Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Taking Names Time With ALEX LASKA From KINGSWOOD Backstage At KICKASS FESTIVAL 2023

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Taking Names Time With ALEX LASKA From KINGSWOOD Backstage At KICKASS FESTIVAL 2023 · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  Alright, we're sitting here with a lovely Alex and kings to be Germans have
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  questions here, I'll see what's that lovely one now? So I've been a
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  huge fan of us for a long time. I'm just oh amazing. Thanks.
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  I watched the transition. They go through these different places. I'm just
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  curious, like, what's the conversation around it? Like listening to be honest,
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  it's like it's so weird that you would think that there would be like
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  a distinct conversation and then that there's like a strategy behind it, and we're
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  going, Okay, well we did this, so we should do this.
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  Honestly, Ferg and I love so much music and we always have done,
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  and we've been musical around each other since like twelve years old. We're into
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  prime school, we're in a band together. And because there's so many different
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  influences. And I had like a lot of fun musical education and Ferga musical
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  educations, but I took it through. I was like studying classical piano and
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  I did a degree in piano. So the things that I live, he's
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  quite different, like the Rangers, like sa Third, like it's a musical
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  person family is really musical, always different stuff. So these things happen where
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  we eventually just go this is inspiring at the moment, what do you think
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  it is? Would be like check this out whatever, And there's so much
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  mystery that has made us who we are that it's at some point like once
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  you've exhausted something, you feel like accomplished in there. Our thing is like,
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  oh, I really want to win this thing. And they're like little
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  elements like UEO Microscopic Wars for example, like you take a Higher and then
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  you go to after Hours and you take Big City and then you listen to
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  Home, You're like, oh, it makes sense. But if you don't
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  know who we are and you go from Microscope Wars to Home and you don't
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  have that insight, and you just go like what the fuck is this theand
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  like are they a country band? Like you? Just we've got a blue
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  grass like I'm coming out November with like some serious players on it too from
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  America like really higher and blue gass guys and girls and and people about to
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  be like people go over the all that I remember. The next one the
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  next year is like even more to like this commercially country, but I love
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  Ellen Jackson, like Mike got a fascination with Nashville studio players. Like there's
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  a guy named Brett Mason and play who did all the Ellen Jackson stuff in
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  the nineties. He still plays, he plays Brett Blake. He's on so
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  many records that we would all know. But like even his guitar style of
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  playing inspires like an era of country for me that then inspires our next turn
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  a right, you know what I mean. It's like it's not even necessarily
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  just the music could be a guitar player or like the way an engineer too,
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  it was approaching engineering the sound of an era, like the nineties sound
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  of recording. He's like when digitalization started to become a digital where yeah,
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  we met, we met problem. We met for the first time last month
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  and it immediately it was but yeah, the night like when when digital recording
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  production started to get refined and it's getting better and example, the raate we're
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  improving, a bit rate you improving, and converters were improving, and the
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  jump from analog to digital to digital wasn't as it wasn't as obvious and it
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  got better, and it's just like there's an era of sound attached to that
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  for me that I that inspired songwriting because I in the back of my memory
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  somewhere I have an idea of songs that sound like that. Does that makes
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  sense? So so these are the kinds of things that we'll like, we'll
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  just have it. We'll just discuss like the interesting parts of what we're talking
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  about about. Yeah, you know, like how's that song like itty Bitty
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  or Chattahoochie by Alan Jackson, Like check this out. You know, there's
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  like how silly of the lyric is. It's kind of played for whatever,
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  And then we'll go it's like Gret Mason's playing guitar and all that stuff.
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  Man, if you checked out in then vert in his record is I'm like,
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  listen to sound of this record and everything just kind of leap frog touches
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  on together, and all of a sudden, we start writing songs like that,
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  and if it weren't natural, we like we wouldn't be able to sustain
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  it for this life, you know what I mean. If we were just
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  putting on like different hats, so to speak, for the sake of it,
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  it'd be like like people wouldn't get into our album because I'd just be
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  like they're just like what the fuck is this? You know? But like
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  people was album to go. Yeah, it's a country this wide album,
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  but I get where it comes from and also still is you guys you know
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  so plays actually, but from to a point now? Would we want to
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  be like two albums always and just constantly really just like like like what's happening
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  way? You know what I mean? Like we sting of like the album
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  cycle, but oh that's wait three years, man, you got away three
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  weeks and forget it you really much. He's like, what a million songs
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  out of every day? The spotifle something, It's like just kick and it's
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  like if you're a musician, make music, you know, if you're a
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  chef, if you make food, you know, I'm gonna make a really
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  good meal and wait a month. You're not wrong, You're not wrong.
