Fresh Finds Podcast Season 4 Episode 13 W/ Scoopski

Hello, and welcome back to Season 4 of the Fresh Fines Podcast, the show about discovering new music with good people. I'm Ryan, and this episode I'm joined by James of the Philadelphia-based PowerPot band ScoopSki. How are you doing, dude? I am fantastic, Ryan. I just had salad works for dinner, and I'm now here in my very cold basement, and we're having a conversation, so I'm ready to get into it. All right. Perfect. This has been one that we've been talking for a little while, but you know, we've not really made anything happen until now, so this should be a good time. Do you want to take a minute and introduce yourself and talk about the history of the band and the background, anything like that? Sure. Yeah. So my name's Jim. I play guitar and sing, and this band ScoopSki. We started, this started in, I'm going to go back to summer 2019, so my wife and I had just moved out of an apartment in Northeast Philly and butter on house. So I'd actually been on kind of a hiatus from music for like a good five years or so from like writing or playing anything. Before that I was, you know, writing songs, playing in bands, but kind of on like a five-year break. And a big part of the reason for that was in our apartment, I couldn't really like, you know, just kind of play loud because we had a bunch of neighbors, you know, right underneath of us. You don't really know his complaints and all that. Yeah. No, I get you. Yeah. Yeah. It didn't really work out too well, but you know, we bought our own house and one afternoon I just came down the basement and I plugged my guitar in and I started playing and ever since that afternoon I haven't been able to stop and it's just the song to just start flowing out. And you know, for a while I had thought like I think music is behind me almost in a weird way, but it came roaring back with a vengeance. Like I almost thought like, hey, that was, you know, that was like my early 20s or whatever. But you know, in my late 20s I rediscovered it and I think I love being a part of music more than ever in my life before now. But yeah, 2019 I want to say it goes back to the first recordings date back to then. In the beginning, it was kind of a solo project, but my wife was kind of behind the scenes. She played piano and some songs on the first album. Not much vocals, but she was in a couple songs, co-song wrote a few songs as well. Gradually she started getting more and more involved because we, the two of us actually met each other through being in a band back in the day. Really? We're in like an indie pop band together. Yeah. Yeah. So that's how we met. We joined a band together. She was a keyboard player. I was just singing in that band and, you know, it was, you know, took a little while, but eventually we realized we liked each other as more than just bandmates. So we started dating and so music's kind of always been like a bond we had. You know, we're always able to talk about like, you know, is this no sharp or flat? What key do you like this song in? Like, like nerdy stuff and that's always been really cool to be able to talk about that kind of. Getting into like the theory and like that kind of like stuff. Yeah. Honestly, like, she kind of taught me a lot of theory too. I didn't know much theory before her. I just kind of knew like what I liked to sound like and all that, but she kind of more or less taught me theory too. So I wore a lot from that. But yeah, anyways, we both kind of got, you know, bit by song writing bugs again in, you know, I mean, talking about bugs in 2020, but it was, it was pretty much a 2020. We got bit by that bug and we wrote tons of songs and, you know, eventually I, she was getting more and more involved in the process with more vocals and all. So I was like, you know, I want to show people this isn't just a solo project and eventually she agreed and hopped on the pictures and all that. And then, you know, I want to say, you know, we built, I don't want to say we had like a following or anything, but like we, you know, kind of just picked up some, some little fans here and there around like corners of the internet, like, you know, we had a song that got kind of like, you know, took off on TikTok for a second. Okay. I don't want to say took off, but it had a little success. It had a moment. It had a little moment. Yeah. Yeah. Influencer on TikTok. The internet is all about moments. It is. Especially now. I mean, it's more so than ever about moments, but there was like a mermaid influencer who did like a video using our song and like, you know, we picked up some little bit of steam there. You know, you pick up a little bit of steam here, blah, blah, blah, you know, just get to know people. Yeah. We had a little bit of like a niche little, you know, fan base for a bit. And then in 2022, there was a band from Chicago who was playing on coming to Philly. They were called Philly 8s and the affiliates and they incredible band name. I know. It's so clever. I love that. It's great. Um, so yeah, he actually knew of us from Twitter. He was just kind of, you know, in the some of the Twitter circles and all. And he asked, you know, would you guys want to open for us when we come to Philly? It was never even a thought of this to be a live thing. It was originally just intended to be like a little songwriting project. But after he asked that, I was like, hmm, like, what can we make this happen? For a bit, it was not we because our son had just been born at that time, like, like two months prior to that. So we didn't really have like the means for us to both perform live at first, um, shy through together a little, a little set, like a little solo set to a backing track and played at the show. And like I think after that, it just kind of got hit by not just the music bug, but the live bug as well. And I just really wanted to get back into, you know, playing, playing live shows and all that. So there's something about the energy of like playing a live show where like it almost feels like, I don't at least to me anyway, like every time I've played live, it's like you rehearse and you're like, you know, there, there's maybe issues here and there that like you need to work on or whatever. And then ultimately you get on the stage and that like rush of adrenaline to playing like to an audience is the last thing that you need to get everything to like really mesh and feel right. Yeah. Yeah. There's just something that's not, you know, you can't replicate about it. It's just kind of magical in a way. And yeah, yeah. As soon as I got back into it and like started, you know, meeting people in like the local scene, I mean, it was cool. I started meeting people who I had known from Instagram, like just going back out to shows again. It was really awesome. So I realized how much I had missed that from like being in bands back in the day. And you know, there was actually a couple people I knew who were like Twitter and Instagram friends who were at that first show I played. And they actually like, on separate, on their own, like a cord to ask me, would you want us to like play for you if you got a band together? And I was like, Oh, that's really cool. That was Mark Schuster and Jack Vincent who played bass and guitar in Scoopsy right now respectively. And then, you know, things went on. My wife, my wife eventually joined the fray. We, me and her played to backing tracks for a few shows and then we got the band go and about a year and a half ago. So, you know, we really picked up steam on the, on the live front that way. While the recordings were still, you know, I mean, that's a whole separate story. The recordings were all done like we do everything at home here. I just, you know, spend massive amounts of time on obsessively mixing and all that. And, you know, I, I get that for sure for sure. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. You know, I still have never been able to get anything to sound exactly the way I wanted to sound. But, you know, I try to get close and, um, yeah, it's kind of brings us to where we are now. I'd say where we just put an album out. Yeah. And I mean, at a certain point, like if you keep producing your own stuff, even if it doesn't necessarily sound how you envision it sounding, at the end of the day, it starts to sound like you and you kind of get your own, like sonic footprint in a way. So like if you just, you know, keep doing that, then that keeps getting honed and like starts to sound better and better, again, even if it doesn't sound exactly how you envision it in your brain. Right. Right. Yeah. And I think that might be something that we, like, tapped into a bit because like there's, you know, some people will say like we have a sound to us and like that's, that's cool to hear when people say stuff like that. So yeah, I mean, I've definitely considered like, you know, outsourcing to a mixer. Might happen in the future, like possibly next year, just because the, the time commitment and all that it's gotten like, you know, pretty crazy and stuff. But, you know, I'm, yeah, I'm, I'm pretty happy with how our album sounds overall. Yeah. For what it's worth, I do think that the new album sounds incredible. It sounds really good. Thank you. Oh, that's awesome. Thank you. Yeah. So that's been out for, what, around a month now at this point, yeah, almost, almost exactly a month as of recording this because it was released on November 15th. It is now December 13th, so it's been out for almost a month now. How has the reception been on, on the new album so far? Um, it's great. Um, you know, a lot of people saying it's, you know, our best collection of songs because that's kind of what it is. It's a collection of songs. We started their recording process and these back, honestly, it was right around the time I started doing the live shows. It was like, you know, May, June of 2022. So they go back pretty far, um, two and a half years or so, but yeah, overall, people seem to be pretty happy with it. The new songs are being received really well. Yeah. I mean, it's something I said on Twitter the other day, but like, I'm kind of in a weird head space right now where it's like, promotion has gotten like kind of tedious to me in a weird way. But, um, you know, it's, you know, it's, I feel like it's finding the audience with the people who it's. to find, but I'm not like, I'm probably not being as pushy as I used to be in the past with promo, but I'm kind of at a point in my life where I'm okay with that. Yeah, yeah. No, I definitely get that as well. There's a point where there's a grind to making music, and then there's a grind in and of itself, especially now in the days of social media and TikTok and Instagram reels and things like that. It used to be that you could just post a clip of something or you could just post a ban promo photo on Instagram or everything, but everything is moving to video now, which takes so much more time and effort to produce something that is going to grab people's attention. So I don't blame you for getting burnt out on that almost in a way, because it is a big commitment to continue to make these little short-form clips that you have to have a hook that makes people want to watch, but at the same time, you can't go too long or else people lose interest. There's a balancing act there that's really hard to walk. Yeah, for sure. I see a lot of artists are really good at it. I've never been super great at it. A lot of times I'll just take clips from a live gig we played and try to put a little snippet about the song in there and what it's about, but yeah, it's just been weird. It took so long to finish this album, like the mixing and all that, that like, I feel like when I was done with it, I was just done with it kind of. I know that's horrible to say. I'm really, because we're really proud of it. We have physical copies. We're handing them out to like a million people in real life and stuff. In real life, that sounds silly, but you know, friends with acquaintances, giving everybody copies. Yeah, and yeah, we're really proud of it, but it's just, I feel like my promo game hasn't been as on point with it, but you know, I feel like, like I said, I feel like I'm kind of okay with that. Well, it's also interesting because like, making a piece of music, like, there's so much that goes into it from the rec… from the writing, the recording process, if you're also mixing it, like, you put so much time into this and like, after a little while, it almost starts to sound like, you can't make anything objective of it because you've been listening to it for so long, and like, you get to the point where you almost like start to hate it a little bit. And so like, I totally get, like, once it's done, just wanting to like, step back a little bit. Like, I felt that with some of my music too, where it's like, I've released it and I'm like, I'm just getting this out because I'm done with it. And then like, you listen to it like a few months later, you're like, this was actually really good. Like, I didn't realize in the moment as I was making it how good this was. Yeah, you put it back going, you're like, oh, this was a banger, but I know it's kind of like, there was so many, a lot of times in the mixing process where like, you know, I, you know, the next day, I put the headphones on, I'm like, I either think like, oh, this sounds better than I remember, or like, this sounds horrible. Like, this is the worst thing I've ever heard. You know, I mean, like, sometimes you just feel like from listening to it over and over, like, the tediousness just gets to you and like it, you feel like it's affecting the song when reality is just, you know, it's kind of on your head a lot of times. No, for real, for real. So one of the things that I think is kind of interesting about the new project, as I was listening to it, and it makes a lot of sense with the timeline that you were telling me as well, which is that kind of the writing of this started around the same time that like the live band aspect