(upbeat music) - Fresh. - Hello, and welcome back to season five of The Fresh Fines Podcast, the show about discovering new music with good people. I'm Ryan, in this episode, I'm joined by Gabby and Josh of the New Jersey Emo Band, A Float. How are we doing, guys? - Doing good, doing good. - Good to hear. - Good, thanks for having us. - Yeah, absolutely. - Yeah, thank you. - We've been kind of trying to put this together for a couple of months now, so I'm glad that it was able to work out and we've got some timing that worked out with a new release that'll be coming up, but we'll talk about that in a minute. For now, I'd like you guys to just introduce yourselves and maybe give a little bit of, say what you do in the band and give a brief history, perhaps? - Take the floor, Joshua. (laughing) - All right. Yeah, my name's Josh, and I play The Float. I play bass, and I've been with the band the whole time. Me and Gab, holding it down. - Heck yeah. - Yeah, I helped writing and stuff, too. And I mean, Gab and I both work on the creative direction. Now, honestly, everything back into, we, the shaman is a lot of the management, but when it comes to direction and the kind of things we do, it's pretty split between us. - And even like merch and things like that, I would imagine stuff like that. - Yeah, yeah, like all of that. And I think we co-exist pretty well. We're usually on the same page, and we have very interesting takes. I'm always interested to hear her opinion on something. - Nice. - And I feel like she respects mine as well. - Definitely a good dynamic. (laughing) - Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, I'm sure people have said this before, but bands are like relationships, you know? It's the advent of flow. - Yeah, absolutely. - But it really is, you know? It's something you have to maintain and take care of. - Well, and I mean, even just like being in a relationship, if you can't live with one of the people in your band for an extended amount of time, then you're not gonna go very far because how the hell can you tour if you can't stand each other for more than, you know, a day or two? - Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, it's like running a business, too. I know that like strips away in the font of it, but like, yeah, who you work with, too, really makes a break, breaks the band, you know? - Oh, yeah, 100%. - Yeah, yeah, so there's a lot of factors to it. But I mean, me and Gab, we've never really had many issues between us. - Well, that's good. - Yeah, yeah, so it's really good. You wanna know like the history. - Yeah, yeah, I would let Gabby introduce herself a little bit and then we can kind of get into that. But yeah. - Cool, my name's Gabby. I play guitar and sing in the band and write lyrics, Josh helps with lyrics, too. We started this. I met Josh at Rowan, what was it like 2018? - 2018, so I was doing my capstone project and I wanted to do an EP. I never sang before a float, I never really. Yeah, I wasn't extremely interested in like, fronting a band. I just really like playing guitar and doing like audio stuff. So for my capstone, my initial idea was to do like, basically like a post-rock explosions in the sky type EP. But then I ended up, yeah, it's so different. It's crazy. But I ended up like going through a lot of personal things, just like writing lyrics to songs. And then I was like, okay, I'm just going to put a band together for my capstone project. And I guess I'll sing because I wrote this and I'm just going to do it. It's for school, it's a project, I just thought of it as that. And I had session players and then they bailed. And then I actually ended up working with Josh at the studio at school. And I was like, hey, that's how we met. We met at Rowan working like, doing the studio together. So just like overseeing the studio and stuff like that. So I was like, hey, do you play anything? And he said, hey, so I'm like, okay, cool. I have like this capstone project, which I need to graduate. And these people bailed on me. Can you play on it? And then do you know any drummers? And at the time, Josh was playing with someone else. And then that's basically how float formed. Like we recorded my capstone project at school, ended up singing. And then for part of the capstone project, you had to do a release show. So I booked the release show. Yes, that the capstone project was pretty intense. Like we recorded something, mixed and mastered, booked the show, promoted the show and played the show. Like all for, you know, to graduate college. So what was this program specifically? Was this like a recording program? Or just like, yeah, it was recording. So me and Josh both have a degree in music tech. It's like music tech, basically. Oh, okay, it was actually. Yeah, socialization and tech. So after the release show, everything went well. And like people, I think liked it enough. So I was like, let's keep doing this. And then we just hit the ground running. Like we played so much. And I never felt super comfortable singing until like, honestly, the last two years. Which has been like, yeah, it's been quite a journey. Especially when you go to school with a lot of people that, you know, have been doing this their whole life. Or like, they took lessons when they were prior to college, again to college, you know, it's very kind of intimidating. And if you don't come from like a trained background. So I was really like intimidated, you know, I had kids around me that have been doing this their whole life. And I'm just like coming into it. So that's basically how we start. I can definitely see that. That's one of the interesting things about like my college experience. Because I also went to college for like audio production. But I think the interesting thing that feels a little bit different is that I went to a school where that was very much not the main thing. Like I went to a technological university. And so most people were like engineers and stuff like that. And so it was really interesting because there were a ton of like musicians and stuff like that that went there. But most of the degrees and things like that were like miners. It was stuff like, you know, stuff that people weren't focusing on. Audio production was really like the only one that was like a major. And so it was really interesting because like there were a ton of talented people. But nobody that was like pursuing that like as a degree, like performance or anything like that as a degree, which is probably a little bit of a different dynamic than like going somewhere where there would be like, you know, performance degrees and things like that as well. Yeah, the program was pretty new when I got there. Because I went to two colleges before. Like I did a community college and I went to Rutgers, Camden. Like try and figure out what I want to do. But I was doing like music, like general music at Rutgers and they really didn't have a good program. And then one of my friends was like, oh, Rowan's doing this new audio program. You should, you know, apply. So when I got there, it was like the second or third year, I think that they, it started. And then it just, it kind of took off. I feel like that's cool. That's like way bigger now. Yeah, it's really, it's, it's a good program. Like I always recommend people that are trying to like figure out what they want to do and like want to pursue this. I always say like Rowan, I had a great time. I had really good relationships with my professors and like even after college. And I feel like also if you're in state and you want to save money, I feel like, you know, why not? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's so, you kind of did like the first show and you were like, actually, this is like a really good fit and then kind of like continued to pursue it. Your second EP came out in November of the next year, 2019. So was there a lot of like, were you guys doing a lot of like writing or playing shows or anything like that in that time? Or was it very much like a new thing that you were like? I don't know if we'll pursue it a whole lot. Maybe, maybe not. Like was there like a whole lot of questioning it? Or did it, or was it a lot more like, this feels right? Let's just, let's just go with it. I think after being around people and like going to school and just seeing like the possibilities of what you can do. I think that kind of like gave me a sense of urgency. Because before I, you know, like I went, I was with a lot of people that like I had friends before around when that didn't pursue anything creative. Like I really didn't know anyone that was like, oh, like, you know, this is my major. Most of my friends are like nursing majors or like, you know, other practical things that are just like a very clear path. I think once we got there and we started planning and we were both working at a music studio together. I was working at a music store. I feel like I kind of just like dove into like, this is what my life is going to be continuing on. Like it was a cool project to do. I kind of felt like it's only going to be as good as I make it. So I was like, I'm just going to commit like all my extra time, extra money to just doing the band things. I've seen it work for people. So I was like, I want the same thing. So I was all in after that. I was, I've been in hell yeah. And are you guys both still like working in like audio and or production in some capacity for like your day job? Josh, what do you, well, Josh technically actually studio. I sort of, I am not like on a day to day basis. I work at a, I work for a recording studio, but I do like administrative work for them for the music program they run. Yeah, but I will still like, I'll like occasionally run sound for like, there's a venue near us called a warehouse three. And like every now and then something will come.
