Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Chasing the Beats, a show dedicated to weeklybeats.com artists, their songs and stories from the 2024 season and beyond. i'm your host, SQF, and our guest today on a special video edition of the show, Orange Drink.
Speaker: All right, welcome to Orange Drink, our first video episode. Look at us moving around. You can see us. What the hell is that? This is Monkey. Hey, Monkey. He's in the building.
Speaker: ah Well, it is happening. We're here. I can't believe it, almost, because I think I've mentioned you probably in more episodes about like trying to get a hold of you and your busy schedule. and like So, it's happening.
Speaker: Our first message was in March. but And it's November, so. ah yeah Better late than never. And then this morning, my partner was like, did you hear from that guy yet? I was like, I have an um i messaged him last night and I haven't heard anything. So...
Speaker: o Love it. ah But yeah, so great to have you on I feel like I know you because just watching all your videos last year and you know, being new to Weekly Beats last year.
Speaker: You were definitely ah like in my mind, the like celeb of weekly beats. I i think because I could see you and sure like see your performances and stuff. And maybe people feel that way now about listening to me all year on this podcast. I don't know. confirm But it's it's it's great to actually chat with you outside of weekly beats comments and hear more about your process and your extensive experience doing weekly beats.
Speaker: Thanks for having me. I really appreciate you doing this for the community. So many people have just said, like, oh, we should do a podcast and we should do a podcast. We should do a podcast. And then everyone, myself included, has said, like, oh, I'm going to do a podcast. I'm going to do a podcast. but You did it, and we really appreciate it. i did it.
Speaker: And I'm happy I did it. was, you know... um ah ah a good way to spend the off year and then slowly ease back into making music. Yeah. So, and connect with everyone that, ah you know, I've listened to everyone's stuff last year and to hear more about individual struggles and how people make music and the different styles that people have in making the production and the outcome has been super cool.
Speaker: You're going to do 2026, right? Yeah. I'm like legally obligated to yeah i Yeah, I would agree. i would agree. um And your first Weekly Beats was 2016, right? Yeah, yeah. So it'll be... Yeah, your fifth year. the deck Yeah, and like a decade of being in Weekly Beats mindset.
Speaker: That's wild. It is. i mean... The thing that's crazy is that... so Before Weekly Beats, I had released three albums, ah totaling 30 songs. So 10 songs, then two albums with five songs.
Speaker: And then in Weekly Beats year one, I did 52 songs. So I near like doubled my career output in one year, um which is just like crazy to think.
Speaker: I didn't think I could do it the first year. So i was like i I had heard about it. And I was like, oh, that's crazy. think I can't do that. I'm the type of person that needs five years between albums because I got to like sweat over it and i have to go over every detail. And then what's funny is that you know go back and listen me, I'm like, it took five years. like It's not that great, bro. like Really? You took five years? Snare sucks.
Speaker: Sucks for five years. in... so in ah Yeah, I guess just like kind of get into the how I started with Weekly Beats. um I lived in Chicago, so I'm from Virginia. And then I moved to Chicago and was there for nine years, I think. And, you know, was doing Orange Drink, had a band member, um my friend Fireshade. Shout out to Zarafa on Weekly Beats.
Speaker: So Zarafa was my ah band member for a period of time. And then he started a co-op recording studio. So I had a membership there.
Speaker: So I was just like grinding it out, playing shows to nobody um and then trying to like record at the recording studio or record in my apartment.
Speaker: And ah time passes, and then I met ah now my husband, Frank. And we were long distance dating from ah Franklin, Wisconsin to Chicago, which is about an hour and a half drive.
Speaker: So our relationship obviously went well. And then i we talked about moving in together. So I moved up to Franklin. And he said, like you know you can take over the basement and you can set up all your recording stuff. And I was like, oh, this would be amazing to live at the studio, basically, and as opposed to renting out a place. And I can i can only go like one day a week, yeah which was really depressing at times to...
Speaker: feel like oh this is my day at the studio and then i go i'm just like in a really really bad mood yeah it's like time for even more forced creation of like this is the only time i've got literally there would be days that i would just go get a sandwich and watch cartoons on the internet for like eight hours and be like well i didn't record yeah you know i just needed to let things simmer but So, ah you know, I was putting an arguably unhealthy and abusive and insane amount of pressure on myself.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. um And yeah, we'll get into my mental health struggles. so Maybe a little bit later. Don't want to go out of the gate swinging with too much spiciness. But so I moved to Franklin. Frank let me take over the basement. And I'm like, all right, this is it. This is the dream. Like I can spend like almost unlimited time working on music.
Speaker: And so I moved up here 2013. And nothing really happened for a couple of years. And then i I didn't know anybody here. And I went to an open mic.
Speaker: And I'm like, Alright, I'm gonna like, make a big splash. And I'm going to go crazy at this open mic and people are going to be like freaked out. And they're going see how talented I am. And they're gonna fall in love with me. Yeah.
Speaker: And I go to the open mic and like everybody is like a stone cold killer, like such good, like songwriting, acoustic guitar, playing, soloing, singing, like stage presence, freaking posture, like holding an acoustic guitar.
Speaker: And we're just like, oh man, like the competition is fantastic. fierce in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. So then I go up to these people and like, oh, you're like so talented. This is amazing. um Where can I listen to your stuff? Do you have albums? Like, do you go on tour? We should play a show together. And they're like, oh, no, I'm a attorney. I just do this on the weekends. I'm like, oh, God, how am I going to be a How am I going to be a career musician when this like weekend warrior is like objectively like better on every single level? Yeah.
Speaker: So I was really really like in my head about like, oh, maybe I just can't do this. Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a musician. Maybe I'm just this person that talks a big game like, oh, if I went on tour, if I had a band, if I could do this and that, I just like, if I had a dedicated studio space, if i now I mean, oh, it's just because I have to go to this studio. That was the issue. Yeah, that's the issue. Like, oh, if I just got like a better guitar, like it's just like everyone knows it's the gear. Like, right. Of course. I watch YouTube. um
Speaker: So, ah yeah, this is kind of a funny story, but I wasn't like a really huge sports fan, but I just kind of started watching basketball because the back then the Milwaukee Bucks were really bad. So we would get free tickets. So I'm like, oh, is this is fun.
Speaker: Yeah. And something, you know, for for those of you who aren't like really into sports, ah sports are just such a great way to like meet people in your community because all you got to do is wear a Milwaukee Bucks shirt and walk around town. everyone Everyone's like, go Bucks. And like, did you see the game? Blah, blah, blah. Or like, and I do it too. Whenever I see someone out of state with Wisconsin, I'm like, go Badgers.
Speaker: So started watching basketball and I think that was the year that ah LeBron was on the ah Cleveland versus Golden State Warriors. ah So this is funny that I'm talking about sports like I'm a big sports guy because I'm not. But i don't know shit about s sports. So. So Cleveland was down three to one.
Speaker: And in like the history of the and NBA or whatever, like no team has ever come back from a, you know, three to one deficit to win. And they did. nice And it was like ah it was like a really huge deal. And LeBron is from Cleveland, so it was extremely personal. It was not it was not just about basketball. it was like, this is his like life leading up to this moment to represent who he is and where he's from.
Speaker: So I watched it. I'm just like, man, that's like so amazing to see someone not just like be super talented, but overcome all these kind of like personal struggles from their entire life and then like arrive at this moment. And then it occurred to me, like Am i not?
Speaker: I like can't do that, right? Because like I take five years to put out an album. And also, i'm like I have like depression and like mood disorder. So like I have to be in a good mood to be creative.
Speaker: Right. So I can't do that, right? I can't overcome these struggles. I can't, because I am just like dumb and stupid, and no one likes me, right?
Speaker: And I'm just thinking, like oh if those players had a bad day, it's like the finals are tonight. Like it doesn't really matter. Like you can't postpone it cause you're in a bad mood. Yeah.
Speaker: And then I was just thinking about, you know, one of the, in my opinion, one of the all time greats, Ludwig van Beethoven, like the dude was going deaf. Like the one thing you need to make music is probably ears that work.
Speaker: Yeah. And he was going deaf and he was like, no, I'm going to like jam something in my ear to like hear the piano. And I just thought like, oh, I'm not like that.
Speaker: I'm just like dumb and stupid and not talented. And there was this thing. It just felt like, why did I move here then?
Speaker: Like, why is Frank supporting me? Like Frank is giving up what for me to just be dumb. And not that Frank ever put pressure on me. yeah But um not to go into my personal, personal history, but my relationship with Frank was really the first relationship where i ever felt unconditionally like loved by a human. Yeah.
Speaker: And it felt like it was a gift. And it felt like to squander that gift because I'm like, well, I don't like myself. It doesn't matter how Frank feels about me because like I'm dumb and my music sucks.
Speaker: And that was really the mindset that I was really struggling with for a really long time. And then, you know, the weekly beats kind of like came back to the front of my mind. and It's like, oh, what if I what if I was like LeBron James and Beethoven?
Speaker: What if I could just show up? Especially when things are really bad. What if I wasn't somebody who needed to feel good to write a song?
Speaker: What if I was just a songwriter? Just the way that these basketball players like on a bad day, like you just like play the game? What if I just click could like play the game? What if I was like Beethoven?
Speaker: And when I was like losing everything, I could still like figure out a way to do it. Yeah. And I think of myself as like very creative. And i also felt like scared and not supported. So then it all kind of came together where i was like, oh, maybe this isn't about me anymore. Maybe this is about like, how do I feel about art? How do I feel about music? How do I feel about Frank?
Speaker: And will I take my passion And can I just like show up and like pick up the guitar and like play it? And all the voices that say, I'm like stupid. I don't deserve it. I don't know how to do it. Everyone's better than me. It's like all of that can just like shut up and I'm just going to like,
Speaker: get the ball and like dunk on everyone and like I don't care anymore. Yeah. um It's like when you hear something going wrong in your car and you just turn up the volume.
Speaker: You're like, I love the mechanic. I let my mechanic deal with that. That's not my problem. but Like I'm here to drive safely and rock out and this check engine light is ruining the vibe. Sounds like my brakes are going bad. Volume.
Speaker: ah ah So during that time, did you already know about Weekly Beats? Like this is like 2013-ish, right? Yeah, I actually, i think I knew about Weekly Beats when it started. um I'm kind of tangentially involved in the chip music community. Got it. So I was aware of, you know, Trash 80 a.k.a. Tim. Shout out to Trash 80. Oh, for real. we wouldn't We wouldn't be here without. Our savior.
Speaker: Yeah. um So, yeah, because of like chip music, I i knew about um Tim starting the weekly beats website. And then ah in the first couple of years, like, yeah, i and I knew quite a few um chip music people who did stuff. Shout out to Sasquatch. Shout out to null sleep.
