Nest Sessions: Armor for Sleep on Youth Invention Competitions

And don't believe that it's better when you leave everything behind Don't believe that the weather is perfect the day that you die I'm going to start with a very incredibly simple question, just your name and what it is that you do My name is Ben Jorgensen and I guess I play music I feel like you've known Rob for a while I have a story for later Okay, not for now For later, you hold on Just think about that Where did you grow up in the States? I grew up in New Jersey I've never been It's awesome, it's cool I mean, when I was growing up, I think the show The Jersey Shore messed up everyone's perception of New Jersey Because growing up Saying you're from New Jersey People were like, oh, do you go to the Jersey Shore and you party like these people Because that show became such a massive thing No, that's my perception In New Zealand, that show was huge It still is Yeah How close were you to New York, though? Because New Jersey is just, what, five minutes? Yeah, so where I grew up in New Jersey We were four miles from the George Washington Bridge Which is the bridge that connects the northern part of New York City So we're basically like a New York City suburb So very densely populated, suburban I don't know, I don't know Area And it was great I mean, it had everything It was like, had more malls than you could dream of in northern New Jersey It's kind of what it's famous for And yeah, it was a pleasant place to grow up And I think what was really cool for my friends and I Is that we were so close to New York City And that became a big deal for us later when we got into music Because we were a 20-minute bus ride away from being in the heart of New York City And then we could take a 20-minute bus ride away from New York City And then we could take a 20-minute bus ride back to our safe little suburban paradise I think Chicago, you know, had a similar thing going on Yeah Like all the kids in the suburbs And it's no wonder that a lot of kids in Chicago started, you know, making cool bands too And that's kind of what happened in New Jersey Do you remember what some of those early bands were That you would bus in to see as a kid that you were just so excited for? Or was it more like going to town and find out what's there when you're there? No, there were definitely specific bands that I was aiming to see I mean, when I was going to shows It was super cool to see the bands that I was aiming to see Super punk rock was what I was into And New York City was a great place for that Because it had some of the grungiest venues on the face of the planet That would host like the dirtiest punk shows ever And that's what we got into You know, we got into punk music from skateboarding I don't know how we got into skateboarding But skateboarding and punk kind of were very closely tied together So then we found out about these bands like NoFX and Rancid from the West Coast And Rancid from the West Coast And started going to shows when we were like 13 years old Did your folks mind you going in to those kind of shows? Or were they like a bit worried? Or was it just like go and do your thing? Kind of go and do your thing, yeah They were pretty supportive of that What amazing early shows to see Like NoFX and Rancid Yeah Those are amazing first gigs Yeah, yeah, yeah It was cool, yeah We were lucky to be surrounded by that And Ska was a really big thing too A genre I still don't fully understand We keep meaning to do an episode on that genre Yeah And I just sort of haven't found a way into it But it's something I've got a lot of friends that love it I don't understand it at all But I need to understand it My friends and I were super into Ska And I feel like Ska was the transition From like punk rock to like pop punk for us Like I don't know if you guys know Less Than Jake But they're Fueled by Ramen Fueled by Ramen, yeah But you know I feel like one of the first pop punk bands I liked Was Less Than Jake And they were a Ska band So when Ska kind of went away I think pop punk kind of like grew in the aftermath Well he founded Fueled by Ramen, right? Wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah Less Than Jake guy? Yeah, yeah And that's where all of those like emo bands came out of I see Yeah When did you start thinking Like when did you get into music yourself? Transition from going to shows to wanting to play? So I put on a show when I was 13 years old My mom collected tickets at the door Because we started going to shows when we were like 12 years old So I really wanted to be involved And this is before my friends and I were playing out with our own band Yeah So maybe at around like 14 years old We started playing our own shows What did they look like? Like your mom's taking tickets? So I rented a VFW hall It probably cost like $150 I rented a PA from Guitar Center And I called a bunch of bands that I knew And you know paid them each I don't know probably like 50 bucks or 100 bucks And then like 300 people would come and pay You know probably 15 bucks Like it was a big business for a 13 year old kid That's incredible Yeah And like what were you doing? Were you doing covers? Were you singing? Were you playing? What was your thing? That first show that I did I didn't play at all Because I was a promoter