started, which was also kind of around the time that your son was born. Is that correct? That's correct. Yeah. Um, well, actually the live band was about a year after he was born. Um, but I started like getting out there playing live again, or like a few months after he was born. So, you know, it coincides with like me getting back out there into like the music scene and all that, I would say, like the live music. Okay. They're just listening to all the new music. It's very clear that this is inspired by, you know, becoming a parent and like how that has has changed your life, whether that's in a, you know, practical aspect, or just like, you know, outlook on the world, which I think is really interesting kind of like, especially with the last album, you know, being the, not X-ray, but, you know, on the, on the cover, being like just several months before, before he was born. And then this being like, you know, a couple of years after the fact, I think that watching that perspective shift in like that, that growth is really interesting. Yeah, thank you. I mean, that was, um, yeah, I mean, it just kind of worked out that way that the last one see you soon, uh, we put out like right before he was born. That was kind of the intention, um, to like kind of put a bookmark on that part of our life. And then like, you know, because we knew things would be radically different after he was born. And uh, yeah, they sure have, um, but you know, like the love of music is still there. Obviously, and like, you know, it gives us some more to write about and stuff. So, um, yeah, he's been a, obviously a really big inspiration on, uh, on this album. I want to say, like, at least a third of the songs on it are probably about him directly. So, or, or indirectly, some of them. Um, but yeah, it's definitely been, it definitely like draws a line in the sand, I think, like, of, you know, this is when I, and we became parents, my wife and I. So, yeah, I definitely like it for that, that reason. It's almost like starting a new era a little bit, uh, like the last one was kind of bookmarking the end of like an era and then like kind of starting a new one with this new project as well. Yeah, definitely. It's almost like, yeah, we should have like an era's tour or something. We could call it eras. I don't think anybody's thought of that yet. So, no, I think that that's 100% original idea. I think that that's really going to take off. That's a, that's a good one. Yeah, I think, I think we'll, we'll trademark that. We'll go with it. So, um, so what, what was kind of like? I know that you said that you do all the production, all the recording on your own at home. What does that look like? Are you, um, I know that it's, you, you and your wife are like the, the core of the band, but you also have other people who make up the live band and things like that. As far as the writing recording, that sort of things goes how involved or not involved is everybody else over the course of the project. So, um, everything you hear from Scoopsky, uh, to this point recording wise has been my wife and I on all the recordings. Um, it usually starts with like, I kind of have for, for drums. I, I, I do play drums. Um, that's another thing. I play drums in another band, I'll actually call it a naive nature, but I'm sure we can, we can get to that. But, um, sure. For Scoopsky, what, uh, with a song story, I kind of, I own like a drum sample library. I bought like in 2019 that just kind of has like thousands of different variations of drums and I'll take like, you know, like, oh, this is a swing rhythm clip. I'll take this clip and then like it has different variations on the beats. I kind of splice them together to get them to stay on the way I want. There's definitely some like, there's lots of songs where you're like, you'll hear the same fills throughout the albums, which you know, it's whatever, but because there's only so much to do with a sample library. For sure. I bought the sample library and I, I like the way the drums sound on it, so I was like, okay, why, why change it now, you know what I mean? So, but yeah, that's usually how it starts and then, you know, I'll record the guitars and the bass and then she'll kind of layer on synth and keys and then we'll both do vocals. Um, that's everything you heard up to this point except, except we did just put out a cover of Last Christmas the other day. I saw that. And that, yeah, that, so that one actually our live drummer. He plays in another band called Seeker Monsters, which is, you know, spoiler, not to be a spoiler, but that might be one of the songs I picked for later on, button. But they were, they were going to do a cover of Last Christmas and I think for whatever reason, it just didn't work out for them. So he's like, hey, I have this drum track. Would you guys want to try to cook something up for it? So we were like, yeah, why not? So that's actually the first scoop ski recording with everybody playing on it. Oh, nice. It will be, yeah, yeah. So it's kind of like the, the first, the first one of like the live band being on recording. And then we did a session over the summer with this place called Cart Music. It's a West Philly like recording session. And we're going to put, be putting out like the an EP of that session probably really soon, like probably like next month. So that'll be out there too. So I'll be at least like five recordings with the band on them. So that's cool. We're looking forward to that. And that's more of just like a live in the room. Everybody's just playing together type of EP, as opposed to, you know, really getting meticulous with getting a ton of takes and like all that. Yeah. Um, yeah, that's what it is. It's, it's basically like a live live cut EP. Um, I will say like, you know, everybody, even though the songs were already recorded and like everybody was kind of just playing their parts, um, based on their recordings. Like everybody brings their own like flavor to the way they played everything, which is awesome. Um, I've always loved that. Oh, for sure. You know, yeah, which, which is awesome. Like, um, you know, our guitarist Jack, he's got like a really fuzzy tone and stuff. Like so whole play stuff little differently than I play on the recordings, but I love it. Um, makes it more raw. Um, our drummer Nick is like very creative. He does like these really creative fills that aren't on their recordings, which is good because like I said, the fills on their recordings are, or whatever. And then, uh, you know, our bassist Mark, like, we have the song, uh, it's actually one of the songs on time as a thief. It's called double. You know, he came up with a bass line in the chorus. It really like, you know, goes a lot further than the one on the recording did and I just love when we play that song. And uh, yeah, you know, everybody's all really creative and You know, I'm looking forward to writing some more stuff with them in the future and I think that's the plan is we're probably going to like, you know, branch out in the future and maybe explore different avenues of making songs with with other people in the band too. So nice. Now, as as you've been like, you know, writing, working on these songs as well as starting to play live a bit more over the last year, year and a half, however long that's been, have you been playing many of these newer songs off of time as a thief live or has this been a lot of like, we're kind of cooking it up in the studio and then we might start to debut them after the album actually comes out. So fortunately, I think I mentioned like this album was kind of in the works for like a long time, like a probably like two and a half years from start to finish. So a lot of these songs like, you know, I was about two thirds of these songs were like, already out of singles before the album even came out. So, okay, luckily, like, I want to say about half our lives that was pretty much songs from this album. So, so, you know, we actually only play like, yeah, I think all. Yeah, like maybe two thirds even. Of our lives that is stuff from this album. So, it's definitely represented in what we've been doing live for the last year and a half or so. Yeah, nice, who are some of your favorite like, I mean, well, I would imagine probably get into this a little bit more when we get into your song picks, but like, who are some of your favorite local Philly acts to play with when you do play live. Oh gosh, well, definitely have to first give a shout out to a band called bees. It's just be for the exclamation point. They're awesome. Nice. They kind of they kind of like shepherding me back into like the local scene in a way I want to say, like, because we were, we were buddies on Instagram before I'd even like, you know, ventured out to a show in years. I had known of them. I like their music. It's very like they call it arcade rock. It's kind of like, okay, I would say they're like, they're like Queens of the Stone Age and presidents of the United States of America at like a 90s arcade. Like, that's kind of what they sound like. Yeah, they're, they're riffy, but they're a little goofy, but they got some like, you know, they write about video games a lot and have some like, you know, chiptune sounds sprinkled in not they don't ever do it. They're like, you know, just little touches here and there. But they're an amazing band to play with. They're just, they're great people. Super talented musicians. They're, they're a three piece. And they, they're just really tight. Yeah, always love playing with them. Um, are you familiar with the band bathroom of the future? I am. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. We've been, yeah, I just hearing you talk about them. I was like, I feel like you would really get into them. They're kind of from from my neck of the woods. Oh, okay. Yeah. I, they're really cool. I, I like their song. Like, I love they write about like nerdy pop culture stuff and all that. Yeah. That's something I do a lot there. Yeah. They seem like sweet hearts. We, we always say like, Oh, one day we're going to play together. We're like, I hope so. Maybe, maybe if they go on tour one day or we go on tour, you know, who knows? But, yeah, I definitely, I love those guys. Yeah. Just hearing you talking about this other band, I was like, you would really like them if you haven't heard of them yet. Yeah. Yeah. They're, they're all nice. So another interesting thing as far as, um, you, you were talking about the, uh, the last Christmas cover. Um, as well. This is going to be coming out right around Christmas time this, this episode. And I noticed that you actually have quite a high number of Christmas tunes in your catalog because you've got the last Christmas single. You were also on the indie dog days of Christmas, uh, compilation last year. And then I think it was the year before that you even released, I don't know if it was maybe only on band camp or what, but even a whole compilation of your own like Christmas songs and stuff like that as well. I think that's really interesting. Yeah. We, uh, we definitely wanted the corner of the Christmas market. We got, uh, we got a couple of originals on there. Yeah. Christmas with Scoop ski. We called it. Um, I think the thing is, like, we're kind of just like having fun with release date to like, we did a Halloween one last year as well, uh, Halloween with Scoop ski. Um, it's just something we have fun with. Um, it's kind of like a joke. Like, oh, what's, what's the next one going to be like is going to be like Valentine's Day with Scoop ski. Stay tuned. We'll see about that. Um, but, um, yeah. I mean, it's, uh, I don't know. We just love like holiday releases. We've been into and, um, this actually one of the songs from that, from that Christmas, he's called Christmas, even the mall that one, that's the one that was on the indie dog days comp. Um, that actually got played on a serious XM as early as this morning. Um, so, like, the people really liked that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This, um, we have a fan over at, uh, on the little Stevens underground garage channel. I don't know if he wants me to give him away or anything, but he's a Scoop ski fan. And, um, yeah, he works us into the programming. Um, so, yeah, we love him. And, uh, and the, and the show that he works on. So yeah, as, as early as this morning, that song was played on serious XM. So it's really cool to have, like, a little, it's almost like, you know, this time of year, those songs like resurfaced, like, people rediscover them because of the time of year. Yeah. Uh, we have a cover of the chipmunk song on there that always kind of comes up in streams around this time of year, which is, which is awesome. So yeah, I love it. Yeah, there's almost like a, like, a little bit of a built in audience thing of people who are looking for, like, holiday music that's not the same holiday music that they've been listening to for 10 plus years or whatever. So I don't, I almost feel like there is like a little bit of that market where, like, an original holiday tune is almost like something that has really high potential if you, like, work it out right. Yeah, absolutely. I, I totally agree with that. Like, that's a new holiday song is, like, kind of a diamond in the rough these days. And, like, you know, even, like, I mean, I even, like, covers of, like, old Christmas songs back in the day. Like, I, I was all about, like, the, the reliant K Christmas album back back in the day, like, they did, like, punk versions of, like, decked the halls and stuff. Like, I was, I was all about that. Um, but, um, yeah, just a fresh spin on, like, the songs you grew up hearing is cool. And then, you know, sprinkling something new in is a little bonus, too. For sure. For sure. So kind of circling back to what we were talking about at the very beginning, where you were talking about, you know, kind of rediscovering your, your love for playing music with this group. What kind of bands were you in before? And were they all, like, local to fillety, to