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Speaker 1: Music Saved Me.

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Speaker 2: We have to be a vessel for the music more

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Speaker 2: more than anything, because it's really easy to get stuck

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Speaker 2: and kind of hate what you're doing if it becomes

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Speaker 2: more of an intellectual thing than a feeling thing.

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Speaker 3: I'm Lynn Hoffman and welcome to another episode of the

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Speaker 3: Music Save Me Podcast, where we dig deep into the

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Speaker 3: healing forces of music. Today, we are so excited to

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Speaker 3: be joined by a producer and an incredible instrumentalist, Riley Smithson,

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Speaker 3: also known as aka shrimp Knows. Now.

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Speaker 1: Shrimp Knows knows the.

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Speaker 3: Healing power of music up close and personal from a

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Speaker 3: very young age, and we're so grateful that he's here

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Speaker 3: to share his story with us on Music Save Me.

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Speaker 3: Shrimp Knows, Welcome to the show. It's great to have

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Speaker 3: you here.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here now.

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Speaker 3: First I want to offer some congratulations because you just

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Speaker 3: performed it one of Canada's biggest electronic music festivals. I

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Speaker 3: believe it's called Shambala.

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Speaker 2: Yep, that's the one.

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Speaker 3: And also I think a little magazine called DJ Magazine

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Speaker 3: just named you the up and coming emerging artist to

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Speaker 3: watch for. So thank you for being here at the

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Speaker 3: custank you so much just blowing up.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's all the stuff i'd take in stride.

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Speaker 2: I'm thankful for it, but try not to get too

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Speaker 2: hyped up for myself about things.

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Speaker 1: You need to fit through the doorway.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 3: Well, I read that you started playing the drums at

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Speaker 3: the age of five, and it was more so a

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Speaker 3: means for you to be able to communicate, which I

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Speaker 3: think is really interesting. It wasn't necessarily just because you

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Speaker 3: loved to play the drums. Can you sort of connect

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Speaker 3: us with a little bit about that time and what

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Speaker 3: brought you to connecting with music?

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Speaker 2: Sure, of course. So my dad got me a drum

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Speaker 2: kit when I was about about four or five, and

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Speaker 2: at the same time I developed a speach impediment that

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Speaker 2: I still have. It's improved quite a bit the last

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Speaker 2: few years, but growing up it was pretty hard in

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Speaker 2: school and making friends and stuff like that. And my

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Speaker 2: mom and dad are both in a band together and

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Speaker 2: have have been my whole life, and they play with

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Speaker 2: the band on the weekends. So growing up I would

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Speaker 2: often be at home alone without much to do other

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Speaker 2: than play instruments and kind of teach myself how to

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Speaker 2: play instruments, and yeah, that was always felt like a

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Speaker 2: language I could be fluent in a lot more easily,

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Speaker 2: you know it? There, How do I put this? I

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Speaker 2: didn't have blocks or obstacles in my way when I

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Speaker 2: was playing drums or playing guitar or whatever it was,

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Speaker 2: which kind of made me fall in love with that

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Speaker 2: so to speak.

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Speaker 3: Do you think that, basically, when you look back at

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Speaker 3: that time in your life, that that was the moment

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Speaker 3: that you realized how powerful it was? I mean, were

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Speaker 3: you even did you comprehend that even at that early age?

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Speaker 2: It Since I was a little kid, it's always been

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Speaker 2: what I've wanted to do. To be honest, I had

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Speaker 2: other interests also, I wanted to you know, I liked

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Speaker 2: paleontology when I was a little kid. Yeah, complete opposite,

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Speaker 2: but yeah, it was always the thing that made me

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Speaker 2: feel good and felt natural and was something I felt

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Speaker 2: good at without having to try too hard. And it's

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Speaker 2: having something that made me feel expressed was important growing

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Speaker 2: up when I couldn't verbally express myself all the time

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Speaker 2: the way that I wanted to. That's right.

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Speaker 3: I read that you there were times that you couldn't

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Speaker 3: talk at all, that you just couldn't express anything. That

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Speaker 3: must have been extremely frustrating, especially as a kid growing up.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, yeah, and the hard thing too, was in school.

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Speaker 2: A lot of teachers even didn't understand what I was

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Speaker 2: going through. And the speech pathologists at the school I

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Speaker 2: went to weren't good people. Frankly, they the methods that

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Speaker 2: they were teaching me didn't They weren't for me, didn't

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Speaker 2: make me feel good. And yeah, it was just incredibly

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Speaker 2: frustrating not being able to say how I was feeling.

