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How do movies influence our music? | Episode 002
90 Plays1 year ago
The Blue Stones talk about their influences and peculiar places they draw influence from. Topics discussed:
- why it bugs us when people ask about our influences
- how we draw influences from movies, TV shows, and random life experiences
- how music affects TV shows like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul
- the three different meanings of what influences your music
- why you probably won't like everything an artist puts out
- the benefits of "monoculture" fixtures
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Transcript
Christmas Tour Reflections
00:00:00
Speaker
Cool. Hello. Hello. Hello. Welcome back. Welcome back. Yes. I've got my, uh, I spent so here actually this cup courtesy of hobby. Oh, right. Yeah. The nice little, uh, secret Santa. Nice little secret Santa. That was nice. We really did go kind of all out Christmas wise on that last tour. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of nice cause like when you're,
00:00:29
Speaker
The whole thing was when you're on the road, you forget real life is happening outside. What was the last date of the tour? I think the last show was December 16th or something. Yeah. Yeah. You go home decompress on the 17th and then a week later it's Christmas and you're like, I forgot it was Christmas season. Yeah. It was nice to do those Christmasy things and get back home and be like, yeah, I'm ready for this.
00:00:57
Speaker
Yeah, I think, uh, and for those who don't know what we're talking about, this is the glorious sun's tour that we did in November and December of 2023. Right? Yeah. Wow. Years. Yeah. 2023. And, uh, yeah, I felt, I felt the same way. I feel like anytime we tour around that time of year,
00:01:17
Speaker
You come home and the holiday season just hits you like a truck. You're just not ready for it. Well, I got to shop and I have to be in Christmas mode. So it's kind of nice doing that throughout the entirety of November basically and then into December. The bus was all Christmasy and cozy and stuff. That was so nice. I loved coming back to that every night.
00:01:42
Speaker
Yes. Yes. It was awesome with the man, the dimmer switch lighting. That's so key. Yeah. Yeah. It's actually a good bus. Like one of those are, that was the best one. That was the best one, the best North American one. Yeah. I would have to agree. I would have to agree because I remember it like the one and like, yeah, this is so fucking cliche diva complaining about buses, but like,
00:02:10
Speaker
It's funny because like the one for the desk rocks who are like, it was funny how much that one was like, just not really a nightmare. I don't really think that was diva. Yeah. Well, yeah, I know it was, it was, it was bad. No, it was really bad. And I don't think anyone would be comfortable in that. No, no, nobody would be comfortable, especially that. Where were you? Do you remember where you were in that? I was, I was the back passenger side middle bunk.
00:02:40
Speaker
Okay. So you were right underneath me. You were top? Yes. Oh, okay. Yeah. Actually I was, yes, I was top on the right and then I switched to the left. I remember I ended up on the top left. So I was like kind of across. That's what I thought. Yeah. Yeah. But man, I don't know if you ever woke up to this smell that Putin has this 100%.
00:03:01
Speaker
Oh my God. That's specifically what I'm thinking is like, man, that's not diva. That's like a legitimate fucking health. Yeah. Because like, I'm not going to like sleep away from, so behind us, the way the bus layout was, as you walk onto the front of the bus, there's the huge lounge, just like any other bus. And then you go into bunk alley. There's the first row of bunks and then the second row of bunks stacked three high on either side. We were in the second row of bunks.
00:03:32
Speaker
towards the back. And then after Bunk Alley, there's a washroom area, which on the right, there's a shower. And on the left, there's like a little sort of powder roomish kind of thing. And then there's the back lounge. So the shower drain
00:03:50
Speaker
would emit this salty, briny, sewagey smell.
Crew Member Skills Spotlight
00:03:57
Speaker
Yeah, sewagey was maybe the top note. Yeah, the top note. Like urine. Salty briny came out. Yeah, that was because of the urine.
00:04:09
Speaker
Oh, my God, man, it was God. And then, yeah, in the middle of the night, I said, because you sleep away from the front of the bus, you're not going to sleep with your head towards the front, because if he hits the brakes hard, you know, you break your neck. But man, oh, my God. Yeah. And I do. I do remember like it. The smell waking me up is not not waking up to the smell. The smell waking me up. Yeah, that's and like that is kind of crazy when you think about
00:04:39
Speaker
this. I can't even remember being woken up by a smell. Yeah, she's being like, Oh, what is that? And usually it's like, you know, there's light on your eyes, or it's a loud noise, or somebody touches you. Yeah, but a smell like a smell has to be strong. Yeah, for your body to be like, alarm, like, get up.
00:04:59
Speaker
Get wake up alert. Danger imminent. And I think it's because it's gross. You know, when it smells so sharp, it like almost like hurts you because it's yes. Yeah. Oh man, that is gross. Sharp. It was a sharp gross mouth. It was it was 11 people's piss.
00:05:21
Speaker
for days, days, days. I got to have like Tully and Danny if they remember that because... Yeah. Once we get some more episodes going on, we got to have them on the pod.
00:05:36
Speaker
Yeah, that would actually be really great. Yeah, it'd be great to do a little reconnect. If we do start to have guests, then yeah, they would be awesome. I mean, all three of them would be great. Yeah. Doc is so interesting because he's just such a good tech. Man, let's talk about him for a second. Yeah.
00:05:56
Speaker
He's unlike anybody I've ever seen as part of a crew slash band. He is just an engineer who is also artistic and part of the band. It's such an amazing double play to have.
Influence of Movies on Music
00:06:12
Speaker
100%. What's the term? Is it not a switch hitter? Would it be a switch hitter?
00:06:18
Speaker
Kind of because you can hit. No, he's like a pitcher who can like hit. Exactly. Exactly. That's what it would be like. He's like a Shohei Otani kind of. Yeah. Oh my God. If you ever hear this podcast being compared to Shohei Otani. He's the Shohei Otani of the music industry. I mean, it is. Yes. Yes. Yes.
00:06:46
Speaker
Because it's funny because any tech, if they got stuck on a problem with a guitar or an amp or something, it was like you would ask Doc and Doc would fix it. I remember there was one time there was something going on with the bus and Doc fixed it. It's crazy. That's right.
