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WEHM All Access - Great South Bay Music Festival - Quinn Sullivan · WEHM All Access

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, starting on Thursday, July 23rd through Sunday, July 26th, is the 2026 edition of the Great South Bay Music Festival and so many great acts this year.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we wanted to do something a little bit different where we had a chance to reach out to uh many of the artists that are performing at this year's festival and get to know them a little bit.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And looking at the schedule, the uh band show Five Towns College Stage uh that's happening on Saturday, July 25th.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh wrapping it up is Quinn Sullivan.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I live in Massachusetts, Native Quinn.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for coming on.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing great, man.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: How are you doing?
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Very good.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for uh for chatting.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: We appreciate this.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess the first question I have is have you played the festival before, or is this your first time?
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: This will be my first time.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, very nice.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: So have you been to Long Island recently or No, actually.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: I I forget the last time I was there.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: I probably played about three or four years ago at Steven Taco's.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, okay.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Haven't really been back since though, yeah.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is a little different, and you'll be part you'll be wrapping it up, I believe, uh I think you're last on the stage on that Saturday night at the band show, and I wanted to kind of get to know you a bit um because I was I was reading about kind of where you come from, and you're originally from Massachusetts.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm from a city called New Bedford.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Very nice.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you've been doing a lot of different things, and and I guess the the thing that stood out to me um the most was the fact that you really started uh really young in music.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: How did you know how old were you when you first picked up a guitar?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: I was three years old when I first picked up a guitar.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: No, was that a was that a real guitar or was that uh you know, because sometimes with kids.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: It was a real guitar.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was a real guitar.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: I I got a guitar for Christmas by my my parents, and they had already kind of assumed um that I was obsessed with music because I was obsessed with music, and they they assumed that I just you know would would just kind of gravitate towards it, and I think I had asked them for it too.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's a little that that time of my life's a little foggy.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: A little fuzzy right now, yes.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: But I can remember getting it for Christmas and um just absolutely taking to it very, very quickly, and I learned very fast.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I started taking lessons full-time when I was five, and it was a it was a yeah, it was a fast learn for me.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: I I didn't have to work at it too much, you know, until I did have to work at it, you know what I mean?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: But the initial um interest and initial first you know couple of years of playing, it was uh it it became it was kind of a natural thing.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Were your parents musical?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'd imagine you you must come from a musical family to sort of.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: My dad's a drummer and he was in a Grateful Dead cover band for 30 years.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I and you know, my mom didn't play anything, but she loved music.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I I I was always around music growing up.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I it was every day, it was it was a different record.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: I remember they had the stereo system set up in our old apartment before we moved into this house that I'm at now.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was a stereo system.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: They had these big headphones and they just put on different music from I don't know, The Grateful Dead, the Almond Brothers, Dire Straits, The Beatles, all of the classic rock stuff was just really uh prevalent in my house.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember the first song you learned?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: My um first song that I really, really learned and I felt very proud of it was a song, uh, the Beatles song Blackbird, actually.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: That was the first song that I that I I felt like uh in my mind, I was like, I know how to play this.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: This is great.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like I feel like I might be able to do something here.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Were you listening, even at the early age, it needs to mention more starting around five with lessons and other things.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: What were you listening to uh back then?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because I it sounded like you were listening to different things than the average five-year-olds.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, when you have two parents that are deeply in love with classic rock music and um singer-songwriter, early 70s singer-songwriter music, I mean, that was what was around.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: I was listening to heavily listening to the Beatles, um, heavily listening to The Dead and the Almond Brothers.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Santana was also a big influence too.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I was influenced by all that stuff, and then my mom, she played a lot of like Joni Mitchell and Carol King and James Taylor, and some of the more sort of soft, softer rocky singer-songwriter music.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I was also getting introduced to that stuff as well as the more harder rock stuff.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: So it was kind of just a cross-pollination between those those two sides of music, and um, it's still the music that influences me today.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I listen to that stuff all the time still.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: But now, you know, as I've gotten a bit older, I'm 27 now, I've developed my own musical taste over the last, I don't know, 10, 15 years of my life.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it's uh it's kind of all across the board.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: When um when did you get comfortable playing in front of people?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Was that something that you were always good at?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Or when did it kind of were you were you were comfortable getting on a stage?