fillety type of bands? Yeah. Yeah. So, um, it was always, like, local filly bands. Um, I never really ventured too far out there. So, I guess, I guess I could take it back, uh, a memory lane. So the first. Yeah. The first instrument I played with drums, actually. Um, so back in 2003, my mom got me tickets to see Good Charlotte in Philly for my 14th birthday. Oh, I just, like, oops, but, um, but, um, but yeah, it was, it was, my dad always played drums when I was growing up and all, like, he was, he was in bands when he was, you know, a teenager and, like, I think, like, early 20s. So I always, you know, had heard him play and, like, knew he was a good drummer or I was told he was a good drummer. Um, but, uh, after I saw that Good Charlotte play, I kind of was, like, I think I want to play music. Uh, where should I start? Uh, my dad plays drums. Maybe I'll ask for a drum kit. So I asked for a drum kit for Christmas and it actually worked out really well because my, one of my cousins who I was really close with, um, he was, like, probably, like, my closest cousin friend. Um, he got his first guitar that Christmas as well. And perfect story thing is right there. I can tell exactly. It was a perfect storm. So his dad and my dad were actually, they played in bands together growing up too. Um, so that was, and it was the same, same setup that he, his dad was on guitar and my dad was on drums. So that was kind of both of our introduction into music. We just started playing together. Like, you know, he would come over, like, every other weekend. We just kind of try to get good at our instruments and all, um, and then it wasn't till until I was like in high school. I want to say I was like a sophomore. I was like, trying to get people together for a band. Um, we got, you know, I kind of just picked my friends who I had at the time, like, none of them played anything. We're like, Hey, you guys are going to be in this band. It was, they're like, okay. So that's also not to be like, this story. Yeah, exactly. Um, yeah, not to be disrespectful to anybody. But the band I know about kind of just being me and my cousin, um, because nobody wanted to, the singer didn't want to sing. Um, and the bass player didn't want to learn how to play bass. Um, so kind of just ended up being a drums and guitar band and like, you know, nobody really wanted to write the melodies either. Uh, or like lyrics. So we would just kind of record these horrible, you know, sounding quality, punkish songs on my, yeah, on my desktop computer. And there would, there'd be nothing on top of them. And I was like, well, somebody's got to like come up with some melodies for these. Like, so that's kind of where I came in and even as a drummer back then, I was kind of like, I guess I got to be the one to come up with words and melodies for this. So that's when I started, you know, having an interest in like songwriting. And then it was like, I want to say like 2006 is when I got my first guitar because I, you know, I wanted to learn how to actually be able to play, you know, because out before that kind of like tell my cousin, like, hey, I'm here in this. Can you replicate this on guitar? But, you know, it was kind of hard to translate that. So we kind of just, you know, we just fed off each other. But getting like, you know, me starting on guitar, you know, very poorly, you're like, when I come around something kind of like that. Or, you know, whatever, right, right, trying to just get the vibe across and that yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. That it was kind of like that. Just kind of mouthing off ideas. Um, but yeah, it was getting guitar was like a big turning point. Like after that, I, um, so that first band I was in was a, it was like a punkish kind of band called renegade milkman. Um, that was my, that was my, my high school band, you know, everybody has one of those. Yeah. It was a cool story. Um, like, you know, we, we were kind of like the joke of the high school, like the, the dorky kids. Um, it was like the dorks and plus the dorks cousin. It was, you know, my cousin and, uh, you know, we were, we were mocked a lot by the other high school bands on my space. We were kind of like the, the, the butt of the, the my space bands in the school. But, um, we ended up, uh, we ended up getting into a battle of the bands, uh, and we came in third place. And that was after that, the band kind of fell apart. But I was, you know, I was happy that we got that far and it was, it was a cool story to be able to, you know, say that, Hey, we were a joke, but we, you know, we did pretty okay in this, in this thing. And then from there, I kind of met some other musicians who were, you know, in my school, um, but I mean, but we started playing together, like kind of after I graduated, it was kind of more of like a, uh, emo-ish type of band. I was also playing drums in that band, but I wanted to like do more with singing around that time. Like, I was starting to get really into harmonies and, um, you know, I was, let's, starting to get into the Beatles and stuff for the first time. So like, I really wanted to do more singing. So I started taking singing lessons around that time. Um, you know, I'm still playing guitar at this, at the same time, dude, still trying to improve my guitar skills. But yeah, in that band, I was a drummer slash backup vocalist. Um, and still still trying to like hone my songwriting skills. And like, there was a lot of, there was like three different songwrares in that band. And, um, I ended up like, you know, having my share of songs too. So, you know, it was a cool exercise in like, you know, a democratic band. It ended up kind of going in like very different directions because like towards the end, a couple of the members wanted to go in like a more, I'm gonna say, they were going in more of like a, a paramour type direction. Okay. And, uh, me and somebody else were going in more of like a, yeah, yeah. And we were going in more of a power pop. And that's kind of always been the, okay, sure, the push and pull. But, uh, yeah. So that split apart. And then, uh, me and that other member started another band. And that's actually the band I met my wife in. That was like a indie pop-ish type band. But, uh, in that band, I actually wasn't playing drums. We recorded a different drummer. And I was just a singer in that band. So, and that was really cool. Like, I actually really enjoyed like just being a frontman. I was, you know, I can't watch the videos of it now because it's really goofy when I watch what I don't stage. But, um, like someone hand that man a guitar. Please, like, please stop jumping around. But, uh, that was fun. So, yeah, that was that band ended. I want to say in like 2013-ish. I joined a Beatles cover band after that, uh, did that for like a year. Um, but then, yeah, from like 2014 to 2019, I was had my dry spell with music. That's my little head. Nice. Nice. Yeah. No, I think that, I think that that makes sensors like a lot of like lines and parallels to, to draw to what you're doing now as far as, you know, getting more into like the power pop type thing and, um, you know, even more or less like even with the original band being kind of more of a duo with some auxiliary members almost has like a bit of a parallel to this as well. So, I think that's really interesting. Yeah, that's true. I never even thought about that. Actually, that's pretty cool. Yeah, because I mean, I, there's definitely like a way of like, you know, there's kind of a push and pull when you've only got two members, you know, you've kind of got like influences coming from here, influences coming from here and you just have to, you have to figure out how to balance it. Sure. Yeah. And I, I do really like, uh, kind of getting into, you know, the songwriting on the new album. Is this largely, uh, your lyrics that you're writing, I would assume? Yeah. Um, so it's, so it's actually a few, uh, a few songs I want to say my wife primarily wrote. Okay. Specifically, the closing track, uh, time is a thief, the title track. Uh, she wrote that entire song. Um, I had nothing like no, like no liarical input in that song at all really. Um, and then a few other songs like seasonal, um, and there was one more she was the primary songwriter on. Uh, oh, she's going to kill me, uh, trying to think now, uh, seasonal. That was a big one. Oh, what is the other? Oh, uh, nocturnal yours. Uh, she was like, all right. Kind of the, yeah, those seasonal and nocturnal yours, I want to say were like 70, 30 her. And then like some of the, yeah, I'd say most of the other ones were like, probably 80, 20, uh, mostly me, but, but those three were like mainly her babies. Those, those three. Yeah. One of the things that I think is really interesting about like the, the way that you guys like write your lyrics, uh, is there's like a little bit of a balancing act between almost like a like humorous comedy type like under underbelly to it, but then there's also like some, you know, a lot of sincerity to it as well. Like what, uh, on like more of the comedy side, like, uh, I was, I was bust in a gut listening to dad bod the first time because I was like, this is just such a like great little, you know, amusing tune that anybody can, uh, can relate to. I think I forget exactly what the lyric is, but when it was like, uh, something to the effect of like, I have a son now so I can say I've got a, and then it goes into the dad bod chorus, which I thought was an amazing like, like playoff of it. Like I've always kind of felt like this, but now I've gotten an excuse for it type of, I thought that that was hilarious. Yes. So you just completely, you just completely got the point of the song. That was the entire reason I wrote that song was I was like, because I've had, you know, weight issues my entire life. Um, it's been like, you know, it's been a thing. Um, and as soon as I had my son, like, I was, I was thinking about the phrase dad box. I was like, am I allowed to say I have a dad bod now? And I was like, can I use this as my excuse? And like, so I started writing that song about it. And like, I think you, yeah, you nailed it. Um, I think that song, especially like, there's a lot, like, there's some lines in that song that are like a little uncomfortable for me, like, um, you know, talking about like, you know, how insecure I am about like my weight and stuff like for most of my life. And then like, you know, there's, but there's also, they're delivering in a way that's kind of meant to be humorous and lighthearted. But yeah, I feel like balancing that a lot of, of like, it's very heartfelt, but also at the same time, there's like the comedy at the same time that like, kind of helps soften the blow a little bit. Yeah, thank you. That's, that's, that's totally, especially with that song, that's especially what I went for because like, I mean, there's, there's some lines in it that like, I listened to it on the like, they're actually kind of dark, but, you know, the way I'm delivering it, nobody would ever really think that it's too dark. So, um, yeah, I've always kind of liked when a line, I always thought it was kind of good if a line made me a little uncomfortable to sing it. Um, like, if I felt like it's a little either too personal in a weird way or like, kind of like, like, why would someone sing that? Like, I almost, those are kind of the lines I gravitate towards a lot of times. Like, if it's, if it makes you kind of go, huh? Like, that's, I'm usually like, yeah, I'm going to sing that then. Yeah. I don't know why, I just kind of what I always gravitate towards. But then at the same, uh, you know, on the same kind of level, there's also a lot of songs that do feel just very genuine and heartfelt, like, full stop, like, when you get to, like, you know, time is a thief specifically, or, um, you know, a few of those other ones kind of about, like, you know, watching your son grow up or, like, watching time pass, um, and kind of tack, tackling, like, uh, wrestling with the fact that, like, you're never going to have this exact time again. Like, there, I think that, uh, you know, the, the whole thing, there's a really nice arc throughout the whole thing of, like, touching on, like, some of the more serious topics and then also, like, you know, more heartfelt stuff, even, like, babble as well, which is another, you know, just, like, little fun one that isn't, like, super, super heavy, you know? Right. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's, yeah, definitely what we went for. Like, time is a thief when she first played that song for me, because like I said, she, she wrote that song completely, um, that was all her. Yeah, I was, I was ballin' when she first played that song for me. Um, I couldn't even, uh, because like, you know, I said, you know, I, I mixed everything and all. I couldn't even work on that song, like, for, like, a good week without balling every single time I opened it on my, yeah, it was, it was like, anytime I was, like, working on the vocals, then I heard someone, and I was like, oh my god, and I just would start ballin' because I was like, this is, like, so emotional to me. And, um, yeah, I mean, I, I love it for that. You know, it's, I think it's like, I think it's like a perfect mother's day song almost, like, it's, or like, a, you know, uh, a mother's song dance type of song. Like, you know, I want to try to, yeah, we gotta try to push it around mother's day, I think. Like, that's, that's probably what we're gonna try to do. Um, but, uh, yeah, I love that song. You heard it here first. Yep. Yep. That's, that's what we're doing this year. Mother's Day. Um, yeah, then, like, you know, some other songs, like, uh, everybody's guessing the, the first song. So, that was actually kind of funny. It's actually sentimental in some different ways. So, the way that song started, um, I actually started out with the, uh, part in the beginning where I'm just going, yeah, yeah, like, um, over like an A chord where I'm just, um, just playing that, um, that's actually something that I came up with when my son was like two months old, and he would kind of just sit in his, like, little cradle thing and, you know, just chill. I would just kind of, like, stand in front of him and play guitar. And that's, I just kind of came up with that. It was a lot slower at the time. I actually at the time called it the Oasis song because it was like kind of a more of an Oasis type tempo. And just singing like a beatless pipe melody over top of like a more slow swinging guitar. New school battles almost. Yeah, yeah. So the way that song evolved is like I kind of just only had that part in those chords. And for like a good year and a half, I didn't really know what to do with that. I knew I wanted to use it because I liked that. Yeah, part a lot. But I was like, what's this going to be about? Like, what's the hook of this song? What's the idea of it? So, you know, fast forward to when my son was, you know, almost two. We're down the basement. And I was I was playing the song. And he started saying, he started saying, everybody guess in, everybody guess in. I was like, what does that mean? Like, we never we never said that to you. We don't know where you got that from. I still to this day, you don't know where you heard that. But he kept saying it like over and over when I was playing that song. And I was like, I started like having ideas in my head. Like, everybody's guessing. Like everybody. And then the phrase, everybody's guessing their way through life came in my head. I was like, okay, I think we got something here. Like, yeah. So he kind of, so he actually got a co-writing credit on that song because he said that phrase in our basement. And we don't know where it came from to this day. So he got, he gave me the concept of that song and like the title of it when he was nine and two years old. For some reason, I still can't explain it. Maybe I'll have to have him explain it to me one day when he can, you know, articulate it. But, yeah. But yeah, the crux of that song is kind of like about like how when you grow up and get old, like, you're still not going to know what you're doing in life. Like, it's everybody's always, you know, scaring and fused and like, you know, just because you're an adult doesn't mean thank you. Yeah, that's, and you know, I relate to it myself, like completely. Like, I still feel like that in my 30s. You know, it's like, you don't know, you know, when you're a kid, you always think, like, oh, I'm going to have that all figured out when I'm older. And like, you get to this point and you're like, oh, no, I don't like, yeah, I still have no idea what I'm talking about. So that's kind of what that's about. Yeah, I like that. So is there anything else specifically that you that you want to touch on, whether it is about the new album or Scoob Skies a whole or anything else before we kind of move on to the next part of the episode here? Um, not necessarily. So, uh, well, maybe like in the new year, we might, uh, with our live shows, we might be kind of going in a different direction. But, uh, we're still still working that, still working that out a bit. Um, my wife kind of decided that, um, that it's kind of been like a lot for us, like playing as many shows as we have in all, um, you know, especially with, with the young and at home. So we might, I mean, there's a, there's a possibility, maybe we would just won't play as many shows or we might go back to being a recording act for a bit, but it's all kind of up in the air. But, um, one way or another, I'll, I'll still be playing out there, whether it's in Scoob Skies or something else, but, you know, I'll still be out there doing my thing, because like I still have the live bug. But, um, Scoob, uh, yeah, long story short, Scoob Skies not going anywhere, you know, we'll still always be around as like a recording thing, even if we're not playing live for a bit or taking a hiatus from live. But, um, yeah, the way it's, you know, we'll still be doing our thing. Right on, right on. So we'll still be seeing you pop up everywhere for sure. Oh sure. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. All right. So, uh, moving on to the next part of the episode here, we're going to go back and forth. We're going to share some new tunes, some fresh finds, if you will. All right. So I'm going to, I'm going to start out. I'm going to play my first song first. We're going to go back and forth, which is going to give you the closer. Does that sound all right for you? Sounds good to me. Yeah. Absolutely. Let's do it. All right. Perfect. So my first song that I'm going to play is a song that came out, um, little over a year ago, it came out in September of 2023. And my one buddy, I've, I've got a, I've got a friend who's also like really into like independent music. He's not kind of into like the DIY scene as much as I am, but he really likes to find new stuff. And I mean, if you go through our group chat, it is like 90% just ascending Spotify links to each other. That's like most of what this, most of what this like group chat is. But uh, and he swears that he sent me this song before, but I don't remember it. Anyway, I found this song is called Pesticides. It's by an artist called, uh, I don't know if it's Mosley or Mozel, something like that. Anyway, I found it for the first time on TikTok less than a month ago and, um, have been absolutely obsessed with it. So, uh, let's play that one first. [Music] Wait till the flowers bloom in the same place that I planned. Make the bouquet open up as it's useful when I guess. My hair was blue and I met you once purple pink, even green too. Boys and dark frogs I'd be will. Playin' pretend for $10 a seat. What a small price to meet the queen of hell. Springs caves and muggy weather things that make me feel I'm tethered as no one else is to their home. Broken needles humming bird feeders elderberry wine by the leader. The rule path weighs older. Catacombs. What if I brought this stupid black sugar mine up hand. Let all the blood run down my arms till the fog ends then. Wait till the flowers bloom in the same place that I planned. And I didn't think I'd find anyone. We've had the green thing come the one they like to wonder on with. Make the bouquet open up as it's useful when I'm dead. Oh cut out of the very end there. I really like doing it personally. Yeah, it's got this really cool kind of like it's a very simple kind of like arrangement, very pretty pretty basic like rock arrangement but when you actually listen to each of the individual parts there's like some really cool stuff going on like especially with like the way that the chords are the way that they like they what do you call that now. Carpeggiated like at the very end is really interesting whether it's like the bass line or like you know the drums even though it is very simple there's like a lot of like really interesting just like little one-off grooves and stuff like that that I really dig in this song. Yeah I heard some pretty cool bass work in there and like there was a lot of cool little production touches like in the second verse there was some little flourish as I heard. It was really catchy like the I think one of the marks of a great melody is like when you start coming up with like harmonies and your head and stuff like coming up with a little harmony. But I was doing that also for some reason I got like an early 2000s Nickelodeon theme show like it should be like a theme song for like a show or something like that it's just the chorus had that kind of energy to it for some I don't know why like as told by ginger or something like that that's what I was doing. I kind of get what you're getting at for sure. And like I also personally one of my favorite Things about this song is her vocal inflection when she sings specific parts There's a little bit of like twang or like you know, just just a little something it gets peppered on top Just a little a little bit of spice to it that I really like there's Yeah, I think it's I think it's the line Poison dark frogs top me. Well, there's like a little bit of like something to that little like slur Like thing that just like every time I hear it, it just tickles my brain in just the right way. Yeah, that's just that's character It's really cool. I like that. But yeah, so they have this was their only their second single that they put out They had one song in 2022 this song in 2023 which also had an acoustic version and a remix version that came out in 2024 as well as two more singles that came out a little bit later in August and then a new one that actually just came out in December that I haven't listened to yet But it again if there anything like this one then I think I will really like it. Yeah, for sure definitely worth a listen So what do we have up next? Oh, is this am I am I picking now? Is that what is that what we're doing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay Let's see. I guess why don't we go with the first we'll go with seeker monster shut up, I guess Yeah, should I give you a background now? Yeah, yeah, a little bit of background on it something to kind of, you know, prep us for For what we're getting into here. Sure. So seeker monsters definitely one of my favorite local filly bands I'm not probably be the theme of all my picks to be honest with you guys. So They are female vocal lead. I guess I don't know if you want to call them power pop. I might call them power pop They have a little bit like vruch assault sound to them Great harmonies really fun songs. We share a drummer with them as well scoop skis live drummer Nick plays in this band as well That's actually kind of how I I came about him I was at a one of their shows and I was like I love their songs those we were talking after the show We you know, we seem like we vived a bit and I was when we needed a drummer for the live band I was like, hey, do you think you'd be interested? And he was I was very fortunate that he was he was interested So yeah, they're there's incredible band. They're they're so fun. So yeah, this song is called shut up Can that make you mad? You say you didn't know But I sit through your eyes you don't act the same cuz I won't tell you I'm gonna give you my shut up, get out, get back in line. I told you that I wanted to just be your friend and that's not what you wanted to hear. You say you didn't know what I see through your eyes. You don't act the same 'cause I won't tell you why. I'm gonna give you my shut up, get out, get back in line. I teed and asked for it. I was just being nice. No, I told once you're stupid, mainly it's voice. And I sure as hell I'm not gonna give you my shut up, get out, get back in line. All right, I like that a lot. Cool, yeah, they're such a great band. When you see them live, I've been fortunate to see them live probably five times in the last year. They're all friends and they look so happy when they play and I know they get that a lot, but they just they exude joy when they're playing. They just look like they're having a great time and I actually they're all great musicians. Their guitar is fat today. I actually just played a show with him last night in a show. We featured one of his songs on a previous episode a few months ago actually. Really? Oh crap. He submitted something directly to me through the through my email actually. Oh my God, that's awesome. He's a sweetheart. He is an amazing man. He has, yeah, he makes solo music too, which is also great. And the band I played drums in "Nive Nature." We just played with him last night in Philly, so that's awesome. Come and full circle play. Yeah, he plays in this band as well. So yeah, little that's awesome. I always think it's really interesting kind of hearing because I mean it's a it's a maybe a term that doesn't sound quite as nice, but it's kind of interesting to hear how incestuous local music scenes can get in a way. Because you've got this one guy who fronts their one band, but then they're also the drummer in this band, but then they're also the bassist in another band. And just looking at how interconnected the scene is is always really interesting. And I'm starting to put together some of these pieces about the Philly scene that I didn't realize. That's really interesting. No, I'm cracking up here because Jack who, you know, after you just got done saying that, it's going to sound funnier. Jack who is the frontman of the band, "Nive Nature," I plan, who also plays in scoops, he's live band. He always cracks up because I say that to him all the time, or we say the Philly scene is like very incestuous. And he always makes it a point to say that the night that the night that I met his girlfriend, I told him that the Philly scene is incestuous. And he always remembers me saying that. So that's the impression I left on his girlfriend with me saying that. That's why I'm cracking up so much. But yeah, it's very true. It's very true though. Yeah. I really dig this song though. It's really got that kind of like indie pop kind of vibe. It's very anthemic in the chorus. It's kind of similar to the last song. It's fairly simple as far as the way that it's arranged. But all of the parts have some really interesting things going on if you really listen. And then again at the same time, sometimes you just need a really simple arrangement to just make a song sound as good as it can. You know, you don't have to go on like the prog shit all the time. Like sometimes you just need, you know, just a basic pop arrangement to, you know, make the song that you want to make. - Yeah, I think they're incredible at that, honestly. They keep their songs pretty basic, but they just are like, they're hard-hitting. They just hit you with all the harmonies and the chunky power chords, and it's just like, they're like a force when they play, and it's awesome, yeah. - Seeing that this is their most recent single, which was released back in October, and they had in EP it looks like there was four songs that came out back in April. Do you know if they're working on another longer format