Latest / LOYAL TO THE CRAFT / Steve Carey on Senses Fail, Warped Tour, and Chasing the Dream

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Steve Carey on Senses Fail, Warped Tour, and Chasing the Dream · LOYAL TO THE CRAFT

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: On this episode of Loyal to the Craft, I sit with Steve Carey, drummer for Census Fail, and talk about how he was a super fan of the band and now he's playing drums for him.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: Check it out.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna jump right in, man.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: We're on Adobe Radio.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: We're talking about chasing your dreams and music.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: We've got Steve Carey here live on the computer screen and in the flash, wherever you're joining us from.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna talk about chasing your dreams.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: And dude, like when you were a kid being a fan of Census Phil, now you're their drummer, man.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go, let's go deep back to the beginning and kind of like talk about your story really in such a way that kind of tees it up to where you're at now.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me about being a fan and making your way one by one by one to getting these opportunities to ultimately be playing drums for your childhood dream band.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: One one of them for sure, a very important one and a very specific time in my life.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um really, it I I couldn't have I couldn't have gotten to that point without the band that I kind of like born and bred out of my basement from 15, 14, 15 and on.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I was just uh starting a band um with my best friends back in Rockford, Illinois.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we had a high school rendition of the band.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: It was called The Killer Apathy.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Very, the name is very 2004 to 2005, you know, emo and screamo and all things like that.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh did that for most of the high school years and then came out of high school and transitioned to a band name called The Cull of Morale.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Did uh did a few member changes, a little switcheroo, if you will, and uh yeah, started uh taking it really seriously.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we uh went and recorded with a big name, big name producer at the time, uh Joey Sturgis.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: It is apparently one of one of the bigger, you know, getting up there with some metal core little metal core bands like Devil Wars Prada, Attack Attack.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: They they seem they seem like they have a promising future for sure, or at least some band members from from those said bands.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, it's we you know paid for our little recording sessions, made a five-song demo, uh shopped it around to some music labels, and Rise Records was just like sure, we'll do it, we'll take a chance on you guys.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: So that kick started a whole pro probably close to a decade-long um uh decade-long relationship with those guys, and eventually brought me to everywhere, literally to to emailing you, meeting you um when you were with SJC, uh, to playing the Vance Warp Tour, which I used to go to as a kid, or um so yeah, it it took many years.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: I just I just fast tracked like 10-15 years in like a a couple paragraphs there.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: So we could we can stop and talk about those little those little moments, but uh yeah, but yeah, no, yeah.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Cool.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, dude, I I I want to go deep on that because you know I think it's it's it's obviously similar to a lot of young young musicians' journeys, especially in that like early 2000s time frame.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like you said, the kind of like pop punk emo thing.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: We were all really inspired, I think, by a lot of the same things because social media didn't exist, MTV was a source of finding out about music.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: So, like for me, I had Refused because New Noise was a music video on MTV.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: I had 311 because like Come Original and Down was on there, and then you had like Blink 182 and Limp Biscuit and like this weird eclectic version of like what the warp tour was back then where you could see all of these crazy eclectic lineups in one day.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me about getting kind of bit by the bug early of a wanting to be a drummer in a band, but also your style because growing up at that time in the pop punk kind of era for me anyway was really important and impactful.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: And watching all those bands from the West Coast do that thing is really what made me want to be part of the warp tour and do all the things that I'm doing now almost 30 years late, 30 year 30 years later.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's the same for you, right?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it it absolutely was.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: My my gateway to uh uh thinking that playing in a band just in general in front of anyone at all would be cool.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: Was um I'm a part of uh because of my age, I'm a part of uh like Limewire, Kazah, Napster era type of downloading, uh illegally on the internet.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: And there was this one particular video from Blink 182 of them like it's I think it's before Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, uh in the Enema the State era from like Big Day Out, which was a huge festival in Australia at the time.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just this hour-long, it was an hour-long set that it was unbelievable.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: And this it was like life-changing to me to see Travis Barker playing a million miles per hour so much faster than what's actually on the what's actually on the records.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then just Tom, Mark, Mark and Tom just you know, bullshitting to the crowd and saying the dumbest things I have ever heard in my life, cursing the way that I never heard anyone curse ever, talking about things they do to I I don't want to get it.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Each other's mom.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: But it was yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Shit like that.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: It was unbelievable it was unbelievable.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: But I I think that I think about that video a lot because it it just showed like a sea of people.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I can assume this happened to generations before me, people are a little bit older.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe seeing uh Green Day, Duke uh playing you know, Dukey songs live in 94 Woodstock probably was a was a big deal.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: You go you go farther back, maybe um people always talking about watching the Metallica DVD from like Russia.