00:07:07
Speaker
just has that sort of like naturally given skill of like being able to like work mechanics and he just understands the system and like how everything works together. And that's honestly something that I don't get very easily. I don't think my mind works that way either.
00:07:27
Speaker
If you can sit there, obviously, both of us can watch a YouTube video and figure out how to do something basic, like fix a toilet. But he's hot wiring some of Des's guitars. Yeah, that's right. He custom did shit. Yeah, he did this thing on
00:07:45
Speaker
on Des's guitar where it was a button on his guitar body that he could press and a red light would turn on and that would boost his guitar signal. So when he wants to take a lead part even more, he just hits the boost on his guitar instead of hitting a pedal. And somehow it would trip the pickups to kind of go haywire. Wow. And then Doc figured that out.
00:08:12
Speaker
It's so sick. And that's what they call him. Doc. That's even, that's right. That's even, that's why his name is, I forgot about that. Yeah. Cause it's, that's his personality. Wow. Yeah. Sean is our nickname for him though. Yeah. He's great. He's great. Yeah. Um, yeah. So you wanted to, um, I think this is a good topic actually is people kind of people always asking us.
00:08:43
Speaker
what are your influences and for a long time I hated it. And then you kind of helped me realize like there's a point to asking that question. Um, yeah, I, I, I can understand why people would ask it. Although I don't quite understand like the desire of the answer. That's, and that's the thing that kind of bugged me. And so basically anytime anyone would ask us like,
00:09:09
Speaker
What are your influences or who are your influences? Like who, you know, I don't know, just, yeah, that question. Like we would do it all the time in a Q and a or radio interview or whatever. Like tell us who your influences are. It's like, even if I tell you what has now changed about my music and now I kind of understand where it's like the influences thing could work when
00:09:36
Speaker
you're trying to introduce someone else to your music and you're like, you'll like these guys because they're kind of like these bands who you also like. And so that's just a little bit of a selling point, but that's why I was always confused. Like why are my, why are my deep fans asking me? Like you, you know what my music sounds like. And it's almost like should, I think you should maybe draw those inferences. That might be a little more interesting. Um, and we have always found it interesting when people,
00:10:05
Speaker
Cause you know, you get the standard ones for us where it's like, Oh, you sound like Royal blood. He's suddenly black keys. And then somebody tosses out something like, Oh, he's ran me so much of incubus. And you're like, whoa. Yeah. You're like, why did you get that to me? And it becomes so interesting when they make the connection rather than like us being like, who do we think we sound like? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I've always liked that. Um, but.
00:10:30
Speaker
Kind of one thing to make that question more interesting because we get it all the time and we will continue to get it. I started kind of thinking. Like. In a lot of ways, there's a lot of movies and TV shows and stuff that were actually influenced by even more than some music that we are also influenced by.
00:10:53
Speaker
And so yeah, kind of like going into that. And I don't think, I don't think people understand it right away. I think you and I understand it very clearly. And so it makes a lot of sense to us. But when we say that to a lot of people, they're like, are they fucking with me? You're like, what, what is he saying? Like what's going on here? So, um, yeah, like, what do you, what do you think? What are some of those specific instances? The one that we always go to is, is inception. Yep. And
00:11:20
Speaker
I know we've kind of just said that over the years. You say the thing that you normally say where it's like, actually some movies influence us more. And then we say like Inception. Then I try to think of like, why? And I try to think of when we saw that movie, we were
00:11:37
Speaker
I don't know, what was that like? It would have been like before Blue Stones. Yeah, maybe just before we started doing stuff with Blue Stones. Or maybe like right as we were starting. Just to get into, yeah, 2010, it's a 2010 film. So yeah, that would have been like right around the time that we were just starting to write music.
00:11:55
Speaker
And I just wonder why that movie struck us so much because I do remember seeing the movie and coming back and hanging out and talking about it. Yeah, we were talking about the style of it and stuff. Yeah, because it was so style forward. And I think at that time, oh man, honestly, part of it was
00:12:17
Speaker
the fact that everybody was so well-dressed in suits, and they were doing these unbelievably cool, psychedelic action-fused things, but also it wasn't superficial. There was a deeper meaning behind everything that they were doing.
00:12:37
Speaker
It wasn't just like, it wasn't cheesy. It wasn't cheesy. Yeah. It was like, look at this crazy dreamscape these guys are running through and how crazy and trippy it is. And I feel like a lot of that almost built the early groundwork for what Black Holes was. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:59
Speaker
Right. And definitely, I think stylistically, we drew a lot from that movie with early on wearing the suits because again, it was like this sort of cleaned up, tight, put together look against the backdrop of chaos and rock and loud music and noise and just action happening around you. I think that's probably what drew us to the inception. Totally. Yeah. And I think the
00:13:26
Speaker
Yeah, like it's just kind of how I'm kind of like explaining it to people is like I think a lot of the time people listen to music at different like the music that you're into at a given point or a given moment in even just in a day is you're trying to draw some kind of like inspiration and some kind of feeling.
00:13:51
Speaker
And that's why maybe you like listening to Leonard Cohen in the evening, if you're reading, but you don't like listening to Leonard Cohen before you go to the gym. It's the feeling that we got from watching that movie and then going home and having to talk about it. We're trying to bring that feeling into the music and that's why
00:14:21
Speaker
that movie is maybe a bigger influence than say like Jimi Hendrix's on us. Even though we might like take a lot of like techniques and again feelings from some stuff that Hendrix has done. But that's kind of where that connection for me makes sense is like our music is a lot like Inception because we try to make you feel the same way when you listen to our music as when you watch the movie.
