Latest / The Scene Projects / ChartHouse Studios: Community, Storytelling, and the Future of Music Collaboration

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ChartHouse Studios: Community, Storytelling, and the Future of Music Collaboration · The Scene Projects

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  This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
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  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
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  from across the Midwest.
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  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
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  Welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I am your host Bubba Starts.
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  And today, it is my pleasure to introduce Alex and Cam from Chart House Studios.
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  Welcome to the show, guys.
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  Yo.
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  I gotta say I love that intro.
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  Absolutely, Bobby.
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  I love it.
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  Thank you.
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  Thank you.
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  That's actually one of my songs.
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  That's how I sneak my music in Amazing. To
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  To the public diaspora.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  I that might be doing.
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  Well, and that's the my passion for independent artists and studios and just everything around
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  independent musicians because I am one.
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  And and I feel like that is definitely what's setting our brand apart in in the wider world.
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  It because it makes for interesting conversations.
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  I don't need to ask a lot of the kinda top level what's it like to tour?
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  I know touring is not fun for the most part.
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  Yes.
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  It's nice when you're on stage, but all the rest of it, you know, eight people crammed in a
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  smelly van, not great.
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  Right?
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  So, it it makes for interesting conversations like the one we're gonna have today.
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  Before we get into everything, with the studio and all the education and and just what you're
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  doing for independent musicians out there in The UK.
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  I really wanted to start with you, Alex, get a little bit of your backstory, and then we'll
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  shift over to Cam, and then we'll kinda talk about the story of the studio.
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  Is that okay?
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  Yeah.
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  Sounds good.
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  Yeah.
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  Awesome.
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  Go ahead, Alex.
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  The floor is yours.
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  So I'm Alex Robson.
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  I am the original CEO of Chathouse Studios, and, an artist and songwriter myself as well.
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  My own artist project is in the dance industry, and actually, we collaborate on most of that
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  stuff as well.
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  But, that kinda really sparked a thing, when I was probably about 16 years old when I was
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  trying to be a singer songwriter myself, and it was just difficult.
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  It was definitely probably easier back then than it is now, maybe.
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  I don't know.
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  We can talk about that.
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  But, yeah, I kinda pushed myself to try and be, a side artist for a long time and kinda got
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  picked up and dropped, picked up and dropped.
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  But in the meantime, I kind of made my own contacts, ended up, when I was around about 18
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  working for another studio as a vocal producer and singer songwriter vocal coach.
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  And from there, kinda got a couple of little hits over in China that gave us a bit of
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  funding to be to start up a an artist development program or company
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  who us is?
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  Oh, yeah.
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  Us is us is actually my partner, Chris Weston.
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  We started this up this whole development program idea quite a while ago, mainly because
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  the the whole artist or unsigned artist scene was so difficult, but we've made so many
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  contacts and friends along the way that we were like, right.
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  You know what?
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  Let's speak to everyone and see if we can make it a bit of an easy and bridge that gap to,
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  like, like, a music success kind of thing and put a bit more on people's doorsteps, and
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  that's kinda what we did.
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  And in the meantime, we learned how to do everything you'd need to do in the music
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  industry, like the the recording, songwriting, mixing, mastering, filming, photography, blah
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  blah blah, all the rest of it.
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  And from there, we just kind of tried to push ourselves into a place where we could really
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  launch artists and give people, a creative safe hub, to come and work in.
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  And yeah.
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  And then as alongside that, I ended up going into the dance industry myself as well.
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  Actually, mainly through lockdown, where we started collaborating on, some original songs
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  and got some numbers in the charts, didn't we?
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  Which is good.
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  And that launched another career that I could bring into here for other artists.
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  So, yeah, that's kind of a little bit about me.
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  Yeah.
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  How incredible that, you know, it it I don't know if it's better or worse right now or
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  easier or harder, but it's definitely different.
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  Right?
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  I I graduated high school in o four, and at that time, you know, kinda hitting the road, I
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  I went out and just started playing my guitar on the street corners.
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  You know?
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  And I I I've, you know, floated through Los Angeles and things, and it was about, oh, well,
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  you're gonna get discovered.
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  You gotta be in one of these cities to get discovered.
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  And now with the Internet, you don't need that at all.
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  Right?
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  So I I think the avenues are getting there, but there's also there's so many more artists
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  because the barrier to entry is so much lower.
