Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Shea Glasheen and Matthew Kyle Levine
272 Plays1 year ago
Shea Glasheen is an innovative, musical craftsman from Long Island. His artistic work includes sound design and film production as well as musical work with CRONIES and The Real Codington Factory
Matthew Kyle Levine is a filmmaker and cinematographer based in New York City. His short films have won awards and played at numerous film festivals throughout North America, including the Williamsburg Independent Film Festival and the Canada Shorts Film Festival, most notably for his short film “Miss Freelance”.
Daddy's Wallet was recently screened at the Bowery Film Festival in NYC.
Watch Trusted Hands (clip played at the top of the episode) and other short films on Mathew Kyle Levine's Vimeo:
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Hosts
00:00:03
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host, Ken Zalante. Editor and producer, Peter Bauer.
Overcoming Negativity and Trauma
00:00:52
Speaker
Now, repeat after me I am not defined by my past trauma I am not defined by my past trauma I am not defined by the negativity that surrounds me I am not defined by the negativity that surrounds me
Mother's Update Call
00:01:19
Speaker
Hi, honey, it's Mom. Your father and I were just thinking about you, so I figured I'd give you a call to see what's going on over there. For the most part, everything over here is going pretty good. You know, we actually had a few of the neighbors come over, and we had such a fun time playing this game. Basically, the idea is that you pick a card, and whoever picks the card is the judge, and everyone has to write down something that they think would make the person laugh.
00:01:47
Speaker
It was just so funny because, as you know, we've been living on this block for over 20 years. And I have to say, our neighbors really know our sense of humor.
00:02:18
Speaker
the
Interplay of Music and Film
00:02:24
Speaker
One of the things I was wondering about, looking at your two bands, and as I mentioned to Matthew before, I've been particularly sensitive and noticing the kind of the presence of sound and soundtrack to create mood.
00:02:29
Speaker
the the
00:02:42
Speaker
in the in the video work that you do in one of one of the pieces I was wondering as far as Your work with with music and over towards video You have a lot of sounds a lot of words a lot of verses that you end up seeing Floating over and seeing is that they show up on the video work you do it Matt Yeah, actually some of my lyrical references are direct references to some of Matt's movies and
00:03:12
Speaker
You know, sometimes things in like either of our lives. So definitely it's like connected there. And like, you know, like I was saying before, like my process recording vocals for cronies and doing, you know, soundtrack for Matt is similar because I like record vocals and bass for cronies. I run it by them. They let me know if it's good. And similarly, you know,
00:03:33
Speaker
just trying to like fit the vibe with Matt's score and stuff like that. And then when I make, you know, my solo stuff, like real Coddington factory stuff, like that's a lot of me just kind of doing my own thing. So that's a little different, but like, you know, definitely my processes are the same and you know, obviously there's influences in film and you know, you see that a lot in like the, the samples that happen in some of the like music and then it's like,
00:04:03
Speaker
you know, some of it is like samples from films that me and Matt made and then it works the other way around too.
Early Filmmaking Experiences
00:04:08
Speaker
Cause like I have a score that I make for Matt's stuff and it's like, you know, it ends up being like sometimes like distorted or like very like guitar pedal driven or like sampler driven, like just stuff that I would do in cronies. So like, I guess it ends up just working together, you know, to hopefully be like more unique in that way.
00:04:29
Speaker
And in terms of relationships of film, also Shay's stuff, I'm a personal fan, of course, of Shay's music. So I've kind of analyzed it in my own way. And I noticed that a lot of movies that Shay and I both like or that are inspired by that make us want to make the movies that we make or the movies that I make, he'll use samples from those movies in his music. There's a lot of uncut gems. Some of the experts have stories. Yeah.
00:04:58
Speaker
And even videos that we've made, cause Ken, I don't know if you know, but Shay and I have actually been friends since we were eight years old. I remember you mentioned you long time. Yeah. Yeah. We made in fourth grade at the lunch table. Yeah. And, and we, we've been making videos together since probably around that time. We're like, wow. In sixth grade, my dad bought me like one of those, like, you know,
00:05:25
Speaker
Cameras that were like they kind of looked like phones almost but they had like a little like camera there They're like flip video and they had like the USB Yeah, and so we'd record with those and like we didn't have an editor at the time So like we tried to like edit on the fly like if we wanted music in the movie like we would put our iPhone speakers up and we'd press the YouTube play button and the record button at the same time and then press stop and then you know what I mean just keep going on the next shot and
00:05:54
Speaker
So we were definitely desperate to make it work for a long time. And then Matt got an editor finally. And then, yeah, go ahead. Sorry, Matt. No, I was going to say, in the same regard to the iPhone speakers up to the camera, if we wanted to cut to black or something like that, we would put our hand over the camera.
Personal Elements in Music and Film
00:06:14
Speaker
Because we can't edit.
00:06:16
Speaker
But yes, so those old childhood videos, even, Shay's taking sound bites from that stuff and put it in his music as well. And I'm always surprised to find because Shay's very like, you know, she kind of works on the album and I know nothing about what's going on. And then it just gets released. And then I get to like check it out. And then all of a sudden I hear like young me's voice show up in the album all of a sudden. It's like there's like little little tidbits. Yeah.
