Latest / The BlackSheep Podcast: Presented by HM Magazine / Spencer Chamberlain: slo/tide

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Spencer Chamberlain: slo/tide · The BlackSheep Podcast: Presented by HM Magazine

0:19
Umm stops. Sorry. Today we have Spencer Chamberlain and you might know Spencer
0:34
from Under Oath, but he's got a new project called Slow Tide that you
0:38
absolutely need to check out. It's so good. Colin and I have been
0:40
digging it for a little while and we're super super stoked to chat more about
0:44
Slow Tide. But Spencer, I've got an apology to make, all right,
0:48
both of them. I'm glad that Colin reminded me about this back in
0:52
twenty twelve. So over a decade ago, you guys under Oath played at
0:59
Sunshine, the Sunshine Music Festival. It was like in Wilmer, Minnesota,
1:03
like this little tiny town in Minnesota. Okay, And you guys, this
1:08
might sound a little creepy, but you guys stayed at a hotel. Do
1:11
you remember what you happen to know? What hotel was? Probably a holiday,
1:15
like some sort of yeah, some sort of hotel. The reason why
1:18
we know this, okay, is, uh, there was a night that
1:23
we came back after watching you guys play. We came back to our hotel
1:27
and Colin and I were watching a it was like a sketch comedy show on
1:34
TV called The Whitest kids, you know, And Colin and I were watching
1:38
like YouTube clips of this and we were watching one of their sketches, and
1:42
we, like at two am at night watching one of these sketches, burst
1:46
out, laughing, freaking out and like loud enough where we probably had to
1:51
have woken up like everybody on our floor on the hotel. Okay, the
1:55
next morning, I have to like I went up to like the front desk
1:57
or something. And by the way, we were like sixteen or seventeen at
2:00
this time, like we were still in high school. Wow. We go
2:04
to the hotel desk and I'm coming back and all of a sudden, I
2:07
see you coming out of like the hotel bathroom or something, and you're walking
2:13
down the hallway next to me. And I'm like, that's fucking Spencer Chamberlain
2:17
right next to me right now. And so I'm walking. I'm like,
2:22
we're walking next to each other, and I'm kind of like I don't want
2:24
to like make it seem like I don't know, like I try not to
2:29
like make it awkward. So I'm like I'm trying, and I'm like,
2:31
again, I'm like sixteen years old, like what you know? What do
2:35
I know? So I just literally like look next to it and like,
2:38
you don't know me. You wouldn't know if I knew you or anything,
2:42
but I just look at you and I say, hey, great show last
2:45
night, man, and you were like thanks, man. And we keep
2:49
walking and we get I get to like the sort of intersection to where my
2:53
room is, and I kind of like peek around. I'm like, I'm
2:55
just curious. We're like, he's staying and you literally go into the room
3:00
right next to us. And so at that point I realized we probably woke
3:05
you guys up the night before because we were laughing so loud at this sketch
3:08
comedy show. But anyway, that's my apology. I probably woke you up
3:13
in the middle of the night after a show because you guys were literally staying
3:19
in the hotel room right next to us. You know. I guess,
3:22
uh, yeah, you owe me dinner and a drink next time we see
3:27
each other, and then we'll call it remember that happens. I would be
3:29
glad to be glad too, because we'll call it. I feel so I
3:32
feel so bad about it, dude. I don't even recall that festival or
3:40
any anything from twenty twelve is I think it was after Aaron had left.
3:46
I think Daniel, Yeah, Daniel, Daniel, Daniel came in in.
3:52
Yeah, so those are some pretty weird years of Yeah, that was I
3:58
think it was a year before you guys had like initially broke up. So
4:00
it was kind of like in between the tailor and the tailor when it was
4:04
probably pretty bad and I was probably pretty bad. So I apologize if I
4:11
don't. I don't remember any of that. I mean, I wouldn't have
4:14
expected you remember. I just want you to know I apologize for probably waking
4:17
you up that night, even though you don't remember it. Yeah, it's
4:20
all good. We're good. Well, we're glad that you're a gracious host
4:25
or a gracious guest. Yeah. Uh, well, let's talk about Slow
4:29
Tide. Uh, super super stoked about all the stuff that's going to be
4:31
coming out of Slow Tide. Can you talk a little bit about how like
4:34
this whole project started. You know, obviously lots of people know you from
4:39
Under Oath, but you didn't do sleep Wave almost a decade ago now,
4:43
and so that was a little bit of like a kind of movement towards this
4:46
kind of music. But yeah, what was what was the impetus for for
4:48
Slow Tide. I guess it kind of you could. I'm glad you mentioned
4:54
that because I was gonna totally forget that section of the story. I guess
4:58
it did kind of start in the Sleepwave era. I was talking before we
5:02
started this interview. I was making the second Sleepway record, and I was
5:05
doing all the stuff that I wanted to do, recording with the people I
5:09
wanted to record with, and I'm about halfway through with it. If they've
5:13
started to fall apart. I had just sent to a new manager, like
5:21
but he and if I saw him now, I would buy him a drink
5:28
and give him a hug. It's not like that. It's just like he
5:30
made me do things that wasn't comfortable with and I think I needed that.
5:33
And one of the things he made me do is he worked with like some
5:38
big songwriter dudes. And I'd never really done anything but work for myself.
5:42
So he would send me on a plane to LA and but for ten days
5:49
at a time, I did, and I would have to go work on
5:53
songs. Some would be for Sleepwave, some would be for other artists whatever.
