Latest / Kyle Meredith With... / 5SOS’s Michael Clifford on Fatherhood, Fourth-Walling, and His New SIDEQUEST

Transcript

5SOS’s Michael Clifford on Fatherhood, Fourth-Walling, and His New SIDEQUEST · Kyle Meredith With...

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to hear your favorite artist on WFPK from wherever you are.
• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Listen on your smart speaker, live stream from our website at WFPK.org from Louisville Public Media.
• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Consequence podcast network.
• 0:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: And welcome to another edition of Kyle Meredith with.
• 0:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's the interview series presented by WFPK at WFPK.org Consequence and the Consequence Podcast Network.
• 0:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thanks for making your way here for checking out the episode.
• 0:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: I do hope you'll hit that subscribe button.
• 0:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you're not already, you get new interviews like this one sent your way every single week at Spotify, Apple Podcast, NPR, WFPK.org Consequence.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: YouTube for the video versions or anywhere you get your podcast you can subscribe the Kyle Meredith with and please do give this series a rating and a review while you're at.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: We've had some great guests dropping by Caroline Pollachek, Allison Goldfrapp, Ben Folds.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: He released a bit of an FU Trump on the Fourth of July.
• 1:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: The cast of zombies for including Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: We talked with Wetlegg.
• 1:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: Wetlegg was just here.
• 1:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: They got the moisturizer.
• 1:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: They're a sophomore record.
• 1:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: René Lee's Goldsbury, who you know from Hamilton and girls five ever.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Lucy Dacus, just an example of what you get when you subscribe to the Kyle Meredith with podcast.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that's me Kyle and Meredith today catching back up with Michael Clifford of five seconds of summer.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're going to be digging into side quests.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: He's solo album, born out of becoming a dad and rediscovering that childlike sense of curiosity.
• 1:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: Mike is going to talk about rewriting songs to better reflect his new phase in life, how parenting inspired the unpredictable structures of tracks like eclipse, and why he intentionally left the drums off KMFA, one of my favorite tracks in the record.
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: He also opens up about the vulnerability of going solo after years with the band, fourth wall breaking lyrics,
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: and the push to do something that feels brand new instead of nostalgic.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's an honest look at finding your own voice while still loving where you came from.
• 2:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: Talking about side quests, it's Kyle Meredith with Michael Clifford.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: And you're such a pro the way that you did that intro.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, once you said it literally over a thousand episodes.
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: The biggest thing is even though I know your name and I haven't written down right in front of me like all the fell safes.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: It doesn't matter how many times you're going to say it wrong.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're going to mess up the thing.
• 2:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's again, like forgetting song lyrics or whatever.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's it.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's like you've been seeing it for fifteen years and then suddenly going out.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: For sure.
• 2:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for having me, man.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's good to have you back.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: So here we are.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: You've got a you've got a solar record side quest that what what's the story?
• 3:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: What's the story?
• 3:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: How did you get here?
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is that's a great question.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, is it?
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not fully equipped to answer that one.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: How did I get here?
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: The series of unfortunate events.
• 3:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, this is just been a been a journey for me and something that I've been
• 3:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: having fun exploring and doing, you know, I've this album has taken me a really, really, really long time to get right for no fault for anyone other than myself.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just really, for this one, just like having fun.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: To me, this is just like, this is just fun.
• 3:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just, I love the songs that I made.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love the people I got to work with and kind of the stuff that I got to experiment with.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm just stoked to be here.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, of course, it comes the time, you know, I talk with Luke about his.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: I've talked with Ash about his, you know, you're collecting us like Pokemon.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: Got to catch them all.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, we know.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, three points.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, we're on here.
• 4:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's what we go.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: But you know, at one point, of course, it's like, yes, it's time, you know, it's time for this record.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: But at the same time, like this, this, like it's not like you had downtime.
• 4:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, part of your story, right?
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like you've become the dad.
• 4:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: And you become the dad and decide now's the time for the record at the same time.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's a little bit maddening I would expect.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I mean, you know, it was interesting the way that this process worked is like I had a lot of these songs like.