before I see Yeah so you were promoting and bringing other bands in Yeah At 13? At 13 yeah That's nuts Yeah But I was playing music at that time I was a drummer I convinced my mom to give me drum lessons Which she was ambivalent to do Because it meant a drum set had to be in her basement And luckily the house that we lived in in New Jersey I think in like the 50s There was some like pirate radio station in the basement So like whoever was there did some like light soundproofing And it was by no means like a studio But my mom was like Okay I think it's maybe soundproof So you can have a drum set But like it was the loudest thing ever in the house So I was playing drums in my band with my best friends I had my best friends all play different instruments And then we did that band from when I was 13 years old All throughout high school So once we were in high school Then we started playing these shows in New Jersey Like three times a weekend Yeah and it was just It was shows at VFW halls At churches At fire stations And the scene in New Jersey at the time was vibrant There would be like 500 kids coming to shows Put on by 16 year old kids Sometimes it would be bands on tour from other areas But a lot of times it was just like all of us playing for each other Holy shit Yeah and that's kind of That's how I started this whole thing And then to jump ahead a little bit At the end of high school Even though I was just the drummer of that band I started writing songs myself Guitar players in the band would leave their guitars at my mom's house And I taught myself how to play guitar And I started writing songs And I realized like Am I a songwriter? Like is this something that I want to do? But I was like stuck behind the drum set So once high school ended I had a vision for a band that I wanted to start Which is the band I've been doing ever since then And so I quit that band And then made a demo And that's how I got started with Armor for Sleep I kind of want to meet your mom She sounds amazing Like whether she was taking tickets for those first shows you were putting on Yeah And all these guitars Be stored at your house The basement situation She sounds amazing Yeah she's the best So my parents split up when I was two And you know my dad was still in the picture My dad's awesome too But like our arrangement was that We just grew up with my mom basically And so she raised my two older sisters and I And was working all the time And the fact that she still let me pursue this crazy You know like I told her in fourth grade I heard the Black Album by Metallica I was like I want to be in a band And she was like sure whatever you want And yeah so super grateful that she's had In my back throughout this whole crazy thing Yeah completely I think it's kind of rare Or maybe it seems rare to have a parent That's just like go for it and do that thing When that kid brings a Black Album And is like I want to do this Yeah I remember that record as well God it was good Yeah Now I don't know how to do this transition And maybe we'll get back to your music again at the end Because you're going to play us some songs But what you were also doing at school Is something I'm deeply curious about Yeah And I feel deeply American Can you sort of explain to me How you got into this particular part of your Yeah Schooling Yes so thinking back on this whole experience I was almost expecting to think of Negative parts of this But when I think back onto my experience In this whole world that we'll get into in a second It really was Such a positive experience for me And I'm really so thankful for it And what happened is basically Every year My school in 5th grade There was an invention contest Called the SITE contest Which stands for Student Invention Through Education And every 5th grade student Was required to Do this like 2 month long Almost like a science fair competition thing But in 4th grade The teachers in my class Picked 5 students that they thought Were like special to be involved So it would be 5 4th grade students Competing with all of the 5th grade class Which is super exciting Because a grade is a massive difference When you're that age So in 4th grade I was A really Troubled kid I was the class clown I was misbehaving all the time It's actually when my mom put me in therapy Because I could not focus in school Again I was the class clown I remember my teacher Mrs. Goodman Developed a sign for me She would tug on her ear And that would mean that I was being too loud And instead of calling me out and punishing me So I was going through a troubling time I think it's because My parents had been divorced for a while And the kids I was around Didn't have that upbringing And I was just struggling I said all that up Because Mrs. Goodman Picked me in 4th grade As one of the 5 kids to compete In this invention contest And I have a vivid memory Of going up to her after class With tears in my eyes Asking her why did you pick me We know I'm having all of these issues I was just surprised and honored And she was like, we just see, like, I don't know what it was, I guess they could see that I was still creative even though I was having these behavioral issues anyway so in fourth grade I was one of the five kids to compete in this uh competition and I wound up winning that year I got first place out