00:06:41
Speaker
I was just gonna say there's like, it almost seems like, you know, regardless of, you know, me being in it or not, there's just a bunch of tidbits of like Shae's past, you know, and life just kind of peppered in throughout the music that it goes beyond just instrumental and vocal, you know. I like that though, like when music adds like a wholesome like element to it, like cronies has like a lot of like,
00:07:05
Speaker
clips from Goodfellas and like you know a lot of like mob movies and stuff like that and you know horror movies stuff like that old like 70s flicks and you know Jack the drummer of our band is like really into that stuff and you know so like it kind of gives it like a you know like a vibe it's like what you grew up with it's like what you're representing yourself as is like a similar yeah I like the the the editing process I took them
00:07:33
Speaker
I took my first video film class and was using iPhone to help create film.
00:07:41
Speaker
You know, like I had the question was such like an art such like an art film school answer. I was like, I'm trying to have this black in the background. Like everybody knows you just put your finger over the over the over the camera lens and there's your black filler. I'm like, oh, it is. It is, as I thought you just covered up in the imagine doing that now, Matt, with your new Leica lenses, just like putting your whole hand over the glass.
00:08:07
Speaker
Right, right. It would be experimental for sure, you know, maybe that'd be something interesting in the future. But yeah, and I also
Collaborative Art Processes
00:08:15
Speaker
think... So long. So long. Yeah. Oh no, I was going to say springboarding off of what we're talking about. I kind of found it interesting to think of how Shae's work individually and my work individually have kind of ping pong back and forth, and then we'll come together to work on individual things. But he's been doing score for our stuff since whatever, like
00:08:35
Speaker
2013 or whenever we made our first movie. And I always noticed that kind of the score that he'll make will resemble whatever current genre or interest or whatever it is, style of music that he's into at the time. So like if you go back to like 2017 when we made our short film called Megan that stars Shay.
00:08:56
Speaker
You can kind of hear that the score that he provided for that links up to the kinds of music that he was making at the time of that short film. And then now, like with the most recent collab we did, which is Henry, his music is more noise rock based, more pedal based in his personal music. Thus, the movie, Henry, has a score that is very pedal heavy and very noise rock influenced. Has a lot of distortion, amp sound almost.
00:09:25
Speaker
So it's interesting to kind of watch, like I almost know what to expect in a way. When I asked for a score, and I'm still surprised, but it's kind of interesting to see, or listen to the music that he has coming out and knowing, oh, this is probably going to be what the score will sound like for the movies. Yeah. I recently have been hired to do a couple of like soundtracks for different things. Like one's like a romantic comedy that needed just like kind of R&B type stuff.
00:09:53
Speaker
Yeah. And one is this other thing that I haven't actually done yet, but it's like, you know, um, I guess a bit more experimental, but not like in the way that, you know, I try to be with Matt. Matt just kind of lets me kind of do my own thing or, I mean, he gives me like a mood to start with. And, you know, we make the movie together a lot. So I can, so I see what's going on and I kind of try to picture what's going to go in it later. But, you know, like.
00:10:18
Speaker
a lot of it's just experimentation, just trying to figure out like what the best thing is. So it's not like always clear, but it's like, you know, I feel like there's a, um, like I feel this way about cronies too. And I feel this way about the scores in Matt's movie when I'm making it, it's like, there's like, uh, something in there already that needs to be chiseled out of it. Yeah. And, um, that's kind of just like my approach. Cause like, I know there's something that's going to fit best. And so I try to just go for that rather than just like,
00:10:48
Speaker
You know, go for like a vanity thing or go for something that like I would like best. But again, like Matt kind of lets me a little bit off the hook in terms of going for what I want, because it's kind of what he would want to. Yeah, an incredible process. What's the romantic comedy? I didn't know you were doing that. Yeah, I heard that too, Matt. I heard that too, Matt. Next game.
00:11:09
Speaker
Oh, oh, that comedy. Oh, yeah. Matt Film then edited that. Right. Right. Right. Right. Well, no, because those are done. But I forget. To me, they're so out in the rear view, you know. But but, yeah, are they?
00:11:25
Speaker
No, no, you're right. They just, the
Creative Road Trip
00:11:27
Speaker
most recent episode just came out. I think I try to put it in the rear view as much as I can when I'm done with something. Are you done editing that though? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's done. That was a five. So Ken, that was a, I got hired, I got hired to do this like romantic comedy episodic series called X game. That's on YouTube. And I, the director was in Albany at first and then he moved to Los Angeles and he's like, sorry, Matt, like, you know, I wanted to go with you as the DP editor, but,
00:11:54
Speaker
I'm in Los Angeles now. In the winter, I get horrible seasonal depression. So I just wanted any excuse to leave because it was right around January at the time. And I was like, oh, no, no, you're doing in LA? I'll go. I'll fly out there, and I'll do that. And I took not a loss, but I pretty much broke even shooting that just so I could hang out in LA for two months. But it was a great experience. The show, it's entertaining, and it was fun to work on for sure.
00:12:25
Speaker
But you didn't fly, did you? You drove. And you got horrible food poisoning halfway through it. And kept driving anyway.
00:12:33
Speaker
Yeah, we're just going off the rails. Well, and the thing is, even if there's a project update where we can make sure it's shared here about where the status of things are. I was going to fly because I figured that would be cheaper. And then I had all the equipment that I needed. It was going to be so much to fly over to LA. And I think I always wanted to try driving across the country.
00:12:58
Speaker
So I kind of just took the opportunity to do one like solo voyage, go out to LA, make a thing. It's always been like a fantasy of mine to do.