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  So there's more noise, and separating yourself from that noise is maybe hard, but it's never
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  been easier to create art and to get your songs on a tape because I was paying for studios that
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  I couldn't afford back then.
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  Right?
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  I think it was, like, $250 an hour or something that I was paying in in the, you know, late
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  late odds.
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  And there there was just, like, always this massive barrier for an independent artist that
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  wasn't making any money with their music to even just get a demo recorded.
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  And now, we could record demos at home or
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  At home.
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  People can record demos with AI.
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  You don't even have to play an instrument.
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  You
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  know?
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  You a phone.
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  You need a phone and you're you're good to go pretty much.
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  So yeah.
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  It's crazy.
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  I can't even know whether it's actually easier or harder.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, well, we're gonna come back to that too because now I wanna get a a little bit of Cam's
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  backstory, and, then we're gonna bring it all together with, you know, what what you're doing
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  now in the studio too.
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  So okay, Cam.
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  Go ahead.
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  So I hate talking about myself.
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  So, my name is Cameron.
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  You know that.
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  I, I've been a producer here at Chat House for a little over eight and a half years now,
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  actually, which is crazy.
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  It feels longer.
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  It feels it feels longer and shorter at the same time.
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  Yeah.
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  That's crazy.
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  Yeah.
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  So, you know, I I, I mean, I'm I've lived less life than than you guys.
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  I'm a I'm a little bit fresher to the industry.
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  Don't take it that way.
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  And, so, you know
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  You can just call us old, Alex.
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  I did.
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  Yeah.
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  Really sneakily.
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  How dare you?
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  I didn't call you old.
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  Called myself young.
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  Thank you very much.
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  You know, when I was, when I was in school, was like every other kid with long hair, who played
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  guitar.
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  You know, I wanted to be a rock star, and I wanted to be, you know, I wanted to be Dave
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  Grohl.
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  I'm not gonna sugarcoat it.
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  I wanted to be Dave Grohl, until recently, I suppose.
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  But I I really like when you're in school or when I was in school, was like, how
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  you guys?
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  Didn't have school back then.
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  Yeah.
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  Back back in the back in the day when you rode the horse.
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  Yeah.
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  I'm so just keep coming from this guy.
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  That's why I normally do all the talking.
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  It's it's British it's British British dry dry humor.
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  I do apologize.
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  I you know, everyone was like, make a backup plan.
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  You gotta do, you know, other stuff, yada yada yada.
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  But I knew when I was 13 or 12, that I wanted to be in the music industry.
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  I didn't didn't care what I was doing in the music industry.
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  And at that point, it was it was, you know I had a great teacher actually in secondary
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  school who said which I guess is what's what's secondary school in America?
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  It's not high school, is it?
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  Is it?
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  I don't know.
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  I think so.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Maybe.
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  Yeah.
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  I don't know.
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  But she was like, well, if you wanna be in the music industry, as long as you're realistic and
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  you're you know, I think it's I think it's great to pursue that.
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  And there's so many things you can do in the music industry now.
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  It's not just playing guitar, which is at the time all I did, but wasn't all I wanted to do.
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  You know, you could be a producer.
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  You can work at music venues.
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  You can be management.
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  You could be marketing.
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  You you know, there's so many different things.
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  It's it's, I mean, it's always been an industry, but it's now an industry more than
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  ever.
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  So it it was it was really for me a case of, like, you know, not if, but what, you know,
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  what I'd be doing.
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  And I when I when I came out of college, I did a traineeship here for six months, and then
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  that turned into a job because Alex decided she liked me.
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  I guess I made less old jokes at the time.
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  Maybe.
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  I don't know.
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  You always had an afro in that really
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  I didn't have an afro.
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  I had short I was growing my hair out and it was anyway, I'm not gonna bring that up because
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  you'll ask to see a picture and I don't wanna no one no one should be exposed to that.
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  But yeah.
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  And I've just been developing my skills and and, you know, I guess the direction I I
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  decided to to go in was production, which is what I do now.
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  Yeah.
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  And, you know, I still play guitar a lot, but that is kind of up to date.
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  Yeah.
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  So you've really grown up in the studio.
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  Yeah.
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  Pretty much.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, I'll tell you what she saw.
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  It was the passion.
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  It was the passion for what you were doing, and that's obviously what Alex and what was your
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  partner's name that you started the studio with?
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  Chris.
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  Chris.
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  And, obviously, that's why you started it.
