Speaker 1: Carola. She's the queen of talking. He was sown. She's
Speaker 1: on the side. You got the snoop on on the
Speaker 1: on side. No one can do with Clie Carola Carola.
Speaker 1: No one can do with quiet like Carola Carolina. Hey, y'all,
Speaker 1: welcome to Hyper Caroline Hobby. I am your host, Caroline Hobby.
Speaker 1: I know music, I know people, and I know the
Speaker 1: questions do you want to ask? So let's get Hyper
Speaker 1: heads up. These are adults having adult conversations, so there
Speaker 1: could be adult content. Hey, y'all, thanks for tuning into Hyper.
Speaker 1: This week is Lit. They are a huge rock band.
Speaker 1: They had some of the big gets hit I think
Speaker 1: one of the longest number ones of all time. It
Speaker 1: went twelve weeks My own Worst Enemy, and they were
Speaker 1: eaten by Pamla Anderson. If you're gonna get eaten by someone,
Speaker 1: it might as well be Pamla Anderson. So please welcome
Speaker 1: A J and Jeremy pop off from the band Lit.
Speaker 1: Hey guys, Hi, Hello, So I'm here with the pop
Speaker 1: Off Brothers. Introduce yourselves the pop Off Brothers. Pop Off
Speaker 1: it does, it's very um. It catches your attention. Pop
Speaker 1: Off like popping Off and Lit have become too popular
Speaker 1: terms in pop culture these days, so we're about years
Speaker 1: ahead of our time. What does pop off mean? And uh,
Speaker 1: pop culture like popping off? Like I don't know, one
Speaker 1: of the reality shows A Girl was just like pop off,
Speaker 1: pop off perfect. So where are we right now? What
Speaker 1: is this awesome venue that we're sitting in in Nashville?
Speaker 1: This is the Redneck Social Club Okay, management Headquarters, which
Speaker 1: is awesome. It's like a bar, a dance hall. It's
Speaker 1: kind of like in a cool like street crid kind
Speaker 1: of location to sort of stripped down music venue. You know,
Speaker 1: had the party vibe. Do you guys throw some parties
Speaker 1: in here with a new couple? Yeah, okay, we had
Speaker 1: after age over there and bands get up and jam
Speaker 1: and we've got to find a clip to throw in
Speaker 1: right here. Of the karaoke that took place, I don't
Speaker 1: know if it was carried. It was sort of like
Speaker 1: an American audition. It was amazing. Was everybody sober doing this?
Speaker 1: So it sounded great. So I want to start off
Speaker 1: with a little rapid fire first off, Well, actually I
Speaker 1: want you to describe yourself, but I want to rapid
Speaker 1: fire first. What is the coolest venue that you guys
Speaker 1: have ever played. You guys are in the band lit.
Speaker 1: For everyone's listening, Jeremy and a j pop off there
Speaker 1: in the band Lit. They're founding members. They're also brothers.
Speaker 1: Then they're also amazing. Coolest venue you've ever played, man,
Speaker 1: I'd see some of the European festival balls we've done,
Speaker 1: just like fields of people. That's insane. So I mean
Speaker 1: that's I guess that's not really a venue. But Red
Speaker 1: Rocks in Denver pretty breathtaking. Um, it's very pretty. We've
Speaker 1: played some amazing, little tiny places and some amazing The
Speaker 1: first we played um Baltimore Raven Stadium. That was like
Speaker 1: our first huge show that we ever played, and that
Speaker 1: was like, you know, impressionable day because we had never
Speaker 1: played in front of it, played in something that big before,
Speaker 1: so that was kind of gnarly. And we made it
Speaker 1: messed us up to because we were on the big
Speaker 1: screen on the other side of the football field and
Speaker 1: so there was a delay. So I was like doing
Speaker 1: my rock pose and and I saw the screen and
Speaker 1: my hands were in a different place than they were
Speaker 1: on the neck. Totally messed me up. Yeah, I learned
Speaker 1: to not look at those screens after that. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it was it a bad mess up. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: always weird just seeing a giant version of yourself too.
Speaker 1: You just kind of want to keep looking in. It's
Speaker 1: very distracting. That is true, Okay, weirdest thing you've ever
Speaker 1: seen on the road. We're just saying, maybe like we're
Speaker 1: you know when after after party like meat and Greek stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm autographed a glass eyeball before and I pull this
Speaker 1: guy pulled his eye out and had us he want
Speaker 1: us to sign his glass eye. That's weird. Ship, that's
Speaker 1: so weird. I think when you are when you're a
Speaker 1: band touring your first time out, so many things are
Speaker 1: weird because you're in so many new places and you're
Speaker 1: meeting new people, and you know, the food is different
Speaker 1: or the cities look different and um, and then after
Speaker 1: a while, like none of it's weird anymore. It's kind
Speaker 1: of all normal. So that's true. Once you've seen so much,
Speaker 1: just like anything goes. Favorite country you've been to, Japan
Speaker 1: I think is my favorite. Why because for me, I'm
Speaker 1: not a big fan of flying. I'm not afraid of flying,
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm not a fan of sitting down in
Speaker 1: a chair for fourteen hours. So if I'm going to
Speaker 1: go through all that paint and agony of being locked
Speaker 1: up for that long, when I get off that plane,
Speaker 1: I want to be somewhere that's like another planet. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, when you fly from New York to Frankfurt, Germany,
Speaker 1: you got to play and you're like, this looks kind
Speaker 1: of like anywhere in America, you know. But when you
Speaker 1: get to Japan, you know, you're in a front in
Speaker 1: a foreign country and it's and it's very modern and cool.
Speaker 1: And I love the food, I love the culture. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: What about you, a j I would probably stay Japan
Speaker 1: as well, I mean just because it's you know, if
Speaker 1: you're gonna travel, um. So, I think there's so many,
Speaker 1: so many parts of Europe that just feels like it
Speaker 1: kind of feels like the East Coast or something. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not not super um I don't know, you know,
Speaker 1: like a traveling really, but I think Holland, like the
Speaker 1: Netherlands and those places where it's just so clean and
Speaker 1: tidy and you know that everything's like compartmentalized, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I love I love that part of the world. Okay,
Speaker 1: who are else biggest biggest musical influences man all over
Speaker 1: the place. For us, that's always band. You know, grew
Speaker 1: up on heavy metal music, so you know, Maiden and
Speaker 1: Judas Priest and all. That's all the It's almost like
Speaker 1: you gotta pick a decade because definitely the biggest influence
Speaker 1: on our childhood was probably heavy metal, but the biggest
Speaker 1: influence in our um songwriting probably be like more like
Speaker 1: Elvis Costello or the Eagles, Don Henley, um um and uh.
Speaker 1: But you know, as a guitar player, Boston I love.
Speaker 1: So it's like if you threw a year out or
Speaker 1: a decade out, I could probably name a handful that
Speaker 1: it's we're still influenced by. You know, it's two thousand
Speaker 1: and sixteen and there's still people that influence us. You know.
Speaker 1: But we were born in the seventies and our dad
Speaker 1: was on the radio and he'd bring home albums and
Speaker 1: so we we were little kids, we didn't know what
Speaker 1: was what was pop or rock or or metal or country.