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: They're like playing uh they're like playing to all of Russia or something like that.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's like early 90s, I think.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's yeah, I I I can always I've I can always tell that there's like certain things that certain people see, depending on what age they're at, they're just like, oh, this is cool.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Can I can I can I do this job?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Is this actually attainable?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um so watching that blink uh video coupled with you know being at the right age to finally convince somebody to take me to Warp Tour, and which was too the my first one was 2003.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: So you get that, you get it, you get that in there, you get you get the warp tour actual experience.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: It was just the closest thing that I can get to a big day out headline festival that I see on on my uh on my computer at home.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, no, that that really sealed the deal, man.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: I I was uh I was hooked after that for sure.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, dude, I remember exactly what you're talking about.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: I had pictures of Travis's drum set printed from my computer and taped on my wall, the jelly bean kit that he used at that.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: Or did he have the jelly bean or was it one of the rentals?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because I remember he used like a natural DW kit at one of those big day out festivals like early on, and then he had the jelly bean kit when they were like really popping.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, we'll have to review film, but I do I want to put my money on I want to put my money on the jelly bean kit.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because this is this is uh short dreadlock era uh Travis, meaning he's only been in the band probably for like two or three years at this point.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: So this is around like the Mark Thomas Travis live show, which is also a big bit a big thing of like you're also listening to that record too on my little CD uh Sony Walkman, and like it's just like this seems like the most fun thing that you could do with your friends, period.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Absolute period.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, a hundred years.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Joke around and play play fast punk music, dude.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then I'm sure 2003 was my year going on warp tour as well, so I'm sure we had similar bands that we would see.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: I remember that year, the drive-thru record stage, you had Starting Line and Homegrown and all those pop punk California, East Coast, New Jersey bands, but seeing the like the culture of music, I don't know if I've ever seen anything like that.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: And that's always what I tried so hard, yes, to mimic, but also kind of recreate in my own way when I started putting on shows and started building the SJC community at that point in time was because I was so heavily inspired by that 2003 warp tour trip.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: What was it about that for you that made you say, you know, because starting a band is not easy.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we got to talk about that, you know, starting a band and being with people, differences of opinion, creative disagreements, things like that.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: I think the youth need to hear as much about that as possible, not to detract them from doing it, but to educate them that this actually happens.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: But if you have the passion and you're going down that rabbit hole, like so many of us are, whether you're downloading things on LimeWire, but back in the day, like you said, or just YouTubing videos nowadays, yeah, go down that passion and use that passion as fuel to get through the hard times.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: Talk to me about some of those realization, both on the positive and the kind of like, okay, this is real life, and I'm gonna have to figure out ways to deal with this if I want to do that.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, the first of all, it was it I was I was already starting to play in bands during this 2003 era that we're we're talking about back at home in Rockford.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um so when I eventually got uh myself down to warped, or I should say up to Warptour, Milwaukee, uh I uh I I just saw that it was possible because there were little microcosms of of people that we were meeting in in real time.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like like our our little three friend group that that took the drive up to uh up to Milwaukee.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: We we get out of, we get out of the van, we we walk into uh we walk into Warp Tour and bam, there's Glassjaw playing for the first time.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then right after Glassjaw, there's Poison the Well playing for the first time.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the first time I had I'd ever actually seen a band of that aggressiveness and the fact that you can make people push each other in aggressive ways, regardless if it's pushmash or like throwing bows with you know ninja moves, you know, stuff like that.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so it I don't know.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: After seeing all that, I it just looked to my my I just remember looking to my my friends and being like, dude, we get we gotta we gotta make we gotta make this like a reality because this seems like the most fun thing I've ever been a part of.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: And it was cool because I we were also meeting different friend groups in uh for the first time that were like, oh, we also play in a band that we we play around, you know, the Madison, Wisconsin area.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then there'd be like, oh no, there's uh we have buddies over there from uh Milwaukee.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: And oh, you guys are from Rockford?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of band do you play?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Pop punk or or like Screamo, you know?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: And uh that's kind of like the first time like community started happening.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we uh we tried to build off of that.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: At least what a bunch of 14 and 15-year-olds can think of building off of.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I don't it's like, yeah, we'll play a show.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: We have no way of like we gotta convince our parents to lend us vehicles and like I don't, I don't know, I'll get a job bagging groceries at the grocery store.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'll figure out some way to get there.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, I'll play your youth center.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: That'd be cool.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: We should be in a band.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is sweet.