00:13:08
Speaker
So that was interesting. Yeah, there is a road. There's a road here in Newport, Oregon,
Film Release Strategies
00:13:14
Speaker
actually just drove past it yesterday. It's on the coast and it shows Boston Mass on it and it's like three thousand three hundred and twenty five miles. It's route 20 that goes across the U.S. and starts over in Newport, Oregon, out to Boston. So you can take 20 and probably take about two weeks and that wouldn't work for you. But anyways, it's just it's just really cool.
00:13:37
Speaker
Matt, what about with Trusted Hands? You recently released it starring Victoria Studio. And that came out just recently. What's going on with the film? Where do people find it? That type of thing.
00:13:57
Speaker
Yeah, so a lot of directors like to withhold their short films for a festival. I knew you were going to start saying that. I've been thinking about that a lot today, actually, because I was like, am I not making the right move here by releasing my movie? I always release any short film I make immediately when it's done.
00:14:15
Speaker
and I release it just on my Vimeo and I promote it on Instagram and I'm like, everybody just go see it. I just want people to watch it so they can talk about it. And it's nice to get quick reactions. I like immediately hearing what people have to say about the movie the minute it's done. But some directors like to withhold the movie because there are certain festivals that want to premiere their movie exclusively and be the first to premiere it. So a lot of directors are secretive about their projects and they'll let it sit and let no one see it.
00:14:44
Speaker
for six months or whatever it is only to find out that six months later Sundance big surprise said you know we don't want your movie you know because yeah I'm surprised because tens of thousands of movies are submitted so I never want to do that especially because like trusted hands came out right and like I still I have two other short films as well that are that are in the middle of like I haven't even started editing them yet but like they're about to be
00:15:09
Speaker
And she and i are gonna work on a movie coming up too and so i just like by the time just in hands of the accepted into some festival if it if it was you know that was so exclusive about its premiere status and all that stuff i'd be already moved on and finish with the next one and i just wanna be promoting that.
00:15:25
Speaker
So I figure whenever we work on a feature in the future, I'd probably maybe withhold that or maybe just allow people to see it via a private link or whatever. But in terms of the shorts, I just like to get them out there as soon as possible. There are plenty of festivals out there that are cool about you releasing online because I think that's kind of the generation that we're living in now.
00:15:48
Speaker
I think it's important to just release it as soon as you can and then let it get into whatever festivals exist that are into it. And because of that, because we released House to Yourself and Henry that way, we got great opportunities to film movies with bigger budgets than we've ever had before. And that, in a way, allows us to then fund the next few movies.
00:16:11
Speaker
I think it's important to get it out there as soon as possible. So that's what I do. Yeah, I was just saying I was observing some of the dynamic you see. One of the things newer to see in distribution films or how it's released, I find film to be
00:16:30
Speaker
such a labor of love so intensive and then it's how it gets out there and as you explore and it's like I need people to see this thing you know I'm over here doing this both of you guys are like you gotta see the stuff same thing with it within music right you know like you get people gotta hear that
Film as Reflection of Reality
00:16:48
Speaker
And, um, uh, I, I found that it just seen some of the things you promote and talk about that there are significant films that still get attention because it wasn't like they're on a particular sequence. If you like Henry, you bring about Henry, I could like.
00:17:03
Speaker
that film and when she was talking about like the sound and some of the things adding terror to it, like it brought that rate to my head and daddy's wallet, which is like, um, in house herself, which is gorgeously a shot in, in, in each of your films too. Maybe it does what I would just wanted to ask too. Um, your, your films are held up, you know, it could be Shay and others that are held up by subtle performances.
00:17:30
Speaker
Folks that you have and that they have in there. Um, I guess when the strange question is, how do you, how do you get and find somebody who can handle this, you know, it might be this type of like intense role, maybe not a lot of talking, maybe a lot of like moving to the sound connected to face in, you know, do we? Yeah.
00:17:56
Speaker
How do we find them? I don't know. I think it's like a it's a casting thing for sure. Like I definitely can tell. We do get lucky but I also think that by an audition I can tell pretty quickly that the actor is not in the same like headspace that Shay and I
00:18:16
Speaker
Are in I don't know how to explain it I almost feel like I do the audition I can tell if it's the kind of person that I would want to Collaborate with or like talk to or hang out with and if they're that kind of person then I feel like they're the right fit, you know It's a good start
00:18:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And also, I mean, actor wise, it's kind of funny that you mentioned that because like a lot of the actors now at this point are just, you know, people within our own friend group or, you know, like Shay is going to act. He's going to be the lead in the in the new movie that we're going to make. And he's done one of ours before. And Alex is an old friend. Yeah. So I think like Alex, Victoria and I and my girlfriend Diana, who is going to be in this movie with me coming up.
00:19:01
Speaker
like have all seen
Casting and Character Development
00:19:03
Speaker
the movies that Matt likes and we like them too. So we know what kind of vibe he wants and what he's going for, like, especially because we talk about it a lot, like, and I'm sure like Matt and Victoria, like, talk about it a lot when they're like making trusted hands or when they were or when you guys like they have like another movie together, too. Yeah, Victoria's two other movies together for the record. Yeah, yeah.