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  Being passionate individuals yourself, when you had the wherewithal to do it, you you had
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  already known from being in the industry what was needed to actually, like, build you know,
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  here we call it a scene.
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  Obviously, that's why we ended up with the scene projects is you have to have a community
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  of artists to really make something work.
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  None of this is done in a vacuum.
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  It's very hard for one single artist to just stay in their room by themselves and to create
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  something that, you know, not only breaks through the noise, but they can then stand the
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  test of time.
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  You need a team.
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  You need a community.
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  And that's what, I think in its essence, at least for me from the outside, that Chart House
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  Studios is.
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  Yes.
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  It is a physical place where music is made, but it is a community made up of people that are
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  passionate about music and kind of coming in where I think we're all we all play.
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  Right?
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  We all I feel like a total hack sometimes now as I'm watching these these kids coming up and
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  playing like Cam and listening to some of the songs that he's created.
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  I've never created anything even close to that level of quality, but I'm passionate about
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  independent creators.
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  I'm passionate about the process.
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  I'm passionate about the business side of it.
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  So it's really about providing that space first, and then you'll kinda figure out where
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  you land.
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  Hey, Cam.
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  Maybe you're not a rock star, but maybe you could be the rock star behind the board that
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  gets the sounds out of other people's heads because that's almost even more of a gift
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  because not everyone has that.
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  Even as creative as I am or that Alex is, maybe we don't have that to be able to take.
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  And the way Mina described it, she's like, I kinda just, like, bring him an idea of what I'm
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  kinda thinking and a little bit of a direction, and then he pulls the song that's in my head
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  out and on into the world.
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  And that is such a powerful thing for not just ChartOut Studios, but in the world as a whole.
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  Yeah.
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  I think there's, there's one thing that I think Cam has kind of missed out that is probably the
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  vital part of the studio and of him is that I think we all we all massively love
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  what
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  we do, and we all have a passion for it.
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  We all have a talent and a natural thing of, like, I wanna do this and and going, we all do
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  this.
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  You know, mean, whatever's going on in here, we have to do this, but not a lot of people know
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  how to do that.
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  And actually, with music, comes a lot of anxiety and a lot
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  of
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  reliving situations and bringing things up.
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  And actually, like you said, trust in, like, in who we are, that we are gonna be the right
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  people to therapy almost a, a song out of someone.
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  Sometimes our sessions go from we sometimes we'll book in a four hour session with someone,
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  and it's all about songwriting that day.
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  And they'll come in, and we'll chat to them.
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  And three hours of that session can be a whole therapy session until suddenly that last hour,
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  it goes like that.
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  And one thing that Cam in particular is extremely good at, I think we both are, but I
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  think this is the reason that I think Cam has lasted in my studio as long as he's lasted or
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  actually become my best friend and family is I think he's extremely empathetic.
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  He's been through a lot in his own life, same with me as, you know, even though he hasn't
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  lived as long as me.
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  The the thing that he has managed to do is go, I completely relate and I completely understand
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  and be a safe place for someone to come and be like, here's what I'm feeling at the moment.
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  This is what I wanna talk about, and then actually let them open up to talk about what
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  they wanna talk about and then go, here we go.
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  Here's here's what you're getting.
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  And then the amazing talent that Cam has is being able to go, and it sound exactly what
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  they've in their head without really hearing an awful lot.
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  Well, now I feel bad for calling you both old.
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  Well, you should do.
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  And you both flattered me.
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  You should you should do.
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  You should feel bad about it.
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  Yeah.
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  I mean, I like, on on your note about therapy, therapizing the the the clients, it's it's it
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  it it does feel, you know, there's a lot of impostor syndrome in being a musician.
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  Like you say, it's all it's all anxiety.
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  Yeah.
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  And never more have I felt that impostor syndrome than when I've been both the producer
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  and the psychiatrist of the client, you know.
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  I'm definitely not qualified for that.
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  No.
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  But you you say that, but it that's exactly what we end up doing, isn't it?
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  Like, we I think the the good thing about the thing that I personally have always wanted to
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  strive for in the studio or for my my company for Chart House is that if we were to take you
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  for a tour around the studio, it's pretty much a house.
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  Like, we've made it really homely even though it used to be a little boxing arena.