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: That's how it happens, man.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that I I literally just got a DM this morning from a from a young musician kind of just talking about the patience you need to do that, to go work the other job, to make money, to pay bills and do the things that you need to do to live, but while also carving out time to follow your creative pursuits until that can maybe hopefully one day be a part or full-time thing to keep you moving.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: How far into it, or how long did it take you once starting the Color Morale?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: Because that was the band that started actually going and playing more shows, cross crossing state borders and going on tours and doing bigger things like that.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: How long did that really take you guys to like feel like you had some traction and you're like, okay, this is this is becoming a thing that's more than just playing the youth center once every other month?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we were we were we were testing it for many years under the high school, the high school level band name, uh concoction of the of that band.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: It was pretty much almost almost all the members from that high school band transitioning to the column morale.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it's this is gonna it's not like the Beatles being in Hamburg for four years, because that that's we're talking that there's yeah, it's a different thing, but it's kind of like that in the sense of just like you're you're you're practicing, you're practicing, you're you're playing your your VFW shows for 20 people, maybe maybe a hundred.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: It maybe, I don't know.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: And and like you you grind at that for for a long time.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: You you take your hour drive to Madison, you take your uh hour and a half drive to Milwaukee.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but once the color morale started, obviously I I I was I was finally of age to to take for me to personally take it seriously at like 17, 18 years old.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and we we just we just knew that we we needed to uh we needed to put ourselves out there a little bit more and and put our money where our where our mouth is.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we did that.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: We uh we like like I previously mentioned, we we went to uh we went to Joey Surgis uh down in Connorsville, Indiana, and we paid for our own, you know, we paid for our own five-song demo.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we all had to sell various things in our possession.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: I had to sell like a Yamaha like electric drum kit.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: I had to let go of that to be like, here's my money for my one-fifth portion of of the recording budget.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: And we we all had a we all had to figure it out and and take it seriously because that's how bad we wanted it.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: Since we're on this topic in in this kind of framing here, you did that, you got the legit recording, you're out there playing shows.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk a little bit about endorsements.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think it's special to talk about that because you and I worked together at such an early age for both of us when we were both kind of figuring it out, but it was such an impactful and important thing, you know, looking at guys like Travis and playing certain gear and wanting to have that support.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: And also, it kind of goes into the mindset too of like, you're right, when you get a hundred people coming to a VFW show, like I remember that feeling.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, dude, we kind of made it.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: There are a hundred people, that's that's a lot of people that are coming to support your band and buying merch and like spreading the word.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's gonna, that's gonna eventually kind of create that web where it's going out to 500 and a thousand people.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the mindset that I had in growing SJC in the early days.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, we're gonna make drums for drummers that get it and want to be part of this community and be ambassadors for for the mission and what we're doing.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about that.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how important was that for you guys at that level to get endorsed and get the gear?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: Was it more for artist support?
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: Was it more to get cool gear that you know made you look and sound better?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: Was it all of the above?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what was your mindset back then from your perspective?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh the feeling that I got back then was just like a little bit of confirmation that I could possibly be taken serious as a musician, or maybe the band that I play for can be actually be taken serious because you know, pro uh, you know, endorsements are are for, you know, there's there's a lot of optics that go into it.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Basically, there's there's optics that go into it because you it from a company standpoint, you want to get your your products out there for a lot of high high visibility.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then also from as the musician standpoint, we also want to just play really good gear that will hold up in a in a in a in a trailer that will get you from point A to point B.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: So can we just get from point A to point B without this drum set blowing up into a million pieces?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah, really you were the first.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um for my journey, you were the first one to uh give me that chance, which it which was huge.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: It it was um it it it might it might have been one of the greatest moments leading up to my life at that very point.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, okay, we got signed to a record label.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like holy crap, uh SJC wants to endorse me.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: What what am I?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Danny Carey?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just Steve Carey, you know what I mean?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like I was like, someone takes me seriously.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, no, it was it was very important, and it and it helped uh it helped my confidence level uh big time because I get to show up to all those early tours, like kind of right off the bat with a drum endorsement.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh people, you know, you got the headlining band, you know, we're one of five, and then the the you know, the headline bands like looking all the way down to the opener and being like, whoa, dude, I don't know who they are.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: They have like barely a record out, but the drummers got an SJC endorsement, they must be some sort of legit.