00:19:29
Speaker
We've been dating for the last year. And so now we have two more movies coming as well. Yeah. What I wanted to say about like, sorry, go ahead. No, no, go ahead. Well, what I wanted to say about like, you know, when it's not a friend or, you know, it's, you know, we'll usually go through backstage and the last few times we've definitely gotten lucky and people have like, you know,
00:19:58
Speaker
got, you know, they've auditioned like quickly. And, you know, they're, you know, reliable. And they're, you know, even they feel challenged, though, even though they're good actors, like Desi Stevens, and like Dan Burke are two, like, really talented actor slash actresses that, like, audition almost immediately. And like, we didn't really need to go through anybody else. But like, gloss, which is a movie we made, like years ago, we went through about 30
00:20:26
Speaker
people came to our apartment and like auditioned for this role and like a lot of people weren't good and a lot of people were pretty good and okay but then only a few like really stood out to us and that's what you see in the film is uh you know like Haley Berkeley who is like uh you know really talented like even says that she was challenged by uh Matt's role so
00:20:49
Speaker
and a
00:20:59
Speaker
Yeah. Most of the time it's like, I don't even know if I've ever had a situation yet where I feel like, oh man, I really like both of these people for the house to herself role or both of these people for the daddy's wallet role. It's always just one person that's so clearly right. And I don't know what that says. I must just say something about their acting ability or what I'm picturing in my head. But sometimes it doesn't even matter what I'm picturing in my head, because for daddy's wallet, the main character was supposed to be a middle-aged or more like 40s
00:21:29
Speaker
You know, you're old. That's not what I pictured when I first read the script. Really? Yeah, I was I was picture. I told you that though. Oh, right. Yeah, I was picturing someone younger than than Dan. And then when I saw Dan, though, I immediately was like, oh, this is so right. And right. I remember showing you Dan's addition. You're like, this is right. This is what I'm picturing. You know, he was good.
00:21:50
Speaker
And he was just so good. And he was so committed with the audition. Like he really didn't, you know, how do I explain it? Like his audition tape was definitely kind of experimental. Like he made sure he looked disheveled and he almost acted like the character immediately to show us how invested he was. And I think that was a big part of why we picked him because I was like, well, he's already going this far with the audition tape.
00:22:15
Speaker
Dan Berkey does this kind of like mumble talk that's similar to the way Joaquin Phoenix sounds in the master or kind of like sounds like this. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that kind of grabbed us a lot because that's what he did in his audition. He was like in a robe and like had like, I think like a glass of liquor or something. And just like, um, you know, like a five o'clock shadow, like, yeah. And then just kind of like gave it to us, like,
00:22:41
Speaker
And then we got other auditions and you know, the dude just read the script and it was fine. Like it was solid. And, uh, you know, I think a lot of directors, um, failed to look past the fact that like an actor is just, you know, good enough. And, um, maybe it's just cause, uh, you know, some people just don't write challenging enough roles or whatever it is, but, um, you know, yeah.
00:23:03
Speaker
You just know when you see it, I think. Yeah, in our role specifically, we like to, I mean, I definitely want to portray the human psyche and, you know, in all of its grotesque ways, you know, so, you know, I tend to, it's like not uncommon for a role of mine to include masturbation, throwing up, crying, you know, all that kind of stuff.
00:23:23
Speaker
So so it has to be someone that would be interested in doing that kind of stuff like we've definitely gotten actors There was a movie we there was a movie that we made called weird Cupid. I don't know if you've seen that one But the character admit that's on my Vimeo as well the character admits to having a three-inch penis in the end or like towards the end and
00:23:44
Speaker
And we had a lot of actors that were like, I would never say that. I'm sorry, I cannot take this role. And it's like, good, we don't want you to take this role. If you feel so threatened, your masculinity is so threatened that you can't say in a movie that you have a three-inch penis. Firstly, I think it shows that you probably do have a three-inch penis.
00:24:07
Speaker
And then secondly, we don't want to deal with somebody who is all getting hurt personally by the content. We want someone who's like, wow, that's so funny, or that's so interesting. I can't wait to say that I have a three-inch penis. You need somebody all in and be like, three inches is where it's at, and jump right in. Don't worry. And with the actor Frank Fellow, we found that. I mean, he was perfect. He was perfect for it.
00:24:35
Speaker
Like even a guy like you know like a lot of Paul Thomas Anderson's characters and a lot of like recently I'd say and a lot of like Safdie Brothers characters like like all do like the same kind of stuff where they're like grotesque emotionally and stuff and you see guys like you know Adam Sandler in both of those directors cases like yeah and you know other great actors like doing like
00:24:57
Speaker
all that kind of stuff.
Actors and Vulnerable Roles
00:24:59
Speaker
And it's like, if you look up to those actors and you like them, then why wouldn't you wanna do that yourself? Why wouldn't you wanna challenge yourself in that way?
00:25:07
Speaker
I think it's not about, you know, because I'm not going to go see a movie that stars The Rock, because I'm sure it's just him, like, you know, being a badass and exploding card. No offense to The Rock. Like, I don't know. He's going to be our president. He's going to be our president someday. So mad respect to The Rock. The Rock gets pulled away on podcasts, I think. He gets enough votes. Right, right, right.
00:25:30
Speaker
Yeah, we love Paul Thomas Anderson and the Safdies. We look up to them a lot. I'd say the master, Shay and I were whatever, 17, and we were so excited to go see the master that we like. We were living on Long Island at the time that's where we both grew up.
00:25:47
Speaker
And we rode the subway, took a train out to see the master. It's like opening weekend and it just blew us both away. We were in that room. It was screened on 70 millimeter film in this one theater. We went there with Matt's sister and her boyfriend at the time because we weren't really like... I mean, we were old enough, but they bought us street food and they bought our tickets or something like that. I definitely remember them buying us street food. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:26:17
Speaker
I forget what the name of the theater was. I think it was the Angelica. We saw it there. And it was a really good time. One of the best film experiences I've had. There was also the time where we saw a Clockwork Orange in Denver screen on, I think it was 70 millimeter film also. And that was also a really good time.