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  But what I wanted to do is I wanted to make this studio somewhere that people could come
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  and feel at home, and also rather than it being a business, it being somewhere they could they
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  could be a a part of the family and be friends, and that because that's how you get the best
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  out of somebody is when you can bond and have that trust and just sit and cry or talk or
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  shout or, like, sing, and you have to be your worst in the studio sometimes to get your best,
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  and that's really scary to do because as a singer or as a musician, the only thing that
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  you're coming out with is something that you've learned, and people don't like being wrong, and
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  people don't like looking bad.
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  And so being those people that people can look bad in front of so they don't have to do it out
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  there, that's what I was trying to create, and I've been through an awful lot of producers and
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  vocal coaches until I've eventually found the people who have gone, this is my family.
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  And interestingly enough, I was talking to my sister about this yesterday.
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  She on a slightly different note, she runs a dog walking company, and she was doing it with
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  a friend, and her friend has moved away.
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  And now what she's ended up doing is she's sitting there and she's lonely, and she's sad,
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  and she's like, I don't know if I wanna do this anymore.
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  And she was like, I don't know how I meant to proceed, like, moving forward.
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  How do I make this better?
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  And I was like, do you know what you need?
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  And it just opened my eyes up once again to what we've managed to create here, which is a
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  complete family of, like, you know, we're not blood, but we've made that connection with each
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  other, but also all of our artists as well.
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  That's one thing that Mina said is she's coming, she's like, I feel like I've literally
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  got a new family around me.
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  So which is really sweet.
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  I think she said that.
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  That's wonderful.
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  So that that's kind of what
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  what we
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  Yeah.
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  I I think it comes out in the music then.
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  Right?
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  I have a t shirt that said music is what feelings sound like.
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  And Yeah.
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  All of my songs have been mean, tears on the page or, you know, a a new song of mine called
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  true meaning is literally just an apology letter to my wife for being an asshole.
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  You know?
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  And so it it it's, you know, a very vulnerable place that we as songwriters are in.
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  And Chart House, while charts are in the I think the best songs are built from a place of
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  I'm just trying to get this feeling out, not I'm trying to get this song to go viral or to
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  be number one on Billboard.
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  Like, good songs just go there because the feeling that it emotes from the people that end
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  up hearing it.
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  Now we can talk a lot about the back end of that and the distribution and the work that it
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  takes to get a song heard, but the right song in the right moment can change your life.
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  Oh, completely.
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  For the songwriter, you know, being all three of us have had those moments where it was like,
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  oh, I got that story out.
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  You know, podcasting in a lot of ways has become that to me as well, where I'm able to,
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  like, tell these stories and to put them on tape and then to just leave them.
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  I don't have to tell that story anymore.
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  Or now when I sing it, it becomes something else because now it's helping someone else to
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  cope with that feeling of whatever it is.
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  And I think, you know, musicians and songwriters, especially inside of that, are
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  empathic people.
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  And it's it's a beautiful thing that you've built because I think that gets heavily
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  overlooked by most people that want to start a studio.
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  If you're starting a studio and I don't like recording in places that, feel very sterile.
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  Right?
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  Like, I walk in and it smells like a hospital and it's fluorescent lighting and it's just
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  like all the things that, like, that makes me tense.
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  I don't like that.
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  Describe my bedroom.
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  That doesn't surprise me, Cam.
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  Let's walk in like American Psycho, wash my hands, do my skincare routine.
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  Oh my god.
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  But that's also what makes you a a clinician in in bringing out these songs with people.
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  You've obviously have a very analytical mind.
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  I think most producers do, that are able to create on this massive level that you are and
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  the layers of music that you're putting together.
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  So it's awesome that you also have the emotional intelligence to be able to bring that
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  to the setting of the songwriting.
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  Right?
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  The recording process, the making of the music can actually be very easy once you know what
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  story you're trying to tell.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Completely.
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  I've I've definitely worked with people in the past who are very emotionally emotionally
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  closed off, and it makes it so much more challenging to actually, like, come come out
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  with something that is good, you know?
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  Because, like, you can you can work on a song and go, yeah.
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  Okay.
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  Cool.
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  That's a song.
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  But if your heart's not in it and and it's difficult to put your heart in it if everyone's
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  heart is not in it, you know, it just you know, there's a there's a soul that's missing in in
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  in in music without that.
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  You know?
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  Yeah.
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  But I think one of the best things is is that we we sometimes it's really difficult to
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  communicate.
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  People these days, in particular, find it so much easier to type or hide behind a screen and
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  communicate that way.
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  And say nasty things to each other.
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  Oh, so much easier, isn't it?
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  So much easier to hide behind a screen and seem like you've got confidence to say what you
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  wanna say or worse or whatever.