Speaker 1: We liked Kenny Rogers and the Cars and Van Halen
Speaker 1: and Dolly Parton. You know, this was all stuff that
Speaker 1: we had in our living room on vinyl. So um,
Speaker 1: there's so many. Elvis definitely do both of them. I'm
Speaker 1: actually I want to get I'm gonna get a tattoo,
Speaker 1: and I think one of our friends, I can't remember
Speaker 1: whose idea it was, but I think I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: gonna steal it before someone gets it. But it's the
Speaker 1: playing card with Elvis Presley and Elvis Costello, the king,
Speaker 1: you know, kings of both sides. Speaking of tattoos, you
Speaker 1: guys both have full sleeves that are amazing. Yeah, gotta
Speaker 1: finish this one, but thank you. What is your favorite
Speaker 1: tattoo and what is your least favorite tattoo that you
Speaker 1: guys have on your arms. I think for me, my
Speaker 1: favorite is probably our my tribute to al Bigal, our
Speaker 1: drummer who we lost. Um that's my Alno tattoo. But um,
Speaker 1: my least favorite is probably my my leg tattoo, my
Speaker 1: first one. It's like a tribal I don't know what
Speaker 1: the hell it is, but it's ugly. It's the only
Speaker 1: one I think i'd cover up. I've got someone, you know,
Speaker 1: tattoos that are kind of silly that I'm like, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't get that again, but I wouldn't cover them up
Speaker 1: with that leg. When I will, I'll cover it. Not
Speaker 1: a fan. Okay, well everyone makes a first mistake, but
Speaker 1: I don't show my legs very often anyway. It's like
Speaker 1: you should, right, chicken leg. Thank you that I get
Speaker 1: a tattoo have a chicken bone on it. I do
Speaker 1: have a leg tattoo that has a similar story. It's
Speaker 1: my first one. And you guys both did like tattoos
Speaker 1: for the first time. I don't know why when we
Speaker 1: were when we were a teenage and we were like
Speaker 1: eighteen nineteen with our first tattoos, and back then it
Speaker 1: was like a big commitment. You know, um, you know,
Speaker 1: you could start here, but if you could see it
Speaker 1: from your sleeve, it was gonna be harder to get jobs.
Speaker 1: And we already had long hair, so it's already hard
Speaker 1: enough to to, you know, find jobs that would deal
Speaker 1: with our band in our lifestyle. And so that was
Speaker 1: like and then if you went below the elbow was like,
Speaker 1: oh wow, and drop security. Now kids are starting on
Speaker 1: their neck. You'll see like you know, you see these
Speaker 1: kids and they're literally their first tattoo was like the
Speaker 1: whole front of their throat and they take your shirt
Speaker 1: off and they get nothing else, but um, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I went down to the hand recently, and so that
Speaker 1: is an everyday reminder that it's going to be very
Speaker 1: hard for me to ever put a suit on and
Speaker 1: go work in the corporate world. So but maybe that's
Speaker 1: kind of why you did it, And yeah, I never
Speaker 1: probably would anyways, but it's a daily reminder that I
Speaker 1: have to go out and kick ass because I can't.
Speaker 1: I don't have a backup option now to just put
Speaker 1: a suit on and go work at a wherever. Right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: now you got a hand really pretty much security, all
Speaker 1: sugar skull, and it's got black diamonds and eyes, which
Speaker 1: sort of that ring. Um, so yeah, it was that
Speaker 1: under what Okay, so let's start at the beginning. You
Speaker 1: guys are brothers. Jeremy, how much older are you than
Speaker 1: a j Two years? Okay, So you guys formed this
Speaker 1: first band called Razzle when a j You were fourteen,
Speaker 1: Jeremy you were sixteen. Well when I was The band
Speaker 1: formed around them, but I was a drummer at the time.
Speaker 1: I know you switched to singing. How did that was?
Speaker 1: When I was sixteen? I started singing because you kuldn't
Speaker 1: find a singer that was, you know, half decent um,
Speaker 1: So I yeah, I said I'll give a shot. So
Speaker 1: you did not originally want to sing, you know, I
Speaker 1: just I love drums and I never really thought about,
Speaker 1: you know, one instrument. Our grandfather was a drummer, jazz musician,
Speaker 1: so that was I was exposed to that and had
Speaker 1: access to his drum kid, and it was the first
Speaker 1: instrument I learned how to play. Um. And then I
Speaker 1: think it's just after playing a show as a drummer,
Speaker 1: I just realized that was I didn't want to be
Speaker 1: cooped up behind a kid. Run for you, free like
Speaker 1: the bird that you are. Okay, so you switched the singing.
Speaker 1: And then Jeremy, you are in the band as guitar.
Speaker 1: You played lead guitar, and you're also the original band
Speaker 1: members Kevin, Sean and Alan. You are together the whole
Speaker 1: time you formed Razzle and stayed together through lit the
Speaker 1: whole time. Seawan didn't. And when we started out, I
Speaker 1: was actually in a couple of other bands. When I
Speaker 1: was sixteen, I dropped out of high school as a
Speaker 1: junior to pursue my rock and roll dreams, and um,
Speaker 1: they were doing the Razzle thing, and then we all
Speaker 1: kind of about a year or two later we all
Speaker 1: joined up, and so there was a fifth member guitar
Speaker 1: player in the early days and then um and then
Speaker 1: it was just me, A, J, Kevin and al for
Speaker 1: twenty years. So that's a huge dedication to stay through
Speaker 1: all the changing of the band names, the changing of
Speaker 1: the record labels, all of your musical evolution. Y'all never
Speaker 1: broke up. Don't you think that sort of brayer it is? Yeah, extremely,
Speaker 1: I mean there it's weird, is something about I feel
Speaker 1: like a lot of Orange County bands have stayed together
Speaker 1: for for a really long time. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's maybe it's just a culture that you know that's
Speaker 1: so cal kind of um, I don't know, people, it
Speaker 1: was family for us. So and you guys never had
Speaker 1: another option of another job, Like you're like, we're being
Speaker 1: a van or sticking to it because sometimes people are
Speaker 1: scared to commit to van that you have to, man,
Speaker 1: I think it's just like anything career wise, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just no backup plan. That was the best way
Speaker 1: spending the entertainment period. You've got to have and you
Speaker 1: got to devote yourself. We would always have very menial
Speaker 1: jobs just to make just enough to let cover studio
Speaker 1: rent for band practice and gas in the car for gigs,
Speaker 1: and whatever money we made at the gigs we would
Speaker 1: put back into the band to make flyers or print
Speaker 1: CDs or cassettes or stickers, and um, we were pretty
Speaker 1: relentless guerilla marketers. You know. This is with you know,
Speaker 1: before social media and that kind of stuff. So our
Speaker 1: social media was us being socially active. And we would
Speaker 1: just go out to multiple bars, multiple concerts, multiple anywhere
Speaker 1: where there was people hanging out that we thought might
Speaker 1: like what we were doing. We would go there with
Speaker 1: piles of stuff to give them, and we'd stand outside
Speaker 1: of shows and just give them and we and and
Speaker 1: that worked really um because we were you know, by
Speaker 1: the time we got a record deal, we were is
Speaker 1: that what got to the record deal, just going out
Speaker 1: and hustling. And Razzle was your first record deal with
Speaker 1: you know, we never had a record deal with Razzle.
Speaker 1: It switched to Stain. Stain. Yeah, but then there's another
Speaker 1: band called Stain, So you came up with Lit, which
Speaker 1: I love the name let It was the name of
Speaker 1: the first album, so it was the band was Stained.
Speaker 1: The album is called lit. I didn't have a record.