• 4:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe that's an overstatement.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had some songs done before I was a dad and then sort of like off to that.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was like the biggest thing that obviously ever happened to me in my whole life.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: So sort of once I escaped drowning from that,
• 5:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I sort of had this realization.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, man, this, like a lot of this stuff doesn't necessarily represent this next kind of like phase for me and sort of like who I am now, which is like an interesting
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: perspective because it's not like it's not like my album is about being a dad and it's not like it's not like any of this you know any of my music really has that kind of like sentiment in it it just sort of like I had a different I just had like a different outlook and I just I really wanted I really really wanted to like be a little more childlike with everything and I think like
• 5:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: being a dad with with my daughter really helped me embrace that kind of like that like child like wonder again.
• 5:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that I sort of went back in and sort of like, you know, like half of the songs I scrapped off of them, I wanted to redo completely and change.
• 5:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it just like it helped me have this like new approach on on how I wanted to like where I where I wanted it to go.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, there was no downtime.
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Definitely not.
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I think what you're like what I'm hearing that you're getting at too is like, I've got a kid.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: He's he's grown now.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: He's he's almost a teen, but remembering back then.
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: how nostalgia started to be different.
• 6:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, because you start seeing all those things through the eyes of a baby, you know, all the things that you thought you knew, it's like you, you start seeing it.
• 6:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: It sounds cliche when I say, oh, you start seeing a different way, but you really do start seeing it sort of through their eyes.
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like for me, it's,
• 6:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tuesday but for her it's for childhood you know so it's like having this approach of like every single day is so important and like all of these things that you're looking at you know you're watching someone discover something for the first time and I think that that kind of inspired me when it came to music I was like man I want
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, because because music is one of the places that you can have that experience with with all and stuff like that, you can sort of like have that, oh my gosh, this is the first time I'm experiencing whether it be like a new album or even like a new show or you know, whatever.
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think like watching her have that experience every single day kind of like unjaded me in a way.
• 7:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, man, this is like, you know, it's wild to watch that happen.
• 7:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I was like, I have to find a way to like inject that into what I'm making.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like I want everyone who listens to it to have that experience of like, wow, this is the first time I'm discovering something and I sort of had more of a clear picture on what I wanted that feeling to be.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like to me,
• 7:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: whenever I make music it's kind of less about the like big a picture of you know like references of like different artists and like it's not really about like genres and sounds to me it's more just like about feelings and I wanted to kind of like invoke certain just feelings and like and like take take your mind to like a place that feels a little bit more visual so that was fun to be able to like kind of figure out that and
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I appreciate that too because I miss that.
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'll say from the other side of parenthood that what I've learned lately is you you basically have two kids.
• 8:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: You have like I have the one that I used to know back when they saw everything new and and I used to know this little kid and he was great and now I have a cynical young adult completely different person.
• 8:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, you know, it's so it's yeah, I do miss that that whole newness and we'll be right back right after this.
• 8:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: Welcome back, it's Kyle Meredith with Michael Clifford.
• 8:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I guess maybe you're already answering that next question because when you decide to do a solo record, when you've been so known for being in a band for so long, is there a journey to finding your solo identity?
• 9:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Is that even a thing on your mind that it has to sound different or the same or it doesn't matter?
• 9:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, me personally, I wasn't really thinking about it.
• 9:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was more thinking about like just who represents what I am now and like I have such a diverse, we had taste in music that I just sort of wanted to like, you know, like my DNA is always going to be in there.
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like this kid who grew up listening to like email music.
• 9:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, that's like, that's just it lives in my blood.
• 9:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think I was conscious on like,
• 9:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: The only thing I knew I didn't want to do is create, create a nostalgia album.
• 9:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: That was not something that I had interest in and not something that any of us in the band have been interested in doing.
• 9:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I really wanted to provide you with the sense of it and the feeling of it, but I want you to be like, damn, this is totally new.
• 9:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is not a sound that I feel like I've heard from
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: from that kind of thing.
• 10:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there are elements of like, you know, I dabble into a bunch of different territories and like I said, like a lot of it's like definitely emo because that's just like who I am.
• 10:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I also, I also have a lot of other interests and a lot of other like
• 10:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: things that I try and experiment with and do.
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think when it comes to like solo identity, I don't necessarily even know what that is.
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if I found it.
• 10:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know who I am.
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just like flying and flailing through the universe, like screaming helped me.
• 10:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: So like, you know, in those songs too, like, do you have the song title at KMFA?
• 10:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, there's no drums in this song.
• 10:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: It almost sounds like it's like a demo, but still way more than a demo.
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 10:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: Something about that about the no drums.
• 10:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: made it seem way more intimate, I guess than the other ones on the record.
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that was that one was like, I was like, this song isn't going to have drums.