of the fourth graders and then in fifth grade I competed again and I won first place again and then after after winning like in my school the top two people would advance to like the regional um competition and that was something that was like all of northern New Jersey all the people who won in their specific schools would like compete against each other so we had to go to this like bigger venue um it was in the Meadowlands um in this like convention hall what Meadowlands what is that oh uh the Meadowlands it's where Giant Stadium is or MetLife Stadium is now where the Giants play it's um it's there's basically nothing in the Meadowlands it's just like open fields and they have some convention centers and some hotels um wait just rewind I your teacher she sounds amazing yes even just thinking of her having the foresight to like tug in here and not embarrass you in front of everyone and yell that's huge yeah like I feel like we all have these teachers that uh that you remember and for her to also hone in and be like you're not a shithead you're smart and you're just not focused fuck that's cool yeah it was really cool and and again I don't remember like fourth grade I was nine years old like I don't remember much but I remember how having that conversation with her just being so moved that she she believed in me you know and um and yeah it was really special for me I think that's probably why I took it seriously do you remember what you invented I do I remember I remember you bring it in with you and okay so yes so here's another thing so this invention contest lasted over the course of I don't know one or two months you had to identify a problem you had to um talk about if you could think of a realistic solution and then you had to figure out how to do it and then you had to figure out how to and then another aspect of it was that you had to go out and find if there were other uh comp items already on the market you had to call stores and see if things existed and I remember I really picked up on all of that stuff because I I don't know I knew for some reason my classmates would just try and like invent crazy stuff but I was like no this has to be like grounded and real so I took that seriously and I I went to like I remember going to CVS and Walgreens and asking them if they had different products and and when I went to present my invention I think that was and this is what I asked my mom about this too because I asked her if she had memories from this time and she said that she thinks I won because I had like the whole marketing part down and I knew how to present my inventions and they weren't the most mind-blowing inventions but they were practical yeah they had like real world applications yeah that's the first time in my life like that clicked to me that like it's more than just the product it's about like how does this fit into the world and I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know talking about how this connected to music I think I think I use that too when I started doing everything I did in music like kind of like looking at it as a whole as a whole rather than just like music but anyway going back to the inventions yes the first year um my invention was called the big and tough earmuffs it's a great name um so obviously being from New Jersey we had really brutal winters so every winter we had to wear earmuffs and the annoying my fourth grade mind the annoying thing about earmuffs for me was that you had these two earmuffs on your ears but then there was this like really stiff like plastic part that went on your head and it would dig into your head and it hurt yeah five minutes in and you're like get this thing off me one size does not fit all no absolutely not exactly so with that in mind I I dissected um a pair of earmuffs and I just took off the outer shell with the insulation and I put like a drawstring inside so you can put them on your ears and then pull a drawstring so each one was like suctioned onto your ear so instead of you know earmuffs with the band so yeah so I I went to all these stores I said do you have any earmuffs that don't have the plastic band on top or anything and then nobody did so very specific question from a kid coming into a store yeah like 10 year old yeah yeah no so these things would they were into and they just suck onto your ears like this yeah that's great you're prototyping these too and yeah I had I had the actual yeah I I my mom helped me sew on the elastic band and everything but and just the name in the beginning the big and tough earmuffs yeah really good another thing was that the name had to be like catchy too it is catchy yeah it's fucking great I feel like you could pitch that on a dragon's den or something yeah what came next so the second year um my invention was called the floss boss so another great name I don't know if you remember um dental floss come in there's like uh kind of like a square type plastic I love I floss sometimes twice a day I'm a big guy so I'm intrigued by this but the second type of packaging it's it almost looks like um an eight-sided piece of plastic thing so my thing with that my problem in fifth grade was that you never knew when you were towards the end of the dental floss because it's so light tell me about this no completely and there's nothing