Speaker: Shout to bit shifter. Sorry. I want to go like shout out to. clomax Sorry. I'm going to go. I'm going to, well, I've got a list actually. so All right. That is a long list. Well, Horatio romantic was a last minute addition. So I just want to admit that shout out Horatio.
Speaker: And then Wangus is in all capital letters because I was going to insult Wangus later. Start the like weekly beats drama rivalry because like, i don't know why not.
Speaker: ah So yeah, so because of chip music, folks, I learned about weekly beats. um And then yeah, I would actually like listen to a couple of um people back when before I started.
Speaker: So it's kind of like simmering in the background of like, but I don't know that I'm like, if that's my thing. There's this thing. It's funny. that i'm i'm talking about all these sports analogies now. It's there's this um sociological thing where if a person breaks a record in a sport that like unlocks the possibility of that record being broken and then actually more people end up breaking the record and it's It's weird because like something like running the like technology doesn't change about like running fast right over decades. um
Speaker: But the concept in the mind that like you can or you can't beat this speed ah exists like globally. And it's there's like fascinating documentation about how when a record is broken, then you kind of see those numbers increase like all over the world.
Speaker: So I think what happened for me is just coming from the like nobody likes me. Nobody wants to join my band. I have to play all the instruments by myself.
Speaker: ah You know, I'm not allowed to go to art school like that. was That's a big thing. i'm I'm I like I'm super mad and have a huge chip on my shoulder and like that's the bottomless pit of rage that I like bring into my work.
Speaker: um which is bad because it can be very self-destructive. And I think, I don't know how familiar you are with like my full story, but I do talk about a lot about my struggles with suicidal ideation um at shows and stuff like that. So yeah, I'm not familiar.
Speaker: Maybe we'll, don't know. I'm going to make a note. ah um So all of that kind of, negative self-talk and hostility, and then, wait a minute, what if I didn't need five years to put out an album? Then Weekly Beats is really opening up this idea, like, oh, there's a bunch of people that are doing stuff on a weekly basis.
Speaker: And then I'm kind of downplaying, like, oh, well, they're just doing, like, you know, one like little loop kind of thing. And it's just a whatever. And for the record, like that's completely valid too. But in my mind, I'm like, well, oh no, no, no. I'm making excuses as to why I can't do it. Right. Yeah.
Speaker: So ah yeah, 2016, it's like, well, let me just try to see how good of a composer, recording engineer, songwriter, instrument performer I really am.
Speaker: And then if it doesn't work out, I'll just like stop doing it. And then maybe that can be a little wake up call about like, maybe I need to look at a different type of like relationship with music and maybe kind of put an end to this like, if I don't become a real musician, if you know I got to go on tour, I got to put out an album. um All this kind of very limiting and very um narrowly defined about, sorry, like a very narrow defined goal.
Speaker: Yeah. I have to become a musician that makes a ton of money and I got to be on TV and I got to go on tour and I got to have all these fans. I have to sell all this amount of money and merchandise.
Speaker: And then if not, like I might end my life because like I don't care, you know, so it's like really hostile. ah Heavy expectations. to it it's It's abusive. It's abusive.
Speaker: Yeah. So having that kind of dialogue with myself, So I just said like, well, I'll just go for it. So 2016, I had some unfinished stuff.
Speaker: And I was like, well, oh, that's what I can do. Each week, I'll just grab an unfinished thing and I'll finish it. And cool. First couple weeks did that. It was really neat to like get comments.
Speaker: I was like, oh, people are actually listening to my work. I would famously send some music to friends and like, either not get a response or get a cool or oh, it sounds like Nirvana. Like, can you talk about me, though? Like, please.
Speaker: um And, you know, ah this is like really common musician struggles about, like, receiving feedback, right? Because you because you want everyone to see the thing that you saw in the work.
Speaker: And sometimes people don't see it at all. And it's super hard when you're sending the things that you work on to people that aren't musicians. 100%.
Speaker: It's ah What are you actually expecting them to say that is anything sort of meaningful?
Speaker: Like, i mean yes, you want people to hear your stuff, but like non-musician is comparing to what they're hearing on the radio. They they don't understand what it's like to make something. Which I did not understand painfully.
Speaker: I did not understand that. So I'm just like, why is no one talking about my drum compression? Because like i've never i've i didn't know I've never used a compressor before. And now I finally like got access to one on the computer.
Speaker: And now I put it on the drums. And oh, man, the tro the drum sounds so much better now. And I was like, oh, cool. It sounds like Nirvana. Oh, what? This is an original composition. like ah So I had a breakthrough moment in my first year, a couple of weeks in um just like.
Speaker: And had a rough week in a bad mood like I typically am. And I'm like, well, I'll just write something. And I made a. ah counting error on the on my metronome and like the the pattern was in i think 11 I was playing guitar im like oh that's weird and then it's like wait that's cool wait could I play drums and 11 and then I it was difficult and then I kept going and then I got it and then the song came together and just like uh this is the best song I've ever written and I did it by accident and I'm in a bad mood
Speaker: yeah That's amazing. ah And maybe like not accidentally, the song was called The Day I Stopped Killing Myself. And I think that was like really wow a real thing that happened like in that moment. i was like, oh, wow.
Speaker: ah There's another Orange Drink song ah from 2022 called the title is Apparently I've Been Wrong About A Lot Of Things. And I think that's something that's really been happening happening to me one, in my life, but two, really spawned bi-weekly beats that, like, my self-imposed limitations and beliefs are not correct, and I have thought that they were true for the longest time. Yeah. um And then, yeah, just getting musician feedback. Like, shout out to Ked Break.
Speaker: Before I, like, really got to know Ked Break, I just remembered that this, like, Ked Break person would always comment on the thing that I thought made the song good.
Speaker: And I was like, oh, snap. This is crazy. I've met someone on the internet who like thinks about work the way that I do. Yes.
Speaker: And i would work on a song and then I would, you know, unplug the microphone while was recording. There'd be this huge like spike and I was like, oh, that's kind of cool. There's like this weird blip out of nowhere. I'm just going to like, I'll just keep it even though it's like weird.
Speaker: And then Cadbury's like, oh, love the blip. Yeah.
Speaker: Who is this person? um And then, you know, listening to, you know, Ked Breaks, because like, oh, this person is so like, their mind is insane. um And they think really different, in my opinion, they think really differently about sound and music. So getting their feedback of like, oh, that was like ah such a punk rock thing to do to like leave the clipping sound of the microphone unplugged. I'm like, you heard that? Like, and you also thought it was cool? Like, I love you.
Speaker: Yes. And ah For me, i I kind of realized like, oh, this is the art school experience that I think I always dreamed of having. That I would do the homework, have the critique in front of the class, and then like get feedback from my classmates, like, and then be inspired by their work.
Speaker: And then like trade pro tips, like, oh, how'd you do this? And But I feel like even in art school, it's probably hard to find a real collaborative, supportive community.
Speaker: Because there's so much like built-in competition, and like no one on Weekly Beats is competing for anything. um So ah the way I kind of started getting involved in painting is that I have two friends from Virginia. We we all went to the same college. They studied, um they were in the arts department and I was in the business school.
Speaker: And over the pandemic, I asked them like, oh, can we start a painting club? And can you guys just like teach me everything that you know about painting? And the thing that really surprised me is they told me, well, they don't really teach you how to paint in painting school. They are teaching you how to problem solve, but you have to figure it out. I was like, oh, that's just like trying to be a musician at home, like looking up YouTube tutorials on like how do I connect these devices?
Speaker: um And then they were sharing with me that something that was really difficult for them in art school is that it really made it a chore and it really kind of crushed some of the spontane spontaneity because it's like, well, it doesn't matter what you think. you This is what you have to do today.
Speaker: um And yeah, also kind of like also the money aspect. Yeah. Putting up all this money to go to art school, like to go problem solve on your own with projects that people dictate for you.
Speaker: Really? Yeah. um Yeah. So weekly beats. I mean, it's crazy that it's free, but also sign up for He's patron today.
Speaker: Yes. link yes And you'll get cool news about new gadgets that he's working on. which Like the secret mixer that I haven't been able to see because I'm not as a subscriber? God dang it. God, why aren't you subscribed? It is a very cool looking mixer, by the way, and that I'm oh my god definitely to buy when it comes out. so Awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, so I did weekly beats. I nearly doubled my career output in one year. um I made a ton of friends. I made friends with some random person in Japan that thinks the way that I think about sound. And it's like, oh, well, like that relationship like a alone is like...
Speaker: that that was like worth it. And I've had like made so many other relationships just like that, you know, ah that's what the shout out list is for. okay And, and most importantly, you had that breakthrough moment where you kind of got like the freedom to create music without these unrealistic expectations.
Speaker: I'm not saying that I'm Beethoven or Michael Jackson or LeBron James or Kurt Cobain or anything like that. But, you know, famously, least with Kurt Cobain, Michael Jackson and ah Beethoven, they all like super struggle with depression.
Speaker: And self-limiting beliefs and like self-abuse regarding their work too. And... and i don't want to I don't want to go out like that, you know what mean? like Yeah. I don't want to just like... um I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan, and I never listened to any of the like leaked demos and bootlegs and stuff. My mindset was like, I just want to listen to the albums the way that he's going to present them, because I i really want to experience like his vision of the work. Yeah.
Speaker: And then he passed away and I was like, well, I'm never going to hear like a new song from him ever again. so I'm like giving myself permission to like sneak in and like listen to all the bootlegs and stuff.
Speaker: Listen to the bootlegs and like the unreleased songs. I'm like, I'm so mad at him because like all of this stuff is so good. And the thought that some of it wasn't like good enough or ready enough, like it was so...
Speaker: It felt like disrespectful in a way. Like, dude, like, I really need your music. Like, I really need it. It's really important to me. It's like, I'm like struggling out here.
Speaker: And you're like sitting on all this stuff because it's like not perfect. It's good enough. ah It's like I'm starving and he's cooking and he's like, it's not ready yet. like I might die, actually. There's too much salt. I yeah like i don't really care. like i'm like da guy I have scurvy. like And I mean, you see it time and time again during weekly beats where people are like, this is my speed trash.
Speaker: And then people are like, man, I fucking love that thing. Shout out to Speed Trash. I actually unironically love Speed Trash the most because, you know, as I've mentioned, like, the emotional component is, like, the number one thing for me. I'm just... I...
Speaker: create art to survive because I don't know how to cope with all these intense emotions that I have. And then also I really enjoy experimental music as you have maybe seen with my genre hopping and kind of my approach. Yeah. um I really just, I probably come to music first as a lover of sound.
