Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome to I've never said this before with
Speaker 1: me Tommy Di Dario. Today I have pop Music Royalty
Speaker 1: on my show. Yes I Do You are in for
Speaker 1: a treat. J C. Chase is widely known as being
Speaker 1: a lead vocalist in the multi platinum selling group in Sync.
Speaker 1: My fellow millennials, when I say that n SYNC was
Speaker 1: a pivotal part in our adolescent years, I know you
Speaker 1: get me. InSync has sold over fifty million records, and
Speaker 1: Jac was responsible for writing and producing many of the
Speaker 1: songs on the n Sync albums. Now. What's amazing about
Speaker 1: in Sync is their music is beloved by all age
Speaker 1: groups and all generations, and it even popped up in
Speaker 1: Deadpool this summer with their song Bye Bye Bye exploding
Speaker 1: once again in one of the top films of the year.
Speaker 1: JAC is now jumping into the theatrical world and he's
Speaker 1: teaming up with producer and composer Jimmy Harry on their
Speaker 1: new musical theater concept album called Playing with Fire, and
Speaker 1: it is literally fire. It is inspired by the timeless
Speaker 1: novel Frankenstein. Everybody knows that story and Jac is a
Speaker 1: feature vocalist on the album and the songs are so sexy,
Speaker 1: so dramatic, and oh my god, they're so good. I
Speaker 1: need to see this on stage immediately. So between celebrating
Speaker 1: his iconic contributions to pop music and then diving into
Speaker 1: this new exciting chapter, Jac and I we cover it all.
Speaker 1: So let's see if today we can get Jac to
Speaker 1: say something that he has never said before. Jace Shouse,
Speaker 1: How you doing, mom? Man?
Speaker 2: I'm good. How are you?
Speaker 1: I am fantastic. I'm so excited to be chatting with
Speaker 1: you today. I am such a big theater and musical
Speaker 1: theater fan. I mean, I'm not gonna say I'm an expert,
Speaker 1: but I have seen many shows, and I live in
Speaker 1: New York and it's a huge part of my life.
Speaker 1: So ah, I'm just so excited to dive into playing
Speaker 1: with fire. But before we dive into that, we're going
Speaker 1: to celebrate you a little bit in some amazing moments
Speaker 1: in your life. If you're cool with that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, sure. I was about to say we're on
Speaker 2: the same page in terms of being very excited about theater.
Speaker 2: The only difference is I'm in LA and New York.
Speaker 2: Everything else you said, I'm like, oh, so we're the
Speaker 2: same great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent. I think I was looking at
Speaker 1: my November December calendar and it's like five shows on
Speaker 1: and I'm like, yes, yes, this is what I love.
Speaker 1: I love the art of it all. So it's awesome.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to dive into that. But I feel like,
Speaker 1: here we are. It's beginning of November. The holiday season
Speaker 1: has officially kicked off, and for me, it's not quite
Speaker 1: the holidays without the Instant Christmas album.
Speaker 2: Hey that's a good one, And I'm going to.
Speaker 1: Go on record, and this is a pretty bold statement,
Speaker 1: but I am going to go on record right now
Speaker 1: JC and say that that album is one of the
Speaker 1: greatest albums of all time, of all time.
Speaker 2: I think it stacks up well as a good Christmas
Speaker 2: record of all times. As a wild statement, a music
Speaker 2: that's out there, but I will definitely appreciate the sentiment.
Speaker 2: I think it's a I think it's a solid Christmas
Speaker 2: record for sure.
Speaker 1: So you busted out during the holidays.
Speaker 2: I so I always go family, family first, So it's always,
Speaker 2: you know, as soon as as soon as the holidays
Speaker 2: kick in, I go into family mode.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, Well, like I said, it's a great one.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's something that brings joy, which we all
Speaker 1: need in this world more than ever. So I think
Speaker 1: that to have a collection of work like that out
Speaker 1: there is just so cool and it always keeps a
Speaker 1: life of its own. Now, you can't say that about
Speaker 1: a lot of art. That's why I'm saying it's one
Speaker 1: of the most iconic albums ever, because not all albums
Speaker 1: live up to the years that come, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, for sure. Look, it's it's a fun thing,
Speaker 2: you know, and it's it's it's always kind of a
Speaker 2: bit of a giggle and a nod to you know,
Speaker 2: the moments when you're walking through the grocery store and
Speaker 2: you're like, oh okay, or wherever you're walking and you
Speaker 2: hear the tune. It's it's flattering, you know, because certainly
Speaker 2: people make new Christmas music every year, so for people
Speaker 2: to go back to ours is it again, it's a
Speaker 2: huge compliment.