5:57
You know, he was just trying to get me connected to all these
5:59
people hoping he could get a number one out of meat, be it for
6:01
Sleepwaver, be it for somebody else. And I met a lot of people
6:06
out there that I still talk to to this day and have worked with some
6:12
of these people multiple times. And it was actually I was out in LA
6:18
and I was kind of on a bender and I was really, oh man,
6:25
I was so hung over. The next day, I was going to
6:27
cancel this session, and me and my buddy were driving in to the studio
6:34
and when I got there, the guy was informed that we needed to make
6:39
some sort of active rock song and I was just like, dude, fuck
6:42
that. I don't want to do that at all. I have no interest
6:45
in doing that. Can we just make something that I want to make today?
6:50
And so he was like, sure, what do you want to make?
6:54
So we smoked a joint and listened to music for a while, and
6:58
it was just like, let's just make like something kind of like chill and
7:02
surfey, like something that I want to like listen to my car, or
7:05
listen to when I'm like skating, or you know some you know, something
7:10
that I enjoy that's not heavy at all. And we did this song in
7:14
a day and it was called Paranoid no pun intended, but it was.
7:19
It was with my friend Nick Bailey, who I still talk to, who's
7:23
a fantastic songwriter now and works with lots of people. But me and him
7:29
worked on the song. It didn't make my record or anything, but it
7:30
inspired my record because I did something that I wanted to do that was way
7:38
out of left field for what people know me of, you know, Like
7:41
it was like I've been at bands of my whole life. I've written music
7:44
my whole life. Most people don't know of that music you've been have come
7:48
out that you don't even know I've worked on, but like this particular moment
7:53
was like I'm making it like it was, this was for me. And
7:57
I made a song and I said, I love this. This is the
8:00
vibe, Like I wish I could do that, you know, Like you
8:01
know, it's like the grass is always greener though, Like it's like you're
8:05
sitting around listen to like you know, you know, like you're listening to
8:09
Portugal a Man on tour with Alice in Change, Like man, I wish
8:11
I could do that, but like the grass is always greener, like maybe
8:15
some of those dudes wish they were doing this, but it was one of
8:16
those situations where I made this like kind of like surfy, low fi chill
8:24
pop song, and uh, it just kind of put it in my back
8:28
pocket. So fast forward a couple of years, under Oath gets back together.
8:33
We're working, and I keep thinking about like, well, like under
8:39
Oath made this, this kind of this, uh this agree work on under
8:46
Oath stuff when we're together, as opposed to everyone writing songs alone and like
8:48
under oathing it when we get together, because those never really work the way
8:52
we want them to. Like everyone in under Oath is capable of making their
8:54
own songs. What the magic really is with under Oath, it is being
8:58
in a room together and finding the really thin middle ground that because everyone wants
9:03
to do it their own way, and it's like there's a million ways to
9:05
get the finish line if it's over there, if it's over there, or
9:07
if it's right here, it doesn't matter if you do this to get there,
9:11
but like to find the line that we all can fit on, and
9:15
like, I like all of this, it's very thin. So we made
9:18
that decision. So it made me like, oh man, I got all
9:20
this time to kill and like, I got all this music I want to
9:22
write, So I started to kind of like write a little bit and kind
9:26
of mess around, and I did. I went back out to LA and
9:35
I was actually in the studio with the guys from Sir Sly and we just
9:41
sat down one day and like wrote a song and that song is actually on
9:46
my records out right now. It's called too Much Weight. That was just
9:50
like the first time we all sat and the room together and I had showed
9:54
them some of the demos that most none of those demos really made it,
9:56
but that song didn't make it to the to the end. So at this
10:00
point I had like five or six songs like shifting into its direction of like
10:03
I can actually do this in the way that I think I won't get crucified
10:07
for. But even if I did get crucified for by my fans, it's
10:11
so I like it so much it doesn't matter, like I'm doing it because
10:13
it's fun. I don't need to do this. I want to do this.
10:16
And that was a huge thing that they like kind of set in the
10:20
back of my mind. It's like I don't need to you know, Like
10:22
under Oath had just come back and done a really successful, you know,
10:26
reunion tours, and then we put out that Erase Me record and those tours
10:30
were bigger than the reunion tour stuff, and I was like, I don't
10:33
need to do this, and then I was kind of taking my time with
10:37
it, and like literally two weeks getting home for two weeks after getting home
10:41
from LA the world shuts down. Yeah, and then I'm sitting and I'm
10:46
just sitting in my house all the time. I was like, I'm gonna
10:50
make I'm going to make a record. I'm gonna make this record. That's
10:54
what I thought. I was like, fuck it, you know, and
10:58
like it was. It was eye opening thing because at one point I thought,
11:01
if I'm a songwriter, musician, frontman, whatever you want to call
11:05
me, and that's my job. This is what I do for a living.
11:09
And under Oath has gotten to the point where like less is more because
11:11
if we show up too much it hurts ticket sales. You know, like
11:15
you've got to be really careful. Too much music is a bad thing.
11:18
Too much shows is a bad thing. There's too little is also equally as
11:22
bad. So it's like a you know, you're you're walking a tightrope there,
11:26
so you know. I just I was having a conversation with my older
11:28
brother and he was just like, you know, talking about like do we
11:31
invest in real estate? Do we open a bar a restaurant? And he's
11:35
like, dude, you're a songwriter, what you should focus more on that?