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: I was always confident getting on stage.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's the one thing that a lot of people are like, you were never nervous.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's funny, I still get probably I'd get more nervous now than I than I did when I was five.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when you're a kid, you know, you don't really know what's going on around you most of the time.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's in in this this life that I I had began when I was six or seven playing on stage, it was normal to me.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we'd play around my area, there'd be different concerts that, you know, local shows that that bands would would you know find out that I was there and bring me out on stage with them.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we became friends with a lot of these these local musicians that would have me come and sit in with them.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I always felt very comfortable on stage.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: I was always it was always a very um comfortable thing.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think when I started singing more and I started performing in that way more, that kind of became a little bit of a different thing.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I've never I've never had a problem getting on stage, yeah.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Was it um it sounds like you were at a lot of confidence at that young age, uh, and you met a lot of different people, uh, including when did you meet Buddy Guy?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because I read that he's been a mentor for you.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I met Buddy when I was eight years old at um at a theater near where we live.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I got to go backstage and meet him.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: We knew a couple of people that worked at the theater, and they got us backstage, and I had kind of known that Buddy brought younger kids on stage if he if he felt like they could really play.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, he would do that quite a bit, so I wasn't expecting anything, but I, you know, the off chance that it may happen, I I had my guitar with me, and I remember going back and I met him for the first time, and he was super nice and friendly, and uh we hung around we hung out with him for about 10-15 minutes, and I I played a little guitar for him because he saw that I had my guitar, I wanted him to sign it, and I uh played a few things on a guitar and he and he uh pretty much was like, You be ready when I call you tonight.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: And and it was it was a really moment that changed my whole life, and um, you know, I credit Buddy to a lot of what I'm doing now.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he was my mentor for a good ten years of my life, and um, we traveled across the world together.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: I got to play all over the place with him, opening for him, sitting in with him, and um, you know, all of these different things that we got to do together.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, he uh he was kind of like my my my col I never went to college, but I always consider myself uh a student of Buddy Guy University because he brought me all around the world and he taught me so much and very grateful to him.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: I I can imagine.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: What was it like being eight years old?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Were you nervous or you just didn't just don't know any different?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because um getting a chance to play on stage with a legend like him himself, what what what is that like when what goes through your mind as you're heading out, you're being brought up?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think when you're a kid, you don't really understand, like I was saying before, you don't really understand what's going on around you that much.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: So you're not you're just kind of really truly living in the moment, you know.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's the one of the most beautiful things about when you're a really small kid, you can really be in the moment and you really can like not have a lot of things around you that are stressing you out, you know.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then this is from my experience personally.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I think I've had time now to reflect on that time in my life, and and now I can fully digest it and fully understand the enormity of all of that.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: But I I think at that time, I don't think I was fully aware.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I knew how cool it was, and I knew how exciting it was, and I knew how this like whole thing was making me feel, but I I never uh probably thought too much about it.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: It was just another thing I was doing.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I mean I think like I said, when you when you reflect and you you know you you you think about stuff in more of a deeper way of how it how it has affected different parts of your life as you move through life.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's it's a huge experience and huge honor.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it's it's it's incredible.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: When did you start writing music?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh was probably when I started writing songs.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was probably about 15, 16 when I started to write songs.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't really write a lot when I was a kid, you know.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: I I I was the first few records that came out, like I had so I put out my first record when I was 11.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: And my second record, I was at 14, and then my third record I was 16.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: So at that point, at my third record, I really started to write a little bit more and in and get more into the songwriting aspect.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: But it kind of changed when I was like 18, 19, I really started to to write a lot and started to really love songwriting um and co-writing with a lot of people.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, that was a point in my life where I I kind of thought of myself, okay, I'm not just this guitar player.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like I wanna I want to write my own songs, I want to have my own voice in this in this industry, and and you know, and and that carries a career forward, you know.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: And it's kind of a it it coincides with when you're a kid and you get recognized early on in your career, and you're you know, people call you a prodigy and all of these things.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um the hardest thing in the world to do is to transition that into having an adult career in music.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I I knew at 18, 19, when I was becoming a man and I wasn't no longer a kid, it was like, okay, I need to figure out how the hell to write songs.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: I need to learn how to do this, and it's still an everyday practice that you have to practice every single day and be surrounded by good people that really know how to do it.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: When you sit down to write, what usually comes first?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Is it like for the guitar, the music, or the lyrics?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what kind of where do you start?