Speaker 1: We got signed to, Yeah, a hip hop label called
Speaker 1: Delicious Vinyl. It was Malicious Vinyl was there, like you know,
Speaker 1: wicked step child for the rock stuff. Okay, it's a
Speaker 1: Delicious Vinyl. So they had like they had Tone Loc
Speaker 1: and they had Young MC and they had the Far
Speaker 1: Side and UM they were like a really cool especially
Speaker 1: now looking back, they're a really cool, credible UM hip
Speaker 1: hop label. And but they had this couple of crazy
Speaker 1: dudes that worked there that were really into rock and roll,
Speaker 1: and so they convinced them to UM let them sign
Speaker 1: a couple of rock bands. And so that was like
Speaker 1: and we were in a bar in San Diego in
Speaker 1: front of like nine people and they were like two
Speaker 1: of the nine people and it turned But how did
Speaker 1: you guys change from Razzle? Why did you all dump
Speaker 1: Razzle the name? I think it's a lot of it
Speaker 1: was just the evolution of the band's we've been together
Speaker 1: that long, you kind of you grow. We were just
Speaker 1: little kids when we started the first one M and
Speaker 1: we just changed, we kind of outgrew it. It was
Speaker 1: it just felt too high school. Yeah, it was a
Speaker 1: little too bright for us about not that sweet we
Speaker 1: were changing, music was changing. Everything was just kind of
Speaker 1: we we you know, I think with any artist, the
Speaker 1: more you do it, and as you start doing it
Speaker 1: for longer, you you start to figure out what it
Speaker 1: is that you want to do, you know, start more
Speaker 1: heavy metal, fish or heavy. Right. Well, we were all
Speaker 1: over the place here, like we still are kind of
Speaker 1: we We were never afraid to get really heavy or
Speaker 1: to get really um emotional and and sad. You know,
Speaker 1: we were always kind of pushing it a little farther
Speaker 1: in either direction. And I think when we started to
Speaker 1: have some success that we started to kind of focus
Speaker 1: it in a little bit more on what we felt
Speaker 1: we were the best at. What is the best I
Speaker 1: don't know. I'm still trying to figure it out. We
Speaker 1: geek out on on songwriting. We just we love to,
Speaker 1: you know. Once we started collaborating with other writers, it's
Speaker 1: sort of exposed us and opened us up to um,
Speaker 1: you know, just not limiting ourselves and and always being
Speaker 1: open to kind of evolved and let it happen. And
Speaker 1: if it felt I thought right, we just would always
Speaker 1: go with it. So, you know, if you listen from
Speaker 1: from one album to the next, we've kind of constantly
Speaker 1: changed a little bit, and uh, what's the underlying theme
Speaker 1: though that connects all the records. Well, I mean we're
Speaker 1: we like to drink and we like to like a
Speaker 1: good time. Yeah, I don't know that. We kind of
Speaker 1: think I think lits more of an energy for us.
Speaker 1: It's always We've always been kind of lumped into that.
Speaker 1: We've had, in the beginning a lot of stoner followers
Speaker 1: and people, and we're you know, well, we also had
Speaker 1: the guy who directed our very first video. Um, when
Speaker 1: he after the show and he saw us play live,
Speaker 1: he said, and this is when we were still called staining.
Speaker 1: He said, um, seeing you guys live as like watching
Speaker 1: a bomb go off in a building, and so we
Speaker 1: were thinking, that's kind of cool. Bomb fuse lit, like
Speaker 1: getting ready to explode, like that kind of thing. So
Speaker 1: it's just the worst. It sucks. I hope I don't
Speaker 1: ever have to do that again. Oh man. I mean
Speaker 1: the process of that is exhausting. And then you find
Speaker 1: when you like like staining and you realize it's taken.
Speaker 1: But I think I'm glad you'll moved on. Yeah, I think,
Speaker 1: I think And actually, well, the funny story about that
Speaker 1: is that staining the band Staying or Stained a Lewis Music.
Speaker 1: They got sued by the same guy we got sued
Speaker 1: by when we were called staining. But the difference was
Speaker 1: we were like f you to the guy and they
Speaker 1: were like, all right, we'll pay you. So those guys
Speaker 1: actually paid the guy off. And you know, oh, I
Speaker 1: thought it was Aaron Lewis's band that was the stain
Speaker 1: of the problems and it was like a writer for
Speaker 1: Thrasher magazine or something sitting on the name. So what
Speaker 1: was it like? You guys have been playing since you're
Speaker 1: like teenagers. Now you get this first record of what happens? Now,
Speaker 1: what is your life looking like? I mean after the
Speaker 1: first record deal, not a whole lot change. You know,
Speaker 1: we just kept doing what we were doing and actually
Speaker 1: had copies of the record to sell. You know, I
Speaker 1: guess that was a difference, but still like self promoting
Speaker 1: or was the record lea well helping? They helped a
Speaker 1: little bit. I mean what printed posters and the first
Speaker 1: deal was very am and we would go up to Hollywood,
Speaker 1: um to three times a week and go in the
Speaker 1: mail room and stuff envelopes and stuff, you know, and
Speaker 1: um use their copy or to print stuff and just
Speaker 1: we would try to do everything we could take advantage
Speaker 1: of whatever resources that there were. But I mean, the real,
Speaker 1: the real beginning for us was when our c A
Speaker 1: got a copy of My Worst Enemy. And it was
Speaker 1: weird how it happened because they had already passed on us,
Speaker 1: like two or three times. Did you make that with
Speaker 1: Malicious Delicious? So you guys were out of your Delicious
Speaker 1: Delicious yea, and now you're a free agent. So that
Speaker 1: kind of just dissolved over time. It was a great
Speaker 1: launching point, but it kind of dissolved. Honestly, I don't
Speaker 1: even remember that. We may have still been with them,
Speaker 1: and I think they probably just let us go because
Speaker 1: they saw and it would be better for us and
Speaker 1: it would remember all the details then, but that I
Speaker 1: made a new album after that deal. We did some
Speaker 1: demos and on that on that demo was My Worst
Speaker 1: Enemy Miserable Day. They were like, yeah, two top five
Speaker 1: hits on out of four songs got passed on. Everybody
Speaker 1: passed on that. So funny how the music. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: the whole thing is our manager um at the time,
Speaker 1: rudas A. Petty's her name was on the CD with
Speaker 1: her phone number, and radio promo rep at our ci
Speaker 1: A recognized her name from a college that they went
Speaker 1: to in Michigan together, like years passed and he was like, WHOA,
Speaker 1: no way, So he took it into his office and
Speaker 1: put it in and he flipped out over that song
Speaker 1: and then he went to yeah, so he went down
Speaker 1: the hall. It was just a weird thing. And then
Speaker 1: the next thing, it happened really fast after that. We
Speaker 1: went from they heard it, they wanted it. We signed
Speaker 1: with them. We were in the studio like two weeks later,
Speaker 1: and then we finished the record right before Christmas time.
Speaker 1: And then January second, Kai Rock started playing My Horst
Speaker 1: Enemy and it was actually a station that started playing
Speaker 1: the demo and we had to like they had to
Speaker 1: send him a season desist better because it was it
Speaker 1: was a demo version and we weren't anywhere near close
Speaker 1: to you know, ready to release. So it was one
Speaker 1: of those crazy things. Just isn't that those stories crazy?
Speaker 1: Because you've now been an issue, why like five ten years?
