Hello, and welcome back to season four of the Fresh Finds podcast, the show about discovering new music with good people. I'm Ryan, and this month I'm sitting down with Christie from the Nashville Emo Punk Band 95 Corolla. How are you doing, man? I'm having a really wild morning, I'm sure. We released the record a few hours ago, and I have to keep my phone away from me because it is kind of blowing up, and I just want, I'm like, this is, it's really overwhelming, it's really overwhelming. That's amazing for you though, I'm so happy for you for that. I really appreciate it. It's been a really, really crazy time. I've been doing this on accident for three years. This all started a long time ago. Yeah, I'll just kind of give it to like a little history. I was going to say, do you want to introduce yourself, what you do in the band first, and then we'll kind of roll into that. Okay. My name's Christie, I am the singer, rhythm guitarist of 95 Corolla, and I'm so happy to be here. (laughs) Dude, happy to be here too, man. I'm so glad that we could make it work out so that we did it in person. It's great. Primary songwriter as well, correct? I think that is a really, really good question because like, I think that something that's really important to me is collaboration. Oh yeah. The first record ended up being, yes, primary songwriter. It's something I'm a little uncomfortable with because I feel like it takes away from how important everyone else is in the collaboration aspect to say. Sure, yeah. Like, yeah, I threw the demos together and I was grateful for everyone saying like, yes, they liked it. Let's move forward with these songs, but I can't wait to like, write with them. Like, this was definitely like, hey, I have the songs. Let's produce, record and do that and organize and do the whole thing. And I'll teach you guys these parts and it just, that's the record that's out literally today is that thing. Yeah. So, going to the very beginning, this all started first song released in 2021, is that correct? I believe so. So, the kind of the history here is I wasn't going to do music in general. Like, I would just school for sound design for movies and like I wanted to, you know, do sound design and like do composing for movies. So, like, yes, music, but not like in a band. Oh, you were going to do like more like compositional, like cinematic, like, that's, oh, I didn't even realize that you had that background. I have, I scored two short, I'm, I have like an IMDB thing. I'm like, I have been, I've been involved with a couple of things and I was really like going to do that and then when I was 30, a friend of mine, I was at a, I was at this bar that he worked at and he asked me if I could play bass and I'd play guitar like in my whole life and piano, my whole life. Um, so I was like, yeah, I mean, I know a bass is as much as anybody else. I met the classic guitarist saying, I'm a guitarist, of course, I can play bass, and so, um, I met up with him and, uh, we started this project called Ryoki Center and Ryoki Center was a noise rock thing and it was the most, probably the most interesting project, like, if anything, like 95 Krola is like the stuff that I actually listened to, um, and like, I love emo, I love pop punk, I love punk, I love just, I love that stuff on the sing along stuff, but they, the people that I was with, um, there was a three piece, Sam and Ritchie, they wanted to do this noise rock thing and I was so fascinated by it because it was basically keyless. It's, it, I got to learn a completely new kind of thing. Sure. Um, we put out a record, broke up immediately afterwards, it was a bad breakup and I, I've told this to a lot of people, but out of spite, I've started making music. And so, um, I, because of my movie background, I was like, okay, well, if I want to get on, and to movies, and if I want to get on sync and I want to be known for writing, I should probably make a post rock record. Okay. And so I made a post rock band by myself called Antler Shell and I was me learning how to mix, me learning how to master learning how to do the whole process. All logic, baby, like this is my favorite on a Reaper. I'm fascinated by a fuck avid. I want to make sure that I put that as, as hard as I can, underlined, uh, in red. We were just talking about this last night, uh, we fucking hate it. Um, I refuse, uh, subscription model suck. It's so stupid. Um, but so I made that record, enjoyed making it and then it was, I was listening to some song in 2021. It was, I don't remember what exactly what it was, but I was in my son room with my wife, uh, Lex, who's been like my muse this entire time and they mentioned parking lots. And I remember like having a couple of drinks and be like, I could write a song about parking lots. And she was like, do it. And so I did. And I so I wrote that, uh, this EP sucks, I promise, um, which is seven songs, maybe it's six songs. I don't remember that one. Well, I, I need to pull that up to get firm. It's, it's, it's like six or seven songs. I had taken one off, but I think it was seven and is now six. Okay. And I slowly released that just on band camp and there was this moment where people were fucking with it and like, and that was like the original version of No Thinks LOLs on that. Oh, okay. Yeah. And everything was just kind of like, I was posting on Facebook and everywhere and it was, it's just kind of slowly, but surely I was like, wait, what if this was like a band and like, my wife and I would talk about it and she was like, well, I mean, just see, let's see how far this can go. And that was three years ago. Okay. Yeah. And so I'm just still like blinders on just like seeing how far this will go. Yeah. Totally fair. Yeah. Okay. So that first EP that you were talking about isn't on streaming anymore. No. It was never on streaming. It was always on band camp on band camp because I had to do everything myself and it was like, I didn't have the money to like, you know, I didn't know just her kid. I didn't know any of that stuff. To take for the distribution and all that. Exactly. Yeah. I'll just do unfunkit band camp and just see like what happens. Well, that's the interesting thing I feel like for a lot of like new projects is you kind of just like have to feel that stuff out and like learn it for yourself. Oh, yeah. So a lot of people at least kind of know band camp from like one thing or the other, they don't necessarily know about like, you know, CD baby or distro kid or anything like that. And so like that's something that comes later once you talk to other people who have done this. Usually. I think that's your right because it's like the top level. I think everyone knows that band camp is like, band camp or sound cloud. Yeah. It's like those, the, you know, level one, it's not like, it's not weenie hut junior. Like, this is, this is like level one, you're learning how to like starting to put music out. It's like you actually have a real song as opposed to a bunch of demos. I think it's, well, actually, I think the first thing you find out is that you can't just post a Spotify. Yeah. I think there's everyone has a Google. Yeah. Yeah. Because you're like, how do I put my song on Spotify and like, put it on band camp. And so like I would say that's level one level two is putting it on band camp or sound cloud or something. And then level three is saving the money for distro kid or CD baby. Yeah. Yeah. And it's a distro kid, it really was my friend there for a bit, which like they just made it so simple and made me kind of, I think that's where everyone gets their toes wet into like the concept of distribution. Oh, yeah. It's awesome. Yeah. For sure. So moving on after like you kind of released that the first single that you released as 95 Corolla was, no thanks, LOL, the original version, which now there's a new version on the album, but we'll get into that later. So like, did anything really come from that initially because like, like looking at that you had that and then two other singles that came out in 2022. And then early 2023, you put out the loud fast sad EP. Yeah. Okay. So just to make sure everyone understands a little bit of how I work in the beginning, I'm not going to do this for the next LP, but for the first LP and the first EP and the second EP, I guess, is about Jesus fucking Christ so much stuff, so much stuff. I would name the project before I wrote any lyrics. Oh, so I so I just so like, I didn't know I didn't like no thanks, LOL. No thanks, LOL was meant I didn't like it really. And so it ended up being something I grew that grew with me and then I wrote the lyrics around the name of the project. Oh, Intra, I've heard of other people doing that before, but it's never been something that I've thought of. It's really, it was a really like weird kind of situation because I was just like, again, thought I was a throwaway song. I was listening to about a bunch of pet symmetry and like decided to write something a little bit faster. Again, not fast enough. Yeah. But like, I didn't understand like that, how fast we could go and it was, it was a lot of fun. When I released that one to everyone, that was the one that my wife said, like, oh, I think you have something here. Yeah, yeah. And that was the original version of that, which is, I would say the first EP is definitely like a softer, modern baseball, I was listening to so much more about that, but it's definitely slow. That first EP is so much slower. It's not quite as punky. No, it's definitely like this almost indie thing where it's like, I didn't, it's like, I think that if you guys know logic, there's a bunch of drum, drum options. The drummer presets, the drummer presets, like in one of the drums is called heavy. And that was what we used for the Lafassadipi. And then SoCal is the one I used for the original ones. It's a lighter sounding drum. Honestly, though, like if you're like just demoing out songs.
- It's such a great tool to just get something down and be able to jam over it. - I didn't write a single drum on the original EP. I used all drummer stuff and compressed it so that it worked a little bit better. - Yeah, 'cause I don't think that generally they work great in a mix, but you've made them work. - No, they've made them really bad in the mix, so you have to still fuck with them, but they will get the notes right. - Yeah. - And it's awesome, the drummer thing, if you are diving into any kind of production and you got songs in your fucking head, drummer on Logic is going to make you feel like that you found a drummer. - Yeah, no, it actually is crazy and they just added like a whole bunch more stuff to it too. - It's crazy, it's so fucked up. - Yeah, so moving on from that, we've kind of gone through like the first couple of singles, the first EP, you started dropping singles from the new album, okay. Late last year, did you know it was going to be an album at that point or were you just dropping songs? - Okay, so after I dropped, after all the songs were dropped for the C.P. Sucks, I promise. I decided to start finding a band. - Okay. - So I met, there's a famous Nashville, Facebook group called Nashville Hardcore. - Okay. - And it's for fucking everything. I mean, you could use it for country, if you want to be DIY, it's a DIY thing. - Sure, sure, sure. I would say that's the best way to explain. It's not a pop punk, emo, alternative thing. It's strictly a DIY, like how shows, you can do bookshows there. And so I posted things saying, hey, here's the song and I didn't get a lot of traction, but then there was a drummer Colton posted on there saying, I haven't drummed it a long time. I would like to get back into it. And he posted a Nashville Hardcore and we're talking 200 comments. It was something crazy. And someone tagged me on the post. - Oh. - And I just posted no thing so well as a reply to that. - Okay, so a parent, he said he listened to all of them and then he saw mine and said, you. And I was like, this is like a fucking destiny, man. - (laughs) - And it was a really, it was of all the people. - I know, it was like a really, really crazy thing. And we found our old bassist Brett through the same thing and then it was a three piece for a second. While we were writing stuff and we were practicing in Colton's place in Madison. And it was, I think it was us three and we released the LoudFast Sad EP. I produced the LoudFast Sad EP in my fucking room. - Yep. - And classic. - We were, we released it and then we got a storage unit. And that's when stuff was starting to actually be written for the LP. - Gotcha. So when you were releasing those singles late last year, like I think Exit was the first one, right? - So Exit was the first one that we wrote after we brought on Mikey. - So we brought on Mikey during the days of the storage unit. 'Cause if you look at the picture for LoudFast Sad, it is at the storage unit. - Yeah. - So during the last like two months of the storage unit, we brought Mikey on. It was a one of the best decisions I've ever made. It was a bad thing to make you fucking shred. - And he's an incredible producer. - I was gonna say, he produced the entire project. - He produced the entire project, right? - He's produced the entire LP. I gave all of it to him. He was like, let me take a crack at it and I was like, yeah dude, I don't know what I'm fucking doing. And he has turned it, like he's so fucking talented. I'm trying to get him like a job here, like in Nashville doing production something. He's gotta be doing it. - Dude, he's so incredibly talented. - And the hard thing with Nashville is that it's just so saturated, man. - It's so saturated and so like he just needs to get like in on something. We just, I need to get, I need to like, I'm trying to point people to him to do it 'cause he could just do it in his room apparently. - So I feel like you need to have one project that you can point to that you're like. - Yeah. - Oh yeah, this is what I can do. And I feel like this is kind of that for him probably. - I think that it like, so I think that once he has like two or three under his belt, it's like when you're climbing a wall, you have to have three holds. - Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. - It's like, so it's like, I want him to have like, you know, a butt three prongs of attack in order to get like this. I want him to get in. I think if he has that, he'll be fine. 