Speaker: And then that's why I like music because that you can play around with sound. So when people do speed trash. Oh, for the record, for anyone who doesn't know what speed trash is, speed trash is when you've got a deadline to hit the weekly beats, ah make your weekly beats track.
Speaker: You're not in the mood. You don't have an idea. So you just like whip out something that's like, in your opinion, like dumb and stupid, but whatever. Yeah, you just make something and it's like, ah this isn't, i'll back to Michael Jackson, like this isn't my vision of right this song, but I've got a timeline and I'm going to release it. and It's just a thing that I did. yeah it's not but It's not really like a song. yeah So it's something that you're you don't really care that much about or just doesn't meet your standards in some sort of way. And then to see how people react to it.
Speaker: is very eye-opening because it it makes you realize, wow, I am not even a good judge of my own music. That's why I love it. Because I think that's when people get out of their own head because they can't think anymore because they don't they don't have an idea. And I think that's when you really get to like learn about the character of these musicians.
Speaker: It's one thing to like put your best foot forward and like you're all presented the way that you want it to. And that's, this is what I want to look like. This is how I am. But then speed trash is just like the, Oh, I just woke up.
Speaker: Oh, well look at our guest. This is Fiona. Hi Fiona. oh She's from, uh, she's got a podcast chasing the mice. Uh, Oh my gosh, that was so good. Chasing the mites. She's obviously got to go get some water before she talks, so I guess she'll be back.
Speaker: ah ah Anyway, before we were interrupted... um Yeah, so I like I like speed trash because it's just the it's like the rawness of of these musicians.
Speaker: um And then as someone that likes experimental music, it's when people kind of do like weird, dumb stuff because they can't think of anything else. And that stuff is like really exciting for me.
Speaker: And sometimes for some people, when they do speed trash, it's because they had a bad week. because they had these plans, and then it didn't happen. So sometimes I feel like speed trash also comes with a lot of emotional energy. We're like, oh, I don't want to be here. God, what the crap? Like, oh, what this didn't work. Oh, it's and then we're just like are like a hot mess, and then experimenting with technique or sound. And I'm like, oh, give me the like angry person doing noise music. Like, yes, yes, please. More of this.
Speaker: And it's stuff that no one would have ever heard if there hadn't been a deadline just to get something out. It's that stuff that you would have like squirreled away in the boneyard, like, uh, like, or not even made at all because like oh i this is a thing, but I'm just going to save this and never look at it again. yeah I've been too busy this week. I don't have time to make music. ah Shout out to every road of railways. Like, oh, I'm just going to put like a minute of reverb on this snare and that'll be my track. I'm like, yes, this is exactly what I want to listen to. Like, we're going to play the vinyl. Like, I want this like insane music nonsense. More, please.
Speaker: Yeah. ah So we're all terrible judges of our own music. 100%. ah It's just nice to have other people in the same boat, listening to stuff kind of back to your original, like, oh I'm sending this to a friend but and and have putting these unrealistic expectations on our friend about you know, pumping us up about what they like about it or giving us feedback or talking about me how great I am, please. Yeah. Here is a poorly mixed song, but tell me how great I am.
Speaker: I'm dying out here. Every time I tell people about weekly beats, they're like, Oh, send me your music. I'm like, I, you know, like you don't have to listen to it for some reason. It's ah like, I don't mind when the weekly beats community listens to stuff because I feel like they're,
Speaker: everyone's in like the same head space. They're listening with the caveat that like you had one week to make this and maybe another listener is thinking, oh, this is what it means for you to be a musician.
Speaker: it's It's not even necessarily the the caveat of the timeframe. It's more like sharing a meal you made with a chef. Oh yeah, for sure. like They're going to approach it differently. Right.
Speaker: yeah, like they kind of understand what it's like to create in a way that people that listen to radio songs like and have their favorite artists like that's a different group of people that I'm not here to appease. I'm like, I'm here to push my bound my own boundaries and just like enjoy creating. I think that's what I got out of my first year of weekly beats and I This is also a thing that Kedbrick said, like making music is just a part of his week now. yeah yeah yeah like It's just part of his life and it is super nice by the end of the week, you're like, I made something this past week, whether I wanted to or not. But once you get into it and start making something,
Speaker: I do feel so much better at the end. Like I always lock in. It's like going to the gym. Like no one wants to go to the gym, but everyone wants to be fit and have that good feeling of having it done. So like weekly beats is the music gym. Like you show up and you do your reps and then you're like, Oh, I'm sore. But like, at least I showed up and like, I did it as much as I could.
Speaker: Or you start and you're like, nothing's happening. Like, how am I ever going to meet this deadline? And then something happens, maybe accidentally, like your, um your weird timing recording thing, or like, you accidentally replace the sound and then you're like, Oh, like, I like where this is going now. ah I want to, I want to do a physical demonstration for you. So here we go. I guess we better take advantage of this video, right? Yeah, we should.
Speaker: Okay. So this is my chair that I sit in work on music. So it's on wheels. So if I'm doing something with like electronic music, I'll be sitting here working on it.
Speaker: And then they' invariably there's this, there's this moment.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. ah And that's when I know the song is good. When like, you got to stand up and I like stand up. Yeah. Yeah. god This is, this is a song now. That was Ipagos tip in that episode of like, I know I'm on the right track when I start dancing. Yeah. then where yeah know you like You physically feel the what's going on. Yeah.
Speaker: And then you're like, I made that. Like, I made that happen. And sometimes I don't like it until ah three years later.
Speaker: It's true. It's true. like, I didn't. um Actually, preparing for this. I heard a song that I forgot about. I'm like, oh, this rips. Like, I don't even remember doing it. And I don't think I ever listened to it after making it.
Speaker: But I thought it was great. ah What do you do when you listen to it the next day and you're like, ah what was I thinking yesterday? I don't think I ever say that because p i try to come from the perspective that like,
Speaker: I'm really trying to be honest in my work. So if it's like not good, it's an honest reflection of like how I felt. This happens a lot with singing. So there's times I'll just record like myself singing and then you listen back. I'm like, oh, that is like objectively like off and sounds pretty rough.
Speaker: But the thing I tell myself is, that's like what my body physically was able to do like that day. So this is an ah honest, accurate, like document of like who I am and who I was. um I'm, I'm, uh,
Speaker: lot of my art, it's like, it's like journaling. I'm just getting the emotions out. Cause like I have all these feelings and I don't know what to do with them. And I need to tell somebody and I need to tell like anyone who will listen.
Speaker: And then the, uh, also think of myself as a recycler that I take all the trash emotions and then I recycled them into something maybe aesthetticical of that beautiful.
Speaker: Uh, because like, I'm just like, we'll probably will be like endlessly angry. And I don't want to be endlessly angry and I don't want to hurt myself, you know? Yeah. um So I'm just going to like take all of that and then like take all these like aluminum cans and smash them with my rage and then put them into a sculpture.
Speaker: Yeah. I love that. I mean, i um do sometimes think that the stuff I made the night before is wrong or like, like what, what was i how did I hear this so differently the night before? How does that make you feel? Does that make you feel like a bad musician? Does that make you feel like you're kind of disconnected from that version of you that recorded it I, it's more of like a mystery than any sort of like negative thing. You're like, huh, some version thought worked and it doesn't. Yeah. Like, like, Hmm, I sort of enjoyed this like dissonance yesterday, but today I can't hear it the same same way. Yeah. That's interesting. But I think it's just like a reminder
Speaker: to step away and come back and like fresh ears like you do get in kind of like a groove where you're like i i kind of like this or you can like especially if you're looping something just like ad nauseum and you're like you start start to get like into the loop and you're like i really like a lot of aspects about this but then with fresh ears doesn't hit the same way. So it's sort of like... I think you end up memorizing some of the stuff. like ah Particularly when you're listening to a music on a loop, you you end up like memorizing some of those repetitive sounds and then you forget that they're there. Yeah, or you're like hearing things that you can only hear after listening it 50 times in a loop. So the challenge is like, how can I...
Speaker: hear what I was hearing yesterday with fresh ears so that someone else that has not listened to this loop a hundred times can hear the vision for it.
Speaker: um What was your musical output before weekly beats, man? I took a huge long break from anything musical, um you know, just got,
Speaker: busy with life stuff and other things became more important. And, ah so i so I kind of like picked it back up post pandemic. I wish I would have picked it up like during the pandemic, but, um, and I,
Speaker: Kind of got back into, you know, just recording guitar and stuff in GarageBand like I had been doing or the way I had been making music in the past.
Speaker: And I just hate making music on a computer so much that I was just like relatable. ah And I think, ah you know, coming back to guitar with not the greatest chops anymore ah and like trying to record stuff, I was kind of annoyed with the recording process and doing takes and, you know, that that part of it.
Speaker: Are you someone that were you somebody that played guitar like as a kid? Like it's like a longtime thing for you. Yeah, I took guitar lessons for a long time, all through high school. And then I was in bands in college. And then after college, it was sort of like work career stuff took yeah priority.
Speaker: And, you know, after revisiting music, I was like, okay, i hate making music on a computer. I don't really enjoy this like multiple take process.
Speaker: Uh, but I sort of discovered midi and being able to like program things in and change the sound after the fact of like or change the timing what what was your first experience doing that um i under Actually, I went straight to devices. i was like, I got an OP1 was my first thing that got. that's awesome. That's a great great introduction.
Speaker: yeah Not necessarily the full MIDI being able to change notes experience, but i was like, okay, here's like sort of four track that I can... you know record some takes and I'm not on a computer and I enjoyed it ah but I you know in ah in researching things I sort of headed down the more of the MIDI direction and got a synth drum deluge that was like my first MIDI program which I loved that thing and it was one of those machines that I was like I will never get rid of this
Speaker: But then I got rid of it. Oh, yeah. You joined the M8 cult. I joined the M8 cult that I thought... but um I wasn't quite sure that ah making music in that kind of way would interest me. Was that your first tracker? That was my first tracker.
Speaker: And it really ticked all the boxes. Sick. I enjoyed it more than I thought. ah The only thing that I think is missing from the mmate is,
Speaker: um you know more of the like recording on the fly. You can do that, yeah but it's not as easy as some other machines. But now I've joined the electron world.
Speaker: oh snap. ah um Which I know you're a huge electron fan. um Octatrack nation. I have not joined the Octatrack cult, um but I have a Digitone and Digitack. Octatrack's not a cult, it's a nation. So please recognize our sovereign status.
Speaker: yeah it This would actually be funny, like an actual war of the electronic music devices. I do watch Octatrack videos and I'm still like, I don't understand this thing.
