Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Diamond In The Rough With JESSE BARNETT From STICK TO YOUR GUNS

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Diamond In The Rough With JESSE BARNETT From STICK TO YOUR GUNS · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  What's going on. This is Jesse from the band Stick to Your Guns.
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  We're from California and we'll be touring Australia at the end of January into February,
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  so we'll be going everywhere, not just the major city, so be
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  sure to checking for coming near you and get your ass out there. Heafl
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  Jesse, thanks for joining us today, Rolla, thank you for having me.
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  Really appreciate it, all right, pleas I stick to your Guns.
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  Return to Australia for Runham shows very soon, starting in Braceboot on January twenty
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  fourth, before going through the Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sydney, willing Jong,
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  Melbourne's Long had Light and finishing in Perth on February the third. So
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  she's not far off now, mighty acted ready to go. No, I
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  pack light. I'm a light packer, so I'm not stressed about the packing.
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  The travel stresses me out. I'm a I'm not a good plane guy.
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  Flying scares me. So that's that fifteen hour or fourteen hour flight,
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  whatever the hell is is. You know, it's a it's a it's a
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  brutal one. But I've done it many times before, so I'll be all
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  right. I'll be all right because I speaking of ply Bro. But you
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  guys are no strangers to traveling. So name me two non essential items that
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  you always take with you when you go on tour. Non essential non essential
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  books. Don't bring books. I bring books all the time. And it's
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  just like I feel like I'm in eighth grade again with like a one hundred
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  and fifty pounds backpack, just like you know, throwing my shoulders out of
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  socket now that I'm you know, getting older there. But yeah, no
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  books. And I so now I have an iPad. I was able to
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  get an iPad, so I just load everything up onto there and that's uh.
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  Books are in. No books are no more. And the thing it's
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  going to be your first shows a twenty twenty four, Yes they will.
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  This is the first shows of twenty twenty four. And man, I think
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  I don't think we've been back to Australia in five years. I mean,
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  I know the pandemic kind of makes that that time a bit longer, but
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  you know, I'm ready to get back. Very cool. So the tour
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  is gonna say you how your fourth album Diamond in Full So while you're sele
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  writing in that particular album, so it's we we we knew we always wanted
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  to do a ten year thing, but we we uh for for that album
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  specifically. You know, I think this was kind of like a in terms
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  of our you know, if you want to call it a career or whatever
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  you want to whatever term you want to use. That was a pretty path
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  changing album that we put out a lot of things started really happening for us
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  after that, and I think people kind of started connecting with the band and
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  in a bit of a different way than they were before. Maybe, So
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  we wanted to make sure that we were able to kind of celebrate that because
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  because uh, you know, I kind of say it in every interview,
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  but I want to I want to make sure I really reiterate the point that,
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  like stick to your guns, never really set out to do anything profound.
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  We just wanted to kind of speak our truth and and and do our
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  thing as a band. And and uh, you know, it's it's not
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  it's not the band that can that creates a meaningful album. It's the it's
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  the receiver. It's the listener who who who gives these albums any sort of
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  meeting whatsoever, you know what I mean. So I feel grateful that that
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  we have people from all over the world who gave this album any sort of
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  meaning whatsoever. So I I I appreciate that. Yeah, So what are
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  some some of your memories for making that album? Brothers? Was it a
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  good pricess? So it was, you know, and and we had just
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  gotten we had just kicked out a member and we we we got Josh who's
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  now you know, a crucial member of sixty year Guns. And so there
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  was that kind of turning point as well of of getting this new these new
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  members in and and or that new members specifically, and and you we we
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  recorded that album with Bill Stevenson, who's the drummer of the Descendants and Black
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  Flag, and you know, that was like that was a bucket list kind
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  of thing and to be able to pick his brain and and you know,
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  the whole process was just like a really creative and just like energized process.
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  And and and you know, there's nothing better than leaving the studio with a
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  with a with like a finished, a finished album that you're so proud of,
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  you know, and you got to make sure that that's that that's at
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  the forefront, you know. Yeah, So she've been described as a genre
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  bending album. Bright So was that something that you set out to do when
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  you made it or did it just happen along the way. I mean,
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  we've always been We've always been that kind of band, just because like we
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  kind of have this weird, straightforward kind of hardcore thing, but then we
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  also sing, you know what I mean, and we have some parts that
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  maybe hardcore kids would call would consider metal, you know what I mean,
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  but I don't think metal fans would consider it metal, so you know what
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  I mean, Like, I want to make sure I'm being uh, being
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  respectful to all genres and everything, but yeah, I mean I think I
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  think what was important with us is we just have an eclectic group of tastes
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  across our members, so that was just bound to kind of create a different
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  kind of different kind of sound. You know, I don't think we were
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  I don't think we were trying. We weren't. We weren't in That wasn't
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  the intention, but I think that's just what happened, you know. So
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  how do you go playing the whole album front to back? Mate, Like
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  when you made it, I couldn't imagine that you actually planned on playing the
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  whole lot one day. So the first time you did like to come together
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  zero. Is it a difficult thing today? Well, the relationship between the
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  band and label doesn't matter what band, doesn't matter what label, I would
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  say ninety nine percent of the time is a very confrontational relationship. So when
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  it comes to writing an album front to back, when you hand it into
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  the label, and granted, I'm not I'm not I'm speaking in generalities.
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  I'm sure there's there's exceptions to this rule here and there. It doesn't they're
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  gonna want They're gonna want it the way that they want it. You know,
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  they're invested in that. That's they're they're going to feel entitled to take
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  your thing and rearrange it in a way that that makes them happy. And
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  if you're in an agreement with with a label, I mean, that's just
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  kind of what you're signing up for, you know what I mean? And
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  so you got to you know, what do they call a good compromises when
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  everyone is unhappy? So that we released a special viole edition of the album
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  called Decide. Addition in town reporting that one of three bonus tracks might say,
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  are you gonna be finding those bonus tracks as well? No, we're
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  just doing that. We're just doing the original release, the decade edition.