'Cause there's a lot of people that I know that work here and I think that he could easily get a job if he gets in. - Sure. - He just needs to get that foot in. - Yeah, so the new record came out today. (laughing) - Which is actually crazy timing, but. - So that got released on we're trying records. - Yeah. - Which has some of the craziest line-up they have like all of the cute, so wild animals right now. - That guy knows how to pick 'em. I, in the luckiest person in the world that Jordan reached out, and listen, Jordan reached out for a long time. - Oh, they reached out to you. Okay, that was what I was gonna ask with, was if you kind of like, shopped it around, or if that was just a very organic thing. - I'll be completely fucking honest. I have booked five shows, in total. And that's the tour that we're about to go on. - Yeah. - I booked the tour. Any other show we've played, we've been asked to play. - Dude, that is incredible. - It's been a really crazy experience. I feel, like I said, I'm the luckiest person in the world. I'm so grateful because it's been the least amount of stress. Like, I will say, book in the tour was crazy stressful. - Oh, okay. - And I'm like, I don't wanna do this again. Like, I'm not sure if I will because like, it was that, it was a lot. And I mean, I think it'd be easier now that the records out, but like, holy shit. We've just been so lucky that everyone has reached out to us. - Yeah, no, that's crazy. - It's fucking crazy. For my people talking about it, I'm like, oh, I should, I should shut up. - I should shut up, because this, part of it's been a little easy. - This shit ain't nothing to me, man. - Everybody's always talking about all the hardships that I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about, man. - Everyone keeps asking me to do stuff. Like, it's been a really, really, I think it's also like, I'm trying to do, listen, I'm gonna shout out Will from Fulba Meltdown, who's truly the whole inspiration about the face of 95 Kroll is. - Okay. - I think that as long as you are nice and you are kind and you treat, if you help homies, like-- - No, there's a huge community aspect of that, where it's like, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours, and it's like, there's just so much where, like, if you try and support other people, they'll be more likely to support you, and it just makes everything easier for everybody. - Like, shout out just Twitter in general, like, as much as, like, yes, for the last 10 years of Rotten Hellhole, but it is the hell site. It has been nothing but a completely positive experience for I know hundreds of people that we all talk to, and it's just absolutely insane how important it is. - Yeah, absolutely, and, like, along with that too, you guys have a limited tape run coming out of this album as well, that you're doing through reply guy, which is also another, like, Twitter thing. - Shout out, fucking. - Shout out, Nikki, Kim, and Michael. Those three are truly the homies. Nikki is, like, he was probably my first, like, really good friend here, DIY, and then Rosie, shout out, losing team, checkmate, and parties over. We're playing with parties over. - Oh, no. - On next week. - That's the Chicago show, right? - Columbus. - Columbus, she's driving from Maryland to Columbus to play the show. It's fucking crazy, but I'm really hyped to hang out with her and see Nikki there. The limited tape run thing is, we just, I feel lucky, there'd be, like, one of the, within the first five of, like, they're, like, reply guy records is gonna be a bigger thing. - I think so, yeah. - I think they are truly having the most fun with it, because they're truly listeners. Like, they are, I think there needs to be more people that are not, like, that's what I love about DIY. Everyone's a listener, and they get, is in getting involved. - Yeah. - And as a listener, and it's awesome. - No, I've talked about this before, where it's, like, so many times, just in life, in general, you'll have stuff where somebody has this crazy idea of whether it's, we should start a band, we should start a podcast, we should do this, that, the other thing. And it's always people who talk, mad shit, and then they never actually follow through on anything. - Yeah. - And it's, like, this scene of all of these people, everybody's the type of person that goes, "I should do that," and then actually fucking does it. It's crazy. - I think, when I think about DIY, there's always two people. There's always will. - Yep. - Will is kind of, like, the face of, like, what I want people to be like. And then there's the complete opposite side of the coin, which is, yes, I want to be this person, but they're my favorite, just, like, they don't give a fuck. And that's, shout out Madison James from No Good With Secrets. - Okay. - All right, homie is, like, a analog queen. Like, they are always making their own stuff. They make everything by themselves. They did, there's this whole thread, 'cause I think, they're in the lead singer of "Abbert the Nerd." - Oh, okay, yeah. - He did a whole thread on Twitter, on just the background thing, the canvas that you make for Spotify. - Oh, yeah. - He did this whole breakdown of how he did it. And it was, like, here is this VHS footage. I ran it through this thing, and I was, he was tapping the wire. - It was doing, he was doing his own glitch work. - Yes, oh, this shit. - That's wild. - And it's just for, like, this five second thing behind the image of, like, what you see when you play on Spotify. - That, like, half the people have turned off. - Yeah, they've been able to turn off the work. He did just for that alone. And it's just, that is what homie does. He is, just, everyone follow Quartz Morgan. Homie is truly, like, the spirit of, like, he's, like, the Tesla of DIY. (laughing) - It is really funny, though, how it's just, like, everybody just has these ideas and, like, actually commits to them. - Yeah, it's about just saying yes, and, like, walking the wall. - Exactly, yeah, exactly. And I think that that's so cool, that there are so many people who just have that idea and just roll with it, and are doing just cool shit. - It's cool shit. - Cool shit. I love it, I'm just so lucky to be here, and I feel like everyone else
- That's also the other thing. Everyone's feels so lucky to be here. - Yeah, no, I don't think that anybody takes the scene or the community for granted. - Completely. - Because everybody knows that without that, we'd just be a bunch of random people who don't know each other and have no reach at all. - I know, it's so crazy. - So is there anything else specifically that you wanna talk about with the new record, as far as like background? Like kind of like what you were going for with it? - Yeah, so the inspiration of longtime listener first time caller is I've listened to emo music and every iteration of it for the last, I'm 36 years old. I just wanna make sure everyone understands, like I'm old as fuck and it's never too late. Anyone who's old listening to this start a fucking band anyways. It doesn't matter. (laughing) That was 33, like it doesn't matter. I'm touring at 36, I'm gonna hurt my back and I can't wait. - The inspiration of all this is specifically the name is I've been listening to this stuff for a long time and this is my first time calling back. Like that is true. - Oh, okay, yeah. - This is it, I am, I've been a longtime listener and this is my first time caller. Like that is the whole thing. - I like it. - And so each song kind of has their own inspiration of like what band they're from or like the first kind of opener song is based off of like co-heat, co-heat always did like weirdo intros. Then I wanna see if anyone has gotten this yet, but everyone should listen to to be careful and then also watch the music video to quiet things no one ever knows by brand new. - Okay. - It was huge in 2005 or 2004 when it came out, but to be careful is based off of that music video. I couldn't say, I didn't wanna make a song based off of brand new because I just wanna make it very, very clear. I love, I love Dejan Tondo, love that record, Jesse Lacey is a huge piece of shit. Just wanna make sure that that is very fucking clear, but I wrote that song based off of the music video 'cause I thought it'd be really funny to do it, not in homage to brand new, but the music video from band new. - Yeah, no that, that's interesting. - To go a little bit further away from it. - You're like this song is, this is a song based off of a music video based specifically off the city of Adonomi of the music video. And so then there's like, you know, I have my Oceans Avenue song, which is no coast. If anyone has heard the song Error Operator by Take It Back Sunday, that is a planter. Everything else kind of has, everything else was kind of like a little bit, I had these songs, but it was more like written with, like listen to armor for sleep. That is being kind of like a huge inspiration as well. Basically a lot of like mid 2000s emo just kind of all leaked it through the whole record. - Sure, yeah, yeah. - And that's basically it. And it was just kind of like my little homage to it. - Yeah, are there any plans? So obviously like, like I mentioned, you're doing the limited tape run. Are there any plans to do any other physicals, like vinyl CDs, anything like that? - I talked to Jordan, I talked to Jordan today. - Nice, nice, we will be doing vinyl. - Nice. - We will do a vinyl of the record. When is, after tour? - Up in the air. - Up in the air. It's going to happen. - Well, and getting vinyl down, there's so much like lead up to it. - I'm like, okay, so it's like, we had to kind of think about it. We were like, okay, what kind of merch should we do? What is the most appropriate thing to do? Who also gives a shit? Like, you know, what are the rules here? And I wanted people, there's something really important, something important to me that I want the face, the view, the personification of the band to be, I don't want to be merch first. I don't want to release a record and also release pre-orders of the record. - Okay. - Like, I was, there's something that I wanted to keep it separate. I wanted to be like, listen, I want you to enjoy the record first. And then if you want to buy it, that option is later. - I think that there's also something there that's like a good business decision. Like, not only kind of like the separating, 'cause you can kind of like let people marinate in the art a little bit. - Yeah. - And then, but I think that like, from a business standpoint too, there's also like, you've got the release of the album and then like a few months later, so you do it like six months later, or something like that. - Yeah. - Kind of renewed interest by releasing the vinyl. Now people are like, oh yeah, I should revisit that again. - Yeah, I think that there's, maybe that's like the big spin where I can see it does completely renew interest. And like, maybe there's, I wonder if there's some like math there, where like if you do a pre-order of the record and you release on the same day, is it as good as, you know, is it really 2X in comparison to doing it, like, you know, individual over the last, over the next, you know, a couple of weeks. - Yeah, there's someone, some in data analytics can figure that shit out. But I think it's, I just think it's important to at least show that, hey, the music's out. I want you to fucking listen to it if you want to. Don't worry about buying shit yet. (laughing) Like just enjoy it. Don't worry about it. Come see us on tour, like, which is next week, but I mean, that's, yeah, you get to, it's still participating in the music side rather than like the merch side. - Yeah, yeah. Well, I think that, yeah, 'cause it's like, there's more of like the business transactional side of things that's, that's the kind of, like, merch aspect. - Yeah. - And then there's more of, like, the, like, community, cultural, like, togetherness aspect of, like, actually experiencing the music, whether it's, you know, listening to it on streaming or, you know, going to a show or whatever. - Also, if you are releasing pre-orders and, like, doing all this stuff as a release record, do it. I don't, that's the thing. - I'm not saying it's a bad thing. - It's just a personal philosophy. - It's just, like, literally my personal philosophy. I do, if you do it and I love your bit, I'm gonna still pre-order the fucking record. I'll still participate in that way. It is strictly just a philosophy of mine. - No, I totally get that. So another thing that I'm interested in, speaking of, 'cause vinyl made me think of, like, the artwork of it, 'cause, like, that's a big draw, at least to me, for getting vinyl is being able to see, like, the artwork way bigger. - Yeah, I think so too. I think it's really important. - I think it's interesting the story behind what you did to make this cover art. - Okay, so I think I saw, I think it's equipment that was going around, they brought, like, a Game Boy camera, or, like, they brought a Game Boy advanced, or something like that. - Yeah, with the little, like, printer, and yeah. - They were taking it to shows and stuff, and they were, like, taking pictures, and that's what they were doing, and now I was like, "Oh, that's so fucking good." That's, like, so genius. Shout out equipment. All account was still my favorite record from last year. - Nice. - Now, I asked, I just was in the group chat, and I was like, "Is anyone have, like, a Game Boy camera?" Or, like, like, a weird question, 'cause, like, I'm the oldest one. I would be me, that would happen. (laughing) And so, we also got a new basis, Diggie. - Diggie. - She is a Mike's friend. She, shout out her. She is, like, so incredible. She has a degree in base at fucking Belmont. - Oh, jeez. - Yeah, so, like, she's so fucking cool and talented, and I'm so impressed with her. I love her. Brett was definitely, like, an incredible dude. Just ended up not working out, and we're really happy to have Diggie here. Now, one of the first things Diggie did was, she responded that with, "Well, I have an Nintendo DS." - Okay. - And so, she, and the DSI, probably, yeah, yeah, yeah. Also said, she had it, I was also, like, okay, cool. So, you have that, and I was like, who has, like, we also, like, went around to try to find, like, a phone. Any kind of phone, that would be, like, old, and, like, it was, it's a little on the nose, like, I kind of like it. - Yeah. - And she said, well, she has, like, this fake rotary phone. - That was yellow. - Yeah. - And I was, like, shut up. So, like, you came into the band, and she just, like, went out one day, and started taking pics, and, for some reason, that one picture came out so weird. - Yeah. - It's, like, this weird, dark purple, this really, really light yellow, and she wrote "95 Krola" inside of Diggie's phone, and I was, and Mikey and I were, like, Mikey Colton and I were, like, that's fucking it, dude. - Yeah. - This is gonna zoom out, and look so pixelated in shit, when we put this up, like, oh, I can't fucking wait, dude. - Well, that, that's the thing that I think is really funny, is, yeah, use it the, like, a DSI camera. It's, like, that was never intended to be used for anything, like that. - I'm so hype of the way that it ended up looking, 'cause, like, it looks so strange. - Yeah. - It's a very, very strange looking picture that we've never seen. It's obviously something weird in the processing of it, and we just got so lucky. - This is something that, this is something that. - Madison would have figured out how to do, and purposely do this. (laughing) - But we did it on accident. - Well, I always find it funny when there's, like, that sort of technological thing where somebody's like, oh, I want this to look or sound degraded, like this. You know, you're doing it as an effect. - Yes. - But then people try and do it, like, in post-processing, or something, instead of, like, oh, we'll just use the old-ass equipment. - It's like, you see people using, like, these crazy, like, digital cameras, and they're like, I want to get this VHS effect. It's like, just record it on the VHS camera, dude. - I actually, I wanted to get for two or a VHS camera. - Didn't you get one, and then it, like, immediately died or something? - No, I got, so I found a camera that sucks. - Oh. (laughing) - So I was like, so, like, I was like, okay. If I can, right, first of all, shout out Bummer Hill, their music video for "Have a Nice Life" is shot on a shitty camera. And I was so inspired by them. I love them so much. The record is insane. So they had a, and they shot a bunch of stuff in Nashville. You see, like, the third-man records on their video, and I was like, fuck yeah, dude. This is why I was so inspiring. But it's on a shitty fucking camera. And I was like, I can, I can buy a shitty camera. - I can do that. - I want a shitty camera. And so, like, we've found, like, the perfect setting. we're going to start.