more frustrating when you go to floss before bed and you pull it out you're done yes and then it's like a week of trying to remember to buy more floss yes so the floss boss my invention was like I took one of those containers I flipped it over and I put a clear piece of plastic on the underneath so you could always see when the spool was so brutally simple that's so no but so practical yeah yeah and again you're walking into these stores asking like to see all their floss containers yeah to see the floss containers and do people come in with doing market research yeah good yeah no again just like deeply practical yeah and things that could actually exist in real life stay tuned for more flightless bird we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors endless summer escapes start here travel the worlds of netflix irl inspired by fan favorites like stranger things and squid game brave the upside down face off with the front man play leveled up arcade games shop exclusive merch and enjoy themed food and drinks beat the heat play eat and shop on repeat at netflix house at galleria dallas bring your crew and save get your tickets today at netflix.com slash house this episode is brought to you by nordstrom for 125 years nordstrom has been part of your story the stylist who found the perfect outfit for your big interview the first pair of walking shoes for your one-year-old the tomato soup you shared with your sister at the cafe these are the moments that make nordstrom nordstrom big or small we're here for all of it celebrating 125 years with new moments still add discover it all in nordstrom stores and at nordstrom.com do you remember what other kids were doing around you yes so so other kids inventions were like they would do like flying cars or like you know a magnet that could you know bring your refrigerator into your house so you wouldn't have to lift it up the stairs you know but like they would have no dumb shit what are you doesn't make no wonder you want it all it is so mine were like simple practical things and and that's why they won i remember this was also the first time where i um experienced the first haters in my life so also gonna prep you for a world of music yeah and promotion yeah no i remember after after the big and tough earmuffs one i was in a bathroom stall in school and i already i already had this reputation that like maybe i didn't deserve to be there because like i was the troubled kid but i got not only did i get chosen as one of the five kids but i was also the troubled kid because i was the troubled kid but i won yeah it would be hugely controversial because at school i was a little nerd and i would have been angry at you because i was doing everything right sucking up to all the teachers suddenly you who's this naughty little shit in school got reward what the hell yeah i remember the day after i won i was in like a bathroom stall and kids came in and they were just shit talking how how simple the big and tough earmuffs were was and that i i shouldn't have won because it was such a basic idea and you know that was the first time i had to had to deal with haters and which at the time would be like quite stressful and awful yeah as well yeah did they know you were in there or you were in a school so you was yeah i feel like that's every scene in every american sitcom is that stage where like you're listening to kids like talking shit in the stalls but then that fueled your emotional journey into becoming a songwriter songwriter i went through the same exact thing at a certain you know many times over like having haters for music you know but i mean you only get haters once you do something that's like at least marginal least successful right you know what i mean so like uh-huh it was the same thing you know just trying to trying to understand that uh like why that's happening i don't want to be extreme with this but i feel like if you didn't have that invention part of your life do you think you would be doing what you're doing today i you know sort of gently steered you in certain ways of viewing the world and thinking about things and succeeding i was thinking about that a lot trying to like recall like that experience and i think there is a through line between that and and what i would do later it's also confidence right it's also someone saying you can succeed you can do something it was a huge confidence booster the fact that my teachers took a chance on me and and the fact that i was able to get up here and understand like the system of something i definitely took that and ran with it do you still have a brain where you feel like you're seeing a product and you're always trying to invent a slightly better version do you still have that part of you you have like 250 patents that you own so i don't think necessarily with inventions but i think i realized something again about like maybe analyzing the system of something so for instance when i when i started armor for sleep when i was 16 years old i knew that if you wanted to make it as a band it was more than just about like writing a song like at that time record labels were starting to sign bands so i knew i needed to attract the attention of a record label and then there was also a part of it where like i knew artwork was such a big component of a band