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  This in hindsight, it was confusing to call a decade edition because it almost
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  makes it sound like the album had been out for ten years when it only
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  had been out for I don't know, two years. But that that's when
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  we that's when that was our ten year anniversary of us being a band,
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  and so we felt like we would we put that out and added a couple
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  other songs and shit, but yeah, we're just gonna be playing the original
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  ones. So on that album. I look, do you feel that it's
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  aged well? Like the songs on it's still relevant? I mean they are
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  to me, they are to me, you know, relevant, relevant musically,
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  I would say, and then still relevant relevant lyrically unfortunately in some ways.
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  But you know, I I I think so, I mean, I'm
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  still finding relevance in it. But I think that's just because I've been playing
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  these songs for twelve years straight, you know what I mean. So it's
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  it's it's almost, in a in some kind of weird way, come morphed
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  into a part of like my identity, you know what I'm saying. And
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  so, yeah, I don't know I don't know if that's a good thing
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  or a bad thing, but it's, uh, you know, the songs
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  eventually just become who you are. And yeah, so yeah, you're gonna
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  be bringing a cowboy out with you for the show, like bring particularly us
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  well, Space Cowboy I have always been friends of ours, and so any
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  any chance we get to be able to tour with friends, because that's not
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  always the option because everyone's schedules are always different, right, And so you
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  know, you obviously go for the bands that you want the first, the
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  very you know, you make a list and then you prioritize that list,
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  and s Space Cowboy was at the was was at the top at the top
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  of that list, if not the first choice, the second or you know
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  whatever. But they we we are absolutely stoked to be bringing them and and
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  and I love the band. I think that they're doing something interesting, you
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  know, uh, and I think that they're doing something kind of thought provoking
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  as well, and so you know, that's always going to be kind of
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  my my, uh my taste. I like that kind of stuff. They're
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  a good fun bunch of goh I to I'm going to beat him. About
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  a month ago and I was pissing myself off. And yeah, yeah,
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  they're definitely funny for sure, So stick to your guns. Might you first
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  be into a Stria back in two thousand and nine, mates, So how
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  would you say the band's changed from then till now? Not much? Not
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  much has changed, I gotta be honest. And again, I don't know
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  if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But you know, it's
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  like I turn I just turned thirty six. I've started this band when I
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  was seventeen or maybe even sixteen. Holy shit. And you know, in
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  a in a in a weird way, there's been cool parts about the fact
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  that like it's kept me young. You know, I still feel like this
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  is kind of the same kid that started the band, you know. You
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  know, obviously I've been through some shit in the last twenty years, but
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  like we all have, and and and part of growing up and part of
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  navigating the world is is uh that can be scary, but I feel privileged
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  that I was able to navigate it and experience it in this avenue, you
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  know, being able to travel and meet people from all different backgrounds and languages
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  and shit, that's that's a that's a not not something that everybody gets,
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  so I try not to take it for granted, you know. Yeah,
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  So aside from playing dominant in four Layer at him right, what can fans
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  expect from sixty Guns on the shows? I don't know, just a good
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  time, Like we're all going to be in shorts because it's I mean,
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  here's the thing. I'm I'm in Los Angeles, so I'm if anyone hears
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  me complaining about it being cold, they're going to beat my ass. And
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  it's definitely not cold, but for LA it's been pretty cold as of late.
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  So I'm ready to get into the sun and go swimming and just kind
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  of hang out and play fun shows. You know, all about the PRIP
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  side of that. Bro Like as a band, what do you guys expect
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  from your crays? Like, do you expect anything at all? I used
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  to, you know, I think I used to really expect, like,
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  Hey, if I'm gonna come out here and I'm going to run around and
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  jump around and you at the very least you guys need to be doing the
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  same. And I think that's a kind of a stupid mentality. And maybe
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  it's just because I'm getting older, but I don't really respect Sorry, I
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  don't really expect much. It's like, if you want to pay your entry
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  fee, you come in here, enjoy it the way you want, you
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  know, especially because just because someone's just because someone's standing in the crowd staring
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  at you, doesn't mean they're not enjoying the music, you know. I
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  feel like this this genre has always been a pretty what's the uh, participatory
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  genre? Right? People get on stage and they jump off, Yeah,
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  they're they're they're mashing and all that kind of shit. So sometimes when people
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  aren't moving around so much, it can be interpreted as maybe not a good
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  show. But you know, I've played plenty of great shows where people are
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  preferring to take it easy rather than beat the fuck out of each other.
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  So you know, there's good and bad to both, I guess, but
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  I have no expectations, just I just want people to come and have a
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  good time. Oh shit, So you ture why day finishes on fever that?
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  What's next for sixteen Guns? Off of that mine? We head to
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  Southeast Asia and we're going to Thailand. We're going to Philippines, and we're
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  going to Singapore, which I've never been to, and I'm very excited about
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  that. I kind of stick to your guns and played Africa. You know,
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  we were one of the first American hardcore bands to play Kenya, if
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  not the first one. And so we like to go to the places we've
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  never been to, and so anytime we can go to a place that we
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  haven't been, like, we're over the Moon. So it's a lot of
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  bands have been to that area obviously, but it's taken us a long time
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  to get there and we're just we're stoked about that before Jesse, well,
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  thanks very much. Be JOm Diday right. The Troe kicks off on January
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  twenty fourth in Brisbane. Say say carry solf, you'll in mate see here.
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  Appreciate you brother, thank you so much.