producer aspect?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Unmarry yourself from this thing that you're doing in your right hand to the thing that you're doing in your left.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, totally.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um well, I I it wasn't an overnight process to really learn the the routine of you know, like stepping outside of that genre and then going into this.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: It um it took a lot of time.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I think like producing different things and you know, even just myself producing different stuff, um just being able to uh I I think ultimately it's a ch it it it's it's a nice challenge to do to um to go from another genre to another to another one.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think that uh I think I need I need that and it's needed in most artists or bands because I think people can get you know, bands can get stuck or artists can get stuck just playing pop punk or they can get stuck doing hip hop, but you know, as people, you know, I know that they like other stuff than just the music that they write, you know.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously I'm you know I have a lot of hip-hop influence, a lot of pop, a lot of like disco stuff, you know.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to like in this this this project, Movie Stars, is cool because there really is no restriction, you know.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like if Tyler and I were to meet up tonight, we'd probably say, let's make some fucking jazz record with like a Charlie XCX beat or something, you know?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um which is is a like a nice challenge, but we we like the hybrid of things, you know.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: I've always been into that with you know certain artists or bands where they will fuse genres together, you know.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know that's common.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: There's like the hip-hop rock, there's the country rap, you know, and a lot of that doesn't come across sometimes.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, so I feel like some of those people gotta do their homework to make that blend better.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: But in here, you know, having the influence that we have, uh, I feel like is is it it's easier to like separate myself from that pop punk world, you know, and then really like think of, oh, let's do movie stars type of stuff, but still have those elements of the stuff we grew up to.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: If that makes any sense.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: There were so many things that we did that were like it was just messing around with sounds.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like we literally just click around on sounds until we like liked it.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like once we liked it, we'd stop, we'd be like, okay, and then like we'd like make something with that sound, and then we'd like build on it.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like so that's kind of all it would take, too.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: Is like we were really just looking for something sonically that we were both like, oh that's sick, or like, oh yeah, do that, but make it longer, bigger, yeah, higher, lower.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like music, music has no rules at at anymore, you know.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: So you don't have to stick to just being a pop punk band or just being a pop artist.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what I mean?
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: You could go write something else and really challenge yourself as an artist or as a creative, which is you know, my me personally have working on and still doing, you know, just to just to be better at my craft and you know, and hopefully be able to contribute that stuff in other things.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, I am so glad you said that because that's exactly where I was going with this whole thing.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Was you know, we all come from a time and era, you know, take yourselves back to the being in line at the plus 44 show where your typical music fan sees things unilaterally, they only see things one way.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: But as musicians, we see things that one way, but we see things multiple other ways as well.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing that I've noticed with the music industry at large, especially over the last 10, 15 years, is those rules and restrictions that bound you to one genre versus another have kind of dropped a little bit.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe it's an influence of the streaming era and this newer generation of artists that are coming up saying, you know what, I was just as influenced by Jay-Z as I was Atreyu, uh just as much as I was Willie Nelson, you know, it's and so people aren't as beholden to genre because genre used to be people's whole identity back in the day, you know, and and and and to me, you know, just kind of listening to you guys talk and kind of my movie stars experience so far, it sounds like you guys are trying to break the walls of that.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, that's I we like I was saying, I want to live in so many worlds, like ideally, like even to the band name being like I was like, Oh, I think our that would look cool as a feature.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like if we ever collabed with somebody and it was like featuring movie stars, I was like, I feel like that even aesthetically looks like something you would want to click on or listen, you know, at least try out.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I think I say that because then if we did a collab with anyone, I feel like if like Carrie Underwood came to me and Alex and said, like, hey, I want you guys to produce a song, we'd just be like, hey, let's just find a cool fucking sound you like, Carrie.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: And then if like Charlie did, I feel like we would do the exact same thing.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_02: And then I feel like if we did a song with state champs, it would be the same thing.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like if we did a song with like Beyoncé, you know what I mean?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like it would be the that's I think we would approach it the same way, no matter what.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like that's what we kind of cracked, is like we've learned how to like put sounds and stuff together and know that like at a certain even at like a halfway point in a song, you can just go like whoop and like completely like U-turn and then like still make it cool, and that's what was such a like goal with this was to make this again world.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and we want to make an album too.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: That that's such a lost art of like I want you to start to finish, like even the track listing of everything, just like uh there's there's highs and lows, there's peaks and valleys, there's that's what you want.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: You want like sonically to feel like you you never stopped listening to the first song.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's when albums are amazing.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's like an American idiot type thing where it's like it never really stops.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's just kind of like, oh, it's going it feels like one long song in like the best way.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Are you guys fans of the way that releases take place now?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: The trickle out strategy as opposed to releasing a whole album at once.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_02: I was knowing we would have to trickle this out just for the sake of promotion because nobody knows who we are.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: And so if we just were like, boom, record, what's up?
