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Weaponising Music With KEN MARY From FLOTSAM & JETSAM · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:19
  Like you're yours, Sam, Well, my name is ken Mary and the
• 0:26
  drummer with Flats and Jetson. We have a new album coming out. It's
• 0:29
  called I Am the Weapon. It's going to be released September thirteenth, and
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  it's it's a new killer album. I feel like we've done, you know,
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  a great job on the last two albums, and I think this third
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  one that I don't want to say anything, but it might be the best
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  one yet. Well, we'll find out. Awesome. Listen to it in
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  the late after this man and she's pretty fucking good. Good. I'm glad
• 0:57
  you. I'm glad you enjoy it. I really did, but I really
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  did so as you say, want some and Jetsum on Lesia fifteen studio album
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  IM the Weapon on September thirty eighth. Like, I know you haven't been
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  with the band the whole time, mate, but fifteen albums is a lot
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  of albums, and I guess there's there's an expectation on you guys to release
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  quality material, Like did do you feel the pressure and now release cycle?
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  This may need more of a sort of fan pressure. I guess, well,
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  you know, honestly, we did. We we feel the pressure pretty
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  much on every record. I mean, I feel like the last four albums
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  have been kind of a renaissance for Flotsam and Jetsum. It's kind of like
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  a new era, if you want to say that, like a new era
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  for the band. And every time there's a new album, we're always wondering
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  if we can top the last ones, because well, we finished, you
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  know, the end of Chaos, we felt like, wow, how are
• 1:56
  we ever going to top this album? And then we came out with Blood
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  in the Water. We kind of feel like we topped Chaos with Blood in
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  the Water. And then we finished Blood in the Water, We're like,
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  you know, oh my gosh, how are we gonna how are we gonna
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  tap this record? So this this time, it was we definitely felt the
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  pressure. I mean, we felt like, you know, do we have
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  enough gas in the tank to make something that's gonna you know, at least
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  equal that, And so you know, we just started writing, and we
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  wrote a ton of songs, and then we started eliminating songs and finishing songs,
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  and you know, by the time we were done, we're like,
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  you know, yeah, you know, we think we we think I think
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  we at least equaled it and hopefully we topped it. You know, like
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  a lot of people we talked to that have heard it said, yeah,
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  you guys, these the I've had some people even and they're talking about all
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  the records and including the first two albums. Stay to me like this was
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  the best plots of album yet, like ever, And I was like,
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  wow, that's pretty good. When when you hear that and you feel like
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  you're you're it's so tough to compete with nostalgia, you know, like when
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  you talk about some talks about the you know, first two albums that they
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  grew up with, it's really hard to beat that. And and for somebody
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  to say that and be sincere and say, you know, hey, this
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  is the best blots of album ever, that's really quite a compliment, it
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  is, Daves. Could you dive into the album, David musically for us
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  and tell us what are you have gone for? Sure? Well, to
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  be honest with you, we were just going for great songs, you know.
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  We were really looking for songs that mean something to us and then move
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  us in some way. And we've done that further, you know the last
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  four records. I mean, really just trying to find music that we feel
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  like, if if it excites us and it makes us want to play it,
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  and it makes us want to listen to it, then the chances are,
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  you know, hopefully there you know, there'll be a few million people
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  that agree with us. So that's that's really I mean, honestly, it's
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  a very simple you know, people call it a formula or whatever. It's
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  very simple. You know, we try to make music that we're excited about
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  and that we love and then hopefully, you know, like I said,
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  there's a few million people that agree with us. Today you release the singles
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  Prime will end, the Chatter Truck one on the Weapons. So would you
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  say, I rolled there a good sunny representation of what to expect. I'd
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  say yes and no. I mean, I think we have. You know,
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  it's a fairly good variety on the record. I feel like we didn't
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  really stick to any specific thing. I feel like, again, we just
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  tried to write things that moved us. And so I'm not really sure that.