like you know filming a lot more stuff but I was like going to do again the Madison James thing I was going to get a VHS fucking player and then I was going to get a VHS to digital and I was going to like fuck with the tape I was going to do the whole thing fucking mad scientist yes it's homie I wanted to do it so bad but it's just it's a lot of work and I don't have that good oh man that's that's so funny is there anything else that you specifically wanted to hit on this before we like move on to the next part of the episode it's yeah it's really funny because like I just checked the time I was like I feel like we haven't been going for like any time at all and I think it's already been like almost a half well okay so I can I'll talk about all right so I'm gonna think about this like kind of at the end of the hot ones episodes yeah sure cool all right so this camera that camera yeah okay so stuff that's coming up for us we are playing Jords Fest tomorrow yeah when this comes out that will have already happened so I've got so Jords Fest tomorrow got two we're we're going to St. Louis Iowa City Chicago Columbus then back to Nashville playing with a bunch of cool ass bands I'm really hyped to go to my hometown of Iowa City and see all the folks there in Chicago we're getting to play with Tim on summer who are like literally the day ones that's crazy love them forever playing with label mates with year twins and parties over in Columbus and then coming down in Nashville we're actually playing with leisure hour nice which is gonna be really really hype love them shout out leisure hour then in July we've got a bunch of stuff actually in June we're playing with glazed the week after tour then in July we're playing with clipboards and final boss fight nice arcane we are playing with stopdrop we wind somewhere in October there's a bunch of stuff it's all gonna be announced and it's all be fun gonna be again we're just so lucky that we get to do any of this we have a couple of compilations that we're are gonna be on a wink wink and we're really really hype in those songs and some stuff next year that people are talking to us about and it's just I think this is kind of like the beginning of like just again seeing where this goes it's crazy when you get to the point that you've got like kind of like plans already in the works for like a year plus out yeah because it's like you you start out and you're just kind of like you know putting the tracks down right in front of the train yeah and then you get to the point where you're like oh we actually like have a little bit going on here yeah it's like here I think I've talked to some like bigger bands and I'm like okay so how far are you like you know planned out and they they would tell me like we're playing for the next year and a half yeah and I think that there's kind of a part of me that is that's kind of sad because it's it's like there's nothing surprising for the next year and a half like you'd have like I I love having an open day and like there are like an open fog of war style like week and I can't imagine having all that stuff playing because I again I'm so spontaneous that I can't like think of that that's one of the things that I'm kind of like playing with trying to figure out with like doing this was this was the first year that I like scheduled people out way in advance so that I like knew for the most part what the schedule was going to be for the most of the year which has been great on one side because it's like I've already got people that I've reached out to so I just have to be like hey just a reminder we've got this coming up when can you record you know whatever but it's also like there have been some really cool opportunities that I've had to turn down because slots are already filled yeah and it's like especially in DIY like it sucks sitting on something that you've got done so a lot of people just want to finish something and then just put it out into the world right away and I totally get that but if you're trying to like do promo like get on a podcast or get on a tour or anything like that you have to have a lot of lead time in order to actually be able to make any of that work I will say when it comes to like the planning side of it the weird band thing there's a lot of weird band things yeah and I did 30 some episodes of a podcast just trying to talk about this stuff one of my favorite podcast shout out five of the door I'm you're on pause right now because but I'll probably start you up later it'll never be it'll be a forever thing that I'll do for as long as I want the thing about being a band is that it's about slots it's about like okay cool I can do this I can do this and the perfect balance I think is planning like three months out of the time yeah because then all the people that are planning six months of the time you always get that that opportunity and you can shift through all of those to find the best one that you want to do oh interesting and because if you're only planning three months ahead ahead of a time you're planning less than everyone so you get to like they're everyone's already planning all that stuff so you get to like keep it on like to yourself for a little bit because you're only planning three months yeah so well and you can also kind of like fill in gaps were like if something happens and somebody has to fall off of a tour or whatever like oh well we're still available you can just kind of like hop in there like there was this they announced I think Harrison Gordon attraction now said they were doing this tour yeah and they had a Nashville date and I am leaving for two or the fifth and they're playing the fourth and so there was no way I could even ask am I am I bummed out that I didn't even get like I'm about to get they get I didn't get the chance to ask yeah like so that is you know that's some of the weird band stuff another weird band thing is like you have to like it's just the planning stuff is just weird be open just be open to everything and like just be fucking nice and kind that's it just it then everything will be chill yeah no I think I honestly think that that's the way to do it treat everybody well try and say yes to as many opportunities as you can and just keep that momentum rolling and also go to shows yes no absolutely I think that that's something that's kind of underrated yeah people don't always talk about is like there's not a scene if people only go to shows that they're playing yeah and so it's really really important like to like go to the small stuff like one of my favorite local bands here but I've got I've got these these two bands that I've played with a lot and that's okay koala and boy clothes shout out them for like playing so much and still coming to to my shows and I I'm trying to go to more more to their shows it's been again being a 36 year old man it's really really hard to like to like be up past 1030 just like some old man shit and so I'm trying to do that more we're gonna talk a lot more about boy clothes I know about that oh yeah but yeah I think that's kind of like the whole the whole thing a long-time listener first time callers out we've got a bunch more stuff coming out this year and I hope you all like it hell yeah all right so moving on to the next part of the episode we've both chosen five songs to feature by up and coming independent DIY whatever label you want to do bands that we just feel like deserve a bit more attention we're gonna go back and forth all have the first song cool and we'll go back and forth which is gonna give you the closer the first one that I want to feature let me check my notes is gonna be by my friends in the band tuck cool so they are they're they're just like straight rock basically they're they're not emo they're not punk they're like straight like rock metal and from green bay these guys I went to college with a lot of them and interned at the production company that they all currently work at and so this is from their upcoming album which is called confrontations which comes out June 14th so it'll be out by the time the episode comes out but we're listening to it a little bit early oh yeah and this this is actually two songs because it's like an intro to the song and then the actual song but it's the duel you shot me down by tuck hell yeah [Music] you shot me down today like you said you never would you shot me down today because you knew you probably could you shot me through the door to save yourself from seeing all the gold you shot me down again today you shot me down today while you looked me in the eye you swore you loved me but I knew that was a lie there's more to love and trust you just to find your love
Meet me in cost, you shut me down again today You shut me down today, from a distance not too close I did from your clients, keep raising glasses for a toast You shut me down, Glee, your bed was snorting, and you blamed it all on me You shut me down again today The bloody red barren's got some lessons left for You make a season war that various guns inside you won't return You learn to watch your back, you won't end up, but it doesn't hide the fact that you shut me down again today Good You shut me down today, from a distance not too close You shut me down again today Alright, so I have a lot to say Two things, in the beginning I was like okay cool, this is a lick band, not a riff band And I think that there's you can kind of tell like when a band is going to be a lick band versus like a riff band And then there was a seamless transition of power to being a riff band Yes And I was like oh fun, they're doing a big riff near the end And okay cool, usually I think that there's like you have to pick Okay I think that unless like you're doing good songwriting and then you can like manipulate all that kind of stuff which they did like that was so much fun Yeah, well and that's the interesting thing too is this is very much not their normal sound Interesting This is like this is the end of the record but it's like to me kind of like the most interesting because it's such a deviation Yeah Because like a lot of their stuff it's really weird It's another band that started as a solo project and then became a band so the first project is called the story of Stereo City Great And very much very queen inspired Cool A lot of like you know all these crazy like like harmonies and like there's one song that literally has like the most Brian Megatarsola that Brian may have never played But then it's really interesting because they decided because that was like a that was like like a pandemic project type deal Cool And you and I have talked about this a whole lot about how pandemic projects have kind of become like everyone's coming up with them now Exactly Yeah, so it was really cool because all of these other guys they all knew each other all work together all that And he was like I want to start playing some shows and like gigging on this record so we put together the band and they started like you know practicing Playing some shows I think they opened for bad flower when they came through When they came through green Bay so they they've done like a couple bigger like opening shows like that But then when it came time to write the second album which is what this is off of Very much changed the sound because it was more of a like collaborative effort and while Andrew who's the main He's the vocalist and he's the guy who wrote the entire first record is also to an extent into this But he's he's very much into like the like classic rock and like very very showy type stuff But these other guys are a lot more into kind of like like heavier music like Gajira and Metallica and like that kind of stuff And so it's really interesting hearing this and hearing their footprint kind of being added to that Because there's a lot more like like down tune guitars a lot more like riffs and like there I think there's a blast beat in at least one song But the thing that I find really cool too is all of these albums are very narrative Cool so the the first one kind of has this like sets up the story of stereo city And then the opening song for this album actually kind of tells the story of how it started out as a one-man band Added more people and yeah history of the band record literally a history of the band and it's super cool because like every song You can like kind of hear the influences like they've got a song It was the first single that they released called I Only Smoke When I Drink And that's such a good name for a fucking song I'm so mad So mad And it's just straight 90s era Metallica basically They've got a couple other songs that are like you know more inspired this way or the other way But it's really cool seeing like how it's evolved and they did a really cool thing at the beginning of last year Where they were writing the songs figuring them out and they were gonna do a live stream of basically all the songs on the record And they were streaming on Twitch that they like just their practices and like writing sessions and stuff So it's really cool to have seen the album evolve Like all of these songs have been available to hear in some format for like a year on YouTube because they did that like live stream thing and archive did That's really really fun to show like the truly the evolution and the writing of the whole project Yeah, it's super interesting is it's one of those things like you know sometimes you'll see a band and like kind of watch them evolve Like you saw them from like you know when they were really small band and now they blew up and you're like I'm so proud of that Even though you don't know them or whatever but it's like this is like next level for me because I do know these guys And so it's like you know watching that evolution is super cool Yeah, I love that I think that that sound is really really fun. It's like a harder murder by deaf and who I love and this It's not something I listen to all the time so it's like it's nice just to hear like just good fucking rock and roll Yeah, that's one of the things like I there's the sub-genreification of music especially like rock music Yeah, because you've got like oh it's punk it's emo it's metal core it's hardcore it's everyone yeah every metal version Yeah, and it's like sometimes I just want to listen to some fucking rock and roll man. Yeah, I like it. That's fun This makes a lot of sense I think it fits and it's so simple and like I bet people like fucking I think people fuck with this Like yeah, I think that once this comes out. It's gonna be crazy. Yeah, that's hype. So what do we have up the next one is Boy close the thought of losing you Okay, I want to want to give a little bit of introduction Cool. So the next the first song I want to do is our homies boy close the songs called the thought of losing you and I've been hearing versions of this song for a little bit and it's finally out You used to be called yucky and now it's like the thought of using losing you and it's so good yesterday This came out fucking yesterday and I listened to it a fuck ton and it was I think that if I wasn't in a band This this would be in like this. This is like my favorite outside of us. This is our favorite band Nice the boy close is so good and so talented and I'm so hyped for this thing that they're doing. I love it. Let's check it out [Music] [Music]