• 20:05
  But I think one thing that music does or what songwriting does is it gives people a different
• 20:12
  opportunity to explain how they feel without going too deep or making it seem like it.
• 20:17
  They can pretend still, but actually, eventually, they kinda go, actually, I kinda I
• 20:22
  kinda relate to that.
• 20:23
  I kinda wrote that about this and this and this.
• 20:25
  I know I do that a lot, but I think one thing that I get a lot of a lot of comments from from
• 20:31
  our artists is is about Cam is that they don't have to say an awful lot about what they need
• 20:43
  musically because where he's listened, he instantly gets a feeling.
• 20:48
  And Cam is very much one of these people who he'll listen to one thing and he'll be able to
• 20:53
  just kinda do it.
• 20:54
  It just it just is.
• 20:55
  I that's that's one of the main reasons that I ended up keeping you here when he had your
• 21:00
  afro.
• 21:01
  Yeah.
• 21:01
  Despite
• 21:02
  the afro
• 21:02
  you mean?
• 21:03
  Despite the afro.
• 21:04
  Is that I put something on.
• 21:07
  I was like, can you play this?
• 21:09
  And he just went, yeah.
• 21:11
  There you go.
• 21:12
  And it takes him seconds, and then to be able to do that from listening to something, but
• 21:16
  then listening to just someone go, today I had a really bad day and I really feel like I need
• 21:21
  to tell someone about it.
• 21:22
  And then he goes, okay.
• 21:23
  Well, talk to me about it.
• 21:24
  And then they go, blah blah blah blah.
• 21:26
  And he's like, it kinda feels like this, and then does it.
• 21:28
  Literally, this morning, had a session where I was working with a client and they they were
• 21:35
  saying, like, you know, it's a it's a country artist and they were saying about, like, the
• 21:39
  kind of song that they wanted to write because they feel like they've written a lot of, like
• 21:43
  well, okay.
• 21:44
  The last song we did was about, like, alcoholism essentially and and how it kind of
• 21:50
  starts and how it can kind of spin out of control.
• 21:53
  Yeah.
• 21:54
  And so they they kinda wanted to write a song and they said the words a brand new day to me.
• 21:59
  And instantly, was kinda like, okay.
• 22:02
  And I got I got
• 22:03
  Are you working with Kellen James?
• 22:05
  No.
• 22:08
  He's like
• 22:08
  Not to my knowledge.
• 22:11
  Just like, I only know, like, seven people in The UK, and I could have swore that was one of
• 22:16
  his new tracks.
• 22:17
  So
• 22:18
  Yeah.
• 22:18
  There you go.
• 22:19
  You'll be hearing another one else soon then, I'm sure.
• 22:20
  Yeah.
• 22:21
  Well, that's okay.
• 22:22
  Yeah.
• 22:23
  No.
• 22:23
  But it's it's like, you know, I just I just got the an idea in my head.
• 22:27
  And, you know, sometimes it's I mean, I have to swear on this.
• 22:30
  Do prefer not to?
• 22:31
  No.
• 22:32
  Go ahead.
• 22:32
  Okay.
• 22:33
  Sometimes it's a bit of throw shit at the wall and see what sticks.
• 22:36
  But, like, sometimes, especially in those moments where you you get an idea and it's
• 22:41
  like, hang on a sec.
• 22:42
  Stop talking.
• 22:43
  Let's let's stop.
• 22:45
  I think I think we have it now.
• 22:47
  I think we have it.
• 22:47
  And then I start piecing together like a rough scrappy idea and then they're listening to it
• 22:52
  and they're like, that's exactly it is weird how that happens, but it literally does just
• 22:57
  happen like that sometimes.
• 22:58
  Yeah.
• 22:58
  Well, and what it is is it's an energy.
• 23:00
  Everything is energy.
• 23:02
  And what I think is so cool about the studio and the space itself, the physical space, is
• 23:08
  that it it's like a tuning fork.
• 23:11
  Right?
• 23:11
  It's able to capture that, and everybody that steps in there is able to feel that vibration
• 23:16
  that it has.
• 23:17
  Why probably a place like Abbey Road, obviously, had that power.
• 23:21
  Right?
• 23:22
  There are these places on Earth that have that power and that magnetism, and and, you know,
• 23:28
  it's magic.
• 23:29
  It's a feeling there's no other way to do it, but you can kind of you can tune it.
• 23:34
  Right?