00:14:49
Speaker
Yes, if that makes sense. Yeah, it does. And I think that's a good way to connect it for people who ask is what you just said. Exactly. And I mean, obviously different songs are different vibes and then
00:15:03
Speaker
based on that different, different movies too. So I think like another one that has always been big for us is like the, the George Clooney ocean series. Yeah. Yeah. Just that same thing. Like, and I think a lot of it early on, you're right. Was like the style and like the suits and whatnot. And yeah, we, you know, we used to wear that for anyone that this is a surprise for, we used to wear suits for years when we played, but like not just like a
00:15:33
Speaker
not just like a black suit with a white shirt and a black tie. Like I would wear like pinstripe navy three piece suit with a blue gingham shirt and a knit tie and a tie bar. Yes. And we would play like our, you know, hard
00:15:53
Speaker
rock music. And that, again, that's what you're saying is like kind of the contrast. And I thought that was cool too. Well, it was super cool because then we got picked up by like its style blocks. Yeah, that's right. What was that one guy? Remember the one guy from Boise? Dappard. Dappard. That's what it was. Dappard. Dappard. And he sort of fell in love with like the early music. Yeah. And he was like, Oh, like these guys are wearing suits and playing rock. And like it, it kind of was like,
00:16:23
Speaker
sort of affirming the whole style approach that we were taking at the time, even though it wasn't functional at all. It was at least being like, yeah, you're making a wave of some sort with your branding right now. And people would remember us at the shows where it's like, you were the guys wearing the suits.
00:16:45
Speaker
Exactly. How could I forget that blend of music and image put together? Yeah, exactly. It did work for us early days. It did. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe worth revisiting at some point.
Evolution of Musical Influences
00:17:00
Speaker
It would be cool. The way I would see it is we would do some kind of
00:17:05
Speaker
VIP event show or something where for the diehard fans who knew us, we wear suits for that show or something like that. Yeah. That'd be a cool throwback actually, yeah. But yeah, I think that's what helps you soak in so much of the music is the accompanying visual or helps you soak in so much of the visuals, the accompanying music.
00:17:29
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So yeah, the Oceans vibe, like I would say like the Oceans movies like kind of like an LA afterlife feel like those kind of songs where there are little it's a little like there's more levity, it's a little more fun.
00:17:48
Speaker
Well, that was a big part of Oceans was definitely like the style, like just like this sort of undeniable coolness of anybody in that film. Yeah. And the music man was so David Holmes. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's David Holmes. But it's such a cool like that's the sort of Madesky, Martin and Wood
00:18:12
Speaker
Style that like we loved at the time hundred percent, you know hundred percent just like effortlessly cool and And like when I think about that that must have been a pretty pivotal year for us when I think about 2010. Yeah, that's right You know, it's obviously right when we started to You know, I had gotten to a point where I felt comfortable enough to
00:18:35
Speaker
to like write music and show it to you. Mm hmm. But not only that, there's just so much like art that we were soaking in in that year, because like just while you were talking, I whipped up a list of like 2010 albums that were released. OK, yeah. And like Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was released that year, which there's a lot of songs off that album. Right. Yeah. You know, I remember even doing like some covers of that songs and recording them and like showing you.
00:19:04
Speaker
Yeah. That was a big one. I think The Roots released an album that I listened to a lot, but like there's just, and then that's when also you showed me like a lot of the earlier Black Key stuff. That's when we, you showed me a lot of Modesti Martin and Wood was in that year as well. Yep.
00:19:24
Speaker
So just like a lot of intake in 2010. Yeah. A lot of culture. Yeah. A lot of culture like in that, in that year. So I think all of that sort of, sort of spurred on. It's kind of funny to think that that's 14 years ago. Um, but that's crazy. That's crazy. There's, it reminds me, there's this, um, there's just kind of like theory. It's obviously not like there's nothing,
00:19:50
Speaker
scientific about it necessarily, but this theory that every seven years there's a major shift in someone's life and you can look at it like you have individual personalities or lives in seven year cycles kind of thing. It'd be funny because 2010 is kind of when we started doing this.
00:20:16
Speaker
is when we kind of like started doing it, like working with our management and like with a booking agent and a record label and all that stuff. So that was seven years later. And now this is seven years after that. And so it's kind of like a new, like, this is like the new, a new age kind of thing. I don't know whether or not to be scared or excited. Yeah, I know. It's probably a little bit of both is good. Um, but that's funny. That has been pretty much right on schedule.
00:20:43
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. But yeah, that was, that was the ocean's one. The ocean's one ones were big. I'm trying to think of, um, I mean, just like generally Christopher Nolan stuff is usually pretty cool for that. He's got a cool striking style that also has like the content has like a lot of like gravity behind it. I'm going to see if there's any other major ones released in 2010 that would have like,
00:21:14
Speaker
we would have, let's say, gone to see. Yeah, I mean, it was mainly, I think Inception was the biggest one of that year. Yeah. That really influenced us. But yeah, there's a lot of like, that obviously caused, you know, like you said, the oceans, diving into the oceans movies. I want to say like, I don't know, I feel like we were also watching
00:21:40
Speaker
Breaking Bad? Wouldn't Breaking Bad have been around that time? I think so. I think so. Maybe a little later, but... Right. But then that also had the amazing thing about Breaking Bad. It was a little bit later, actually. It was maybe two or three years after that that we really soaked in Breaking Bad, but I just loved how they would select the music that goes into that show.
00:22:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. The syncs were really good. The syncs were awesome and they were always just so tasteful and like right on time. Yeah. And it really helped the scene. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And it's like they selected the perfect band and the perfect song and they put it in the perfect scene. Like what's that been? Is it TV on the radio? Yep. So
00:22:32
Speaker
Oh man, there was this amazing scene of like, I think it was Walt walking out of a department store or like a, like a Walmart or something like that. And he has like a fight with a guy about a cart, maybe. I don't know if I'm okay. I kind of remember this. Yeah. Um,
00:22:51
Speaker
Yeah. And he has like this little argument and it's like, cause you know how Walt and that show was kind of like a pushover and people would steamroll him and he was like this weak sort of chemistry teacher. But then like he starts to become Heisenberg. Yeah. And like his, his attitude shifts. And that was one of the scenes that was showing that and portraying that. And like, he just like basically choose this guy out. Like, you know, who the fuck are you? Right. Yeah. And then like this TV on the radio song starts playing. Oh, I can't remember what it's called.