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Speaker 2: And it really led to me struggling a lot with

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Speaker 2: my self esteem and anxiety. You know, a lot of

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Speaker 2: people think that having a stutter stems from anxiety, but

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Speaker 2: really it's the other way around. Like I'll I'll get

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Speaker 2: caught up on a word and that's why I'm anxious.

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Speaker 2: I'm not. It's not like I feel anxious first and

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Speaker 2: then I get stuck on a word. You know. It's

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Speaker 2: it's kind of interesting.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you would definitely not think that it would be

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Speaker 3: the backwards.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, incredible.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very much so like a neurological thing. It

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Speaker 2: shares a lot of the same neurological pathways.

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Speaker 1: Is herrets interesting?

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Speaker 3: Is there any connection with that and maybe dyslexia as well.

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Speaker 2: I don't know. I actually don't know. That's that's a

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Speaker 2: good question to ask.

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Speaker 3: That's what I have continuously fought with my whole life,

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Speaker 3: and I wonder.

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Speaker 1: If that's that's connected. That's I'm going to look into that.

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Speaker 1: I'll let you know what I find out.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, somebody's smarter than I might might have an answer.

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Speaker 1: You have.

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Speaker 3: You talked about being at home and learning about how

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Speaker 3: to play instruments, or rather learning how to play instruments

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Speaker 3: on your own, and that's that sent and of itself

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Speaker 3: something very special. What was what was the thing that

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Speaker 3: drove you to want to play so many instruments? I mean,

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Speaker 3: you play a lot of instruments.

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Speaker 2: That one just availability they were. I had drums and

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Speaker 2: guitars and the bass guitar and all that at home,

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Speaker 2: So it was around and wanting to have a fuller

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Speaker 2: spectrum of expression. I suppose one thing that's kind of interesting.

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Speaker 2: I'm left handed, and I play all my instruments backwards.

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Speaker 2: Like a lot of people, if they're left handed, they'll

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Speaker 2: buy a left handed guitar or those string of guitar

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Speaker 2: backwards so they can play it that way. But I

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Speaker 2: just flip it upside down and play it upside down.

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Speaker 2: It's kind of not super common. Basically, any guitar teacher

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Speaker 2: would tell you not to do.

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Speaker 3: That, Yeah, that's for sure. But then again, they would

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Speaker 3: tell you that you have to read music.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, which I also don't know how to do right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And it's not necessary to make music. Yeah, although

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Speaker 3: we're probably making people cringe right now.

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I don't know. There's a lot of

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Speaker 2: professionally trained musicians and instrumentalists that can write music and

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Speaker 2: play music really perfectly, but can't write music or you

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Speaker 2: know what I mean. They have a hard time improvising.

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Speaker 2: I don't know. I would much prefer being able to

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Speaker 2: improvise to be to being able to read charts.

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Speaker 1: I agree. I agree.

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Speaker 3: It's like being a good chef. You just take you experiment. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: and it's more fun that way. What significance did Garage Band,

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Speaker 3: one of my favorite all time games of all time,

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Speaker 3: have in play a role in your journey.

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Speaker 2: In gosh In probably seventh or eighth grade, I was

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Speaker 2: pretty young. I used it to make like a class

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Speaker 2: project I made. I had never recorded or produced anything before,

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Speaker 2: but I made like a song for a video for

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Speaker 2: a class project, and I realized how I could make

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Speaker 2: music on a computer and how cool that could be.

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Speaker 2: I didn't really get into production production until a couple

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Speaker 2: years later, in my senior year, I got my first

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Speaker 2: computer and took it a little more seriously. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: I guess a class project was what made me start

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Speaker 2: to experiment in that realm.

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Speaker 1: That's really cool.

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Speaker 3: On a side note, I have to tell you I

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Speaker 3: had a class project when I was young as well,

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Speaker 3: and I brought in music as an example. But this

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Speaker 3: is going way back because I'm old, and I brought

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Speaker 3: in a copy of the song Frankenstein, the rock song

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Speaker 3: I'm not even going to tell you because it's so old.

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Speaker 3: And I played the whole thing just because it had

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Speaker 3: the very first time they used synthesizers and music.

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Speaker 1: That's how cool.

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Speaker 3: And I had to make the whole class wait for

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Speaker 3: the synthesizers to play, which didn't happen to the end

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Speaker 3: of the song. Teacher, I remember, she just looked baffled,

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Speaker 3: like that was very interesting.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for show and tell today. I've never told that story.

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Speaker 1: I just had to tell you because it was so similar.

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Speaker 2: I love it.