• 23:34
  And especially a place that you said it was an old boxing arena.
• 23:37
  Think about the emotion that has been housed in here, all of the anger and pain that has been
• 23:44
  housed inside of that building as well.
• 23:47
  And it's also been a place where young men and women were able to turn that pain and anger
• 23:52
  into something physical.
• 23:54
  Right?
• 23:54
  And then you walk away feeling better.
• 23:56
  So in some ways, the building was already doing this in a different way before it was a music
• 24:02
  studio.
• 24:03
  And I think that's extremely powerful as well.
• 24:06
  It is.
• 24:06
  It is.
• 24:07
  And it's really interesting because I didn't actually know it was a boxing arena before it
• 24:09
  was a studio, and that explains why I wanna punch everyone who walks through the door.
• 24:14
  It may just it clicks now.
• 24:15
  I get it.
• 24:16
  It makes sense.
• 24:17
  Thank you, Bubba.
• 24:17
  You've you've you've solved my life.
• 24:20
  I appreciate that.
• 24:21
  I was like, hey, the therapist, 30 an hour.
• 24:23
  For what?
• 24:26
  Go make some music, and your therapy might might make a hit.
• 24:30
  Right?
• 24:30
  Yeah.
• 24:31
  Oh, a hit.
• 24:32
  Oh.
• 24:32
  Oh.
• 24:32
  No.
• 24:34
  My god.
• 24:36
  Us Americans can be witty too, Cam.
• 24:38
  Yeah.
• 24:40
  Yeah.
• 24:40
  You
• 24:40
  said that's fun.
• 24:41
  Old people.
• 24:41
  You know?
• 24:45
  Oh, I hope that I get the chance to come across the pond and to work with you guys and to be in
• 24:50
  the studio and the so much of my life, you know, I spent twenty years kinda chasing a
• 24:58
  dream.
• 24:59
  I spent the last five years pretty much telling myself that it was over.
• 25:02
  I had resigned myself to, like, okay.
• 25:04
  I'm gonna work in this factory, and that's just my life.
• 25:07
  And after five years of that, I was absolutely miserable.
• 25:11
  I was drinking more than I ever had.
• 25:13
  I was so sad and depressed and angry.
• 25:17
  And I I realized that I'm not as old as Cam thinks I am.
• 25:21
  And that's Liar.
• 25:23
  There's a lot of.
• 25:25
  Well, the retirement age now in The United States continues to climb, and I realized that,
• 25:30
  like, in some ways, I'm just beginning my career.
• 25:32
  So if I'm just starting and I have another forty years of working ahead of me, I'm going
• 25:37
  to do something that I enjoy doing.
• 25:39
  Right?
• 25:40
  And what I've always enjoyed was music, and I thought I was quitting my job at the factory
• 25:45
  back in 2024 to be a rock star.
• 25:48
  I had a bunch of gigs booked.
• 25:49
  I had some tours and some five, six day runs and, some big ones at, you know, amphitheater,
• 25:55
  open it up for some national acts and, you know, in front of a few thousand people.
• 26:00
  And once I had done it, I was just kinda like, okay.
• 26:03
  That was fun, but it wasn't like it wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be.
• 26:08
  Now maybe performing in front of 50,000 would be different, but there's a lot of work to go
• 26:12
  from, like, an opening act in your hometown for a few thousand to touring the country for
• 26:18
  fifty, sixty thousand people at an arena, right, or in a football stadium.
• 26:23
  And I playing the bars in six nights a week, I don't drink.
• 26:28
  I I was just I didn't have it anymore.
• 26:30
  I was like, I just I don't want this.
• 26:32
  I don't want this as bad as I need to want it to make it work.
• 26:36
  Now I still wanted to record my songs, and I've been very blessed to work with a studio.
• 26:41
  Shout out to Cottonwood Recording in Rapid City, South Dakota.
• 26:44
  My good buddy, Tom Freer, who I've known for decades now, and, some really talented people
• 26:49
  that helped me get some of these songs out that I've only played live for decades.
• 26:54
  Right?
• 26:54
  They've only been able to hear in that and now that they're out and on Spotify, but I'm not
• 26:59
  necessarily in it for my own songs.
• 27:02
  It's why at the same time, the podcast just kinda happened.
• 27:06
  I had done my, you know, tour as a new single was coming out.
• 27:10
  And in my friend's home studio, I'm looking around.