Speaker 1: Really doing it at this point over ten years and
Speaker 1: it feels like that's magical, like someone randomly gets your
Speaker 1: CD and then you get a record deal. But there's
Speaker 1: ten years of like custling developing, but then that's just
Speaker 1: true lucky break. That's the kind of stories that are
Speaker 1: crazy because it's really like ten years of hard work
Speaker 1: but then finally something. It's Yeah, the stars eventually have
Speaker 1: to kind of align in your favor totally. I mean,
Speaker 1: because there's too many people. And I didn't used to
Speaker 1: believe that. Fifteen years ago. People would say, oh, there's
Speaker 1: so many talents of people that never make it, and
Speaker 1: I would always kind of felt at that time, like, well, no,
Speaker 1: there's something missing, Like they might be talented, but they
Speaker 1: don't they don't have anything for people to invest in,
Speaker 1: Like they don't have a vibe or an image, or
Speaker 1: the show sucks, or they're great in the studio or
Speaker 1: their four vice versa. They're they're great performers, but they
Speaker 1: don't write great songs. Or I always just felt like
Speaker 1: there must be some piece that's missing otherwise why aren't
Speaker 1: you making it? So you believe that if all the
Speaker 1: pieces are too other, you will eventually make it. I
Speaker 1: used to believe That's why I started coming to Nashville,
Speaker 1: and then I've actually seen a lot of people get
Speaker 1: kind of overlooked. But do you think it eventually comes
Speaker 1: around if you stick with it long enough. Certainly can
Speaker 1: I mean times have definitely changed a lot, so, I
Speaker 1: that's a tough question to answer. And with YouTube there's
Speaker 1: still much more access to finding artists. I guess there's
Speaker 1: people now with that are experiencing a lot of success
Speaker 1: and they have no experience. There's people with a lot
Speaker 1: of experience that never get the success. I don't think
Speaker 1: that that was the case twenty years ago. I think
Speaker 1: you had to really fifteen years ago. I think you
Speaker 1: had to really bust ass develop your local following and
Speaker 1: get and then maybe try to expand that to a
Speaker 1: regional following. And I mean bands that you you know,
Speaker 1: if you think back in like the late nineties or
Speaker 1: early two thousand's, I mean bands like the Dave Matthews
Speaker 1: band that we're playing selling out stadiums, had a huge
Speaker 1: college following just showing up, playing in bars, playing at
Speaker 1: frat parties that they and they built these like legions
Speaker 1: of fans over time, and then they they sort of
Speaker 1: turned the tables on the industry, and the industry had
Speaker 1: to come follow because there was something happening. So and
Speaker 1: now it's kind of that's like a band like Dirty
Speaker 1: Heads is doing that. Now you see some bands that
Speaker 1: still kind of get it and they're working it, but
Speaker 1: they'll have following. You know, they'll be able to tour forever,
Speaker 1: right because they their grassroots following the film. I feel
Speaker 1: like that is true. Like in southern California, especially in
Speaker 1: this era when you guys were emerging, there was a
Speaker 1: lot of bands coming out of there, like No Doubt
Speaker 1: came out of that into the Spring were you guys
Speaker 1: all kind of happening at the same time. They kind
Speaker 1: of beat us a little bit. Within a few years
Speaker 1: you had you had Offspring and and No Doubt, and
Speaker 1: you had even like Corn and but Orange County, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's so crazy the history that comes out of there
Speaker 1: for every time that what year, what were the years
Speaker 1: that was all nineties ish and the two and then
Speaker 1: since then you've had you know, bands like Advantage Sevenfold
Speaker 1: and um Um and Young the Giant and then I
Speaker 1: mean country Wise too. I mean there's been you know,
Speaker 1: Gary Allen's from Orange County and UM and Jackson Brown
Speaker 1: is actually from Fullerton where we're from. UM and UM.
Speaker 1: You know there's a street, there's a street that runs
Speaker 1: through Santa ana called Rate and that's Bonnie Rate's dad.
Speaker 1: Is that that's named named after him. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of history in where we come from. It's just it's
Speaker 1: a really spread out county. It's not like a little scene.
Speaker 1: It's like we didn't know all those bands until we
Speaker 1: were We met him in you know, at some festival
Speaker 1: in New York or something. So you guys get signed
Speaker 1: in this two week period. It's like a magical thing
Speaker 1: that happens. And you're recording your album. You put out
Speaker 1: my own wor cinam. Tell me what that's like, because
Speaker 1: this is the this is the biggest charning rock song
Speaker 1: in if ever right, it's one of the biggest rock
Speaker 1: songs that ever was. We had a good round with it.
Speaker 1: We like twelve weeks at the top, that eleven weeks
Speaker 1: and number one. Yeah, it was fine. We I mean
Speaker 1: we got well, we were we were still in an
Speaker 1: r V and we hadn't glamorous so fast. Well we
Speaker 1: had all the time kind of it was before we
Speaker 1: started blowing our money, and we definitely stayed smart and
Speaker 1: efficient for a while and until we just thought we
Speaker 1: deserved a little luxury, so we went forward for the bus. Well,
Speaker 1: we couldn't. We got to a point where we couldn't
Speaker 1: really drive ourselves around anymore. We were getting you know,
Speaker 1: it was getting a little crazy. But when when you're
Speaker 1: you're in the middle of the country and you have
Speaker 1: six weeks seven weeks of dates left, and all your
Speaker 1: stuff is packed in this r V, you have to
Speaker 1: get home first to unpack it so that you could
Speaker 1: get a bush. And so we were pulling up to
Speaker 1: all these so you guys had a tour, books and everything.
Speaker 1: You're doing your own thing. When this happened, we were
Speaker 1: well we we yeah, we were when when that song
Speaker 1: finally got to number one in the summertime, we were out,
Speaker 1: we were playing Woodstock and playing you know, on tour
Speaker 1: with the Offspring and the Warp Tour, and we were
Speaker 1: doing all this stuff. We were I mean that year
Speaker 1: we left home in January. We left home in January
Speaker 1: and we didn't come back until September of two thousand,
Speaker 1: literally eighteen months we were gone from home. Didn't come
Speaker 1: home once. Yeah, just like not even bring you know,
Speaker 1: not even bring your suitcase in, just like bring your
Speaker 1: backpack in and paying for a little bit. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it was crazy, Like the whole video you know, treatments
Speaker 1: to like we think the song was before we were
Speaker 1: like as soon as it was done recording, we um,
Speaker 1: it was done recording. When we were downe recording that
Speaker 1: we had you know, video producers in their treatments, and
Speaker 1: we were you know, kind of thrown into the makeup
Speaker 1: room and all this new stuff that you know, three
Speaker 1: hundred three or fifty thousand dollar video, you know, from
Speaker 1: never experiencing any of that, and the next thing you know,
Speaker 1: we're on MTV, we're on TRL or so that all
Speaker 1: happened really quickly. Were you guys ready for that? Were
Speaker 1: you ready for this instant thame? I know y'all had
Speaker 1: wanted it, but like that changed overnight for you guys,
Speaker 1: literally right, I think we were. I think we were
Speaker 1: ready for it. I mean we nothing was like you know,
Speaker 1: like you said we were. We were kind of prime
Speaker 1: over the course of ten plus years, and we're really
Speaker 1: comfortable on stage. We were comfortable. You know, we had
Speaker 1: already done a million interviews and with local fanzines and
Speaker 1: things like that, so we're Um. That's the difference I
Speaker 1: think between something like an American Idol winner and in
Speaker 1: a band that's been kind of put through the you're
Speaker 1: not quite ready the American idol, like you don't haven't
Speaker 1: had that preparation time period. You might have some media
Speaker 1: training and you know, extensive amount of that, but yeah,
Speaker 1: not not really. When you get on the stage in
Speaker 1: that connection with a crowd, that happens over I think,
Speaker 1: over time learning how to work that. So what we're
Speaker 1: the what was the fan situation? Like, what was like
Speaker 1: we're girls just throwing themselves at you guys? Was it
Speaker 1: was that crazy to be like walking on a street
Speaker 1: and everyone know who you are. And Jeremy at that
Speaker 1: point you had a long beard to like a long
Speaker 1: braided beard, which you've cut off. I always loved your beard.
Speaker 1: I had. I had a long beard for a long
Speaker 1: time and that was kind of like my calling card.
Speaker 1: But people to cut that off. Um. Actually was when
Speaker 1: our our drummer Al passed away and it was kind
Speaker 1: of an end of an era. So I I um,
Speaker 1: I'm not to bring it down, but we were at
Speaker 1: the funeral and people were putting stuff in the ground,
Speaker 1: like letters and pictures and bottles of Jack Daniels and
Speaker 1: drumsticks or whatever, and I didn't have anything to put
Speaker 1: put in there, and I was like, looking, I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: my watch isn't really going to do him any good.