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right, right, right, right.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, selfishly, I want everyone to hear everything right now because I think it's fucking incredible, and I can't wait for everyone to hear everything.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: But just for the purpose of like having to like always have something to talk about and really try and turn this into where the full release hopefully has some matters in to some extent and make some little wave out there, um, that would be my biggest win with it.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: Spoiler alert, I've talked to several artists, like even big name artists that are well established, they will say one thing on record, and then when the record button stops, I I will never say who, but there's been a couple of them that'll be like, dude, I hate releasing music this way, where they have the whole album in a can for a year and then they're like release one song every two months, and it's just because it's a marketing strategy.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: As in in it, it sometimes I know a lot of artists feel that it it takes away from that exact experience that you were talking about, that listening to an album start to finish, getting to enjoy the whole thing because people already know each of the songs individually, so they're never able to marry the relationship of how the songs tie together.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's what totally sucks, is now like you'll hear these singles, and whether anyone you can never not admit it, because it's like once that's the first song you hear, you always hear that song as the single, even in the context of the album.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: It just stands out one way or another, for better or for worse, as the like better song, catchier song, more popular song.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um it just is what it is.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and the album becomes overlooked.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: So you're like, oh, I just want to play the hit.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: They only have their hit song.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: That hit song is the best song because you've listened, they've you know, you've listened so many times, so that now that the the album's finally out, you're like, uh, it's everything is okay.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'll just keep listening to the same single that's been out, you know?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I sent our I sent our album to a couple friends, and um she said she's like, it was so cool because I'd be like, oh, this one's definitely my favorite.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: And then two songs later, she's like, no, that oh no, that one's my favorite.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then a song later, she's like, wait, I think that one's my favorite.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, that's so cool that you listen to everything that way.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_02: And like we held back showing anybody, like even in our little inner world, um, any of this stuff, because we I just like I wanted it to be the final product.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like, once we were like, once it was like dun dun dun, then it's like, okay, now I at least can like show people, and this is what we're this is what we've been spending two and a half years being very being very meticulous about.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: So being guys that also have a clothing line dealing with physical things, like t-shirts, hats, hoodies, what are your guys' opinions on physical media as far as music releases go?
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: Alex?
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh emphasize on that physical media thing.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like vinyl CDs, like cassettes.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: Oh.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I dude, we we actually have a vinyl in the making for this album, um, also done by hands out of pockets.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think with that's those tangible things, I think it's uh it's kind of a lost start.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, vinyls are in, but I don't I guess personally to me, I don't really see people buying it as much as I think they should.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I think it is just as important to have because who knows, you know, um the the new movie star fans that become dedicated, you know, they'll probably want those kinds of things, you know, and to keep in mind with making those kind of things because uh I like that stuff.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um I know Tyler and I love, you know, especially when we go to like shows that we love and they have these like limited edition concert posters or like you can only get it at the show type of deal.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I think you know those things are really important to us, and I think you know, we'll incorporate a lot of that when shows start to roll out and when we start to get more on the on the table here.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's been uh it feels like there's been a slow movement, you know.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's and when I say slow, I'm talking like sludge down a flat street slow, um movement back to physical media, like to the point, you know, and I was just saying this earlier when I was talking to you, Alex, is uh, you know, I've got teenage daughters, and they've started being really picky about buying vinyl themselves.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's because they're getting into the ritualistic aspects that we had when we were younger, when you'd buy the CD, you'd open it up, you'd listen to it for the first time, fighting with that jewel case to get it open, taking the inner booklet out and reading the lyrics, learning the names of everybody that's in the band.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's it's pretty interesting that it the industry is finally slipping its way back to that, or at least seemingly so.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I miss, I miss all that stuff, man.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: I miss, I mean, uh, as a kid, man, and and I speak for all of us, you know, at least us three here, and for everyone watching, I think, you know, in our age group, I miss going to like a Best Buy or like a Tower Records, you know, knowing that, oh, this band CD is coming out on Tuesday.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: You have to go get it on the release day because it's cheaper that day than it will be tomorrow.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you can't wait to go buy that album because it's like right when you walk into the store, it's right on it's right in front of the shelf, and you get that, and then from there you'll spend countless hours in the record store just finding other shit, you know, and then and the mystery to buying something like, oh, you know how they say, like, don't judge a book by its cover.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I've bought many CDs, many albums that were like, oh, this looks cool.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm gonna just buy this.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: There's they this band name sounds pretty cool.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's buy this.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, nine times out of ten, it's either really sick or it's not, but you have it, and you may like one or three, four songs on that thing.