but not on a regular basis. No. Gotcha. Yeah, I kind of slowed down. I was working at the same studio but I kind of got more of an office job and then I run my collective and then I freelance doing sound. It may feel like a lot sometimes but I try not to overdo it because like I feel like it just takes a lot of time and energy, especially like running sound because I run the collective, we bring all the gear to our space where we throw shows, we set everything up and break it down. I kind of like the balance I have now where it's like I get freelance projects, I take them if I want to and if I get sound like show offers, I'll take them if I want to but I've been really trying to like not burn myself out. And you're able to not have to take everything in order to make your income, probably makes that a lot more enjoyable. Yeah and we're so like mental health wise, like I don't I feel like I'm coming in terms like I don't have to help everyone like what shows I don't have to do sound all the time, like I need to prioritize like just resting, like true resting and just making sure like physically and mentally I'm in a good spot. And now I just like overwork because I got too caught up in like throwing shows all the time doing sound all the time trying to get clients all the time, like burn out is real and I feel like I'm feeling it more as in like how tired I am because I'm slowing down like hustling a lot. Yeah I'm kind of wrestling with that right now too with like I'm in a good place with the podcast where you know people are excited about it they want to come on but also like I'm kind of reaching the end of like how much I can expand and do it myself without like bringing on a whole team. And I think that I'm kind of like finding that boundary right now of like how much I can do and still stay sane. Yeah it's hard to help people and like you're so excited that people like what you're doing like when I started booking stuff it was so nice having people in a community like Gabby like yo help me with this show or like I get touring bands all the time like if I can't do it I at least give them connections of like other bookers I know or like just contacts like hey I can't do this like I'm too busy but hey hit up my friends or like try this venue because like now it kind of feels nice to say no because like I am tired. I feel like that's actually a good transition though like do you want to kind of talk about head above water collective and kind of what that actually encompasses. Yeah so when I first started the collective I was working on a venue around us and I was booking and doing sound which was fun I got a lot of cool touring bands in this little dive bar Josh would come hang out like all our friends would come hang out and then all of a sudden they told me like hey we're closing next week thank you for booking and running sound and I was like this sucks and at the time I was when my friends had a house and he was like you know I asked them like you know can I throw shows in your basement and I did I I made sure like you know the basement with all the gear was correct like no one outside was like causing anything for neighbors I made sure to like clean up the house when you know just to respect the space because it's not my house so I did that for like I burnt myself out I was doing like a couple shows of months like either at the house or I was just booking other places and then I expanded to Philly and then I kind of slowed down towards the end of last year I was a wafer month on a tour and then this year it's kind of transitioning more into like audio work so me and Josh because Josh is five o'clock the two like he also me a lot especially like running sound and having like an extra extra person but I think this year I'm kind of transitioning more into like recording um I even floated the idea of like becoming a label um but I really want to do live sessions like me and Josh I've been talking about this for like I feel like it's been like a year or two um spend a while so I kind of want to transition some more like helping bands because I need to have a lot of friends that are like hey like I always see that you're posting like demos and recordings like how do I do that with my band so I think I'm going to start like showing people like how to record um because I like doing that I taught a special teaching on so like it's cool to like show other people that like you could record your own demos and like you know have stuff to show so I think we're just gonna transition more into audio realm but also I'll still be booking like here and there but not like my focus yeah so I do like that idea I've actually got a friend around here in Detroit who does a very similar thing uh he's got a studio called the bee room shout out where they also like just record like local bands they do like live sessions in like live off the floor sessions in the studio and then they post them to YouTube which I think is super cool I always like that idea yeah it's great because then it's like I don't have to be anywhere because like being a promoter a booker like yeah I'll have someone like running sound or whatever but then I have to show face and I'm like oh I'm busy like doing things so it's nice to be like in my own home and like delegating the time like I'll have to be at a loading I don't get a sound check like I just tell people when to come over what we're doing and it's I feel like it's gonna be so much better and I love like recording so I'm like I want to do that more in a controlled setting than like live sound something goes wrong okay now I gotta figure it out okay now it's not working now the show's not happening like it's less stress yeah and I also saw that you did a couple years ago in 90s cover compilation with the head above water collective as well which uh I haven't listened to any of that yet I just saw it like an hour ago but it that looks like a cool uh cool sort of project as well yeah I've been I was like dabbling I'm trying to like you know get all my stuff together especially with like doing the band camp and I was like oh what's another cool like way to like show local like showcase local band to that like book a show and I was like let's just do a cover comp because I see people do it all the time so I'm like all right who wants I put up like a poll and there's so many responses and I was like okay an hour later I was like okay I do want to be a part of it I was like all right given the people what they want hell yeah that that's definitely I put out a cover compilation last year and I learned how much goes into that sort of thing like just wrangling people even if they're recording their own things just making sure that you check up make sure that everybody's like on the right timeline and all that like yeah it seems like from what I can tell based on like our conversation so far you seem like somebody who is very good at managing a lot of moving parts yeah I I don't know how I do it I feel like my brain is always going like I'll text Josh during the day I'll be like hey X Y and Z in our later hey X Y and Z oh and I'll be a band practice I'm like oh let me tell you guys this while it's on my mind because I'm just like I'm constantly like on my phone but not in a bad way because I'm always like on Twitter or X to make X or like Instagram just like talking to people and like getting emails back because I do all the bookings so it's like constantly like doing this it's just like second nature to be like oh yeah by the way this is happening okay cool this band got back to me got to get back to I'm like I feel like I don't know just it just non-stop but I also feel like there's like I mean there's very much a difference between you know always being on your phone and doing the doom scroll versus like always being on your phone and like responding to emails responding to DMs making a shit happen also Twitter is the one thing that I will allow people to dead name as much as they want yeah yeah I'm just like constantly because I know how it feels not to get a response back from people and I yeah feeling that way so if I see the notification I'm already in I'm ready looking at the calendar I'm ready looking at my email like I'm answering you right then and there because like I want it to be done as in like I don't want to be like oh my god I forgot this person asked me to share like two weeks ago now I feel bad so I just once I'm in my phone and I'm looking at a chat I'm done honestly major props for that because I think that that's like one of the hardest things of you know all of this sort of stuff is just staying organized and actually making shit happen because there's so many people who will talk a big game but then won't actually like see it to completion you know there's so many people who have like a great idea they make the first couple steps and then it just doesn't happen like it's it's insane that anything happens right if you think about how much goes into it yeah and I have OCD like this has to get done or I'm gonna feel some type of way about it I'm just gonna freak out yeah no I get that for sure well oops he's so um after all of that uh about a year and a half ago it probably was you guys released I have it right here I'm trying to do the the late night thing where I actually show it but uh you're your first you you would consider that of a full length album right in LP I feel like we we we call it an EP like that was supposed to be an LP but we call it an EP okay but I feel like it's an LP we talk about yeah I'm like this incredible project however you categorize it where I stand uh which I always just thought that that was interesting because like I mean it is kind of like in that gray area where it's like it's enough songs that people could consider it like an LP but it's also like short enough that it's kind of on like the longer EP side of things and I've seen it categorize different ways on different streaming services it is
really confusing. But you guys had that come out about a year and a half ago. How was the initial reception on that? I thought it was pretty good. We put a lot of work into recording it obviously and then promoting it afterwards. It definitely opened up a lot of opportunities for us that we're very grateful for. Everybody around us said it was a great project. They enjoyed listening to it too. We felt that it did pretty well for how we put it out and everything. Do you want to add to that? Yeah. I just think it's a great project. I really think it was a huge step up from I feel like what we put out more so in songwriting and production. Yeah, I feel like I feel like it really made like a statement for us. Because there's so many things around here. We live right outside of Philly. We are 10 minutes from the city. So it's so like there's so many bands in the city and like there's bands in our area, but I feel like it's absolutely popping too. It is. It's competitive. It is. Yes, there's a lot of bands. There's a lot of people doing their thing. I feel like it was like, "Oh, that's a float." We've been around, but I feel like that really just pushed us to like, "Oh, this is a float, if that makes sense." Kind of cemented your place in the scene a little bit more having a bigger project. Yeah. And it's also a step. I feel like musicianship. I feel like I was a whole new life that I had from the previous EPs and projects that we put out. So I feel to stay. I love it. I feel like it's such a great project. And listening to it too, I also hear like the natural evolution of your sound. Because I feel like, you know, starting at the very beginning, it was a lot more kind of, you know, jangly indie rock type of stuff. And, you know, that project, I feel like leans a lot more into like the emo side of things. And has it's heavier moments? It's not, you know, like a super heavy record by any means as far as sound. But, you know, you've got moments here and there of like some screaming vocals and like some heavier guitars and things like that. That I think is a really cool natural progression to what you guys were doing before then. Yeah. Every time we write, "Gab goes, I want to be heavy." I like it. I'm doing that in one way or another. I want to be heavier. Are there any? Oh, go ahead. I was going to just say I agree with you. Like it's not like a heavy project. But it has, you know, some tones, you know, I feel like it is fulfilled the desire that Gab, you know, wanted. Are there any like fan favorites on the project that people are like always asking to hear? Mouth shot. Yeah, yeah. Mouth shot. And I feel like I've been seeing a lot of people like really get into on me. Oh, okay. Yeah. Just like noticing it too. I'm like, oh, cool. And then it's interesting that you say that because I feel like the back half of the record is definitely my favorite for sure. I feel like crash too when we like the ending of crash. Uh-huh. People get it too. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I can see that. I appreciate it. Mouth shot is a crowd fave. Why do people sing in? That's the thing. The chorus is such a good, like, sing along hooky type of chorus that like I could definitely see that, you know, during a set, people who know the songs are just waiting for that one just to be able to scream along with it, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. But I think, yeah, Mouth shot is probably one of my favorite songs that we wrote, honestly. It's a fun one. One of my favorites is the amazing. It's like kind of chill. Yeah. It's a good palette cleanser for right around like the middle of the project. I feel like for sure. Yeah. It's the way to put it. I mean, and that's one of the things to me that's like really important that not everybody gives like the most attention to is like the flow of a longer project and like making sure that it's not just like, you know, either front loaded with bangers and then like the back half people are just going to turn it off or like, you know, just being able to have like a proper like kind of emotional arc throughout the project and being able to have like the ebbs and flows of like a little bit of a slower song versus like a little bit of a faster or a heavier song. Yeah. That was one of my huge things going into this project. I kept asking everyone and asking our producer, I was like, is this because we had, we were essentially going to do an album and we had nine songs going into the CP and then we just cut it down to six and I was like, do these six make sense? Like all the time I was asking I'm like, do these six songs? The order makes sense for the project and I'm sick of our beat. We pick these six and how we put them out. Yeah. Yeah. We would just rearrange them and listen to them and, you know, noted how we felt. You know, that's such a big part of the process though. Oh, yeah. You end up hating the song for the end or any song. So just got mixed for listening to it again. Yeah. And like, it was a bit after this song or for to go here. We were so finally. Fucking final. I swear to God. This is the last one version or for real. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All a lot of that. Yeah. And like shooting the music videos and listening, like we did everything like back to back. Like we wanted everything done just so like, when it was released, we were just putting out content. Like we don't have to do anything like, oh my God, going from like the mixer visions to shooting the music videos, like shortly after. I'm just like, I, and then we have to play them. I'm like, oh my God, I'm so over all these songs already. Well, I think that that's smart too, making sure that everything's ready for the rollout because there's definitely, you know, a lot of bands, especially on like their first bigger project or whatever, where it's like you get it done, you get super excited, you get the masters back, you, you upload it to like all your distribution. And then you're like, all right, cool. Shit, we have to promote this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You don't think about it till it happens. And then when it happens, you're like, oh my God, this is a nightmare. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we did a lot of preparation for like the recording and like all the promo, all the PR, all the videos, like we committed like, I feel like a year from like recording to PR stuff to putting it out. Yeah. And then like we mapped out like how we wanted to promote the singles and in what way and like dates on a calendar, you know, yeah, a lot, yeah, there's a lot to it. So kind of like moving forward from that, you guys have a new project that's going to be coming out at the end of we'll say this month, but next month as, uh, as of the recording date, you guys are going to be putting out a split. Yeah. We're doing a split single release with dummy pass, um, which I'm really excited for. We've talked about doing a split with another band for like so long and, um, I just, I'm friends with dummy pass. I booked them a couple times and I was like, guys, have any plans this early summer spring? Like, what are you guys doing? So we finally like got together and, um, yeah, I'm excited that it's coming out. Yeah. I think, I think that that'll be a cool project. Granted, I've only heard your song from it, but I, I have no reason to assume that that that theirs is not going to be equally as good. It's so good. Yeah. Cool. Um, and is that really how it came about? You were just like, I've been wanting to do a split with somebody. Are you guys free to do it? Or did you guys have like any sort of like, you know, sort of connection where you're like, oh, yeah, this is the band that we're going to do it with? Um, I think we've just been friends with them, um, for a bit. And I ran into them like in passing to a couple of times and, um, Henry super cool. Me and Henry text pretty often. And I was just like asking their plans for like the summer, you're trying to like, link up and do some shows together. And I was like, we've been wanting to do this. Like, what do you guys, you know, what are your thoughts? And they were about it and excited. And I was like, all right, like, let's, let's figure this out. So I think like, it came naturally just because of like, we both really like, five with each band and they're super nice. So I think I'm happy it happened with them. Nice. And then on top of that, you guys also have a tour coming up at the beginning of, uh, or, or a little weekend or I don't know the exact details of it, but a run of shows anyway, uh, coming up at the beginning of the month. Is that correct? It's, um, the middle of the month. Yeah, it's basically Memorial Day weekend. We're doing like a Thursday through Sunday run, um, with Mudwell and Old Leon, which I'm super excited for. Just because we haven't been doing a lot of like longer runs, just because of like, we've been just trying to save money for like the next project. And it's getting so expensive to even do things. We used to do like a, we used to do tours. Like we would do a tour while like 10, 10 plus days, like before pandemic. And I feel like after pandemic, like, even though it was a couple of years ago, just still like the prices of like renting cars, like hotels, like it just adds up. And we're at a point where it's like we're trying to save so much money for the next project. And
And if we do runs, we kind of want them to make sense now, like, we're now just going to go to, like, Tim Buck too with any band, if that makes sense, like, we kind of want to, like, you know, make the shows, like, the best we can make them with, like, people we want to play with. So I think we can make sure that the people are going to come out to it, make sure that it's going to perform as opposed to traveling all this way and then finding out that, oh, it's a show where you're basically just playing to the other bands that are on the band. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, super, our last tour did, we had a really, the last tour we did was really good. Like, we, we played, uh, what, we went out to the Midwest, like, we love going out Midwest. Yeah. Yeah. Also, like, was that around the time of Coachella last year? No. Last tour we did was like 2022. Oh, really? Oh, so is a while ago. Yeah. We just been, you know, just saving money and just trying to be smart, like, just strategic, like, doesn't make sense for us to do this, like, or should we just really capitalize on really doing well in our area? Like, since we're so close to Philly, we're like an hour and a half from New York. So we've been trying to, like, build more so, like, bands, like, in the Tri-State and then have a solid, you know, foundation and then, okay, cool. We do really well home. Let's slowly start to migrate and, like, you know, loop around and see, like, a progression each time, because, like, we don't--I personally don't, like, wasting money on things, like, you know? Yeah. So, we just become really, like, smart and, like, this run I'm super excited for. Yeah. But, yeah. We're going to start grinding some more and venturing out Midwest more. We just have to get things together. Well, and, like you were saying, that is one of the great things about where you guys are located specifically is that there's so many places within such a reasonable driving distance that you can really just kind of do, like, a show here, a show there, but they're all, like, technically within, like, different communities or, like, slightly different scenes, which I'm sure makes things, you know, significantly better for that as far as, like, you know, seeing a good turnout, as opposed to, like, if you're somewhere where the closest city, you know, the other closest city is, like, five hours away or whatever. You're probably likely to play your same city, a whole bunch, which reduces your drive. People think that they can just see, again, you know, in another two weeks or whatever. Yeah. Like, we're doing, like, a couple of shows in two weeks, like, we're playing New York, filling New York and Connecticut. So, I'm like, okay, cool, filling right there, New York and hour and a half, Connecticut, a couple of hours. But, yeah, we're trying to focus, like, on this area more and get, like, a solid turnout to our shows. I'm a bit more of, like, community of, like, people coming out to see us and then slowly start migrating out. I think it makes more sense to do that, like, you know, then, hey, we're going to do this tour again. And we just spent, like, $500 on gas, another $500 on hotels or Airbnb is now we're out of $1,000 and, you know, yeah, it's just, things just been getting expensive and it's hard. Yeah. Yeah. It's tough. A lot of people, um, probably on, more on the periphery, people who are, you know, a lot closer to the others, probably, probably recognize, but, uh, maybe one of the things that some people don't realize is how expensive it is to tour in the fact that a lot of people end up losing money when they do that stuff. Yeah. For sure, you know, traveling, feeding everyone and, um, finding out where to stay and stuff like that. Yeah. I mean, we're just going to keep doing these, like, you know, coming out towards, like, Ohio runs, um, and just, yeah, it's fun. Yeah. It's fun. Yeah. It's fun. It's easy to drive and it's like, we could hit so many different places. I'll tell you, I'm definitely looking forward to the next time that you guys come to the area because the, the one time that I've seen you so far, which it was at Coachella last year, uh, was absolutely a knockout show. It was one of the, you know, one of the times that you see a group play and you're like, all right. This is something special. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah. Of course. Of course. Of course. Of course. The culture out there is really nice. Yeah. It's very, it's very tight knit despite being like a little bit spread out. That's just kind of how the Midwest is. But. Yeah. Yeah. We have a lot of friends out there. So it's nice coming. Yeah. So it was nice coming out. I like seeing my friends out there. And everyone's so welcoming. It's great. Hell yeah. So do you guys have anything else that you specifically want to talk about before we move on to the next part of the episode? Nothing. Nothing on my head. Yeah. All right. Then we're going to move on to the, uh, the next part of the episode here where we're going to play some, some new music, some fresh finds, if you will. Uh, we're going to start with me then we'll go around. And I believe that we've each chosen three songs. Um, everything sound good with that. Yeah. All right. Lovely. I'm sure that you're familiar with them, but, uh, this is their newest single which came out, uh, at the end of March last year, uh, last month, and, uh, is their second single, their second release. Uh, with PNWK records who have also just been, you know, absolutely killing it recently. So this is ode to Muncie by leisure hour. [Music] We're changing in the city where we grew up in some places. The more Muncie's telling me is in my head. And I don't hear what she said all day and back. When I see her reddened bushlight in my head another day, another weekend, I'll think of these. To see what we can't spend this everything this day. All the times that we can't spend this day. Another forest, another creek, now I'm so surprised. And playing a week out, since the time's been a fall night. [Music] We're waiting for our mates with our friends in Sagra Bay. But, thank you telling me is all in my head. [Music] Another day, another weekend, I'll pack my things to see what we can spend this day. Another creek, now I'm so surprised. Oh, man. That was really cool. Yeah, they're absolutely killer. You played with them last year? Okay, thanks. Yeah, they came to Philly. I forgot what it was. I feel like it was like September or October. But, yeah, they were great. Yeah, and I mean, it's so interesting to me hearing their new stuff as even compared to their album which came out last year. I feel like this new stuff that they're putting out is just like such a big step up as far as production-wise. Like, it feels so massive, which I absolutely love. Yeah, it seemed really polished too. Yeah, it was clean. Yeah, I think it also, yeah, the guitar tones are incredible. I think everything also just sounds a little bit fuller than like their previous projects. I'm curious if they're like, if they're working with a different producer or if they've just like, you know, learned a lot since they made the last album, like if that was like done DIY or whatever.