Speaker 1: And and uh so his daughter was there and that
Speaker 1: I had the the the grave digger guy that was
Speaker 1: over digging another grave, and I called him over and
Speaker 1: he had me scissors, and he got me this big
Speaker 1: old pair of rusty you know, shears, and his daughter
Speaker 1: cut it off right there and then threw it in
Speaker 1: the written around with him. So you're going to cut
Speaker 1: it off, That's so it's kind of a tribute to him.
Speaker 1: I was kind of the end of an era that day.
Speaker 1: But but yeah, so to go. Actually, what you were
Speaker 1: talking about it was it was we were I think
Speaker 1: the only thing about that time that looking back on it,
Speaker 1: when I said, watched videos and I see stuff, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, I wish we would have been able
Speaker 1: to kind of soak that in a little bit more
Speaker 1: and enjoy that a little bit more. Because they had
Speaker 1: us run so ragged. We didn't know our head from
Speaker 1: our asks. We didn't know if we were coming or going.
Speaker 1: And um, we knew it was awesome and we were
Speaker 1: having a great time, but we were a few months in.
Speaker 1: We were so exhausted because we were just burning the
Speaker 1: candle at not only both ends, but in the middle too.
Speaker 1: We just were It was gnarly. And how did you
Speaker 1: guys keep your health up and keep your relationships with
Speaker 1: the band up? Because that is probably I guess you'd
Speaker 1: had all that practice, a lot of drinking, kept it
Speaker 1: all in perspective, and that was that was the one
Speaker 1: thing that learn in the hard way. A few times,
Speaker 1: I guess, you know, you get run down and you
Speaker 1: start stalking the bus up with vitamins and you know,
Speaker 1: to kind of offset the drinking, and you learn how
Speaker 1: to you drink a lot of water. Definitely, you fall
Speaker 1: down a few times before you figure out your system.
Speaker 1: And you guys always got along before it was just
Speaker 1: the four of you, all right, you always got along.
Speaker 1: We always had a road crew that was like family too,
Speaker 1: so we were just like this, you know, unstoppable unit
Speaker 1: on the road us. Yeah, it was really cool. Looking back.
Speaker 1: It was kind of a neat thing that that there
Speaker 1: wasn't really any one particular person that was getting It
Speaker 1: was kind of all for one, one for all, and
Speaker 1: and we would come back into the bus at the
Speaker 1: end of the night and we were just the same
Speaker 1: knuckleheads that we were five years ago, ten years ago,
Speaker 1: we still watching the same stuff on the TV, drinking
Speaker 1: the same cheap beer and you know, playing CEO and
Speaker 1: poker and stuff with our friends, and um, I think
Speaker 1: that we had that foundation that we had built and
Speaker 1: that's what kind of kept us through all the all
Speaker 1: the roller coaster ride. So my on ours enemy is huge, massive,
Speaker 1: and then here comes Miserable and you guys are calling
Speaker 1: all over Pamela Anderson, which unfortunately it's not a real
Speaker 1: version of Pamila innersion, but it's like a giant Pamlet.
Speaker 1: How is that better? It was killer? We m the
Speaker 1: coolest music video I've ever seen. That's one of my
Speaker 1: favorite videos. She eats all of us. Who's the last
Speaker 1: to survive? I think is the last one? Yeah, you
Speaker 1: hang on the longest. I was hanging on her ear
Speaker 1: for a while there. Uh. That's an interesting thing in
Speaker 1: YouTube is the TV show that Pan did called v
Speaker 1: I P where they wrote an entire episode about the band.
Speaker 1: So we all we got our little our shot at acting,
Speaker 1: and we're really good actors, especially if the one on
Speaker 1: YouTube I think is German subtitles. Oh yeah, that was
Speaker 1: that's amazing. Really gives it a nice touch. So you
Speaker 1: guys friends with Tamil Anderson. We were, I mean, she
Speaker 1: was amazing. She's super, she's great. We talked to her
Speaker 1: in a long time, but she was. She was very
Speaker 1: sweet to do our video. She and that was her
Speaker 1: prime time too. She was on high. Yeah, she um.
Speaker 1: A couple of years later, we were on tour with
Speaker 1: Kid Rock and that was when they were together, and
Speaker 1: she made a point, you know, when she would come out,
Speaker 1: she always make a point to come in our dressing
Speaker 1: room and hang out with us and say hi and
Speaker 1: and check in. And she was just very always, very sweet,
Speaker 1: very down to earth, very you know, and and just
Speaker 1: a real pro. You know. It's just, um, she totally
Speaker 1: knew her her drill and she just kind of it
Speaker 1: was neat. It was a neat process to be a
Speaker 1: part of. You know. At the same time, Harry Jeremy,
Speaker 1: you did Cribs, which was amazing. I just watched your
Speaker 1: whole Cribs thing, and you have like a ticky jet
Speaker 1: synviobe going on. It's how you described it your house.
Speaker 1: Tell me what that was like. I've just always been
Speaker 1: into um, mid century modern furniture and stuff and it's
Speaker 1: evolved over the years, and um, I've always kind of
Speaker 1: just had a Before music paid their bills, I used
Speaker 1: to buy and sell furniture, and I used to like
Speaker 1: have to like set up the store and like set
Speaker 1: up little scenes and all that stuff. I've just always
Speaker 1: kind of had an eye for like design and stuff. So, um,
Speaker 1: the nice thing about that time frame is I was
Speaker 1: able to afford some stuff that up until then I
Speaker 1: was only admiring from Afar. So I was able to
Speaker 1: buy some cool stuff. And it was fun. You know,
Speaker 1: the Cribs episode, it looked like we were just drinking
Speaker 1: and partying and had a bunch of friends about the house.
Speaker 1: But that's how it was. Once we were home and
Speaker 1: had got a little bit of time to celebrate with
Speaker 1: our friends and our family, that was what it was
Speaker 1: like every night, just people coming over, people hanging out,
Speaker 1: barbecue and having drinks, just you know, enjoying your first house.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know how it is. It's just that's awesome.
Speaker 1: And um, people, there's a big community, people like you guys,
Speaker 1: y'all love a big group of friends. We live in
Speaker 1: a really cool town. Yeah, and it's and we've had
Speaker 1: the same friends for forever. Yeah, so we like to
Speaker 1: and now they all have kids and they're all married
Speaker 1: and have their own houses, so we like, you know,
Speaker 1: we definitely love to get everyone together and barbecue and
Speaker 1: that's what it's all about. So after this time period,
Speaker 1: you did the My Enemy Miserable Ziplock. That's another great one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we filmed that at the house where they filmed the
Speaker 1: rat Back movie. So it was just, you know, that
Speaker 1: was all about everything. We we were very We're one
Speaker 1: of those bands that fancy ourselves, you know, the Rockwell
Speaker 1: rat Pack. When did you, guys feel like you have arrived?
Speaker 1: Like how did did you have a moment where you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: we're doing this like we are we are stars, we
Speaker 1: have arrived on the scene and how did that change
Speaker 1: your mentality? And I guess for it was kind of
Speaker 1: surreal being in Times Square and you know, hang out
Speaker 1: with that Carson daily and having you know a bunch
Speaker 1: of kids in the street like we did TRL a
Speaker 1: few times and yeah, that's to me, that's like one
Speaker 1: of the most surreal Um the MTV era too, like
Speaker 1: this is an MTV was so happening, And yeah, we
Speaker 1: had never been in New York city. So I was
Speaker 1: just like, what the hell, this is crazy? It was
Speaker 1: we were we kind of we got very lucky that
Speaker 1: we were able to see an experience because that was
Speaker 1: kind of the end of all that. You know, it
Speaker 1: was the end of selling you know, a million CDs
Speaker 1: and you know it was sold a million CDs. We
Speaker 1: sold more than that, but I mean that was when
Speaker 1: people still bought CDs and artist anymore. It's like, it's
Speaker 1: just what do you down If we wanted to go
Speaker 1: buy a CD right now where we even go, we
Speaker 1: have to go to music row and just walk into
Speaker 1: an office and grab one. But we just like you
Speaker 1: wouldn't you know that we we kind of rode that
Speaker 1: last wave. And we also got rode that last wave
Speaker 1: of of MTV playing music videos and their shows like
Speaker 1: trl UM, which would be cool if if that element
Speaker 1: of it came back, because I feel like that's there's
Speaker 1: that it's missing, that that like fan interaction, Like that's
Speaker 1: counting the new trls like Twitter and Instagram. I guess
Speaker 1: that kind of thing that they can get closer um
Speaker 1: that way. But yeah, it used to be you'd have
Speaker 1: to like wait out in front of a you know,
Speaker 1: you're the MTV building or whatever and hope to get
Speaker 1: a glimpse of I mean, I remember I remember one
Speaker 1: of the first we we we got to experience. It's
Speaker 1: what it was like to have fans camped out in
Speaker 1: front of your hotel and like you get out of
Speaker 1: your van and try to walk from the van to
Speaker 1: the lobby and you have to stop and sign stuff. Take.