and like you know it's more than just like i i knew uh like peers who were my age were very focused on just like one aspect of their band but i i think i saw that it's like a bigger system in place you have to have a lot of pieces in there so i don't know if like i learned that specifically through my experience in the invention contest or the invention contest just revealed that i can kind of think about things you know in like a larger scope but like i think when i was starting the band i was drawing upon what i did in the invention contest where like you know thinking about the marketing thinking about like you know bigger things i think that's a good second point i think that's a good second point i think that's a good second point for my story with you oh my god i'm excited for this i've been waiting so yeah when i was 15 i started designing t-shirts for bands yeah and i hit you up on aim dude uh what was your screen name i was the academy rocker no you were not yeah dude oh my god and you were one of the first bands that let me like do designs for shirts that's amazing just the confidence that it gave me like i was in art class in high school wow and i was growing up around like the academy yeah guys and fallout boy and that whole scene but getting into kind of art and a practical usage of it like i was in my art studio class working essentially and designing t-shirts for all these different bands um and i i always remember you being very nice to this over 20 years ago yeah it's just some 15 year old kid that like i had no design background i was just i remember chatting with you we should chat all the time getting into it nice yeah yeah like designing t-shirts did any of them make it do you know i don't know if any of them did at that point okay but yeah i mean that was like the start of my design journey that's incredible how'd you get my screen name i think it was just armor for sleep yeah probably so i just i yeah i don't even know it was probably on your website yeah it probably was that's crazy that's awesome that's insane you remember the screen name i remember the academy yeah we used to talk all the time yeah yeah well because i don't think you knew who the academy was yet because they had not blown up yes they had not become the academy is yet yeah but then but but then i started to know about the band yeah um so i feel like i just associated you with like i thought you were associated with the band from the beginning like officially well i mean i was i'm still close with cisco and yeah and those guys but uh that's so awesome that was a that's like a really pure lovely story yeah i was always a kid who was um chasing down like my favorite bands that i wanted to work with and like there were there were guys that were always so sweet to me and so supportive like man i used to bring like poetry books to um thursday shows to give to jeff the singer from thursday and and um chris from saves the day i used to be up front at all their shows singing along and he was just so gracious to me and like i always wanted to do that with like kids or younger people who would like hit us up to be like check out my band's demo or whatever and they were like i can't believe you're talking to me and i was like this is i grew up with bands that i loved you know being nice to me so like why wouldn't i do that to you know be that way to other people too those types of people i remember quite a bit from that age i remember when like fallout boy hit and they're going on kimmel and stuff and it's like those are the guys from this small town and seeing them achieve this yeah and it as like just a 15 year old of like that's who i just saw at a vfw and having the confidence to then reach out and yeah that was the start of start of my grind i guess and the internet was a slightly more pure place then where i feel like you could reach out and those comms were a bit less insane than they are now yeah i remember someone gave me a brendan boyd from incubus's screen name one time and um i would just like send him a messages and like chat with him and he was like really cool to me i don't even know if it was really him but i think it was yeah it's like my friend celine she thought she was um talking to britney spears all through school and was getting help with her homework from britney spears semi-recent though right she's younger well yeah maybe not this recently um but yeah then she realized at some point that britney spears wasn't helping her her homework it was just some dude or the other end of the line oh my god yeah it's the internet's a different world for women it's a different it is it is a different world for women different when you're reaching out to people i don't know how to transition to this but you're going to play some songs for us soon yeah one thing i do know about your music is you know rob and i are what you you brought a treat right did you bring a treat i did bring a treat oh you got a treat yeah yeah oh my god you listened to the memo so clearly yes what have you got for me so um i will say it's something that needed to be prepared so i was going to make it here but i feel like that wouldn't have been the best um for like visual podcasts of understanding sitting making something so i pre-made these but i want to show you the ingredients so this