Speaker: do
Speaker: That seems to be the general consensus. It's awesome. And I'm like, they've got to be coming out with a new one of these at some point. People have been saying that for like literally 10 years. and i know. The answer is no.
Speaker: um But I have been enjoying the Electron world. It's, you know, different. I still love the m a ah especially for making music in the bed.
Speaker: um But I really have been enjoying the the Electron stuff. Awesome. that's it That's interesting because going from like M8, OP1, and Electron, those are all like different mindsets.
Speaker: Yeah. you can kind of like do something on one very specifically that you can't do on the other. So like you have some you have good food groups there. Yeah, that's right. Good balance. You got your vegetables, meat, and potatoes there. so I'm at the gym. I'm doing legs. I'm doing arms. Oh, yes. Yeah. Get those reps in.
Speaker: ah M1, M2, Mute, unmute, unmute. What do you like most about the Octatrack?
Speaker: think... i think the rumors are about it being confusing or it's just, it's just not true because if someone like me can use it, I think anyone can use it. I think people saying that, you know,
Speaker: I got a Digitect first because I heard that the Octatrack was too complicated. Got it. So i I said, oh, I'll get the Digitect and then I'll learn it. And then maybe I'll get an Octatrack if I learn it because I know the Octatrack is, quote, so complicated. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: I think everyone talks about the Octatrack incorrectly. It's like if someone said, have you ever used a computer before? And someone said, no, is it easy to use? And then they said, oh, no, no computers are so complicated.
Speaker: That's true. But also if someone said, have you ever used a computer before? And someone said no. And they said, oh, it's so much easier. That's yeah also true. Like,
Speaker: Using a typewriter versus using a word processor on a computer, that's a lot easier. ah Learning how to program a computer is like infinitely complicated as as far you as you want to take it. yeah so It's kind of like the sports records. If people are like, you can't break that mile record, you're like, yeah, you're probably right. that Great callback. It's exactly that because I'm like, oh, I'm like, du okay.
Speaker: Pre-YouTube, it took me like, I don't really want to say, i think something like three years to figure out how to connect a MIDI controller to a laptop.
Speaker: In my defense, this is pre-YouTube, and in my defense, this is pre-USB compliance protocols that I know nothing about. It maybe wasn't as easy. I don't think so, and I'm a little...
Speaker: dumb. And I get mad, apparently. so We're all a little dumb at times. So I wasn't working on it ah for three years at a time. So I grew up with Acoustic guitar, four track, that's kind of my aesthetic. So that's why the OP-1 really, I took to that like a duck water. It's like, oh, I'm totally in this mindset. Yeah, in high school I had a four track, so that's why I was drawn to the OP-1 of like, oh, this will be like my four track days. Yeah, and and I still love it to this day.
Speaker: I got the Digitech, really enjoyed programming, really, really had so much fun with this concept that... On a single track, you can have a kick drum, but then on a single trigger, you can change that to be another sound. So you could like go nuts and not be limited by, i've just have these sounds to choose from. As my reward for doing 2022 weekly beats, I bought myself a used Octatrack. Nice. And in like the last month of 2022, I did one Octatrack weekly beat just to like test it out.
Speaker: um I think the Octatrack is my favorite electronic music device, probably tied with the OP1, to be honest. OP1 and OctoTrack are probably my favorite electronic music making devices.
Speaker: And I think the reason why is ah for the same reason everyone hates them. Okay. So everyone hates the OP1 because like there's no like real like undo button. There's no undo, yeah. there's like It's just... Like I got a copy in the clipboard just to write spot. like Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you can't change every parameter. And you can't... you know There's just like so many things you can't do and i love that because then i don't have to think about that and i can just like and you know also coming from like the cassette tape world like you record and if you mess up you have to do it again you don't go in and like splice all this like nonsense i love the octatrack because the octatrack doesn't really have like a mindset
Speaker: and ah like a proper way to use it. It's just like a tool box and then grab the tools that you need and then you set them up where you want them.
Speaker: Got it. And some people, you know, have kind of told me like, well, that's like, this is like modular. This is what modular synths are. You get what you want and you put it where you want it. So, Artur Track is kind of like that in ah in a sense that,
Speaker: You have some samples, but then how do you want to, how do you want to interact with them? How do you want them to interact with each other? And then where do you want them to go? And that's kind of overwhelming that this idea that you could do all these things with it. And to be honest, there's like still like so much that I don't know about it, but.
Speaker: My goal was like in 2024, I'm just gonna like use it the whole year for sure. And then at the end of it, I'll like learn how to do something. Then I kind of added the other wrinkle to make every weekly beat a live performance.
Speaker: And then I could say like the end of the year, could, yeah, spoiler alert. It was awful. um But the thought was then i could I could theoretically play all of these shows live.
Speaker: Right, yeah. um I do think the Octatrek is at its best like when you're performing it. I don't think... I wouldn't recommend the Octatrek to someone that... um It's not like an arrangement, compositional tool.
Speaker: It is, but it also... It's greatest strength. The thing that other stuff can't do is like... standing up, jumping and down, and, like, rocking the Crossfader and, like, mashing all these buttons, you know?
Speaker: um I think that's why people like the M8, performing with the M8. Because it's really like you can like kind of like dance and like switch the patterns as you're like in the zone and then you know doing the um touch screen and stuff. I know like. Yeah. I feel like. Yeah, I just really fell in love with the Octatrack and ah all the complaints, like a big complaint about the Octatrack is that everybody wants to export each track individually to the computer.
Speaker: Overbridge. Yeah. And I'm like, I don't want to do that. I just want to get better at mixing in the first place. Mm-hmm. And not to, like, throw a shade on anyone that, like, wants to have that control over their, you know, products, you know, or whatever they're, like, working on. um But I'm kind of coming to the...
Speaker: mindset of like, I want to play this thing like a guitar where I'm like standing up and I'm dancing and I'm like using my like arm to like make the music. Yeah. And I've played some live shows with the Arctitrek and it is like so satisfying to be like rocking the mic with one hand and be like, yo, yo, you're feeling me crossfader. And like, it feels yeah like flip and then to like, I don't know, to jump up and down and, um,
Speaker: My favorite one is to unmute or change scenes by like letting go instead of, like you know do you know what saying? Instead of pushing it right, instead of muting, when you press the button, you you can read it when you let go of the button.
Speaker: Yeah, prep, prep mute. So my pre favorite move is to hold it down, then look at the audience and be jumping up and then let go i I like do a big, you know, dance move.
Speaker: On the machine itself, it says performance sampler. And I think like that's... It's a performance sampler. Yeah. So you're like doing this in real time. You're like sampling on the fly. you You're crossfading on the fly. So yeah.
Speaker: yeah And I guess, i don't know. the The more that people hate it, the more I like it. i mean, maybe I'll get one one day. um But I... ah I've been acquiring too many things, I think, in preparation for Weekly Beats 2026. Same. So I need to... I've already been thinking, like, do I need to, like, use a new thing every week to justify having these things? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: um Because i've got behind me, I've got a bunch of guitar pedals and all sorts of stuff. um So yeah. I think I might make a commitment to not buy any new gear in 2026.
Speaker: my My bank would enjoy that commitment. I just bought a stupid amount of stuff this year. ah Oh, I know. I saw when I was like, oh should I buy new headphones? You were like, no, you should get new ear pads. And then you're like, here's all the shit that bought. ah was like, damn this guy.
Speaker: So I bought new headphones. so Don't blame me. Oh my gosh. ah Well, should we listen to some music? Or actually listen and and watch. watch i feel like this is one of those like um ah you know when they first had color TV, they switched from black and white to color. and They're like, look.
Speaker: Weekly Beasts now in color. da
Speaker: ah All right. The first one are going to ah watch and listen to is the final song from 2024, Final Round, which was one of my favorite like video effects.
Speaker: Oh, sorry. That's the penultimate one. it It is the penultimate one. We could take this thing all the way was the final one. It was final one. didn't mean to like...
Speaker: mansplain you on your podcast. But i i there's also like a special place in my heart for the the final song of the year. Yeah. ah Especially like this past year, everyone joined the discord and we kind of all listened to everyone's like final song. That super fun. Yeah, that was super great.
Speaker: ah And I feel like, like watching all of your videos throughout the year and you doing like some, some clips of all of the videos throughout the year was, yeah, it was like a great, just like nostalgia bomb of like all the stuff that we had all created. so And I know it's a ton of work for you to do these videos in addition to a performance and a song. ah But man, they they are great. And appreciate that.
Speaker: am often tempted to do the same thing. But then I'm like, i don't i don't know. That seems like you can do it. If I can do it, you can do it. Oh, I know. you learned nothing from Weekly Beats?
Speaker: but ah What I learned is like bite off what you can chew for the week. um So we'll see. you know It's not out of the question.
Speaker: here's Here's what I learned from the weekly beats. Reach for the stars. Land and speed trash. All right. let's Let's get going. All right. We're going to play this one.
Speaker: Final round 2024. let's go
Speaker: Bye.
Speaker: I love this video. The effects that you used. I was like, oh, I want to make something like this. ah i have not yet made something like this.
Speaker: you Can you tell the audience and also for my refresher, how you made this. Sure. There's a program called Zwo Bot.
Speaker: Yeah. So Zwo Bot Max, a video player for VJ and visuals and Ableton live. So first first Reddit article is Zwo Bot Ableton visualizer sick AF.
Speaker: So agree. sick a It's awesome. um So, ah ah So this video, so in the beginning of the video, you know, I'm just dancing. I've got the colored light on and then I'm wearing my jacket that I've got these um light wires on. Yeah. So for the record, that was going to be the whole video.
Speaker: Me just dancing with the light but with the light. Yeah. Yeah. So I finished the recording, um watch the video. i'm like, this is kind of boring it's not that great because of it's a like low angle.
Speaker: um And then i was like pretty tired dancing and i had to do I messed up quite a bit. So there's multiple takes. So I was like very tired. So there's ah there's quite a few moments where I'm kneeling at the Octatrack, getting the patterns ready.
Speaker: hu So then I thought, oh, I've used Zobot on a couple of videos and before. like Let me try to see if there's something cool. And I found this um like filter option and I loved it.
Speaker: But I did not have a fast enough computer to like export the video without it having like really bad frame rate stutter. Oh, man. So this was... What's the date on this? Okay, so this was December 22nd.
Speaker: So I had bought Frank a new computer for Christmas. ah So on December twenty second i was like... Let me open up Frank's new computer and let me install ZwoBot and let me like do this weekly beat real quick. So I wish I had ah i should have taken a photo of this, but like upstairs in like the spare bedroom, I had this like total battle station. I'm like, don't come in.