Speaker 1: You probably can't ever escape Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, can you?
Speaker 1: It just pops up.
Speaker 2: I think it's fun though, I think it served. It's
Speaker 2: like when we were writing it, it ended up being
Speaker 2: exactly what we wanted. We just knew we wanted something
Speaker 2: that was joyful, and we wanted something that had energy,
Speaker 2: and we didn't want it to feel like you had
Speaker 2: to I don't know, just almost feel overthink it. You
Speaker 2: just have a bit of fun. It's a fun Christmas
Speaker 2: song and that's what we were trying to make and
Speaker 2: when we were writing it, and I think that is
Speaker 2: translated in when we were making it, the purpose translated.
Speaker 1: And do that video pops up on my YouTube the
Speaker 1: other day with like the Big Sled and the cgi Snow,
Speaker 1: it's pure camp, it's pure fun.
Speaker 2: Well you know, it's also like, hey man, we don't
Speaker 2: have a lot of money to make Christmas videos, so
Speaker 2: this is gonna be what it is. And we owned
Speaker 2: it right. It was just like again, silliness, fun. You
Speaker 2: don't have to make the most elaborate thing to enjoy
Speaker 2: yourself when you're watching it or or when you're listening.
Speaker 1: So yeah, for sure, for sure. Well I'm going to
Speaker 1: go on record again and say it's safe to say
Speaker 1: that the world will be ready for a follow up
Speaker 1: Christmas album whenever you guys are ready, We're ready.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's a wild idea.
Speaker 1: Actually, ooh, your interest is peaked.
Speaker 2: I've never thought of that.
Speaker 1: Wait. Really, Yeah, that's okay. Come on, there's so many
Speaker 1: songs to cover and as a writer you can write
Speaker 1: so many new ones.
Speaker 2: That's wild. Okay.
Speaker 1: No, I may need producing credit on it. Nast to
Speaker 1: the idea.
Speaker 2: It's like I want to be the EP.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll talk about that later. We'll talk about that later. Jason,
Speaker 1: you had some amazing moments over the last couple of
Speaker 1: years with the guys. I mean, twenty twenty three, you
Speaker 1: reunited for the VMA's, you did the one night only
Speaker 1: showing La for Justin. These moments are are bringing so
Speaker 1: much happiness enjoy to people. Like I said earlier, it's
Speaker 1: a theme I guess of this conversation given the day
Speaker 1: we're on today, which everybody listening. We're recording this on
Speaker 1: the election day, which just has the world upside down.
Speaker 1: So for you, what was it like sharing those moments
Speaker 1: again with the guys?
Speaker 2: It was fun. Look, anytime we get together, it's always
Speaker 2: there's always something special, you know, because we had such
Speaker 2: a great run and we have such a great history
Speaker 2: with one another. Because it really, look, it made our
Speaker 2: lives wonderful. The opportunity to create things that you literally
Speaker 2: dream about and and for us to be able to
Speaker 2: come together and make those things for all those years,
Speaker 2: it made everything else in our life moving forward possible.
Speaker 2: And so whenever we're with each other, it's like, you
Speaker 2: can't It's like, I love those guys, and I can't
Speaker 2: thank them enough for you know, for our chemistry and
Speaker 2: for the opportunities that we shared together and and and
Speaker 2: because those opportunities still provide opportunities for us and so
Speaker 2: and and and Yeah, when we're together making things, it's
Speaker 2: also very exciting, especially after not doing it for a
Speaker 2: long time. You're just curious, and that aspect is very fun.