[Music] Now we've set the key, nothing's going to change So let's have a look at my brain, how it dies Look at me like I was saying, it's all about my life Now I've set the key, I won't do that to you [Music] The end of time I'm sorry, for being such a big subject, all of such a big subject, all of such a big thing [Music] All of such a big subject, all of such a big thing [Music] Now I've set the key, I won't do that to you Now I've set the key, I won't do that to you [Music] Okay so I love this band, we've played the most shows together, them and OkKwala, and this new song is like I love where they're going Yeah it's super cool because it's like the riff is very basic but also like super catchy But there's also like a lot of other like little things going on sprinkled in It's so super neat and it's like listen, you can do the one the four, the one the four, and then the six five four, like classics Classic fucking progression and then just like shove it full of every countermeality as you fucking can And shout out Rose who I know helped produce that song, Noah for writing it Like y'all are doing such like the coolest fucking shit I'm so happy to like know more bands in Nashville doing this thing Yeah it's super interesting too, like there's the one bit and I can't tell if it's like a synth or like a tapping guitar part Or something like that, it's playing this like really cool, like it's not really like a melody but it kind of acts as like a countermeality Oh it's not something you would sing, but it's like a great, it's the same space in a mix for like uwa's and stuff like that And it's like you're putting it like on this, it's just there's something some sonic quality bit that I'm like so gravitated to It's so cool Well I think what it is, because I've thought about this before with like my musical a little bit too, is it's like sometimes you'll have like the guitar riff, you'll have the vocals, the bass drums And it's like it feels like it's just missing something in that higher register And so it's like you can kind of add like some backing vocals that are higher, you can add like a little like synth or tapping part like that Because oftentimes you kind of want that full frequency spectrum and it can be hard to occupy that upper register without it like sounding like weird and piercing So I think that like I think that that's what that's doing and it works really well for it Like sometimes when I listen to music I like thinking about like the acoustic version of it And so like the acoustic version of this I feel like is like I wouldn't like listen play this song half the speed Like if you're gonna play the acoustic version of this just because it's I want it to be even more the opposite of the song Yeah Because this song is so 3D there's just so much fucking shit happening and like then adding a completely like new section of 16 bars Or yeah I think it's a full kind of 16 at the end of the song This is kind of something completely different It's kind of completely different and it's just like you know the balls to like literally just like keep the writing process going instead of just like hitting the last note and letting it ring out Because that's what we fucking do that and it's fine But like I'm so inspired by them to like just keep writing throughout the process like of let's add something completely new at the end of the song Like I think it's so cool It almost reminds me like just that idea not necessarily how they execute it But like that idea kind of reminds me of like how there's been a bigger trend in hip-hop to do like beat switches like at the end of the song kind of like as an outro Yes and I feel like this is kind of like the like emo rock version of that Yeah well listen you don't you like yes they stay in the same bpm actually it might be even a little bit slower But it's just like to do to actually change their pivoting is such a cool way to leave the song where it's like the door shut or someone shutting a window or something And it just seems a little bit softer and it's like and it's actually interesting as it's called the thought of losing you it's like you have almost lost them Yeah kind of a way where it's like listen I've lost you a little bit and I'm dealing with this and that's why it's a little bit softer And it's like the somber end it's so bittersweet that song is fucking amazing Do you know if this song is leading if this is a single leading up to a full project or if it's just a single? I know that they are cooking Okay they are fucking cooking dude Because I know that a lot of the time like you have those outros and stuff like that and it's kind of like to set up a transition on an album like to the next song or something like that I hope they do it You guys do that a couple times on on your records to kind of transition It's really really hard to think about that kind of stuff so I hope like they they've literally loaded the bullet in the next chamber And I just hope they like fucking run with it Yeah if they like just keep those chords going and then just do a complete new song that are just that's so sick Just keep going dude and like one of my favorite talking to Will If anyone's listened to mellify everyone needs to because those are like some of my favorite transitions in the fucking world Oh yeah there's some great ones on that There's some great ones and you have the best part about listen that records you have you kind of have no idea the record has started over Yeah really like when did it switch which is side it which is side B so I'm really so like keeping cool transitions live I think I hope they do like something really really cool with that Yeah I think that that's a great just with the full album format if you're going to do something like that I think it's a great way to like build a little bit of like cohesion between like the entire project Yeah completely agree Alright so my next tune is actually going to be the new single from Florida band virginity virginity I've seen them on Twitter I keep forgetting to check them out so I'm excited Yeah so I actually got introduced to them through doing an episode with ghost town remedy They played a song of theirs on an episode that we did and I thought it was really cool And so they announced a few months ago that their new album Bad Jazz is coming out I think it comes out That's such a good name for a record It comes out on the 28th so it'll be a couple days after this Cool Initially I was thinking about choosing a different song from the album but I realized that this would be coming out before the album and I don't want to premiere their shit without asking them Totally But they sent me the pre-listen on soundcloud so I have heard the entire album it's extremely good like Is it feel fun? Yeah it's like power poppy type stuff Cool, awesome It's great I'm really excited to listen to this Super catchy so this is the most recent and I believe final single from that record Which is called any good thing [Music] I saw you sneaking out your window And asked you if I could come but you said I was too young I said you're probably right You knew what happened to the drive home until you put it on the light as a creature social status That night I could talk myself out of almost any good thing I could talk myself out
I can't stop myself, I don't want to stay, can't stay I can't stop myself, I don't want to stay Okay, we were talking about this while it was playing I had completely forgot who R-E-M was first Because I was like, what is this sound like? This sounds like the beginning of something Sounds like that one ball from the 90s It's not the guy from president of the United States, who is it? And I just whispered, that's me in the corner, who does the fuck it's not? And yeah, that sounded like R-E-M, but I can't place his voice It's got like spin doctors a little bit, this is so much fun And a lot of people have been talking shit about this 90s things coming back Give me fucking more of it Dude, I think it's great It's so cool And it's very much like the nostalgic thing, what is it, the waves of nostalgia every 20 years It's like everything Yeah, and so it's like we kind of just got done with the big 80s nostalgia waves And so I feel like we're kind of coming back to that 90s nostalgia wave And this is very much to meet this song specifically A lot of the other tunes are a lot more like pop rock, power, pop type stuff But this very much feels kind of like a grungy type tune Yeah, it's a little darker and a little deeper Like even the content, the liver content This is a sad fucking song Yeah, I can talk to myself out of almost any good thing That's an incredible line And I think that they're just doing, I like the, again, REM, David Bowie, like guitar strumming Where it's like almost, you're almost picking it the whole time Yeah Like a clean guitar tone I was gonna say that tone is like very like kind of like that vintage nostalgic sort of sound Like I don't feel like anybody's kind of using that type of clean tone Yeah, I think A lot of the time it's like more like bright like articulated And this is like a bit darker I think that, like the people that are doing this really, really well right now I think it's townies townies has a lot more clean tone that they let on Yeah And I'll be talking more about them later One of my favorites Like that record is so fucking good And I'm really excited to listen to more virginity But what is the name? So I'm losing the name of the band It is gun, something gun Military gun Military gun right now is also doing that as well A really nice clean tone with, but it's like compressed really well or something I don't know what they're doing in their mix because it sounds heavy But it's a fucking clean like strat They're a really weird band When you think about it Because it's like they very much run in like the punk hardcore circles Like they're touring with fucking punk bands And like hardcore bands and shit But like a lot of their stuff is like a lot more catchy Kind of like poppy a little bit with like that clean tone like you were talking about So they did this interview where they were like we hate the fact that We released this record after Turnstile did And we were like listen I guess we're hardcore now I guess this is what hardcore is Yeah And like they kind of get he kind of gets bombed out about it Because they wanted to kind of they've been doing this thing for a lot longer The 90s thing for a lot longer where like Turnstile kind of dived into this weirdo Like I guess they put hardcore on the map that's definitely you know Turnstile hasn't changed really but there's there's a new kind of pop hardcore thing happening They're like avant-garde hardcore almost Or it's like a hardcore to me It's like a lot of the time you think of like the sound of it Yeah And it's these ignorant ass riffs It's just supposed to just beat you to a pulp in like a minute and a half and then call it a day And it's like this stuff is like way different But it's also like kind of pulling on similar routes Yeah I would completely agree where it's like I think with what virginity is doing Is there pulling a similar route that a military gun is when it comes to their 90s background Yes I think that it's really fun to trace those webs back to like their source Or like what we like to think their source is Where you can see now this weird throughline between virginity, military gun and Turnstile Like we're like you can see where like all these people like lean into certain things And what they touch on it, it's all this similar stuff Where virginity's vocal structure is this so cool, so clean This clean is the guitar and again reminds me of David Bowie, reminds me of spend doctors, reminds me of R&M And it's just so much fun and it still mixed really really well And I don't know, I'm not sure like I can't wait to like listen to the whole fucking record It's so good That's the first time I listen to him And I'm so excited to listen to the way home Okay, so you've got to check out their what was the name of the album though I think it's the last one It's the one with like a little kid on the cover with time Yeah, that is super good Okay, cool The song "History Worth Repeating" is probably my favorite song of theirs Okay, cool It's less than two minutes, it's so good I love it But I want to go back to the point that you made about kind of like the 90s throughline Yeah, because I think it's really weird and I think that this is very much an aspect of like the internet and kind of like globalization In a way is that it's really weird that these are like kind of the three bands that are like the most similar that you can think of that you're doing that But they aren't from the same scene Yeah, because they're completely different scenes, 100% Because like listening to this makes me very much think like Seattle type shit But they're from Florida Which is so weird Like Florida, I think of way more like upbeat like fun peppy shit And I think it's really interesting how we've moved farther away from each region having their own sound Like it still exists but I feel like less so I think it's because you have access to everything Yeah And I think it's because of the internet I think literally because of the internet you now don't have to make music that you're like geofenced into Yeah Where it's like listen, I'm not just stuck in Florida, I'm not just stuck in Nashville making Nashville music I can hear all this music from everywhere else to be inspired by it Exactly And that's I think it's really really cool that like it is officially like there's no segregation Like geomusically Not geopolitically, I'm gonna use the word geomusically Geomusically I think that it's really really important to understand that like yes there are old vibes of certain kinds of things And like let's say Nashville email, Nashville email has it like it's very very inspired by like everywhere else And like new filling email is probably inspired by like legends of that area Yeah Seattle email is the same thing But like everyone is starting to get like everything is starting to get completely mixed around Little bits from here, little bits from there Like I don't when I hear hey this is Atlanta bad I'm like I don't know I have to hear it first and then I'll be able to know what it's like Because I don't assume anymore what things are going to sound like because yeah I can't do that anymore Because everyone can hear anything else now it's kind of weird Yeah exactly because it's like you'll you'll hear a band and be like ooh that kind of sounds like Seattle That kind of sounds like you know they're playing it where they're from afterwards Yeah and it's like oh they're from Arkansas Okay sure Yeah shadow Arkansas I haven't heard a band from you yet but I can't wait That'll be my homework is to find one So what do we have up next? Okay the next song we have is Cali cousins no rain no flowers Okay Yeah this these shout out Cali cousins California cousins dog The spring rain with the sun Like a bridge with the sun So a page of the moon And the moon is blue No peace peace together in the puzzle [MUSIC]