11:37
And I was like, you're right, I should. I should just
11:41
do more of that. So I started reaching out to people and working on
11:46
their songs, Like I did a lot of stuff for DM artists over COVID
11:48
for some reason, I don't know why, but they like a lot of
11:52
top lining, and so I did a lot of that, and in the
11:54
meantime, I was writing my record, and towards the tail end of COVID,
12:01
I guess after COVID, under Oath made our record Voyeurist, which is
12:07
out, And then I went and I had the record done. I had
12:11
like thirteen songs, and I went to my buddy Micah, he was in
12:20
that band there for Tomorrow. He's a killer producer and he's a great,
12:24
great human and we uh. I just called him because I was like,
12:28
hey, I got a dropbox. Whenever you get around to it, if
12:33
you could listen to it and then block me out, like two weeks because
12:37
I need to make sure that I'm not smoking my own brand here, you
12:39
know what I mean? Like I needed I did it. I did ninety
12:43
nine percent of it during lockdown, you know, like I did. I
12:46
lose my mind, like is this good? Like I feel like I have
12:50
something here, but I also want you to throw me through the ringer,
12:54
like don't worry about our friendship, tell me what sucks. And he listened
13:00
to it and he was like, I love it. Let me know when
13:05
you can come. So I went down there and then when we really got
13:07
our hands dirty, and he was like, you know, why is this
13:11
part good? And the chorus is great, but the pre chorus is ship
13:16
seems like you're just trying to get to the chorus. I was like,
13:18
well, because I am, like he would call me out, and we
13:22
reworked a couple of parts, and then aren't those like the best friendships by
13:26
the way, that like when they would just call you out on that kind
13:28
of shit? Yeah, well that's what you know. I was like,
13:31
I need you to produce it, like as if just produce the record because
13:35
I don't. I don't want to do it without someone else touching it,
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because I just didn't want to, you know, it's like I don't have
13:41
anything to prove like that, Like I don't need like I just wanted it
13:43
to be great, like so we we we tightened up some parts, we
13:48
rewrote some parts, and then on the last day, I was like,
13:54
I'm gonna fuck you up right now, but I think we need one more
13:56
song. And I was fine out the next day at like eight in the
14:01
morning, and we worked till four in the morning and made that one last
14:05
song and it was like, it's like the perfect album closer. It's like
14:09
the most artistic, beautiful thing on the whole record, and I'm so glad
14:13
that we did that, And yeah, I'm really really stoked on the album.
14:18
I'm I was a little annoyed about how how it's rolling out so slowly,
14:22
but I understand it's a different era. You can't just put out music
14:26
and go on tour and no one will go, so you kind of have
14:28
to build your your your following online and do all that, which has never
14:33
been my strong suit. So I've kind of been I've kind of been kind
14:35
of, you know, moving at a very slow pace as we're working on
14:41
like rolling out live shows for next year and when we're gonna drop the really
14:46
big single and really make a big push and around the time that I'll be
14:50
playing shows, which is kind of it shifted a lot because I also have
14:54
to worry about undera schedule and certain things in my life, you know.
14:56
So we've kind of been moving the needle a little bit. But I'm really
15:01
excited about it. But I've also album one isn't even out and I'm already
15:07
writing album two. So it's like you're you're totally in a creative space then
15:11
clearly, yeah. I mean, you know, it's with a lot of
15:18
time off. I guess that's what you know. Under Oath is like we're
15:22
busy like a third of the year, you know, it leaves a lot
15:24
of time, maybe a quarter of the year. It depends on the year,
15:28
I guess. But there's a lot of time to write and be creative.
15:33
That doesn't mean that everything you write is good either. I just like
15:35
to I like to just kind of have enough going into this next this next
15:41
album, because I have a feeling it's gonna sneak up on me too.
15:45
Like when Slow Tide starts touring and Under Oath is touring, I'm gonna blank
15:52
and like, shit, I need that. I need that album now,
15:54
you know, like because that could really you know, doing two things,
15:58
it could really you could catch up to you. So I think that I'm
16:03
doing the right thing right now, which is just writing. That's all I
16:08
can really do. You know, how do you how do you get yourself
16:11
into that headspace of of working with inside different genres because I this is obviously
16:18
way different than what you do in under Oath, but you've also done a
16:19
whole lot of stuff for other people along the way. How do you get
16:25
yourself inside that headspace writing in that that kind of that brain wave. I'm
16:30
a music fan, you know. I think I think that's the main thing.
16:37
I think. If I lose that, that's when I'll probably stop.
16:41
I'm I'm a fan, like I love bands like I love I'm I'm like
16:47
mega fans of tons of different bands, and I love going to shows when
16:51
I'm not on tour, you know, like if friends, even if it's
16:53
not a friend rule, Like if a friend's rolling through, I'm definitely gonna
16:56
be there with with all if at all possible. And then like even bands
17:00
I'm not friends with that i'm a fan of, I'm gonna I'm gonna go
17:03
like I love I love music, I love live music, and I listened
17:08
to like everything, So I think getting in the headspace isn't necessarily hard.
17:15
You know, my manager said something to me want one time about Slow Tide
17:18
that really stuck with me. And he's not really a songs guy. Like
17:23
he's a great manager, but he's not really like songs are in his strong
17:26
suit. But he said something to me that's stuck in my brain. When
17:30
I was starting to show him this stuff in the early stages and the lyric,
17:34
the lyric content was a little more on the under oath line of things.
17:37
He goes, think about how different the music is. He's like,
17:41
I know you as a person, You're not just all dark. You know
17:45
everything I write about unders, He's like, You've got a lot of other
17:48
stuff on your brain. We've had a lot of conversations about other things.
17:52
Mosquito. Yeah, I think so. And you know, he was like,
17:57
you you got a lot more up there than just like the dark,
18:02
depressive side. Not saying to ignore it in this project, but try to
18:06
think about that when you're writing your lyrics. Try to tap into another side
18:08
of your brain. And that was that was huge. That really stuck with
18:11
me, that really and and I carried that over into into Slow Tide and
18:17
you'll see that when the record comes out, and like like songs like lay
18:19
Low, like I would never come at anything and that and that kind of
18:26
element. So yeah, and it is, it is what it is.
18:33
Sure you mentioned a little bit ago that, uh, it seemed like at
18:40
some point in your music career before like Slow Tide, there was this like
18:45
movement or trajectory where more and more people were having input on the music.