I feel like just everything feels larger than life in this recording, and I absolutely love it. - I think they recorded it at Soundegers, which is Gary. It's like more South of us, his studio is more South of us, but it's like they went with him. I might have saw something. I don't know, I feel like they did go to Gary. - Yeah, that would be cool. I mean, the music, like lyric wise, it is definitely like kind of your, you know, emo pop punk kind of hate my hometown kind of song. But at the same time, it feels still fresh. That's the thing that I really like about it. - Yeah. - As well as just talking about PNWK records, those guys like hopped onto the scene last year, and I feel like they've just been making moves this entire time like signing bands doing crazy stuff for the scene, like they're the like main sponsor behind Excellency Fest, which is one of the festivals here in Michigan this year. They've been signing a whole bunch of people. They just had like a month ago, the thing where they bought out all of the debt and backlog from Thumbs Up Records too, which was just total class act thing to do. Yeah, I definitely would like to work with them. I told Josh about them. I was like, Josh, they got a lot of our friends on there. We should send something their wife, they're listening. - They're always listening. You'll see them in like the most crazy places, and they'll just be like, oh yeah, we're here. Like, you know, they just like pop up out of the woodwork in places. - Yeah, they seem really, really cool on about the scene and about, you know, helping bands out. And I respect that a lot. - As well as just like, the way that they like, from what I've gathered listening to them talk about, like their business practices and things like that, they seem very music first. Like, it doesn't feel like they're, what they're doing is like motivated by like making a profit or anything, which I think is really cool. They're really just in it for the love of the game. - That's really cool. - That's awesome, man. - Yeah. And I just can't wait to see what's next for leisure hour because as far as I have heard, I heard this through the grapevine. I don't think it's confirmed yet, but I think that they're working on another full-length project, and I'm super hyped for whatever that ends up being because all of these singles that they've released this year have been incredible. - Yeah. - That's how it will be. - So what do we have up next? - Josh, you wanna go or you want me to go? - You can go. - So, a song by Mudwale called Sacrifice. - Hell yeah. - It's literally my favorite song from them. - This was such a great project. Like I said, this was such a great project. I featured one of their songs a while back, but I finally got to see them live about a month ago, maybe three weeks ago, something like that. And seeing them live is even more incredible than listening to the record. Like they just have so much energy on stage. - Yeah, we met them in 2022. We played Mahal's upstairs when they were-- - Mahal's upstairs, yeah. - Yeah, when upstairs was a thing. And they were-- - So that would have been right after their first record, then, right? - Yeah. - Yeah, I think so. They were awesome. I remember seeing them. I was like, yo, super nice. Like, oh my god, let me reconnect with a Falshela. I was like, oh my god. - Yeah. - 'Cause they opened day two, right? - Yes. - I think so. - Yeah, that's right. I caught like the very end of their set and that was the first that I had heard of them. And I was just blown away by, you know, everything that I heard. So I'm super glad that they've been getting the flowers that they deserve recently. - Yes. (rock music) ♪ You hear me ♪ ♪ Jason me ♪ ♪ Don't love this place ♪ ♪ I'm killing it off again ♪ ♪ Doing everything I can to get away ♪ ♪ And you're so close to me ♪ ♪ I never wanted you to sacrifice your reasons ♪ ♪ You know, you know, it doesn't justify your choices ♪ ♪ But you will ♪ ♪ Sit down on your throne ♪ ♪ Complete all of us ♪ ♪ How is the study of that change? ♪ ♪ And not this way to say to us what it requires ♪ ♪ I'm not on your feet ♪ ♪ I'm too heavy ♪ ♪ I'm just crazy for it ♪ ♪ He's fighting for you ♪ ♪ He can't wait for me ♪ ♪ He's staring at what it's my love ♪ ♪ But it's coming to you ♪ ♪ Let my body have the action like ♪ ♪ Waiting to say what you can find ♪ ♪ Don't be where you're demonized ♪ ♪ But how can you think of a life? ♪ ♪ Sit down on your throne ♪ ♪ Complete all of us ♪ ♪ How is the study of that change? ♪ ♪ And not this way to say to us what it requires ♪ ♪ The remnants of wreckage ♪ ♪ Found by the light of a highwayside ♪ ♪ Come here, you can't die ♪ ♪ Come here, you can't die ♪ ♪ Don't be where you're demonized ♪ ♪ I know I'm out of the soul that you think ♪ ♪ I'm not your world, no one ever leaves ♪ ♪ I know things don't go the way that you blame ♪ ♪ Sometimes it's hard to see the truth ♪ ♪ But anyways, you wait to say to us what it requires ♪ (laughing) - I love that song. - Yeah. - I love the guitar. - Yeah, it sounds so good. - It's just absolutely massive. I also love the little part where they break it down. They go to just the bass. They have the little like the little radio announcement thing. And then they go to just the bass and then everything builds back up. I'm such a sucker for that. It's such a simple thing to do in a song, but it gets me every single time, you know? (laughing) - Love a good break down to. - Great vocals, screaming. - Yeah. - That's like screaming, but you know what I mean? - Well, they do some of the more like guttural screams along with like the kind of like yelling stuff. Like the way that they layer that I think is really cool too, 'cause it's got the like emo yelling kind of thing, but then they mix it with like the lower gutturals to make it sound like fuller, which I think is super cool. - That is pretty cool. - The other thing that I go ahead. - Oh, sorry. I can't wait to hear the song for a couple of days in a row. I told them. (laughing) - We're playing together, but my one request to this whole run is you play sacrifice every night. (laughing) - I can't. - We're not doing the tour unless you guys had to make sure that this song is in the set list. - Yes. - One of the things that I took away from seeing them live is like my background is in, you know, production and guitar. And so those are always the things that I noticed first when I listened to a song. And it wasn't until I saw them live that I noticed how crazy good their drummer is. - Yeah. - It is monster. - Yeah, just absolutely tearing it up on every single track. But it's like, it's something that I need to see it live and actually see like the physicality of somebody, you know, just getting sweaty behind the kids. (laughing) - Like, like, exactly. Like, there's something magical about like seeing a really good drummer live that like I always like, I noticed those things so much more when I see a band live than like when I listen to the record. But when I listen to the record after noticing it, then I'm like, oh yeah, it's right there. Why didn't I notice it before? (laughing) - I love a tight drummer when there's like a lot of like, either like different time signatures or like all crazy taps. And I'm just like, this is insane. How are you keeping like this together? Like it's crazy. - Yeah, well they do a little bit of that more like kind of, kind of proggy stuff on like a couple of songs. Like they don't lean into it super crazy. But you know, on a couple of different tracks they've definitely got that for sure. - Yeah, I'm excited to see them, excited to hear them. - Hell yeah. - Heck yeah. - All right, so Josh, what do you got for us? - We can start it off with the common crime. - All right. - Ghost dude. give me a little bit of a little bit.