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Speaker 3: But back to you do you recall what exactly or

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Speaker 3: when you found this incredible strength within yourself to be

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Speaker 3: secure and embracing your imperfections.

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Speaker 2: Great question. I don't know. I think just going through

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Speaker 2: the tumults of being an adult, a young adult, a

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Speaker 2: twenty you know, eighty in the twenty five year old.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot of personal stuff that people go through

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Speaker 2: that I'm sure a lot of people can relate to

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Speaker 2: relationships and friends passing and you know, things like that.

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Speaker 2: And I don't know. I think I'm I won't say

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Speaker 2: I'm the most confident person in the world, but when

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Speaker 2: it comes to music, I try to not get in

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Speaker 2: my own way too much. I kind of I think

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Speaker 2: it's important to let If I write a song, I

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Speaker 2: try to let it be what it wants to be,

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Speaker 2: and I try not to overcontextualize it too much or

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Speaker 2: think about how it could be better. You know, I

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Speaker 2: try more so to feel how it could be better

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Speaker 2: than think how it could be better, because I can

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Speaker 2: get in my own way if I think about it

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Speaker 2: too much.

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Speaker 3: Yes, because being a good producer is really cut into

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Speaker 3: the meat of it, as opposed to because you could

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Speaker 3: linger for you're birthing a child. Basically you're like your

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Speaker 3: inner thoughts and personal feelings out through music exactly.

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Speaker 2: It's not an easy thing, not at all. Yeah, I think, yeah,

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Speaker 2: we have to be a vessel for the music more

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Speaker 2: than more than anything, because it's really easy to get

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Speaker 2: stuck and kind of hate what you're doing if it

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Speaker 2: becomes more of an intellectual thing than a feeling thing.

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Speaker 1: That's for sure.

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Speaker 3: Tell us about some of the artists who to this

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Speaker 3: day have made a connection to you and who have

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Speaker 3: helped you through some of the tough times.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, Gosh, I could go on and on about this.

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Speaker 2: God I would say. I would say the producer Shlomo

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Speaker 2: was the first, first one I got really really obsessed with,

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Speaker 2: and in that vein also gold Panda, Flying Lotus. But

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Speaker 2: in the last couple of years I've gone down more

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Speaker 2: of a folk route. I got pretty big into Bony

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Speaker 2: Ver and Elliott Smith and Alex g and just kind

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Speaker 2: of like the indie semi electronic folk route has kind

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Speaker 2: of hit the spot for me a lot more the

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Speaker 2: last couple of years.

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Speaker 3: I've been hearing a lot of it lately too, and

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Speaker 3: there's a lot of great stations now that are playing.

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Speaker 3: It's really my go to music now is electronic. Do

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Speaker 3: you find that happening a lot with people that you

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Speaker 3: talked to of all ages?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think the cool thing now is

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Speaker 2: that there used to be like a kind of a

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Speaker 2: connotation with electronic stuff that it was maybe just dubstep

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Speaker 2: or just house music, or it was very like genre focused.

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Speaker 2: But I think we're at a point now where it's

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Speaker 2: like listening music. It's it's a less genre and more feeling,

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Speaker 2: which I am excited about.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to ask you about that. I talk

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Speaker 3: to a lot of artists, musicians, writers, but this new

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Speaker 3: form and I say new because it's not so new,

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Speaker 3: but it really is new for mainstream. Would you agree?

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Speaker 3: What is what is the quality of electronic music in

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Speaker 3: terms of how it strikes emotion even without like a

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Speaker 3: word song or spoken Yeah, what do you think it is?

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Speaker 2: Well? I think part of it now is that we're

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Speaker 2: at the point where we are trying to blend influences

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Speaker 2: and just me specifically, I in my music, I tend

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Speaker 2: to incorporate a lot of acoustic guitar, which is maybe

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Speaker 2: a little untraditional for most electronic artists, but it is

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Speaker 2: it's a very emotive instrument. You know you can. You

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Speaker 2: can really get a lot out of it and kind

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Speaker 2: of tell the listener what to feel, so to say,

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Speaker 2: I think that makes for an interesting route now that

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Speaker 2: we're trying to blend influences and take it in a

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Speaker 2: direction things haven't gone before.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you can't always put your finger on it, but

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Speaker 3: there's there's just something special about it, and I mostly

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Speaker 3: do find myself listening to that, especially in the car.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really cool.

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Speaker 3: Can you describe how it feels when a fan shares

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Speaker 3: with you the positive impact that your music has had

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Speaker 3: on them and what it means to them?

