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Rekindling Relationships Down Under With ADAM CARSON From AFI · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: My name is Adam Carson. I am the drummer of AFI,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and we are about to depart on a tour of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Australia with Green Day.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Fantastic Adam, thanks for joining us today.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for having me, having me pleasure.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: So, as you say, AFI will be in Australia very
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: soon for a run of show supporting Green Day, starting
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: in Melbourne on March first, moving through Sydney and finishing
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: on Gold Coast on March of fifth.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: So are you packed and ready to go?
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I'm getting there. I leave tomorrow and I pulled out
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the suitcase, the small one because it's a short tour,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: so I just want to do the carry on thing,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: throwing a bunch of stuff in there. But yeah, I
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: don't know. It's it's sort of this process I have
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: to go through every time I pack and put a
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: bunch of stuff in, take a bunch of stuff out.
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  Speaker 1: But I don't know. I just need to get on
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  Speaker 1: the plane. Ah na.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: So it's a pretty big cho supporting Green Day, mate,
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: So why do you think I'm I was chosen?
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: He've made supports.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm really grateful we've known Green Day
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: for thirty three or thirty four years now. We came
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: up in the same you know punk scene in the
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  Speaker 1: San Francisco Bay area, and you know, they were always
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: this sort of elder statesmen of the Gilman Street, you
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: know punk scene. But you know, we've just known them
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  Speaker 1: for a long time. And they took us out on
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a tour in twenty ten in the US, and they're
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: really gracious and giving us shows occasionally, and so we're
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: really excited to get these these gigs because we haven't
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  Speaker 1: been to Australia in a really long time, and I
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: think this is a good way to come down and
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: play in front of just about everybody who lives there.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: So you mentioned you haven't been here for a while, bro,
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  Speaker 3: So what's actually changed with AFI since last time you
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: were down in Australia. I don't know.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Maybe we have like three three other records.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Wow, i's being that long.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's been since twenty thirteen or something,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: or maybe I'm mistaken. I don't I don't quite remember,
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  Speaker 1: but it's been a while.
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  Speaker 3: We have.
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  Speaker 1: A record that came out in twenty twenty or twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty one or something that we haven't played down there.
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  Speaker 1: We have, you know, not a lot is new with
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the band. We're still kind of doing our thing, but
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: you know, we're excited to come play.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: I suppose you give me a new question now that
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  Speaker 3: might if you haven't been issues to high out the
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  Speaker 3: thousand today.
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  Speaker 2: And the big question is why have you neglected Christmas
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  Speaker 2: so long?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah? You know I'm saying that, and now I'm starting
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: to starting to question it. We might have been down
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: there a little later, like twenty seventeen, but I'm not sure.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, It's all kind of runs together after a.
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  Speaker 2: While, it would do. So what do we expect from
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  Speaker 2: you live shy then? Brother?
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Well, we're going to do what we do the Green
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Day gigs, or it's a little bit of a shorter set,
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  Speaker 1: and we'll probably play a cross section of of all
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  Speaker 1: of our records and try to play, you know, a
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  Speaker 1: bunch of songs that people who know us might want
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  Speaker 1: to hear, and then some songs that we think people
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: who don't know anything about us might like, and we
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  Speaker 1: just kind of hope for the best.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: I suppose I love those lines, brother.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: I just say someone's going just to see Green Day
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: they don't know too much about afi, Like, give us
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: three songs that they can listen to in order to
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: get to know the band better and know what you expect.
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  Speaker 2: Oh man, I know it's haired because you've got so many.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's tough. I mean it's funny because we have
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  Speaker 1: so many records, and we have among our fan base
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  Speaker 1: we have people that really lock in with like the
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: early punk stuff in like the late nineties, early two thousands,
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  Speaker 1: and then we have a whole cross section of our
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  Speaker 1: fan base that loves the sort of singing the sorrow
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: to summer underground kind of early to mid two thousands stuff.
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  Speaker 1: And then we have a lot of fans that really
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  Speaker 1: love or you know, seem to love the records that
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: we make post Post Our, Interscope and DreamWorks records. So
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: you know, it depends on what kind of music fan
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  Speaker 1: you are. I think that if you like aggressive music,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: if you like kind of post punk and darker music,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you should be able to find something you like.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: And of course you've announced a couple of headline side
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  Speaker 3: shows as well. You've got one in Sydney on March
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  Speaker 3: is second, and one in Brisbane on March is six.