comes from i was thinking about student invention competition in my time growing up and growing up in new jersey and i didn't realize that something i grew up with was very specific to um the new england area and this was just something that i grew up so okay i am and i really doubt they have this in new um it's a meat pie this is my favorite part of this show is that okay okay this is called marshmallow fluff have you ever heard of this no but i'm not into it because i love marshmallow and i love sugar okay so this is so purely i was reading about this um this is the standard story of some guy invented this in like the 1920s called marshmallow fluff sold it to like heinz or something and then they had all of this stuff and they didn't know what to do with so they started marketing it towards uh school children cool i said the base recipe i remember we weren't allowed to have that and i had a friend that they were allowed to have it yes we'd sneak over there and eat so we were allowed to have it um so marshmallow fluff plus peanut butter is called a fluffer nutter sandwich fuck this is the best thing that's been brought into the segment ever so um i was reading a little bit about this it's like a staple of new england kids food and there's actually been political campaigns to like ban this but it's such a beloved um school time lunch that like politicians have like gone to bat trying to keep this like on the menu or like so anyway i grew up with this and i think it's it's so insane to me because this is just like a candy sandwich and we would just go to school with this with like a side of oreo cookies because i feel like the closest i mean i thought you were going to do when you bought out that white bread and the peanut butter a peanut butter and jam sandwich which is a big deal in new zealand and a big deal here in america this marshmallow element is wild to me crazy this is the best this is the best so kids would have these in their lunch boxes this is just a thing who the fuck invented this hey is there anything else you want to say yeah we had funny rules in my house like there was no candy allowed in my house we couldn't have soda but my mom would let us go to the grocery store and buy whatever cereal we wanted so we would buy lucky charms cereal is healthy yeah and also we would have this for lunch sometimes so that like mom logic back then was insane our house was the same no soda no candy but my mom would make sandwiches with butter and cinnamon sugar on top yes that was i love that and that cinnamon toast that somehow is okay in my household orange juice was healthy that was like your fruit intake okay i'm so fine oh hell yeah how good is that absolutely oh this is insane how hard is it to find fluff is it just any grocery store you walk into is it ralph's i've never seen this marshmallow cream before i've never heard of it before did you have this in your house my house but i mean we would just spoon in there with marshmallow also i'm really not sure i've never used marshmallow fluff for anything other than this sandwich like i think this is the only application for fluffernutter sandwiches it's just this and peanut butter and white bread i mean i guess maybe you could use this on like ice cream as a topping but vinnie would love this i gotta get this no this is this is my i could eat this all day yeah but it's bad for me i mean with nutrition information being so readily available i just don't know if this can ever happen in 2020. six again like you know what i mean like yeah my my four-year-old's preschool like can't have peanuts we can't have sugar in his lunch so that's the school rule school rule yeah is that for allergens for the peanut yeah and i think health with the sugar aspect but only natural sugars i mean this is one of the most american things i could think of like america is so good at getting sugar into people it is it's just marketed at kids everywhere and adults i just think it's hysterical like the history of it is just some product they didn't know what to do with and to just push it on kids and it's beloved and i love that it's become a political talking point we have got something we're advocating for bands and then someone coming in and being like no we'll never ban this yeah so the bands were because of how unhealthy it is i'm assuming so yeah yeah it's not the reason it's too delicious yeah it's bannet i brought a couple knives if anyone wants to make a second amazing you're gonna play some music for us and there's no easy transition as we eat a very juvenile sandwich i feel like a lot of your subject matter is is is quite dark or sort of death related and rob and i often i think rob and i are both terrified of dying so anything about death my little ears perk up because it's very much a topic that i'm i'm wondering what where that came into your sort of onto into your brain i gotta shout out my dad here my dad is a super smart guy and when i say super smart i mean really smart like went to went to mit for theoretical physics oh okay then went to columbia medical school to be a doctor like just super smart so he was always raising me with like little tidbits about like you know quantum mechanics and and so i you know i think that definitely contributed to me thinking about darker and deeper things at a younger