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  Yes, I want to see YouTube video and home yeah, and just sitting
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  down and sing itchristically yeah yeah, harmonies, man, oh thank you,
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  thank you kids, and yeah, oh that's so sweet sitting down and just
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  dripping back having you guar, having that natural state between you. That's how
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  we write over there. So only when we're righting. Oftentimes it's like even
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  even even becoming dependent on the guitar could be a crunch. Like sometimes like
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  if we have the idea of something and making them, they're making them something
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  that feels strong. It's like cool, we know what the harmony is.
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  Put the guitar away and just sing it, like if you can sing it
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  to me and it's memorable and unmoved. It's like every layer we've add to
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  that is going to be supportive, you know what I mean. It's not
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  like, oh, it's so easy to sit down and be like, oh,
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  the guitar part's cool, But then what about the words and how you're
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  connecting emotionally, Like they're a million guitar cool guitar parts. Like you go
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  out there and listen to the guitar all day, you will get a million
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  guitar things that I want to do. Then without the context of like moving
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  you emotional, what's the point of okay so much? And that's really lovely
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  if you say, yeah, we put a lot of work in singing and
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  singing together. That's sort of developed again naturally over so much we're fine.
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  We've now found like a resonance where I don't know, it's so unusual,
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  like there's a resonance between our voices that happen simultaneously that it's kind of it's
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  just speak of the devil. It's yeah, it's it's weirdly, it's unique
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  because it's just it's something that has been developed over. I don't play fifteen,
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  Yeah play naked. I've just strip myself down and was putting guitar.
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  Yeah, no, we did. We did a lot of that stuff.
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  That's kind of how the Reveries album came about, which is the stripped version
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  of Juveniles. And we were just like, man, let's just take away
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  that happen in COVID. And we're like, let's like it was just like,
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  let's reflect what's growing on in a weird way. It's like the first
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  album is designed and like big shows, rock and roll shows, lights and
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  smoking, mirror the whole thing. And then COVID happened was like everything became
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  insular and like and quite that's the right word intimate, And we were like,
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  Okay, isn't intimac that makes more sense for these songs if we would
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  put them out for people who are isolated. Let's have that be liked it
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  on new takes of these songs and then we loved it so much we ended
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  up doing performing that way, stripped at the common we did with all these
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  like as Matt and made and then a night showing the Matte and night showing
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  you five because it was like you could only have like sixty people everything.
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  Yeah, yeah, and that maybe maybe that informed like and that was when
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  I was like starting to call like some of the Blue Guys leads today,
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  I tempted I wouldn't ever glomless with Blue Guys pick up like you know,
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  when you could care against the guys and like the kids. Yeah, so
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  that would have been for sure like a natural thing of like covid habits so
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  well stripped the ELP. But then we add all these Blue Guss elements because
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  it makes sense because the interest in the music, and then we go,
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  oh yeah, but that's what I'm started writing that music. Now Blue Guss
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  Pigure was out. Yeah, Like there was no discussing. It was like
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  we just react and live and and and all time back. Yeah, I
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  could see you the most about respecting your fans. If you and this is
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  gonna sound pains, but if you are making it for them, then I
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  remember then I'm gonna follow you would you want to hear a song that I
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  was like, car up, I wrote you this song and then you're like,
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  oh, absolutely sweet, and I'm like, oh, and I also
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  write this song for you. I also wrote this song for you, and
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  I wrote your whole you'd be like, he's wrong with this person? Writty
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  twelve song and then I and then I was like, you know what else?
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  The next one coming up? I wrote them all for you as well.
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  I over and over would you put that on? Lou People feel like
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  these guys I've meant like, yeah, yeah, no, it's gonna be
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  me. That's gonna be my being in my spirit and things. And I
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  just put it out and you you are respect anymore or you don't. And
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  there the choices you have as a band. And the same with me and
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  you. You know what I mean, I have to we have a mutual
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  respective way. You don't need to watch. That's it's my way of what
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  negotiating this fucking madness. We's all existed. I'm I'm not going to negotiate
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  it for you. You you know what I mean? Absolutely it it never
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  works, It could never work. Yeah, a hundred percent, hundred per
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  cent. That's the only way it works, only works. But yeah,
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  yeah, it's that's that's what we were driving in, just going like yeah,
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  we're still kicking around in the musk, the buses out of the front.