Speaker: I got your Christmas present. Don't come in. And wires everywhere. And it's a new computer. And like, I didn't have a compatible like Ableton thing. So then I signed up for an oh my god trial and then like, it got like really crazy installing all this new stuff. And you know, it's like, I've got 48 hours to finish this or something before the weekly beats deadline. So gratefully like six Ableton trials later of like the wrong
Speaker: versions yeah because it's got to be like the pro pro or whatever yeah um so uh i got it installed and was able to run the program and then take a screen recording of like ah at a i think it still wasn't like a solid um uh frame rate uh but it was like it was way better than what i did not had yeah so ah So that's how I did that. And then um kind of unintentionally, or not unintentionally, but kind of as an accident, I i saw that when they when the effect happened, you know, it's like kind of sending up stuff out into the forward frame.
Speaker: And I thought, oh, well, you could see this effect more if I actually pushed the whole video back some. So, yeah. So when the video starts, uh, it's the full frame and then slowly the, uh,
Speaker: frame gets pushed back. And then when the effect comes in, the effect goes beyond the frame, which creates like more of a 3D illusion because it's like going past something, which is like the the frame kind of creates a boundary. Then then the. i see Yeah. um So then what I did while dancing is I stepped in front of the light and dance in front of the camera. So I would be backlit. But what that does with the frame, it looks like I'm stepping out of the camera frame and like yeah really crazy, like,
Speaker: 3d illusion because of the frame got pushed back that's badass yeah because there's like all these things flying out of the frame and then i and then i come in front of it and then i'm backlit because i'm uh i'm standing in front of light uh all of that is an accident i'm definitely not claiming that i had this like genius vision mean Like all great things in creating the accidents are where the fun stuff is. Look, man, if you want to hit a home run, you got step up to the plate.
Speaker: That's right. Quote, clip it. We'll use this for socials. Yeah, um yeah that is really cool. And I mean, a great song, too.
Speaker: thank Thank you so much. um i ah So that's me playing guitar. um So I'm working on another weekly beat it earlier in the year. Much earlier in the year. Gosh, I want to say this this was like the one song that i had kind of planned out more than a week ahead.
Speaker: But I just grab the guitar as I do and just play random chords as I do. And then came up with this first riff. And I liked that a lot. And I thought, like oh, that could be a song.
Speaker: And something that's really difficult to do that I think most weekly beats folks know about, like you come up with a sick loop and then can you try to come up with a B section? Like it's so painful sometimes. Yeah.
Speaker: um So I, this was another situation where I just like, there's there's a couple songs in my weekly beats career that it's like, oh I forced myself to create a beat section. And that's what made the song amazing.
Speaker: um One song Frank challenged me to make a beat section. I'm like, how dare you? like
Speaker: I can't, the audacity, like you create B section. Are kidding you know what you're asking me to do? Like I thought you loved Like, why would you, why would you do this?
Speaker: Get out of the basement. So that, yeah. So then I created that second section of chords and just by fooling around with the program, like realizing I can do this kind of, um,
Speaker: z-axis rotation yeah the tilt yeah yeah um and then it kind of like oh this is it like this has got to be this is what happens for the b section uh and do you kind of make all your samples on the fly like these guitar loops and stuff or do you have like a back catalog of like orange drink clips and boneyard samples that you like pull in I ought to do that, but I don't. So this was yeah and just, um I have a ah loop pedal. Wait, maybe i can show the audience. Here's my pedal board.
Speaker: So let's see, we got Holy Grail, Microcosm, Tailspin, Polytune Tuner, Proco Rat, DL4 Mark II, and then the Electro Harmonics, what is that?
Speaker: Whatever numbers those are, loop pedal. And then my other pedal is a um Chase Bliss Generation Loss pedal. That's like the it's like the VHS cassette tape yeah degradation pedal. um That's upstairs.
Speaker: So ah the loop pedal. um so Technically, there's like three looping pedals on here. You know, you can never have enough. But that's my main... I do. that Well, that's my main ah way to write songs as a guitarist by myself.
Speaker: So play a guitar, play a riff, record it, and then play something on top of it. In order to for me to write a B section that felt... comparable, I recorded riff number one and then while listening to it, tried to find like a compatible chord that would like transition, but still kind of be in the same style.
Speaker: So would you then like separate those ideas out? Like, yeah sort of yeah, right. Yeah. And then I have like loop loop B and then I have loop A and can kind of play them back to back and listen to see if it transitions nicely. Yeah. Then on the like fit fit an overdub that fits with like part a that it's sort of like these can live separately, but they I know that they will work together because overlaid they work together.
Speaker: So so what I'll do is I'll have maybe um I might have chord progression a on loop one and chord progression B on loop two. And then while listening while playing back one, I'll do like something I do all the time instead of playing like a solo is I'll just do like arpeggios.
Speaker: So so i'm I'm sitting there playing that and then I hit my pedal to switch to section two and it worked. So as the song continues, um that arpeggio stays constant.
Speaker: And that's like a classic orange drink move. um I would, I played bass in a band. Shout out to Red Bus.
Speaker: ah That Zarafa, who also did Weekly Beats, was part of. So when I played bass ah in our band, ah that was kind of like, I came up with all these kind of like,
Speaker: music moves and one of them would be to stay the same while everyone changed. and like And I like really got into kind of doing that as a basis. And then the other one would be move when everyone stayed the same.
Speaker: And that would be like my my like really like. Go to like songwriting strategies as a basis, like just playing one note. um So I think I really have that mindset. Also, i don't know.
Speaker: As a one-man band, like playing a solo seems like...
Speaker: Like, it just seems like a weird. like Yeah. The whole thing's a solo. Like, we get it. Like, we get it. You're talented. Like, we get it. um i'm ah I'm a huge fan of Philip Glass.
Speaker: And um the i don't know if you're familiar with the film called Koyani Skatsi. That was like a huge, huge... noh noth a huge influence on me and in the work there's just um this like cacophony of ah repetitive note patterns and then it'll go for a significant period of time and then one note will change and because you're kind of like um hypnotized into this pattern when the one note changes it feels like such a big deal
Speaker: And i always thought that was kind of fascinating to like make one note feel as powerful as an entire guitar solo. Yeah. Like enjoy guitar solos, you know, listening to them. And what I like about a good any type of solo is that it kind of like transcends the song. So like the song is going on and then something rises above and takes you on this like fun journey. And then you come back to the song. Yeah.
Speaker: um And that's cool. And maybe one day i can work on my proficiency to like learn how to do those. But something that I could do that didn't take a lot of proficiency is that I could get into a pattern and then just change one thing and have that feel like a devastating kind of feeling. The way that a good guitar solo is like, whoa, what?
Speaker: and And to do that with a song with just one thing changing. That's almost more powerful. I like to think so. yeah i hope Let's keep the music going and the videos going. Let's do it. Now that we're in full color.
Speaker: ah Let's go to 2024 week painters painting. portrait painter's painting
Speaker: is jason the beat that is a certified banger i believe and uh i really want to know where you got these sample from these kind of like warbly like just goodness uh i'm not 100 sure but shout out to sun woo and shout out to the count k-o-u-n-t yes i have some count samples Yeah, so count samples are godlike. And Sunwoo is an active um YouTuber and Electron fan among many. I think does like a lot of online tutorials.
Speaker: um Actually, for any OP1 or OPXY owner, Sunwoo just made a new bag. Check it out. i I'm shilling so hard for all my friends.
Speaker: Link in bio. Link in bio. ah Yeah, so I think i think the drum beat with like the little um glass tank, I think that's a Sunwoo sample.
Speaker: And then I think some of the ah Warbly synthesizer that's in the second the like the chorus or the B section, I think that's the count, but i' would I'd have to look that up. Yeah, Sunwoo and the count. um it's It's nice to buy...
Speaker: a sample pack directly from a musician as opposed to like a company from a studio. Cause that sounds more samey to me. And like the Sunwoo stuff, it's like Sunwoo like met up with someone that they know and like got them to play some drums that they had. And like they're, it just feels more homemade.
Speaker: And there's a lot of like inconsistencies in volume and sound and like, ah you know, all this kind of stuff, as you would expect with like a home recording. But like, that's what I'm like all about. Right. I want the warble and the imperfections and the I want the fingerprints on the music. That's what I want. Yes. Well, and I've been thinking about like for 2026.
Speaker: it would be cool to just like share one stem from the song every week. Like instead of like, here's all the stems that now you have too many to choose from that you would never use to be like, I really like this stem from my song. Here's like an eight bar loop at this tempo.
Speaker: Like if you want to use it, like I would like to use ingredients from people I know, You want locally grown ingredients. Yes. That's what you want. This is the farmer's market. Weekly Beats is the farmer's market. And that that's what I was trying to get at with that the one week where I was like, I'm not interviewing anyone this week. Like, let me do this like community garden thing because it was like summer. And I'm like,
Speaker: it's nice when you like share vegetables with neighbors yeah yeah and like, it's nice to know that, you know, like Kedbrake made this sample and now I'm going to put it in a song or like, this is a cool thing that orange drink did. i'm going to use it in my next song.
Speaker: This is delicious. Oh, is this Kedbrake? This is Kedbrake. Oh my gosh. This this is an organic Kedbrake. ah So much better than store-bought. Oh, 100%. Yeah, I mean, and like you said, has the fingerprints on it versus like some random splice loop from some stranger or corporation.
Speaker: It's funny that you mentioned that because that was something that I was thinking about doing for next year is to like grab all my instruments and like record a couple of things and like have that be my visit my garden. Yeah, my WikiWeets contribution.
Speaker: I'm also, I don't know if how I'm going to make this official announcement. Maybe this is the official announcement. I'm thinking about doing an all-collaboration year, 2026. twenty twenty six Man, i I thought about that because it sounds really cool, but i' maybe like toned it down and maybe it's like one collab a month seems a little bit more attainable.
Speaker: i'm I'm also maybe thinking of like the like low effort collab where like I give... like I remix someone's song. Okay. Is this light just blinking the entire interview? That's hilarious. Oh, yeah, it is. ah oh Maintenance.
Speaker: We'll keep it. i have a replacement somewhere. Just a little studio maintenance. Yeah. um Yeah, yeah so i a collab, because I was originally thinking like, oh, should I do just sort of like replay my podcast episodes order and do like a collab with that person? like how would it be so amazing, actually. It would be amazing, but God, it sounds daunting. um Even more daunting than just like weekly beats. Yeah. Yeah. Because I'm already in that like like, I've got a lot of stuff going on my life right now and I'm about to add weekly beats. It'd be great to bring more attention to the podcast though, to get everyone to like listen to ones that they missed because this is the...
Speaker: Ilzix week and here's a track together. You want to learn more about Ilzix? Like watch the podcast. Shout out to Ilzix. One of the few stupid weekly beaters that I've met in person.