18:51
And maybe that was a part of Under Oath, maybe that was part of
18:52
like different projects that you were part of, but it seemed like more and
18:56
more people were like a part of having input on like your music, whereas
19:00
Slow Tide, it really seems like that's very much more concentrated where it's just
19:03
like you and maybe like another person. And I think that's like a really
19:07
interesting dynamic that it's just a part of like being an artist, especially an
19:12
artist that like ends up getting some sort of notoriety where you now all of
19:17
a sudden you're having to deal with producers and you're having to deal with like
19:21
music executives that like have all all these people having input, And I'm really
19:25
curious, like for you and your relationship with Slow Tides music, how the
19:30
fact that like it really is just you ultimately having those decisions or maybe like
19:34
one or two other people really having decisions about the music, Like how that
19:38
has like shaped it. Like I know, like I know, under Oath
19:41
has pride itself on the fact that that so few people have had impact on
19:47
Under Oath music, despite the fact that you guys go like number two on
19:51
the Billboard and that's super rare for artists to go that high on a music
19:55
chart and have like so few of people that are in the decision making process.
19:59
But I would imagine that's even more concentrated with a project like Slow Tide,
20:03
right, So, like what's your relationship with with that part of Slow
20:07
Tide that I would imagine it's gotta be really freeing, right, Yeah,
20:11
it's great. I mean it was it was really just me doing what I
20:12
wanted to do. And I don't mind collaborating. I think there's something about
20:19
collaboration that I think gets mixed up with the artist with the listener. With
20:26
some of the writers that do this kind of stuff. It's like there's some
20:30
people that use it to their advantage in the way of where they want someone
20:33
to do something for them, and then a listener might see something where there's
20:38
other names on this song that aren't the band, and maybe that's because they
20:42
can't do it or they need the help, or you know, some artists
20:47
do do that, and I think that's the I think any opt to be
20:52
in a room with somebody that isn't in your band or isn't you, is
20:56
an opportunity for you to learn something, right, Like, I don't care
21:00
if you're five years younger than me or five years older than me. It
21:06
doesn't matter how many records you put out or how many I put everyone that's
21:12
that anyone you could open your brain and absorb what they do and see if
21:18
it's something that could benefit how you do things, just the same way they
21:22
should to you. So I think collaborating like you know, like the Surchlave
21:30
song is complete collaboration between four guys that aren't in a band. You know,
21:33
they were in a band together, but I was some you know,
21:37
at the first time we met, I was a stranger, you know,
21:41
we're all friends, walked into the room and just plugged in the guitar and
21:44
looked around. We just started talking and we just started jamming, you know,
21:47
and then and then and I learned stuff from them and they probably learned
21:48
stuff from me in that experience because it was a healthy collaboration. I look
21:56
into a room producer at one point was to do every thing and wouldn't let
22:00
us do anything. Yeah, and we fired I. You know, I
22:07
mean because that's not you know, because and that's not for if I'm working.
22:11
It's not because I can't do what I want to do. It's because
22:15
I want to. I want to collaborate, you know. I want a
22:19
different I want another brain on it. I want someone else to to put
22:23
to test me. Like we were talking about earlier, it's like what if
22:26
there is no one in the room to tell you that that part the song
22:30
is great, but this part that like what is that? You know?
22:33
Like and you go, ah, man, you're right, maybe I should
22:37
think about this part because there's something healthy about that. There's no there's no
22:41
badge to me if it's like, oh, I did everything by myself and
22:45
like heard like yes, I played every instrument even something while I got a
22:49
drummer to play a lot of it. I didn't even play. Some drum
22:53
was on it, but I don't It's just what I was doing because it
22:56
was I wrote most of it during COVID, and then I went to a
23:00
studio by myself and re recorded everything and great drummer friends. So what's to
23:11
put the badge on to say, Oh, I did everything. And I
23:14
was like, I'm just I'll call Aaron, I'll call my friend christ I'll
23:18
call my friend Hayden. I was like, I'll get play two or three
23:22
songs for friends. And they're great drummers, you know. So to the
23:26
original question of how freeing it is, it's extremely freeing to not have I
23:30
had no label influence, no businessman influence on the music. I had no
23:37
one telling me we need a single, we need this, we need that.
23:41
I haven't been able to do that. I don't think since that was
23:44
a teenager. How is that for you to like create art where you're able
23:48
to do it completely out of like your love for the creativity of it,
23:53
Like what whatever you're creating, how is that for you given you know,
23:59
like some of the like like how much creativity is like such an important part
24:03
of like you just being a healthy spencer, Like what what was that like
24:07
for you in terms of just like your mental health and all those things.