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: For me, um, it's it's always the music first.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: I never really write lyrics first.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's hard for me to come up with words um or even a melody if I don't have some sort of music that I'm hearing um in my head.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it just seems to be the thing that naturally I just write first.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's always the idea that I have is always uh guitar, chord progression, or even on I write on piano too.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um it normally comes first, and then through that you can sort of kind of imagine what the song might be about based on what the what what music you're hearing um that you just written or whatever.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: So um, but when I'm co-writing with people, I'll normally bring in an idea that I've already started, and then uh though that person will will either help me kind of craft the melody or craft the the lyrics, or a lot of times I'll I'll have a title that I'll that I'll want to write about or a just a uh you know like a story that I kind of want to go towards in writing and stuff.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: It all kind of all over the place.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's depending on who you're writing with, but do you do you prefer to collaborate with others when you're when you're writing?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, a lot of the time, yeah.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love I think collaboration is is um I've gotten my my best stuff through collaborating with other people and bouncing ideas off of people and um and I like doing it too, because I just I learn, you know, when I write with different people, I I I just learn different things.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I wrote the last record I put out Salvation, I I wrote with you know two or three core people that wrote the whole thing with me.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: And it was such a learning experience.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: And and Wide Awake, which was the album before that one, that was written with completely different people that I learned different things from.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I think every time you get in a room with different people, it's just it's a way to just learn to get better, you know.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: You you worked with uh Buddy Guy, obviously, and it had such an impact on you.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: What has what was it like to have him listen to your first records and kind of give feedback?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's funny, I don't think he really ever gave me any feedback.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh I I you know I don't even know if I I I think he must have listened to those earlier episodes.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure if he ever even did, but I I you know I don't I don't think buddy listen I I could be wrong.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I never remembered him listening to a lot of music, you know.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean I think you know he respected it, and uh he was always my my big my loudest publicist that was that was uh shouting me out everywhere.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I can imagine he probably knew some stuff, but uh but yeah, I don't know.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'll have to ask him some point.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well what was it what was it like transitioning?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: And you mentioned it briefly about the hearing the word prodigy when you're younger and you're trying to become a a man and adult and and kind of make it a career.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: What's that like?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because uh this is all you've known uh since since you were three years old, really.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: What's the what's the pressure like that for you?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: What goes through your mind?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because it is it's kind of moments of of a lot of stress, um, but also um a lot of pressure.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot of pressure, it's a lot of stress, and you know, to be honest with you, there's days where it it's really, really hard.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I think if you surround yourself with the right people, if you know that if certain if you're working with certain people that aren't aligning with what you want to do, you get rid of them, and you have to know that, and you have to have a lot of hard conversations.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I I've dealt with that kind of thing over the last five, four or five years.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I was on a record label that that wasn't really the right fit, so you know that was a recent thing that happened where I I depart, you know, I left the label and I'm a fully independent artist now.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean a lot of things have happened, but you just gotta roll with it.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta you gotta have a thick skin.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: This industry is not for the weak, and and even though I follow my sword all the time, but you know, you you you know, year after year I've realized, you know, when you when you have so many things that happen to you in your own personal life, I mean it, you know, it just kind of shapes who you are, and I think it just ends up making you a stronger person overall.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that that just helps when you're when you're dealing with um stress in your career and stuff.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: But I think the the main thing is just moving forward and looking ahead um and realizing that it's not just a short-term career that you want to have.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: You want to have a long-term, long longevity, you want to have long success at this.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: So it's um, you know, you kind of have to look at it as kind of a a marathon and not a sprint.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'd imagine your parents have been incredibly supportive over the years about what you want to do.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Big big big time.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, both of them have just championed me and um Does your dad still play or my dad plays a little bit, yeah.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: He had an injury actually about 10 years ago that that you know could have could kind of stopped him from playing drums for a little while, but he's been getting back into it slowly.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: He he always, you know, we talk it sometimes and he's like, I just want to get up there for one.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, You gotta spot anytime, Dad.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh that's really nice.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: He works with me on this too.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: He's a he's my current tour manager and stuff, and we travel together and stuff.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: So he's he's a a big part of uh my career, and you know, just a good guy to bounce ideas off of too.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: He's a smart guy.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: What's it like?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um the music industry has changed so much um as you've grown up.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: I was just thinking, I think I saw you were born in '99.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: And and literally that's kind of when things started to change with everything online and different ways to access music.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: So you've kind of seen it firsthand.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what's it like to be able to, I guess, put together a record as an independent artist, um, but kind of know what direction to go in.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because there really are no rules anymore.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's no necessarily a set path.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's no set path.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm trying to figure it out every day.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: I wish I had a great answer for that.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think the one the one constant thing is you just have to trust your gut.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you have to always be true to who you are.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think there is any room in in today's world to be a version of yourself that someone's telling you to be that isn't really what you are.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I've dealt with that for many, many, many years.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like just now, honestly, with the newer music that I've been writing and then and the uh you know the stuff I've been putting out recently is just totally all me, you know, 100% me.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: And if you can stand behind that and be confident in that, I think the rest of it has to do with a lot of luck and a lot of um timing and just things that really are out of your control.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: But I think if the one constant thing is you having the belief that the songs that you're making are are awesome and you know you believe in them and stand behind them as as a as the thing that you're you're you know you're selling to people and and you know putting in in front of people, I think that's the only really thing you can control these days.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: But as far as making a whole album, I mean making an album is expensive, I'll be honest, and it's a hard thing to do if you don't have the finances to back it.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um I find that I talk to a lot of bands nowadays, like I got some friends that have bands now and and they're trying to do the same thing as far as like just getting out there and playing, and um that's the challenge always.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, we don't have you know X amount of money to make this whole album.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's where I feel like you know, singles are kind of the answer for that right now.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because you can make a single for pretty cheap these days, and you don't have to spend a lot of money, and it can sound great.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of what I've been doing these days.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: What's uh what's the difference for you?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Do you I uh the difference between studio and live performance?