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Which I don't know.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: We we it it laid the foundation for a lot, and and it kind of proved to the to the other guys that using other instruments like guitars and basses that they can go out there and message Ernie Ball, message orange, you know, uh, or like uh Sennheiser, whatever for microphones and and whatnot.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's it was it was huge, it was a huge stepping stone.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: Cool.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, it was it is, you know, like your kit was sick too, dude.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: Diagonal inlay on the black, like that kit was really remarkably cool.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: I remember designing that with you and making that.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: That was such a special time um in my journey as well, and having you out on the road as an ambassador because that's what brands look for, right?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you're not just getting a discount, you're also endorsing the brand, saying, like, I play this gear, I like them because of XYZ.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: And at that point, being in a band where you're hanging out at merch, checking, you know, all of your messages on MySpace back then, like you're an ambassador for that brand.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I think a lot of people get that a little bit mixed up where it's just like I get free gear and I don't have to do anything.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's like the whole thing is a reciprocal relationship to all ships rise of the tide, and you're out there meeting kids one by one that are hopefully asking you about your drums and all the things, and you're saying, you know, nice things about the team and the the uh the the product.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was that was really cool.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um let's talk about some of the some of the hardships in in realizations of young bands and touring, and and I'm sure it's a lot different now, um, both on the pro and con side of it.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know, social media certainly has its its way of helping get tours and network and do all the things that you were just talking about a little bit easier, but let's talk about, you know, the ending of things and how the call of morale kind of eventually wrapped up and you were no longer doing that, your feeling around that time frame.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, it's a relatable story and probably not the easiest to talk about, but I'd love to kind of go into that to talk about it so that kids can relate and hear it from somebody who's still out there doing it and didn't let them, you know, didn't let you uh get off the train, so to speak.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: So let's talk about the ending of of that to to kind of eventually roll into the the beginning of the the beautiful place that you're in now.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know, right?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's the the ending of a chapter into a new chapter and that that's it the color morale was such a huge part of my life and my identity that the ending the ending was a little turbulent for sure, mentally, mentally turbulent, because up until that point, at least in my career, I had never I had never faced such an identity crisis in my life of being like, is this it?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: It was I only meant to do this one thing and everyone's gonna, you know, everyone's gonna be like, you know, oh he's it's the band's over, he's shot, you know.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: Just like just real, real insecure thoughts running through my head.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: But um, no, in in 2020 hindsight, it was a it was a natural kind of like wind down for the band because the band had had been through two record deals, one with Rise, one with uh Rise Records, one with Fearless Records.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there was five albums out there.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um six, six a little bit if you count an EP or two.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and you know, a wide age gap range between all of us too.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: So it's one thing it would at the time it was one thing for a a 26-year-old to be like, I still got a lot in me to compare to a say someone that's uh a little bit older than you, being like, I have you know, I have to I have to think about this a little bit more delicate delicately.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um just because of age and and life and all that all that hard stuff that you gotta think about.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, no, it it eventually winded down to a uh to a halt.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it was originally uh agreed upon to be some sort of like hiatus.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um and in retrospect, I think it was uh was a little bit of us not wanting to admit that the the end was in fact there, you know.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it it was hard.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was it it took a it took a little bit to wrap my head around.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: I did not stop though.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: I kept going, like quite literally kept going, like in the sense of just like the band is done, and then now we're now I'm on tour with like a different band.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I had to I had to process all that the whole identity crisis, getting outside the comfort bubble thing while while still on the road, surrounded by.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: people that you know I I love dear I loved dearly but I did not I it's just like I don't have those those you know decades worth of of like security behind me uh because I know them in and in and out.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah it was it was very rough.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: It was very rough indeed.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: Do you feel like that helped you get through it or should do you think in hindsight you should have not gone on the road and like stayed home and transitioned in a different way?
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm I'm thinking of a young musician hearing this and we work with a lot of like teens that are going from high school to like quote unquote the real world that are like oh my parents don't support me in music or my band's not for real and I don't know what to do.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: Should you keep trudging through and just doing what you can to continue kind of evolving?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: Or again in hindsight do you wish that maybe you uh you know uh remedied it remedied it in a different way to process some of the some of the like you said the the the image and self-reflection that you had to do yeah I mean every every situation's different for sure um it's not so it's not so black and right white it's it's it's mainly gray all the time.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah um I can only speak for myself and just thank God that I had uh such a strong family unit around me at the time um taking really good control and and assistance with like my mental state as I was going through just just like what the heck just blew up in my you know what what blew up in my life just like blew up.