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Funny story, and I know both of you guys will appreciate this because of your diversity in music tastes.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: I remember I was reading an issue of Alternative Press, early 2000s, and they had asked Chino Moreno from Deftones what his favorite album was that year.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: And at this point in time, everybody was kind of shitting all over the boy band thing, pop music thing in general.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was around the time Britney Spears Toxic was new, whatever.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: And Chino Moreno said, My favorite album was Justin Timberlake's Justified.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes, 'Cause it sounded like a Michael Jackson album.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just like, and I was like, oh my god, I thought I was the only one.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: So a couple days later, I go into a Target and I'm with my a girl, the girlfriend I had at the time.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: I had AFI's news CD, Justin Timberlake CD underneath it, and um, I forgot who oh, I think it was Story of the Year CD underneath that.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: So there's like sandwich.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: I got two two pop punk albums basically, and Justin Timberlake in the center.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: I shit you not, I go through the cash register, cashier's like boop, and there's the AFI CD.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: She pauses at the Justin Timberlake thing, looks at me.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Oh, it's oh it's hers, and my girlfriend totally busted me out.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's not.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's so funny.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: But the thing is, is like now nobody would think anything of that at all.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_02: I I hate the shame of listening to pop music.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like when people give you shit for listening to like catchy things, I like I am the most anti-that ever.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: I am I will wholeheartedly like Alex knows I fuck with girl pop pretty much more than any style of music ever.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_02: Because I never this is what I always say that is like the most attention to detail of production, of like they had to make such a perfect like people look at it as like, oh, it was overproduced.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_02: No, I think I think something overproduced is almost like it's so interesting.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's so like so many people put so much care and time and attention to make this like perfect, shiny product.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like I love an Olivia Rardi uh Rodrigo, a Chaperone, a Gaga, like all that give me that shit all day long.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: I love all three of them.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_02: All of them are amazing because I feel like it's they're so lucky.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_02: There's it's so cool.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: You get to do your art with you have every expendable thing to like make the merch, make the vision, make the world, make the lunchbox, the figure, the thing, the limited, the whatever.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: Every embroidered, like you want to make the craziest merch piece, go for it.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: Like they get to do all that on such a high, high, high level.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so fascinated, but I'm so like intrigued and jealous, and like that's what the like the dream is for me.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like, why wouldn't it be?
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you get to put your art out there on the highest level it possibly can be.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_02: That's so fucking sick.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, and as musicians, like you put in your put in your earbuds and you listen to some of that girl pop, you start to hear little production niches.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, exactly.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: You don't hear anything else, especially if you're high, you really hear little production niches.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_02: Listen to Britney Toxic.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's crazy.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: All the little hooks that you don't realize that you're ingesting all at once.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_02: I I think we've all probably seen the video of the all the small things um breakdown where uh Rick Bieto, I think, does it, where he breaks down the synth and all the small things that I consider myself one of the biggest bling fans in the world.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um I had never heard that synth line until there, and I it's then I have this even bigger appreciation for like all the small things and what they did on that record.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_02: But it's like every pop song is so I look at that as just the like it's like the NHL, you know?
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's like it's like that's the pros.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's the like that's the top level.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's that was always something with this too of like I I pulled in I would show Alex pop music, like super pop music more than anything.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this is a this is a good question for both you and Alex.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: Two different genres.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, Alex, top three hip hop acts that you're listening to right now.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: Top three that I'm listening to right now.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well or just in your top three.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, top for sure is Tupac for sure is the top one for me.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what's the next one?
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't like a lot of his new stuff now, but he was definitely a nice little inspiration for a lot of the newer hip-hop stuff.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: But King Cuddy uh is cool.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think like if we're talking a producer thing here, hip hop producer, like Pharrell or a Timbaland, any of the things that they did, you know, um Snoop.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: You're into all the big producer type stuff without even saying it.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, those guys, you know, they make sure they make hip-hop records, but they ultimately end up being on radio, which is pop music anyway, which is popular music.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, dude, yeah.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, like Tyler, same question for you, but you're yeah, I'm I know you kind of briefly hit it, but what are your three top pop artists?
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_02: Uh ever or all time or right now?