• 10:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, how do you how do you make this feel like it's doing something that's totally different?
• 11:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because like if you put a big, got to get or like whatever, put it on it.
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, okay, I feel like I've maybe heard that before, but like,
• 11:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I was lucky to get to work on that one with my favorite artist of all time, Porter.
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, when I when I like kind of told him my sort of like vision for the no drums on that one, he was like, oh, a hundred percent.
• 11:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was like, because when he first heard the song, he was like, I had a wonder if there's a drum beat that like, can do like this.
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, dude, and this is hard for me to say.
• 11:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: His Porter is like my favorite artist of all time.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like I genuinely,
• 11:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: is number one on my list.
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I was like, dude, I, I'm not going to question you, but I don't think there's drums on this one.
• 11:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was interesting.
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: He then heard kind of what I was hearing with it.
• 11:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, that one is like it's fully produced out in every way and it's like, you know, got all the bells and whistles and stuff, but it's like one thing is missing.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like there's there's just this chunk that's missing.
• 12:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I just love that kind of like
• 12:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: that kind of feeling of your like man why didn't they add drugs like that's what I want people to to feel like because it's you know there's only so many ways to make things that that that have like their own identity and like uniqueness now you know like everyone is so creative and everyone's done everything so there's a few different ways that that I've had fun on this with like doing stuff that's like you know my favorite thing to do is like
• 12:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Start doing the thing that like is really expected and you're like, okay, the song's gonna do this and then it does the opposite every time.
• 12:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had fun trying to like push in.
• 12:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: pushing some of those moments.
• 12:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 12:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 12:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's funny how you just take something else and it makes all the difference.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, especially something like drums, you know, it's like that's like the foundation and like the beating hot of every song and all of a sudden when you get rid of that, like in, you know, in the context of the the kind of lyric as well is like I think it's just like interesting that like
• 13:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can have this thing that feels so familiar, but feels like there's something missing.
• 13:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know if you ever move until the record definitely.
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: Awesome.
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe for that.
• 13:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's a great song on top of that.
• 13:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: And there's so many great songs on it.
• 13:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's at times a very lyrically dark album, or at least the way I'm hearing it too.
• 13:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, right from the beginning, I wrote down like, when you hear things like cool, I don't fit the parts.
• 13:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: When your clothes only fit in, twenty-fifteen enough has it all in there to be a break.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, calling up, giving a break is really interesting because, and you do that a few moments on this where it's very much like fourth walling it, I guess, if you were a movie, that's what it would be.
• 13:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, totally.
• 13:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, that was my intention with, with a lot of this, you know, and like, on giving a break, you know, like me and Austin from Waterbox have become like super, super close friends now, and he's kind of the guy that I'll text if I'm like,
• 14:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's like the internet or like something is bumming me out.
• 14:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, bro, come on.
• 14:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, let me vent here.
• 14:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I just think like,
• 14:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, literally he saw, he saw the like the lame and I loved like being able to like almost have a conversation with him on his part in the song where we kind of like reference each other's names and like we're having a conversation.
• 14:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just thought it was like some real to me in those moments, you know.
• 14:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, yeah, like both wall breaking is like what I what I've been trying to like
• 14:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I guess when it comes to like, you know, solo identity and what's amazing about the band is like when we come together, we create something that represents all of us so, you know, like it has its place and it has its thing that we all do together that that makes sense for us and then when I went and tried to find, you know, what I was just
• 15:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know what my voice was.
• 15:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, I don't even like, I don't even know.
• 15:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think like approaching some aspects of it where like, you know, you can listen to cool.
• 15:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: And like nobody else can sing that.
• 15:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, like nobody else is going to be able to say in a bridge.
• 15:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, when you're the guy who caught fire.
• 15:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: with the colored hair in the band about underwear, you know, like nobody else can sing it.
• 15:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I just, I found, I found that really fun to explore different moments of like, man, there's like, like, what's something that only I can say?
• 15:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Something that like only has happened to me and like,
• 15:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm saying like a lot, I don't know why I'm doing that.
• 15:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's like, but I even said like there too.
• 15:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's one of my favorite things about some of my favorite artists.
• 15:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: And there's no right or wrong answer here, but there's always that that struggle, like do you write universal?
• 16:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like the first thing can remind you like boy road heroes, you know?
• 16:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 16:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: Heroes just for one day.
• 16:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, great line.
• 16:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: What a great answer.