Speaker 2: You know. There's almost like you know, we know, you
Speaker 2: know where we each rest in the in the world
Speaker 2: of harmony and things like that, because we've done it
Speaker 2: so much over time. But you know, given that everyone
Speaker 2: has gone in different directions exploring, when you come back together,
Speaker 2: you go, hey, what's changed, you know, because everything that
Speaker 2: you learn along the way changes your perception and how
Speaker 2: you listen to things and how you sing things, and
Speaker 2: and so it's fun to get together with those guys
Speaker 2: now and just kind of experiment a little bit and
Speaker 2: play a little bit, and uh, and so it was
Speaker 2: certainly fun on the two songs that we did. Look,
Speaker 2: the troll sing is a blast. You know, we got
Speaker 2: to to live out a cartoon, you know, dream and
Speaker 2: and and Justin made that possible bringing us into his
Speaker 2: Trolls world. But I also think it was a lot
Speaker 2: of fun singing the song Paradise for his record. You know,
Speaker 2: it was it was kind of like it was something
Speaker 2: that he had written and you know, and he had
Speaker 2: an idea for and all of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 2: he heard it in a different way one day because
Speaker 2: when we were originally talking about doing something after we
Speaker 2: did the Trolls song, Justin and I were talking about
Speaker 2: it and we were kind of going back and forth
Speaker 2: between two songs. Actually he played me two records and
Speaker 2: then and then all of a sudden, it was like
Speaker 2: I was like, all right, well, you know, I was
Speaker 2: listening to them, and it was just like, let's figure
Speaker 2: it out, you know. And then all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: it was like, you know, down down the road when
Speaker 2: we started talking, he was no, no, no, it's this, this
Speaker 2: is us. This is like, this is the love letter
Speaker 2: that we you know, this is our appreciation and love
Speaker 2: letter to the fans that have been kind enough all
Speaker 2: the years. So that was the purpose of that and
Speaker 2: it was totally fun to do.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Are you a sentimental man? Like do you
Speaker 1: get nostalgic and have these moments where you're like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I can't believe I get to this still
Speaker 1: with my best buddies and here I am, and there's
Speaker 1: an appetite for it, Like, do you feel that.
Speaker 2: I I'll say, there are others in the band that
Speaker 2: are probably more sentimental than me. But I'm appreciative, I
Speaker 2: think because I always like, you know, I certainly love
Speaker 2: you know what we've done, but I always get excited
Speaker 2: about the future. You know, even when you say the
Speaker 2: election and so on, I'm I'm positive about the future.
Speaker 2: Whatever happens, you know, today, the goal will be that
Speaker 2: every day that I step forward, I'm going to be
Speaker 2: trying to be my best self and have the best
Speaker 2: effect that I can on others around me. And so
Speaker 2: I look at every day as an opportunity to do that.
Speaker 2: And so I think, while I'm I can be slightly sentimental,
Speaker 2: I'm always excited about the future.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, it's a good way to live, right. You
Speaker 1: appreciate the present, but you live in the past. No,
Speaker 1: you can't live in the past. You can't. You have
Speaker 1: to celebrate. Like you said, you celebrate the unexpected things.
Speaker 2: Celebrate the past, but you know, you live in the
Speaker 2: next out and you try and create the best now
Speaker 2: you can by looking forward and doing doing the right
Speaker 2: things moving forwards.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, well it's evident you have the mentality because
Speaker 1: you created something brilliant, which we're going to get to
Speaker 1: in a minute. But I do want to celebrate the
Speaker 1: past one more time because this summer, y'all were in
Speaker 1: one of the hottest movies of the year, Deadpool, and
Speaker 1: that song Bye Bye Bye had a life of its
Speaker 1: own again. I remember driving in an uber in New
Speaker 1: York and hearing that on the radio again, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, I'm a millennial, Like this is on
Speaker 1: the radio. Why this is so cool?
Speaker 2: Like for you, we never like, we never saw it coming, man.
Speaker 2: You know, we just thought it was really really cool
Speaker 2: that somebody wanted to use or not somebody, but obviously
Speaker 2: Ryan wanted to use the song in the film. And
Speaker 2: when we first you know, got to look at us like, hey,
Speaker 2: you know, the Deadpool film wants to put your song
Speaker 2: in the movie. You're like, Oh, that's cool. I wonder
Speaker 2: how they're going to use it, like what you know,
Speaker 2: but look, they're create over there, and they they like
Speaker 2: to have fun. And that worked out perfect because you know,
Speaker 2: we're like that as well. We'd like to have fun.
Speaker 2: And so when we first got wind of it, and
Speaker 2: when we first signed off, it was only for X
Speaker 2: amount of time. And then down the road in the project,
Speaker 2: they reached out again. They were like, we need to
Speaker 2: use more of the song. You guys good and we
Speaker 2: were like, yeah, have fun, do your thing. And then
Speaker 2: and then ultimately Ryan reached out and texted all of
Speaker 2: us and he was just like, so it's taking on
Speaker 2: a life of its own and we think you guys
Speaker 2: are going to love it. And and that's when he
Speaker 2: invited us to come to the premiere and things like
Speaker 2: that to see it, because he was genuinely, really really
Speaker 2: sweet and he expressed some wonderful enthusiasm about it. And
Speaker 2: we love the way it turned out. I mean, like again,
Speaker 2: funny wins.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and the guy who danced in that suit
Speaker 1: was great. But I do have to say I'm a
Speaker 1: little disappointed you didn't pop out of the suit after
Speaker 1: that dance number.