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  Speaker 3: So we're sort of touch on this before. But how
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  Speaker 3: are they going to be different to the support shows.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Well that's you know, when we do headline shows, we
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  Speaker 1: play a little bit longer, we have some room to
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  Speaker 1: stretch out. We we know that the people in the
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  Speaker 1: room want to see us specifically, so we might play
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: some deeper, deeper cuts. You know, we just know that
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  Speaker 1: it's like these people they should be fans. You know,
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  Speaker 1: they paid money to see us, so they you know,
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  Speaker 1: they're at least hopefully going to be a receptive audience.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, we try to like make sure we play
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  Speaker 1: a cross section of of all our records if we can.
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  Speaker 1: We try to play some music that makes us happy
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  Speaker 1: and just try to you know, make that connection, because
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  Speaker 1: that's what's you know, that's what makes it fun. That's
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  Speaker 1: what it's all about.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. I guess when you when you say supporting someone
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  Speaker 3: like Green Day, like when you're doing up your set
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  Speaker 3: list here, do you think about what bands and theirs
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  Speaker 3: might like being I like, because do you try and
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: come up with music that might appeal to that sort
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  Speaker 3: of audience or do you rather come up with music
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  Speaker 3: of yours that is yours and make some sort of
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  Speaker 3: gravitate to you a bit more?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: I mean I could see the logic and do in that.
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  Speaker 1: We don't really do that, because you know, we just
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  Speaker 1: try to, like we try to show all those people
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  Speaker 1: what it is we do in the in the most concise,
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  Speaker 1: energetic way. So we try to lead. We try to
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: play material that we think we play well, and then
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: you know, Spotify doesn't lie. You can kind of look
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  Speaker 1: at which songs people listen to the most, and you know,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: you kind of figure, well, those are the hits quote unquote,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: So you know, we try to play some songs that
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: you know, there may be thirty thousand people in the
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: stadium who have never seen us, but maybe they've heard
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: one or two of our songs. Play those and then
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: you know, the people stare at us blankly and then
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: we play the one song. You know, the good news
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  Speaker 1: is that I think just me saying speaking, but I
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: think that you know, Davey is a really careismatic and
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: engaging front man. So we're pretty good at playing in
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  Speaker 1: front of crowds that haven't heard of us before. He
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: does a pretty good job of engaging with people. So yeah,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: we'll see how it goes.
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  Speaker 3: And what about the actual the stage set itself, Like
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: you're on the show, you have more more of a
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  Speaker 3: scope to put on a more child backdrop, I guess
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: and stage show.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean it's you know it when we
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: play the headline gigs, it's obviously a much smaller show,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: ah in a you know, smaller venue, but we kind
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: of get more at the stage and so we have
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: to fill it. So we have our lights, our lighting design.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: You know, we kind of do our thing. When you
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: support a big band like Green Day, you kind of
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: have to work around their setup, which you know, we're
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: more than happy to do there. That's so generous that they,
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  Speaker 1: you know, let us on their stage at all. But
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: you know, that's like you kind of have a responsibilities
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  Speaker 1: to support and to you know, you you have your lights,
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  Speaker 1: but it's a little bit of a tone down production, yeah,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: and it's but which you know, that's actually kind of
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  Speaker 1: fun sometimes because it's like you just get out there
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  Speaker 1: and you play, and you let the music speak for
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  Speaker 1: itself and and just you know, just have a good
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  Speaker 1: time with it.
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  Speaker 3: Like can I take a bit of a glimpse in
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  Speaker 3: the side of the band's psyche going into a support
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  Speaker 3: show like by with grand Aby, with Anyone, like Gears
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  Speaker 3: go out there with the attitude that we're going to
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  Speaker 3: blow the headliners off stage, or do you just go
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: out there with the attitude that where he.
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  Speaker 2: To do a job opening for them? Are were going
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: to do the best job that we can.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we go out there and we do our thing.
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  Speaker 1: Whether we're playing in the smallest you know venue in
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  Speaker 1: the world or the biggest stadium. We you know, we
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  Speaker 1: try to give it everything we have, and we try
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  Speaker 1: to just put on our show. I would love to
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  Speaker 1: say that we plan to go out there and blow
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  Speaker 1: the headliners off the stage. But Green Day is one
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  Speaker 1: of the best bands ever.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah had, Like from just from a technical perspective, those
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: guys play together so well, and they've been doing it
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  Speaker 4: for so long.