• 27:12
  I'm like, well, I have that microphone, and I have that computer, and I have that camera.
• 27:16
  And I was like, I have a podcast, don't I?
• 27:18
  He's like, you definitely do.
• 27:19
  And he gave me a little Zoom p four, which is a little digital recorder with four XLR plugs on
• 27:25
  the back of it.
• 27:25
  And I just started showing up at music festivals and anywhere where I knew musicians
• 27:29
  were gonna be, award shows.
• 27:31
  And now that's grown to bringing cameras with us to these things, and we were at the Grand
• 27:35
  Ole Opry House working last November for the Josie Music Awards.
• 27:39
  We won the content creator of the year award from the Midwest Country Music Organization.
• 27:43
  We've formed more communities, and and and I've seen now what, the award and the recognition
• 27:49
  has done for me.
• 27:51
  It's it's allowed me to have a really nice introduction.
• 27:54
  Hi.
• 27:54
  I'm Bubba Starts.
• 27:55
  I have an award winning podcast.
• 27:57
  Has a nice little ring to it that gets people to listen.
• 28:00
  Right?
• 28:01
  It's no longer I just have this something.
• 28:04
  So now we've developed with some friends of ours, the Midwest Talent Awards, which will be
• 28:08
  held in Detroit, in March, and so many other things that have happened in between this that
• 28:14
  are starting to take shape of what the future of my life is going to work look like.
• 28:19
  Right?
• 28:19
  And studios like Chart House and others that we've been able to work in and work around are
• 28:26
  such a huge key to that.
• 28:27
  And not just the space in the studio that you have, but the community that you're building,
• 28:32
  the the education that you're offering to these people, the therapy that they're getting a hell
• 28:37
  of a discount on, and everything else around it.
• 28:42
  Yeah.
• 28:42
  I mean, that's incredible.
• 28:43
  You've achieved so much, and you've absolutely smashed it.
• 28:46
  So it's a privilege to talk to you, honestly.
• 28:50
  And you're only in your late sixties, man.
• 28:51
  It's great.
• 28:54
  Oh my god.
• 28:55
  Cam, I'm gonna punch you when I meet you person.
• 28:58
  So I'll back
• 28:59
  on studio mate.
• 29:00
  It has that effect on people.
• 29:01
  I'll be
• 29:01
  quite happy
• 29:02
  It must be that face.
• 29:06
  We've actually just been nominated for for an award as well down here for the Portsmouth
• 29:10
  Music Awards to start off with which is nice.
• 29:12
  Fantastic.
• 29:13
  Yeah.
• 29:13
  Although, we didn't know that we were getting put in for it.
• 29:15
  Our, all our artists nominated us, which is amazing.
• 29:19
  We'll send you a link.
• 29:20
  You can check it out to everyone to get Yeah.
• 29:22
  We definitely will.
• 29:23
  We'll put it in the show notes for this one for sure.
• 29:26
  And it it may not mean I mean, it sits on my wall.
• 29:29
  And for me, it was voted on by the members of our organization.
• 29:33
  So that means even more because I had set out to serve them.
• 29:37
  The award wasn't even a thing the first year that I brought my microphones to the award
• 29:40
  show, and I sat down at jam night and interviewed 25 members and and did all the
• 29:45
  editing and put it out there.
• 29:47
  This award wasn't even on the table.
• 29:49
  I was just doing what I felt called to do.
• 29:52
  And to have that, you know, show up on the nomination list, Paul, I was like, oh, well,
• 29:56
  we're winning that one.
• 29:57
  Right?
• 29:57
  Like, that's there's there's really nobody else that served the community like that.
• 30:02
  And now we've inspired others to do the same.
• 30:04
  Other bands now have started their own podcast and have done this because they've seen what
• 30:09
  it's done for me and building this platform.
• 30:11
  And now the doors that it opens up for me and my music and getting to travel out of state and
• 30:17
  on tour buses and to go, yes, my music is still a part of it, but the the platform building,
• 30:24
  the networking, those things are not everyone are as good at that.
• 30:28
  Right?
• 30:28
  Not everyone has those abilities either.
• 30:31
  Some of us are built to spend time with a few behind a, you know, keyboard or behind a
• 30:36
  computer producing, and some of us are meant to be out there and to be the face and the voice
• 30:42
  for everyone else.
• 30:43
  And, Alex, I feel like that's kind of where you and I find ourselves as being that face and
• 30:48
  that voice and that connector and and being able to put people in the same room together to
• 30:54
  allow magic to happen.