but an introduction on that? - Gab put me onto them. They're a good van, you know, from Philly. And we're gonna be playing with them next month. - Nice. - And a French bar. And it's just good, you know? I think it's a great song. And I just wanted to share with them, you know, 'cause they're local bands and everything. - Hell yeah. Let's go. (upbeat music) (rock music) (rock music) (rock music) (rock music) ♪ And to think I've been wronged ♪ ♪ All alone are a purgatory ♪ ♪ The sun's a shadow of a spooky house ♪ ♪ With a foundation or garden left ♪ (rock music) (rock music) (rock music) ♪ We're all running away ♪ ♪ Where you lost it ♪ (rock music) (rock music) (rock music) ♪ Gusted, gusted ♪ ♪ Gusted, you said that I never changed ♪ (rock music) ♪ We're all running away ♪ ♪ Where you lost it ♪ (rock music) (rock music) (rock music) (rock music) (rock music) (rock music) ♪ Dirty white jeans and some tracery ♪ ♪ Blinding 'bout the summons of your red receipts ♪ ♪ I'll be reaching out to you ♪ ♪ But you've been all this bad ♪ ♪ It's nothing to get old ♪ ♪ Playin' the same old game ♪ ♪ Or I won't wait anymore ♪ ♪ Gusted, gusted ♪ ♪ Gusted, you said that I never changed ♪ ♪ We're all running away ♪ ♪ Where you lost it ♪ (rock music) (rock music) (rock music) ♪ And I'll write it down ♪ ♪ I'll send it out ♪ ♪ But I know it won't get through to you anyhow ♪ ♪ And I can't keep trackin' myself down ♪ ♪ But I know you will do the same ♪ (rock music) (rock music) Oh yeah, they bring the energy, hell yeah. - Yeah, beefy bass, you know? - Yeah. - Yeah, the bass specifically was something that stuck out to me, like the way that they mix it, they leave a lot of room for the bass to really kind of be the foundation of the song, which I think is like, I feel like there are some, like there's kind of two camps to that in like this type of music, which is like, you've got the guitars, and then there's like, the bass is kind of like underneath it, acting as like the foundation, or like this type of arrangement and like mix, where it's like a lot more of like the focal point, I feel like. - For sure, as a bassist, bring it out. - Yeah, absolutely. (laughter) - Bring it out, bring it out. - Kind of gives me like a little bit of like a pup vibe in a way, like it like vocally reminds me a lot of Stefan from pup. But also like, I don't know, a lot more of like, what is it, the dream is dead, is that the name of the first record? I think it reminds me a lot more of like that era, where it was like a little bit more raw and just like super high energy, which I thought was super cool too. - Yeah, yeah, they're really good, super nice. I actually met Alex, the guitar player in vocals. We were filling in for another band for a show, and he's like, oh, like this is my band, Common Crime. I was like, oh cool, and we ended up playing with them in the last year, I think like a Creek Records. They're really good. These are really great guitarists too, super nice. I'm excited we're playing with them again next month. - You said that they're from Philly? - Yeah. - Nice. And they're also super new too. Like they don't have any music out before, like this time last year. - Yeah, they just started. - Nice. - I think Alex was in a band before. But yeah, super new, and they've been playing a lot. I know they're going to record at Studio 4. They're next project, which are fully up studio and Philly. But yeah, I'm excited for their new stuff to come out. - Yeah, definitely investing in this band early, it feels like, 'cause I feel like they're just based on the sound, it feels like they're gonna get massive. - Yeah, yeah, a lot of potential. - Yeah, for sure. All right, so my next song was actually a direct submission. If you are listening to this episode and you make music and want it to potentially be featured on an episode of FreshFines,
[email protected]. But this is by a band called Headlight Rivals. And they're kind of like a hard rock, alt rock band from Kansas. Yeah, which I feel like you don't really hear about like bands from Kansas in this scene a whole lot. So that was like the first thing that stuck out to me. And then the other thing that stuck out to me, they are on dumb ghost records who have sent me quite a few really cool bands, but like they do in their emails a like, you know, the for fans of thing you're familiar with that, right? But the choices of bands I thought was really interesting because like kind of, you know, 90s inspire like hard rock, alt rock, they had like the flu fighters in there, which I thought was cool. But then local H, which is a band that I feel like almost nobody would know by name. They had like a couple of hits in the 90s. But like I like looked it up and I was like, oh yeah, I definitely know this song. But I think it's kind of cool when bands do like a little bit of a deep cut for their like for fans, you know, for fans of thing because I feel like if you go too broad then it's like, oh yeah, I like all of these bands, but they're all like super popular still. I feel like if you have like a deep cut then somebody's like, well, I know that but I'm definitely gonna fuck with this. For sure, you know. So anyway, this is by a band called Headlight Rivals and this song is called Someone Else's, which is off of their second full-length album which came out at the beginning of April called Drum Machine. (rock music) ♪ I had a good one ♪ ♪ Just a sketch didn't want me ♪ ♪ I had a good life ♪ ♪ Then must've drove out the heartbeat ♪ ♪ The heartbeat ♪ ♪ It was a nice run ♪ ♪ Got it on the first take ♪ ♪ You broke a half off ♪ ♪ Now it's just a mistake, mistake ♪ ♪ Well, the way it's looking at all ♪ ♪ The way we can help it ♪ ♪ Then you'll find me walking out ♪ ♪ Like someone else's ♪ ♪ Someone else's ♪ ♪ Someone else's ♪ ♪ Someone else's ♪ ♪ It was a good life ♪ ♪ So just like a daydream ♪ ♪ Stuck in real time ♪ ♪ Kind of like a big screen ♪ ♪ Big screen ♪ ♪ You had a good time ♪ ♪ Tearing down my heartstrings ♪ ♪ Now I'm the bad guy ♪ ♪ And this is not even a party ♪ ♪ Party ♪ ♪ Well, the way it's looking at all ♪ ♪ The way we can help it ♪ ♪ Then I'm finally walking out ♪ ♪ Like someone else's ♪ ♪ Someone else's ♪ ♪ Someone else's ♪ ♪ Someone else's ♪ ♪ Well, the way it's looking at all ♪ ♪ So when we can have it ♪ ♪ Then you'll finally walk in and world ♪ ♪ Like someone else's ♪ ♪ Someone else's ♪ ♪ Someone else's ♪ ♪ Someone else's ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ (rock music)
(dramatic music) - That was gnarly. - Oh yeah. - Big rock. (laughing) - Big rock. - Big rock. - I don't know what it was, but it was so good. - It's so classic. It feels like it scratched a part of my brain that hasn't been scratched since I listened to the radio in like 2007 and my hometown. (laughing) - Yeah. - That's a real death. - Yeah, it's like, it's so hard. - Yeah, and I think the thing that's really cool is it kind of does that throwback sound, but it feels very modern at the same time. Like, yeah, I agree. - And it also doesn't feel like pandering, because that's another thing is like sometimes when you do like, you know, more of like a throwback sound or like, you know, what people will often refer to like in the metal core space is like octane core, which is like, you know, metal core that's very clearly made to be played on serious XM octane. A lot of people don't like that kind of stuff, 'cause it sounds like it's like pandering to a specific demographic. And this doesn't have that at all. It just like, it's just got that raw, general say, "Cwa." (laughing) - Yeah. - And I just, I love it. - Yeah, I remind you of the lemon heads. I don't know why. It was some of the lemon heads. - I get that for sure. Yeah. That's a pull that I haven't thought about in a long time, but I like that one for sure. - Yeah, I can't just (laughing) - Yeah, that is. - I know, right? (laughing) - Yeah, you know, honestly, you know, thinking about it a little bit, 'cause I was like, "Oh yeah, this reminds me of like, listening to the radio in my hometown." I wonder if it's influenced by that. Like, because Kansas, you know, I feel like for, you know, a lot of the state is very much kind of like a middle of the nowhere, a middle of nowhere, a very rural type of area. And those types of places tend to have, you know, rock radio stations that don't get a whole lot of new music very often. And I wonder, like, I mean, obviously every but most people, at least in the US, have the internet and access to Spotify and hearing new stuff and whatever. But I wonder if just, like, if that type of radio was a big influence on this, specifically because of the area that they're from. - I never thought of it like that. 'Cause that's what I do. - Yeah, yeah. - This is kind of a lot of, like, influence on it too. - 'Cause I mean, even just going back to like my hometown, 'cause I'm from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, which is kind of from, you know, a similar type of, like, very rural type of, you know, country type of area. And people do listen to the radio a lot and that type of music is still very prevalent even in the streaming age. So I feel like, like, it just kind of like, it popped into my head, but I feel like that just makes sense. - Yeah. - Wow, the radio lost art. - It really is. I've actually just recently started listening to the radio a little bit more, like, in the car. Just, like, as a way to, you know, kind of get out of my daily routine of like, oh, these are the top things that I've been listening to on streaming, you know, these are the CDs I have. And it's actually, you know, introduced me to a lot of music that I haven't listened to in probably a decade or more. And hearing it now that I have like a more astute ear, you know, for like, you know, noticing, you know, just things about music. It's like, I'm getting like a second life from these songs that I used to hear every single day when I listened to the local radio station back home. - Right. There's a station near us called WXPN. I really do fan of them and they put us on a couple of times. But I feel like they're really diverse. I have all these different segments that, like, go on throughout the week and different times. Like, they'll have, like, a local hour and then they'll do, like, weird, like, like, atmospheric space stuff over the weekends at, like, two in the morning. It's very diverse. It's very cool, you know. - Independent radio is still sick as hell. I don't like-- - Yeah. - That what radio is boring as shit, in my opinion, a lot of the time, but, like, independent radio where the DJ actually gets to choose what they want to play, I think it's so cool. - Yeah, it is. It is really cool. - It's something I want to get back into. I wish I had the connections and the music taste that I have now, like, six years ago when I was still in college, because I did, like, a college radio station thing, but I wasn't tapped in. So I just kind of did, like, whatever I feel like I've been listening to. I feel like if I could have done this, what I'm doing right now, but for, like, the college radio station, it would have been so sick. - Yeah, all