00:23:21
Speaker
Um, but it was so perfectly placed and it just was so badass. And it just like that left a lasting impression on me so much that I remember it now. Yes. It was DLC. Right. Okay. Yeah. I think it's really cool because I could be completely wrong about this. They could just have an amazing sync person on that show.
00:23:46
Speaker
But what I think is more likely is the creator. What's his name?
00:23:56
Speaker
I'm trying not to look it up because I just want to see exactly what it looks like. It's not Vincent. Yes. Uh, Vince Gilligan. Vince Gilligan. Okay. Vince. I think, I think he is just like, he listens to a lot of different kinds of music and he'll hear a song and he'll think like,
00:24:19
Speaker
Like he can, he's kind of like a visionary. He can see the scene that this song goes with. And then when they're writing out the script, he's like, I know I have the song for this because I've already thought about it and I've already like banked it.
00:24:33
Speaker
You know what I mean? Got it. When it fits that well, I think it's more of that than it is like a sync person who's like, Oh, I have I have a great song for this. It just seems it's like so well connected. And it's so like, yeah, it's so when it's that perfect, it seems like it has to come from, you know, the director or the producer, whoever. But if that's the case, then he has like just an awesome taste in music.
00:24:55
Speaker
Yeah yeah like the one that was really good in better calls all was the bad bad not good when you are taking apart the car oh my god it's just insane so I mean like just amazing choices and it's gotta be from it's gotta be what you're saying yeah or it's just too perfect.
00:25:15
Speaker
I wonder if it is, first of all, if it is a sync person, then they're like some of the best at their job, you know, but also if it's Vince Gilligan, then yeah, that's quite a visionary thing to do because it is really some awesome music placement. Like, and I even remember like, cause I, cause watching that episode, like I obviously knew the song and then I was on Reddit after the show.
00:25:43
Speaker
goes on the Better Call Saul subreddit. And so many of the comments were like, what was the song when he was taking the car apart? Because they were like, that was so sick. Yeah. Because it does almost sound like it's score writing. It's almost like somebody who didn't know that song would be like, oh, this is just a cool score that they whipped up. But like,
00:26:06
Speaker
No, that's bad, bad, not good. And like, yeah, a lot of their shit in that era was was like that. Yeah. Oh, you know, it's just dark, dark jazz. Yeah, you know, like like dark, really insidious jazz. Yeah. I mean, it's a really good way to put it. That was that. And then like they had the OC's placement work for when that's right. I can't remember what that character's name was. Yeah, fuck. Like the Fe guy.
00:26:36
Speaker
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. The poisonous guy. Yeah, whatever. That guy. And he's like, I don't want to spoil the show for anybody. I mean, it's pretty old show, though. That's true. Yeah. So like when he poisons everybody.
00:26:51
Speaker
Oh yeah, that's right. And that OZ song, I definitely downloaded that. Yeah, yeah, that's right. And then actually the theme song for I think Better Call Saul and maybe not Breaking Bad, but Better Call Saul was that band Little Berry. That's right. Little Berry and they're an awesome band.
00:27:12
Speaker
Yeah, really, really cool band and very sort of like from that era of like just sort of loose three piece, bluesy, jazzy rock band, you know? So yeah, great. Again, like these are the things that sort of influenced us. I think when you have like an impactful show that is accompanied with really good music and that sort of builds
00:27:37
Speaker
who we are as artists. And there are albums, which we
Emotional Influence in Music
00:27:42
Speaker
can get into. There's definitely albums that influenced us as well, where I remember sitting and being like, wow, this music on its own is just amazing. There's live shows that influenced us. But yeah, it almost seems like just really not the whole picture when somebody sits on a show and asks us, who are your biggest influences?
00:28:05
Speaker
It's like if they're looking for like music. Yeah. And they're looking for like Led Zeppelin. Right? Yeah. You know, or like, I know some artists will dive into like specific like, you know, muddy waters or something. And honestly, like I used to say that I think because I felt an obligation as being like a blues guitarist to be like, well, I need to reference these greats. Right to kind of like really think so. Like I like the music, but like,
00:28:33
Speaker
Did it really like invoke something inside of me? No. Right. You know, and like, yeah, I don't know. I don't think that's bad. You know, it's just no, it's just what it is that our path was this. Mm hmm. You know, and I think maybe like the whole Guard of Musicians is like, you didn't draw your influence from the greats who put you here. Fuck off. Fuck off. Yeah. Yeah, I know. It's like,
00:29:04
Speaker
Again, I think there's three levels of that kind of influence. One is something as close as our music sounds like this. I don't even know how to describe this with a good example, but it's like,
00:29:26
Speaker
We built a song that is similar to the structure of these songs and the tone of these songs like that kind of like level of depth, I think. Then I think another level deep is like.
00:29:40
Speaker
we're in the same genre or we're exploring the same themes as this. The first level is very technical. It's very like our sound waves sound like they're sound waves. Then the next level is we're in the same arena and we're talking about the same things, singing about the same things and the feeling is similar.
00:30:05
Speaker
And then that third level is is where it's all about the emotion and the feeling that this piece makes you feel and this piece makes you feel. And that's where I think we are drawing those connections to the movies. Obviously, it's not a sound thing. It's not an arena thing. It's like it's more it's more about the the emotion that's being invoked. And that's why I think we can you and I can can say like
00:30:35
Speaker
like Jay Z is a big influence on us or J Cole is a big influence on us. And that makes a ton of sense to me because there is a little bit of like the feel of like the rhythm of the music, but a lot of the times it's the emotion. It's the swagger kind of vibe.
00:30:52
Speaker
You listen, you can put them in one playlist. You can put a J Cole song and you can put a bluestone song in a playlist. If you want to kind of like have your confidence lifted before going into something, that's, that's why I say.