24:11
Because you were able to like create something that was truly what you wanted to
24:15
create it, it made me extremely happy. It was very like I said,
24:21
freeing and just be like yeah, man, like I did this,
24:26
I wanted to do it. And and by pressure, I don't mean like
24:32
you know, so under oath makes a pressure there because I think once you
24:37
release anything under a name, there's always an expectation. Now, like and
24:45
if I do the same thing I did and do it all by myself and
24:48
then go to my same friend's house and just Rea got it. Well,
24:53
pressure because there's expectation because now you have fans. They they're expecting something from
24:59
you, uh with it or not? They haven't, they've listened, they've
25:06
heard the image of what you are. There's always some sort of pressure there
25:11
unless it's like a debut, you know, like I. But even with
25:15
Sleepway, there was pressure there because there was a team involved before I recorded,
25:21
and this was the other way around, like I was done with something
25:23
before anyone kind of heard it, which is really cool because then the people
25:27
that are the people that are getting involved is because they want to be involved,
25:32
they're not trying to like you know, and with Sleepway, there was
25:34
a lot of oh, you know, we're going to take the guy from
25:38
under Oath and we're gonna we're gonna put him on the radio and give him
25:41
a number one song and try this, that and the other. And we
25:44
kind of kicked and screamed their whole way through it, not allowing it because
25:48
we weren't there here, you know, like we didn't know how to let
25:49
go of that like complete art approach and have you know, like we were
25:56
just torn with like do we like the way there? You know, like
26:03
these lyrics, digestive, curveball, you know, like so I think yeah,
26:07
But there was a team involved. You know, there was a huge
26:08
team. You know, Sleepwave was on Epitaph and it had raw power management
26:12
who does bring me the horizon? And then Avice and men at the fans
26:17
that were on there. You know, they had a lot of uh weight,
26:23
you know, they wanted things to be a certain way, and I
26:26
don't think it was malicious. I think they were obviously they believed in it
26:32
and wanted it to be the best it could be. You know, but
26:33
I think when you're trying to create under those circumstances and like, and it
26:38
was such a weird turning point in my life. I didn't know what I
26:41
wanted yet when I was making that album. So to compare it to to
26:47
to Slow Tide, it's a completely different ball game. Yeah, yes,
26:51
Well, speaking of of doing what you want to do, I'm well,
26:55
first of all, I got to say, I always knew you could sing,
26:57
well, I didn't know that your cleans could be so damn good though
27:03
this The songs that you've put out so far with Soultide are incredibly clean,
27:08
beautiful vocals, and they're a great visus. It's a different approach. I
27:11
mean, I've been singing in bands my whole I knew how to sing before
27:17
I knew how to scream. I knew how to play guitar before I know
27:19
how to do either. You know, I've been in and out of vocal
27:25
lesson since I was a little kid, and it's it's like it's just different.
27:30
With that kind of vibe music, I can I can do more what
27:33
I want, you know, vocally, you know, it doesn't really call
27:37
for anything aggressive, and I think that and there's no need for keeps it.
27:42
Yeah, yeah, like it allows me to just be a singer it
27:48
as opposed to I think with vocalists, because there's all these different hats to
27:55
wear, you know, it's like you're yelling, you're screaming, you're singing,
28:00
and all this sieve and it kind of has to be there's some tender
28:06
moments here and there, like side is is you know, the it's blanket
28:14
for vocals. No, it's it's you know, I don't know. It
28:19
was too like I'm exted to perform it like it's a it's all about you
28:27
know, with underpe retainer, you know, and like mm hm, So
28:33
like there's this whole not saying that's that slow tide have that, but it's
28:41
performing that you know perfect, you know, and I think that's a whole
28:45
different ball game for sure. You know. I've also noticed that that music,
28:52
at least recently, maybe this is just me, music feels like it's
28:56
it's moving more into like a vibe feel instead of instead of so much hooks
28:59
and out of so much aggression and all that stuff. A lot of really
29:03
great music recently does not have a lot of that stuff. It's not like
29:06
trying to be the catchiest thing on earth. It's trying to it's trying to
29:08
present more of a vibe that makes you feel feel something in the moment or
29:15
maybe more like in the background where it kind of influences how you you know,
29:19
navigate life. Right? Was that an intention? Uh with the slow
29:25
tech because I do kind of I kind of get that sense that it It
29:29
feels like it's it's just trying to be a partner to yeah, life.
29:36
You know, what is it that I I can't sit around and worry about
29:41
what everyone wants to hear and what's popular and what what's gonna pay the bills,
29:45
what's gonna what's gonna keep the lights on it? Like if I do
29:48
that, I'm gonna go crazy, Right, So I go the only thing
29:52
that I know honesty reworks. People connect with it. They don't know why
29:59
they connect with a certain band more than I experience. It's when there's an
30:06
honest moment people really and so the only way to achieve that in my mind
30:12
is like, well, when I hear something heavy, what is it that
30:15
I want to hear? Like what do I want to what do I want
30:18
to hear? And then I go for that. And when I when I
30:22
was doing the slow tide things like everything outside of that world. I'm around
30:25
heavy music all the time, Like I don't really listen to it that much.
30:26
Because I'm around it so much, I'm like, what do I want
30:30
to hear when I'm driving my car? And if I felt like someone else
30:33
has done exactly what my brain wants to hear, then maybe I shouldn't be
30:37
making anything at all. So I just tried to make like, Okay,
30:41
if I were to picture myself driving in a car down like a road at
30:47
night time, what is that? What am I hearing there? And that's
30:52
the kind of vibe I kind of look around and I was like, when
30:55
I'm like on a walk or down the road or whatever it is, it's
30:59
like, what do I want to hear that? You know? And that's
31:02
that's where it's got, I guess, more of like a vibe feel as
31:04
I was just trying to like, this is just like what I want to
31:07
listen to, And that's kind of where I started and where I finished.
31:11
It's like when I listen back to it's like, is this this is what
31:15
I want to hear? Because this is what I want to listen to,
31:18
is not like, oh is that a hit? Is that a smash?
31:22
Is that a hook? I was like, I kind of don't fucking care,
31:26
you know, like I'm kind of just like I don't know. I
31:30
I just and I'm not you know, I'm not the end all be all
31:36
either. I'm just like, if I don't want to hear it, then
31:38
I'm doing a disservice to listeners, because then I'm selling you something fake.
31:45
Because if I can get behind it and like I love this, I dig
31:48
this, odds are someone else probably will. I'm still here twenty years later,
31:53
you know, like, you know, we've we've done enough. I've
31:56
done enough in my career to know that, like when we do the right
31:59
thing, people care. And the right thing is never us trying to do
32:01
the right thing. It's us trying to appease our brains and what we want
32:06
to hear and make something creative. So when I was doing the Slow Tide
32:08
thing, I was like, yeah, I just want to make something that
32:12
I could listen to, like on the daily basis if it wasn't me.