project if this is gonna be leading up to another EP or maybe like their first full-length album or anything like that? - I don't know the specifics of that. I know they're working on more material because Nick, who is, you know, drums with us as well, is going into studio with them tomorrow. And I only know that because he's going to lay down a drum track for potentially a new song for us as well during that session, so. - Oh, sweet. - Yeah, so I do know they're going back in the studio. That's as far as I know though. - Okay. That actually brings up in something kind of interesting that I just thought of from our conversation before we started playing songs. Was that you mentioned the cover that you had, that you had just put out the Christmas song, which one was it? - Last Christmas. - That was the first song that you had done live drums on. And then you mentioned that he's doing live drums for another Scoopsky song coming up relatively soon as well. Are you getting from the engineer a when they're recording in the studio like a mixed drum track that you're using or are you starting to like learn to mix acoustic unmixed drums as like part of kind of a new leveling up your production type of thing? - So I did not, he got all the tracks from his engineer, the he records with, he records with the guy in Jersey. I'm not sure exactly his name, but yeah, actually our bassist Mark Schuster, he does a lot of music production as well. And he actually put the drum tracks together 'cause I told him I was like, that's above my pay grade. I do not know how to do all that. So yeah, Mark did the drum production on this recording I think it did a great job mixing what Nick heard recorded. So it was kind of a collaborative production too, I would say, with that one. - I do think personally from my perspective, at least drums are some of the most fun instruments to mix because there is a little bit of like, you know, you have to do things to make them feel cohesive and there's a lot of elements that you have to make feel like one thing. But at the same time, like there's a lot of creative liberty that you can do with tonal shaping of drums that allows you to like kind of put your own sonic footprint on it without really changing what it is at its core. Like there's a lot of different ways that you can like, saturate and compress and like different things that can make the same drum recording sound drastically different but still work for the song. Personally, I think that it's like one of my favorite instruments in like a basic rock mix to like play around with. - Oh, cool, yeah, I know a lot of people get like, so into like the EQing and all like with like the, oh, I gotta, you know, bring down this hertz to make the snare pop more or less or you know it, all that. So yeah, you can get very detailed with like, what you can do with the drum kit on mixing. - And then again, on top of like, you know, the actual recording aspect, which I know that you said that he's got his engineer that he goes to for those things. But drums are just a really fun thing to record because there's so many different ways to approach it. - Sure, yeah. - Whether you want to do like overheads and close mics on everything or if you want to try and do like a much more bare bones like, you know, vintage Glen John's type of approach or whatever. Whereas like, you know, you're recording guitar or whatever, a lot of the time you're like, all right, so I can put the mic here or I can put the mic slightly over here and for the most part, like there's a little bit more like really getting into the nitty gritty and the science of it that I really like for like drum production that I think personally is pretty fun. - Sure. - So I'll go on a little, a little side quest here on this conversation. - Yeah, for sure. - I'm probably, drums are probably the instrument I'm most like proficient at on a technical level. Like I'm probably most confident playing drums like more than playing guitar, but I hate recording drums, I hate it. I hate record, it's not just recording drums, it's recording drums to a click. That's, I hate it. - Ah, yeah. - I hate it. I just did it in studio with the band "Nive Nature," I plan, and you know, I love the songs on playing, but playing to a click is so intimidating to me because it's like, when I'm playing, I'm not even thinking about like, you know, obviously you know the general, like you don't want to speed up the song too much and all that, but like, I generally just kind of follow the guitarist, like going back to our conversation, like, you know, I started playing music with my cousin, just me and a guitar, like I just followed the bar, and I've always just been like a field drummer, like kind of, you know, and like following a click is very difficult for me. I mean, I did it, like I got through it, you know, how much should I need to be quantized? We'll leave that, you know, to the imagination, but yeah. But, you know, I got through it. But yeah, I find it very intimidating to play to a click, and actually, that's where I'll give Nick props, the drummer of "Sacrum Monsters" and "Scusey." He plays to a click live as well. So he likes to play with a live click, which is also something we're thinking about, you know, for the future, because like, if he's playing to a click, we could also potentially add like some backing stuff, as well, I think that was just, you know, maybe-- Yeah, you could do some tracks and like start playing with like, in-ear monitors and like that kind of stuff, really kind of like-- Yeah! Level up the live show almost in a way. Yeah, we were talking about that a bit very recently. So, you know, stay tuned, we'll see. Nice. Yeah, but that's the end of my side quest. I do get kind of like that push and pull of like, the internal, you know, your internal groove versus like a metronome, and there's definitely like a thing where if you're playing live, there's almost like, you know, even if it's just the adrenaline hits you a little harder because you're playing live or whatever, you know, almost feeling like you're tethered as opposed to being like, 'cause there's almost two sides to it. There's like, if you're not used to it, then a metronome can feel like a tether almost like you're being dragged down, you have to play exactly to this. But then there's also kind of like another aspect where it's almost like liberating because then you can start to add like the tracks and like do even more with the live show at the same time. So it's an interesting push and pull that you just have to get used to one way or the other if you want to kind of, you know, take that on. Sure, yeah, I guess it's like just the, whether you want to let the primal beast in you just play what you're feeling, like, you know, in your own groove or if you want to be more meticulous with it and like, you know, take a more measured approach to it, for sure. Yeah. And there's not a value judgment on that one way or the other 'cause I mean, they both are, you know, they're both have their upsides and downsides. I just think that it's an interesting thing to think about, you know. Yeah, for sure. All right, so my next song, I don't know how often, do you ever just browse for music on Bandcamp? 'Cause I know that you've got your music on Bandcamp and but I feel like a lot of people just use it as a store. They find music somewhere else. They go, oh, it's Bandcamp Friday. I want to support some of my favorite artists. So I'm gonna go buy their album on there, you know, do whatever. Unfortunately, unfortunately I haven't done that in a while. I did that, I've done that a few times back in the day, but yeah, it's been a lot since I've done a good like Bandcamp searching party. So that's one of my favorite ways to like discover new stuff and kind of get out of my bubble a little bit because being in like the DIY Twitter kind of bubble, there's a lot of like, you know, people talking about new releases and stuff like that. But one of the things that I like to do personally is I really like to talk about bands that nobody else is really talking about sometimes, you know. Shine a light on something new. And so one of the ways that I really like to do that is at the bottom of like the homepage of Bandcamp is they have this actually very in-depth searching like browsing feature where you can browse by the genre that you want. Subgenre is even like if you click on metal, there's like a tab specifically for like if you want like, doom metal, thrash metal, you know, whatever. And you can also filter by like newest releases. You can filter by like location, a whole bunch of stuff, which is super fun. And so the other day I felt like I was in a little bit of a rut. I wasn't finding anything new that like nobody else was talking about. So I decided to do that. And I found this really cool, this really cool act from Taiwan. All of these are translated into English because I do not speak, I believe Taiwan speaks Chinese if I'm wrong, somebody can call me out in the comments. But anyway, I don't speak any of these languages. So all of this is translated, thank you Google. But Kristen Hasel is the name of the artist they are from Taiwan. And this song is called Sunset. It was kind of funny, I decided to just look it up on Spotify or title in my case. And I was like, all right. So the the album art is a sunset. So I'll just look for that. I paced it and I'm like Why do all of these look the same that I put it into transit? I saw that it translated to sunset I was like, oh well that that makes a bit more sense there. There you go But anyway, this is some kind of like ambient indie post rock type stuff So let's get into it. This is a pretty fun one. Cool So , so , so , so So , so So So , so Nice, that was cool. Yeah, it was something that when I was just idly browsing There was something that just kind of caught my ear about that. I was like this is really interesting I haven't listened to this kind of like instrumental post rock type stuff in a very long time And it kind of got me back into it a little bit. There's just something about like the ever repeating like evolution of it That's really satisfying. Yeah, it's like I I always appreciate like instrumental music from this standpoint of like I could never do that because I don't have I don't have the technical ability to really do that like I I like Can memorize chords and like that's about it. I could never like you know jam on something like that Or just like make something that that intricate like but that that was really cool like the way that was building and stuff Was it perfect like you know one of my I'm not not too much of a secret but my favorite band is Weezer of all time and Yeah, yeah Have to have to have them up there um that and good shout out both of those Yeah, yeah, and uh the pink spiders right there. I don't know if you're familiar with them But uh there are another favorite um But the end it kind of amounted me of the end of only in dreams by Weezer if you're familiar with that song uh The last track in the blue album it has like a really long instrumental section that just builds like that. It was that was really cool And it's something I feel like it would be really interesting to see how something like this gets translated to a live Set because yeah Looking at her Instagram a little bit. It's it's linked on the bandcamp I see a lot of use of like modular synthesizers and things like that and I Modular synthesis is always something that I have found very interesting But if never been able to delve into because I don't have money like that to be able to be able to invest Like those types of things But um I feel like it would be really interesting to put together some sort of live show because You can also have like the voltage control that comes out of the Modular synth that like controls lights and things like that as well I feel like something like this could translate to a very unique and interesting type of instrumental live show That would be really engaging to watch yeah like uh, I feel like an entire set of Of something like that. I mean would just be like really captivating It would just like you know be almost transformative that that'd be really cool. Yeah I'm almost I mean that's the other thing about like this type of music is it's almost meditative in a way like it To me when I'm listening to it, I almost feel like I'm lost in time like this is you know a A four-minute four-and-a-half-minute song or something like that and it doesn't feel nearly that long at all Because I'm just so captivated the entire time that like time almost stand still in a way Just because there's so much to like analyze and listen to and take in that I think is really really cool Definitely. Yeah, it's it's you know It takes you to a place and like you know You're not really thinking about like the starter end of the song or anything like that. So I think that's another thing just of Instrumental music in general especially when it's kind of more this almost like ambient style Is that there is just kind of that like there's a narrative, but it's not explicit in a way like it takes you on a journey But like you know pop music rock music anything with lyrics really typically has a more explicit journey that it's taking you on Some sort of story or a feeling or whatever and this kind of like allows you to like You know use your imagination and feel and this is also kind of like where the uh I was kind of joking about the cover being a sunset and not realizing that the song was called sunset But like it really is interesting how just that like prepping your brain with that image Almost like like you tells you gives you a starting point and then you can kind of extrapolate from there Yeah, yeah, it's funny how artwork can do that isn't it? It's like it'll almost implant an idea in your head first But you know, I guess that's you know great artwork I feel like instrumental music almost skews multimedia more than like pop music does Which I think is sure yeah, because if you don't have like lyrics. I guess