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Speaker 2: Of course? Yeah, at first it was a little overwhelming. Honestly,

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Speaker 2: I didn't quite know how to receive it at first,

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Speaker 2: But now I definitely and very flattered anytime somebody has

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Speaker 2: something to say. People have told me songs of mine

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Speaker 2: have just saved their life. Somebody met their fiance through

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Speaker 2: a song of mine.

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Speaker 1: Can you tell that story real quick?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So somebody was in a yoga class and a

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Speaker 2: song of mine was playing in the yoga class, and

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Speaker 2: after the class they went up to the teacher and

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Speaker 2: was like, Hey, what song was that was playing? And

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Speaker 2: it happened to be my song Cherish and they have

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Speaker 2: been in a loving relationship ever since.

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Speaker 1: Just because you went to ask the teacher the name

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Speaker 1: of that.

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Speaker 3: That's great, I know, right, Yeah, it just takes one

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Speaker 3: one thing and music is a big part of that.

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Speaker 3: And speaking of music, the World Pushed Against You is

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Speaker 3: your newest project. Can you tell us about the process

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Speaker 3: of creating it and some of your favorite songs that

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Speaker 3: we should be listening for.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is a very I don't know if

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Speaker 2: like it's a dancier project than most of the stuff

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Speaker 2: I've released in the past for a couple of reasons. One,

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Speaker 2: I like performing quite a bit, and a lot of

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Speaker 2: my music in the past wasn't super performance oriented, so

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Speaker 2: I would find myself in this place where I would

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Speaker 2: have to make a bunch of music just to perform

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Speaker 2: and then not really have a way to release it

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Speaker 2: because it was like two worlds that I didn't know

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Speaker 2: how to bring together. But this is like my first

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Speaker 2: real attempt at trying to release an album that I

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Speaker 2: can play out, that other DJs can play out if

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Speaker 2: they want to. And I wanted it to be still

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Speaker 2: authentic and still like emotional music and still feel like me.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, it was. It was a great exercise in

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Speaker 2: trying to incorporate all my same elements but have it

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Speaker 2: be more dance floor. I guess appropriate. I would say

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Speaker 2: one song I'm particularly excited about on it is Destroyer

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Speaker 2: featuring gold Banda. He's he was one of the first

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Speaker 2: artists I got really into when I got into electronic stuff.

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Speaker 2: I toured with him last year a little bit, and

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Speaker 2: he's just a sweet guy and he sent me a

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Speaker 2: couple of modular loops and I kind of took over

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Speaker 2: the Collapse. I kind of just went crazy on it

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Speaker 2: because I was excited about it, and it ended up

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Speaker 2: being like a very cerebral, like seven minute long. It's

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Speaker 2: the longest song I've ever made. It's like a the

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Speaker 2: bpm on it starts slow, and throughout basically the whole song,

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Speaker 2: it speeds up slowly, so it's like kind of this

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Speaker 2: natural crescendo type thing. And yeah, I don't know, I

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Speaker 2: just felt like a creatively. It's something I'm proud of

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Speaker 2: because it's, uh, it pushes all the boundaries that I

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Speaker 2: like to push. It's maybe a little It's definitely not

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Speaker 2: a pop song, you know what I mean. It's not

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Speaker 2: something that would be on the radio. It's it's pretty weird,

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Speaker 2: but it's a personal favorite of mine.

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Speaker 3: More a little more upbeat than typically what visceral versus

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Speaker 3: like a visceral brooding dark sort of. This would be

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Speaker 3: a little more opposite of that.

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Speaker 2: It's still brooding. Sure it's a little bit in there

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Speaker 2: you go, but yeah, it's uh, it's just a journey.

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Speaker 2: I guess that sounds a little cliche to use that word,

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Speaker 2: but that's the best word I can think of.

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Speaker 3: I don't think it's cliche at all. But you know,

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Speaker 3: I do need to ask you something because I'm sure

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Speaker 3: there are some listening who are just learning about you

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Speaker 3: now and they want to know, like myself, you have

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Speaker 3: a beautiful nose. Where did the name shrimp nos come from?

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Speaker 1: Please explain?

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Speaker 3: Of course, there's a few people, just you know, I

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Speaker 3: can think of just two that pop in my head

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Speaker 3: that have a name like that. One would be meat

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Speaker 3: loaf and the other jelly roll. So nice, shrimp roll,

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Speaker 3: shrimp roll.

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Speaker 1: Shrimp nose is a very unique name.

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Speaker 2: So in high school, I had this really good friend Brandon.

