Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Dare To Dream With JOHN DEMENA

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Dare To Dream With JOHN DEMENA · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  Hi, everybody. This is John Demena, rock artist out of Los Angeles,
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  originally born and raised in Spain, being here for like you know,
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  close to a decade with a new album just out titled Dreams of Lies,
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  just came out last year. I'm very happy to be here with the Australian
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  brothers and sisters and you know, like wishing you up, rocking day man.
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  You know, like happy to be here, beautiful, John, thanks
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  for joining us today. Ry, thanks for having me. You know,
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  I really appreciate it a pleasure. Say, firstly, fellows, I've here
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  in Australia. I'm familiar with the name John Domaine. Tell us a bit
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  more about yourself any music. So, I'm a rock artist out of Los
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  Angeles. I grew up. I grew up in Spain and moved out here
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  two thousand and eight, like around like the recession and all that. And
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  then I was playing bands and you know, like doing sessions for all the
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  musicians and like playing different things. And then like I started my new my
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  recent project, which is like a solo artist. IP was saying like five
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  years ago, go you know it's uh. The debuty album came out last
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  year's title Dreams a lies is you know, like a very you know,
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  like foll and diverse type of like sonic sphere, like all over the spectrum,
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  and the rock is like something that it's like, you know, it
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  goes in the you know, I would say hard rock type of you know
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  sound, but sometimes it goes a little heavier. Sometimes it can be a
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  little more you know, like you know, like spatial and like progressive,
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  you know, a little bit here and there. Super cool, uh,
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  you know reception that it had for being an independent artist like that, it's
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  been you know, like everywhere like like the bigger you know, like you
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  know, outlets picked it up and then you know we started like a you
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  know, a mini tour when it came out, and you know, excited
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  to do our first headlining West tour in the spring that's going to be in
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  March and April, and you know, working on the next album, hoping
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  to be you know, coming out by the beginning of twenty twenty four.
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  So full force rock artist. You know, very son driven type of music.
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  It's very the music you know, has a sound that it's maybe a
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  little vin mentally like very classic rock type of thing, and then very you
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  know, like son driven you know, like heavy guitars and big riffs and
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  big choruses type of music, very good manes and you're premiery in a love
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  song called all the People by Heavy on January twenty seventh. Might so tell
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  us a bit more about that song. Yeah, that's very exciting. That's
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  the album opener. That's the song that you know, you know like you
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  know, we was the first one, you know that we released for the
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  album. And then this is going to be a very exclusive and cool premiere
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  for live performance that we did at the Iconic Viper Room here in West Hollywood
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  in Los Angeles. It was a performance that we did in September and then
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  we filmed a video that you know, came out very cool. A thing
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  is like, you know, it's a great example of what the band is
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  life. You know, it's like life and it gives like the idea of
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  what the band sounds like and the energy and I think it, you know,
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  it would be very cool and people would really like like what the band
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  you know that you know performs like and you know, it gives that you
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  know a great example of you know, like our live show. I was
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  gonna ask you why you decided to re release the song live after you released
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  it at first, but then I thought, if you get a chance to
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  perform at the Viper room, why wouldn't you share it with the world.
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  Yeah, that was like yeah, yeah, this song is like you know,
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  it's it's it's a more experimental type of song. Is like very very
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  big rift. I mean that's you know what everybody likes that rift and the
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  soul is really you know, like passionate type of thing. That's a very
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  long intro because it's like, you know, it's the album opener, and
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  it was like the way that I wanted to present myself to the world.
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  It's like, it's your first album, that's how you come out, and
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  I wanted this kind of like cryptic, you know, like ethereal type of
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  build up that it just building tension, building tension, building tension. It
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  just explodes into like a big rift and then it's just like pure like dynamite,
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  like from you know, from that moment onwards, it is this song
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  doesn't even had some breathe, and then we have that performance. I always
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  felt that that was a song to release with a live performance, you know,
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  like the other videos that we released were more conceptual. They were more
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  like you know, like you know, fanatic, or they were a little
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  more you know, futuristic or like a little more artistic. But I was
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  like this song, I want to release something that just gives you an idea
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  of was like, oh my god, I would like to see what this
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  band is life. It's like life. And then I think it was like
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  the best, you know, moment to release it too. Now that we
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  were like about to go on tour and look outside, were in Australia.
