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Burning Minds With BRETT CAMPBELL From PALLBEARER · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, I'm Brett from Paul Bearer and we're about to
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: be heading down to Australia to play some songs from
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: our new album mind Burns Alive Spawed some older songs
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: from all of our previous albums too fantasty.
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  Speaker 2: Brett, thanks for joining us today.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for having me.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: My pleasure so as you say. Paul Bearer returned to
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Australia for the first time in eight years this March
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: for a run of show, starting in Melbourne on the twelfth,
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: before hitting Adelaide and Sydney and finishing in Brisbane on
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: March of fifteenth. But not long now, mate? Are you
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  Speaker 2: packed and ready to go? Or do you leave that
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: sort of stuff in the last minute?
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  Speaker 1: Typically the last minute, I can't ever decide what I
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  Speaker 1: need until right before I have to go. I'm like,
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  Speaker 1: it's every time I leave, it's like I've never done
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: it before, even though I've done it dozens of times.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I'll be packing the night before probably.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Really eight years is a long time, bro. So what's
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: changed with Paul Bear since you hear last?
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  Speaker 1: We got a lot more gray hair and should I
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: got no air?
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  Speaker 2: So didn't I graize there at all? Yeah, Yeah, what
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  Speaker 2: can fans expect from your shows? You some round in, mate, Like,
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  Speaker 2: there's gonna be a lot of fans out of here
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  Speaker 2: that might not have seen you before, So what can
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  Speaker 2: we expect.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we've been rehearsing a bunch of our old songs
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  Speaker 1: and new songs, like we have, i mean, like two
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  Speaker 1: hours or so of stuff to pick from, so there's
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  Speaker 1: a pretty best number of songs that we could play.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, we're gonna be playing a little bit of everything.
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  Speaker 1: I know that we haven't been back to Australia since
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  Speaker 1: we've We've released two albums since we've been back there,
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  Speaker 1: so we'll be playing some stuff from those albums. But
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  Speaker 1: you know, we've got to play the old you know,
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  Speaker 1: the hits for the old heads too. So we've been
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  Speaker 1: playing all kinds of different stuff.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: And you're also bringing UK Doom out bit Conan for
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  Speaker 2: the troll mate, So watch you ever storing Pontas.
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  Speaker 1: I'm stoked, man. I've I've actually never even seen them live.
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  Speaker 1: I've never got a chance to, but I like their
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  Speaker 1: records and by all accounts, they're really cool guys. So
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  Speaker 1: I'm pretty pretty excited about that.
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  Speaker 2: She could pretty full on schedule. Bro, you got four
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  Speaker 2: shows in four days, So are they giving you any
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  Speaker 2: any leisure days on the sargatory You're just flying in
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  Speaker 2: and out. Nope.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Well I'm probably I'm probably not gonna sleep now we
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: we we show up. I think we might have a
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: day to deal with the jet lag. But then the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: day after our last AUSSI show we go to New
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  Speaker 1: Zealand and then we have a day off there, which
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I'll probably sleep because I won't be sleeping the four
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  Speaker 1: days that I'm in Australia. So yeah, it's gonna be
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  Speaker 1: It's gonna be intense, but that's all right. That's how
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  Speaker 1: it goes.
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  Speaker 2: You go. It's like in the band, do you get
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  Speaker 2: any saying the schedules all that? Because I kind of
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  Speaker 2: imagine that you could want to just come in and
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: do your shows and go home again, you know, like
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  Speaker 2: it'd be nice to get a bit of time to
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  Speaker 2: do stuff. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was begging for some days off, but they
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  Speaker 1: just said, you know, I don't know if I can
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  Speaker 1: swear on the radio. Yeah, they said, fuck you now.
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  Speaker 1: I tried.
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  Speaker 2: I tried.