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Speaker 2: He was a very eccentric guy. He would always be

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Speaker 2: saying eccentric, weird, stuff. And one day, as I was

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Speaker 2: pretty new into producing, maybe like a year or so in,

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Speaker 2: I was recording some clips of him to maybe use

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Speaker 2: in a song, just him being a goofy guy, and

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Speaker 2: out of nowhere he screams John shrimp nose. It used

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Speaker 2: to be John shrimp Nose. I cut the John off

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Speaker 2: a couple of years ago.

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Speaker 1: I love that and that and it just stuck from there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I heard it and I loved it immediately. It

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Speaker 2: was it doesn't mean anything, which I like. It doesn't

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Speaker 2: take itself too seriously, you.

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Speaker 1: Know, but it's catchy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's catchy, simple, and it makes.

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Speaker 3: People want to come see you, just to see I hope.

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Speaker 3: So I have to say I was a little curious too.

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Speaker 3: You always wonder where people get their names from. But

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Speaker 3: I think that's really cool, and I think you're really cool.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for our listeners. Now, can you tell us

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Speaker 3: how music can lift you up and give whoever's listening

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Speaker 3: a greater confidence in their own life? Because you know

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Speaker 3: what you're what you struggle with on a daily basis,

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Speaker 3: it's sort of unimaginable that you could turn it around

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Speaker 3: and not only produce and create such amazing music that

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Speaker 3: helps others, but also get on stage and perform it

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Speaker 3: in front of them too. I mean that's huge in

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Speaker 3: and of itself. So what kind of advice would you

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Speaker 3: give to anyone listening right now?

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Speaker 2: Sure? Of course, So with my speech, I've struggled quite

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Speaker 2: a bit. It affects basically every part of my life.

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Speaker 2: It was the reason I dropped out of college. I

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Speaker 2: was having a really hard time participating in classes and

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Speaker 2: it affected my self esteem quite a bit. It affects

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Speaker 2: me ordering a cheeseburger at McDonald's, It affects stating, It

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Speaker 2: affects making friends at parties or meeting people professionally at shows.

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Speaker 2: Not to be too woe is me right now, But

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Speaker 2: my point is music has been one thing that I

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Speaker 2: can be in control of that brings me confidence through that,

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Speaker 2: And I think that's the really beautiful thing about it,

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Speaker 2: in the sense that the key to SICSS is just

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Speaker 2: consistency over time basically, so if you just commit yourself

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Speaker 2: to something, it will reward you the longer that you

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Speaker 2: commit yourself to it. And make music that makes me

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Speaker 2: feel good and I hope makes other people feel good.

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Speaker 2: I do make it primarily for myself. I know a

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Speaker 2: lot of artists try to make music for other people.

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Speaker 2: But I have no shame in saying I'm selfish and

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Speaker 2: I make it for myself because I like it.

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Speaker 1: I think that's the best stuff ever. I think that's

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Speaker 1: such great advice.

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Speaker 3: You should do what's good for you, and then if

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Speaker 3: it resonates with others, that only gives you more fuel

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Speaker 3: for the fire to keep going, as opposed to trying

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Speaker 3: to figure out what everyone wants to hear or see.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, if you want confidence through music, you gotta

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Speaker 2: primarily do it for yourself. You know, you got to

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Speaker 2: make what you want to here. You got to know

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Speaker 2: what you like and what you don't like. You know,

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Speaker 2: don't go along with something that's popular and that you

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Speaker 2: don't like. I can be, what's the word, pretty picky musically.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot that I don't like, But me knowing

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Speaker 2: that I don't like it informs me as to what

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Speaker 2: I do like, and you know, helps, it helps the process.

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Speaker 2: So just be be sure of what you like and

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Speaker 2: what you don't like, and try to make things that

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Speaker 2: you do like. I suppose no, and what.

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Speaker 3: You said nails it hard work. I mean, just keep

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Speaker 3: working at it, keep doing it. The more prolific you are,

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Speaker 3: eventually it does pan out.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, it's great advice, and thank you so much for

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Speaker 3: sharing your power. It's a very powerful story that you

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Speaker 3: have to share with people, and I think it's it's

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Speaker 3: an amazing story and I'm so happy for you, and

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Speaker 3: I'm so glad that you want to wanted to come

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Speaker 3: on Music Save Me to share your story. Riley Smithson

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Speaker 3: Shrimp Knows come back and visit us again on Music

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Speaker 3: Save Me.

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Speaker 2: Will do. Yeah, absolutely, good.

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Speaker 3: Luck with everything you have going on. You are the

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Speaker 3: one to watch, so we'll be watching you.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Thank you,