Speaker 1: I mean now it's back then you you ead stay
Speaker 1: in hotels under fake names so that people couldn't find you.
Speaker 1: And now people people are twittering, Hey, I'm at such
Speaker 1: such hotel, Come see me, and it's like they're and
Speaker 1: it's like a whole different, whole different plans now, but
Speaker 1: it's it's crazy name a few different ones almost, Mr Blonde,
Speaker 1: I wanted Mr E for a while, say it again,
Speaker 1: Mr Mry Mr. Oh my gosh, creative. I think I
Speaker 1: think I stole from someone else. I can't remember Elvis obviously.
Speaker 1: So you guys toured with a lot of people, butch Walker,
Speaker 1: No Doubt, Kid Rock what those tours like, How's no
Speaker 1: Doubt is amazing? Which is super cool. Yeah, they're all
Speaker 1: wired them together. I've never we've never had any bad
Speaker 1: experiences with with tours. We've always been lucky and had
Speaker 1: had a great time with all the band's we've gone
Speaker 1: out with. UM. I don't know, we think Gwen's Gwen's
Speaker 1: Anaheim girl. She's like, you know, she's very much like
Speaker 1: a lot of people we grew up with, and we're
Speaker 1: all still we're still friends with a lot of the
Speaker 1: people that we've toured with. We um UM And I
Speaker 1: think there was only one band and not just saying
Speaker 1: this because I don't want to throw them under the bus,
Speaker 1: but I don't even remember their name, But there was
Speaker 1: one band that we sent home one time after one
Speaker 1: show because we just always had such good chemistry with
Speaker 1: anybody that we toured with, and that if we sense
Speaker 1: that that wasn't going to be the case, we would
Speaker 1: either pass or we would nip it. What was the
Speaker 1: vibe you liked to tour with? Like, what's the vibe
Speaker 1: you're looking for on the road? I mean going out
Speaker 1: with thousand horses that was a fun tour. It's just
Speaker 1: having we started to feel like just one big band.
Speaker 1: You know, when everybody even you, after you've done a
Speaker 1: sound check, y'all meet up for dinner or you know,
Speaker 1: we'd have those guys on our bus all the time
Speaker 1: and go to the next town with us, and it's
Speaker 1: we wanted to feel like um one big crew. You know,
Speaker 1: it's cool. But a thousand horses was getting started. You
Speaker 1: guys took them out on a tour with you guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a great time. And our fans, dug those
Speaker 1: guys are they're a great band. It was a great guys,
Speaker 1: great friends. So you guys just want to fun. You
Speaker 1: want to be a family, like a band of brothers.
Speaker 1: You know, there's too much downtime on the road to
Speaker 1: to if if the people that you're around all day
Speaker 1: or on days off or after the show, if if
Speaker 1: that group of people aren't like your second family, then
Speaker 1: it makes being on the road even that much more,
Speaker 1: you know, trying and taxing because it's just your you know,
Speaker 1: there's so many hours in the day. You know, you
Speaker 1: have to sacrifice a lot to be on the road,
Speaker 1: like families, wives not being the kids so all have.
Speaker 1: So you have to make it worth it, I guess,
Speaker 1: and you want to and you want to have a
Speaker 1: good time and you and you want to help people out,
Speaker 1: so you want to give bands a shot at stuff.
Speaker 1: And you also you know, you want to open up
Speaker 1: for cool people too, so you can. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just a big The touring community is different. Everybody's in
Speaker 1: the same kind of boat. What whether you're in four
Speaker 1: buses or you're in a van, you're still away from
Speaker 1: your family. You're still away from your kids or your
Speaker 1: wives and your girlfriends are um and you're you know,
Speaker 1: you're doing what you love to do. But you know
Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of it's not you know, it's awesome,
Speaker 1: but it's not easy. You know, what do you love
Speaker 1: so much about it? Why is it so awesome? And
Speaker 1: you get to do with what we love doing, you know,
Speaker 1: just performing, performing and connecting with people that have already
Speaker 1: connected with you. To be able to be out on
Speaker 1: the road and go from town to town and have
Speaker 1: that in common with all these you know, people come
Speaker 1: to the shows and we're one of those bands that
Speaker 1: hangs out with with you know, the people that came
Speaker 1: out to see us will hang out until the last
Speaker 1: person leaves. You know, as a word, that's what it's
Speaker 1: all about. You're always cool about this guy. Now we're yeah,
Speaker 1: we've you know, you know where you come from, you
Speaker 1: know how much work it takes to get there, and
Speaker 1: and without the support of all the all the fans,
Speaker 1: you know, you really you don't have ship. Okay. So
Speaker 1: after that big air of like this big record, you
Speaker 1: guys had a little bit of tragedy, A lot of
Speaker 1: tragedy struck you guys with your parents and your drummer.
Speaker 1: So how did life change for you guys, like that
Speaker 1: phase hit and what did it make How did it
Speaker 1: make you reevaluate because your drummer passed away and your
Speaker 1: parents were in a car accident. Yeah, it was like
Speaker 1: it was back to back. Well I don't know how
Speaker 1: it back to back it was, but definitely it was
Speaker 1: pretty close period of a couple of years. I just
Speaker 1: felt like, no matter what, like he's trying to get
Speaker 1: up and you just, yeah, we get kept getting like
Speaker 1: pulled back down. Um. Our mom and stepdad were on
Speaker 1: on their Harley and they got hit head on by
Speaker 1: a drunk driver. He was killed and she barely survived.
Speaker 1: She was you know, really really critical for a long
Speaker 1: time and was in the hospital for several months, and
Speaker 1: so we had to kind of put music on hold
Speaker 1: for a little while because we you know, we had
Speaker 1: to be there. Two three, four, shifts a day at
Speaker 1: the hospital, taking turns and you know, working with the
Speaker 1: doctors and the nurses and all. I was, um, really
Speaker 1: like life changing time. And then but what came from
Speaker 1: that was that was my first trip to Nashville to
Speaker 1: start experiencing this place and and writing and writing country
Speaker 1: music and doing all that, and so it opened up.
Speaker 1: It's like it was like this really dark period of
Speaker 1: time and then this little window over here kind of
Speaker 1: opened up and like the sun kind of shined through it.
Speaker 1: It was like, Okay, my our manager at the time,
Speaker 1: just kind of tricked me into coming out here. I think.