radio stations. - Yeah. - Talk down TC. - Yeah. (laughs) - Pirate radio, baby. - Yes. - Watched a really cool documentary about that during the lockdown in 2020, just about, like, OG, like pirate radio stations. It was super cool. - Oh, yeah. - I forget what it was called. - Crazy. - Yeah, it was really interesting. - I love that. - All right, so what do we have up next? I think I picked Old Neon. Nobody's a burden. - Ooh, all right. I'm super looking forward to that, because Old Neon is a name that I've heard many, many, many times, and still have not listened to somehow. So I'm really looking forward to actually, somebody sitting me down and making me listen to them, finally. (laughs) - Got a new song. - Nice, when did it come out? - I think a week or two ago. - I'm very bad with dates, so I could be really wrong, but. - End of March, the 21st, it looks like. - Perfect, that was, I'm sorry. - Yeah, all right, hell yeah, let's go. (upbeat music) ♪ The shining, that's how it feels to me ♪ ♪ We can't fight it now ♪ ♪ No, sure for this ♪ ♪ At least I hope I will ♪ ♪ Just don't know how ♪ ♪ So don't know, that's a love ♪ ♪ Can't say it's easy or bold ♪ ♪ Said good boy, and it's not ♪ ♪ It looks like I'm feeling on my own ♪ ♪ I guess whatever does it mean when it goes through ♪ ♪ And you're really good at me, and you're really good at me ♪ ♪ But you know, I'm on my way home ♪ ♪ When you leave me in the dark ♪ ♪ 'Cause nobody's hurting ♪ ♪ I know this person ♪ ♪ If I just find ♪ ♪ With or without you by my side ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ It feels like I'm still miles from the truth ♪ ♪ All but really what's the use ♪ ♪ Got myself, no one else ♪ ♪ I've made it through much worse before ♪ ♪ Now I know that I don't mean you anymore ♪ ♪ 'Cause you know, I'll find my way home ♪ ♪ When you leave me in the dark ♪ ♪ 'Cause nobody's hurting ♪ ♪ I know this person ♪ ♪ If I just find ♪ ♪ With or without you by my side ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ I guess whatever does it mean when it goes through ♪ ♪ And you're really good at me, and you're really good at me ♪ ♪ But you'll turn around one day and regret ♪ ♪ But my heart won't be where you left it ♪ ♪ I guess whatever does it mean when it goes through ♪ ♪ And if you're really good at me, and you're really good at me ♪ ♪ You'll turn around one day and regret it ♪ ♪ But my heart won't be where you left it ♪ ♪ 'Cause you know, I'll find my way home ♪ ♪ When you leave me in the dark ♪ ♪ 'Cause nobody's hurting ♪ ♪ I know this person if I just find ♪ ♪ With or without you by my side ♪ ♪ With or without you by my side ♪ - I am so into that. Oh my god. - Hell yeah. - It's like super like mid 2010's pop punk in the best way. - Yeah. - It gives me like old school fallout boy. I don't know why, like believers never die, you know? - I can see that. I was also thinking like a lot more like like neck deep knuckle puck kind of kind of stuff too, yeah. Which is something that I was like kind of late to initially, but like has had some staying power in my rotation for sure. Which kind of feels like how I'm going to be with this because based on just listening to that, I'm like this needs to go on my like summer good weather playlist immediately. (laughs) - I know, the intro like makes me want to two step or something. - Yeah. - Yeah. - So it looks like they're putting-- (laughs) - What was that? - You know what I do here this every night 'cause we're replaying with them too. - Hell yeah. Are they on that?
came to her with, uh, with Mudwell. Yeah. That's awesome. That lined up is actually so stacked. I didn't even realize. It's been a long time. Yeah. It looks like they put out a full length, uh, in 2023. So about a year and a half ago as well, uh, almost two years ago. Now, geez, time is, time is crazy, isn't it? Yeah. Do you know if they are, uh, like working towards another bigger project, like an EP or, uh, or a second full length or anything with this single? Or is this just as far as, you know, just a single to be put out? As far as I know, yeah, just a single. Um, we've talked like on like social media a lot because I was trying to, uh, get them like a Philly show. And then like they've, we've just been wanting to play together. And I was like, Hey, we're doing this run. Like, what do y'all, what do y'all think about this? Where do y'all up to? Yeah. What are y'all doing? Because like, we're like, oh, we want to come to Pittsburgh again. Like, I love paint. Like, oh, we want to come to Philly. So we're going to show swap and then like at the same time I was talking to Mudwale. I was like, yeah, how you guys been? Like, I want to link up again. And I was like, Oh, what if we do a weekend? And I was like, Oh, oh, Dion, what if we did like a weekend? And then we just both got and I was like, this is amazing. That's awesome. Where are they from? Where they based out of Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh. Okay. I miss that. But yeah, like, I know that sometimes, you know, a lot of bands will start doing like just the singles format because like it works better for like social media promotion and stuff like that. But I don't, I personally still really like the bigger projects kind of schedule. I don't know. They feel more special to me. They feel like an event as opposed to like, you know, something that happens like once a month or once every couple months or whatever. Yeah. It's definitely changed. We're all outs. Yeah. And I've talked to a lot of people about that. And I feel like a lot of people hold a similar sentiment to me where it's like the bigger projects feel more interesting or feel more special. But also at the same time, it's kind of like you got to play the game at some point. Yeah. It is a sacrifice. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, I think that's why I like that split idea that you guys were doing that you guys are doing for this next song because it is a way to do a single but also make it feel like a bigger project or a bit more of an event at the same time. I feel like you guys kind of found like the best of both worlds with that. Yeah. We put it. Yeah. That's a good take. Thank you. Also, just going back to the song like guitar solos in modern music. Like I'm so into it. Yeah. Yeah. Love a guitar solo. Yeah. I think you don't hear that as often. It's kind of where we all start. Yeah. It's thinking that brings solos back 2025. People are afraid to rip it. I mean, there's been a couple of reasons that I've heard like from people and like it kind of makes sense that like in some songs like especially you know, you go back to like the 80s or whatever every single song had a guitar solo and it was like it was a little much and then I feel like we kind of like course corrected and went a little too far the other way and like barely anything has a guitar solo. I feel like we got to like get back in the middle again, you know. Yeah. Hell yeah. All right. So what do we have up next, Josh? Yeah. I'll go. I'll do a sick of it by birth rate. Okay. A bit of a jungle change. I'm into it. Like I said before, I like a good ebb and flow within a within a track list, a set list, a podcast, whatever. You want to give a little bit of a little bit of background on the band here. Sure. Birth rate is led by Zach. He is at Crow and I work with him and Gavin are good friends with him and Gavin through a show. I think it was last week and they played and those are the first time I saw them. He showed me their music before and they have some stuff out and I was always interested in it. So it was great to see them perform and they just put out that single not too long ago. So I just wanted to show them some love, you know. I think it's pretty good. Zach knows what he's doing. He has a lot of cool ideas and I hope they come to fruition. ♪ Like me now, I could've been out ♪ ♪ Yes, you're shit that ties again ♪ ♪ Yes, you're on my mind again ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ I've been drinking every day, trying to drown my sin ♪ ♪ Swimming side by side, would I hide with men? ♪ ♪ Keep screaming at myself, going, get this way ♪ ♪ Stop at the start when do I begin? ♪ ♪ Guess who's shifting times again? ♪ ♪ Guess who's on my mind again? ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm sick of it, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Rolling back to the stage ♪ ♪ And finally again ♪ ♪ And finally again ♪ ♪ And finally again ♪ ♪ Guess who's shifting times again? ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm sick of it, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ I'm sick of it, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ I am into that, that's super cool. Yeah, it is really cool, you know, we were just talking about solos. Yeah, yeah, I'm bringing it back. Well, and the thing that I think is interesting too, is it's kind of more of like a pop rock type of song, but I feel like pop rock often takes this kind of more polished, you know, type of sound, and this is like pop rock if it was mixed with like garage rock, which I think is super cool, which is like based on like the guitar tones and stuff like that. It feels a lot more raw. For sure, the production is cool. That's like some cool moments too, like that little acoustic guitar section, you know, I just like when there's like those little hints, and like there's some like vocal flares every once in a while. Yeah, I absolutely love a good stereo delay throw here and there. They had a couple of those that I really liked. For sure. Also just the different types of vocal production, and the different types of vocal delivery between like the first verse and the second verse, they feel totally different, which again is interesting. It's like the way that it's arranged is always bringing fresh things to the table every section. Yes, and they have the two, the dual vocals going on, you know, it's cool. See, that was another thing that I was going to ask, is if both of the vocalists are in the band or if it was like a feature. Do they feature both vocalists fairly often in their music? I believe they both sing. When we saw them, they were like switching instruments and leading the songs and stuff. Yeah, it was really cool. So were they a duo? No, they have a bassist, but something happened where he couldn't play and Zach still wanted to play the show. And I was like, props, he was like, yeah, we're playing it as a two-piece. I'm like, let's go. It made it work. It was a good show. Yeah, I also there's something interesting to me about