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  We ready heard stories about the Viper Room, but as an artist performing,
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  they might lie. What's the lie on? There's so much history and stuff
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  involved with that place must be pretty surreal. I mean it's pretty surreal.
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  It's really busy. I mean it's just you know, their performances every day.
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  It's just one of those places that you know, especially when I moved
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  out here, you hear about you know, the Viper Room, you know,
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  like the whiskey, you know, the rainbow to hang out and all
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  that. Then I sort of like just being a frequent I mean I didn't
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  know anyone over here, and then you like you just end up in one
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  day you see Slash performing over there for like an exclusive type of thing or
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  like John Cash performed there or Green Day or I mean, it's just like
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  the venue is very iconic and you know, and it's still true to like
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  to the essence of like you know, like a scene that it's happening,
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  and that it's always happening, you know, like and it's just like,
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  you know, it's just very cool to be there sometimes you know, like
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  it's you know, like very busy. You just go and they're like too
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  many bands. But I think it's like the perfect place for a band to
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  cut their teeth, you know, like because it's like, you know,
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  it's a it's a place that you know, it's not very forgiven because it's
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  hard to impress in a venue where people have seen so many things, you
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  know, Like it's just you know, it's it's hard to So it's a
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  great place to you know, to showcase what you like. And then it's
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  just you know, it's just very cool stage to perform. I mean,
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  it's just you know, So we thought that it was like a perfect type
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  of like footage to use for the for the video. We first met after
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  I heard you cover the Doors Classic People Are Strange, which was awesome.
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  Bright so tell us about your take on that song and why you chose to
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  cover it. Yeah, thanks so much, man, I really appreciate that
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  you love the song. So I signed a distribution deal with Adya, which
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  is still like independent distribution, but that's Warner's independent distribution. So then,
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  you know, after you know, like arranging the whole thing for my album
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  to come out, like a couple of months after they reached out with this
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  cool opportunity, they were like, hey, we want Warner wants to have
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  newly signed artists covered a couple of like the classic Halloween songs from the Warner
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  catalog, and there was like Warren is even we'res of London, awesome song
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  for Halloween, talking Heads beyond Psycho Killer and the Door. The Doors people
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  are strange. And then I was like they were like, you know,
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  if you want to participate. It was you know, like very intense because
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  it's like you have two months to be submit everything like like music master,
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  music, like the video with it later like the you know, artwork and
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  all that. So I always loved that song. And then like being in
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  La like I was you know, like even you know, I used to
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  live in the area that was surrounded by doors you know history like you know,
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  like studios where they recorded or like they're even a couple of bars where
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  plaques where Jim Morrison used to be here and all that. So I was
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  like, it'd be cool to do this. But here's the thing is like,
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  and that's my take on covers. It's like originals are untouchable, Like
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  you cannot touch the original. It's so attached to many people's you know,
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  emotions and moments and memories. So I was like, if I want to
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  do this, I want to do it, you know, in a type
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  of different way that still true to the essence of the original, but you
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  also showcase a new artist. So I was like, I was very creative,
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  and I think that you know, you can really feel that throughout the
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  song. I was like, okay, so the song is kind of like
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  on the fast side, I'm just going to juxtapose it, make a little
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  slower. Then if their versus are kind of like the big thing for them,
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  like where more instrumentation is happening, I'm going to you know, kind
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  of like shave down my verses, keep the same structure, keep it like
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  more intimate. And then if their choruses are kind of like, you know,
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  a little quieter. I'm going to make the choruses grow so that way
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  you follow the whole thing. But it's almost like it's kind of jack jaxtapost.