• 30:55
  And I'm totally okay with that.
• 30:57
  I don't need to be the star on on the, you know, on the stage and screen to get a great
• 31:04
  amount of joy from seeing others do it.
• 31:07
  And I think that people actually forget or think that that's actually what what we're
• 31:12
  looking for or what we're aiming for, but actually, with the complete opposite, it's very
• 31:16
  much like, well, I've got a voice that means something and people seem to take seriously, so
• 31:20
  I'm gonna use that power to try and inspire other people to go like this.
• 31:24
  And that for me, that's the most rewarding part of everything that I do, and I'm sure it is for
• 31:29
  you is that if we can't inspire people with what we're currently doing, then personally, I
• 31:35
  don't think there's an awful lot that I can get out of that if I wasn't inspiring people.
• 31:40
  And I think, that's always been my goal is that I I love being it's actually probably really
• 31:48
  bad business.
• 31:49
  I love being the ape the the op like, the person who could potentially bring this
• 31:54
  opportunity to go, right, Kate, let's figure out how you can utilize this.
• 31:57
  And people forget that actually I think we forget.
• 32:00
  It's very easy to forget that we have that unique quality to be able to offer that and
• 32:03
  then go, okay.
• 32:04
  I'm here if you need me, but here you go.
• 32:06
  That kind of thing.
• 32:08
  Yeah.
• 32:08
  I I I think it's incredible that we're actually given the opportunity to be able to push that
• 32:13
  forward.
• 32:15
  We all bring our own gifts to the table.
• 32:17
  And when we all pursue the epitome of those gifts at the same time and we don't let our ego
• 32:25
  cloud our decision making, that's when the true magic happens.
• 32:30
  And, obviously, that's been going on at Chart House Studios for a long time.
• 32:34
  I hope it continues, here at the Scene Projects as well, and I hope that we get to work
• 32:40
  together really soon.
• 32:41
  I gotta figure out, how to get to The UK or to build a space over here where I can bring you
• 32:47
  guys out to South Dakota and you can see our countryside and be able to come and bring your
• 32:54
  energy into our studio.
• 32:56
  That sounds like a great idea.
• 32:58
  Sounds amazing.
• 32:59
  So yeah.
• 33:00
  But we've got
• 33:03
  Hey, Chris.
• 33:05
  There you go.
• 33:07
  One of our songwriters who is actually incredible as well.
• 33:10
  I'll send you over some music.
• 33:12
  Fantastic.
• 33:13
  Well, looking forward to it.
• 33:14
  You guys have a busy day as we always do here as well.
• 33:18
  Tell everyone how they can find you online and get ahold of you, and I'll let you guys get out
• 33:22
  of here.
• 33:23
  Thank you so much.
• 33:24
  You can find us, on all social media platforms, under Chart House Studios and our website as
• 33:31
  well, which is www.charthousestudios.com.
• 33:36
  And you'll find me under Alex Watson official on Instagram, and you'll also find Cameron
• 33:41
  under
• 33:42
  Cameron I'm Cameron Soper.
• 33:44
  Hello.
• 33:45
  Hi.
• 33:45
  My name is Cameron Soper at two cam two soap, like the numbers, like the the movie, but I
• 33:52
  haven't watched it.
• 33:53
  So And we'll send you over a link as well for the for the Portsmouth Music Awards.
• 33:57
  We'd love as much support as possible.
• 33:59
  I love it.
• 34:00
  Want any of our artists to come and chat to you?
• 34:03
  We've got some incredible singers and songwriters.
• 34:06
  Bunch of them.
• 34:06
  Yeah.
• 34:07
  We'll bring
• 34:07
  you Yeah.
• 34:08
  We're gonna figure out a plan to to make that happen.
• 34:11
  I actually have a form where everyone can sign up and individually get in and send us their
• 34:16
  songs to be played on our shows.
• 34:18
  And let's just make a nice little, community between our communities now and to be that
• 34:24
  bridge, maybe across an ocean.
• 34:27
  Yeah.
• 34:27
  Sounds like a great idea.
• 34:30
  Sounds like a great idea.
• 34:31
  Alex and Cam, thank you so much for spending some time with me this afternoon over there
• 34:36
  this morning here in The US, and, thank you for being part of the scene.
• 34:40
  You.
• 34:41
  Pleasure.
• 34:41
  Thank you, Bubba.
• 34:42
  Thank you so much.