you'll have like other Yeah, imagery to to carry carry out Yeah, being the place of the lyrics. Yeah, it's something that I haven't got a whole lot about but like in the last couple months Like those types of things have I've been thinking about that a little bit more like what That visual medium does for music in that way. Yeah. Yeah, excuse me. All right. So uh what do we have up next? Um next uh, why don't we go with uh go with cars by fuzzy slippers. Okay. So this song this is came out I want to say like two months ago. So a little bit back on this. This is another Philly band like every like every song I picked on this list. Yeah. They kind of have almost a little bit of like a bear naked ladies or they might be giant sound to them. Oh, interesting. But yeah, yeah. I mean like vocally, I would say. Sure. Maybe a little bit of like the lyrics and you know, songwriting too. But a fight story actually we're going back to the incestuous scene type of thing conversation. Yeah. The basis of this band also plays base in the band night nature that I play in as well. Okay. So I have Mickey if you're watching. Love you. But yeah, this is the band. He plays bass in called Fuzzy Slippers, Songs Cook Cars. And I've just I've loved this song since they put it out. It's just it's stuck in my head all the time. [Music] Another long night of pretending to try leaving alone with all the usual wise drunk on my skateboard hoping my balance lasts. And the cars. I passed it as I hurtled towards the pavement. I wonder if my time could have been better spent but that it hits me and the notion leaves me that I am my human rush and the cars. How many roads must have been walked down the floor? She's hit by a car on many times. Can I try to get home just to wait up at the bar and wake up on someone else's lawn as the lights go on. The sirens will the trunks are scattered and high looks like I'm the one tonight getting all right but I guess someone else must have got the memory less. And the cars. I passed it as I put one out for my replacement I wonder if my time could have been better spent but that it hits me and the notion leaves me that's in fact I leave the notion all over the grass and the cars. The sirens will the trunks are scattered and high looks like I'm the one tonight getting all right but that it hits me and the notion leaves me that's in fact I leave the notion leaves me that's in fact I leave the notion leaves me that's in fact I leave the notion leaves me that was so much fun it had me off the bat like even just with like the the first like guitar riff and the tone of it I knew that I was going to be into it but like you're you're so right about the kind of like bear naked ladies they might be giants kind of like influence on the vocals too because yeah it's it's weird to like think of intangibly what that means but it's like there's a weird phrasing to it and I there's something like very human about that because it doesn't feel I it almost feels stream of consciousness in a way yeah I know from what Mickey has told me that their singers favorite band of all time this they might be giants so I guess that's you know probably just second nature to him but yeah I love that song ever since it came out like I listen to it at the gym like all the time okay and they yet I think they've been around for like a few years but they're they're putting out their first album in January nice and they're having like a release show at a place called Creep Records in Philly which I'm playing on being at they recorded this at I believe it was headroom studios you said which is owned by enough you're familiar with the band Dr. Dogg if you've ever heard of them but the name sounds familiar but the name of the studio also sounds familiar for some reason yeah it's a very a lot of Philly bands use that studio okay I don't I don't want to like throw names out there of who I think recorded there like what I could be totally wrong yeah I I feel like long friend time friend might have recorded their album there that would make sense I could be totally wrong but yeah but it sounds great but I mean you know he's had nothing but good things to say about that studio headroom studios but yeah just overall I just love that song yeah again it's also just like super catchy too like you were saying just it gets stuck in your head and it really is such an earworm like this is kind of like instrumentally it almost reminds me of like the car ironically as well kind of reminds me of like the cars era of like power pop kind of like that like 70s like power pop kind of era sure yeah I don't know what it is specifically about it that reminds me of that but it's just like these instantly catchy melodies that like even even though you've heard it like the first time it feels like you've like heard this song for years and years and years yeah it's I don't know it like that's another song going back to like the first song I'm talking about I feel like the chorus could be like a theme song to like a some kind of 90s TV show I mean yeah maybe it's to remind remind me of like Malcolm in the middle because if they might be giant or something but like I just I just want to hear that song in like the beginning of like a Nickelodeon cartoon or something like the chorus the lyrics are also interesting to me as well like um it feels like it's the type of thing where like you find yourself you try to grow but you find yourself falling back into like old habits and like you you try to you try to do new things and you just always end up back at the same place and the word play of like getting hit by a car it is very amusing because it's kind of it can kind of feel like that way sometimes where it's like you're like all right I'm doing really well doing really well and then kind of just out of nowhere you're just like back to what feels like square one almost and I I like that like word play there a lot yeah it's very just very clever like you know all around I think the whole the whole thing very fun stuff I'm definitely looking forward to um this full length you said that that's likely going to be coming out in January yeah believe it's coming out in January so they just put uh another single out I think yesterday actually uh called fighting stance um they actually had they actually had a few like reels and tiktoks go viral this year uh oh nice like really yeah Mickey's really good at like you know making just these viral uh you know little clips um their tag is uh I think it's at ask fuzzy slippers on instagram um but yeah he's he's just really good at it um you know the sad part of that is he he tells us like you know going viral on like reels or whatever pretty much does nothing for your music like it doesn't really translate to listeners for the most part which is strange um maybe a Ken in certain circumstances but like in the circumstances like theirs have going viral he said it hasn't really translated over yet but uh you know we'll see because he's he's really good at so I think he'll have more up his sleeve too well yeah for sure social platforms kind of have an incentive to try and keep you on the platform as much as possible and so I think there is something there where it kind of gets gamed where somebody was like oh I really like this and then you don't ever go and actually like check out the full song yeah the other thing that you can fall into. And this is potentially even worse, which is that you do have your viral moment, but it doesn't have anything to do with your music. You make it on like the band account, and you just do this goofy one-off meme that has nothing to do with your music at all. And that's the thing that takes off. And everybody's like, "Oh, you're the band that did the one thing." You're like an actual band. Like, "Can you pay attention to that a little bit?" You know? I think at least one of theirs was something like that. It was some kind of meme about like drummers or something like that. But yeah, it stinks. That's the case. But social media is a fickle beast. It sure is. Sure is. All right. So my next song was a direct submission if you are listening to the podcast, and you are interested in potentially having a song of yours featured on an episode as well. Send it to me at [email protected]. And you might end up like this band called Dallas Orbiter, who are from Minneapolis, Minnesota. And this is off of their newest album called "Space Man Things," which came out in September. This song is called "To the Breakdown." [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] picked up the band. Where his father left it off that I thought that was really cool. It's their local band to I think they're called I think they're called the Grimjacks. They're their dad like books shows And he's a really nice guy, but I thought that story was really cool. Are they That does sound really interesting. Are they writing new originals as well and kind of like continuing on the whole thing? Or are they almost like a cover band of like that old band in a way that's I was wondering that too I'm not sure the exact story But I would yeah, I would think that's really cool if they're like continuing the legacy like like continuing the right new things and like Who knows maybe like he could pass it on to his kid when he could just never it can never go away You know and like each generation could add new songs like that. That's a really cool concept Yeah, and you know kind of kind of going back into like the history of this band It kind of seems like everybody kind of got to the point where you know they were you know starting families and doing All that as as one does Yeah, and and then it seems like they kind of picked this back up After maybe they saw a little bit more a little bit more stability in their lives after you know kids have grown up a little bit all that sort of That sort of deal which I think is really interesting and again just this whole album is really incredible if you are into this sound I highly recommend checking out the whole thing. It's about 50 minutes Just really cool kind of throwback psychedelic Prague rock music. Oh, so what do we have up next? Next how about we do a let's take a little Little curve here is I did a couple you know power poppy songs. I mean yeah, I don't think I would call this band power pop I talked about them earlier though. They're called these. They're they're a Philly band Like a power trio and they're just really fun. Really riffy You know, I think they called themselves like goopy riffy rock at one point But now they call themselves arcade rock. I would say they're kind of somewhere in the middle of that But they take a lot like influence with like video game soundtracks and all I think this is the one No, they have another song that's like influenced by like Gerardo Valley from a carina of time like that They took like the chords of that. Yeah, and they wrote a song around those chords like they do things like that But the one I picked out is called cut if you ask me and it's it's just a you know, it's just a great song They don't you know, they're songs are pretty punchy and like you know to the point But they get in get out and punch in the mouth. So nice great band Some say I'm a king Some say I'm a God Some say that I'm all the good things that I've come along Some say I'm a fool Some say I'm a fraud Some say that I'm all the evil everything is wrong If you ask me I'm nothing Just a little less I don't care how you think I do my house Because I can't throw down my door Some say he has a scandalous ear Some say I'm a fool Some feel better cos he's up inside of the door Some say I'm so right Some say it's all wrong Some just hear a catchy tune and start to sing along If you ask me I'm nothing You're the same just a little less I don't care how you think I do my house Because I can't throw down my door Yeah, that's cool Yeah, it's a cool sound It's like Queens of the Stone Age at 90's arcade or something It's just really cool I really love how they use that The chiptune lead It's more of a 16 bit than an 8 bit sound But they actually incorporate it into the music As the lead synth sound I feel a lot of the time bands don't necessarily go all the way with that They will decide to use chiptune 8 bit 16 bit sounds or whatever But they don't necessarily incorporate it into the arrangement It's almost like a party trick or something like that Where it just feels like it's a lot more baked into the sound Which I think is super cool It feels like it's part of the DNA of the song It's really awesome It just feels like it belongs there Yeah, I listen to a band back in the day called "I Fight Dragons" If you're familiar with them They had a lot of chiptune stuff I almost feel like B's does it better It feels so natural with them It's almost like if you took it away You couldn't imagine the song without it It's really cool Yeah, even the way they phrasing of the lead parts They are specifically made to take advantage of Sonically how that type of patch That type of sound works Which I think is super cool But on top of that as well It's also just like you said A very punchy kind of like It kind of feels like a turn of the millennium Like rock punk adjacent type of sound It feels of that era a lot Which I think is really cool as well Yeah, I think like someone else I heard describe them as like They belong on like early 2000s Like movie soundtrack Almost like an American pie But maybe not quite an American pie But like something in that vein Like you could hear them on Something of that era for sure Yeah, for sure Yeah, Mike's just got like a great like 90s type voice Yeah Something about the syllables It's got that like so-called pop punk Like accent to it almost Yeah, it's funny actually like he They end up playing with pop punk bands Like a lot of times Even though they don't really They're not really a pop punk band But they kind of like get in that mix They have that aesthetic A little bit Yeah, right Like so they can get away with it But like you know there was like There was a pop punk show I went to