♪ With your life in a bubble ♪ ♪ To lead a close up to your face ♪ ♪ Plus your stuff in no way ♪ ♪ Feel the rain, no flows ♪ ♪ Crush the corn, what you don't ♪ ♪ What you don't take the bus ♪ ♪ To the town that you take ♪ ♪ No rain, no flows ♪ ♪ Crush the corn, what you don't ♪ ♪ What you don't take the bus ♪ ♪ To the town that you take ♪ ♪ Oh, stay, stay here ♪ ♪ If you say, oh, take this ♪ ♪ If you say, oh, take this ♪ ♪ So patient ♪ ♪ How many years have passed ♪ ♪ Been waiting ♪ ♪ You're still waiting ♪ ♪ You're still waiting ♪ ♪ When the water comes ♪ ♪ The water comes down the wall ♪ ♪ When the water comes down the wall ♪ ♪ When the water comes down the wall ♪ California cousins, I swear to God. They're so cool, they're new record, they're new double, they call it the double EP. The first double EP of all time. It's incredible, it reminds me of just like, I've never heard anything like it. I think it's so much fun. They had posted a thing about one of their inspirations being hum, and that is like the secret inspiration for me. The first band I ever loved was "Hum." And so, when you ever hear a band saying they love "Hum," and they put their vocals a little bit behind the mix, that's a hum thing. It's interesting, 'cause that makes sense, but it's also kind of like, to me, like a metal thing. A little bit, too. And that was like, it was a really weird thing when I first started mixing more like poppy. Quarant music. Because I was so used to a lot of the music that I listened to, having the vocals kind of tucked back in the mix almost as like, the way that I think about it is like, that type of vocal is like, the vocalist is part of the band. Yeah. As opposed to like a more pop mix where there's the band and then there's the singer. Yeah, well, like, you've done mixing and producing stuff where you see a mixer sign, and the vocal is the money symbol. Right? So it's like, that's the money mic. So that person is separate than everyone else. I think that that's really interesting. Like, I love that guitar tone so much. We were talking about that. That's kind of like the military gun guitar tone that we were talking about. I don't know what you are doing, but it's fucking cool. I really don't, because that's something that I've always had an issue with, is trying to find how to get like a cool sounding clean tone that also has like a little bit of bite. That isn't like too bitey. Yeah. I think it's about also like, I think, actually, that's really, really interesting. I wonder if you're thinking about like the song structure writing wise? Like, what comes first? Do you think tone first for the song, or do you think like, well, you're writing it on like an acoustic, and then you think about it afterwards? Like, I think that's a weird thing, because like, it works really well for their song structure as well. Yeah. Well, and I think that that's interesting. That's kind of like something that I've always thought about in terms of like songwriting. A song is truly great. If you can strip it back to its most basic elements, and like, sing it and play it on an acoustic guitar, or a piano, or something like that. And I feel like a lot of people start writing songs that way. But, you know, there's also like, you can start with like a riff, or, you know, any of those sorts of things. I want to know how they picked it, because whatever they're doing, it's just this, it's so cool. Yeah. I think that on a structure on itself, I think that it's just, it's so much fun to hear, like, something that sounds new. I want to know who they're inspired by, because if, like, I want to know, like, if you've ever listened to hum, you can kind of hear it. Hum never really plays that fast. Hum is a really drony. I would say, like, hum is like, especially from like the record you prefer an Astride. There's maybe some higher BPM stuff, but it's fucking thick guitar. It's like the thickest shit in the planet. And Matt Talbot, the vocalist, is like singing about the weirdest shit in just, in the background. And then if you listen to Inlet, it's just like an even thicker thing. So, seeing, I would love to know more about like, where they got their, you know, that's actually a sign of a good band too, where I'm like, where'd they fucking come from? Like, how are they doing this? Where'd you get the idea to do that? Like, I think that they're doing such cool stuff. Like, we're going to listen to Top Area Creatures here in a little bit. And I can't wait to like, just talk about that, because it's just like, I've never heard anything like it. So, when you asked me to pick my songs, I wanted to pick stuff that's like, all of it's a little different, a couple of Nashville things, and just stuff that I've never heard stuff like this before. Yeah, I also really like in this song, the like, kind of like middle section. Yeah, that's a little middle section. It's like a party section almost. Yeah. Or it's like, it sounds so hype. And like, I can't wait to listen to that part again, because I thought that it was really interesting. And I feel like that part would go off live. I think that everyone's going to fucking sing that part in the show. Yeah. Just the no rain, no flowers. And no one's going to sing it. Everyone's going to fucking say this thing. Yeah, it's like this little chant about hating your fucking job. And it's just, it's so hype, I love it. Yeah, I think that this song is great. I also want to bring up, because we were joking about it. We were like, "Cali cousins, where are they from Rochester, New York?" [LAUGHTER] We were like, "It'd be so funny if they weren't from California." I love California cousins so much. And you know what? Shout out, maybe that makes sense. We do the cousins thing because of Carpool. [LAUGHTER] Because they are like the most New York band of all time. Oh yeah. So my next tune is one that got submitted directly to me through my email. If anybody watching this is interested in submitting music to potentially have featured on an episode,
[email protected]. Hell yeah. So this one, they sent me this first single, and then they sent me the new, the full album as well, which actually came out today. Okay, cool. And this is by a band, where are they from? I need to-- they're from Philly. They're like a pop rock type band. Okay, killer. It's named after the lead vocalist. I am so sorry, I'm probably going to butcher your name. Fatty day, corn gore? This is, as a DM and D&D, I'm just going to write that down, because that's a great name. So I really hope that I didn't butcher that name, but if I did, I'm extremely sorry. But this was the one and only single leading up to this album, which is called Growing Pains. But the actual song is called Pinky Ring. [Music] ♪ Leave me in the dark ♪ ♪ When you swore you'd always be there ♪ ♪ Guess always was a lie ♪ ♪ If you were there, then sit out ♪ ♪ This smaller bottle of pinky ring ♪ ♪ That we'd always be in there ♪ ♪ But you were there till you'd rather be ♪ ♪ You turned your back on ♪ ♪ Close me and lie in the Casper ♪ ♪ You didn't know let me disaster ♪ ♪ Take back your stupidity ring ♪ ♪ Take you back now ♪ [Music] ♪ Find me moving on ♪ ♪ To someone that would steal my hair ♪ ♪ The spark of us has gone ♪ ♪ And I wonder if it ever was there ♪ ♪ When you swore in my old pinky ring ♪ ♪ That we'd always be in there ♪ ♪ But you were there till you'd rather be ♪ ♪ You turned your back on ♪ ♪ Close me and lie in the Casper ♪ ♪ You didn't know let me disaster ♪ ♪ Take back your stupidity ring ♪ ♪ Did you ever care at all ♪ ♪ 'Cause I don't think you did ♪ ♪ All those stupid birds I'm just over here ♪ [Music]
A small biopic hearing, that we'd always be a thing But you went into your back on me You turned your back on me You pushed me behind the castle You didn't want me to be a disaster Take back your stupid picky hearing Take your bath now [Music] It's been a long time since I've listened to something that I thoroughly, truly enjoy As a guitarist, I've been playing guitarist since I was like 12 Okay, yeah, right on What are the names of the chords where you're just using the main little At the bottom of the neck, cowboy chords Okay, cool so these, I have a precision chords So hearing cowboy chords like in this, this is awesome Like hearing the D that they're playing where like you're hearing like this is like a. You feel like that's one of the first chords you learn when you're younger And like this is such a breakfast at Tiffany's, 90's thing And it's so much fun, also structure wise, this is a great fucking pop song No, it's literally like a perfect pop song structure Yeah, this should be, they should get this synced Oh my god, yes They should go and like shout out fucking fat today You guys need to get this, you need to go and sync right now You need to like, you could get on Netflix shows like immediately Commercials like anything This is, you're making like the perfect shit for this stuff It's so cool Well, and this is like the perfect time of year for this to drop Uh-huh So it's like the summary is like sounding thing Like if the song popped off, then it's so easy Because it is the cowboy chords or the campfire chords Yeah, it is the other. You could just pull out a guitar and play it around the campfire If you're like just jamming with some people or something like that There's something about listening to those chords Where like you start seeing like the hand structure And you're like okay cool Like I'm listening to right now, I'm like okay cool, I know how to play this Because you already kind of know how everything is structured And then you remember that like it's all songs are so similar But when you use those chords because no one does that anymore Like it's so much fun to like see people taking. I don't know, it's just, it's again in 1997 That's just what this sounds like And it's got like the notebook vibes It's got like something with Mandy Moore in it Like this is got like the perfect summer rom-com. This is perfect rom-com music, and I'm obsessed Oh my god, yes! It's so good, it's literally called Pinky Ring Because I thought we were. It's the chorus, we. Something about Pinky Rings and wanted to be a thing Yeah, promised on your Pinky Ring that we'd always be a thing Yeah, it's so good like it's so good It's so like it's pink poppy Like it's pastel, it's like. It's dandelions, man It's like it's so summer. It's the perfect. It's released in April? It's on the correctly. Yeah, this released in April, and then the album released end of May Okay, cool, it's perfect This is the. This is like the. The perfect time to release it It's also like Pantune season? Yeah, yeah Like this is so great, I love it I'm just. It's such a ray of sunshine Exactly! The other thing that I love about it too is the fact that it's such a simple pop song Yeah! But there's so much if you want to dig into it There's so many. You're the cowlickly Yes! It's so. It was fucking. It changes a couple of times and it's so fun So many dry layers and stuff like that There's little just like simple guitar parts Like there's one that just goes like. Just like the most basic thing but because you layered on with everything else or the hand drums The hand drums, like the auxiliary section His vocal line, there's a part where at the end where he does like he trails off and goes really high And just the way he does that I'm like a piano wise, whenever I see a vocal structure, I always think about it I was like a noce in the piano Okay, like going up and doing that towards the end was just like It's just the perfect time to do it, the notes he hit were perfect It's just. I don't think that. Like that song's a 10 out of 10 I don't think it's completely flawless It has no identity issues Like it knows exactly what it's doing It knows exactly what it's doing and does it great Yes, it's perfect Absolutely All right, so what am I coming up next? The next song that we're going to do is "Vonigate" by Bummer Hill Okay Bummer Hill, I love you This album came out what? A month ago? A month ago? Okay, yeah We played a show with them and I actually blew up my voice before I played Because I was singing along too much I know every word of this fucking record and it is for me Like I'm going to have a really hard time doing albums of the year Because right now it's Bummer Hill, "Townies" and who will talk. We'll talk about three of the bands that are listed zero for my favorite records of the year And "Topia 8 Creatures" Yeah, I only listen to this album once so far I think But if I remember, I liked it a lot, so it's so cool Let's give this a spin And start again Don't take that fall The rich time you're here What is it that you found? I told a saying goodbye To you Life is gonna catch up to you and you'll be a different person Take it after you It's not so hard to do I know I shouldn't My face is changed by the day Despite it all be okay You're better off alone Take a place Don't forget You're never alone Can't get inside my head ♪ Feels like I've come across a new dawn But now I can't turn around My mind can't decide Feels like I've come to this place before But now I can't turn around My mind can't decide Feels like I've come across a new dawn Dude, I forgot about the transition into the next song Dude, that's probably why I thought We were talking about it I was like, is this the song with the Scott break? Probably because I thought that it was the same song Because the transition is so loud Shout out fucking Bummer Hill for like, I think it's seven songs Yeah, and it is Everyone needs to listen to Far Move just in general That's how the record opens That's the, it's my favorite opening this year It's perfect It's this one five two one four two four They just keep transitioning to faster versions of it Yeah, and it's just so much fun And they have this motif That's the whole record about breath And it's, it's so smart Some of the best songwriting I've heard I'm fully obsessed It takes you on such a journey It's such a journey dude The, the fills are perfect They are, I think that they're gonna be huge And I think they should be huge They deserve it Yeah, I think, like I said, I only listen to this record Like once or twice, I think before this But like, I thoroughly enjoyed all of it And it really is super cool what they're doing with like song structure And stuff like that Because it is like if you just listen to the riffs on their own It's extremely simple Yeah, but it's like the way that you put it together And the way that you structure it is what makes it really, really interesting It's so dynamic at points where they, they do this thing Where they, they're, they're, they're completely fucking with you Where like in this song