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  You know, when you say is a representative of the rest of the
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  record, I'd say yeah. I mean, I mean they're all pretty aggressive
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  flossom songs. I mean, the way I like to describe Blotsam Records is
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  this. It's like it's like if you had five guys and five cards that
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  were really fast, and you put the checker flag down and you got all
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  five guys, you know, like the guitar players, the drummer, the
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  bass player, the singer. Everybody's going full out with the pedal all the
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  way down for the whole record. And that's pretty much what this record is.
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  I mean, it's pretty much just all out, give it the gas,
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  all out for the whole record. So in that respect, I would
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  say the first two songs are representative, and then we also have some other
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  you know, secnives too. We have some things that we got maybe a
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  little bit more progressive on this record. I think we tried to maybe I'm
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  not gonna say show off, because we always show off, but I think
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  we tried to have some fun with it. You know. We tried to
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  have you know, like like do what we want to do, you know,
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  and and not really worry too much about about, you know, what's
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  gonna you know, what the results are gonna be. We really tried to
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  just do stuff that we were happy with and then and then hopefully everybody enjoys
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  it. Yeah, look before the each album. So I feel like you
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  sit down in a band and discuss which way you wanted to head on some
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  of or door does it just in the writing process of what comes out comes
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  out? Well, it's it's a little more like the second part, like
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  where you said, you know, you just start writing and then what comes
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  out comes out. I mean, so it's a little bit more like that.
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  We don't really have a a set mindset. We don't have a set
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  that. The one thing I will say is there's a lot of chemistry in
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  this band. The way it's the way this band sits now. Writing records
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  and making records that we really feel strongly about has been a very generally easy
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  process. And it's not, you know, like doesn't necessarily have to be
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  that way. We've all worked on records that weren't easy. And and I
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  would say, by and large, I think because we trust each other.
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  I think because uh, you know, we really accept what each other brings
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  to the table in terms of musically and writing and and playing wise, I
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  think everybody, uh, I think it's a it's a fairly easy process.
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  Things seem to go fairly easy for us, if that makes any sense.
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  Perfectly. Now. The opening track on You kind of here, I it's
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  a bit of a curveball to start with my log. It's got a bit
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  of an expansive intro that suggests like a venture, just unfamiliar territory. Then
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  it sort of pauses my mentarily and just comes back with bangle. Was that
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  designed to sort of write paper offull confuse people a bit? It's really not.
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  I mean, it's it's uh, we know. Yeah. We weren't
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  trying to confuse people or make a statement or anything like that. We were
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  just trying to make a song that that we felt was exciting and moving and
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  and that people enjoyed. And and that song in particular, you know,
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  which is is going to be released as a single that's going to be coming
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  out I believe in in August. But that song in particular, a lot
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  of people are super excited about, and honestly, we listen to it,
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  we go, yeah, it's great. We're not sure why this is better
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  than some of these other songs, you know, like we we can't really
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  tell you, Like sometimes we're not the greatest judge of that because we love
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  all of them, you know, we love all the songs and then somebody
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  goes, oh, well I really love this one, and you're like,
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  okay, you know, that's that's fine. You know that's great that you
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  love it. You know, we love it too, you know. But
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  they're like, oh, we had one of our one of the guys that
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  works with us and he's worked with us for years on some graphics and some
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  other things, helps us out a lot, and he's like, this is
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  the greatest blotsome song ever, you know, And we're like, okay,
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  you know, that's very happy you love it. You know, that's that's
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  really awesome. So you know, it's always great when you connect with people
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  and they feel something and the song is moving to them. But you know,
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  as far as setting out to do something intentional on the beginning of the
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  song or fool people or anything like that, no, I mean, we're
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  just we're just trying to do what we're feeling, if that makes you know,
• 9:01
  if that makes sense. So this is your third album with the band
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  mate, So how how are you settling in? Is it? Is it
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  getting better with each album? All? I think it is. I mean,
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  you know, again, we were concerned about, you know, trying
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  to top Blood in the Water because we really felt like Blood in the Water
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  was a you know, amazing album, and you know, we feel like
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  this is also another, you know, another amazing record that we really feel
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  strong about. As far as settling in, I really felt pretty settled,
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  you know, almost immediately. I mean I I you know, I've known
• 9:35
  Steve Conley for years. We've worked on tons of projects. I've certainly been
• 9:39
  a fan of the band for a number of years, and I worked with
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  the band AID recorded a lot of that self titled album in my recording studio.