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  Speaker 1: We all were like, come on, last time we went
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  Speaker 1: down there, we had a couple of days off and
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  Speaker 1: it was awesome because we got to actually deal with
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  Speaker 1: the jet lag and spend some time just messing around,
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  Speaker 1: you know, and enjoying the place, you know, and experiencing
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  Speaker 1: a different place. But yeah, not this time. Hopefully next time.
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  Speaker 1: It just didn't work out that way. I think it
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  Speaker 1: just came down to availability of the clubs and stuff,
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  Speaker 1: so we had to just schedule it this way. So
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  Speaker 1: I understand, but I won't be sleeping.
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  Speaker 2: I did turn off the back of your latest album,
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  Speaker 2: Mind Burned a livehich you mentioned before, mate, Like, how
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: was how was the fan reaction to that album? Did they?
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  Speaker 2: Did they get it?
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  Speaker 1: Well, not everybody's gonna get everything, but it seems like
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  Speaker 1: live in the live setting, like people really really dig
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  Speaker 1: the stuff. When we first uh started touring on this
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  Speaker 1: new material, it kind of shocked me how early on
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  Speaker 1: people were singing along and stuff, so like that's always
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  Speaker 1: really reassuring. And then yeah, it seems seems pretty pretty
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  Speaker 1: well received, at least in a live setting, you know, with.
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  Speaker 2: The change in musical landscape these days, bro, Like, as
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  Speaker 2: a band, how do you engage in an album's success
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  Speaker 2: like in the digital world, and.
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  Speaker 1: See, I don't know My problem is I every negative
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  Speaker 1: comment like weighs like a hundred times more than all
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  Speaker 1: the good than every good one. I think that's just
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  Speaker 1: comes from being like incredibly like self critical about stuff anyway,
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  Speaker 1: and like it has I'm trying to create this perfect thing,
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  Speaker 1: and so when people criticize it, I'm just like, ock,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: you're right, but I mean not really, it's just just like, well,
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  Speaker 1: you don't get it. I don't know why, but you know,
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  Speaker 1: I think overall, when you make stuff that is and
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  Speaker 1: it's like when you make stuff that is by its
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  Speaker 1: nature unusual, you're always going to have people that don't
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  Speaker 1: get it. And I think that's okay. As long as
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  Speaker 1: you are confident that what you made is as good
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  Speaker 1: as you could have made it and is what you
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  Speaker 1: wanted to make and you weren't trying to please someone else.
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  Speaker 1: I think that you should be okay with people not
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  Speaker 1: accepting it. And because the people that do accept it
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  Speaker 1: or get it love it. And I think that's important
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  Speaker 1: to remember for myself because sometimes I'm like, well, not
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  Speaker 1: everybody loved it, but like they don't have to, and
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: that's okay, Like as long as the people that it's
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: on their wavelength, that's who it's for, you know, and
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: you know, based on the kind of subject matter and
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  Speaker 1: the material that we make, I would be kind of
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  Speaker 1: bummed if everybody got it, because the friends, they're probably
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  Speaker 1: having a pretty shitty time, but they Our music is
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  Speaker 1: like for people who need it when they need it,
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  Speaker 1: and if you hear it and you don't need it,
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  Speaker 1: you might not get it, you know, at the time.
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  Speaker 1: So that's my that's my feeling about it.
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  Speaker 2: Right. Good. Now, coming back to the beginning, bro like
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  Speaker 2: Paul Boroughs started in Arkansas back in two thousand and eight.
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  Speaker 2: So what was the musical climate like that gave birth
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  Speaker 2: to the band and where did you fit in? Initially?