Specifically, we're at to have these cute little almost Cuban versions of the one five two five one four two four and it's So it's cute almost and it's adorable and you're like, oh my god Is this like I'm gonna start like I don't understand I'm so okay with them fucking with me Yeah, because they just they just turn around and they just make this the same thing just heavier And it's just so much fun to sing along to homie's voice is just like I think that you're one of the best singers out right now Your vocal tone is flawless. I don't know. I don't like I could keep going How much I just truly love bummer Hill well the thing that I think is really interesting too I didn't even realize that's only a three-minute song Uh-huh, and there's like six different parts. Yeah, exactly. I think it's really cool How you're able to fit so much stuff into that it's like a pacing of like a James Bond movie like the best James Bond movies are like you've gone to like 10 places and it felt like a four-hour movie But it was only for two hours like this song feels like five and a half minutes and it's less than you would ever expect Yeah, no, I I think that it's really interesting the song structure is obviously great and like the the little bit to where it like Goes into three a little while - I've said this a ton of times But I think it's really cool how a lot of Musicians are starting to play with not only song structure, but also playing with the timing and like Doing stuff in like different time signatures different tempos. Yeah, and like all this stuff just makes for like It's like everybody's trying to make pot music, but we all were like raised on like progressive shit Yeah, it's like I think I think a lot of us are old choir kids and a lot of us are old band kids that we have to learn those things Yeah, yeah, so it's like you know in the two thousands or in the two thousand tens God, everyone that was then I hope I think I think I might be the oldest one in DIY But in the two thousands like when I was in band and choir and like learning shit in 5/8 and doing this and being a piano and like You know listening I mean there wasn't a lot of like I guess it may be in metal and stuff like that in the early two in the late two thousand Where they did a bunch of weird stuff like between the barrier to me and like you know learning those kind of things But like yeah being inspired and decided to write and things like that I would love to know more from those bands like okay. Why did you want to do this two four randomly right here? Yeah, like why did you decide to do this in seven eight like it's so cool? I think it's also like some stuff is kind of like randomly subconscious to sure be it where it's like you think about something and you You just play how something feels like you're unlocking it It yeah, and then you realize when you go into the studio and you try and play it to a click for the first time You're like what the why can't I figured this oh my god and then designing the actual dog to like be like oh cool Okay, it's it's five bars of seven eight and then a bar of five eight So you have to design this in your dog and then it's clicking that exactly right It's it's really funny when you like realize like oh, I thought that I was playing this in 4/4 But it turns out it's in it's like 4/4 with like a bar of 6/4 No, I think that strictly bummer hill. Whatever they do next will be they'll be playing anthems The they'll be playing arenas like shortly. I think that they could be like the next big band Truly just from this record alone. So my next song is the From another Nashville band. I don't know if they've always been Nashville based or if they're Nashville based now I think they might have moved but band Winona fighter. Oh, I'm I'm sure you're familiar with so Winona I love them. They've been they've been doing so I think that they're still here They are like I know so much about them just because they're like Nashville like the new natural hero Yeah, like they whether they just got signed a rise, right? Yeah, so they are I think that they're all Traveling all the time now because they're they're blowing up mix make so they go to LA They go to do they like and they've been involved with the scene for so long their bassist is I think the secret thing which is That homie is the one that produced it. Okay, it's Coco's Husband that is the bassist and he's involved with lots of different lots of like the secret Nashville shit got you Okay, yeah, that that's one of the things that I found really interesting because they blew up on tiktok With the song "Hams in a Glass" last year it like that the videos that they made for that just did numbers and that song Absolutely like skyrocketed. Yes, but I think it's really interesting and you don't have as many bands that do this anymore I feel like which is that they had been an active band for a really long time Uh-huh and had been playing and I think it's really interesting. You don't see that as much I think what mostly because of the rise of recording technology being so available But you see a lot of bands that start releasing singles and EPs and stuff like that before they really like make a name for Themselves in the local scene and start like playing live a lot and and that sort of thing and I think it might also be the whole like Being a songwriter and not having a band yet. Yeah, that sort of aspect. I think that's what happened because they were all involved in music I remember that it's Coco Coco's original count used to just be her name on Instagram and she changed it personally to Winona fighter Oh, and so if I remember that correctly again when you're in Nashville It's a small fucking city said everyone follows everybody. Yeah. No. She has been basically playing She did like the the she was playing Nashville fucking Broadway. Mm-hmm. She was doing vocal stuff She was be like you know, she's the alt girl. Oh, I don't know in like in those bands and she has an incredible voice And so she was doing like all this late night stuff and then also turning around and like hustling during the day So like she that whole band has been doing stuff in Nashville I'm not sure if Winona fighter was this thing for so long rather than they Really met all the right people at the right time Yeah, and then had all this stuff and then tick-tock was the final like secret X powerpuff that Yeah, the final piece of the final They're just incredible online presence and she is just so funny. Yeah, so this is this is their new song Subaru Which is actually not not a new song Is it's actually from their original EP father figure from 2022? But now they're like releasing it again as a single leading up to what I assume is going to be a full-length album It's like me doing and no thanks again. Yeah Which was part of why I thought This is funny when you were gonna when you brother someone's like he's gonna do a fucking no-thanks They're redoing Subaru. Yeah, and this song rules like I know it's great. This is my favorite from their original EP. I think it was I think I liked you look like a drunk Phoebe Bridgers better. Yes, but but Like that entire EP was great hands in a glass. Obviously great and then now they're redoing this song for what I again I assume is going to be a debut full-length album. Yeah, which I'm super stoked for because everything that they've dropped has been So fucking good heat after heat. Yes, so let's give this a spin man. Oh, yeah, let's rip it Oh Wheels on my Subaru Might be giving out Headed from the East Coast That I never leave it But I don't want to wait for you How do I get better? No stress got to get out of here I gotta get out all night. I'm thinking West gonna take it out of here All the my pockets no money in my wallet Hey, me down Subaru It's enough to get me through And I don't want to wait for you How do I get better? No stress got to get out of here I I I gotta get out all night I'm thinking head west gonna take it out of here Oh How do I get better no stress got to get out of here? I I I gotta get out all night
♪ I'm thinking, hey, where's gonna take it out of here ♪ ♪ I, I, I gotta get out ♪ (upbeat rock music) - I think the mix is different. - I think the same stems. - The same stems. - Yeah, okay. - Yeah, that bassist is, I think, he's been blowing up on a production level. - That's awesome. - He's involved with a bunch of record labels, and so he probably just did a remix of it. - Yeah, that would make sense. - Yeah. - We went back and listened to the original version and this version. It's almost definitely the same recordings. I think it's just a different mix. - It's really cool though, because I think it's a little bit punchier, and I think that with the inspiration of signing to Rye's records, I think that homie was feeling it and decided to go into a couple of lower lofts. - Well, it's really funny, 'cause I know that, like, I did that with Drift-In, too, where there's two versions of it. There's the version that, this on the Changes EP, and then there's the version that I really, like, as a single when I first came out with it. - I mean, shit. How many versions of Exit has the thing for us? Like, I think that we've, that was-- - When Nick first brought that to my attention, I was, like, mind blown, 'cause it's, like, it's all, like, very subtle changes, but it is, like, it is enough that if you listen to 'em back-to-back, you're, like, oh yeah, the compression is, like, slightly different in here. - It's, like, it's also, like, different tones that we've been trying to do, like, when you are re-releasing a song, it has to be pretty close. And you should try to be pretty close. Except for us, where we were, like, "Ah!" The original version of this was, like, I mean, when it comes to Subaru, that song is, like, that's the first song that I, when I connected with them on TikTok, I saw them and I was like, "Oh, holy shit, this is great." - Yeah. - Um, these, they're, like, the new Nashville, like, Paramore. It's, they're, they're fucking awesome. - Yeah, the videos that I've seen, I haven't gotten to see them live. I assume-- - No, you haven't. - No, I'm so, like, from the get-go, they didn't play, they probably played a lot of local shows. I think they played maybe a couple. - Okay. - But, like, they blew up that quick, they were, like, they were immediately, like, on, they played with, like, Inkibus, and they've played with Take It Back Sunday already. - Wow, that's why. - They've gone, they started, kind of, touring immediately. I think they have a bunch of connections, like, with booking and stuff. - Okay. - Where they started just, like, a meet, like, they were, they were least father figure, and they didn't run it. - And they didn't run it. - And just hit it. - Nice. - And, uh, Gainesville, I know that they were all about, they were, basically, inducted into Fest, like, immediately. - I was gonna say, 'cause I know that, I saw them play, like, maybe it was Fest, maybe it was, like, Bonnaroo, or something like that. - It was something at Gainesville. - Yeah. - But they've been doing a bunch of, like, you know, these are not, like, these are people that have worked their asses off and pulled back the slingshot before the EP. - Yeah. - So, like, you know, I think a lot of EP is part of pulling the slingshot back for a lot of bands. - Oh, yeah. - Where, like, you released the EP, and that's the first pull of the slingshot. - Yeah. - Before they ever released any music, this slingshot was already pulled back. - But, but I think that that's also the unique thing of having been in the industry for so long and different whole. - Yeah, they had fucking everybody, they knew everything, like, they're all incredibly talented. - Yeah, exactly. Like, most people, you release your first EP, it's like, we just became a band, we just started writing songs together. Whereas, like, you know, this is more like, we've all been doing this shit for, like, you know, probably close to a decade or something like that. - They're all so incredible, and they're all been involved with so many different things, session-wise. - Yeah, I just think that, you know, they are part of, like, a Nashville DIY-ness, but it came from a different angle, which is it came from being almost-- - When you do work on Broadway, you are almost a session artist, but for the bar. - Yeah, and so, these people have been session artists, and also, like, in recordings and stuff. They've worked in, like, this industry and did the hard, did hard shit. - Yeah. - Being able, like, in order to play downtown, if you want to, in downtown on Broadway, you have to know, like, from this list of 100 songs, and you have to nail it. Like, you have to know, be able to play one of these 100 songs at any given moment, which I think is fucking insane, but when you have so many talented guitars, you have to set the bar pretty high. - Well, and that's the thing. I think that that's one of the weird and also, like, unique things about, like, the culture of Nashville. - Yeah. - Is there's that aspect of, like, I mean, you're to the point where, like, a lot of it's kind of, you know, country stuff and, like, that sort of deal. But it's, like, Nashville almost has its own repertoire. It's own, like, what's the jazz, the real book, or whatever, with jazz, where it's, like, all of these songs that, if you're gonna be professional jazz musician, you're basically just expected to know these songs. - Yeah, start there. - Yeah, exactly. I feel like that's kind of, like, if you're gonna be trying to, as opposed to being a band that's from Nashville. - Yeah. - If you're trying to be a Nashville musician, - Yes. - That is your real book. - Yeah, you have to start at, like, these hundred fucking songs. And once you have those hundred songs, like, memorize, once you have, like, this massive amount memorized, that's where you are now level one. - Yeah. - In Nashville. And it's, like, never go to fucking karaoke in Nashville. Never, never, some 80-year-old is gonna come out and do a Johnny Cash that will blow you out of the water. Like, if you were from, like, it's just, I came from Chicago, I do a pretty good, I don't want to miss a thing by Erasmith. - Okay. - And I came in, I did, - Is that your go-to karaoke? - That's my go-to karaoke song. - I like it. - And it's, I was blown away by people that are just, like, people that live here. - Yeah. - They just happen to sing incredible. It's a, we're known a fighter, first of all, incredible name. - Yes. - Are they, we talk a lot on DIY about the concept of, like, up next. I think that broadly in pop rock, I think they are up next. - Yeah, I don't think that it's limited. Like, a lot of people, it's like, oh, they're next up, but probably not necessarily, like, in the grand scheme of things. It's like, in DIY, they're gonna be the next big thing. - Yeah, like, DIY, there's like up next, but it's like, oh, but it's like a floor in a building. So, like, so, like, there's DIY as, like, the first three floors of a building, and then, like, to get out of that is, like, if you're finally getting radio play, and they're getting radio play, and they're about to do, like, a re-- Like, they're not, like, the LP that they're gonna release is probably gonna take them. They're next in that level. - Yeah, they're gonna be playing, like, fest that, like, regular people would go to. - Yeah, there are music videos, like, if MTV was, like, still a thing, they'd be all over MTV right now. - I'm sure they'd probably get played on, like, like, Octane or something like that, like, like, serious XM. - Yes, they probably have access to all that stuff, and I think that-- - Well, then, the rise records aspect of it, too. I mean, as soon as you get put on, like, a big ass label like that, like, something's gonna happen. - And, like, that was, a couple of years ago, my wife and I were talking about it, we were like, okay, cool, this is them. In Nashville, you can kind of tell when that's gonna happen, and they have the right mix between pop and rock, and this grungy thing, girlfriended, like, it's totally the right ingredients for, like, this thing to explode. - Yeah, and, well, and I think that that's a big part of it, too, because, like, I mentioned the rise records thing, but it's, like, there's also so many acts being signed to bigger record labels based on TikTok success. - Totally. - And the record labels, as a whole, are having so much trouble with longevity of their artists, because they're signing people who have a viral moment on TikTok. - And it's not, yeah. - Over by the time the contracts are signed. - Exactly. - And then they're trying to get it to happen again, and that's just not how the internet works. - No. - And that's the great thing about Winona Fighter, and I would say also, like, Dury, as well. - Yeah, totally. - If you're gonna go with, like, you know, artists that blew up on TikTok. And that are going doing more than their just their viral moment. - Is that they had a viral moment. They had a great idea. But there's also just great music behind it, as well. It's not like, oh, I wrote one good hook. It went viral, and then, you know. - Yeah, Shout out Winona Fighter, and Dury, for, like, breaking through. This is, it's so sick, especially homies from Nashville. - Yeah. - So sick. - Yeah, it's great. - So, yeah. - What do we have up next? - Oh, the next song that I have, we're gonna listen to Topiary Creatures. - Yeah, you guys are, this is, this is, we're gonna do snakes in the wall. - This song. - Again, there's three bands we're gonna talk to about that I'm gonna gush over, and no one will know which one I like more, because I don't know. - Yeah. - I don't know, yeah. I'll find out at the, when I do my top three, but we're tied. - We're all fucking tied. They're also interesting. But yeah, here's Snakes in the Wall by Topiary Creatures. [Music] ♪ There's a bass tree painted wall on my head ♪ ♪ For searching out of nowhere ♪ ♪ My brother, he looked concerned ♪ ♪ He's so sure ♪ ♪ I'm saying ♪ ♪ There's snakes behind your head ♪ ♪ Through the waters ♪ ♪ Riding with their outside ♪ ♪ And I can't prove you wrong ♪ ♪ Who would it all stand to take to heart ♪