32:15
And that's what I went for. And I think I made that album.
32:21
Yeah, I love that. Yeah. Obviously the Slow Tide stuff is very
32:25
like electronic Forward and One of the things I'm like curious about is you've obviously,
32:32
over the last twenty plus years, have worked with this guy named Chris,
32:37
Chris Dudley, who yeas been like such a mastermind around electronic self.
32:42
And I don't know, like like maybe he's had influence on like Slow Tide
32:45
stuff or not. But I'm really curious, like how much of your relationship
32:49
with Chris over these last twenty years has like influenced at least some of the
32:52
sounds the electronic sounds that we hear in Slow Tide. Yeah, I Chris
32:57
is. I hit him up for nerdy questions a lot, I asked him
33:00
about different plugins a lot, but I didn't, you know, I think
33:07
about it now, I was like, I should have collaborated with Chris at
33:10
some point, but I just didn't because I just wanted to keep the just
33:14
keep it so separate from from under Oath. Although Aaron did play on a
33:20
song or two. He played the drums on a song or too, but
33:22
I sent him the song done and just like here's the fake drums. Play
33:25
your drums, you know, like we didn't get in a room and jam
33:29
with it. And it wasn't because of anything other than like I want to
33:35
make I just wanted to do something different and separate. But Chris is Chris
33:38
is, Yeah, he's he is fantastic at what he does and he's a
33:43
very gifted in the electronic world. But he also does something so different from
33:49
what the Slow Tide stuff is. Like he's he's making like soundtrack score soundscapes.
33:53
And what I did was, I was like, I want to make
33:57
like alternative pop or something. I don't know what you call it. So
34:02
I was like, you know, it's just it's just me playing keyboards,
34:06
you know, and just kind of fucking around until I liked it. You
34:09
know, I played piano enough, and guitar is my obviously my main thing,
34:15
so I can get by on you know, I play keyboards live sometimes
34:20
under Oath and we did the Erase Me tour. I played piano on a
34:22
song live. But like, I enjoy it. It's one of my favorite
34:28
things to do, is like find the sound that I like and and make
34:30
those chords, you know, against what I'm doing on the guitar or the
34:34
bass to make a moment. So I did enjoy that a lot with the
34:39
Slow Tide stuff, But uh yeah, Chris Chris definitely helped me with with
34:45
some plugins. I was like, Hey, I'm gonna I need like new
34:49
things, like can you tell me what. So at this point in your
34:52
life, is there anything that makes you nervous, especially but maybe not musically.
35:01
You know. I get the butterflies before pretty much every show still.
35:07
That's so cool to me. It's always the beginning of the tour is always
35:13
tougher, and as you get to the end that they they're not as bad.
35:16
You've been doing it every night, you know, But I still get
35:19
butterflies on every tour and pretty much for every show. It's like that adrenaline
35:22
and that like ah, you know things. Yeah, I don't ever want
35:29
to lose that, So that makes me nervous. Yeah, that's cool.
35:35
I mean, that's especially incredible given the fact that, like I mean you're
35:38
talking about before, like you played at Wembley and you've played like these massive,
35:43
massive tours in front of like like more fans that you probably could have
35:46
ever dreamed of when you were a couple of years old thinking about maybe doing
35:51
music, like and to think that like when you were eighteen dreaming about like
35:57
maybe doing music whatever, and to now know like you're still are nervous when
36:00
you play in front of thousands upon thousands of fans, that's going to be
36:04
something that's pretty pretty presciure. Yeah, it's going out there. Once you're
36:07
out there, you're not nervous, you know. But it's like, I
36:10
don't know, it's like dropping in on a on a on a half pipe,
36:13
Like I don't think of that ever. That little butterfly doesn't ever go
36:15
away no matter how long you've been skating or like, I don't know,
36:20
like every time you get on an airplane, don't you get a little like
36:22
before take off, you get a little like your stomach feels a little something
36:25
like, because then can always happen, something can always go wrong. I
36:29
always got to ask the person next to me if they're scared, if the
36:30
plane is going to go down, just just so that they think about it.
36:34
You know, we don't want to take too much more of your time
36:37
here, and we know that you've got, you know, a busy schedule
36:42
and everything. Are you ready to move into the top five most influential albums
36:45
of Spencer Chamberlain? Ah? Yes, but I don't even know where to
36:49
start. Okay, top five will help you along if you need a moment,
36:52
we can give you a moment too. Do I need Does it need
36:54
to be like five four three two one? Or could it just be no,
36:58
no, put it on whatever? Or do you want? Yeah,
37:00
it could be chronological too if you wanted. They're the albums that mean,
37:04
they're the albums that mean the most to you, things that the albums that
37:07
have changed your life. Okay, so we're gonna start with led Zeppelin one
37:14
or two because all of the led Zeppelin catalog that was my father, right,
37:21
So we were we weren't we weren't even old enough to get our own
37:24
music, but it was very taught in our family, along with like the
37:29
Rolling Stones and all this other stuff, but in the Beatles. But you
37:31
know, the the Beatles didn't like really scratch my itches like a baby the
37:37
way that led Zeppelin did. Just there was I was like, oh,
37:42
what's that? You know? I was like really little. So I would
37:45
have to say led Zeppelin in there. That aggression and that sexual energy that
37:50
comes from from led Zeppelin is just it's unbeatable, right, yes, yes,
37:55
So also I would have to say I would have to say out of
38:01
the Moon for sure, hey, because that that was the Yeah, I
38:13
couldn't wrap my brain around what that was and and it's and it's hit me
38:17
so many times through life too, like going back to it, like because
38:22
for us, it's it's like, oh, bands did bands did that?
38:24
There was but think about being the first, like the pioneer of that.