• 16:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: Whatever.
• 16:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thanks to a great melody on top of it.
• 16:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 16:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: But then you've got something like YouTube's pride when it gets to the versus.
• 16:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: And it's so historically specific, you know.
• 16:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: the money April four show all that stuff is like, when artists do that, I feel like even though even though like you, you're talking about something so specific to you, I grab onto that more.
• 16:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: It becomes more relatable.
• 16:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: They're just a big.
• 16:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: A hundred percent.
• 16:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: A hundred percent.
• 16:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And like it's the hottest thing to say sometimes is like, you know, especially like saying it how it is, you know, and that's
• 16:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm not the best lyricist in the world and I, you know, it takes me a long time to find what I'm trying to say.
• 16:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just sort of like, pardon me.
• 16:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I, you know, subject to the album, I'm like a chronic overthinker.
• 17:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I overthink every word, every like fucking
• 17:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, like when I was making it, I'm like, does this snare sound represent me and it's like kung and I'm like, nah, it's less of a kung and more like a duh.
• 17:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then I'm, you know, I just get in this loop of like ship that just doesn't really matter.
• 17:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think like what was interesting with cool is that was the first song because I was like, I had all of these ideas.
• 17:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like,
• 17:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: kind of working on all of them and I'm like, you know, pushing one, pushing another and I'm like, sort of getting them there.
• 17:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then when my team was like, hey, we need to sign off on a song.
• 17:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like we need, we need a song finished.
• 17:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, I was sort of like,
• 17:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, the idea of delivering a song and being like, okay, it's done was just absolutely horrifying to me.
• 17:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was like, it was like the biggest, like, mountain to climb because I was like, how am I meant to like,
• 18:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: give this in the state that it's in and be like, it's done.
• 18:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll never touch it again.
• 18:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just like scared the shit out of me.
• 18:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what's interesting is doing that with the band is so, so easy because when you've got more people to be like, this is it, right?
• 18:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: This sounds like it's the thing or whatever.
• 18:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you've got that reassurance.
• 18:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can kind of like make decisions that are harder because you're like, all in it together.
• 18:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: But for me, I was like,
• 18:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, like this is, this has got to be it.
• 18:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: This has to be the first thing.
• 18:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I, the irony of, of cool being the first one that I was like, okay, it's done, you know, like just with the, like subject matter of the song being like, I'm overthinking everything.
• 18:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have no idea if this is cool.
• 18:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, I don't know if this sucks.
• 18:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: If it's good, like, but whatever it is, I'm like, here we go.
• 18:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, let's just, let's just get warm.
• 18:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think it's a Salvador dolly line or someone of that era who is saying like a paintings never done.
• 19:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's just sort of taken away for me.
• 19:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, that's how it feels like with all the songs of them.
• 19:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like they're all just someone needed, someone needed them.
• 19:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I need, I needed those deadlines.
• 19:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just wouldn't have been able to make music without it.
• 19:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I would have been able to make a lot of music, but not music, but I don't want to hurt.
• 19:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah.
• 19:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: And we'll be right back right after this.
• 19:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: Welcome back.
• 19:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's Kyle made it with Michael Clifford.
• 19:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, how do you feel about being on the stage without the, without the guys, you know, to play these.
• 19:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: Blocking horrified.
• 19:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 19:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: No, like, if that's now, everyone's looking at the vulnerability that you're singing, right?
• 19:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Dude, and I'm like, I want to like go to the show and be like, hey, you know, can everyone turn around?
• 19:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I, I'm like, not, you know, don't even look at me.
• 19:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just like pretend the years over else.
• 19:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 19:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: Jim Morrison used to do the plate.
• 20:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was back to the crowd.
• 20:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: Did he?
• 20:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: Wow.
• 20:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 20:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Free refunds on that or not.
• 20:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, luckily you had the rest of the doors there.
• 20:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: So yeah.
• 20:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 20:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can get away from that.
• 20:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: Do you bring any of the of the five sauce songs into the live shows?
• 20:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: You think about that stuff?
• 20:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like you got an opportunity to go deep and weird if you want.
• 20:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think so.
• 20:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think, you know, what's beautiful about this and being able to like experiment on our own is like we still have the band, you know, and that's that's the beauty of what we've, you know, been able to like culture together in this band is like, you know, we can all, we can all do our own things and then like we come together and it, and it becomes this like,
• 20:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: this like big blockbuster movie and then you can go watch the like, you know, the other stuff.