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ It's just the other side of the wall. It's just that on the bench grinder. It's just the washing machine. I was just struggling with my feet again. Got a little answer. ♪ How do I live? How do I live? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ It's so good. There's nothing. Talk about letting a band just do whatever they want. Give them the whole palette. Give them the whole. All the colors. It's just, and that's the true maximalist. Those are the homies. And that was the thing. As we were talking about earlier, there were bands being inspired by more avant-garde, just maximalist, progressive shit. This is the natural conclusion of that in DIY, where it just takes all of these things that are very well seen as these are DIY types of sounds in terms of the guitar tones and the bass and all that. But it's also like, it's just so progressive with the song structure and like, just all of this craziness. There's so much good lyrical content and something that, so I got the chance to interview the lead singer. And he told me that he had written all these poems first. And this was the first one he wrote. And he was going to be a book. Oh, I remember listening to that. So all of this stuff is just poems turned into song? Which is a really weird way to do it. That's so fucking cool because nothing rhymes. It's all just things that sound good. Like, it's just these great-- I don't know. I don't-- when I'm writing a song, I'm thinking about a-b-a-c-a-b-a-c again. It's like-- I'm thinking about all of these schemes and stuff. It's like, I've never been more inspired to just like, free write and then put that to music. Like, I think that on its structure itself, there's a really hard part in there in the middle of the chorus, where it drops down and you hear those chuggy guitars. And then there's synths again. Yeah. And it's hitting me with every spectrum of what I like in music. And it's still high BPM. It's still very, very like. It's not all over the place. It is completely in control. Yes. Every aspect of it is completely in control, including the bass line in the beginning, that's fucking Jefferson Airplane-esque. And there's all this-- everything is just so cool. And the length of the way that they explain this is there's sparkly punk, sparkly maximalist punk. Yeah. And that is exactly what it is. And I'm so proud to like, know them because I think that this-- I think this record is something truly special. Oh, 100%. It's so unique in a way that a lot of things aren't. And I think I like what you said there about it being-- not being all over the place, but being extremely in control. Yes. It's one of the things where as a listener, you go, this is fucking nuts. But you can tell that as a band, everything is so calculated. Yeah. It's all like-- Every little sound. Yeah. And it's like the way that they put that together so that it sounds kind of like chaos, but also in control is wild. Here's a band that's on the other side of the coin with the chaos, but it feels like it's-- it is in control, but it sounds like it's not. Okay. I'm listening to, like, "Ulong." Okay, yeah. Listen to it. It feels a little like, "Haberdash." It's almost like slapped together sometimes, but you know that those guys are like, that's what they want. Uh-huh. They wanted it to be like this fucking twinkly, like, loud. Guitarists are just kind of feel like they're spaghetti. Like, it's-- I didn't get it at first with when I listened to them. It was like that-- I hadn't heard of them before the new album dropped. Yeah. Like a month, month and a half ago, something like that. Like-- And the first time I listened to it, I was like, "What the hell is going on?" Like, if you listen to "Ulong" and you listen to, like, "Oggberg the Nerd." Yeah. It's like that-- that was like this-- let's play interesting tone guitars, where it's a little bit cleaner. Let's scream over shit. And it feels like it's-- and it was like a brand new thing. Yeah. And they both kind of like-- I think they're both New York. Uh, I think it's like-- That sounds right. Yeah. So if New York punk was like super weird in 2001, 2002, when, like, with, like, Interpol, um, the two bands that I would say that it was, like, spearheaded, like, this new twinkly fucking thing that's happening. Yeah. It's "Oggbert the Nerd" and "Ulong" from back in the day. Sure, sure. Um, and it's been a really, really cool-- like, when you-- I want to see who Topiary Creatures are going to inspire. Yeah. Because I think that, I, you know, talking to them and who their inspirations are, it doesn't-- it doesn't sound like them. They're combining a bunch of different stuff to be this new thing. Yeah. And I'm excited to see, like, who's-- oh, yeah. You know, five years ago. Oh, yeah, that-- you know, that Topiary Creatures record. We listen to a lot, and so I made this. Yeah. I want to see what people take from this, because they're so much to take. I also think it's interesting, kind of, kind of, like, what you were talking about. I feel, like, also, kind of, like, the other side of the coin parallel to this is, like, I feel, like, this is the punk version of what Glass Beach is doing with emo. Totally. Where it's, like, it's the song structures and, like, these, like, very, like, poignant lyrics that are less lyrics and more poetry observation is that sort of thing. And I feel, like, they are very much, like, in the same-- In the same-- In the same conversation, but, like, they do it completely differently. It's, like, the same ingredients, but one's baked differently. Yeah. They're, like, they're cooked differently. And, like, they have, like, their two similar dishes in ingredients. But it's, like, ones for fucking lunch and ones for dessert. Yeah. It's really, really interesting to see, like, what everyone's been doing with this kind of thing. It's so cool. It's wild. So, my final song of the morning, I guess, I was going to say after you knew it's still morning time, is a Detroit band, a blackened-do metal band that I found. And it's really interesting. I don't know-- have you ever, like, just browsed for music on Bandcamp? I have not, um, the last-- I strictly use Twitter for, like, finding new music. Okay. I feel like that, um, the people that I follow, I've following enough people to bring more of those people to me. Okay. Or, like, you know, again, following Will from Fulham Meltdown, like, following Camp Trash in Francia. Shout out Keegan, like, one of the best people on Twitter who's always showing, like, the best shit. That's how I heard about talking meds, taking meds. Yep. Uh, another great '90s band. Oh, yeah, yeah. Uh, who found Liquid Mike, and, like-- Yeah. So, like, you know, I, I'm following all the right people in order to find sure the best new music. Okay. Sure, sure. But I should do it. You know, now, I've taken enough time with Bandcamp. I should, like, actually explore it and use it as its purpose. They, they have a really cool tool. 'Cause, like, uh, I, I think that most people, when they go to Bandcamp, they think of it as, like, I know this band. Mm-hmm. I want to go to Bandcamp. And, yeah, I want to go to Bandcamp as a way to buy their music, or buy their merch, or whatever, to support them. Because, you know, they're the platform that pays artists, you know, the best for their stuff. Yeah. Which, more or less so now, like, since they got bought out, but-- We just don't know what they're doing. That, that's the, they're here and we're there. Uh, but they have this great tool, if you scroll down to, like, the bottom of the homepage. Which is weird, 'cause it's so buried, like, nobody would ever scroll.
all down that far, but it's a great browsing tool where you can be like, I want this genre, I want, and you can even browse by location. - Cool. - So you can be like, I want metal. It goes, what kind of metal do you want? Do you want, do you want death metal? Do you want some thrash? - You want a tagging system and then shuffling. - And then you can filter by location, you can filter by most popular or newest releases. And so this was, I was like, I want to find some more Detroit metal bands. So I just went in there, I just, I just put in metal, Detroit, filter by new. - That's hilarious. - Yeah, and so I found this band called Temple of the Fuzz Witch. - Okay, that's some D&D-S, shit, that's so cool. - So this is from their new album that came out beginning of April called Apotheosis. - Okay, cool. - And this song is called Bow Down. Like I say, it's, this stuff, it sounds like all like exactly what it's supposed like. Yeah, I would have an album called Apotheosis, but do metal bands. - For a black and do metal bands. But like it's just be what you say you are yeah
And like in like fuck it and just say that you're doing this and everyone should be okay with the big kid. You're gonna have some people that are gonna be like, wow, well you're BPM is, and it's just like, it's, I think those type of people and the metal community itself wanted to only have it. It was a get, you know, for themselves. And so they created, you know, again, gates. - It's a way of making yourself feel special. - Yeah, and it should be for everyone, because I think it's, because music can be made by anyone and it's, again, like we talked about, it's not geomusical anymore. - Yeah, it's literally for everyone and everyone fucking loves this stuff. So let it, let's all be inspired by it rather than be, can be about it. - But yeah, this song, this entire project, it was really cool. - I'm gonna listen to this. - 'Cause it's like, it's really heavy, but like you said, it's also like fairly accessible in terms of like, the vocals, they've got the black metal thing where it's like, they're very like kind of like soaked in reverb and like hard to understand. But they're not like, it's not like death metal vocals where it's like really harsh and grating to somebody who's not used to like listening to that sort of thing. - Yeah. - 'Cause like, you hear just like the, like just the crazy like gutter rolls of shit. And it's like, not everybody wants to hear that. I do quite often, but it's like, it's like that, that's not gonna be like, you know, it's something that you're just gonna pull up for like a regular person and they're gonna go, oh yeah, that's cool. - There is, okay, do you have your heart of the band? Well, the man, Hardy. - Yeah. - Okay, so like, Hardy is bringing like, almost a metal, almost like this, a darker type of metal to country. - Yeah, it's a very interesting kind of, kind of what he's doing. Like, he's so fucking cool, dude. Like, I think Hardy is so fucking cool. Like, everyone loves Morgan Wallen. Morgan Wallen, you know, has, you know, has a troubled past, I will say, just to make it very, very clear, I think throwing chairs at cops is cool. (laughs) I think that's super based, but the other stuff he did is completely unexcusable and whatever. But I think that everyone needs to keep their eyes on Hardy because I think Hardy is doing what these guys are doing, where they're bringing in approachableness. And you get to see, in Nashville, I get to see a really weird thing, where I get to see what the heartland thinks of things. - Oh, yeah, yeah. - And so the heartland loves country music. - Yeah. - And the heartland loves, easily digestible and they love blues. Like, it's like, it's all in the same thing. I think that a band like this could totally make it in more of the public because of how bluesy it is. I think the heartland would love this type of music. They just would get scared of like, the guttural black metal part of it. But everything outside of it, like, everyone still likes Macedon. - Yeah. - Like, Macedon, I feel like it reached a peak in their career because they were doing interesting bluesy stuff. And they had a clean vocalist almost for the entire time. - Yeah, I think that that's, honestly, the biggest turn off for a lot of people. It is like those harsh, garal vocals. And like, you know, especially like you go into like, the death core type shit where it's like, you're not even saying words at this point. You just sound like a monster. - You know what, if you're watching this, you'll see it, there's been these two moments where both Ryan and I have wanted to do it, wanted to do a vocal. And we both know that we can't do it. And we both stopped ourselves. - Wait, wait, wait, wait, I'm doing it. I'm like, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to sound like shit. - No, I can't do it. There's nobody I can do it. We both like took the breath and everything. - Oh, there's no way. I'm not, no one, listen, it is such a talent. It is such a talent to be able to do that shit. And it is literally diaphragm throat work, man. It is so cool, but you wouldn't catch me dead. It's fucking trying to do that. - It is so weird, 'cause I've wanted to know how to do it for so long. And there's a million videos online that claim to teach you how to do it. And they're all like interesting ways of like trying to get you to control your throat. - Yeah. - So they're like, make this sound. This is a sound that a normal person is able to make. Now, do what you did there, but try and talk while you're doing it. And that's where I'm like, what? (laughing) It's like, they're trying to give you the little breadcrumb way of like doing it. It's cool. I just know that like, I have such a little high squeaky voice when I sing that like, I can't, I can't, like, I can scream stuff. I can't do like any of that low, weird stuff. Even like a military gun-esque, like, talkies thing, like, or even turn style, like, they do it in such a cool way. That's just unapproachable. You have to know your own voice. But like, again, I think that the heartland is waiting for the next thing to find. We're like, nickel-back, nickel-back was pretty fucking heavy but the heartland loved it. - Yeah. - And, but it's again, it's all blues. It's this whole thing. I would love, like, this is a blues metal band. - Yes. - Stone-hub blues metal band. I think people would love this. - Yeah, I think I'm going to be looking out to see