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  Speaker 1: Well, we came out of like a kind of like
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  Speaker 1: a sludge scene basically, but the bands that were the
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  Speaker 1: local bands that were playing were like taking sludge to
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  Speaker 1: a whole different level. It wasn't just like you know,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: and I Hate God clone or something, I like, I
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: hate God and whatever. I'm not talking shit, but like
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  Speaker 1: these bands were taking that type of vibe to a
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  Speaker 1: way crazier and more progressive and weirder, headier psychedelic sort
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  Speaker 1: of plays. And so we came out of this really
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  Speaker 1: rich and exciting music scene. So we like sludge and
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: doom and experimental music was in our veins, so to speak,
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  Speaker 1: because that's the kind of stuff that we were watching
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  Speaker 1: when we were coming up in the scene and that
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  Speaker 1: we were embedded in. So yeah, when it came around
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: to when we formed Paul Bear, Joe the bass player
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  Speaker 1: and I had been in like a drone noise like
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: psych band before this, and it just kind of morphed
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: into Paul Bear gradually. So we were already used to
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: doing weird stuff and then we just started turning it
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  Speaker 1: into heavy songs instead of these just massive soundscapes. So
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: the idea of pushing the boundaries of your sound or
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: of like a style was already kind of in the
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  Speaker 1: the zeitgeist of our scenes. So it was it was
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: exciting to see bands of such high caliber doing such
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: interesting things with, you know, a genre that is often
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: just kind of replicated, like replicates the great masters, you know.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, it was. It was a cool place to start.
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  Speaker 2: And your twenty fourteen debut album, Foundations of Burden was
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  Speaker 2: universally well received by like we expecting that initial positive
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  Speaker 2: reaction to.
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  Speaker 1: Your music, Oh no, we never expected anything. Well, our first,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: our first album, Saw on Extinction got good reviews, and
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: we were you know, had very surprised by not surprised,
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  Speaker 1: but we didn't expect any kind of attention. We had
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: no we had no concept of anything. We were just
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: making it because we wanted to make it. And then
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  Speaker 1: when Foundations also seemingly got even more good press, it
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  Speaker 1: was like, yeah, it was awesome. But I think most
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  Speaker 1: for the most part, like you know, like I said,
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  Speaker 1: you can't really let good or bad press affect you
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  Speaker 1: too much. For us, it was always like, Okay, this
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  Speaker 1: is cool, this this good press leads to more opportunities
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  Speaker 1: and stuff, But it's always about moving on and thinking
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  Speaker 1: about what comes next, like what what do we want
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  Speaker 1: to make next? It's always about the next thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, speaking of the next thing, broight, Like, over the
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  Speaker 2: course of your Korea, the band's sound has gradually become
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  Speaker 2: more progressive and alternative, Like was that a planned musical
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: progression or was it just read of music tookia.
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  Speaker 1: A little bit of both. I think we've always aspired
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  Speaker 1: to be progressive in some capacity, not necessarily progressive in
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  Speaker 1: that we want to sound like fucking dream theater or something,
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  Speaker 1: but like and that we want to push the boundaries
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  Speaker 1: of our established sound. You know. To me, that's what
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  Speaker 1: progressive is. It's not like trying to be symphonic or something.
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  Speaker 1: Oh it could be, but it's just trying to move
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  Speaker 1: forward and constantly evolve. And we always wanted to do
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  Speaker 1: that from the day one, and I think just the
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  Speaker 1: directions that we have taken over time, or just us
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  Speaker 1: doing what feels natural.
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  Speaker 2: At the time.
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  Speaker 1: So it's a little of both. It is planned, but
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  Speaker 1: it's I think our attitude is to always evolve, but
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  Speaker 1: the ways that we have evolved or just what feels
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  Speaker 1: natural whenever we sit down to write music.
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  Speaker 2: A long of those lines by like how much musical
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  Speaker 2: growth do you think the band has got left in it?
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  Speaker 1: Who can say? I still got ideas now. Eventually maybe
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  Speaker 1: I'll run out, so then we'll know. Hopefully there's still
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: still a few albums left in us.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: Very That's all I got for you today, Brett, but
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: thanks very much for your time. Paul Bear are in
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  Speaker 2: Australia from March to twelfth for four shows in four days,
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  Speaker 2: so make sure you get yourself a ticket and help
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Brett stay away. Will is here.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah for real? Yeah, see you guys soon