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um do you write for for a live performance?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: How do you kind of set it up or do you know how you want to kind of develop your own stage show?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good question.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think I tr I try I mean you can go into writing a record thinking that like okay, I'm writing this these these songs to play live, and that's it, you know.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: But I think I never really go into the studio with the idea or thinking about how this is gonna be played live.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um sometimes that actually hurts me at the end of the day because I realize, oh shit, I can't play this song live because I don't have two other guys that can play these parts that are like layered on this on this record.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I actually was thinking about that a tiny bit on this last record I did what was like, how do I okay, every single song cannot be like this huge production because I'm not gonna be able to like read like be able to do this live.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I do kind of tend to think about it a tiny bit, but I try not to let it control uh the writing or the production, if that makes any sense.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like I try to make sure that what I'm doing is totally for the song and it's not for any other reason, but like if we need a synth part here or we need a a little string arrangement here, like let's do that.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if that if it's working for the song, it feels right, um, you know, we'll figure it out later.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, of course, Saturday night at the Great South Bay Music Festival, the 25th, you're performing on the band shell stage at the end of the night.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm curious, what's it like to walk in?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because you you do you get to spend the day there?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Do you show up?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: When do you show up?
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: How do you know you're ready to go?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's you're kind of entering this foreign space all of a sudden where people are playing all day.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: What's it like to perform at a festival, especially when you're the last act?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I think um, well, when we do festivals, we normally try to get there to watch as many people as we can.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think this one, we're gonna try to get there, you know, reasonably early just so we can get situated since it's our first time playing this festival.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: So it's always a new venture every time you do something new, especially at a festival.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Venues are a little bit easier because you can you can control, especially if you're the headliner, you can control the situation a little bit more.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: But I think a festival, and especially a one that you don't know well, um, you know, you never know what's gonna happen.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: You have to really I think the one thing I've learned from playing music festivals in general is that you need to be able to do things on the fly.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: And what I mean by that is like if you know you're getting ready to go play, and you know, someone comes up to you at a festival and goes, Hey, we're not gonna have time for a sound check because this band got cut or this band's set cut short, or you might get told that you're only playing 20 minutes instead of 45 minutes.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you have to kind of roll with those things because festivals move at their pace.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not based on any artist or band's pace, it's always based on like the schedule and how the festival is flowing and stuff.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I think being good on your feet and being able to uh compromise is it's probably the best lesson I've learned from from playing music festivals.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: That makes sense.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's been a couple years since your last record.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Are you working on?
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Are you writing?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: What do you want to do in the in the near future as far as uh performing a new album?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: I've been writing a ton.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I'm thinking about a new album now.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't have any plans to put a new record out this year, but um, I'm slowly kind of thinking about it now.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: I have a ton of songs that I've written um that that haven't come out yet.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: And planning on heading to Nashville at the end of the summer and and writing some more and and hanging out there for for a little bit.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: But I um I have a single that that I'm really happy like really excited about sharing with people at some point.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure when I'm gonna release it yet, but um, you know, it's a it's a song that I'm really proud of that is probably a little bit of a different kind of sound than people are used to hearing from me.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: So trying to, you know.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Just figure out the best way to put that out right now.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: But um but yeah, just writing a ton.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, always writing, and um and we're playing live a ton this year too.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: We're on the road all year, all summer, all fall, um, and hitting some hitting some new territories too, which I'm really excited about.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: So um yeah, we're just we're just uh just cracking the pavement.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: What what artists excite you right now and that are you that you're listening to and kind of because you mentioned a lot of you kind of grew up in old soul a little bit, but what are the artists that you've discovered on your own in your 20s and kind of inspire you?