Speaker: Oh, I've not met anyone in person. Not yet. I was briefly in Texas and was planning on meeting up with the jacket, but it didn't work out.
Speaker: ah um But I still like, we still need to have some sort of like, um, I know the, we mass, we beat the roundup. Maybe I will host it and get a music venue to sponsor our festival. We'll get everyone to play over like three days.
Speaker: Sounds great. Well, let's keep it rolling and listen to and watch week five from 2024 Immolate.
Speaker: Oh
Speaker: Woo. Woo. That's what I said, man. ah I love the, the comments, uh, from like bliders rock. Is this thing broken? And also, Hmm, maybe it's better this way. Uh, and it's true. la Um, it is just dripping with warbly goodness. Uh,
Speaker: This is main, the warbles are mainly coming from the analog heat. Yeah. So the, uh, analog heat does have like a, a tape, um, na function. Uh, you can set the speed and depth and then you can actually add noise, um, like tape hiss. So tons of tape hiss added, um, lot of, uh,
Speaker: lot of depth so it's really like pitching down um and then yeah it it was a challenge to uh analog heat has i think eight settings for the circuit um and most generally it's a little bit more complicated but most generally going from like subtle to overbearing right so it's like completely distorted so um using those like really high gain, like totally blown out functions of the analog heat are much more suited for like, if you're going to use like one element.
Speaker: So if you're going just do that on the base, you know, drum, like, and just one element but for the way I'm using the way I use the Octo track and analog analog heat this, that whole year is that everything was just going through the analog heat. And then all of that was just the recording. So just no,
Speaker: individual processing even though you can do that got it so you have the option with the octatrack to just say like i want just my base going through the analog heat yeah because you have uh you have multiple um outs of the octatrack so you could theoretically send the oh i'm selling you i saw that glint in your i'm telling you i was like really actually well I shouldn't tell you about all this stuff that you can buy that's more expensive where you can do more things. um But yeah, in theory, you could like send the guitar to Ableton and then send the drums through the Octatrack to the analog key, then go back to Ableton. yeah But just for the matter of...
Speaker: not fussing around with too much stuff. I'm the whole year. Everything just runs through the analog heat. When I play shows, that's the setup to everything just in a key. So it was kind of a challenge to myself to try to use those like higher gain options that are kind of like unusable. But what's a way that I could do it? That guitar loop, dot da da da da da that's from a previous Orange Drink song.
Speaker: Nice. um What song is it? have Did you pull the clip from that, or did you just like re-record it? I got it from the session file. on the Oh, it's from okay it's from Weekly week song Your
Speaker: I was just like, oh, I don't let me just like try to find a sample. So I would just randomly like opened up an old session file and then pulled the guitar and then loaded on the octave track.
Speaker: And then like, what can I do with it? um regarding our earlier conversation something that I want to tell you about this song that nobody will know about is i am in like one of the like worst moods writing and recording and performing this um the I had like a two hour like kind of like emotional like I don't know I don't know how to describe it a crash out not a crash out um I'm in like a book club for mental health
Speaker: And it's like heavy work. And we did like, ah you know, yeah we you have to do like exercises and do readings and kind of try to show up emotionally, which is often difficult. And that's why you're in the book club because you don't want to like feel the feelings. So um I had about maybe like a two hour like session when we're ah I was kind of like the focus of that session. And we're talking about like childhood trauma.
Speaker: o And the ah topic of like the visual of like lighting myself on fire and lighting other people on fire, like came up like descriptively in the session.
Speaker: um Lighting myself on fire is something that I have done before for a music video. um And I'll, and clip will go here. Yeah.
Speaker: um Man, we're you're adding a lot of editing work here. oh I always do that. And then i'm going to do subtitles also here in multiple languages.
Speaker: Orange Drink has agreed to help me edit this. um um So, know, I had the session, awful mood. The topic of like lighting stuff on fire came up, didn't know what to do, got the sample, messing around, then looked at the analog heat, had these feelings about like fire, and then' like, I'm just going to like flip this like to the melt setting.
Speaker: yeah And then, ah yeah, all the like... Feelings came up and I don't really know. A big thing that I do is that I just do it and worry about it later and or maybe worry about it never.
Speaker: And kind of like with the final round video, a lot of a lot of cool stuff came up at the end. And I can kind of reverse engineer like a ah critique of like why it should be that way. But to be honest, like in the moment, I don't really know what's going on.
Speaker: And I find that it's more fun and it ends up being more honest and it ends up typically being better if I turn my brain off and just am like present with my create emotions. So like I'm really mad and I'm thinking about like lighting stuff on fire. So then like this is the song and it's going called Immolate, which is ah that that's what that means. yeah like Light ah ah like a body on fire.
Speaker: um And then with like the analog heat and the melting and like the warble, it it was evoking fire, melting, you know burning, all those kinds of things. Now, the night shot camera, I don't really have like a idea as to why that was there. It was just like, oh, I've got the camera. I don't know what to do for the video. I don't want to just stand there like, oh, let me set up this camera. Oh, I've got this and let me just grab that. Yeah, that's a cool effect. Thanks.
Speaker: Retroactively, like watching this, as a if I'm a third party watching this art piece and if I were to critique it I would say the night shot is actually showing the individual like on fire so the individual is standing there not on fire and then the video of the camera is showing what they look like as they're like burned like yeah the the burned version of the individuals on the television yeah because it's almost like VHS tape on fire yeah melting and like yeah the whole whole thing is melting
Speaker: which I think works with the music, but to be honest and not to like take more credit, but like i didn't plan any of that. But what I think I can do is I can kind of reverse engineer a critique of like, well, let's try to make it work.
Speaker: Why, why does, why try to come up with a reason as to why the video camera works for this piece? I'm like, okay, well I can, I can do that. I think it's way harder to like come up with like a a set idea where everything works. I don't think I can do that.
Speaker: I don't think I know how to do that. Yeah, because like... Part of the barrier for me making videos is like, what would I make a video of that would be That's the wrong mindset. That's the wrong. And I think and i think that's what like that's what speed trash is.
Speaker: Yeah. Like, stop thinking no one really cares. Just do it. What do you think? Just like do it and have it done. And it can suck, too. Like, that's OK. It's OK to fail. Like, OK to be dumb and be bad or whatever. And I think something that I'm getting better at is I'm like getting better as a defense attorney for my art projects.
Speaker: And then I feel like a lot better about it. I feel like, oh, like, yeah, I defend these decisions that I made and it's easy for me to defend them because I was honest. But to like I'm in a bad mood and I'm pissed off and I don't really care. And I don't want to look at anybody.
Speaker: That's maybe why the camera's there because I'm so mad. But do you really need to like have a justification for the outcome of these things? No, no. Yeah. Yeah, because it's like...
Speaker: ah You know, watching this video, I did not make all these connections that your defense attorney has made. ah But it's still a really cool video. Like, I love the like, yes, there you can pull some like deeper art meanings from this and like explain why things are But I don't know that you really need to.
Speaker: No, like, I mean, do you sit and like, think about why your loved ones are your loved ones? Like you can. And and sometimes it's good to think about, to like appreciate them more. Like, oh, I really appreciate that my friend does this. But it's also great to just like be present in like the joy of like having a loved one. Cause like, that's great to have a friend. That's awesome.
Speaker: Yeah. And like this video, i you know, You just created and this is what came out of it. And I think that's the beauty of creating things is like, I don't know where this came from. Like I started with this idea. Like it's cool to look back and be like, yeah, this thing came out of this this time where I was in a terrible mood, but I just showed up and like let it happen.
Speaker: Also, look at the specter of Weekly Beats 2022 calendar in the background. that's That's awesome. That's awesome. It's kind of, oh, okay, I'm going to make another defense attorney remark. um That's showing that I'm so mad that my prior accomplishments mean nothing to me.
Speaker: Are you serious? All right, let's... Go on to the next one, which now we're going back in time. 2022, week four, out Let's go.
Speaker: let's go
Speaker: Man, that's so good. Thanks so much.
Speaker: that It is a great music video. I love all the like, towards the end, like the fast ah frame shots of you singing out in the snow and, like, the um where you're facing the camera. And so you're just looking at the video feed. I love all the, like, retro tracking Thank you.
Speaker: That was really cool production. And for everyone out there watching this, I did not explore the 2022 catalog. So I'm hearing these are watching these videos for the first time. Oh, fun. Maybe some of you. So fun, fun, fun.
Speaker: ah This was recorded January 30th, 2022, or it was uploaded that week. ah So it was a very cold week in Wisconsin.
Speaker: So um this is like this is why I'm married to Frank, because Frank like sat in the snow while I like literally ran back to our house to get batteries, because the batteries died because it was so cold.
Speaker: And I didn't want to make Frank have to like walk all the way Frank's a good sport. Yeah. I'm just like, yeah. I've woken up Frank out of bed at like 1am saying like, can you come and like mark off the calendar? Cause I forgot to get the shot. Oh my God. And like, it's like, okay. He doesn't question it.
Speaker: um He's like, all right. It doesn't complain. Yeah. He's just, this, this is why I feel like we were meant to be together. Because I think like orange drink is like not complete. And actually the last, shot, you know, um so that's our dog Diaz who sadly passed away during the year of we that was ah insane experience to like This was the first time I'm like putting myself so much on camera and putting so much of my life on camera. And then it's like, oh, my like dog died like while still doing this really front facing thing. And people kind of know the dog now because he's been so involved in the videos and stuff. um
Speaker: But looking back, you have these videos of that's why I'm so grateful for like And when my dogs died the the past couple years, I was like, I wish I had more videos of that. It's like the first thing you think of. It's like, I like, I, how can I like hold on to this? you're That annoying bark that I was like, so angry at. Yeah. Like, you stop barking please pee on the floor one more time. Like i've been I miss you. Yeah. um Yeah. That last shot, like it's, you know, it's me, it's Frank, it's Diaz.
Speaker: uh, Frank and I are wearing our matching orange drink scarves and I'm, we're like running around in the snow and I've got like a chair and a bunch of video equipment in my bag. And like, if you never know anything about me other than that photo, like that's who I am. Like it's me and my husband and our dog, like doing weird art projects, like in the snow.
Speaker: I love it. Like that's what orange drink is all about. Um, I, uh, I'm really big into alternate tuning. So for this song, the guitar, the high E is tuned down to D. And I'm still playing kind of standard chords of A, E,
Speaker: e
Speaker: C, maybe D. me I don't. Oh, gosh. I don't know. Don't ask my bandmates about me and chords. um So this is a song that um the Orange Drink Trio plays ah often every show, practically. um So this is kind of like a hit song for our um shows in the Milwaukee area. So, yeah, this has an alternate tuning. um But you start out the video talking about like...
