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Sonic Journeys And Canadian Summers With DALLAS FRASCA · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. My name is Dallas Frasca.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: I am in the depths of the Melbourne winter here
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: about to head over to Canada, where it's summertime to.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Record a brand new record.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: So I'm a few days out from doing that, so
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: feeling very excited.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Fantastic Dallas States for joining us today. Thank you my pleasure.
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: So, as you say, you are about to head off
• 0:23
  Speaker 4: to Canada for a month to record a new album,
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: so you're packed ready to go, I'm not.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Packed packed, but I have some pretty amazing songs packed
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: ready to go over there with. So yeah, I mean,
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: I feel like I'm a bit of a pro at
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: packing these days that you do a lot as a musicians.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I'll just throw things in the bag the
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: night before.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: I guess.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I haven't written why Canada. It's a beautiful place,
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: but why Canada?
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is a really beautiful place. So a producer
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: reached out to me late last year and sent me
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: this really amazing email. I guess about why she wanted
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: to make the album with me and what she wanted
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: to you know, what kind of album she wanted to
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: make with me, and I just really resonated quite deeply
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: with me, and I think I'm also ready to do
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: something quite different sonically, like to sort of like extend
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: what I've been working on for the last couple of
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: years and the songs I've been writing, those kinds of things,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: and I just I felt like it all kind of aligned,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: and so we decided we're going to make an album together.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: And then we yeah, pitched.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: For a grant to Creative b Set, who you know,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: so supportive of the musicians over there, and we ended
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: up getting quite a substantial grant to record with local
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Canadian musicians. So I'm going to be working with some
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: incredible musicians over there. We've got a gospel choir and Hammond,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I've got Pat Stewart from Brian Adams Band who's going
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: to be playing drums, and Eric Nielsen from City and
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Color who is going to be playing on the record
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: as well. And yeah, it's just it's going to be
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: pretty special. And so also I will also say as
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: well that Creative Australia also help is helping fund me
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: to get over there, because albummaking is an expensive game.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: Chris, Yeah, over there.
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, there's some pretty amazing people that you mentioned there.
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  Speaker 4: Do you actually know anyone when you're going over there
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  Speaker 4: or are you going in cold?
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I'm going in pretty cold.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, I feel like because I've been talking to
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: the producer almost every day, I feel like I know
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: these people already. But no, we are going to be
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: meeting cold when I get off the plane.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: That'd be a bit nerve breaking, wouldn't it.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: I feel I actually don't feel quite very nervous about it.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: I feel I mean, that might change once I start
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: of you over there, but I think that everything feels
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: really aligned. I think everybody is really on the same page.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: I think we've got all the right people like to
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: be recording with. Yes, so we'll see. We'll fill you
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: in after the trip.
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: My fangirl, you might you might just let me get
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: this straight because I'm not sure I got it right.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: But you're going over to a foreign.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: Country where you know nobody to record an album with
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  Speaker 4: a bunch of musicians you've never met, and you're not nervous.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, Look, the thing is is that I think
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I think the vision is aligned, like I said to you,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: and I think you know, I've worked on lots of
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: projects over the are and I just I have this
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: really great feeling I've the songs are great. The songs
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: are really great, and you know, I am aware and
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: I've been watching the musicians that Janey has found to
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: play on the album as well, and I just things
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: feel aligned. I mean, and I think there's something about
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: being out of your comfort zone that that's where growth happens,
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: you know.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I am my album I made in.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Twenty eleven, sound Painted with all the band flew over
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  Speaker 2: to New York and made that over there, and there
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: was just something about the atmosphere and the you know,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: being in a foreign country and it just really just
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: soaked into the fabric of all of the songs and
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: the sonic chemisphere of that record. And I really feel
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: like this is going to be quite a similar thing
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: that's that's going to happen in that space.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: So yeah, it's definitely a gamble.
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  Speaker 2: You know. There's a lot of money being invested, even
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: for myself to go over there, and I'm working with
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  Speaker 2: a lot of musicians that I really admire, and you know,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: there just is something about being out of your comfort
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  Speaker 2: zone that pushes you a little bit further.
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and then Janie actually approached you. That's pretty pretty significant.
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  Speaker 4: It's pretty big deal that someone from another country has
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: approached you and wanted you to go over there and
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: do something. Did she say, why I was so special
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: about you?
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  Speaker 1: Well, listen, we're all special.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: Cost but other people might not.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Well, i'll tell you so. Janie is originally Australian. She
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: is a Canadian citizen now. So Janie Aurora was on
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: I guess, like the folk circuit about twenty years ago
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  Speaker 2: in Australia.
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  Speaker 1: She's a really really cool player.
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  Speaker 2: She moved over to Canada and has been doing a
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: whole bunch of like really amazing stuff over the years
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  Speaker 2: and working with some like incredible producers, and she's got
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: a few really special albums under her belt at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: And we've always known each other.