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm I'm essentially explaining what an identity crisis is in real time.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know that's a high anxiety for sure.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: But my for me my parents really really stepped in and just and just helped get me through it.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: I I did still keep physically touring and physically performing and doing the job and doing all that stuff.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: But they they they really stepped in for advice for anyone else though if if you know if you need to have that breath of fresh air and get off the road I would highly recommend it highly recommend it to get off the road and sit with your thoughts and maybe just just rethink a few things before starting that next chapter to to make sure you're you're oriented uh true north really yeah yeah I mean identity crisis obviously can happen to anybody in the music space though because we live in such a creative emotional sometimes you sometimes from your own being an ego sometimes from other people the ego and the conflict that can occur and that identity that becomes you you are part of this band this brand this ecosystem and that evolves and people like you said age health different things evolve differently it is really really really difficult and mental health is something that we talk about a lot at the workshops that we do with Loyal to the craft so I appreciate you saying that that's a good word of advice and it's not doesn't mean it's gonna end it doesn't mean I mean you see you see bands quite often now saying like yo taking a mental health pause we're just gonna we're gonna time out on the tour that we already announced apologies just need a little bit of time to huddle and kind of like feel normal again and get back.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's tough tough being on the road whether you're in a van or in a bus the the the realities of touring are are all there still yes absolutely absolutely well let's talk about then uh unless there's anything else you wanted to call out from the color morale days let's talk about the evolution into senses fail and like man like back to the beginning of this conversation of how we were both heavily inspired and you are so inspired by this band in particular but also the warp tour community and all of that how did this come about did you manifest it did you ask like what how did you get this this kind of universal opportunity to to be in a band that you were looking for looking up to for so many years prior to to getting actually be their drummer yeah yeah it it was it was uh it was it was a very cool circumstance for sure because you know I I obviously I I listened uh to the band a lot when um those two 2000 especially the 2003 to 2006 years as the band was as Censusville was kind of like popping off if you will within the genre and with all the other like minded bands that you know w they exist in.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I was always a fan of that um went and saw them live as a kid either at at a festival or or going to a headlining show.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's just kind of one of those timing things in life that you can't you can't pre-predict it.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: It just kind of just so happens that the column morale ends on one end of the spectrum and I'm kind of free floating in life and then the other side of the spectrum uh uh the band needs needs a solidified you know backbone of a drummer to come in there and and just lay down the beat and everyone have a have a great time doing it.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: So it um I think it was a little as just so happened the universe decided to I I decided to send up my antenna of opportunity and availability at the same time they were sending up their little antenna and I think I think uh I think we we made a connection at least a possibility of a connection it's not like you just get the job usually if you're a legit organization you're gonna hold auditions and whatnot.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: So the opportunity just so happened to to to kind of just just manifest in in that respect too.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah I love it.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_02: I like your your uh imagery as well because I think about that sort of stuff all the time and like mu creatives typically have a little bit more of a powerful antenna I think for manifesting because you can you see things so much clearer than in other aspects of life and business I feel because it is you're you're it's your creative juices and that's crazy how the timing worked because I know you went as a kid and I I I love the story of literally you went to see them in Chicago and you waited outside the show and you got an autograph from Buddy the singer and like years later you're going into audition for them.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like walk me through what that full circle moment felt like and like were you I'm sure you guys toured or at least ran into into each other at festivals.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: Did you have a relationship or when you went to audition was it like hey what's up I'm Steve it was very much hey what's up I'm Steve I've never met any of you before that's what's that's what's kind of crazy is just I didn't I somehow skipped right on through my color morale years without ever linking up with census fail there there be a couple opportunities it was just like you know there's there's a there's a touring possibility but it never manif manifested itself um so yeah no I went I went in there and yeah just I had never met them before but to let's let's go let's go back to 2004 because it's crazy okay it's 2004 it's Chicago Illinois at the iconic metro uh the metro in this lineup is banging I'm talking emmanuel the bled to a four um I do believe someone's gonna have to check this I do believe it was Silverstein direct support and then census fail or it could have been Silverstein headlining and census fail this is only for census fail fans this would have been let it unfold you era but it was uh it was the first time I ever skipped school um and I have since told my parents this so they they're not gonna watch this and be like I I can't believe it um but yeah no I skipped school freshman year 2004 and uh me and two other buddies went up to uh the metro and definitely freaked out in the pit to one epic epic lineup um but yeah no I waited out I definitely waited outside I was just like I got the ticket stub I wasn't really known for doing this at all really but uh I just tried it and I have I have I have the ticket still uh it's it's battered it looks crazy now but uh yeah no I saw buddy and I said hey man can you send my can you send my ticket and uh yeah he wrote Be Punk which I thought was so sick I was like that's that's cool man I will be punk I listen to Rancid I'm punk yeah yeah totally yeah dude and how old were you at the time 2004 you were a teenager still right yeah the um freshman year of high school so whatever that is what is that 14 13 14 something like that that's a very for me yeah kind of pivotal year dude freshman year is like figuring out who the heck you are am I playing sports am I playing music who am I do I like art that's awesome I mean I'm sure yeah that's that year was pivotal too because coupled with the 2003 warp tour me seeing Glastra and um poison the well for the first time I just that was my transition of the year out of pop punk being the main thing okay and into heavy heavier styles of music because census fail was that gateway that you know eventually led to more heavier styles of music screaming which led to metal which led to the columnale being being formed you know it's just it my trajectory was always pop punk into screamo screamo into into metal so crazy that's awesome yeah so