Speaker: you know, ego issues and um kind of letting go of things and, you know, to dissect the video after the fact, there's definitely this, you know, looking at the camera or different angle and um like sort of this like ego separation thing.
Speaker: Since this is like the first year you're doing videos, do you think that that added like a different ego component, like seeing yourself on camera? Yeah, like this is kind of crazy to say, but I didn't want to go on camera because I thought I was too fat.
Speaker: Okay. So I was like, oh, I should like, i i don't want to go on camera until I like lose weight and I'm not fat. um And it's funny to think that all these videos have been done when I'm like, when that voice says I'm too fat. And it's like, ah these videos like rule and like, yeah, whole like fat thing is One, yeah insane. And two, like not true.
Speaker: Not at any point during that video was I like, oh there's chubby orange drink. It's literally like mental illness. um So this song is a sequel for...
Speaker: to another Orange Drink song called In My Mind. And in the song In My Mind, the lyrics are like, I was supposed to be successful now. I thought I wouldn't weigh as much as I do. I thought I'd have friends in a meaningful relationship. Somehow this all worked out differently in my mind. And ah that song is like all of my neuroses and insecurities. it Like I literally like wrote on a piece of paper, like what are the things I'm insecure about?
Speaker: So then it's like, oh, that's not healthy. Like that's not a healthy way to live. What if I wrote a song that's about like leaving this behind? Yeah. So it's me that's afraid and ashamed and alive. So it's talking about me ah in pain if I fail, more afraid if I thrive. And the second verse is...
Speaker: Drew confronting the voice. It's you that I can blame. I'll forgive you in time. Um, when I set me free, it's me, the real Drew that I find.
Speaker: Um, And ah The Truth Revealed is out of my mind. This was inspired by Mental Health Book Club ah Connection, reading a book by Eckhart Tolle called The Power of Now, which is about the topic of spiritual enlightenment. And the I think the first chapter is titled You Are Not Your Mind.
Speaker: and I don't even remember anything of the book other than that chapter title but like that chapter title has like blown me away yeah yeah so like I don't know maybe this is a good time to get into like the suicide stuff but like growing up gay and like Sri Lankan American in Virginia Beach.
Speaker: I just felt like there's something wrong with me inherently. And, you know, I'm a creative, clever person. So I spent a lot of time trying to use my creativity and cleverness and intellect and logic to try to like think my way out of my problem.
Speaker: And my problem was like, I am who I am. Yeah. so how do you like hard to think yourself out of? And then that's where like the feeling of like committing suicide, not only felt like a solution. It felt like I'm going to just do everybody a favor because like if gay people go to hell for all eternity and like nobody wants me here and all these people don't like me and I'm not good enough, like aren't I doing everyone a favor by like yeah considering like these options? So ah yeah, I've had like a really um like,
Speaker: literally like blessed hat, literally hashtag blessed mental health journey. Um, that through like all these kinds of different ups and downs and spirals, uh, got help and got a lot of just like grace from people, places and things, uh, greater than myself.
Speaker: Um, and, i I'm not like recovered, but I consider myself sober from suicidal ideation.
Speaker: Yeah. And ah this song is like about like directly confronting like there's still a thing in me and probably will always exist that... wants me to hate myself, wants me to not make music, wants me to not get on camera, wants me to not succeed because of these, like to use the music analogy, like tapes, these like old tapes that are just playing on loop, right? Yeah.
Speaker: And i want to confront that. And that's what this song and then video is about, is like about like the actual confrontation. Now, Orange Drink, defense attorney, art project person,
Speaker: I am really proud of this piece because I unintentionally recreated Plato's Allegory of the Cave in like a music video form.
Speaker: So i don't know if you're familiar with like Plato's Allegory of the Cave, but the concept is that ah is I'm going to like really kind of mess it up. But this idea that The way we perceive the world that we live in for most people is in like the thoughts and ideas and the tokens of the ideas, but it's not actually the real world.
Speaker: So there's this allegory that there are these people who are trapped in the cave. They're chained to each other and behind and on the wall, they're chained facing a wall and on the wall are all these shadows. They think that those shadows are real life.
Speaker: But those shadows are merely shadows that are reflected from a fire and then the actual objects that are in front of the fire. But we're living, looking at the shadows, thinking that it's real. So the first layer is one that's not even real.
Speaker: It's just a shadow. The second layer is who are these people holding up the chairs in front of the fire? Why are why are why does this exist? The third layer is not only is the shadow not real and not only are these just things held up in front of fire, but you can actually leave the cave and then there's like actual, the actual real world is there.
Speaker: Yeah. So that's what this song and video are kind of about. And I didn't realize that I accidentally kind of showed the allegory of the cave because in the beginning I'm in the basement looking at myself, looking at myself.
Speaker: And I'm having a conversation with myself about my ideas about myself. So I am like, and then I leave the cave. So I'm just like looped in with the shadow and then the wall and then the fire. So it's like,
Speaker: I am filming myself looking at myself and it's just the same thing coming back and forth. But neither of those things are like who I actually am as a person.
Speaker: I'm not just someone standing in a basement with a guitar. I'm not a projection from a television screen. And in your mind, you're fat and unhappy. Yes. And like, I don't deserve to like play music because I'm a terrible musician. So like none of this is real. And this is all like manufactured in my mind. So going off of the Eckhart Tolle like line, like I am not my mind.
Speaker: ah Touch grass, bro. Literally touch snow. That's what you got to say that. in So the song at the half, then it's like me leaving the cave. I'm in the outside in the snow and I'm with other living things.
Speaker: I'm with Frank. I'm with Diaz. And then human world in the human world. And then I'm confronting, I'm talking to you now. I'm talking to the, I'm looking at the camera And it's me looking at the camera and I'm saying, I'm out of my mind, everyone.
Speaker: I am in a basement, like thinking about killing myself. I'm out of my mind. Yeah. I need to get out of mind. On multiple different levels. Right. So now I need to get out of my mind. then we're kind of coming in and I'm talking now, like we're having a face-to-face conversation. It's real now.
Speaker: I'm not just some person. with ideas and thoughts and feelings. I'm Frank's husband. I was Diaz's caretaker. I live in Wisconsin. That's like the snow in our neighborhood. Like this is who I am. I'm a real person. I have a body.
Speaker: Man, you are great at putting together art projects after the fact. I know, I know. oh man. i feel I feel like I should be like a, like, I'm like, i you' it's like I arrived on the seat, like what just happened? Like, um, we think there's been an art project. I'm like, okay, hold on, hold on. Let me tell you all about this. Okay. Well, these colors are compatible. So this is an art project and then there's a flow. It's like somebody died. Well, it's still artistic.
Speaker: I love it. It's very deep on so many levels. I'm glad that you have gotten help. I understand that you may all you may always have these ideas, but I'm sure I'm not the only one that will tell you that we are grateful to have a drew an orange drink all of your creations uh see you put together these art projects even if it's after the fact of like here's how my uh just you know creative process and they're like it's another level level of creativity to look at the things that you made and be like ah i i get it now you know
Speaker: I really appreciate that. um I think ah depression and suicidal ideation, they are ah manageable chronic conditions. So just like a heart condition. or I also have asthma. So just like asthma, um i just they are treatable. So, yeah.
Speaker: Well, if you're ever feeling down and need to pick me up, but just reach out. Likewise. and genuine And to anyone watching too. Yeah. For for real. um we need We need everyone here.
Speaker: Yeah. More now than everyone. ah Yes. Yeah. it's It's bad outside the cave. it's yeah yeah cave is a rock Yeah. Outside the cave is a rough. I'm going to go down and look at shadows. ah
Speaker: that's better than what's out here well i'm out i'm going back to shadows good luck yeah turns out it's pretty nice down there ah shadows that's so funny all right we're gonna keep it moving with uh week 17 2022 revelation here revelation nausea here we go
Speaker: man heavy and a lot of different ways i love the cinematography of like when the drums hit you're like driving in the nighttime and like lighting and thank you man um great great song the The videos along with it are just like icing on the cake.
Speaker: I appreciate it. Let me um show you the camera setup. I love it. Lots of tape. Lots of tape on a wall. So this song this song is because of the DL4 Mark II. So I had the the the original one. They came out with the Mark II. One of the first things I did was like to hear that choo-choo-choo.
Speaker: and just really really great and then um centered the song around that the lyrics are taken from a previous week song apparently i've been wrong about a lot of things so that's uh that was the weekend i did uh like a emotional trauma like seminar weekend it was like really it was like it was an intensive man you were working through it in 2022 Still, but ah but ah yeah, so um so that song, apparently I've been wrong a lot about a lot of things was spawned by that weekend. And then the lyrics that were taken for this were ah all this time underneath all this time wondering.
Speaker: And that just became the kind of mantra hypnotic mantra of this song. And yeah, literally like revelation, nausea, kind of like really realizing about like repressed things and repressed memories and feeling sick to your stomach. yeah I don't think I really understood the music video.
Speaker: um Just when like the drums hit, I was like, oh, it'd be cool to have something like flip a switch. yeah yeah um And then the thought came like, oh, well, what if we... did it in the car, but then I was like, oh that means we had to do the first section, you know, in the day. And then we have to wait like eight hours and then do the second section. Wake up Frank. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: So like that's nerve wracking. And then like if the camera moves and all that stuff, shout out to my Sony ZV-1 camera for like killing it with autofocus all year. Cause like I'm not setting any focus like a, and like not setting any aperture.
Speaker: So shout out to the camera for not screwing up. Emily, shout out to Emily. Emily left a kind of interesting comment about like the video is kind of asking the question, like, who is the driver of your own life? And I was like, dang, that's insane. Because like, not only am i not realizing things stuff, but like I'm a passenger. Like that's crazy.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. You need her on your defense attorney team. i know Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Her and Cadbreak, they're like part of the like legal team. ah Like, let me tell you what's really happening with this video. Emily's like, well, actually, I've got the document right here that shows. ah Thanks, Emily.
Speaker: um Shout out, Emily. Yeah. Well, yeah. Wait, shout out Devious and Spider. Shout out Ilzix. Shout out Emily. Shout out Kedbreak. Shout out ah Joshua. Shout out Ipagos. Shout out Sasquatch. Nullsleep. Trash 80. Sonics. Aftershock. Sleep Unit.
Speaker: SQF. You made it to the shout out list. Yes. Horatior Romantic. Last minute edition. Level Capybara. Level Capybara is like my favorite Weekly Beats musician. And I'm just going to pick a favorite. So everyone else in is welcome to be attended.