• 20:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I don't think, I don't think I'll, I do that.
• 20:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I actually, I know I won't do that because it's like, you know, if you want to hear a five-sust song, then come to a five-sust show.
• 21:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 21:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: But you could flip it the other way.
• 21:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, now you all are amassing solo catalogs.
• 21:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, if you want, you can actually flip it the other way and then the other way.
• 21:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: It makes it a bit more sense to me than it does.
• 21:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right.
• 21:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Other way, yeah.
• 21:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, that's a moment in the show now.
• 21:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: Everybody takes a solo.
• 21:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: So whatever, you know, it's.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 21:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And be, yeah, we all play our full albums.
• 21:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then you'll be there for, like, you know, five hours show, maybe.
• 21:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Take that Taylor.
• 21:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 21:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 21:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 21:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: True ears, try, try albums.
• 21:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: All of them.
• 21:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: All of them.
• 21:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: It is a great record and it ends beautifully too with the clips that track right there is you know what we talked about you not this not being like the you know the new parent album but and I don't know if that's what the song is about like that's what I hear in that song like yeah that's something to me what I what I found like really fun about that one was like you know
• 22:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had actually, with that one, it's like, I wanted you to have this feeling of like, what parenting is like, and that sounds strange, but it's like, you genuinely don't know the structure of the song.
• 22:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, it could be like loud noise out of nowhere.
• 22:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: It could be like, it could be silence for a second.
• 22:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like unorthodox in how many like bars it does.
• 22:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I just, I really loved the kind of like messaging behind that of being like, man, you just like,
• 22:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I like it could be anything at any point, you know, so I just I loved making that and being able to push like really weird with, you know, the sound selection and like, you know, doing, you know, there's like a like the ending breakdown is only like
• 22:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: is less than like ten seconds of the song and it's like the full climax of it or whatever, I just, it's fun to be able to like create something that was just so, like, so all over the place to represent, to me what parenting is like, it's just like fucking insane.
• 23:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: perfect ending to the record, it really is.
• 23:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I love what you've done here, however you had to get there, the journey to it, you did it though.
• 23:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: And so, you know, obviously, congratulations on it, man.
• 23:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: Seriously.
• 23:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks, dude.
• 23:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much.
• 23:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now you've got to, now you've got to go find Kalim.
• 23:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, then you're complete.
• 23:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: One to go.
• 23:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: one band to rule them all, or a mixing metaphors or whatever now.
• 23:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: So references.
• 23:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: Seriously, man, it was so great to catch up with you again.
• 23:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: Grats on this one.
• 23:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I do look forward to seeing you out on the road.
• 23:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks, man.
• 23:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
• 23:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for having me.
• 23:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: My thanks to Michael SideQuest.
• 23:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: Check it out.
• 23:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thanks to you for checking out this episode.
• 23:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hit that subscribe button before you get out of here so you can keep up with all the interviews that I've put out every single week.
• 23:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: Spotify, Apple Podcast, NPR, WFP, K. org, consequence, YouTube for the video versions or anywhere you get your podcast.
• 24:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can subscribe to Kyle Meredith with and I do hope you give the series a rating and leave a review as well.
• 24:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: After that, you're going to head over to wfpk.org, or I do a show Monday through Friday, starting at six p.m.
• 24:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: Eastern.
• 24:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's four hours of classics in the eighties and nineties.
• 24:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: You get the best in new music.
• 24:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: They're bonus interviews and lots of music news.
• 24:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: One of my recent shows features some classics and favorites from Simon and Garfunkel, Lucinda Williams, Simisonic.
• 24:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: Garbage, R-E-M, Sparks, Fishbone, High-M, Black Pumas, Deathcat for Q-D, Handsome Boy, Modeling School, Personal Trainer, David Burm, Pearl Jam, Husker Doow, Wishy, and my interview with Beck.
• 24:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that's what you can hear weeknight starting six p.m.
• 24:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: Eastern at WFPK.ORG.
• 24:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: Consequence says your music and film news.
• 25:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can also find me on any of the social media sites.
• 25:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: The dress is always at Kyle Meredith.
• 25:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I do hope you like it and follow along.
• 25:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that does it for another edition of Kyle Meredith, I'll see you next time.
• 25:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to hear your favorite artist on WFPK from wherever you are.
• 25:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Listen on your smart speaker, live stream from our website at WFPK.org from Louisville Public Media.