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  The solo was also the same. I was like, I want to
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  kind of like be in the same you know, vein of like the original
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  solo, but I want to do like a little bluesier too. And then
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  my favorite part of the song is the bass because with the bass, I
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  took some liberties and make it this very you know, kind of like jazzy
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  type of thing with the bass. And then it's very cool. It was
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  like for the challenge that you want to do it right. I was like,
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  dude, like if I don't do a good cover of this, How'm
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  I going to walk these streets and see you know, like doors and it's
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  like every day and be like, dude, look what you did. So
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  I'm glad that. You know. The video came out very cool too,
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  you know, it was featured on MTV Germany, which is for an independent
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  artist. Was like, you know, it was great and then and people
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  are digging it and then when we play it live. I wasn't even thinking
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  about playing it because it's kind of like on the slower type of thing,
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  but we played on a you know parts of the show that it turns into
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  like a little hypnotic type of thing, and people really dig it. So
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  people come and say, man, that song was super cool because I knew
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  the song, but I was surprised all the time, like I say,
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  okay, let's see what he does now, or like, so that was
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  very cool. It was like a stressful project, but you know, I'm
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  happy that came out the way it is. Yeah, it's like all those
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  changes that you mentioned that you did, like they add to the song about
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  like some songs you just can't touch, Like you say, but how did
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  how did you feel like changing a piece of music that it was that's known
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  in love by so many people around the world, like you say, like
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  you it would have been a bit nerve wracking because if you didn't nail it,
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  there'd be so many people just knocking down the doors sign what the fuck?
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  Yeah, Yeah, that's yeah, that's I mean. For covers,
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  I mean I tried to you know, not do many or stay away.
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  Oh. If I do something is to offer something new, you know,
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  like to offer a different take or like a different flavor where you're like still
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  you know, you know, paying tribute to the original and staying true to
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  the original, but you kind of see another artist and there's like, oh,
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  that's an interesting, you know, decision, but that's an interesting type
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  of thing. It was great. I mean I even got the great opportunity
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  to uh to add uh Jimmy Kimmelf's keyboardist Jet Babco on keys, you know
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  like that. I met like years ago on a jazz clab over here,
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  you know, and we talked for years. I was like, I would
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  love to have you work on something, but my music doesn't have a lot
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  of keyboards. It's only in a couple of songs. So my music is
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  more like straight ahead rock and roll. So now that this opportunity came up,
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  I was like, man, like, would you like to work on
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  this with me? I was like, yeah, I would love to do
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  it, like the Doors and you know, and then he made it sound
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  like that friend of Rose Cup of Sounds and all that, like cascading.
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  It was like, you know, like right, So it was like the
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  perfect opportunity for something that I was hoping to somebody that I was hoping to
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  work with for like maybe a decade or something so good, so good,
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  and then you mentioned it ours that you came to Chorestry might like, what's
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  it? What's it? Goain types to make that happen. I mean,
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  just growing a little more, you know. It's just it's our first album.
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  I mean, we'd still like a young band because I mean we started
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  like like a year before the pandemic so that you know, like you know,
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  stopped everything. And then right after we just you know hit the ground
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  running, like the album came out and we were like boom boom boom,
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  like shows here and there. So maybe just growing a little bit, maybe
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  having a bigger team or something that makes it, i mean at least profitable
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  to go over there. It's always a dream too. I mean I grew
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  up in Europe, so I played over there for a while. I've been
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  in the US now for over a decade, so playing in the US that
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  was a dream too when I was a kid. It's also but then now
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  see you all the you know, like the big you know festivals in Australia,
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  you know, like the bands talk about the experience over there, and
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  that means that's to me, like, you know, that will be a
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  dream just to one day even if we're like, you know, just you
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  know, you know, in a huge tour or something like that, then
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  we're like, you know, like the first bands to play. But you
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  know that's just I would love to cut my teeth over there and grow and
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  then you know, and develop a fan base over there. I would love
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  to. Yeah, well, hopefully that happens one day, mate. But
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  in the meantime, the live version of Either People is released on January the
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  twenty seventh, Fire Heavy, so check it out. Thank you so much.
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  Yeah, looking forward to this release. I think you guys will love
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  it and just let us know, you know, like and then you know,
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  you can get a sense of what the band is, you know,
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  the performance is like, and then our live show beautiful John will thanks very
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  much for you child, that I right being a place again tonight, and
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  I'm sure we'll talk again in the Fuseta all right, thanks so much for
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  having me real honor, and then we'll talk soon. And you know,
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  everybody, you know, stay safe, rock and roll of good time.