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  Speaker 2: We sudden knew each other from the circle back then,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: and so she's paid this great career in Canada as
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: a producer, and so we knew each other. We would
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: catch up when she would come back to Australia, and
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: so it wasn't it wasn't a cold call.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: It's still a lot of confidence, man.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I listen, I think everyone's feeling confident.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: See what happens at the other end. But I just
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: you know. I mean I've spent.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Every I mean, you know, ten to twelve hour days
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: like working on a lot of these songs and refining
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: them and throwing some out.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: And you know, and just.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: It's there's so much more depth in the songwriting this
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: time around. And I mean I've been writing songs for
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: thirty years and I've been I've been collaborating with a
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: whole bunch.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Of different songwriters on this one.
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  Speaker 2: So there is there is you know, bits of magic
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: from around the Melbourne scene and also Sitney from some
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Sydney songwriters.
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  Speaker 1: So we're walking in.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: With a body of work that we have to capture.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: We're not aiming for perfection by any means or you
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: know those.
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  Speaker 1: Kind of things.
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  Speaker 2: We're just going in to like catch the lightning the
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: energy of these songs, you know, with everybody involved.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: So I'll be over there for five weeks.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: So apparently I'm told that the day that we land,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: we're going to a pow wow, which is going to
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: be really cool. Also on in Vancouver while I'm there,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: is FIFA is on, so it's going to be just.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Madness.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: So we're going to be working in a bunch of
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: different studios. There's the CBC studios, there's Smooth Smooth Operators
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: studio Eric Nilssence. So we're going to track all of
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: the drums and keys and the gospel choir in the
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: really big rooms there. There's been some incredible musicians that
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: have recorded in those rooms over the years, which is cool.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: And then we're going to be switching between two other studios,
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  Speaker 2: one in the city in Vancouver and then another one
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: on Bowen Island, which I'll be living in Bowen, Ireland
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  Speaker 2: while I'm over there as well. So it's going to
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: be pretty fun.
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  Speaker 4: Chance and you say, you've got the songs are written
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: before you go over there, but how much in your head?
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  Speaker 4: How much how much scope have you got for changing
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: them over there? Like are you open to things changing
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: and progressing or A you're pretty set with what you want?
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  Speaker 1: Definitely. I mean I'm always about the song.
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  Speaker 2: So if someone I mean, the songs are pretty written,
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  Speaker 2: like I guess to the capacity that I've had in
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: this I've been mostly writing here. I've done some songwriting
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: sessions in different spaces, but I'm all about the song.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: So if we get into the room, and so I
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: was like, man, what about this idea and it's like,
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: you know, of course, of course I think, and I
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: just think because of the people that I'll be working with.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's going to be tapping into what everybody's
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: got in that space, and you know, ultimately my records,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: so I'll be able to you know, we'll have a
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: final say on things. But also like let's just make
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  Speaker 2: some great songs, you know for.
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  Speaker 3: Sure, and then how how finished other songs?
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  Speaker 4: Like if you got them finished to a point where
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: you were here or have you got to completely finish
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: and you're willing to change over there?
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: So like everything is recorded.
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  Speaker 2: I've got there's two songs I'm sitting on, so I've
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: got I've got like a week to put the final
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: touches on these two other songs. But everything else has
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: been recorded like demoed ar and with a really I
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: guess like clear idea about the sunny chemisphere that we're
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: trying to create with everything and what instruments and all
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: of those kind of thing. There's been lots of lots
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: of discussions and Google docs and everybody, and and you know,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: I guess it's just comes back to that same thing.
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  Speaker 2: It's like if everybody's vision is aligned, then then we're
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: all working towards that same place. But there is always
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: room for There's always room for change. I mean I
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: might get over there and go, I'll fuck this song,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Let's just write another.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: We might do that. I don't know.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: As a creative person, as an artist, but how how
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: do you envisage that the area where you're in and
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: where you're recording will actually affect the overall thing? What
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: sorts of influencers do you think being in Canada could
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: possibly have a your music?
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, so we're gonna have to wait and see.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: Really, there's going to be you know, people are going
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: to be speaking in a different accent. You know, I'm
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: the I'm the well actually the producer is Australian as well,
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: so there be two of us Dozzi's like in the
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: room together.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: But I mean, we'll just have to wait and see.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: There's like, Vancouver has got so many, so much beautiful
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: parks and hikes and things like that. So I guess
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: we've decided we're going to be working between like a
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: like a set amount of hours like every day.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: So and it's summer, so you know, the sun.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Comes up at I don't know six and goes down
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: at ten at night or maybe earlier, I think earlier
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: in the morning. So there's gonna be lots of rooms
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: so to do things like hiking, and there's some like
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: killer musicians that are in Vancouver, and everyone's going to
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: be out playing and gigging because the city's going to
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: be alive because a fiefus. So I'll be going out
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: most nights and getting into the scene and meeting.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Lots of people.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: And there's there's a shop next door to I think
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: where where the studios we're recording, where the guy actually
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: makes all of Jack Whitt's guitar pedals. So we'll be
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: going in there and like checking out a bunch of
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: different stuff. And you know, I think there's a limitation
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: I think for me because I've got I've got a
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: really beautiful guitar collection, but it's just not practical to
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: be flying all those bad boys over there.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: So we'll be you know, we'll.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Be hunting for guitars in vintage shops and all sorts
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: of stuff, like to bring everything into try and get
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: that the sounds that we're wanting to capture. So I mean,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: it's just going to be a pretty crazy adventure, really.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: It's exciting already. Yeah, it is.