Speaker 2: Oh no, man, Look, he got stunted. I don't know
Speaker 2: what I'm gonna do with like a sword, and I
Speaker 2: don't know if I have the comornation at this at
Speaker 2: this stage in life, I'm gonna leave that, like the
Speaker 2: swords and the fighting choreo to the experts. And yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm happy to share the dance and we'll keep it
Speaker 2: at that.
Speaker 1: And to put a button on this instinct portion of
Speaker 1: this interview, you know, knowing the impact that all of
Speaker 1: these amazing moments have had, and you know, from the
Speaker 1: VMA's to the show in La it's a deadpool, its
Speaker 1: a trolls and so on and so on, how do
Speaker 1: you see the momentum continuing with the guys.
Speaker 2: Look, the fun thing is we're always talking to one another,
Speaker 2: you know, and so you never know what idea could pop.
Speaker 2: Right now, everybody's focused on projects, you know. Justin's literally
Speaker 2: on tour and you know, and I'm gearing up this
Speaker 2: project right now, so my focus is playing with fire.
Speaker 2: But we're always talking in the background, and it only
Speaker 2: takes like one idea, so anything's possible, you know. And
Speaker 2: that's the fun part about us. It's just we're one text,
Speaker 2: one phone call, from something.
Speaker 1: Anything is possible, including perhaps one day watching your show
Speaker 1: on the Broadway stage, which I certainly certainly hope is
Speaker 1: the case. Playing with Fire is your musical theater concept album.
Speaker 1: I was listening to it in the gym and I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, these songs are brilliant, they
Speaker 1: are so good, and you can't listen to everything, every
Speaker 1: musical theater album in the gym, but this, oh my god,
Speaker 1: it maybe the ballad.
Speaker 2: Maybe the ballads. You might you're allowed to skip the
Speaker 2: bout in the gym, but then you know you have
Speaker 2: If you want to listen to the baut later at
Speaker 2: home while you're stipping a glass of wine or something,
Speaker 2: you can do that.
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. The
Speaker 1: ballads have so much heart and like soul that you
Speaker 1: you do want to hear them, you don't want to
Speaker 1: skip it. So let's start with share with everybody what
Speaker 1: exactly is Playing with Fire.
Speaker 2: So Playing with Fire is a remake of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Speaker 2: It was inspired by my writing partner, My writing partner,
Speaker 2: Jimmy Harry. His mother was a playwright and she wrote
Speaker 2: a play call Playing with Fire, and she framed Mary
Speaker 2: Shelley's story in a way that was unique to other
Speaker 2: versions of Frankenstein that I had read or seen, and
Speaker 2: that she made the focus really about a conversation between
Speaker 2: the creature and the creator, Victor Frankenstein, and everything pops
Speaker 2: from that conversation. Everything happens because of that conversation between
Speaker 2: these two characters. And by framing things that way, I
Speaker 2: was emotionally affected in a way that I wasn't, you know,
Speaker 2: maybe reading the original, because I felt like the original
Speaker 2: I was always like a third party, just reading an
Speaker 2: adventure in a way. And the way that this is framed,
Speaker 2: every time you hear the Creature or Frankenstein speak, you're
Speaker 2: hearing it from their perspective, the character's perspective, so you're
Speaker 2: living through an experience through their emotion and their feeling.
Speaker 2: And that excited me. And so after reading that, you know,
Speaker 2: Jimmy and I started talking. You know, Hey, let's just
Speaker 2: start with one song and see what happens. If there's
Speaker 2: magic there, we'll we'll continue to walk down that road.