00:31:08
Speaker
that J Cole is an influence. Not so much of like, his guitar tones are exactly like ours. No, that's a different kind of influence. And so that's where I think there's a lot of confusion is like, people might be asking the question, looking for answers on like tier one or tier two, and we're kind of like more interested in tier three. I think that's just how
00:31:31
Speaker
Because being an artist, that's like what we're more focused on is like pushing in motion. And that's where you get the connection. Someone who isn't really like creating themselves. They're just thinking like, this sounds like this. And so they must be influenced. Yeah. You're right. It is a feeling thing. And it's it's very much like I
00:31:55
Speaker
I remember listening to Faint by Linkin Park. Do you remember that song for me? Yeah. So I remember listening to that. And although the tones were really, really cool, when I was that young, it just made me feel a certain way. Like, whoa, you kind of dive into this deep pool of this emotion. And it's not anything like sadness or anger. It's just kind of like, whoa, this is such a cool feeling that these chords are making me feel.
00:32:24
Speaker
And the same thing with power by Kanye West and the same thing with 99 Problems. And it's like, this is weird. I just feel so cool in this area. And I think it's that intangible, that indescribable thing that influences you. Yeah. And just write music that is like,
00:32:47
Speaker
This is what reminds me of that feeling that I had, and I hope that that reminds other people, or that gives other people that same thing. Exactly, and I think that is why a lot of people will connect with some music and not with others because... Right, okay.
00:33:03
Speaker
the artists are, are too focused on that, on that first level of like sound and like sound quality and like tone and all that stuff. And it's like, you need, you need to go into that deeper, like what, what is the feeling that you're trying to convey? Um, and at like, you know, the opposite side of that is where I think when someone tells us
00:33:29
Speaker
if we flip the script on someone, we're like, what do you think our influences are? And they're like, I think you guys sound a lot like Electric Wizard, which is like a stoner, like Doom band. I'd be like, well, no, but I see what you're saying because some of our guitar tones are like really heavy and thick. Think about a song like,
00:33:54
Speaker
Like, let me out or stay with me. It's like thick, beefy, stoner, rocky kind of like sounds, but like the vibe that Electric Wizard gives off is like very different than what we're doing, right? Like, they're sick. I love Electric Wizard. Electric Wizard, okay. Is it in the same... Yeah, okay. It's like very classic like stoner rock like doom.
00:34:21
Speaker
The picture from slug magazine what a perfect exactly how you get it yeah it's like it's like it's kinda like oh english okay cool yeah no they're really good okay but you know very very heavy and so just like not. Really not the same.
00:34:43
Speaker
really not the same vibe. The funny thing that I laugh at is like when someone's like, yeah, you guys remind me a lot of like Avenged Sevenfold. And I'm like, you just like both bands, man. Yeah. You don't, we have nothing in common with them. You just like them and you like us. That's the common thread.
00:35:02
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. That's happened a few times too. When it really completely doesn't make sense, it's very apparent. It's just like, no, this is you. Would you guys ever consider touring with them?
00:35:20
Speaker
And they would never consider touring with us. Tell me how that would work. Yeah. Tell me how that would work. It's like, yeah, for you would be really awesome to see like two bands that you. Holy shit. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah. But yeah, that's there. There's definitely a lot of moments I think I can draw from and I think that that's what it comes down to is like,
00:35:47
Speaker
We listen to the bands that we listen to like against Sam Roberts is another thing where yeah, honestly if I
00:35:54
Speaker
I think Sam Roberts was just like a right place, right time kind of artist. Yep. For sure. Because can't necessarily say musically it influenced us. It's kind of hard to say. I think back in the day we wrote more songs like his style. Maybe you're right. Yeah.
00:36:18
Speaker
And I mean, yeah, obviously like huge credit to him because some of the first shows we've ever seen, first show I've ever seen with Sam Roberts and then first shows we saw as like a group of friends and
Personal Musical Journeys
00:36:29
Speaker
like it just sort of, you know, made an imprint in our lives. It's like this awesome experience as like, you know, growing up.
00:36:36
Speaker
And then the music for sure. I think it was records are still really fucking good. Yeah, man. Chemical City records, which is like weirdly his underrated one. I know. I know. It's funny. That's so good. I think that's his best. Yeah, you know. And I think that's what gave at least gave me the nudge of getting into music was like his music and writing. I was like, Oh, like I want to try writing something. You know, it was kind of like Sam. I didn't know that actually. Yeah, I don't think I ever knew that. Well, because it was like,
00:37:06
Speaker
Again, it was right place, right time. I remember seeing his show, the free show at the Raceway in Windsor. Right. Yeah. And then like got into his music in Chemical City. Bridge to Nowhere was like one of the first songs I played and sung. OK.
00:37:28
Speaker
Yeah, actually. Wow. Whoa. This is like a weird. It's funny. You can see that. I watched it. I watched it happen in your eyes. I need to get you a box of Kleenex. Holy shit. I'm having a moment. God.
00:37:54
Speaker
Oh, wow. That was the first time I learned how to play and sing on the guitar. And then from there, after learning and playing how to sing it, I wanted to record it so that I could be like, oh, let me record this so I can listen back to it. And that's when I cracked open the old Mac and GarageBand and I figured out how to do it just from the speakers. And that was it. Okay. From there, I was like, I can just record my own thing.
00:38:21
Speaker
Right now i might as well just do my stuff yeah you go and that was it so why do you keep those memories covered yeah you know till it's time until the right context it was i can't believe that rich no yeah that's definitely what happened that is crazy i never knew that well.
00:38:41
Speaker
So yeah, I mean, huge credit to Sam Marmer. So it wasn't necessarily like, obviously we love this music and there's certain techniques that even like Nugent would play. Nugent being Dave Nugent, not Ted. Huge, huge disclaimer, not Ted, Dave.
00:39:04
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. I wonder if he gets asked a lot. He must. He must. As a guitarist named Dave Nugent? Yeah. Yeah. Is your grandfather made possibly? Yeah. What's the relation? No. Nothing.
00:39:17
Speaker
But he would have really cool leads. Remember the leads he would play so uniquely him? Yes. On a lot of songs? Yes. You just know when he comes out. You know when it's him. He's so good. His playing was very influential, I would say. Right. Yeah. His leads are really very recognizable. But I think it's like... What was that for you? In the same sort of topic for you?