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  That's ye Peggy, Peggy yeah, and yours. Yeah, it's always
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  good. You got your yeah you Yeah, it is awesome. Something like
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  a hundred shows. Over hundred shows. Yeah, that's gonna be at training.
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  I've yet to see someone come out and say it's not happen. You
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  have to get you have to get very creative, but have to do it,
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  and you have to have a bus. But we did it. That's
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  another Yeah, one of those other things like man, you just did's gonna
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  play? We should go and play a hundred shows. May think you're like,
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  oh god, let's buy a bus. All right mate, let's go
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  showing into Yeah, it's that's aggressive. It's like you learn, so you
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  would think like doing this that much, and especially even let's pigt shows,
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  you'd be like, all right, yeah we go, man, even now,
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  but we've done however there shows even now, just like hey, that's
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  interesting considered that or the way we're doing this is we're actually not perceiving it.
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  The way we're executing it, and then especially like recording shows, like
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  listening back and constantly having like we're very critical, like we're like we are
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  incredible people with ourselves. So there's always an assessment of like what the successful
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  and what was it and why, and that that's from that's goes from the
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  depths of playing music into like how interactions were and maybe pacing him somehow or
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  like like is this the right flow? Are we going too quick? What
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  songs that? And this is where? This is where you do? Or
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  go its like bands to go out and go fucking where are they going to
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  play the new album? And if they want to hear the answer, the
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  fuck they'll go on, let's go. It's like man, no, no,
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  no, no, no, Like like I'm a fan, I want
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  to see the good sound that I fell in long Room, always to like
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  have that like the dope, back the dope, give me the song I
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  want. I'm there for the new stuff too, don't be wrong. Yeah,
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  that's a question. How do we how do we do? We always
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  warned? Yeah, always, and that and that goes even to like engineering.
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  I'm engineering all the stuff and mixing them and producing them. You know,
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  you're right, I've written that many songs and write for other people.
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  All that's like job and always that's that's interesting, Like you've used this thing.
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  Have you gone down that road whole bunch of times now and poising up
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  in the place. It's not actually like so you just it's like yeah,
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  yeah stuff never about anything about yeah you guys are taken off in like Monday,
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  yeah two days. First of all, be saved, should be right.
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  She lives on like a lot with Yeah, have you vehicle? What
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  do you most fording? What I'm most looking forward to is music playing.
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  That was the other thing. Chancey you've first before as well. We were
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  like it's been one of them gets together. But the more we played,
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  the more, oh find give me a guitar. I just because you would
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  find and feel changes in like your process, just anticipating the idea of playing.
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  It's really nice to get to a place. It was like, oh
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  man, we love is even worn it as something now really you know so
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  that too that going that to going into Europe will be a simple thing.
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  And then in Europe was like, that's just a trope, it's a it's
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  a delight for all senses. It's just like you sa anywhere you look Avery
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  here, any smell any times, the foodber but he in the way of
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  the richness in culture, history and the respective every respect. Almost Yeah.
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  I just looked forward to it every day. Yeah yeah, yeah, Well
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  we've got there as soon as we come back from you. We're doing as
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  simp here you souths doing Newcastle again, wold Wood, gone back to Sandwares,
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  which we will have played the Tamway four times. So that was my
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  old thing. Is like when we went to the Standard plays music were showing
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  people like it's really, it's real, it's us. It's like we want
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  to like develop things with the community, not just come in and be like,
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  oh, we don't come to music, play Tamware every pis So go
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  back to Tamware, go back down with every couple of months. That's what
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  we're doing. Yeah, so we'll be there like we've done it twice and
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  ready we're doing in October and then we're back in January Contamborary again. So
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  and then we and then there's a few other things happen in Victoria that we
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  got to wa again. We're doing all n WA and a couple more New
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  southwy Our shows and we go like we were like we never stop. That's
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  as well. Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't do it if I didn't love
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  it. I want us to go. I wouldn't go. We're gonna die
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  everywhere, of course they do. But I can't. I can't. I
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  just no way. You've got the general I've got a few general persons.