when they're playing shows because it sounds so cool. And I feel like you don't see a whole lot of scenes for that sort of thing. - Yeah, and it's not, and maybe it's a scene list, but because it's like, no one, you know, DIY-ness, the DIY scene is full of people just trying new stuff. - Yeah. - And this is old. - Yeah, no, this is a very older style. - This is a very older style. So it's like, it kind of weirdly doesn't fit, but like, people that are like, I would love to see, I would love to meet, like, the group of people that, like, truly love this shit. - Yeah. - Because there's got to be a way to talk to them about, like, well, where do the, what are the other bands sound like? Are they all this kind of bluesy, like, I don't know, dark smoke, fucking, like, it's so cool that they're doing it like this, but I just want to meet more bands that are doing this kind of thing. - There's a great label called Whedian. - See, it's all stoner metal, it's so fucking tight. - No, it is. And they do really cool compilations. A new one just came out like the other day, but they do these really cool compilations of these stoner and doom metal bands. And they do it from different geographical places. - Cool. - It's like, these are a bunch of bands that we found from Wisconsin. A bunch of bands that we found from Arizona. A bunch of bands that we found from the UK. And it's really cool, their compilations are great. If you're looking for more stuff that's kind of similar to this, just dive into that label. It's amazing. - All right, cool. I'm gonna do the last song. - All right. - All right, so the last song I wanna do is "Dog Yard" by Tony. - Woo boy. - And this song is not indicative of what the rest of the record is like. This is their weird one. - I was gonna say, this is a different one. This is different from a lot of the rest of it. - I wanted to play Russ, but y'all fucking already did Russ. And Russ is great. Russ is one of my favorite vocal lines in this episode. - This episode's actually gonna come out before, but we recorded it for you. - That's hilarious. - But we recorded it for you. - Okay, so in a month, in a month, you guys are gonna hear this song or called Russ. - Don't look it up for a month. (laughing) - Just listen to the whole album. - Just listen to the whole album. (upbeat rock music) ♪ Say it to my face like you'd be there ♪ ♪ Then I will die alone ♪ ♪ Just to do me this like I'd done ♪ ♪ You're collecting fast and time ♪ ♪ You're relating to the swan and the sun ♪ ♪ You could have been if you'd say you'd say so ♪ (upbeat rock music) ♪ Say it to my face like you'd be there ♪ ♪ Say it to my face like you'd be there ♪ ♪ Say it to my face like you'd be there ♪ ♪ ♪ I don't mind feeling all the time ♪ ♪ All the time ♪ ♪ You're so far away ♪ ♪ You're so far away ♪ ♪ You're so far away ♪
(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Oh, God damn, yeah. This is, so, if you guys haven't listened to the Tony's record, this is the weird song from it. - Yeah. - Everything else, I would say these guys are like the new spin doctors. Like, these guys are doing this really, really cool. - It is emo. It is part of the fucking emo spectrum, but they have a clean tone, and they're a little, they lean a little less twinkly. - Yeah. - They do twinkle. They do twinkle a lot, especially in this song. - Especially in this song. - Especially in this song, there's a really classic like twinkle line, but if you listen like faux pas. - Yeah. - Like, there is just, there's this 90s thing. - That's just a straight, straight like, pop rock. - It's pop rock. It's this night, it's, again, 1997, 1998. Breakfast had Tiffany's shit, and it's so fucking cool for a three piece to be this interesting. - Yeah. - They're doing such interesting things. The whole record of this, I'm certain, is an incredible record, but this song shines because of how different it is. This is their, like, cool. We're going to keep our same clean tones. - Yeah. - For the, that we use for the whole record, and we're going to just do this kind of really, really hard, like, here's, here's our, like, I don't wanna say it's their hardcore song. I would say, like, this is their hard song. - Yeah, it's, it's the rhythm section that makes it sound heavy. - It's so cool. I don't know, we were just, while we were listening to it, we, I'm nervous because if you, homie can down pick that the whole time. - I'm going to lose my fucking mind. 'Cause that's, when you go in, when you go in six, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, like, I mean, that's crazy. I don't think so. I was, like, playing along with them. Like, I bet he's doing, you know, the full up and downs, 'cause the upstroke is on that one spot. - Yeah. - But, like, it's just, in the bass, like, we know that homie is just, like, walking the whole time along it. - It's a very classic kind of bass part. It's not quite, like, a lot of bands have the tendency for the bass to either play, like, just the root, or to do, or to basically just, like, double the riff, like, an octave lower. And they're doing their own bass parts as, like, another, like, almost countermelody at times. - I would say it's, like, they're doing, like, this stuff that is, like, great harmony. - Yeah. - But it is, it lean so, this bassist lean so countermelody, throughout the whole record, and it's so much fun. I just think that townies, again, I, of all the five bands I've picked, like, these guys, they're homies. They're around the same record label as me, so I am not biased. (laughing) I've been listening to this record. I did a review for them for "Lonely Ghost." - Oh, yeah, that's right. - And I've listened to this record a lot, and I'm, again, obsessed with it. I think it's just, I think that they, I think they could fuck it explode. If, like, I wanna know what they're gonna do the rest of the year, like, on a business level, I think they are primed for, like, something huge to happen for them. - To me, I think that this came out at the perfect time, because, for me, and I don't know if this makes sense to you, but, to me, it scratches the same itch as the liquid mic record did. - Totally, fuck yeah. - And I, 'cause that came out, I think, like, late January, or early February, or something like that. And so this was, like, the perfect time when I was, like, starting to, like, burn myself out on it where I had been listening to it so much, that, you know, you get to the point you're like, "Oh, this is so good, I'm gonna listen to it all the time." And then after a while, you're like, "It doesn't hit as hard 'cause I've just been listening to it." - Yeah, you bitched it. - Yeah, and so this came out at the perfect time where it, like, scratched that same itch. And I think that a lot of it has to do with the fact that it's cool guitar music with great melody. - Yeah, because that, that's an aspect that you don't get necessarily all the time. And I think that it's that focus on melody but also having memorable guitar riffs that don't sound like anybody else. - Yeah, there are, like, just these incredible moments, specifically on the record that are forever ingrained in my mind. And for this, it's the triplets at the end. It's the vocal crunch of, like, in the beginning, that growl that he does is he's screaming along to this where they're finally going into, there's something about the mix that they do in the drums in the beginning, where you think it's gonna be these really heavy crash cymbals or not, but it's not. It's something else, and he's blast beating through something. And it might be the ride, I don't know, but, like, you feel like it's going to be something that it's not. - It's like slightly different. - It's slightly different. And it's so interesting, it's like, again, they're matching their clean tones well. And they decided to have the crash symbol part of their mix to be his voice, where he's screaming along with this whole thing. And that's where I think that's why that part is so cool. - It's kind of like, it's like, they're a scream-o part, basically. - It's so fucking cool. Yeah, this is the town he's scrammed song. And it's just very, very interesting to see them kind of, like, specifically on this record, like, you know, break away a little bit and, like, do show their, you know, how diverse they can be. - Yeah, specifically with the scene, 'cause they know that they're, like, listen, we would love to do spin doctors the whole record. - But we can do this other thing too, and we love this shit. - Well, and they've also got, like, a few songs that incorporate, like, the acoustic guitar really well, too. - Yeah. - Which is not something that you're getting a whole lot in, like, a lot of the modern stuff. Like, I think that using an acoustic guitar is, like, a main instrument. And then, like, especially, like-- - That fucking, you're talking about faux pas. - Yes. - Yes. - But there's a couple other moments on the record, too, because there's a great thing in arranging, for me, for rock music, where you can kind of use an acoustic guitar as a percussion instrument. - Yeah, because it clicks better. - Yeah. - And, like, when you were recording that, like, when you-- Actually, there was, we did this song "Copper" and at the end of "Copper," we were supposed to have, like, this-- I was, like, I wanted to do this guitar part on, you know, my fender, on my fucking telly. And my key was, like, let's do the final, like, this place subsection, with just the acoustic. And so, the guitar part of that section is the acoustic, and it hits so much better, because it just sounds-- You get more of these cool clicks, and you get this better strum sound. - Yeah. - And I think that that is what "Townies" is doing for so many of their songs, as they were, like, listen, it's kind of sound so cool, recorded, and that's a live recorded record. That was our live drums. Those are-- It's so incredible, like, whoever mixed a master of that record because-- - It sounds so good. - And the performances are so good. - There's the performances are so tight. His vocals are just, like, perfect. I love this band. - Dude, legitimately, it is in, at least, my top five albums of the year so far. Like I said, I think that that and liquid mic are, like, tied, at, like, probably, like, the number one, number two. - Fuck yeah, dude. - I mean, they're making, like, just great rock music. - Exactly, and that's the thing, is it's, like, I hazard to even put a sub-genre label on this because it is, at the end of the day, this is just good rock and roll, man. - Yeah, I think it's, and I think right now, what we're seeing is bands coming out and saying fuck the whole genre thing, which is why, like, I think DIY emo was originally what this whole thing that we were involved in was called, but it's not that anymore, it's DIY thing. - Everybody's dropped the emo part of it. - Yeah, and I kind of love that because it, like, there's less restriction to it. - There's this kind of, like, so I think it's a, it's like a workforce thing where it's like all, it's like a, it's like a class of musician, where it's, hey, we're on, like, some of us are on labels, but we're on labels that are, like, a little bit hands off. We're not part of, like, the higher class of, like, the people that are automatically on festivals. - We are built with businessmen and seats. - Yeah, like, yeah, it's, it's a lots of traditional tattoos. And it's a lot of, like, people, boxes and basements, full of records and records. - Our label is a guy working out of his garage. Like, it's, there's something mad, max about it. There's something, there's something a little bit, there's something incredible about this scene where, first of all, we all love it. - Oh yeah. - And everyone listens to everything. And everyone's, there's, it's like,
The way I was thinking about it is that there's like maybe $600,000 that's being passed around to all of us, merch-wise, every year, and it's just being passed in a circle. It's all in a circle. That's the economy right now, and it's about $600,000 between like four or 500 bands. And it's all of us buying merch and there's this cycle and it's beautiful and no one gets hurt. And no one gets burned and we all help. If something happens and it's legit, and we also kick people out that are like bad people. Which is, we don't have the problem with doing that. We're like, "Listen, you don't fucking belong here, get out." And it's just really, really nice to know that there is support on a way that I don't think it has existed in any other, like from what I've seen, there's more support for bands now coming up than ever before. It's a great time to be an up-and-coming musician because there's just so many ways that you can get support from independent labels, from just random people who think that your shit's cool and are just gonna talk about you all day on Twitter. Yeah, I mean it's just fun. Yeah, exactly. Everybody does it because they love it and I think that that's great. That's the best part about it. Do you have anything specifically that you want to hit on one more time before we sign off for the end of the episode? So we've probably got some, I mean, you could probably, when are you gonna do the butt-rock thing? Yeah, all right. So that's hopefully gonna be coming out by the end of this month. Okay. So this is, we'll call it the official announcement because I've been talking about it on Twitter for like forever. But I put together a, this butt-rock compilation, think like late 90s, early 2000s radio rock that dads listen to. That's what this is. And 95 Corolla, we're doing a song, I did a song for it. Cascade Raya, who was on last month, they did a song for it. It's gonna be super cool. I'm hoping to do like a limited tape run on that. I think it's gonna be really fun. I've seen the list of the songs. It's gonna be great. Yeah, it's super cool. Besides that, we are, we've just, we've been playing shows, man, we've been playing shows. We're gonna be taking a break between August, September to like, fucking relax. Yeah. Cause I think I have like, 10 shows between now and the end of July. This summer is gonna be wild. This summer's gonna be fucking stupid. You're gonna be like, pedal to the metal the whole time. It's like, we've never done anything like this. We're just gonna see how far we can go and then take a break and then like process then. Yeah. And yeah, I think just if you hear about Emo Car Band 95 Crull, it comes say hi. All right. This has been The Fresh Finds podcast. The show about discovering new music with good people. And then to the other side, it was good. I tried to play video games, but every time I started the game, I got confused and I stopped. I ended up playing Guilty Gear for like three hours because those games are short enough for me to not get confused. But I hope I came home, she tried to play the tour of the coming one with me, but I couldn't read her here or anything, I thought I was gonna die at least three different times, but I didn't die. I couldn't keep my eyes open for a little bit of time. I cleaned my whole house. I definitely didn't clean my whole house. But I was struggling to make an hour and a half to get all the dishes from the sink to the dishwasher. But yeah, that's all. Okay. Bye. [Music] I first saw you and I don't need words and I ever thought I could read. The time was right and we talked all night. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]
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