00:39:47
Speaker
in terms of what got me playing music. Well, yeah, even drumming. Oh. Because I wonder if you listen to something, you saw something, you're like, I want to try this. I remember it's like the music. Well, go ahead. So it's kind of like when I started playing drums, I started playing drums just because of my music teacher in grade school.
00:40:09
Speaker
Right. Like everyone had to pick an instrument and I got the drums. Like there was like five spots for drummers and we had to like, you know, rock, paper, scissors for them or something. Cause there was like 10 or 15 kids who wanted to do it. And I ended up getting it, um, one of the spots, which is kind of funny to think that like, I might not have ever played drums had I not.
00:40:33
Speaker
won a fucking rock-paper-scissors match. Yeah, that is pretty crazy. You could have been the world's greatest trumpeter. Wow. But anyway, then I started like my neighbor owned Riverside Music Shop in Windsor and
00:40:58
Speaker
so then I convinced my parents like yeah I'd like to just start drum lessons there like don't have to buy a drum kit or anything and so I did it for like a year I played drums without having a drum kit and I would like live for the like we did music like once every five days or something like once a week in school and I would just live for the like time where I could like get behind the drum kit and like
00:41:22
Speaker
play for everyone like the stuff that I was learning behind the scenes like at drum lessons um and then eventually got a drum kit so now I could do it at home and all that stuff and so the rest is kind of history I did I only did lessons for like one year but um at that time
00:41:39
Speaker
what was kind of cool was like Blink-182. And that was like when NMO, the state just came out. And so the pop punk thing was really big. And so that's kind of like what I was listening to, what I was playing, but that's where it's like my musical kind of discovery journey was starting at that time. Cause I feel like, you know,
00:42:00
Speaker
when you're like 11 or younger, you're just really just listening to like what's popular and what everyone else is listening to. And it's so much, it's just so much of a like, I just want to fit in. So I just need to listen to what everyone else listens to. Absolutely man. And then after that, it's kind of when I like started to like define my own taste and then realize that that could be part of my personality. And, and that's like, I could help, that could help define who I was as a person and the style and all that stuff.
00:42:28
Speaker
So then I started getting into like, um, Nirvana and smashing pumpkins and like Metallica and stuff. And that sort of older stuff, um, in part because I wanted to learn how to play the stuff on drums and they were really good drummers. And that was like part of the, part of the discovery there was like related to learning the instrument. Um,
00:42:55
Speaker
But again, I think that's kind of like to say that like I wouldn't say that like any of those got me into music or you know, like there's still like I still have like a kind of like emotional attachment to that. But like I don't like throw it on ever really. I know like I don't really listen to any of those bands anymore.
00:43:19
Speaker
Intentionally. I never throw on a Blink 182 album or a Nirvana album or a Metallica. I just don't. Even though I was listening, hundreds of hundreds of hours when I was that age, that's what I would listen to.
00:43:38
Speaker
I don't know when that happens, too. Well, I mean, it was part of just how it was. So again, I think and I think this is kind of related to like where a lot of people get frustrated when artists change is you got to realize like it's there's it's like two lines on a graph and there is kind of like an intersection. So it's like this is your musical taste. Yeah. And this is like the music that the artist is making. And so like
00:44:07
Speaker
earlier here, you aren't going to line up to what they're making. But when you get into an artist, you're at the intersection of what you are into at that time is the kind of music that the artist happens to be making.
00:44:22
Speaker
And then there's eventually a divergence and that's where fans get frustrated because they're like, and that's so perfect of like a visual because it is absolutely right. Yeah. Cause it's just like, right. It just like, it just happened that the time where I got in into your music, we were like perfect. We were, we were right. You know what I mean? Um, and then over time we're just kind of like diverging. And I think the fans that are along for like the long ride,
00:44:51
Speaker
just so happens that your lines are really, really close. And that's why I think when we, maybe for me, early Coldplay stuff, that was a perfect time for me to listen to the first three Coldplay records and really, really get into them. And then they started to change and I wasn't really into that. They were going more pop and I was
00:45:16
Speaker
getting more indie, I guess. And so it just didn't work out. But those three records are still amazing to me. Even fourth one, Viva La Vida, is still really, really good. But I'm not convinced that if a new band came out with a record that sounded like X and Y now, I don't know that I would be into it.
00:45:41
Speaker
Right. Because it was, again, that time that it happened. And that's the thing. It's like because you listen to it at that intersection, I think it's locked in forever now. You will always appreciate that because it was such a close thing to you emotionally at one point that I think it'll always sort of carry over. But yeah, I'm not there musically right now. So if a new band kind of made an album that sounded a lot like it,
00:46:11
Speaker
I don't know that I would necessarily like it. Maybe I would, but probably wouldn't get into it as much as I was into X and Y when that came out. I understand that for sure. I think taking what you're saying and applying it to myself, I think AM Arctic Monkeys, that album. Yeah. I think a lot of people
00:46:38
Speaker
You should expand on that, but I think a lot of people are going to feel that. Well, if you think of it like this, like this is where they were early on with their music. I wasn't into that. That's where I was. And then they got to AM, which was the intersect point. Yep.
00:46:53
Speaker
And I was like, wow, this is like really what I'm into at this time. And then they obviously branched out into like, you know, what's the album now they have? Like there's obviously the one about like the moon hotel.
00:47:08
Speaker
Do they have another one now? Well, there's they released one like maybe two years ago or three years ago. That was like it was like he was a they were a lounge band. Oh, yeah. That lobby of the of Hotel on the Moon. Yes. Yes. And then they have I think they have another one now. OK. And I wouldn't. Yeah. Like that's it. We lost, you know, where I'm here. Got it here now. So I don't I don't keep track anymore. But yes, if a band were to release something
00:47:35
Speaker
That sounded like a and now i would also just kinda be like that's nice but. That was then yeah it's not exactly what i'm into right now yeah yeah and i think for for bands like that or for bands were for fans where this is occurring it's so nice to hear that that.