Film Festivals and Impact
00:26:37
Speaker
So, you know, just being inspired by stuff like that, I guess. Yeah, I really, the film experiences and going to film, I had one thing I figured I mentioned, it was just such a cool event was, I was at a Czech film festival at the Portland Art Museum and just, you know, like I had cleared out just like a couple of days of being like, OK, I wouldn't have seen any of these films. And just a few years ago and I was watching this really incredible film and
00:27:06
Speaker
The actress from, she was from the Czech Republic. She spoke Czech. She was sitting in the row in front of me. So as I was watching her on the screen, I looked over and I was like, oh my gosh, it was just such a wild experience. I never had, you know, you have it in other environments, you know, with a lot of entertainers, but it was just, it was really, it was, it was really strange. And it was, I loved that kind of like disruption, disruption at times that this kind of reality and reflection of reality going back to
00:27:36
Speaker
You know, um, but, um, yeah, so people go really hard on that. What's that? Sorry. I was just going to say, some people go really hard on that. Like, you know, yeah. She was like, that's far. No, you know, but they don't really intense with that. They're moving. It's such a visceral experience. And then that's like the point of the movie almost. Yeah.
00:27:56
Speaker
Well, folks, we're going to jump just out of nowhere to Shae's work with Crony's New York. We got the track, Million Dollar Mutt. Here we go, Crony's Jacob Sheen. Of course, we talked with Matthew Kyle Levine. Off to the music right now for a few moments.
00:28:47
Speaker
The more that he eats just got better and better He drives to the scene, he's full of the butter The more that he runs just got better and better The more that he eats just got better and better The more that he eats just got better and better The more that he eats just got better and better The more that he eats just got better and better
00:29:37
Speaker
I'm healthy, I'm strong, I'm in love with the messages You won't tell me where I am
00:29:56
Speaker
The more that he ran, just got datter and datter The more that he ate just got datter and datter
00:31:17
Speaker
He died in a subway like the two of them were buried in a tomb. No, that hurts, but I'm hungry. He died in a subway like the two of them were buried in a tomb. No, that hurts, but I'm hungry. The more that he ate just got better and better. The cracks in his teeth he just fed up butter. The more that he ran just got datter and datter.
00:32:34
Speaker
Yeah. That's right up my alley, Shay. Oh, thanks. And I'd imagine up the alley around a lot of folks who listen to this show. That one just started as a jam between me and Jack one day. And just like during covid, when things kind of lightened up a little and like at first, like, you know, we just as went over his house and we jammed and like we did that.
00:33:01
Speaker
And like I recorded video of it, just like on a camera. And so then like later we developed it into a song and, uh, you know, Brad added some lyrics really dope. It's a fucking incredible track. Um, uh, yeah, thanks. Thanks. Thanks for sending that over. Everybody check out a cronies and recording here from Albany, Oregon. Hopefully you get the cronies, uh, sometime.
00:33:26
Speaker
Out of the way all over here on the uh, on the on the left coast Um, you guys got a good west coast tour one day. Yeah, it's gonna happen. We're uh, you know, we're working up to it Yeah, well, uh the podcast supports all uh, west coast endeavors and uh, uh, mad respect to the east coast being uh
00:33:49
Speaker
Born and raised in Rhode Island, Pawtucket, Rhode Island. So yeah, yeah. So made my way all the way out of west, but deep in my DNA. There's some New England in ya. Oh, goodness, goodness. Yes, I am. Hardened. Hardened. I went out, the outdoors here is quite incredible. I actually just came in.
00:34:15
Speaker
From a place Cape Perpetua and out into the woods and looking just hiking did a four-mile hike yesterday and made it back into civilization today, so a lot of a lot of wonderful stuff out here, so Yeah, we'll be talking about the the film about filming in music and
00:34:39
Speaker
and,
00:34:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, no problem. So the show, you know, episode 163, 164, and we talk about a lot of, like, important questions, artists. And one of the big ones I have is, what is art?
Shay's Artistic Ventures
00:35:11
Speaker
You're an artist, Shay, you're doing the music, you're working the film, you're doing all your things. What are you up to? What is art? Yeah, what am I up to? Like, right now, just doing a lot of, like, music projects, film projects,
00:35:25
Speaker
Let's see. I paint a lot. I like draw. I like I do a lot of like t-shirt designs for like my solo project. So I do a lot of like screen printing and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I just do a lot of I mean, I guess like like it's more. But whatever you call it, what's the word like something where you can you know, it's it's adaptable, I guess, like if you're an artist, it's
00:35:52
Speaker
you can kind of adapt to different art styles like more easily. Like Matt makes a lot of music and Matt actually did like the score for Trusted Hands and he did like, um, like, you know, he does a lot of the sound design for our movies, like just in post, like, you know, cause you know, there's no one else there helping him with it. So he ended up just doing it himself. And like, you know, especially for like Ms. Freelance, like there's a lot of cool tricks and sound design that we copied and used for daddy's wallet. So just like,
00:36:19
Speaker
in the
00:36:41
Speaker
Yeah, thank you. Thank you. What do you think the role, what do you think the role, what the role of art is? I've asked this of a bunch of artists over time and sometimes the answer to the question would be a little bit different with, you know, like political turmoil, like pandemic, what's, what is the United States in 2022, 2023, you know, so do you think the role of art
00:37:07
Speaker
like the role of art has changed uh in recent times or it's just this is the latest type of things we're dealing with as humans and it's just art is you know art do you think it's changed at all the role of the art um not exactly because i think like the even like the renaissance is like a um response to uh
00:37:31
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know too much about the Renaissance, but, you know, I think it's like a response to the Dark Ages, you know, like in everything. What was that? Wasn't it like a response to the plague, like the Black Plague? Yeah, stuff like that. You know, just like wrong solutions. I don't know. Like maybe if I can go like a little less further back, I mean, like I'm a big fan of Rage Against the Machine. So like, obviously they have like a lot of political commentary on their music and I think it's done right.