tell me how did it happen their antenna went up your antenna went up was it management was it somebody from the band like who who connected with who to get you in the room and what was that like did you have to fly somewhere what was the audition process like tell me about your nerves tell me all the bring bring us there yeah so the color morale had ended um I I did a fill-in tour in Europe with a band called Bless the Fall uh they needed a drummer and I did that and as I'm in Europe I get a DM from Dan Trapp the original drummer of Census Fail saying hey um the drummer that came after me um isn't in the band anymore which happened to be oh I don't know Chris Hornbrook of Poison the Well this is like a little little band at least in our circle it's like little band little yeah no yeah no big deal um uh we are looking for people that might be good to try out I don't know this is Dan talking he's like I don't know what's going on with the Columborale but if you have availability I think you would be a good your style would be a good fit to come and play with the guys if you're interested so that that was just I would like to chalk that up to drummer drummer on drummer just like being homies you know like on on social media just like you know one drummer being like I like the way he plays and it's true for me I follow so many drummers where I've never met in real life before but they're like that dude that dude's sick so yeah that's that's how that just happened and like I said no one had toured with each other no one had met each other in real life besides me saying what's up to Buddy as a 14 year old.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_02: Crazy crazy I mean that just goes to show too in this day and age how important it is to put yourself out there.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_02: I know it's difficult for some musicians and creatives to put their art online yeah whether it's fear of being judged negative comments not enough comments engagement whatever but oh yeah it really it really there is such a cool and welcoming community I think and probably I'm biased obviously being in the drum community but I feel like the drum community is the most welcoming because there are so many kind of handoff gigs where it's like hey can't do this let's call Tosh or Devin or whoever it is like young musicians putting out their content and showing what their ambitions are, showing that they can do it and maybe it's not the best but critique will also help and give you you know a leg up to actually grow and scale but obviously that got Dan's attention to reach out to you and send that DM which then led to I'm assuming an audition for you to go and sit with the band.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: And exactly and and to look back on that that era of what I was doing to market myself on social media it's important for me to mention too I was very conscious of where I was at in life with the Colomorel ending if it not being public but also me being in Europe uh playing pretty pretty big venues um at the time at least for me uh I was making it a point to video myself every single night like playing the freaking uh playing like in random Slovenia or playing one of those epic venues in France like I made sure to take my little tiny little GoPro at the time and and mount that sucker to different vantage points of me playing in front of a large crowd here's a large crowd um they may not know all the words but heck the band that I'm playing for right now is making them bounce up and down this looks like fun.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: So like I'm conscious of like I gotta step up the marketing a little bit in in like retrospect I don't know I was I I it was soothing it was soothing me a little bit as I was kind of going through this weird comfort bubble I'm bursting out of the comfort bubble I feel raw I feel like you know every everything I touch is like it's spicy it's like not it's not it doesn't feel good at all.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: But so it was it was reassuring to me that like holy crap there's there's life outside the comfort bubble you know what I mean like these are these are like there's like little snippets of proof that this can work.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like this does work.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: Wait I can play drums for a different band than I'm used to like can I do anything in life?
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like this is like it's the confidence that it helped in real time.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I was I was definitely freaking filming myself and getting it out there.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_02: So you're gonna have to ask Dan Trapp um himself if that played a factor I like to think that um it it definitely helped his decision to be like maybe give him a chance I don't know yeah we you know I don't know maybe yeah just give it give him a chance I don't know what's going on but he looks it looks like he's he's doing the job and he's doing it well enough to at least make a a few people in the pit throw down you know yeah and I'll I'll even go so far to as to say that consistency probably helped too I know a lot of people talk about the algorithm and your your stuff getting viewed but if you're not being consistent like Dan probably saw a couple of your videos enough to get the attention and go I'm gonna I'm gonna save this guy and send him a DM and putting it out putting the content out there being consistent is such an important and impactful part for musicians even if even if you got the full time gig like just put it out there because you never know what is actually going to happen in the future.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: So okay so you get the audition what did you have to do did you fly drive did you have to learn a catalog of songs like walk me through that you're the backbone of the band dude like you know were you nervous about tempos and like how did you prepare for this kind of potentially life changing opportunity that was just kind of put in front of you yeah yeah really really it it was all about controlling adrenaline at at this point it's just like you're you're gonna walk into this session you you can you're gonna play these songs that you've been playing your entire life either in your head or practicing you know in your basement for me um but it's all gonna go out the window once it that adrenaline spike picks up and you're like okay one two three go and it's like here we go here we go we're and now we're playing 10 BPM faster so I I definitely went into that audition like mindful just to like try to be cool as possible man just like simmer down it's no big deal it's like I'm not gonna tell him I met him when I was 15.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't need to know that I'm just a cool calm and collected you know guy you know that's that's all I am um but to go back a little bit uh I was picked up I so I had there were like we're auditioning in in LA Pasadena specifically we would like you to learn five songs and a six song um here's here's a six song for for just for shits and giggles extra credit and uh yeah I flew I was still living in Rockford Illinois and I flew to LAX and I got picked up by my dad my dad picked me up because he was he's living in St.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_01: George he's living in St.