with them Back in When it was like May maybe and there was like A few bands like all systems go Was one of them if you've ever heard of them It was a million Yeah, it was a great show But like these Like they kind of took out Like a sort of thumb at the show In a great way Like in an awesome way Like we made We made a meme about like you know That meme with like the Soldiers Crouched behind a wall and there's like a clown behind them It was like The pop punk bill and then like I put bees on the clown Yeah, so it was like you know I mean like it's They're in the party but they're like Do they belong in this party? It was cool though, yeah But I love those guys so much They're drummers incredible They're all incredibly musicians And they're they always put on a great show That's one of the things that I kind of love About like independent Like shows and stuff like that Those that you can have the bands That are kind of like a little bit of an oddball But they end up standing out in a really good way Like it doesn't feel like Oh, this band doesn't make sense It's often like Oh, this is a really cool thing That kind of like changes up the pace a little bit you know Yeah, it's like I kind of want to put a show together Like that next year Like we're like you know There's like one or two bands Maybe like two pop punk bands And like a couple bands that like aren't quite pop punk That like stand out you know in between the you know I think it might be a cool mix like You know some bands are like more theatrical in the area I would like to get them on on shows you know like Just mix it up. I think it's I think it's always fun to mix it up Here in Detroit, it's really interesting too, like the scenes that we've got, you can get kind of like, there's a few scott bands around there, really cool. But then there's also like as far as the rock scene goes, there's a huge hardcore scene. They're not really in the same scene as like everybody else. They're kind of like doing their own thing because that's kind of how hardcore works. They're more in with the metal bands and stuff like that. But like, I've seen a bill before that it was a, it was like an emo pop band almost. And then after that was like a grind core band. And then like a do metal band. So like the exact opposite to the spectrum of like we play like 200 BPM plus all only or like we only play like 90 BPM or less, which was really awesome. Yeah. As well as like a really big scene of like blues rock and stuff like that too. So you could, you could definitely put together a show like that around here too that's really like, you know, spread out and like draws a unique and interesting crowd. Yeah. Keep people on their toes, I say, like the show I played last night with Knight of Nature, which I would say were like, you know, like, I don't actually were like grungy emo kind of in a weird way. Like if you listen to us, you know, it was us. And then it was Fatty Corngor, which is solo music is like, I would say like pop rock kind of healthy. Yeah, pop pop. Yeah, pop rock pop punk like, you know, but yeah, really polished. I love like that's totally my wheelhouse. And then the band that played him in the middle of us was like a bluesy rock band. It was so it was a really cool mix. I like that. That's actually a really good transition into this next band that I'm going to play who are kind of like a blues rock band that I just discovered. So I'm actually originally from the upper peninsula of Michigan way up north on like the on like the border of Canada, basically. And I went to school at Michigan Tech, which is far west in out in Michigan. And so the entire upper peninsula of Michigan, the area code is 906. And people really wear the 906 is like a badge of honor. But anyway, so a couple a couple months ago, September 6th, they was 906 day. And so I decided to like go and make a playlist of a bunch of bands from that area that were active and like doing cool stuff just as, you know, a fun little thing. And I discovered this newer band from my college town of Houghton, Michigan that they have just released in August their first, their first EP. This band is called Willoughby. And they're kind of like a blues rock band. This is probably my favorite song of theirs off of that EP. It's called Frost. And the cold wind blows through this town. And the birds all decide to fly sounds. Would you go with them? I dear, my dear. Would you stay with me? I'm free. And the ice will freeze over the lake. It's glassy, shall make, keep me safe. And my love has gone away, but the fire in everything. Oh, why would I ever decide to let you go when you're standing right in front of me? And what if I was hypnotized? And I couldn't fight for what I want. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ Oh, though our love is evergreen ♪ ♪ The storm will break at dawn ♪ ♪ This winter may be the death of me ♪ ♪ I cannot go from all your frauds ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Oh, why would I ever decide ♪ ♪ To let you go when you're standing right in front of me ♪ ♪ And what if I was hypnotized ♪ ♪ And I couldn't fight for what I want ♪ (upbeat music) - Nice. - Yeah, right. - Soulful. - Oh, for sure. - Yeah. - One of the things that I find really interesting is how different locations really do almost have like a sonic footprint to them. - Sure. - It's really interesting, specifically in college towns to me that that has such staying power. Because to me, this reminds me of a lot of bands that were active around the time that I was going to college like four or five years ago. And they probably wouldn't have really even seen most of those bands. They probably would have graduated and either broken up or moved to a different area at that point. It's really interesting to hear the sonic footprint and the similarities despite probably never having crossed over at all. - Yeah, it's almost like the sound just lives on in that town and part of the DNA of living in that. That's really cool. That's a cool concept. - If you're ever interested in hearing kind of a similar type of sound, there was a band called Ben in the Bamboozlers. And they released just a single EP back in 2020, like very early days of the COVID pandemic. I think they'd recorded it before and then finally dropped it. But I hear a lot of similarities between those two projects with the kind of psychedelic and very bluesy types of sounds. - Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. I mean, I guess there's just certain parts of a town that can influence your outlook on life. And maybe it can subconsciously influence your sound, too, or the creativity, that's cool. - Yeah, but I mean, even on top of that, like just the baseline of this is so-- - Oh, yeah. - Soulful and groovy, it's really holding it down and then you get the elongated kind of like instrumental jam section, too, which is super fun. - That's great. You could tell the band was like real locked in, too. They were grooving. (laughs) - I have to imagine, 'cause I don't really have any insight into how this was recorded, but just hearing it, I have to imagine that this was like a live off the floor recording just how like locked in everybody is and like especially like the jam part like I feel like you don't get that type of like jam section in a song if you're playing it like if you're like recording it track by track to a click. Yeah it's funny like I think I I said that without even thinking about like I was I was almost picturing it was alive you know direct recording like that it's because it just didn't feel like a like okay you put this part down and then you know it just feels like it had to be that done that way maybe it wasn't but you know it feels like it was in a good way and knowing the facilities and everything too I can almost guarantee I know like where this was recorded like it's very it's very interesting just just visualizing all of that but yeah there it's there's always been a very interesting small but like strong music scene in in that area of you know just kids who are going to college and start bands which I think is always some really fun stuff because you know when when you're kind of that age and you're young you've got like some some interesting things that you want to you know some new ideas and things that you want to try out so I always really like that yeah totally and like yes I think there's something special about like those little college towns like in Philly we have this little neighborhood called Manion that's like a big big college town and like some of the best venues were there like there was this venue called the great room that was like it was easily like my favorite venue to go to like since I got back into the music scene like the shows were always like I had a really great atmosphere there was usually like a really good turn out like people would just show up for music they didn't even know the bands like it just had a natural pole and it was like a really really cool atmosphere and it was it was the same deal with like a college down type venue but yeah there's something special about that yeah I just think that that whole thing is really really cool I'm interested in seeing if they end up putting anything else out like I said this is their first EP but is really solid I would be very interested in hearing some more stuff yeah yeah for sure that was great so what do we have up next so next I'll go with I'll go with the band log flume song DB Cooper so I discovered this band I want to say about about a year ago now I think it was like there was a big Billy power pop show that was being put together um actually I think it was at that venue I just discussed uh called the great room um and this band was on the bill and I decided to just just check them out I just see what they sound like and I like kind of fell in love with them and uh I kind of like you know I started fangirling over them and like being like oh my god you guys are awesome like I would love to play a show with you guys and uh then the singer like listened to scoop ski and he was like you've told me his favorite scoop ski songs and really you know geeking out over each other I was like oh my god that's awesome so uh I eventually got to see them play live uh first in back in June and then like you know met the band and all and um they were putting together their their album release show for uh for the album that this is from it's called splash hit you know splash it log flume huh I love I love that though I always like the bands have a theme like yeah I love it yeah so yeah he actually uh he asked scoop ski to to be on the bill um yeah it was a fun night I mean it was uh well fun night it was easily our work show um there was all those it was one of those uh our work show it was uh there was just a lot of factors going on um a lot of like personal problems my wife was just getting over having um strep throat uh so there was that a lot of anxiety issues going on at the time so it came through in our performance and it was not our best show and I I apologize to amateurs because I think the whole crowd could feel like the negativity feeding off me unfortunately but um you know it got better after that but yeah anyways they put on a great show that night and uh I love this song and I love this this whole album uh by log flume it's all right [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Short and sweet, that one for sure. >> Yeah, punky blasted energy. Yeah, they have a lot of shorter songs. That's probably the punkiest song I want to say on their album. So a lot of their songs are like, I won't say slower, but not as fast as that one. But yeah, they just get right to the point. A lot of their songs are under two minutes and they don't waste your time with a long drawn out bridge or anything like that. But they just get right to the point. >> That's something that I've always had a bit of trouble with is trying to condense songs down into a very short time frame like that, where they still feel like a full song. But they don't overstay their welcome as well. Which I think is in and of itself being able to write short snappy little songs like that that still feel like a full song. >> Yeah, absolutely. I mean, they're great at that. I struggle with that as well. I'm always, it's hard to me to write songs under three minutes even. Just wrote a new one actually that's two minutes and five seconds, so I'm pretty proud of that. [LAUGH] There was actually a compilation that came out a couple years ago. Actually, it's on our album, it's called 30 seconds. It's literally a 30 second long song, but it was originally for a compilation. And the goal was you had to write a song in 30 seconds and that was what we cooked up. So I was pretty proud of that one that we were able to get in, get the point across with that. But it's definitely an art form, yeah, it's hard to do, yeah. Yeah, I always think personally one of my go-to examples for that is I fell in love with a girl by the white stripes. >> Yeah, because like that song, I think is just shy of two minutes. Maybe it's even shorter, let's see, minute 50. So yeah, just shy of two minutes. But I mean, it's got like three verses, three choruses and a bridge and is somehow still less than two minutes. It's also like hella punky and really, really fast. But I always think that those songs are really fun, just like the type of stuff that you can get everything condensed really short. >> Absolutely, yeah, yeah. >> On top of that, this song, I really like the synth sound that they have for it. It's kind of like a classic sound almost. Yeah, yeah, they have a lot of that pepper to throw out their album. It's really cool, a lot of little touches here and there. They sound like garage-y, but also like pretty and poppy at the same time that they managed to walk a really fine line. It's cool. >> Yeah, I really like that sound a lot. >> Okay. >> So moving on to my final song of the evening. This song just came out today. Yeah, it's very fresh find. It's by my friends in the band, 10 months summer, who