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: God, so many people.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, you know, one of my biggest heroes, I think, of all time is John Mayer.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm a huge Mayer fan.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um I love uh what else do I love?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Marcus King is another one I really like, and I love his playing and his singing a lot.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um another band too that I've listened to for a long time is Tame and Paula.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a huge Tame and Paula fan.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: I love the psychedelic rock that that Kevin puts into that stuff.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's brilliant.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um getting into some Beck recently, he's really cool.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um My Morning Jacket, shout out them too.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: They're I know they're playing this year at Great Bay.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um they're another band that I'm really loving right now.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: And uh who else?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Tedeski Trucks band I love too.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Those guys are uh are my friends.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: I've been friends with them for a while and I love love what they're doing right now.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um when you're writing, how do you because I think it's tricky.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um you obviously you're influenced a little bit by what you hear, but how do you make sure that it's not influencing you too much on some level?
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like what is the how do you how do you kind of put it all together and kind of create your own sound?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because obviously you're you mentioned that the new song sounds a little bit different than what you've done.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: How do you decide to do that and how do you make sure that uh you don't necessarily are too influenced by other people?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, great point.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think one of the things that I try to do, and I've heard other people say this too, is like when you're in writing mode and you're working on a record or a song or whatever, like trying not to listen to too much music while you're doing it, because I think if you're listening to a lot of music, it could, like you said, like influence.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's the irony of it all, yeah.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because you way more than you thought, or like subs like subconsciously, I'll like I'll be listening to like music heavily and walk in a studio or whatever, and or even like on the guitar, you know, like I'll be like listening to music and then play a show, and then I'll like listen back and be like, damn, I was totally copying the hell out of this person, you know.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it's the same thing with writing.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh, well, we're going down, we're we can't go down this road right now because this is totally ripping off that, you know.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so there's a fine line.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you can get away with things here and there if it's not totally copying.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I've done that plenty of times.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think there's a person out there that hasn't.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you you can't run away, like what I've learned is you can't run away from your influences.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're always around you and they're always in your in your body and your soul.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing is you just try not to listen to a lot of music and be distracted by those things.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: And um and I find myself too, like, I don't play every day.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people uh are surprised to hear that.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: I don't play guitar every day.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: I I pick it up when I want, and I and I've kind of set that up for myself because if I play every day, I get really bored easily.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I if I'm not picking the guitar up, I notice when I do go to pick it up, I'm way more excited to play and I'm way more inspired.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: So how do you you started so young, um, and um you're still young, really, but as you grow and and you learn, what's it like to see other younger musicians and how does that kind of factor in in how you grow and teaching others?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Is that something that you're you're interested in mentoring uh people that kind of went through or going through what you went through?
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, uh any any anytime anybody ever has any questions, if they send me a message on Instagram or something, I mean I'm always you know in my inbox checking stuff and and reaching out reaching back out to people if they have advice and stuff.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: I get I get asked more more than I than I thought that I would think I would, but but a lot of people are are you know are are struggling.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they're trying I'm you know I'm struggling too.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean everybody's struggling.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean there's no there's no one right now, I don't think, unless you're in the top one percent of the world that's that's not struggling in some way.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I I think you know, you have to be honest with people, you have to tell them really truly how this industry works.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um but it's changing every day.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's you have to like be so many different things now.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um and there's so many different uh you know avenues that you could go down and stuff.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: But I think you have to just again stay true to who you are.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it there's really no other way to say it.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, people ask me stuff and I try to lend my advice where I can and help out people um and maybe move them in in a what I think might be the right direction if they're struggling to kind of find the zone and and where they're trying to go with it.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but I also tell them, man, I'm trying to figure it out too.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's and that's great.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: But you experienced it and you kind of can lead people in the in the right direction and kind of trust their gut as they move along.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Chatting with Quinn Sullivan, he's performing uh Saturday nights.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: It is uh July twenty fifth at the Great South Bay Music Festival.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: You can get tickets at GreatSouth Bay Musicfestival.com.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, check out Quinn Sullivan Music.com for everything you need to know about Quinn.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, doing a whole bunch of stuff.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: The record Salvation came out a couple years back, that's up there, and a whole bunch more.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: And sounds like new music coming our way soon.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, Quinn, thank you so much for your time.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's really nice to get to know you and look forward to meeting you at the festival.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me, man.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to it.