00:38:00
Speaker
I think a lot of times it's a means for people to get more attention on their music and it's not necessarily something new or something super poetic. But it's great that people want to use that as a platform to promote what they want to promote. Everybody can do what they want, I guess. It's just what you make of it. I don't go super
00:38:28
Speaker
into that with my own art. I mean, I think like in a lot of ways things are implied just like in the way I feel about things like, um, but yeah, you know, it's like, uh, again, it's just like another form of expression. Of course there's a part of me that like feel a certain way about certain, uh, you know, issues politically or just like, you know, personal issues in my life. And then those obviously come out in art. Um, you know,
00:38:59
Speaker
It's just, you know, it's just like how I as a person reflect on my viewpoint of the world more, you know, more on a subconscious level. Like, you know, on the conscious level, I'm just like, you know, having fun playing a guitar or whatever sounds good to me. But express, you know, sure. Yeah, I think no matter what you do, it's an expression of like who you are and everything that's happened to you, I guess. If you do it right. Yeah. I feel like, yeah, go ahead, Grant.
00:39:28
Speaker
No, I just wanted to ask you, Matt, like, one of the things as I was asking a question has popped into my head as far as with the films is that there tends to be this distinct theme of, I don't know, distress or isolation for an individual dealing with a situation seems to be very
00:39:48
Speaker
focused on a smaller number of characters in interiors.
Themes of Isolation and Introspection
00:39:54
Speaker
And was any of that, I mean, that's part of some of the things I've seen in your work. Was any of that part of the result of the pandemic or any constraints that you had right there as far as somebody's in the house, they're in the house, and it's a setting, it's closed setting. The external world seems far at times. Has that been part of it, Matt?
00:40:17
Speaker
I guess it's gotta be, you know? When I'm writing it, I definitely don't think about that. I'm not like, I gotta make a pandemic movie. You know, we know some directors who do things like that, like they're like, oh, the pandemic, I gotta make a movie that comments on the pandemic. And that's, you know, like having a political motive behind your movie is an interesting thing to do. And I think I've seen movies where I like when that's done, but I definitely just kind of write what I think would be interesting. And I normally think about the character first,
00:40:47
Speaker
But normally, to some greater extent, the character is always a reflection of me or someone that is close to me or just a general sense of the people that are around me. And I start there. And then I think what we were saying before were like, what is art and what does it cause change or what does it reflect and all that stuff. I think if you do art for the right reasons, not to say that there's one right reason over another,
00:41:14
Speaker
But if you're making something that's like a piece of you, no matter what you think you're writing about, you're going to end up writing about yourself and how you view the world. It's going to be a little model of your own experience.
00:41:29
Speaker
So, like, if the pandemic is going on, I guess I'm just trying to say that, of course, that's going to come through. Like, if I have to be inside for a prolonged period of time, I'm sure the movies are going to start, you know, having more interiors or being more about someone who is all alone inside or whatever. But I still feel like the feeling of isolation and loneliness goes beyond the pandemic. I feel like people feel that way, you know, no matter what's going on. And I think that's always...
00:41:57
Speaker
Yeah, just like in actuality, though, like the pandemic actually does make it harder to make bigger settings and have a bunch of like actors and stuff. And it's cheaper to have less actors in one space. So I mean, on the surface, there's like practical reasons why we do that. But then again, you know, it results from the pandemic. It's interesting how like the pandemic causes us to have to move into more like isolated spaces, especially like last year, you know, but it's
00:42:27
Speaker
It's just what it had to be. It could, you know, but it's about that because that's what it had to be.
00:42:34
Speaker
Right, right. But I think I've always been interested in that because looking back at the movies before the pandemic, like Miss Freelance or like Gloss or Megan, it's like, I often just wanna look into, I think a character when they're at, when they're alone, it kind of shows them at their most vulnerable, which I just think is always a fascinating concept. Shane, I've always, we joke all the time. Like when we meet somebody and they're like really all together and they're like, hey, how's it going? Nice to meet you, blah, blah, blah.
00:43:02
Speaker
And they walk away, we always joke that then they go home and like, you know, they, you know, be their wife or whatever, you know, and then they sob in the corner. Yeah. It was nice all day. And then we, you know, everything was going so well. And then we just had this joke because like someone left a pickle jar open that imagine if he just like took the pickle jar and freaked out and like
00:43:25
Speaker
the
Emotions and Art
00:43:43
Speaker
You know, you know, that's I think in a way it inspires the writing of movies sometimes because we're like, how would that be? And then, you know, later we're like, imagine something like that in a movie, you know. Right. Right. Yeah. And you're making you're not making like comfort movies unless there's comfort in like a connection to the what somebody's feeling and you're like, oh, my gosh, I felt that now I feel it.
00:43:50
Speaker
fifth
00:44:08
Speaker
I shouldn't be the guy who makes the comfort movie. I would not be good at it. And I'm so glad that there are guys who are good at it. We need every genre for film to be...