Speaker: Just in terms of like if I never met anyone, never talked to anyone, was like presented a bunch of music, like which album would I buy? Like level Capybara, like best compositions level Capybara.
Speaker: um Yeah, sorry, everyone. ah Really sorry to Viridian Loom that I just like said that and now I'm just saying Viridian Loom. You're cool, too. Shout out to Ratsjo from Wisconsin. Shout out to Tweek Lab. Tweek Lab. I'll give a shout out to Tweek Lab.
Speaker: Tweek Lab is like a huge inspiration to me because Tweek Lab has... Young children, a spouse, day job, also has done um compositions documenting either ah video games, ah ah did a GoldenEye video game documentary, did soundtrack for that, and then does weekly beats.
Speaker: Wow. like That's insane. um Mission Crossing, Catch in Ashes. Oh, quick Catch in Ashes. Catch an ashes told the story about coming to Chicago and then we we met up.
Speaker: They didn't finish the story because they said, I'll let Drew finish the story. Here's the story. Sorry. This is like a story within a story within a story. Catch and Ashes came to the United States from Australia.
Speaker: Chicago's an hour and a half drive. So I drove down to Chicago to visit them. And I drove them to the largest video game arcade in the world. oof Galloping Ghost Arcade in Illinois.
Speaker: ah We went and had a great time. And then I took them to Lou Malnati's pizzeria. And this is like super deep dish Chicago style pizza.
Speaker: And they're like, oh, do you have much pizza in Australia? And they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, we've got pizza. and'm like, well, this is like really intense pizza. So it's like huge. Yeah. I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've had a lot of pizza. Yeah, I like pizza. I'm like, no, no, no, dude. No, man, you don't get it. This pizza will expand in your stomach. It'll double size. You took cake and made it all pizza.
Speaker: Yeah. um So we're ordering our pizza, and it's like oh, I'll get a small this style, and then I'll get a medium this style. I'm just like,
Speaker: That's a lot of pizza. Like I usually eat like two slices a maximum. And you just ordered the medium and a small. It's like, oh, no, no, it's fine. Get there. eats the pizza, eats and more pizza, more eats more pizza. And then like the lady was like, I ate too much. ah And I was like, I tried to warn you. And then after the fact, I'm dropping off him off as at his hotel.
Speaker: And it's like, oh, it's so great to meet you. like It's been awesome like being buddies online, but like now we get to hang out. And then at end, he's like, you know, I'm really glad this worked out because on paper, this was really sketchy.
Speaker: I just traveled from out of the country and like met some random gay guy who like took me in a car and like drove me to a warehouse. And I was like, Yeah, that sounds really suspicious. That's actually true. Like, all of that is true. That sounds really creepy on paper.
Speaker: And then shout out to my arch nemesis, Wangus. oh Wow. Shout out to Frank, of course. Okay, so those are all the shout outs. So, um yeah.
Speaker: I didn't know that the night shot would work. And I just had this thought that, like, oh, if it just, like, flipped, it would be cool. um But now kind of seeing, like,
Speaker: In terms of revealing a repressed memory, the feeling is like it it feels like it goes from day to night. Mm-hmm. So it's, it's, it's interesting how these things with like my defense attorney attitude, i can find the like truth after the fact of like, Oh, I am, you know, Emily was right. I am a passenger in my own journey.
Speaker: Uh, I am, uh, a spectator. And then when they're like revelation happens, it is like this kind of gut drop. I also think it's interesting that in the day shot, the, uh,
Speaker: The outside of the car is like a little overexposed, so you're focusing on the people in the car. And then when it switches to night, you can't barely see the people in the car. and You're focused on what's outside.
Speaker: Yeah, and you're seeing like the lights changing everything inside. and Yeah. Yeah, which one should we do for the final one? We got to do auditory hallucinations. All right, let's do it.
Speaker: you
Speaker: Bye.
Speaker: Holy shit, man. ah the face you made was so good. we We're going to have to use it enough do that face. Wow. Oh my God, man ah like Like I said, a lot of these songs and videos I haven't seen before.
Speaker: and i these are way more cinematic and like uh assembled compared to the videos that i'm used to of you like performing and dancing like this seems like infinitely more work than performing and dancing or like putting together these like little mini movies Not all of them are this good. I picked the best ones. Okay, okay. Okay. Okay. Wow. These are fucking heavy.
Speaker: Thanks. it it It was a ton of work. And I'm not even kidding. like None of this would be possible without Frank's like fully supporting me that like in 2022, his life revolved around these videos.
Speaker: shout out frank shout out frank um best husband ever um so like you know and and as i kind of share just about the struggles that i've had about my own self-belief uh this is like the first time i've ever been in a relationship with someone that not only supported my music but like never questioned it and then like always showed up so it's one thing it's one thing to have a cheerleader and and that's great and that's i'm also very appreciative of everyone who supports me from afar any type of support is great but it's one thing to have a cheerleader and it's another thing to have someone in the trenches with you like waking up at 1 a.m m and like doing this stuff and you know i'm saying like hold this banana and like don't move and it's like okay
Speaker: Frank, we're going driving. Yeah. Like, it's like, okay, got it. Like, don't touch the car for the next eight hours. that We had to do this again in eight hours Got it. Like, no questions, no hesitation. Oh, man.
Speaker: No, why am I holding the banana? Like, do I have to? Like, what is it going to look like? Is it? Like, why does it have to be a banana? Why a banana? like He knows not to question your cinematic vision. What is funny is that actually in the in the early stages of 2022, we actually had some tense discussions where I'm just like, I can't explain it to you.
Speaker: Can you just hold this banana? Yeah. It's like, you i'm I'm holding it. I'm holding it here. And we had a lot of conversations. So there were some growing pains. And then I think at the after he saw the finished outcome, he kind of he figured out, like, yeah, it's a lot harder for me to explain how it's gonna how I think it's going to look. Because I don't even know if it's going to turn out.
Speaker: Right, yeah. So just hold the banana. I'm going to film it. Don't move. And then when it's done, I'll say, well, the reason I didn't want you to move is because the camera is slowly rotating and then the banana is in 3D.
Speaker: He's like, oh, cool.
Speaker: He's like, ah ah do your thing, man. um so So this song was all on OP1. Shout out to OP1. I lost so many shout outs. OK, I'm going to shout out counter, which will be more editing. but'll be We have to do the YouTube thing. Is it over here or here? you know ah Like and subscribe.
Speaker: ah So after doing the piece, you know I just wanted to do a a noise music piece. I really wanted to like have some musical element, but I wanted it to be mostly noise.
Speaker: And then after creating the piece, i was like, oh, this could be like a good like you could do like a little horror movie. I love when it like. it gets distorted and you've got the shot of the popcorn in the microwave and it like does sound like popcorn. I, I total happy accident. I had no idea that it was going to play out that way, but I was like, Oh, that that's amazing. So, uh, again, like talking about my trying to be honest, trying to be creative and coming from like an emotional place, like probably like two of my biggest fears are like anything going wrong with my hearing is like probably my, like,
Speaker: top here and then the other one is like frank having a fatal fall while i'm not home it's like yeah horrifying right so uh creative drew is like oh what if i what if we combine the two like what do we what if we have a movie all of our fears in one happy place yeah let's just have a movie about someone like struggling with like auditory hallucinations which i can't even fathom like i understand hearing loss from the from the sense of you know, if you have ah your ears plugged up or, you know, you have ringing in your ears or like you're at a loud concert. I can understand that, but the concept of auditorial... Shout out tinnitus.
Speaker: Yeah. Sheee! That's how you shout out tinnitus. Man, yeah. um So yeah, it's it's kind of unfathomable to me about what it would be like to experience that. that's ah it's a real It's a real thing. It's not very common. yeah Certainly not as common as ah different types of hearing loss. But yeah, so that's scary to me. so um But I mean, my reaction of Frank falling on the floor that you were like, what a reaction. um
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, very brave of you to put all of these fears in a cinematic masterpiece to watch again and again. i appreciate that. um The um to me, like the little trick of the film is that when and I'll play this back in post, but when Frank goes to get the door, ah the camera pans to show that the phone isn't ringing, the TV isn't on and there's nothing in the microwave.
Speaker: So to to reveal it that those were indeed all hallucinations all hallucinations. Oh, and then also like bonus shout out that the Out of My Mind music video is playing in the TV. Easter egg. Yeah. So then at the end, Frank falls.
Speaker: But then after he falls, I'm still banging on the door because I'm not a hallucination. I was actually there. But Frank's fear of the hallucinations caused him to trip and fall. And then really.
Speaker: And it's and it's Frank zooming in the camera. at the end for me because because like literally the camera is only operated by either me or frank because it's just us yeah so in the out of my mind video when the camera's zooming in when i'm sitting out in the snow that's frank pulling the zoom and i made an audio track that had the song playing and then me overlaid going one two three four ready and pull Oh, man. So then Frank would pull the camera. So shout out to Frank camera operation. man
Speaker: So ah ah kind of a serendipitous thing is that just like the timing of Frank zooming in. And then at the very end, I like look to see because that like that's when he fell. wow
Speaker: heavy Heavy stuff in 2022, man. um Wow. ah Personally and cinematically, ah man, was really cool to ah to see all these for the first time with you.
Speaker: And evidently I need to explore more of 2022 Orange Drink videos. YouTube.com slash Orange Drink Music. Yeah. Like, and subscribe. like can ah But we are well over time. Yeah, I know. I know. I apologize to everyone that this is like, so, you know, ah video is just longer for some reason. ah ah So I think we'll cut it off here.
Speaker: was really awesome. This was really fun. Shout out to SQF. I'm so happy that you did this. Also just a really nice to make a new friend. Like I know we've, yeah but it's cool to like, see you, you have a face like,
Speaker: Yeah, and you i I do feel like every one of these interviews that I've done, i have gained a new friend and gained another one today. So ah hopefully everyone enjoys all the technological advances of video and to view all of your creations. And I'm not sure how many more of these I'm going to do for the end of the year.
Speaker: So this might be one of the the final episodes for the year. Then we'll retool and see what 2026 podcast world is yeah along with making music. yeah I've been tossing around the idea of doing some sort of like radio show where people will submit like, Hey, you should check out this from this week. So I'm just more assembling and like making some comments. There's so many like zero comment killers. That's what I'm going to call zero comment killers. i love that. um so yeah I'm still toying around with that idea um i definitely want to do some collabs next year so yeah maybe not every week it's going to happen it's go to happen at least at least um yeah maybe I need to come to Wisconsin we'll do a live performance I don't know oh what that was awesome yeah yeah um so anyway thanks everyone for continuing to support the podcast and listen and look at us we're moving
Speaker: We made it. And we'll catch you later. All right. Have a good one, everyone. Bye. Bye.