like bands that will do like the trade off like in the middle of the set or like between songs and things like that. I think it's super cool and like a neat way to you know bring more life to a set about halfway through. I also feel like was that way back in the day when we first started, we would do that. Play music. Oh that's like yeah. I didn't like it because what person I was in the band at the moment like it just didn't flow and it was too it was too much for what it had. We were finding her pudding. Yeah it was uh it was interesting. Yeah. I'm cool with not doing it. I don't know that anymore. I think it's a fun thing to do. I definitely don't think that it's that it's nearly a requirement or anything but um there's a really cool band from around here that does that in pretty much all of their sets. There's actually a couple that I'm really good friends with. One is called the aromas and they're like a psychedelic like pop rock kind of band but like very very like kind of 60s early 70s inspired type of type of group and their drummer and guitarist just switch off because they both like play both instruments and so it's just like whoever writes the song sings it and then they also play guitar on it live which I think is a really cool way to split it up that is just like oh yeah this is my song I wrote it you know it's it belongs to the band but this is one of my songs that I play versus oh you bring a song to the table you play it live type of yeah interesting that actually kind kind of gets me into something like how do you guys approach your songwriting process like is it a lot of like kind of you know just somebody comes up with a riff like during practice and you like fleshed out or is it a lot of making full demos and bringing it to each other like after they're more fleshed out. So I will usually make like a demo on Logic with either like full guitar parts um Steven's like drummer classic yeah and if I'm really feeling it I'll do bass but it's more so just like root notes of what I'm playing just to like hear like a low end and I know Josh is gonna change it so it either be like complete or like ideas there and then I'll just bring it to practice and we'll just like go over it and like play it and try to like feel it out yeah yeah it depends on what the song calls for but yes a pretty good good way to put it she'll like present us something and then we'll just flesh it out in practice and then everybody puts their twist on it and we arrange it and stuff so and do like a hundred demos and listen to it it's very it's very often that you're bringing like specific song ideas to the table to Josh or is it often that like Gabby will come in with something and then you'll kind of add to it uh you know after the initial uh kind of like songwriting demoing in very initial phases over Gab does uh like a majority of the initial like ideas occasionally I'll have like something I share uh but not too often you just did one and I was so excited because Josh plays guitar too so he's like yeah I wrote this demo like just guitar everything as soon as I heard it like I was like oh I'm adding lyrics and vocals like right now because I was so like yeah I had like a full song the full instrumental I just sent it to her then like a day later she's like I put the vocals on I'm like oh man this sounds awesome yeah well that's the thing about songwriting is even like on an instrument everybody has their own voice and their own like way of playing and things like that so I mean it's it's really easy to like kind of shake up a sound and still have it familiar but like slightly different if somebody else is just like writing a different type of part or whatever I think that's super cool yeah and I love that we all know how to record because it's like okay cool okay cool because like I use logic Josh uses Ableton and Andrew I think what does Andrew use? I I think he does like Pro Tools or something yeah it's like it's so nice being like we can all just add something in remote because like yeah I like talking about a practice and like getting like things done but like also like being prepared to practice and not because like everyone obviously works and like has side gigs so when it comes to practice I'm very like I want to make sure I have all my stuff like prepared for practice so we're not just messing around nothing happened so it's okay listen to this demo learn like some learn it like drums like if you don't want to play that that's totally fine but just get familiar with what's going on and then it makes practice so much like productive we'll do we have like Google of rolling Google Doc and we'll do like all right what is that to do for next practice you know because I respect everybody's time it's very valuable it's very sacred yeah and we have very limited amount of time so if you can cut down the hey what are we doing today and you know give everybody time to think about it it really makes it way more productive and more focused I think so yeah you called it you know doing your homework and it kind of really is that though you know respecting each other's time and knowing that like when I you know show up I'm not going to be the one who doesn't know what's going on yeah because we practice at like the end of the day you know get together like eight or eight thirty so yeah everybody's tired everybody's worked all day you know you don't want to be up until like eleven o'clock like oh we have to write this part still like no we're not doing it yeah yeah yeah we all respect everyone's time like everyone works like I said everyone does like side gigs and stuff so like when it comes to practice I'm like okay these are like the two two and a half to three hours that like we really need to lock in and get it together so then it's like we're not wasting time because like we have a lot of things planned so it's like okay like this practice we're doing this next practice we're doing this and like we just stick to it we're very like I feel like locked in with like time management and like just general things I mean going back to like the you know being a promoter and like you know making shows work and stuff like that I feel like that all kind of like wraps into the same thing of like respecting people's time trying to get things done on a deadline you know things like that but that also brings up something that I meant to to mention earlier and then kind of forgot about but it's the like home recording stuff a lot more for the demos are you planning on like uh you know for for future proper recordings are you planning on going to a studio again because I know that for where I stand you guys worked with Nicholas uh Sterentino is I believe that's how you pronounce it are you working with him moving forward as well yeah he actually uh so for the single we recorded it like under the collective like we recorded all our stuff and then we recorded dummy passes drums and bass and then we sent ours to Nick to mix and master and then dummy passes sending theirs uh to Nick to master um but yeah we we agreed like a lot of like the first two EPs were like us recording mixing um it just like after working with someone and just being a musician and just focusing on your parts it's so much easier than like what preamp am I using what amp am I using like just the rabbit hole of all the things I have to think about just so nice being like I know my parts I feel comfortable like my job is to play the parts not like I'm just the musician today I'm not also the producer in the engineer and this that the other thing yeah I get that for sure yeah and we like you know we've been with doing playing these songs practicing songs writing these songs playing these songs it's so nice to have someone else who hasn't been with us in all that process to hear something that we may not hear oh yeah yeah yeah the extra ears really great yeah and I was thinking that when I was listening to the new song too I was thinking that it sounded very similar production wise to the last project so that was why I specifically like wrote that down in my notes I was like are you are we working with the same people again because it sounds very very similar yeah we uh we decided to record we like we like just you know getting ready to record having our stuff together just being the musician some things will track ourselves like like I said with a single but for fuller projects we are going to work with someone nice yeah I think that makes a lot of sense too safe money yeah sure all right so uh moving forward my next song I have to start out by just giving a massive shout out to uh Warren from the band dead billionaires for putting me on to this song because uh it was about a week maybe two ago he just like sent me a DM on blue sky which was just like oh link to this song and was like I thought you was like this or you know something something super simple like that but just it's a he was like right on the hit the nail right on the head with that um this is a band also from rich richman virginia which is where dead billionaires are from as well uh this is a band called Ricky Rackie and this is their new song snaggle tooth you know what you're doing news of band of dudes yeah stop by
♪ ♪ For a cook, kick my feet upon a large chair ♪ ♪ Take a sip and get lost in a long stare ♪ ♪ So I'm a skin just hanging with my little friends ♪ ♪ And I'm smiling again ♪ ♪ Smile maybe more and more ♪ ♪ Smile and let me struggle too ♪ ♪ My cheer will fill my money here ♪ ♪ And let me struggle ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ It's been a long ride ♪ ♪ I'm tired ♪ ♪ But I can surprise by the weather ♪ ♪ Another gun by the year in another ♪ ♪ I lose my head if it wasn't on a tear ♪ ♪ So I get all the time it's all the way at the river ♪ ♪ It's like a clock by the rock and it's in there ♪ ♪ To feed it and maybe take a little swim ♪ ♪ And let me smile again ♪ ♪ And let me smile again ♪ ♪ My baby is digging holes on the beach ♪ ♪ Got a dirt splash ♪ ♪ She's crazy ♪ ♪ What does that do? ♪ ♪ He's making us splash ♪ ♪ And they're dragging thighs on their hair ♪ ♪ But some fire ♪ ♪ The harder it doesn't hurt to stay high ♪ ♪ It's so fun being out here for different things ♪ ♪ I'm just loving it out with you guys ♪ ♪ It's so fun in here ♪ ♪ It's like just like we're going to be a dog in there ♪ ♪ We're all together in here ♪ ♪ He's a long decline and we feel it ♪ ♪ The slow burn out of the spirit ♪ ♪ So come with me, let's make a farting ♪ ♪ I'm trapped in on the guitar in the background ♪ ♪ I want you like a song ♪ ♪ All my dreams can sing along too ♪ ♪ When you're from town ♪ ♪ And you're laying it on too ♪ ♪ That's queer tracks by some land ♪ ♪ It's hard to call you and we'll be smiling again ♪ ♪ And we'll be smiling again ♪ ♪ And our baby won't be lying ♪ ♪ Free in the country ♪ ♪ And the better prize and the more ♪ ♪ For peace getting juicy ♪ ♪ On the days ♪ ♪ It's easy not to tell you why it's looking happy ♪ ♪ It will be easy and we won't give a damn 'cause we're happy ♪ ♪ It will be happy and we'll be happy ♪ ♪ It will be happy and we'll be happy ♪ ♪ It will be happy ♪ ♪ It will be happy ♪ (bright music) - That's a cool band. - Yeah, it's a fun one. - Yeah. - Kind of going back to what I was talking about with a couple songs ago. This is just absolutely like a good weather summer type of like, you know, put the top down, roll the windows down, you know, type of song. - They really does have a good vibe to it. - It does, yeah. - I'll try and think that they remind me of. - I know me too. They remind me of, I cannot put my finger on it. - Are you familiar with the band "The Dreaded Laramie" from Nashville? - Yes, because they instantly reminded me of. - Okay. - It's like a little bit more garage-y than how they sound, but like, I feel like the vibe is very similar. - Yeah, they reached out to me when they were on tour last year trying to get a familiar jersey date. And I just like had nowhere to put it, but yeah, they do. - That's cool. - That's such a fun band too. Yeah, I've seen them a couple times when I've gone out to Nashville, but this song is just like such a feel-good song of the summer type of tune. I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do after this because their last release was in 2023 and July of 2023. And that was a full length. And this is their first single since then, which came out like, you know, a couple weeks ago. - That's cool. - Yeah. I think it's also like, it's just fun lyrics too, you know, basically like the entire song is about their dog and like, you know, going on adventures in the summertime and all that. And I mean, what was it, the lyric in the last verse? Make cathartic art drop D on the guitar in the backyard or something like that? - What? - Like, it's not the subject. - That's a crazy line. - It's so fun. - Yeah, yeah, it really feels like it was made to be just like a summer anthem, basically. - For sure. - Yeah, I get that by the lot. - Yeah. Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot of other background information on them, but just know that I'm super stoked on it. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do next. - Yeah, I'm definitely going to check them out later. - Yeah, better, pretty cool. - So next song is by dummy pass called Shattered. - All right, yeah, when you mentioned that you were doing the split with them, I was thinking like, I'm not familiar with this band at all. So I'm looking forward to hearing some of their stuff. Oh, and this is the last year was their first like full-length project. It looks like. - Yeah. - They haven't been around for a super long time. That's cool. - Yeah, not too long. ♪ I'm watching out my gaze ♪ ♪ I wonder it is ♪ ♪ Like a spray ♪ ♪ If I burn out my room ♪ ♪ You wouldn't be the only one ♪ ♪ If I burn out my room ♪ ♪ If I burn out my room ♪ ♪ You wouldn't be the only one ♪ ♪ If I burn out my room ♪ ♪ If I burn out my room ♪ ♪ You wouldn't be the only one ♪ ♪ If I burn out my room ♪ ♪ You wouldn't be the only one ♪ ♪ If I burn out my room ♪ ♪ You wouldn't be the only one ♪ Hell yeah. - Yeah. - Honestly, that was a lot more post-hard core influence than I was really expecting going in. Like I was expecting like a lot more of like kind of an emo thing like what we've been doing, you know, for the majority of the episode. And then I just got hit by those super heavy guitars right away. I'm just like, oh, all right. We're changing gears here a little bit. - Yeah, it's a good point. - Great vocals too. - Yeah, no, there are vocalist sounds incredible. - Yeah, I agree. - So they're also from Philadelphia then? - Yes. - Nice. Do you know
how long ago they formed because it looks like their earliest music is from 2023, but I would imagine. So I met Henry. He was actually booking at this house venue in North Jersey. He was in, I forget what band it was before, but I feel like dummy pass was like, I think it's before 2023, maybe 21, 20, 20, 22, he was also in another band. I forget the name. I'm upset because I forgot the name. But yeah, they've been a lot like around for a couple years. Yeah, he was booking at this, it was like, it wasn't a house, it was like a like a collective space where they did like art kind of shows. I don't know if you know where it was. It was like a really small like looked like a house, but it's where they do like galleries and they would play like in the front of the house outside. And then it got shut down. Yeah, it was, it was a couple years ago, but that's how I met him. Nice. Yeah. And so this is their first full length. They had a couple of, yeah, a few singles leading up to it, leading up to it, it looks like I think they were all like kind of a separate thing throughout 2023. And then this project came out September of 2024. So that was a lot more recent than what was like the last band that he was in. What kind of, what kind of music was that? Was it kind of similar? Or was it like a different type of vibe? It was similar to emo. I think they were called like puppy pile. Yeah, similar like emo kind of a little bit of like the hard hard core vibe. But yeah, similar. Yeah, I like that a lot. That was a, that was a really cool one. So what do we have up next? So our friends Elephant Jake, the song's called Locked In. They're from filling out. They weren't always from Philly though, right? They all moved. No, they were, they lived in like New York, like, like Hudson, like that. We're new visions from, I forget like new counts area. Oh, and then they moved to Philly. And then Andrew actually filled in for us at Falshella. Yeah, he's filled in a couple times. This is also another band that I was introduced to specifically through Falshella last year. I was not familiar with them. Like, there were a couple people that I was hanging out with that were like, oh, yeah, this band is really good. And I had never heard of them. And I remember watching their set and just being absolutely floored by like the amount of energy that they, that they had just, you know, on the side stage, like they sounded so cool. Yeah. They're all great, great musicians. Like, Sal has a solo project, um, where plays acoustic. Andrew's like in like three to four bands. And he sometimes fills in, um, for us. So yeah, all around great musicians, great music, good people. So oh, yeah. I gotta sit down. I've been listening all day. My life got seven and I'm starved for a team. Long hours are gone. Yeah, I miss you. Every time I come home, I'm falling in love with you again. I guess it's never too late to start again. The rain, nothing wrong with a single singer at heart. I do go back inside. It isn't ready yet. I'm sorry. I'm tired. But all I ever thought you'd do is draw. Never mind. Never mind. Your friends are shy. My life never need. Cause there's no way that it is for me. But you don't get stressed. Now we don't let school so next. Love me on the rain. To be locked in. Long for the worst time. Just a little less. It's only learning the first time. I'm sorry at your time. Me too. I'm going to talk about it. I'm going to find out. From everything I do. I'm going to see you in the media. [Music] Short and sweet just getting in, getting out. Yeah. That's how they started off that project. That is a crazy intro to the project. I love the groove on the kind of like verse section. It's like the boom pow. Yeah. Yeah. It's really interesting. Very different for the genre, which I thought was especially the drums leading it. It's kind of like on a little bit of a lilt. It's not like a super straight groove. It's like a little bit like swung in a way. Yeah. It keeps it interesting. They have a lot of cool layers in the beginning. The guitar will support like a vocal section or something. It's just coming in and out. Well, and also like vocally too. The delivery is really interesting. It's got this kind of like attitude. It's almost like wrapping, not super melodic, but it's also not like a wrap delivery. It's got this attitude to it that is super fun. Yeah. It feels like a vent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a good way of putting it for sure. Yeah. It's super cool. It's very dynamic. So this is from 2022. It looks like. Is that right? Yeah, I believe so. Yeah. Do you know if they're working on any new projects right now? Yeah. I don't know. I haven't seen it in through. Last time I saw Andrew said they I think I don't think they're doing an album or an EP, but they played one of their newer songs to show weed played with them. They're playing they're incorporating keys now. Oh, all right. Yeah. I was not expecting it. So I was like, "Oh, what else could sound?" And like, it was really good. So like, I'm excited for their new stuff. Is it more of like a more of like a keyboardy type of a sound or is it like kind of more into like the tripier like synthy type of like like layers and stuff? There's more keys. Like just straight keyboard. Oh, right on. Okay. Yeah. It was really it was really interesting. It was really cool. And I also didn't realize how long they've been a band. Their first album came out 10 years ago. Like I thought that they were a lot newer, but they've been they've been grinding at this for a while. Yeah, they they have. Yeah, it's been a black first heard of it. They were from they were in New York like yeah. And then I saw that they moved to Philly. But yeah, I've booked them a couple times. Like they're just just great working with them. And like every interaction is always like great. Like just all around good time. How long have they been in Philly at this point? I feel like it's been no, it's been longer. I feel like it's been like at least like two or three years. Okay. Gotcha. I know one of them. I think their drummer still lives in that area of North and then sound in a real and Philly. Nice. But yeah, kind of going back to the thing that we were talking about earlier, like how close and connected that kind of like, you know, East Coast area is that's probably not nearly as big a deal as far as, you know, being able to get together and still practice and work on stuff and you know, all that kind of jazz. Yeah. Yeah. So before we close out the episode, is there anything else that you guys want to say one more time or anything that I might have missed before we sign off for the end of the episode? I'm just we're excited to play the run next month with Old Neon and Mudwell. Super excited about this split coming out and we're just going to be grind in and, you know, play more shows and working on new music this year. Yeah. Yeah. Can I see this? Yeah. Yeah. Around see it. And we didn't grab a vinyl vinyl, vinyl and sure deal. I have one right here. Check it out. They're cool. Yeah. You won't regret it. Yeah. I think it's the only 10 inch that's in my collection right now. I've got a couple of sevens and I've got, you know, a ton of 12s, but I think that's the only 10 that I have, which kind of makes it stand out a little bit, which is super cool. A lot of people say that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for having us on. Yeah, absolutely. This has been the Fresh Fines podcast, the show about discovering new music with good people. I don't see. What makes you so special. I don't see. I don't see. I don't see. [Music] It's just a game that you play, so well [Music] Cruel and cold, nobody knows The truth is sad, I don't see what makes you special You're just like everyone else I do, I see you at my level Slow down, don't hurt yourself [Music] You think you got the crown on your head But you don't [Music] It's not your turn, what a shame I don't see what makes you special You're just like everyone else I do, I see you at my level Slow down, don't hurt yourself You're not special, you're not special You're not special [Music]
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