00:47:54
Speaker
Like if if Coldplay, for example, were to, you know, come out and say, you know, we're writing an album and it just sounds so much like Rush of Blood to the head or like we're really going back to our roots and and like playing a lot of songs that sounded very, very X and Y. It's like teasing you to like go back to that intersect point. Exactly. You know. Yeah. And. And then maybe if they do end up releasing an album where it sounds like what they used to sound like,
00:48:25
Speaker
you kind of like are chasing the feeling that you had when you first heard those albums in the time that you were in. And it doesn't quite line up or doesn't quite measure up. Yeah, like the magic isn't there anymore. I mean, this is like there's obviously like a lot of parallels to like a lot of relationships here, romantic or friendship or otherwise, you know, like it's kind of same thing. Like you're you are now a different person and they are also a different band. And so even if they try to bring it back, it's not going to have the same magic.
00:48:55
Speaker
Because again, you might not be into your musical path is at a different point than it was when you liked that album. Yeah. And that's why I think as an artist, you can either change and upset the people who expected you to stay on their track of what they listen to.
00:49:21
Speaker
Um, or you can say the same and eventually people are going to outgrow you anyway.
Music Industry Changes
00:49:26
Speaker
So like you just kind of have to do your own thing and you have to go on that, that path and like find new people along the way. And I think that that only kind of benefits you as an artist because
00:49:40
Speaker
I would still buy tickets to go see even like say Sam Roberts, Sam Roberts probably has like seven albums now. Yeah, it's got to be. I'm more into like the first three or four. I would still go see him because I know he's going to play those songs and I'm sure I would still enjoy the newer stuff. But like if there's someone who's really connecting with the newer stuff,
00:50:04
Speaker
they'll go for those records. And now you have two people who are like kind of completely different musical tastes both going to your show. And so you're just kind of like expanding your audience and it doesn't matter so much that like your old stuff might not align with your new stuff in the eyes of like you as the artist. Because I think generally people will always hear your music as being your music and having that kind of common tie.
00:50:34
Speaker
Um, but you know, I think that capturing two different groups of people isn't really like a bad thing. Like, yeah, as long as you're not making a crazy departure, you know, well, that's, that's where it gets tough because even as like us as the artist, it gets really hard. If like you're trying to cater to two different versions of your own fan, you know, it's like,
00:51:02
Speaker
Like 21 Pilots, for example, I listened to their newest single, which was sick. And then I listened to something off Blurryface like tearing my heart.
00:51:18
Speaker
And I'm like, how does this, I think, I don't know, that's almost like two different bands and like, when they go to play stuff live, how do they work in the older stuff to appease those people who are at the show and then the new stuff, which is so such a departure, right into the same show. And I think that's really hard to do.
00:51:39
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sure it is. It's hard to tie that in. I feel like even with our newest, our LP4 stuff, it's going to be hard to tie in some of the singles from earlier on. I just feel like it's two different vibes. Yeah, it could be. Yeah, I know what you're saying. I don't think it necessarily has to flow one into the next.
00:52:07
Speaker
I don't know, at the same time, you know, a lot of these older artists, I'm just like, I don't know, just kind of like recognizing that like, this is from one era, and this is from another one. And it doesn't, it doesn't necessarily mean that like,
00:52:23
Speaker
I don't know. I understand they're not from the same album, I guess is what I'm saying. When you switch gears and you go to an older song, I'm like, okay, I'm done with that now and now we're on to this new scene or this new era in the same show.
00:52:41
Speaker
And there's some bands that don't like I don't feel like the Black Keys really like they could play their entire catalog and it would all sound like the same show. It all kind of fits. Yeah, you know, like it wouldn't be such a change of pace. Yeah. But yeah, I think for for those bands who really make departures from their own sound,
00:53:02
Speaker
It's tough. And I guess it is good to look at it. Radiohead. Like that one is kind of like that. Yeah, that is a that is a huge departure. Yeah. But then you then you kind of have like I guess you have a sort of show. Don't some artists play like album like they'll have a show where it's like, oh, we're going to play the entirety of this album or something like that. Yeah.
00:53:28
Speaker
Like that's obviously when you get into like the, the legacy stage legacy in like, or if it's just like a, yeah, much, I mean, I guess, yeah, you're a legacy artist. If your album is old, but like my morning jacket did that. Um, they did two nights at red rocks and one was just the entire album. It still moves front to back. Okay. And then a couple more songs. And then like from a, from a,
00:53:54
Speaker
from different albums. And then the next night they just did songs from every other album, like just normal show, but nothing from that record. They're, they're such a band from like the era of just like you're, you're famous because you're a good band. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like that just does not exist anymore. Yeah. Like what, what are they like, what they're just, my morning jacket is my morning jacket. It's not like they, I can't really tie like a specific, maybe the album art and stuff, but like they're not, it's not like specific.
00:54:23
Speaker
image or something to them. Yeah, they didn't have like breakout moments. It's just like a kind of, just kind of. Yeah. They're a good band and that's why they are famous because they're good. Yeah. Their music is just good. That's it. And so yeah, they're not like a, you know, it's not like everyone knows who they are, but they sell a lot of tickets. They have a lot of fans. They have a lot of diehard fans.
00:54:47
Speaker
you know, yeah, it's so funny. And, but I think that like niche thing, you know, kind of going back to what we were talking about last time was, is like, that's becoming more of the thing is like the niche artist and owning a niche. And like, there's so many small niche artists that like, it's not like it was before where it's like, how could you not hear? How could you not know who this person was? Right? Like,
00:55:15
Speaker
We have friends who were who didn't know who like Lana del Rey is. But I'm also not surprised by that because although she is like in the media more and more now. She like.
00:55:27
Speaker
isn't, I don't know, she's just not a household name necessarily in the way that like in the seventies, anyone at her level of success, everyone knows who that person is. Yeah. Yeah. Cause she does own a weird little niche of pop. Yeah, exactly. And it's just, there's so many of those, like you can, you can just, you can have a music career.