age than a lot of uh than a lot of my friends but also i think i think that's just um who i was you know what i mean like uh i don't know i've always been fascinated by by death and what that means and and i think everyone everyone thinks about that to a certain level stay tuned for more flightless bird we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors endless summary escapes start here travel the worlds of netflix irl inspired by fan favorites like stranger things and squid game brave the upside down face off with the front man play leveled up arcade games shop exclusive merch and enjoy themed food and drinks beat the heat play eat and shop on repeat at netflix house at galleria dallas bring your crew and save get your tickets today at netflix.com slash house brought to you by nordstrom for 125 years nordstrom has been part of your story the stylist who found the perfect outfit for your big interview the first pair of walking shoes for your one-year-old the tomato soup you shared with your sister at the cafe these are the moments that make nordstrom nordstrom big or small we're here for all of it celebrating 125 years with new moments still add discover it all in nordstrom stores and at nordstrom.com was there any religious element in your childhood or is it purely more than from the science side yeah i was i was raised in a pretty religious household but i don't think i don't think that contributed to to this you know like i never i never bought any of the you know gods like a guy sitting in a chair in heaven you know eternal life kind of yeah no so so i i never bought any of that even though that was never really pushed on me like that also i think the fact that my parents went through a divorce um we didn't have like that nuclear family at home so i spent a lot of time by myself and and i also think i spent a lot of time maybe thinking about uh i guess i don't know how to say but like emotional things that like my friends weren't thinking about just because there was a little bit of a struggle at home with my mom having to work so hard and and us splitting up time between our parents like i was just like this isn't normal and and um you know i i knew something was a little bit different with our parents and i was like i don't know what to do with our family dynamic and i think that definitely contributed to me thinking a little bit more about um you know being secluded being alone with my own thoughts and and facing that part of me i think at a younger age than most people you know go through that um so yeah i was thinking about death and and darker things a little bit earlier and and what i think really was most important is that drew me to darker music um i think earlier on than most people like for instance nine inch heels was uh you know i remember hearing um the song something i can never have off pretty hate machine when i was really young and such a moody and dark song and and maybe other kids would would want to skip it but i really resonated with that's the one yeah that's quiet and more intense quiet more intense talking about longing for someone in a minor key that spoke to me when i was in like sixth grade you know what i mean um i just think that's that's kind of how my brain was wired so after being such a fan of that i wanted to you know throw my hat in the ring and just always what i've been drawn towards yeah that completely makes sense what what are you going to play for us today um so the first song that i'm going to play is um a song called car underwater from the album what to do when you're dead what to do when you are dead yes yeah which is a great album title but yeah it's dark and it's also quite fun and i remember the imagery from that album too the cover is what a man like floating a man floating yeah so the um what to do when you're out um and it's uh i guess now people call it a concept album so the first song in the album is car underwater it's about a guy who apparently drives his car into um a lake or a river or something and then the rest of the album he's kind of in a state of purgatory trying to reconnect with people from his life and coming to all these realizations about the decision that he made but the whole thing kicks off with car under water and over the years car car under water has been um it's kind of like taking on a life of its own and uh you know with spotify and everything over the past few years it's it's you know like we can see tangibly like this is like grabbing onto this thing yeah what do you put that down to that particular song people because it's interesting what you just you mentioning spotify because yeah probably my age and what i grew up with but and rob's from the same in a way like the concept album to me is like i love it because it draws you into a whole record yes it's not just the idea of you know the idea of listening to a song on an album and then just not listening to the rest is just not something i'd ever do it's the opposite of where music is trending with just like singles and don't worry about albums exactly but that's that's why i'm interested in this song that people obviously look at spotify and it jumps here because kids are finding this thing um well i mean you know it is kind of like a catchier song but i also think the people people who relate to that song