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  That's how I actually kind of was introduced to the new lots of in
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  Jetsam so to speak, you know, we record a lot of that in
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  my studio. When when I was listening, I was like, man,
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  that, you know, Ayk is just killing it. Like I think he
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  sounds better than he ever has, you know. So, uh, you
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  know that was that was something that really drew me to the band. You
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  know, like, you know, listening to him singing, I'm just going
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  you know, those guys one of the greatest metal singers ever. You know.
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  So so when Bittner left and uh, you know, Steve Connley said,
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  hey, do you want to go do a European tour with us and
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  you know, kind of sit in and I was like, yeah, you
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  know, let's see how this goes. And you know, that was seven
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  years ago, so there we go. I guess, I guess it went
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  fairly well. So you mentioned before, like least some of them just put
• 10:41
  out to try and chop the previous want to call us, but it's also
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  like an expansion and an extension I guess from one album to the other side.
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  And along those lines, how much musical grift do you think Foxim and
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  Jetson have got left in him? Well, that's a good question. I
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  don't really know the answer to that. And the reason I don't know,
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  I mean, I know that we have probably half the songs written for the
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  next record, and they're great. I mean, there are songs we could
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  have put on this record with no problem, and we had other whole bunch
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  of other songs that we discarded that we didn't feel were strong enough for this
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  album. So, you know, it's always a scary thing because you don't
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  really know until you start the process and you start writing and you start seeing
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  what's coming out. But I kind of feel like with this group of guys,
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  I think we could have a lot left in the tank. I mean,
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  I think it could. It seems like every album we get stronger and
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  stronger, and at the end of every album we're like, oh man,
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  I don't know if we could do this again, and then we do it
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  again, so you know, there might be tons of gas left in the
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  tank. You know, it's I think I think, uh, for whatever
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  reason, this chemistry seems to really work. And how about touring plans?
• 11:58
  Maady to go to anything lined up to provide the album we do. We're
• 12:01
  going to Europe twice this summer. We've got some festivals including you know,
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  Voking and Dynamo and grass Pop. You know, we're playing main stage at
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  Grasspop, which is kind of a big deal. So we're doing a lot
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  of the festivals. We just got back from Brazil and Mexico and the US
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  tour and did I think one or two dates in Canada and uh so yeah,
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  we're we're definitely looking forward to getting out and promoting it as much as
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  we can. Fantastic car ken Well, thanks very much for you Tom Today.
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  The new album I Am the Weapon is out September thirt eh, and
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  I've had to listen to it and she's an absolutely fucking cracking mite. So
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  I congratulations, Thank you so much. I really appreciate hearing that, and
• 12:46
  thank you so much for having me on the show. My pleasure brother,
• 12:48
  you enjoyed the rest of your day. Thanks you too. The feeling brock
• 13:11
  foil you through your own face, my hand I raising straight. I'm telling
• 13:16
  you a skin some tryna is you forcing you tourists an ak file and shoes
• 13:24
  and cry on you a stage. Don't tease a race, I try you
• 13:30
  don't feeling anger steaks rising, Jonah souers, try judas disrespect this way,
• 14:00
  You're gonna sell esteem, the negatives of life in joy. I'm justice fan
• 14:07
  play and rests. The blood boiling through your faints again, you don't cheese
• 14:15
  our flash you feel me rises streets a busy back again. The trees show
• 14:52
  you this is away. Hi kill me tell me that loud and I'll change
• 15:28
  you all into someone coming back at you again. You'll drive you away into
• 15:35
  a reason to control you and make you away your tees as you'll feel me
• 15:54
  say you try to Preci's great up bounding back an It's great, is moss
• 16:21
  least don't teas are class don't turn, say a way I know you'