Speaker 1: I mean, we you know, we had been here a
Speaker 1: bunch of times, just on tour and playing you know,
Speaker 1: we were fortunate enough to get to play the star
Speaker 1: Wood and um and um. But it was so yeah,
Speaker 1: there was that, and then we kind of fired back up,
Speaker 1: and then things were starting to rap back up. We
Speaker 1: were actually getting ready to go on tour with Kiss
Speaker 1: in Europe when the news came down for about our drummer,
Speaker 1: So Allen. So then again then then we had to
Speaker 1: push pause again and then we had to be around
Speaker 1: to take care of him and so and to be
Speaker 1: there for him and to support him. And that was
Speaker 1: another several months of being on the pause button, and
Speaker 1: not just pause that we had to decide whether or
Speaker 1: not we were going to keep, you know, moving forward
Speaker 1: as a band. We just because you're twenty years at
Speaker 1: this point, right, Yeah, we were never a band that
Speaker 1: we never had to audition anybody, you know, we never
Speaker 1: we we just we just always were, you know, so decide, Okay,
Speaker 1: well I was not in the band. Do we have
Speaker 1: you know, we're going to keep keep playing, We're gonna
Speaker 1: make another record. Um. And I think it was Nathan,
Speaker 1: who's our drummer now, was close with Alan, and he
Speaker 1: just sort of it was just a natural. He had
Speaker 1: kind of already been helping when Al got really sick,
Speaker 1: and he would he would get up there with him
Speaker 1: and take over when he got too tired, and and
Speaker 1: so it just naturally he kind of just you know
Speaker 1: passed the tork absolutely. So I mean that that definitely
Speaker 1: was part of the organic, you know, the thing that
Speaker 1: happened that kept us moving. And then you know, I think, um,
Speaker 1: like Jeremy's talking about coming here and finding some new inspiration,
Speaker 1: and then I started coming here with him, and um,
Speaker 1: I met so many great writers and learned how to
Speaker 1: kind of you know, expand my horizons writing wise and learned.
Speaker 1: I have learned a lot. This has been a you know,
Speaker 1: the school of Nashville has been pretty crazy. Were you
Speaker 1: guys surprised to see that it's not just so liked
Speaker 1: like people think Nashville is really not at all? It's
Speaker 1: so diverse? It was it was diverse. I mean I
Speaker 1: started coming here ten years ago, and um it's changed
Speaker 1: since then, but even then, it's pretty diverse. I mean
Speaker 1: it's never been this like backwards country thing. It's always
Speaker 1: been pretty Yeah. Divorce, I guess is the word. So
Speaker 1: what has life looked like for you guys in Nashville,
Speaker 1: like today in your career? Like what is happening with
Speaker 1: you guys in the Nashville community, Like what does that
Speaker 1: look like for real? It's you guys writing country songs?
Speaker 1: Or is lit going more country? Or where is the
Speaker 1: direction of your music these days? I mean, he has
Speaker 1: it's it's it's definitely taken on a little bit of
Speaker 1: a country flavor. I don't know, you know, it depends
Speaker 1: on who you're asking. Um, you know, when some people
Speaker 1: there's people that that when they think of country music,
Speaker 1: they feel like it's gotten so it's changed so much
Speaker 1: and it's gonna the lines of them have gotten blurred,
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of crossover. So I don't really
Speaker 1: necessarily think we claim to be country. We just definitely
Speaker 1: have that influence on our music now. And I mean,
Speaker 1: I think I think so much of the countrys that's all,
Speaker 1: that's all I listened to, and I think it's just
Speaker 1: been um all these life changes, you know what I
Speaker 1: mean When you when you hear country music, it's a
Speaker 1: lot more relatable to a you know, a guy that's
Speaker 1: been through loss and guys that have been married and
Speaker 1: divorced and have kids now, and not even just that,
Speaker 1: but it's also you know, we still write songs about
Speaker 1: having a good time. We still write songs about girls,
Speaker 1: and we still write songs about drinking, and that really
Speaker 1: has been completely absent from rock and roll in the
Speaker 1: last ten years. I don't know if any band that's
Speaker 1: come out that you hear on our rock station that
Speaker 1: write songs that have anything to do with what we
Speaker 1: write songs about country. It's a different story. That's we
Speaker 1: write about the same stuff. And so the country has
Speaker 1: kind of opened up to rock. I feel like you
Speaker 1: have Steven Tyler coming in even like my husband's been
Speaker 1: a thousand horses for kind of southern rock. Well, and
Speaker 1: it's not just rock. I mean, there's there's a lot
Speaker 1: of bands. I mean when you when you see their shows,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a rock show, um with country leaning production,
Speaker 1: with music wise, but it's still it's um. I mean,
Speaker 1: and there's several country out of it. I mean, you
Speaker 1: can't walk down Broadway in any of those honky tonks
Speaker 1: without here and them play one of our songs. Um,
Speaker 1: they're gonna play our songs as many times as they're
Speaker 1: gonna play friends in low places, and and it's just
Speaker 1: we're all because we're all singing, we're all. You know,
Speaker 1: there's some bands. We used to say this a long
Speaker 1: time ago, but it kind of still applies. Like there's
Speaker 1: some bands that you listen to what your headphones on
Speaker 1: and you know, what your eyes closed. And then there's
Speaker 1: some bands that you put on the boom box when
Speaker 1: you're hanging out with your friends. And we kind of
Speaker 1: always wanted to be that band, like don't don't don't
Speaker 1: dissect our music too much or or read too far
Speaker 1: into it. Just turn it up and just hang out
Speaker 1: and have a good time. And that's, um, I think
Speaker 1: that's why we relate so much to the Country audience
Speaker 1: and they relate to us. And we've you know, we
Speaker 1: were such good friends with like I mean, our best
Speaker 1: friends are thousand Horses and Jamie Johnson and you know
Speaker 1: the guys that uh people would would would be surprised
Speaker 1: at how in time we have been with that with
Speaker 1: that community for as many, many many years as we have.
Speaker 1: But um, we were talking about this week. It's funny
Speaker 1: because the the fans are kind of the same and
Speaker 1: and we're you know, the only the only people now
Speaker 1: that I guess, um, that we have to convince, if
Speaker 1: that's the word you want to use, is the old
Speaker 1: school gatekeepers that are deciding whether or not the country
Speaker 1: fans get to hear it, you know, and there's just
Speaker 1: a few of them, and they definitely still hold that key.
Speaker 1: Definitely hold the key. Yeah. So what have you guys
Speaker 1: learned like your evolution? How have you guys? You have
Speaker 1: transitioned so much through your career. What has made all
Speaker 1: these transitions just flow for you guys? Because you'll never
Speaker 1: quit you know, You've had what level record deals kind
Speaker 1: of change direction. You've dealt with tragedy, and yet you'll
Speaker 1: have been together twenty plus years. How have you managed
Speaker 1: to stay fluid? Uh, loving making songs and loving playing
Speaker 1: them live. I mean, ultimately, it's still a process that
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, we're gonna leave here in a
Speaker 1: few minutes and go over Jeffrey Steel's house and write
Speaker 1: with him, one of our favorite writers of all time,
Speaker 1: and it's such a walking into his place with nothing
Speaker 1: but a guitar and walking out with a song that
Speaker 1: you're stuck in your head for three days is like,
Speaker 1: that's mind blowing. Still after twenty years and having some
Speaker 1: hits and selling some records or whatever, to still be
Speaker 1: that excited about. I wonder what's going to happen today.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the thing. It's like going fishent you know,
Speaker 1: you could not catch anything. Or it's like golf. You
Speaker 1: know that one golf shot they'll keep you coming back
Speaker 1: time and time again, even if you suck. So kind
Speaker 1: of fun that you don't know what you're gonna get,
Speaker 1: it kind of makes it magical. Yeah, yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1: And it's a process that we've never gotten used to,
Speaker 1: and it's a process we've never taken for granted. So
Speaker 1: I think it's that. And then I think, also, you
Speaker 1: know we have stepped away. We've never stepped away completely.
Speaker 1: But you know, I own a I own a bar
Speaker 1: restaurant in California. They have a slide bar, a J
Speaker 1: owns a salon, and so we do other things too.