38:29
It's so psychedelic and off the wall, and I know a lot of drugs
38:32
were involved, but like, no, nothing was like that, And still
38:37
to this day, nothing is really like that into where could you imagine creating
38:44
that in the sixties in the seventies like it it is. I still think
38:51
about that. I'm just like what the fuck? You know, Like that
38:53
is so creative and out in the world, out in this world, and
38:59
it's such there's so much vibe, like about vibes earlier, Like man,
39:04
it's like that that really showed me, like the artistic, not just the
39:09
aggressive, you know, like led Zeppelin had this angst and I was a
39:13
kid, I was a baby, and it was just cool. And then
39:16
Pink Flood was I was like, oh my god, is that what drugs
39:20
feel like? You know what I mean? Like I was like, whoa
39:23
the way that they use that space? Uh, I mean they have a
39:27
full song that literally is just gibberish, but it is one of the most
39:30
beautiful songs ever written. And uh man, yeah, like when you say
39:36
that, that vibe that and of course the incredible groove section. Man,
39:42
just ablutely from there go to Nirvana. Never mind. Nirvana was the first
39:54
thing that I got into, like me and my brother, the whole grunge
40:00
era. Obviously, Nirvana opened the door for me to get into Soundgarden,
40:05
which is equals important Alison Chains and even early Pearl jam Stone Temple Pilots,
40:12
all those albums. I could put all of them on there, but if
40:15
I'm going to go from one from that era, I mean, honestly,
40:17
it was how is it Baby? Still? So Nirvana is what open the
40:21
door because they hit more of a mainstream thing and that was like, that
40:25
was me going from Led Zeppelin child wanting to be a guitar player to seeing
40:34
Kurt Cobain and going that that's what I want to do. And I was
40:38
like, I can, I'm gonna start, I'm gonna sing and play guitar.
40:42
I'm gonna learn how That's what I'm gonna do. Because when it was
40:45
with Led, when I was listening to led Zeppelin. I wanted to be
40:46
the lead guitar player. I wanted to learn how to play like that,
40:50
and all I cared about was guitar. And then Nirvana opened the door of
40:52
like songwriting, of like, oh my god, there's three guys up there
40:55
and they're just literally changing the world. And it was it was Yeah that
41:02
I would say. I would say Nirvana never Mind, even though I think
41:07
I like in Uterrope potentially better depending on the day of the week. But
41:12
you know, I think it was never Mind that changed my life. Yeah,
41:16
so now we got three, I need two more. It could be
41:24
an under Oath album too, if you really wanted to Yeah. No,
41:29
no, no, no, everyone's so bashful to say it. I'm waiting
41:32
for the person who does do it. So I want to say this sounds
41:40
funny because I'm trying to think if it was corn Oh wait, let me
41:54
back up a little bit. Oasis, what's the story Morning Glory? Before
42:00
we get there? Because the brit rock thing which opened the door for like
42:07
Radiohead and Coldplay, and maybe radio Head needs to be on the list.
42:13
I think it. Yeah, I think it needs to because because Oasis opened
42:20
the door for brit rock, which Coldplay was was super important to me.
42:22
But Oasis Liam Liam still to this day like this is not a joke,
42:30
this is I've got so much stuff around my house, this is this is
42:34
the first thing I could find close enough to reach. Is that, I,
42:39
uh, there's something about him and his voice and the songwriting. It
42:45
was a real it was a songwriting thing for me. It was it was
42:50
it was him. I just loved his attitude and the way he's sang.
42:53
Even though his brother is technically better or whatever, class speaking, I loved
43:00
Liam. I connected with Liam. I love everything I've read about like they're
43:06
just that was like just it was like rock and roll. That was our
43:07
Beatles in my opinion, that we didn't get to live through the Beatles,
43:12
but we got we got Oasis, and we got you know, all all
43:15
the shit that came with them, and I still listened to them all the
43:20
time. And then I'm gonna go with Okay Computer, even though I probably
43:27
like Hill to the Thief and In Rainbows better, but Okay Computer was the
43:32
first one I really got into. Obviously I listened to the bands, but
43:37
it didn't really like wow, my brain into Okay Computer. I think would
43:42
have to be number number five for me, and that was my first tattoo
43:46
was stuff from Okay Computer. That's brilliant. Actually, Uh, Radiohead is
43:52
one of those bands where I make a differentiation between best album, favorite album,
43:58
and most influential, and I think Radiohead has an album that fits each
44:01
one of those that's a different from each. So for me personally, I
44:07
think their most influential is Okay Computer. I think their best album is actually
44:09
kid A And I think my favorite album though is in in Rainbows. And
44:14
actually I think under Oath is one of those bands too that kind of fits
44:16
those categories at least for me personally. Like I think of Define the Great
44:21
Line probably the most influential. I think my favorite is probably Chasing Safety,
44:25
and then I think Loss and Son Separation is your best album. So I
44:30
think, like and so like those different categories I think are a little different
44:34
for each and I think Radiohead is one of those bands that kind of fits
44:37
those categories kind of cleanly, at least for me as a fan. Yeah,
44:40
same, same, same, I think it's good you know that.
44:44
Being said, We've had a lot of guests on here, and I think
44:47
Mason correct me if I'm wrong. I think Define the Great Line is probably
44:52
the most cited, most influential album of all of our guests. I think
44:55
it's definitely up there. I mean certainly, like maybe a Jimmy were the
45:00
album might be up too, but certainly, Define the Great Line is at
45:04
least in the top three of most cited albums that from the bands that we've
45:07
interviewed. Yeah. Nice, well right, I mean it certainly is for
45:12
me. Like if if I were to do this list right now for you,
45:14
Spencer, Define the Great Line would certainly be in that top five.
45:17
Hell yeah, I appreciate that. Hell U show love it, Spencer.