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  Yeah, I drinking my whiskey slow. So if you could pose any other
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  band of the festival line up today, marks, he's character has to be
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  stay, just be. I won't know what's gonna happen. If you can
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  choose one member from the festival gets nature replace you, you can do it.
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  One member. Remember, I don't know who's playing guitar, who's what
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  man is on right now? Whoever's d who's warm enough? And that motherfucker
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  can play? So I don't know, why don't I don't know. Yeah,
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  that guy well not only really replaced me, but he'll like he'll lift
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  to the standard. Who's like, man, this guy could play. Everyone
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  ever said that today? Really single man who said? Everyone said chisel or
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  they can mentioned chisel. You cannot go past this chicken cover we used to
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  cover when we first started. We would do like now red and used to
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  do just big. For sure, we do clame trees. I like mosses.
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  I've tuck his daughter. I like muscles, mussy stuff as well.
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  Tell phone bood oh man every time you hims the d the way he sets
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  together, like the way he plays guitar. Jeezus, they go, hey,
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  there was a thing in the paint like that. There was a thing
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  ages ago. It was like rap Australia's best guitara. And for some reason
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  they asked me like I'm in authority, but and you know, obviously like
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  Tommy Manuel, he's talk about like yeah, there are phenomenal normal players.
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  But I was like my most underraided one. Actually see him Moss like I
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  pigg him like for me, He's like I'm there with like a new Red
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  Cords. And then Alan it's like he's got he's got that stuff. I
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  got the swagger and and he and loss and remember and now she's just so
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  lovely. His wife read it and somehow got my number. Yeah, she
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  called and she was like, are you the wonderful young man that wrote that
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  stuff about that beautiful suffer around And I was like yeah, yeah, She's
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  like, thank you so much. Be a lot for him, is there's
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  anything you can do to help you guys at any point, just let us
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  know. And we were in Sydney and we were filming. We're filming microscopy,
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  vide clear and mean. Also we all loved always having these vas like
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  we got reg mombassador in the first day night a. Ruben is all that
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  like lots of friends in video clips and I was like, yeah, do
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  you did you get him play a drug down vic floor us. She's like
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  she's like, hey it and then he we're doing it in Newtown. He
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  wrote down his monorcycle yea. Yeah, so he's in the vidhicle. Yeah,
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  yeah, yeah, it's cool. Every once in a while I sit
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  in a text what are you working on? And it would be like some
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  crazy scale like it's like Fridgid dominant lidian, dominant mixed lidian flat seats,
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  Like he's crazy, man, he knows that's er, that's fine. OSS
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  is a two name message we just got here. Yea, what is your
• 21:33
  what did the top three essentially underpands that you actulutely need two things you don't
• 21:42
  need underpands under three actually always have cleaned underway because if you even if you
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  can't ya if you clean under it, you can't play. You never correct
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  in this interview a game I don't know, I'm good, I'm good,
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  gruns teaching, maybe forms attack team. He yeah, he rocks up,
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  rocks up. Get of your songs. Get a song to save your marriage.
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  And the song is potentially question, and then Chris he saves, it's
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  a great ques. It's a great question, a song to save the marriage
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  with the snake And I say that because it became someone's wedding song and it's
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  like it's it's as close to like like heavy grunges we've probably ever gotten,
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  and it's like it's t tune, big, big, sludgely horrible red and
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  we get this message to be like we loved this song. It's going to
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  be our first dance. Did you instantly Facebook up to see them staring?
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  Reveries version of them just like a beautiful piano bos with like Christie And as
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  we're recording the version, like do like a version of it. It's like
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  snake Kit as a wedding song at at first, but I mean it's called
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  snake kit. What was Aarona bring your daughter to the slaughter my sh so
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  as she walked down the aisleand she pitched out the song to Mega Dance.
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  So that'd save a man. I wouldn't end the marriage song that end them.
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  It's probably like a big city right to end the marriage, something that
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  would bring a big city. Hey man, we're a double exord pace.
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  And then what was the party? Starving? What's it? Many times that's
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  the skinned one that's got the big like, that's got the hell Mary end,
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  it's crazy cars always gets what's you? You could redo this and then
• 24:41
  completely thank you, thank you good? Yeah? Probably may I submit your
• 24:49
  thank you so much