00:55:49
Speaker
and no one really knows who you are, which I think is cool and interesting. It is. Sometimes too, I feel like a lot of their popularity is like, oh, Taylor Swift, thanks Lana Del Rey for influence on this song. And then people are like, Lana Del Rey, who's that? Yeah, exactly. And then they look into it or like she's pictured
00:56:11
Speaker
you know, clapping at an event. People are like, who's this random one? Right. Yeah. You know, so yeah. It is more of a good personality thing. Personality is huge now. Huge. Yeah. Massive.
Cultural Impact of Movies
00:56:22
Speaker
The one thing about the monoculture like era though that I think gets missed is like it was something that like everyone could relate to. And I think there was kind of like, um, there was like a bonding over that. Like,
00:56:40
Speaker
when the Beatles were just everywhere and everyone knew every Beatles song and every Beatles album release was the biggest thing in the world. That was a uniting thing versus there's so many now niches of music that I don't necessarily have that bond with literally everybody
00:57:05
Speaker
in North America. If my favorite band releases an album, I might be hard pressed to find anyone else who cares. Yeah. Except online. Yeah. In your own niche, in your own niche of people. So that's kind of the one thing that's like, ah, man, like I think movies are still in that just because of the distribution method and the way that it's consumed is like a little, it's harder to make like
00:57:31
Speaker
to have the niche factor that music has now, to have that in movies is going to, I think, be really tough. Think of a world where a movie like Superbad is
00:57:48
Speaker
like a niche thing. There's just so many of these movies that are unbelievable, but you'll never get to them because there's too many of them and there's too many niches and people are into too many things. It's nice to have like, oh, we've all seen Superbad, of course, and we can bond over the jokes and the story and whatnot.
00:58:08
Speaker
kind of don't have that as much in music anymore. Yeah. And even if you do, like for like, let's say the massive, massive artists, it's so Yeah, exactly. It's kind of like mundane to talk about like, yeah, it's almost like talking about the weather, you know? Yeah. Oh, you like Drake? Yeah, I guess he's good. You know, it's just, you don't really talk about this thing. So it's not interesting. But like, for whatever reason, movies,
00:58:32
Speaker
Have you seen Oppenheimer? It's like one of the most popular movies of the past year and it's not really lame to talk about it. It is weird how there's a difference.
00:58:49
Speaker
It's come to its natural end. It's come to the natural conclusion. We've come back to movies. Back to movies. Wow. Nice. Nice. Christopher Nolan won. Did you like Oppenheimer? I did. I thought it was
00:59:09
Speaker
You know long I just I don't know if I can complain about movies being long anymore. It was long you know, it just Like I I don't know I feel like the biggest thing I complain about these days is like movies being long But I don't know if that's just because of that short attention span that's built over time Well, they are definitely longer than they used to be for sure. Okay. Yeah, so it was it was obviously very long and drawn out but like I
00:59:34
Speaker
Well acted, I mean, score was incredible. Visually, it was amazing. Yeah, it was a good movie. It was a really good movie. And I think it deserves like, okay, so you thought it was like best picture worthy. I do. Yeah, I do. I think it's an important story as well. Yeah. You know, to tell. So I think it definitely deserves it. Did you watch it?
00:59:59
Speaker
Yeah, I saw it kind of recently and I thought it was okay. Okay. Yeah, I think what really ruins it for some people, like when the movie was out and circulating in theaters was everybody was like, you got to go see this in 30 millimeter.
01:00:18
Speaker
There might be one part that's really great for that, but it's the story of a man. At the end of the day, it's the story of this guy. You don't need to watch it in IMAX to soak in the story of this guy. I thought that would ruin it for people because then they were trying to match it to the hype of like,
01:00:38
Speaker
Well, I'm about to be blown away visually. I better strap in, but then it's just a lot of conversation. There were some definitely really good moments. When they were about to detonate the bomb for the first time, my heart was pounding. Same, same. Oh, he's so good at building those tension moments. Yeah, yeah. So generally, I thought that was really good.
01:01:11
Speaker
It was tough like Robert Downey Jr. being the kind of villain. I was, I don't know, I just had a hard time grasping onto that. That was like one Christopher Nolan movie where like the timelines thing didn't feel as like instinctual and natural to me, which is obviously like that's kind of his thing.
01:01:32
Speaker
Um, but it was one that was just, it seemed a little more forced. I don't know. I didn't really get it too much, but yeah, I thought it was good. Um, and there was a lot of stuff in there that I didn't know about. So that was good. Yeah, exactly. About like the development stage and like how they built that, that whole city basically. Yeah. Come and live and like academics to just like interact every single day.
01:01:56
Speaker
Yeah. And I didn't know, I didn't know that he had like the ties to New Mexico before they did that. And so, you know, there's, they were doing all the tests in the desert and stuff, which obviously is a perfect place for it.
01:02:07
Speaker
But I didn't realize he was like, oh, yeah, we should do it in New Mexico because he like had a kind of emotional tie to that place. But it's funny that I saw this talk recently of like it showed like the contrast between who was in who's the actor in Maestro? Oh, my God.
01:02:28
Speaker
Why can't I think of this guy's name? That's driving me crazy. He's in the hangover, like one of the three guys in the hangover, very famous. Bradley Cooper. Bradley Cooper. Okay. Very famous. Very famous actor. Very famous guy. You know, white. No, he's
01:02:50
Speaker
And he's like, the Tik Toker is like acting his ass off for this maestro role. And then like they cut to like Sillian Murphy winning all the awards. And like literally he just put in contacts to make his eyes like this crazy color of green. He's just sitting there like this the whole time. And it's like just different cuts of him doing this because that is kind of what he did for a majority of the right. Yeah. Killian Murphy was just like staring. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he's going to scoop up all the awards. Yeah.
01:03:18
Speaker
I thought he did a good job though. I saw beyond that. I did think he did a really good job. All right. All right, man. That's the end of episode two, I suppose. Episode two. All right. See you later, y'all.