00:44:18
Speaker
you know, respected by everybody or appreciated by everybody. Right. It's just one of those voyeuristic things where it's like you meet somebody and then you wonder like, well, what is that guy really like? I'll never know. And then I think a movie kind of gives you that power of like whatever the character may be, like for daddy's wallet, it's like this rich, retired executive guy, you know, and it's like, OK, but what's really going on with him underneath? And I think that's also where the ideas come from, too, because I remember I was living in Brooklyn
00:44:47
Speaker
and i saw this i saw like an old guy with a very young like 20 year old looking girl and she's like you know really buttering him up and like kissing his cheek and has her arms around him and all that stuff and i'm like what's really going on here you know like what is it you know i don't imagine that this guy is just like completely happy about his life all the time given you know even though that's what he might want to portray
00:45:09
Speaker
i think we all have like an inner darkness or at least you know maybe you know i just what i assume maybe they're perfectly happy normal people but i do i do i'm like i'm like i'm not gonna shy away yeah yeah right what is that and and what's it's interesting there's a story right right right there's always a story and a background to someone's personal darkness yeah
00:45:29
Speaker
Yeah, I love when the stories come out about those talk show hosts like James Corden or like Ellen, you know, where they're just like so abusive, like it turns out. Like, would you think those people who are like having to put on those kinds of faces every night, like you think they're not going to like snap?
00:45:44
Speaker
you know, one day. And then it's just so funny when that happens. Like, we love that.
Real-life Inspirations for Film
00:45:50
Speaker
You know, it's funny and juicy and whatever. Yeah, magazine type shit. We talk all the time about making a movie about some Ellen like talk show host. And like, you know, the movie opens where she's all polite and happy and chipper on the show. And then, you know, we cut to the backstage and you know, we see the real her, you know,
00:46:09
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, in this, in I think, you know, film gives a unique opportunity to kind of like peek in and I definitely.
00:46:18
Speaker
see uh see see how you do that shay i wanted to ask uh just so we we don't forget and you let people know where to go i mean there's the oh yeah i saw you had a t-shirt for the for the band like the band's music um like we yeah like where where do folks go you on uh band camp and they look for a web page to find the yes so okay um i'll just uh throw it out there uh uh cronies um is on
Music Availability
00:46:47
Speaker
band camp we're on like you know all streaming yeah and we're on label of goods which is working on physical copies tapes stuff like that we're on a cruel nature records which I think our tapes sold out on those I have some solo music on cruel nature records which I'll just like give like a
00:47:08
Speaker
shout out to because they're great, Steve is great. They're from the UK. Label of Goods also, Logan from that record label is amazing. He does great work. And it's my favorite label. And then yeah, like cronies, the real Coddington factory, they're all on streaming bandcamp, obviously just type it in cronies, New York City, NYC or whatever would be an easy way to find it. And then
00:47:34
Speaker
Um, the, the vinyl prints were done by reptilian records. Like, this is like a, like kind of a new development, but the records are printed and they're being, they're going to get sold at this, uh, festival somewhere in Texas. I forget what it's called, but, uh, yeah. So, you know, shout out to those three record labels, label of goods, reptilian records and cruel nature records. Um, label of goods and cruel nature also have some of my solo music, which there should be some tapes left of.
00:48:01
Speaker
real Coddington factory on both of those labels. And yeah, so like, you know, we're all over physical copies, you know, birch, all that kind of stuff. It's like whatever you want, you know, if you like our stuff, come hang out. Yeah, we definitely want to lead people to it as part of the big part of the show is kind of the community of interacting with, you know, the tangible, the tangible and the digital art and the cassette tapes and
00:48:29
Speaker
Yeah, it's nice to just be kind of available everywhere. Like even for people who like what if there's someone who only plays music by tape, you know, tape, you know, we have tape, you know, it's great. It's just it's good to be available. I think as a musician, I think that's like your strongest ally, you know, these days in the music scene is just like, you know, putting yourself out there like on YouTube or whatever online. Yeah.
00:49:11
Speaker
the
Art and Existential Questions
00:49:17
Speaker
the one small but monstrous question of which we do have to ask, which is the titular part of the show is... Naturally. Why the heck is there something rather than nothing, Shay? I think Matt didn't fully resolve that mystery that we've been searching for all the time. Come on, man. What's wrong with you? He didn't fully resolve it. He would have... I'm sorry. So wait, your question is why is there something rather than nothing? Yeah. So we're based on the...
00:49:21
Speaker
the the
00:49:45
Speaker
premise that there is something rather than nothing. Yeah. Which you can attack. Which you can attack as well. Can I attack that? You can. You can. You are actively encouraged to do so. Maybe I won't. I don't know if I want to. I think I agree that there's something rather than nothing. Imagine just not making any art. Imagine not making anything. Just make something. Even if you're not going to throw it out there. Just keep making art. If you're not going to do it, you'll never get better.
00:50:15
Speaker
Um, that's what I do with my solo music is like, uh, there's, there's some stuff on Spotify, but there's a lot more on bandcamp and just stuff that I haven't released that I just, you know, there's hundreds of tracks of just like me recording every song. It's like, it's just, uh, you know, it's good exercise. It's like, yeah, why wouldn't you run on the, again, going back to the athleticism thing, it's like, why wouldn't you run on the treadmill every day if you wanted to be athletic? Like, why not do something, why not do something?
00:50:45
Speaker
rather than not something. You know what I mean? That's good. That's good. I'm only going to make my own podcast. It's going to be called something rather than not something.