you have probably heard of. They are from Chicago and they put out their first few singles near the beginning of this year. And then put out a live album before they even put out their first EP or album or anything like that. I got to see them over the summer. They came through Detroit and I actually picked up their demo tape, got it right here. And that was, for the longest time, the only place that you could hear this song. But this is the first song off of their brand new EP, which is called Fate Lines. This song is called TM36, like from Pokemon. [MUSIC] You're my life thine A few despairs around you Know that I want this, I want more and stop it 'Cause it's never been this good ever, believe now We know that I want more and stop it 'Cause it's never been this good ever, believe now Have a look that could be this good (Music) Trace your paths for your faith lines Mine don't exist without you A swear to God, you're no last ride Always been near around you Know that I want this, I want more and stop it 'Cause it's never been this good ever, believe now We know that I want more and stop it 'Cause it's never been this good ever, believe now Have a look that could be this good Know that I want more and stop it 'Cause it's never been this good ever, believe now (Music) Yeah, I almost got like a circus or vibe kind of feel to that Something in like the mid-2000s post-hard chorus kind of feel That was really cool It's really interesting 'cause when you listen to their music They have songs that kind of hit on a bunch of different styles They've got more of the more emo, emo straight up type of songs They've talked about the possibility of even writing a hardcore song Or something like that Really not wanting to tie themselves down to just one sound Which I think is really cool Yeah, that's awesome The guitar work was amazing Yeah, that kind of effect on the guitar That's something I don't really play around with too much But different kinds of delay and all that But I always appreciate when bands can pull that off well Yeah, if you can do that dotted eighth note delay Really well 'Cause the thing is you have to be able to really lock in with it Or else it sounds real sloppy But if you can lock in with it, it sounds really cool It makes that really cool effect I also just love how the song builds It starts out with that The chorus, the drums just start hitting really hard The guitars get really heavy Just the build in that is really incredible Yeah, it was great Like you said, if you can't pull that off well It's not gonna sound good I've always appreciated bands that can pull that off I think another thing that took me a little while to realize But their bassist is also really incredible I realized until I saw them live when they came through Detroit Kind of the middle of the summer I think it was But I didn't realize how much their bass playing Really created such a foundation for the rest of this Until I saw them live and I was like oh man They're really pulling some weight with this That's awesome Yeah, like when a good bass player can like Just really stand out and like make their own Carve their own sound in the Because they're doing a lot more than just the Root notes, they're outlining like the whole chord basically With what they're playing, which allows the guitarists To do a lot more interesting like melodic type stuff Because they don't have to be outlining the harmony as much They can do a lot more of the melody Yeah and I feel like big brain arranging type stuff For like this kind of sound you're going for You need a bassist who can really like note away Around the neck to allow the guitarist to tap into those other avenues Yeah, that's what I'm saying Yeah, again this just this EP just came out today This is their first full project after three Singles and then a live album which kind of half counts You know, however you want to say that But it was really interesting because between the live album and that demo tape That I bought from them when I saw them live I had heard even the unreleased songs before But it was really cool hearing like the fully produced Full versions of the songs I thought that was really cool Nice, nice, yeah it was cool So how are we going to finish this episode off What's going to be our last tune So I'm going to take you to the drama club All right, okay This song is by a band that became a favorite of mine this year They're called the Black Burns I believe they were I don't know the full story but I believe they were in like some older Philly bands Yeah, maybe in like the 2000s some Philly indie bands And I think they almost became like kind of like a super group type of deal Oh, interesting Like couple yeah, I think I think that's their story Something alone is lying but I've caught them live a couple times And just just really great songwriting You know that's it's not really like a like I'm throwing in like a curveball or anything It's just kind of another great power pop song But it's just like it just feels like something I would like be all about like Well, I was in college like that like just that kind of songwriting Like it almost reminds me of like a Jimmy World kind of song Yeah, yeah, I mean to that drama club by the Black Burns But not just anyone can hack it in the drama club First rule of drama club so give it don't forget the second rule is something We have not decided yet and it's okay to break but you can never ever bend So rule of drama club the drama never ends There's something about the drama club You're not friends unless you draw a little blood There's just something about the drama club Your invitation to the drama club It's soft and is big but it's sharp The moonlight reflects it's on its surface And it open your bigger friends off The origins of drama club are anybody's guess The air smells like organs and clothes Sticker ants Soon you'll see some notice the way it makes you will You believe whenever you want but you probably never will It's not so, it's not so It's not so, it's not so It's not so bad It's not so bad It's not so bad It's not so It's not so It's not so bad It's not so bad It's not so bad There's something about the drama club There's something about the drama club You're not friends unless you draw a little blood There's just something about the drama club So catchy Yeah So catchy and cute One of the things that I really like about the way this is arranged Is how the little lead guitar part that plays before The rest of the band comes in And then also there at the end before the final chorus Is I really like how that guitar part kind of outlines The chord structure of the next part And yeah But it also acts as its own thing Like sometimes I don't know how How you approach like this type of stuff But to me like I will Write some of these auxiliary little lead guitar parts For like a chorus or something like that That kind of outlines the chords of it But the fact that it also stands on its own and sounds cool As opposed to just like Oh it's like an arpeggio or something like that Like it's fun And like the way that it warbles a little bit too I don't know if that's like a Modulation effect or something like that But like just that little bit does a lot of heavy lifting in this arrangement Sure definitely like that's the kind of guitar parts that like you know You know you gotta you know in there is like when they just have that extra little something special to them yeah I also there's there's something about the drama club uh there's something about the drama club but the lyrics of this song are really fun like there's something about the like there's a campiness almost about it that like again like you were talking about almost reminds you of like American pie or like one of those like early 2000s kind of like high school drama comedy type of movies that like nowadays is like a little bit played out but like it's still like a fun tropey campy type of thing like especially for you know power pop pop punk like type of sound yeah yeah I love the lyrics too like I you know what's the lyrics like any any two idiots can like any two idiots can fall in love and almost any psychopath can pass the bar or something like that it's just some some funny lines in there that's yeah I really like when people write lyrics and kind of like don't take it too seriously in that way like there's again the campiness and just like you know adding some humor to it again kind of reminds me of like the type of stuff that you do as well like where there's the humor of it that even if you're taking on like a heavier subject can kind of like help soften the blow and make it just a more fun enjoyable listen yeah yeah it's funny like these this band like when I was watching them play and they had like almost the same the same exact setup as us like they had you know female keyboard player in the middle they had you know the same same lineup as we did like yeah two guitars bass drums and you know keyboard and like I was looking at them like almost like they were like our our elders or something like that it's kind of cool like your double gang is almost yeah yeah like our old double games but yeah I really like them a lot and like respect them a lot would love to hopefully I can play a show with them sometime in next year because they're like definitely on my bucket list but what did you say were some of the other bands that they hit that their members had been involved in um geez I want to say one was called like wax wave or something like that and I don't remember what the other one was okay I wonder if I could even like a quick google search could find like that's what I was thinking if I could find it on like maybe band camp or something like that that's that's what I'm wondering and let me see um okay plow okay the one guy was in a band called plow united and another guy was in a band called wax wave and the dangerous I know those were I've heard those names in like the philly area so that's I think that was kind of like the marriage of the you know different projects so that's the other thing about just getting into a local scene is the number of times that you see different people pop up even if it's not like oh they're playing like five bands right now is it's like oh this was their old band and now they're playing in a new band and then now they're starting a new bands kind of like you know watching that progression and seeing how they take these different things like sometimes it'll be completely different and then other times it's like oh this is almost just like your last band but it's just better you know right right a little bit more about it or whatever yeah it's just funny the way things evolve and you know change and turn about for sure um now that we're kind of getting to the end of the episode is there anything else that you want to say one more time before we sign off about Scoopsky about the new project about anything else before we sign off um now just uh you know thanks so much for having me on I'm a fan of the show I've listened to various episodes before and like I just like the format of it's really cool thank you um so I appreciate it I appreciate you taking this time on a Friday night um talk to me and uh yeah it's just you know you can check out around times of thief down now on all streaming services you know if you're probably hearing this after Christmas so our last Christmas covers a little dated now but if you're still in the Christmas move we have a little cover of last Christmas out you can listen to um yeah the the new year uh like I said at one point I have said I'm not sure what the new year is going to look like for us well there will be Scoopsky recordings in 20.5 you don't have to worry about that uh as far as catch us live I'm not sure what that's going to look like I will be out there playing live for sure it's in some capacity I'm not sure if we'll be under Scoopsky or not uh that's kind of up in the air right now but uh regardless Scoopsky's not going anywhere uh and I'm not going anywhere from stages so that's that's all I could say at the moment but uh otherwise yeah just thank you for having me on and this is the course all right this has been the fresh finds podcast the show about discovering new music with good people yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah it's been a long time coming to feel so alive nice to meet you high and low and goodbye you better hold on side try to enjoy the ride around it by billions of dreams face and faces can be overwhelming it doesn't make sense we're now in that doesn't change the time I'll be on the road that'll be your guide but some did you got to see through your own eyes if I set a head on the answers you gotta be alive because everybody's guessing that way through life everybody's singing along but they don't know the lines everybody's wishing on the same stars in the sky and everybody's guessing that will be all right ♪ Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah ♪ So better make you white ♪ ♪ Don't let anyone tell you what the stress of life is ♪ ♪ And love it with no regrets ♪ ♪ Stop close your eyes, take a deep breath, feel the sun shine ♪ ♪ And it'd be nice if we were home ♪ ♪ If your brain is fine, you can never be told ♪ ♪ 'Cause when you get here, that's when you will know ♪ ♪ That everybody's guessing and they're way through the line ♪ ♪ That everybody's singing along but they don't know the line ♪ ♪ Everybody's looking for their own chances to show ♪ ♪ Yeah, it's time to find them ♪ ♪ That everybody's guessing and they will be all right ♪ ♪ There's no need to run ♪ ♪ There's no need to hide ♪ ♪ And hold your hands to time ♪ ♪ As day turns into night ♪ ♪ Rainy days will come while there's water on the side ♪ ♪ The skies are clear, and it tells the light ♪ ♪ Even the weather may get it wrong all the time ♪ ♪ 'Cause everybody's guessing and they're way through the line ♪ ♪ Rainy days will come while there's water on the side ♪ ♪ The skies are clear, and it tells the light ♪ ♪ Rainy days will come while there's water on the side ♪