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, let's just do all time.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh god.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um shit.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: And you could we could narrow it down to girl pop if you want.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, no, I know.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to like I would I'd want to say Katie Perry, honestly, because I I mean, yeah, she's she's on uh shoving a moment right now, but uh those those top three, the um one for the boys, teenage dream, prism, yeah, that like that run is so undefeated, it's crazy.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um I agree with that.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_02: So crazy.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um I I love Taylor.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_02: I I have feelings about her thing.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_02: I could spend a whole podcast about love.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a swifty, that's all love.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_02: But um, you can't not say her, she's just like number one ever.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then maybe like Madonna, just because of her like longevity.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_02: She's literally had top tens in every care in in four eras in four decades or something like that.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's you have to show love for that.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna give you a different top three though, because I'm gonna give you like top three current like my faves.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_02: Underscores, because I just saw her at Coachella is bananas.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_02: She's so good.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm gonna go blossom.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_02: She categorized it B-L-S-S-M.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there's a few of her songs that like I think are they like every time I listen to them, I'm like, I'm so jealous.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm so jealous you wrote that song.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's such a good song.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's crazy.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm like, fuck, that's holy shit.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then number three is Mallrat.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um that was like this other weird thing I feel like I'd always bring up was Australian pop.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like I was pulling a lot of like Australian artists, I feel like like Sicco, Peach PRC, like all these people that are you'd I'd realize I'd be like oh, where are they from?
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_02: And then big Sydney, Sydney, Melbourne, Sydney, and I'd be like, oh, good talent coming out of that.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's yeah, like the Australian like pop EDM dance house scene is like just music in general from Australia, like yeah, they murder.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely, absolutely, and historically so.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you go back to the 80s, you think of bands like Men at Work, Colin Hay, and NXS and like well-crafted songs, like really Yeah, those aussies know it's up.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: They do, they do, they totally do.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's a fun question, kind of off the rails a little bit.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: So what do you see?
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is a repeat question for one of you guys, but what do you see for the future of movie stars, say six months down the road, two years down the road?
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_02: I think well, six months from now, everyone will the record will be out, which I'm very eagerly waiting for that moment.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like I already we have the album art done, we have like a vinyl in product.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's like so there's so many things we will have multiple videos by that point, more photos, more visuals, way more merch.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um definitely hopefully knockwood a show or two at that point.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then two years from now, I hope to be talking to you about our second record, hopefully.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: So about you, Alex.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: Be a nice goal.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he kind of touched up on kind of what I was gonna say, too.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think like in the next six months, I think it's uh a couple shows rolling out.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um I obviously the album will be out with a couple singles before it.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, maybe more uh merch, move more movie star stuff dropping as far as that goes.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then then like the next two years, maybe dude, maybe we get signed to some cool label or something, or we got a sweet booking agent or something.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, anything can go really.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_00: The rules are absolutely endless.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: Given everything that you have experienced over the last 15 years or so, what's your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today?
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: Do stuff that makes you happy.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's just do stuff that makes you happy.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_02: If if you're doing something that makes you happy, no one can talk shit on that, and you will hopefully feel fulfilled even if your outside world is a little chaotic.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_02: You could still do something to make yourself happy, or at least try to.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, be nice to ever be nice to everyone, even though they might be dicks to you.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: At least just be nice.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, tell my audience where they can find you and your music online.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_02: All of our socials are at movie stars with four Zs.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_02: One, two, three, four Zs when you're typing it in.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: That is no for no particular reason.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's just because regular movie stars was taken.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's what we got.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, and then I'm at Tyler Treats.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to follow that, Newport Bleach is the brand.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_02: You can follow that too.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_02: All good.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_02: And go listen, go stream club punk.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_02: Love it.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Alex is at Alexa Wayfile.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, awesome.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know what?
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I told Alex earlier, now I gotta make the trip out to Cali just to hang out with all of you guys and both of your projects, Alex.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm excited to see what happens with this project.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm excited for it.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um and just it's been a pleasure having this conversation with you guys.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: Tyler, Alex, the world is a much better place with you in it.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for doing the show today.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, man.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: So nice to chat with you.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: Once again, I'd like to thank my friends in Movie Stars for doing the podcast today.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you give them a follow on Instagram at MovieStars with four Zs.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's Movie Stars ending with a Z.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's three more after it, just like Tyler described, or you can just see it linked in the episode below.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, we are on a mission to grow the show like none other.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel, share episodes wherever you possibly can, and make sure you're following Caught on the Mike on all social media platforms.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: Spread the gospel.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's only going to help me out.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to help bring big name guests onto the show on a regular basis.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of guests, you can email me for guest inquiries, caught on the mic at gmail.com or visit my website www.caught on the mic.com.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: This has been Caught on the Mike.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: I am Michael Clark.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, thank you.