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: George Utah at the time so he flew in he rented a car and he picked me up at the airport and he freaking drove me to Pasadena uh and I remember like slowly kind of going down the street like trying to scope out where the rehearsal is and we pass by and as soon I swear as soon as we pass by the uh the rehearsal spot I see Buddy come out of come out of the come out the door followed by Gavin who is a the longest tenured member of of the band besides Buddy obviously they come out and it was totally a scene in the movie where like the eye eyes widen you trying to go like get down get down go no go go get down they're gonna see me they're gonna know man uh and so I had him pull around I had him pull around the corner and I was just like you gotta drop me off man uh you gotta just just drop me off and like go somewhere I'm like go to the bar I don't know there's a sports bar go watch a go watch a Patriots game you know like like did watch something uh so he dropped me off and I I went around the corner at cool comment collected and they're like hey walked in hey man nice Steve oh yeah cool man yeah yeah well yeah no no we've never toured with each other crazy I have no idea who you guys are it's like no of course I know who they are I'm just trying to trying to be trying to be cool man dude that's so sick shout out to your dad man dude shout out to supportive parents let's go dude let's go that's what I'm saying dude the the parents I I say it all the time and like seeing these parents bring their kids to the warp tour and like playing our playing our booth I'm like this is sick they're in the heat they're in the pavement they're they're dancing and listening to their kids play all day and supporting them and doing the thing your dad drove out so that he could pick you up and drive you to the rehearsal dude like that is so sick that is wanted to be a part of the the journey man it's the timeline that it's it's it's very important.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah it's very important crazy as a parent crazy it really is man and it's not easy either you know that's not easy for him to do that take time off and spend the money and do all those things like shout out to your dad again man that's such a cool part of that story so what happens next you you you did it did you nail it did you did you mess up at all how was it like an immediate yes yeah well it wasn't an immediate yes they were they were professional about it they definitely they definitely had a docket of people that that came in and uh and auditioned but yeah no walking in there I I I put my foot in my mouth uh like immediately and uh and like you know I'm Steve um I I played in a band called the Colomorale for forever you know you've then you know as as musicians or people in the street do you you connect the dots you're like oh I know this person oh you you weren't with this management oh this booking issue do you know this person and you start to like build that you know foundation of like oh we actually know quite a few people that uh that you know too so you start doing that and then I I decided to put my foot in my mouth immediately it's like yeah dude uh the the record that you put out in 2013 is like so cool it was census fail's like first like hardcore record and I I don't know it's I just called it I call it I love that record Renancer and it's it's pronounced a different name it's like Renaissaire and Buddy's just like it's actually Renaissaire and it got real quiet real quick and I'm just like oh no strike one I just did it's just like oh crap.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: Okay well uh pivot pivot pivot well yeah no I yeah anyways um so these songs you wanted me to play I I I learned all of them he's like cool cool cool and then if he uh Buddy passed the conversation off to Gavin uh and Gavin goes did you learn a song called lifeboats that was kind of like the the extra song there's five songs you know this is the extra song and I go no uh no I didn't I didn't learn it and he goes huh hmm okay I'm like oh strike two strike two it's right there crap I got I got no more left I got no more left it's almost strike three it's like oh my god but but that's where the story turns and you know that you could write a VH1 documentary on this and you get behind the drum kit you got you got you got Buddy the singer that's been in it since the beginning you got Gavin the longest tenured member uh uh of the group the musical director if you will and he's just like all right count it off we're gonna start with can't be saved or or yeah yeah it's gonna be can't be saved you know just casually the biggest song in the catalog go and we did it we did it to no click uh I'd like to think that was a conscious decision uh just to get the feel it's very important just to get the natural feel uh down And uh we went through the songs.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: We went through Buried Ali.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: We went through uh Rum is for drinking, not for burning.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we went through Wolves at the Door, which is arguably one of the hardest songs off of um their uh one of their records life is not a waiting room.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: So with a lot of double bass, because they they knew like the whoever's gonna take this spot had to be very good at the pop punk style, and you also had to be very good at the double quick double bass stuff.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: And the one moment in the rehearsal that I I knew I was doing a decent job was you know, everyone's kind of looking, we're looking at each other, like as a trio, staring at each other as we're playing these songs, right?
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because we're trying to like in my head, I'm like, are they deciding if they're like enjoying it or not, or like seeing the idiosyncrasy syncresies of like the weird fill, like how I interpret fills and stuff like that.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: And at one point, Buddy turns around fully, like right in front of me where a singer usually stands, right in front of me, and he's just singing to the wall.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: And at that point, I felt like I think this is going well because I feel like he's mimicking what it would be like on stage as me as the backbone because that's a confidence thing.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_01: That front as a drummer, you know, everyone's backs towards you, but like you're gonna have to interview a guitarist or a vocalist to in in my head, it I view it as like they have to feel confident in their drummer, that their drummer has it, like no matter what, he's got it, regardless if it's with a click or not.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm feeling his groove.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're we're feeling each other and we're and we're projecting to the audience a good performance of art.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: So when I saw him do that, I felt like okay, I I I think I think we've I think we're doing well.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're doing well here.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_02: Did you guys hang out after?
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_02: Was there any kind of chit chat, or did you just play and your dad picked you up again and then off you were?
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there was a quick chit-chat.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: We we sat down and the 21 questions came out.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, you know, you're you're like turning off the amp a little bit, or you're you're turning off the PA and it's like the slow turn.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, so do you got any kids?
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_01: Are you married?
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_01: Where do you live exactly?
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, do you have a 401k?
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just no.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like the 21, the 21 questions start, and it's just like, you know, they're going through the list of like where someone's at in life, and then they go, What's what's up?
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: What's going on with the column morale?