45:22
What do you want to plug? Obviously Slow Tide stuff is coming out,
45:24
There's already been a few singles out, but yeah, what do you want
45:28
to plug? Yeah, there's I'm gonna be dropping a new single depending on
45:35
when this comes out, I don't know, And there will be the full
45:40
album in twenty four and shows and all sorts of things. So follow It's
45:47
Slow Tied without the W for anyone who's listening or watching or I don't know
45:53
how this goes, but yeah, it's s l O T I d E.
46:00
You can follow it at Slow Tide band on all the socials. I
46:06
don't know why I did Slow Tide band because it's just me. There will
46:09
be a band live, but it's probably because it's under oath band on everything.
46:14
And I wasn't thinking when I grabbed the handles online and I kind of
46:17
look at it now, I was like, huh, definitely just me.
46:21
But yeah, I'm putting together the live band now. We're routing a few
46:25
shows for next year. So keep your eyes open and your ears open.
46:32
Sharing it is everything. I've started this thing from like the ground up and
46:39
literally had no followers and no Spotify listeners and all that, and we're,
46:44
you know, we're doing pretty good for a band that's not played live yet.
46:49
So I think the more word of mouth though, every time you share
46:52
it like it really does. It really does help, especially bands in the
46:57
early phases like this, Like I try to day on that Instagram once a
47:01
day, Like if people are posting or commenting or sharing, I try.
47:06
If you're getting a message back, it's me. I'm I'm very hands on
47:09
with it. I know that without the people that have been a part of
47:15
it from this from this early stage, like these are the people. This
47:17
is my slow Tide VFW hall, you know, like under started off in
47:22
VFW halls and I remember those kids, like the kids that would take us
47:25
out to dinner and would would hang out by the van, and they're still
47:29
coming to shows now, Like you don't get to do that anymore, Like
47:31
you don't just to get to tour and you hope you get noticed like you
47:35
did in the early two thousands. Like the internet is now your VFW hall.
47:37
So everyone's sharing my music right now and listening right now and following.
47:45
Y'all are my VFW man, and I won't forget those people. So so
47:50
props to everyone who's who's repingant right now. It's really dope. Love that.
47:53
Hey, can I give you one one last note of gratitude. I
47:59
don't biggest pet peeve as a music aficionado a music fan is when people who
48:07
go solo just use their name. That's my biggest pet peeve. And you
48:12
did not do it. You created a name out of out of the ether,
48:16
and I, yeah, you know, I'm so happy. I think
48:21
about I loved Tim and Paula and I would wear one of their shirts.
48:24
But when I wear a shirt that just said Kevin Parker, on it.
48:27
Definitely not. I probably wouldn't. So I think about that a lot,
48:30
like when I when I was because I did get suggested that because my name
48:36
would carry more of a weight than than Slow Tide, but I was like,
48:38
I just can't. I wouldn't wear a shirt with my name on it,
48:43
Like what I mean, Hey, Aaron Gillaspie did it for like an
48:47
album or two, so you can talk to him if I was just going
48:51
to talk shit about him for that, you know, Yeah, I mean,
48:52
it's just not into each their own. You know, they just wasn't
48:57
mine. I just couldn't do it. Proud of you, proud of you,
49:00
yeah, Spencer, anything else you'd like to plug? Yeah, So
49:07
you know, I've been working very closely with Disney. Actually they are.
49:15
They're finally releasing Frozen three. It has been something people people have been asking
49:21
it. Yeah, it's in the works and I'm writing all the music for
49:23
it. So that's how I know about Frozen three. And I'm probably not
49:27
even allowed to tell anyone about it because it's Disney. So you heard it
49:31
here first, folks. You know, you keep dyeing your hair blonde,
49:36
you might end up looking like Elsa here sometime soon. Yeah, I mean
49:38
hopefully I get to sing all her parts because I do have a very feminine
49:43
voice, So we'll see, I'll see to hear that. And then once
49:45
she gets angry, you can turn into Under the three. Yeah, I'm
49:51
keeping all the all the aggressive music out of it, but I am working
49:53
hands on with Frozen three right now. So I mean, obviously you're you've
49:59
got to a big, big audience among like thirty five year olds, but
50:02
to get into that five year old market, that's next level. Well,
50:06
I'm going for all their kids, you know. Yeah, they're all there
50:10
are are all a lot of my fans have babies now, So we're gonna,
50:14
I mean, you're gonna You're gonna create a whole monopoly of like Emo
50:17
kids, right or like people who grew up in Emo, because not only
50:21
are they only gonna be listening to Under Oath and Slow Tide, but also
50:23
they're gonna be listening all their kids are gonna be listening to uh Elsa,
50:28
uh and Frozen Like it's just gonna be a Spencer chamber Spencer Chamberlain monopoly,
50:34
uh kids Households. I'm going for it. I love it. Well,
50:39
congratulations on on Frozen. I would imagine at this point, you know,
50:44
there's there's six members of under Oath, but uh, that's gonna bring in
50:46
some money. Yeah, we'll see, we'll see. I might. I
50:51
just maybe got fired by telling you guys, So we'll see. Only time
50:53
will tell. Well, I I can assure you not enough people listen to
50:58
us where they it's it's gonna matter. Yeah cool, I love it.
51:01
Well, Spencer, thank you so much for chatting a little bit about Slow
51:06
Tide. We're really excited for all the new stuff that's going to be coming
51:08
out of that project. Yeah, certainly, I'm really excited to see whatever
51:13
you know shows you guys end up announcing. Hopefully it's somewhere near where I
51:16
live, and I'd love to love to see you guys sometime soon. So
51:20
yeah, thanks so much for chatting more about it. Awesome, Thank you.
51:22
Thanks for having me guys, Thank you so much,