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: Your most recent album, Forces of Nature, was a huge
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: success that in two ACRA nominations You're a finalist is
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: the Most Outstanding Songwriter category and Heustralia and the Music Awards.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: He did Natural Tours is easy, top and good. Like
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: the success of that album put any more pressure on
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: you going into the next one.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: No, I mean nah, I mean, I just like I
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: feel like I think there's that idea of I'm not
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: I'm not trying to impress anybody with this, like with
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: this body of work, Like I want, I want to
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: connect with people. I want people to feel things.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: I want.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: I want what I get from music to be able
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: to sort of like put that across, you know, Like
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: music gives me answers to my problems.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Like it's therapy. It's like transcendent.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: It takes me out of the moment, it gives me joy,
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: it helps me sit in sadness.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: It you know, it's yeah for me.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: I just really I love the challenge of writing music.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: I just I think.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: The mystery of songwriting, how do how do you write
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: a good song? Like none of us know? And if
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: you do, anyone are your bloody lying. I think I
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: don't know, Like.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: I'm just there is no pressure at all because I
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: just I feel so proud of this body of work.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: It's such an extension and it's a deeper dive into
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: you know, it's it's brutally honest. You've got to be
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: careful being friends with songwriters too, because.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: You're gonna be careful.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: There's a few songs about some dear friends on the record,
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: and yeah, it's I think it's I think people may
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: feel like quite empowered by it, but really, I mean, yeah, yeah,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: I'm not actually impress anybody. Really, I just want to
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: make music.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, very good answer, mate.
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: Now it'll be chapping and understandable when some way is
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: to rehash what was obviously a winning formula from that album. Like,
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: as an artist, is that a temptation or is it
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: more important to break new grounds?
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Oh that's a good question. Yeah.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: I mean I think for me as a creator, I
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: collect lots of little bits of ideas and pieces here
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: and there, and I you know, and trying to make
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: things and put do they fit together? And those kinds
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: of things. And I think that my approach hasn't changed
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: from that. But I think what has changed is my
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: guitar capabilities, Like I've been playing so much, and I
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: think me being able to like latch onto an idea
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: that I've got as I'm closer to being able to
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: get what's out of like genuinely like out of my
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: head to try and connect to those ideas. And I'm
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: sure there's probably something writers out there that like, here's something,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: and then you go to sing it or you go
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: to write it down and it's just not quite there.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: And I think.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: I think my guitask is, as I've been playing a
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: lot I have, are closer to those kind of things.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: So I think the risks I mean, I don't know.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I don't want to like give too much away.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: I just look the albums. The album will be heavier,
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: a lot heavier. There's a lot of energy on this,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: but there's got to be a couple of things on
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: there that people like, oh okay, so.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: They might see the different size.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: And it's tricky because you can feel like quite boxed
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: in as an artist, like I like I write pop.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: I can write pop songs like I feel like that's
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: more of an easier tap in. But when I'm writing
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: for my own specific voice, which might sound weird to people,
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: but being able to like put a better arrangement that
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: matches the sentiment of the vocals and the it's a
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: lot harder than it's a lot harder than you think
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: to be able to like do those kind of things so.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: I would say that I feel like we've done that
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: with a lot of the songs on this record, But
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: I think people just get away to find out.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: See.
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: Do you remember the first time you ever heard one
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: of your songs on radio?
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: And what song was it and where were you actually?
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: I do, Yeah, it was on Triple Cha. It was.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: Maybe twenty years ago, and it was with Yeah, it
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: was with It was absolutely thrilling over and I still
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: I like, I mean, if it happens, it's like, it's crazy.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: It's it's crazy because there's a disassociation with me with
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: you know, like I'm just writing in this room all
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: the time and then I'm going out playing and then
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: you know, it's it's just I mean, it's crazy, it's crazy.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah, nice, All right, that was all Thys very
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: much for your time, I mean the pleasure catching up.
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: We would definitely catch up with you when you get
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: back and and see how things have changed or improved
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: or whatever.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: Pear shape.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: You never know, you never you never know.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: Doubt that will happen.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: But I'll take care of yourself over there, And good
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: on you for flying the flag.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks so much. Trees