i think they also know that it's part of a larger thing like it's very rare for there to be a fan at our shows who likes car under water but is not familiar with the album as a whole yeah so you're drawing in that kind of a listener that wants the whole thing yeah which is pretty cool when it's crazy when internet trends will happen and songs will just get rediscovered 10 years later and blow up i think dr dog had that with uh where all the time go just became like an instagram tick-tock trend yes and like billions of streams yeah after that that song had been out for 10 years yeah so there are fans of armor for sleep um i'm super super stoked they're fans of my band but then there are within fans of armor for sleep there are just fans of what to do when you are dead and like like that album within you know like our catalog specifically has um become its own thing and like it's awesome i know a lot of a lot of bands are like there's a level of frustration that something they did so long ago is going to be one of you know the thing that gets the most attention but like i love it like you said there are there are 16 year old kids coming to our show who just discovered this album who have like the booklet for me to sign who are asking me all these questions and you know it's it's cool it's definitely like over the course of time still still managed to intrigue people why don't you kind of made this thing that's like a bit timeless as well you know that's still accessible yeah was that album peak armor for sleep i mean for sure that came out on equal vision which was an indie label and that sold like a crazy amount and then after that we signed a major label deal so like that was you know when everything was the craziest for us it was it was also 2005 it's when like major labels were like you know snatching up my cam and fallout boy and yeah so that that's kind of um that was our big our big moment back in the day for sure so i remember dream make believe was where i found you guys and then you guys also had just uh the hoodie that said armor across which was like such a cultural piece of fashion it felt like at that time where it was black hoodie armor just simple font on the front getting that merch right yeah yeah no that hoodie was that hoodie was big a lot of people bring that up actually you gotta bring it back yeah you do have to bring it back yeah i got there's a merch guy over here yeah well thank you so much for coming in um i'm all sugared up on uh marshmallow cream dangerous but i hope you enjoyed it and i'll see you next time bye bye shit i could i could i mean i've recently discovered um cookie butter oh yeah and that feels like a similar genre where that could be sitting in the cupboard and i'll just like spoon into it is that the trader joe's one yeah yeah it's good yeah i love that all right believe the news i'm gone for good call off the search no one will know that i am down here and believe the note that i left for you you can't turn back the clocks you can't pull me up from here so don't try i'm in a car underwater with time to kill thinking back and project to tell you this didn't care that you left and abandoned me what hurts more cause i would still die for you I'm in a car underwater with time to kill Thinking back, I forgot to tell you this Didn't care that you left and abandoned me What hurts more is I would still die for you And make time slower And give me longer But it's too late for me No one will know that I am down here And believe your dreams of me Sinking so far below You can't pull me up from here, so don't try I'm in a car underwater with time to kill Thinking back, I forgot to tell you this Didn't care that you left and abandoned me What hurts more is I would still die for you And leave it up to me To burden you again But this one's not your fault Please forgive me And leave it up to me To burden you again But this one's not your fault Don't forget, don't forget, don't forget me And don't think back, don't think back to me at all Just let me go Don't think back, don't think back to me at all Let me go And let me go Just let me go I'm in a car underwater with time to kill Thinking back, I forgot to tell you this Didn't care that you left and abandoned me What hurts more is I would still die for you I'm in a car underwater with time to kill Thinking back, I forgot to tell you this Didn't care that you left and abandoned me What hurts more is I would still die for you I'm in a car underwater with time to kill Thinking back, I forgot to tell you this Didn't care that you left and abandoned me What hurts more is I would still die for you What hurts more is I would still die for you Thinking back, I forgot to tell you this Didn't care that you left and abandoned me What hurts more is I would still die for you I'm in a car underwater with time to kill Thinking back, I forgot to tell you this I'll always hear your song in my heart I'll always hear your song in my heart ♪ In heaven all day long ♪ I want to find you so bad And let you know I'm miserable up here without you I came down here to tell you It rains in heaven all day long I want to find you so bad And let you know I'm miserable up here without you Do you believe that the weather Is perfect the day that you die? 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