Artistic Competition and Local Impact
00:50:56
Speaker
But hey, we're going to be competing. I don't mind the competition. The competition in the realm that we're in is a very particular realm that I'm not sure is populated by a ton of folks. But we can go to the, yeah. I do feel like not competitive, but almost like
00:51:14
Speaker
you know, in a good way influenced by some of the musicians around me that I think are really good or like even Matt as a filmmaker, like inspires me a lot as a musician, just any good artist I meet. And it's like, uh, you know, it's good to be in like a healthy competition, almost like feeling like, you know, Oh, that's a really cool passage by that band. Like imagine if I had something like that in my music, but like different or this way or that way, like,
00:51:39
Speaker
There's definitely a lot of admitted copycat in my music. You listen to even my score in movies. It's not like it's its own thing. It's an amalgamation of stuff that I like.
00:51:53
Speaker
You know, most of what I'm influenced by are the people around me. And, you know, I like bands that are famous. Like I like Rage Against the Machine and Nirvana system and stuff like that, you know. Yeah. But then there's I think my favorite bands actually are like my friends and people like from the music scene in New York. And my favorite filmmakers are other than, you know, famous guys like Safdie Brothers, like, you know, Matt, I would say.
00:52:18
Speaker
you know his films actually make me feel something yeah yeah rather than not something yeah let's go yeah hey um hey uh matt i wanted to make sure i mean we we we talked about you know your films are such i want to make sure we don't miss anything as far as um
00:52:35
Speaker
I don't know if there's a film faster and where to look. I had mentioned to folks, I know you've had some reviews come out or trusted hands. I'll be doing that as well. But just anything that you missed. I'm so thankful that you're going to review trusted hands. It's so nice. Well, I'd like the opportunity too. And I got to tell you guys, I mean, before I'll open up to you, Matt, make sure we don't miss anything.
00:53:05
Speaker
I think that for me the podcast and being able to have both of you on is that There is a piece where I think within a year or two there's you're gonna be You know people are gonna see your film
00:53:22
Speaker
in a more massive way and they're going to know. And so it's like I feel like a privilege just being able to talk with you and to be able to talk and write and review because there's something going on different from your films because
00:53:39
Speaker
That's why I wanna talk to you. So I think all that's gonna happen and I want folks to get excited and to see the great stuff you're creating. All right. That's true faith. Matt, Matt, anything I missed, anything I missed, Matt? That is so nice, Ken. You really, you brightened my day with that one.
00:53:59
Speaker
Appreciate it.
Film Festival Participation
00:54:00
Speaker
Yeah, so Daddy's Wallet is screening in Manhattan on the 18th. That's next Friday. And you can get tickets on the Bowery Film Festival dot com. It's the Bowery Film Festival 2022 selection. The people, the folks behind the Bowery Film Festival, they've actually done like a bunch of smaller festivals throughout the city, you know, and they do a couple, I think every few months or whatever. But the Bowery Film Festival is like
00:54:25
Speaker
they're a big one. So it's kind of a, it's a cool achievement to be honored and selected for that one, especially for Daddy's Wallet, which I think because of the pandemic had an issue getting screened, like we got into festivals and then they would be like online screenings. So this will be Daddy's Wallet's first time. Yeah. So this is going to be the first time that Daddy's Wallet screens in a real movie theater, which is something I really am excited to see. And then as far as trusted hands goes,
00:54:53
Speaker
Yeah, as far as Justin Hands and any of the other short films that we've made, those can just be found in my Vimeo and you can get there via the link in my bio on Instagram. Yeah, thanks so much. I just recently connected to film quite some time ago, maybe about two and a half years ago.
00:55:12
Speaker
of the
00:55:27
Speaker
I think it's really fascinating for me like in being able to talk about it and me trying to figure out on my side of like how to when a film is made when a film is made how is it seen where does it show up where's the festival a lot of people write about it so i'm learning a lot on that too but it's also been um quite a pleasure to see
00:55:46
Speaker
artists that I've interacted with and then see that the film had the Portland premiere on Friday. So really exciting to see the work that you both do. And just so everybody knows, we're going to have a track that there's going to be at the end of this from the real Coddington factory called The Booth. Shay, anything you want to say about the track that will lead us out?
00:56:17
Speaker
Yeah, just pass the booth. And thanks for having us.
00:56:21
Speaker
Yeah, um guys great pleasure everybody Yeah, definitely check out. Um, yeah, we'll have it in the in the show notes a lot of different places to find uh sound in in video, uh from uh from from matt and shay And um, i'm gonna hit up my folks. Uh, I don't know a ton of people in in new york But there are a good 10 to 20 people that I feel I can just tell them that they're supposed to be going to do something And to see a good film so i'm gonna
00:56:51
Speaker
I'm gonna I'm gonna be doing that I'm gonna be doing that with them So everybody we got we got the booth taking us out And I want to thank you guys both for coming on the show Thanks so much. I hear something Fuck it's Tyreke. What are we gonna do?
00:57:44
Speaker
What's the matter?
00:57:49
Speaker
When I was getting it taken from a family's name on it When I was sick of the dead, I remember the bullet in a quick bullet When I was teaching that kid, I remember the shows that you brand on it When I was giving out the cases that I'm posting on name on it
00:58:32
Speaker
When I was skinnin' and takin' up with my company's tape on it! When I was takin' the grades, I was a guy that took grades on it! When I was takin' the kids around, I put that new level to it! When I was skinnin' and takin' up with my company's tape on it! When I was shakin' his head,
00:59:01
Speaker
But I was shaking his head and I'm gonna put it in a whip on it
00:59:33
Speaker
This is something rather than nothing.