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  Speaker 1: They're just the tightest band I've ever seen. If it's
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: really crazy. If you watch them and you watch Billy
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  Speaker 1: and Mike and the way they strum, it's like so
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: in tune, it's so tight, and they have other guys
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: on stage as well, and the band is just incredible.
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  Speaker 1: So you know, we're going to go out there and
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  Speaker 1: do our thing. I have no doubts that they are
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: going to be the people who are, you know, ripping
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  Speaker 1: the face off the crowd.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Very diplomatic, han Son. You started the band with Davy
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: back in.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: Ninety ninety one in California. Brother, So what was the
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: musical climate like that gave birthday?
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Fine?
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  Speaker 2: But where did you guys fit in? Initially?
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Well, we when we started the band, we were really
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: influenced by punk rock and hardcore and af I was,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: you know, just a kind of a pure punk band
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: for a real long time. And it was like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: pre Nirvana, you know, pre that sort of awakening and
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: awareness of punk rock that happened in the you know,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: mid nineties, you know, much because of Green Day. So
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: it's still felt very underground and subculture, you know, counterculture.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: But there was a really healthy punk scene in the
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Bay Area, which was you know, an hour or two
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  Speaker 1: from where we grew up, and we moved down to Berkeley, California,
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  Speaker 1: and we were part of the the scene that revolved
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: around nine two four Gilman Street, and so it was
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: a really it was and it was a really healthy subculture,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: really healthy underground punk scene that a couple of years
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: later really exploded and became you know, the sort of
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: epicenter of music for a second there.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: I mean, you sort of touched on this before, mate,
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: But after starting out as more of a punk sort
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: of hardcore band, like you started experimenting with melodies and
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: other genres on your fourth album, Black Syles and the
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: Sunset in ninety ninety nine.
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  Speaker 2: Like what brought that change on at that time?
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: Like did you deliberately decide to go in different directions
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: or was it more organic?
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, the influences that we've sort of drawn upon,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: uh throughout the trajectory of the band, from you know,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: the earliest punk stuff to like the most recent stuff
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: we've done. Like, those influences have always been with us.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: You know, there are influences that we've acquired our entire lives,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: you know, just with you know, early eighties punk and
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: hardcore and uh post punk, you know, dark music. There's
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: just you know, pop music from the eighties. There's just
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: so much that has gone in our music, and that
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: stuff has always been with us. But I think along
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: the way, we learned how to play a little better
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: so we could actually you know, draw upon some of
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: those influences. And then you know, Black Sales in particular
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: was when we had you know, fifty percent of the
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: band was new by that point, Uh, and that was Jade,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: our guitar players first record with us, and you know,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: the songs that he was writing and his I think,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: you know, ability to play guitar. It really like allowed
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: us to go new places. And so, you know, we've
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: always been a work in progress, and we've always been
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: you know, we started the band before we actually own
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: the instruments. So our records, you know, chronologically, really showcase
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: us learning how to to write songs and play music.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: And sometimes it's kind of embarrassing, but it's also kind
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: of cool to have all of it documented rather than
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: spending all these years learning how to play and then
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: you know, than making records.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: That's so cool.
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  Speaker 3: Your last album, Buddies, came out in twenty twenty one,
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: So have you started working on your new album yet.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we have a new record that's finished and it
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: should come up sometime this year. I'm not entirely sure
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: what the timing is going to be. Like we've just
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: we're just putting the finishing touches on it and then
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: you know, hopefully it hopefully comes out in the summers sometimes.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: And what about the muse your direction on that, is
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: it what people would expect from a fire, or if
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: you dug back into your past, reached a little bit
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: more and brought something else out.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: You know, this record is like every record we make
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: is a lot different than the last and the one before,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: and you know, we I think we leaned into the
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: sort of post punk influences that the band is always
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: carried around with it. I don't know. I know that
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: it's a very focused record. I feel like all the
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: songs really sound like they belong together. But yeah, it's
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: a little too early for me to even wrap my
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: head around what it is.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: Like.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: It's kind of bizarre, you know, and it's like we
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: just kind of put it out, hold our breath and
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: hope that our fans like it. You know, we know
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: that we like it and that we're proud of it,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: and I think that's kind of the most important thing.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: It's the best way to make honest music. Hopefully people
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: like it.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: And what have you play any of the new tracks,
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: say around in Australia.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think there's a learning curve there.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, we at some point when the
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: record gets announced, you know, we'll probably release a track
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: or two before the album comes out, and maybe we
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: would play those, but we're going to be down there
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: a little before all that stuff starts happening.