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_01: Huh?
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: It just so happens that you wanna wound up at a census fail uh audition, but you're like, I see online that the column morale is on an indefinite hiatus, and I had to explain what's what was going on and had to be straight up with them.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I was straight up with them, and they go, Okay, that's great.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, we'll be in contact.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_01: So you you walk, you know, they walk you to the door, they they they tap you on the shoulder.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, good, good, okay, we'll we'll we'll be in contact.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I freaking open that door, and there's a drummer, the next drummer right there with his symbol, his symbols and his sticks, and I'm just like, oh my god, this is real.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: This is like, oh my, this is real.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is a real audition.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: I flew to Los Angeles to have a real musician's experience of an audition.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it was it was amazing.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: I I walk out and I walk around the corner where my dad is still parked.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because I don't obviously you don't want to see them.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_01: You just like, oh the dad picked them up.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I walked around the corner, got in, and just kind of was just like, oh, we did it.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_01: We did it.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's just up to chance.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_02: So dude, amazing.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you you did it, you got it.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_02: You're doing you've been doing the thing now.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, dude, yeah, walk me through the the the post-audition.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_02: You've actually been in the band now for some time, you're doing the thing, you've you've toured, you've played shows.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_02: How does it feel now?
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_02: Is it is it everything you imagined as your childhood looking up, you know, younger Steve looking up.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_02: What words of encouragement, what words of advice would you be giving yourself, that 14, 15-year-old that met Buddy outside?
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's it's been it's been eight long years uh of of good and bad, and the bad has to do with the pandemic just being, you know, dropped on you right in the middle of it.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_01: That completely wipes everyone out of doing anything, you know what I mean?
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, no, every everything's been a steady, uh, steady progress uh through the timeline of of the band.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: I've learned a lot, uh, a lot, a lot about the industry.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I've continued to learn about inner band um dynamics too, coming from my own band for 10 years.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, if you look at the Wikipedia, if you look at the Wikipedia band lit band member list of the Cullum Morale, it mimics the same thing as Census Fail.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: And also, ironically enough, the dynamic of the singer being one of the oldest and the drummer being one of the youngest is the same exact thing for the Cull of Morale as it is for Census Fail.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: So transitioning into that band, it's it's it's been seamless, really.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's really been seamless, other than the fact that I'm uh I'm a Boston sports fan and and buddies uh and entire New York sports fan.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_01: So if there's anything that I can prove, it's just like a Yankee fan and a Red Sox fan can exist in a band proactively and productively.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, productively, that's the main, that's the main one for sure.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's awesome, man.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, and and just to f and just to reiterate, um, no, we we're we're on a good trajectory here.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_01: I've been in the band for eight years, and um it's it's brought me to places that I don't know if the column rale would have ever brought me to, and for that I'm grateful for it.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, in in 2026, we're finally able to um to uh put out new census fail music with uh my drums on it for the first time since I joined the band, which is an amazing opportunity that I'm really excited for.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's so cool! What uh well, I'm I'm so glad we got to reconnect and you you know appreciate you sharing your story.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's so many tidbits that young musicians can and should take to be inspired by your journey, um, you know, taking chances, being patient, um, but also believing in yourself and putting yourself out there.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_02: And at this point in 2026, you just about to release music with you actually on the record.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's a special moment.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_02: We'll have to circle back when that record's out and get your perspective, you know, once you've been playing those songs live, because that is definitely another step in that journey that is ever evolving as a musician.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm so stoked for you.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I've loved watching you uh in Census Phil, loved watching you with from first to last that warp tour in DC a couple weeks ago.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_02: That was crazy.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um being prepared and just chasing your dreams, man.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_02: You're a you're a walking example of all of that for the youth.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_02: So for that, we appreciate your time and your sharing your stories and the ambitions of a young teenager dreaming of doing the thing, and here you are 20 plus years later, still doing it.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I appreciate that.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I that those kind words mean a lot to me.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_01: And and you just got you just gotta know those feelings are mutual back back to you because you you are waving you are waving the flag as well of just like you, you, you do one thing for so long, and and it doesn't it that doesn't mean you can't continue your career and to and to appreciate those times and build off of that into something that could be a lot bigger than what you ever expected.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's all mutual back.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_02: Cool.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I appreciate it, man.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm sure we could talk for another six hours about that identity crisis, yeah, once and all the things.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_02: Just know everybody out there listening, whether you're a parent, a fan, a kid plays playing music, that's life.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_02: Life is full of trials and tribulations, and how you react and respond is everything.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_02: You can react in a way that gets you canned and you're never gonna do what you love again, or you can react in a way that you just put your head down and go and you end up playing drums in your favorite band, like my friend Steve here.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_02: Dude, I love it.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Steve, man, we'll not not the not the last time we're gonna talk.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_02: I'll definitely see you out there again.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining us on Loyal to the Craft and I D Radio, and uh we'll see you next time.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, pleasure.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.