Speaker 1: You have you can't just be all time one thing,
Speaker 1: I don't think, because um, you'll just go crazy. So
Speaker 1: it's nice to be able to step away and do
Speaker 1: dive into something head first for a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: and then go back and dive into music and go
Speaker 1: out and play some shows, and then come back and
Speaker 1: spend time with your family and you know, go to
Speaker 1: your kids football game and and you know, you guys
Speaker 1: have kids. Yeah, have a thirteen year old daughter about
Speaker 1: to enter the fun years of that school coming up.
Speaker 1: It coming for you guys. Yeah, let's pay back time.
Speaker 1: And you have Jake. Yeah, okay, that's the right. Jake
Speaker 1: will be beating up, beating up the boys that are
Speaker 1: not you're not being appropriate with Presley security. So what
Speaker 1: are you guys looking forward to most musically? What does
Speaker 1: it look like for lit in the direction you're headed
Speaker 1: where are you guys going. We've been I mean we're
Speaker 1: stoked on. We've recorded six songs so far, like masters, UM,
Speaker 1: we're here this week writing more hopefully. UM. We're just
Speaker 1: looking to get we'll have a single out hopefully by
Speaker 1: summer and UM shows coming out and play with some
Speaker 1: of these some of these guys are talking about more shows. Okay,
Speaker 1: So I like to end my podcast a little thing
Speaker 1: called leave your Life. Just give me some inspiration to
Speaker 1: all the listeners out there based on your life? Man,
Speaker 1: mm hmm. Are we has everybody stumped on this one?
Speaker 1: Or it can be anything, doesn't that be super deep
Speaker 1: or just some inspiration that you tell maybe to some
Speaker 1: other people trying to do music, or what you have
Speaker 1: learned through your journey. And one of my favorite quotes
Speaker 1: is if you if you ain't growing, you're dyeing, so
Speaker 1: constantly try and push it a little bit. I'd say,
Speaker 1: keep pushing the envelope. Get out of your comfort zone.
Speaker 1: I love that any dad, mm hmm. I mean I
Speaker 1: think that if you're whether you're making music or you're
Speaker 1: making jewelry, or you're you're you know, you're doing hair,
Speaker 1: or you're doing any kind of you're being creative, and um,
Speaker 1: if people are into what you're doing and you're getting
Speaker 1: good feedback, then there's no reason to ever doubt that
Speaker 1: that couldn't translate into bigger and bigger success. I mean, um,
Speaker 1: you always have to kind of look back and if
Speaker 1: if you're doing something and no one's really reacting, then
Speaker 1: maybe you gotta take a look at it. And but
Speaker 1: if if if the feeling is like, wow, this is cool. Um,
Speaker 1: that's how we always felt about our music. And I
Speaker 1: think that we just followed that. We just just hold
Speaker 1: onto the believers, keep them close and keep them motivating
Speaker 1: you and and and the people I've I've found that
Speaker 1: usually the naysayers are just kind of people that have
Speaker 1: failed in their own you know, on their own way
Speaker 1: to wherever they're at. So um, So I don't know
Speaker 1: if that makes any sense. Believe in yourself and hold
Speaker 1: onto that little fire. Yeah, just be smart about you know,
Speaker 1: if you're doing something and it's not quite dialed in yet,
Speaker 1: then dial it in. Brow it back out there, you know,
Speaker 1: follow the signs. So you guys are all good at
Speaker 1: taking a little bit of construction constructive criticism, sure, absolutely,
Speaker 1: but only to a certain point. You know, there's a
Speaker 1: difference between between constructive criticism and naysayers. You know, so
Speaker 1: you kind of have to have a good age and
Speaker 1: what's gonna you know, I guess who you're listening to.
Speaker 1: And social media has really messed up people's ability to
Speaker 1: um be themselves and stick to it because um, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what you do. I mean, you could go
Speaker 1: you could go on Facebook right now and say hey,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give away a hundred dollars um to everybody
Speaker 1: I see, and there's you know, ten or twenty people
Speaker 1: are going to go, oh hundred or one out of thousand,
Speaker 1: you know, Oh that's stupid, you know whatever. And we
Speaker 1: you know, we're almost forced to post multiple things a
Speaker 1: day and you're almost like you check back and it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I wonder why that didn't get very many likes or
Speaker 1: you know, the comments are always Look, it's just it
Speaker 1: messes with your head like that. You know, there was
Speaker 1: a time where you just did your thing and you
Speaker 1: just went for it. And and I uh, when our
Speaker 1: publicist told me a few years ago, he's like which
Speaker 1: I always try to remind AJ because he's a little
Speaker 1: more sensitive to it than I am. But um, whatever
Speaker 1: you do, don't read the blogs or the Yeah, now
Speaker 1: it's now everything is a blog. But it's like, whatever
Speaker 1: you do, don't read the blogs. And if you do that,
Speaker 1: whatever you do, don't read the comments and so and
Speaker 1: I've the other brutal and I've actually learned over the
Speaker 1: years that if you don't read them, they really don't exist.
Speaker 1: It's true, that's so true. It's whatever you put in
Speaker 1: your own reality. Yeah, if you never read the comments section,
Speaker 1: they will A negative comment will never mess up. You're
Speaker 1: getting to the point now it's too because you know
Speaker 1: you have control. If someone says something rude or negative,
Speaker 1: you can delete it for no one to no one
Speaker 1: sees it. And I've gotten to the point now where
Speaker 1: I'll leave the like the most fucked up ship just
Speaker 1: so I can kind of and I learned to kind
Speaker 1: of laugh at it, like, Okay, I'm gonna let I'll
Speaker 1: let the fans that die hards get after handle this.
Speaker 1: That's a great Just don't look at it. Yeah, it's hard,
Speaker 1: it's hard, but it works if you don't. Okay you guys,
Speaker 1: eight Day and Jeremy pop Off from the band Lit,
Speaker 1: thank you guys for on my podcast. You guys are amazing, Hey,
Speaker 1: sater Caral, She's a queen of talking. Thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. I hope that you love
Speaker 1: listening to LIT. And next week is really special because
Speaker 1: it's the week after Mother's Day and I decided to
Speaker 1: do a tribute to Mother's and I found three of
Speaker 1: my favorite new moms and we are talking everything about motherhood,
Speaker 1: all of it. And they are real and honest and
Speaker 1: hilarious and we have champagne the whole time. I Kristen
Speaker 1: Brest joining me. She's married to Preston from Low Cash.
Speaker 1: They had a huge hit last year called I Love
Speaker 1: This Life. And she also worked at Big Machine Records,
Speaker 1: where my husband is signed and Taylor Swift is signed
Speaker 1: over there, Florida, Georgia, Line, Thomas Rhett, the Band, Perry
Speaker 1: Cassidy Pe, There's so many stars, so she has huge
Speaker 1: insight into the music industry. Audrey Ball guest is also
Speaker 1: joining me with Mary Katherine Music and Audrey. Her father
Speaker 1: was David Ball. He had he sold over a million
Speaker 1: albums and he had a huge song called Writing Shotgun
Speaker 1: with Private Malone and Audrey and Mary Katin. We're in
Speaker 1: a trio called the music the Mercy Birds, so they
Speaker 1: have so much to talk about, and they all have
Speaker 1: little new babies that are precious and adorable. But they
Speaker 1: just spilled beans and get real with it and it's
Speaker 1: really awesome and it's refreshing to hear, so you're not
Speaker 1: gonna want to miss that, and we laugh a lot
Speaker 1: and it's just the best, So tune in next week
Speaker 1: and also please subscribe on iTunes. So many of you
Speaker 1: guys are awesome and listening on my website Caroline Hobby
Speaker 1: dot com. But in order to grow this thing and
Speaker 1: become the number one podcast, I need you guys to
Speaker 1: go um subscribe on iTunes and leave comments. So y'all
Speaker 1: are the best. See you next week. Thanks by