Speaker 2: And if there's not, hey, you know, we tried to
Speaker 2: do something totally different because I don't know if anybody
Speaker 2: would think about a musical for Frankenstein, and that also
Speaker 2: excited me, is you know, I just thought it was
Speaker 2: a different, fun, exciting thing to do. And we we
Speaker 2: wrote music for it, not all the music, but some
Speaker 2: of the music, and then we did a thing where
Speaker 2: we went up to the Playwright Center and Anneapolis and
Speaker 2: a guy named Jeremy Cohen opened the doors to the
Speaker 2: Playwright Center so graciously for us and brought in some
Speaker 2: actors and we got to hear some of Barbara's book,
Speaker 2: Jimmy's mother, Barbara's book against the music, because we didn't
Speaker 2: know if it was going to work, and what we
Speaker 2: learned was there's something there right. The music is doing
Speaker 2: something to the material. And that's when we got really excited.
Speaker 2: And then we noticed some flaws in what we were doing, obviously,
Speaker 2: but that's the exciting thing, you know. We go, oh,
Speaker 2: this gives me an idea. This makes me believe that
Speaker 2: we can do this. But this also gives me another idea.
Speaker 2: And that's when Jimmy and I went back in and
Speaker 2: started rewriting our version of the book because the music
Speaker 2: had changed the material as well, and so now all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, we're developing something where we can really
Speaker 2: make our mark and feel like we have something valuable
Speaker 2: to offer the story in the theater community by musicalizing
Speaker 2: a classic tale like Frankenstein.
Speaker 1: And there really is so much depth and soul to
Speaker 1: the lyrics and the music and all of the singers
Speaker 1: who are on this, including yourself of course, and you
Speaker 1: feel everything that you guys are trying to convey in
Speaker 1: the story. What about this made you so invested? Like
Speaker 1: why did you connect with this work in the way
Speaker 1: that you did? Well?
Speaker 2: The initial thought was even just hearing that, you know Frankenstein,
Speaker 2: you automatically, at least I automatically went Wow, we're living
Speaker 2: in a day and age now where the story is
Speaker 2: more relevant than ever we're up. You know, humanity and
Speaker 2: technology are really you know, at this crossroads where it's like, hey,
Speaker 2: the thought of AI and how we have to be
Speaker 2: responsible for this thing that we've created, and we're having
Speaker 2: these conversations now about that. That's really interesting to me.
Speaker 2: And the more we started writing, as much as it's
Speaker 2: a part of the story, it's not the heart of
Speaker 2: the story. The heart of the story that we've developed
Speaker 2: is humanity. It's like, it doesn't matter what happens, it
Speaker 2: doesn't matter how much technology is developed, It doesn't matter
Speaker 2: all of these What matters is that nothing can take
Speaker 2: you know, the humanity from anyone and so we focused
Speaker 2: on that aspect and what we ended up with was
Speaker 2: not just you know, a humanity and technology story, but
Speaker 2: a story about a father and a son working through
Speaker 2: some very difficult, heart wrenching, serious issues. And that was
Speaker 2: beautiful to me. It was like, oh, we've tapped into
Speaker 2: something special. You know, you go into it thinking you know,
Speaker 2: people in robots, and then you come out the other
Speaker 2: side you go, oh, this is all This is a
Speaker 2: story about humanity, and it's all about humanity, and it's
Speaker 2: being in the The center stage is you know, a
Speaker 2: father and a son and someone's great love and so
Speaker 2: having a perspective that felt like it was fresh. I
Speaker 2: got really excited about that as well.
Speaker 1: So innovative, it's so creative, which I think is probably
Speaker 1: as an artist, one of the most exciting things for you.
Speaker 1: The songs. I feel like the songs could be on
Speaker 1: the radio some of them. They're so good. What was
Speaker 1: the one I loved? Oh you used to touch me.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was like, damn, Jayson, this is fiery. Oh my God.
Speaker 2: The surprising thing about that record is, look, we wrote
Speaker 2: it as an up tempo and because we wanted to
Speaker 2: have energy and really to drive it. It's a taunt, you know.
Speaker 2: It's the creature kind of poking at his creator, like, Hey,
Speaker 2: you're calling me hideous, you're calling me a monster, you're
Speaker 2: calling me all of these things. Guess what. And it's
Speaker 2: almost like an you're talking to an ex. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know what, you used to put your hands all
Speaker 2: over me. Think about that for a second. I'm so ugly. Huh,
Speaker 2: you used to love me, you know, think about that
Speaker 2: when you say all these horrible things. And and so it's
Speaker 2: it's a great way for the creature to kind of
Speaker 2: kind of put it in the scientist Frank Stien's face.
Speaker 2: The thing that really surprised us was, you know, we
Speaker 2: wrote it as an up tempo, and we sang it
Speaker 2: as an up tempo. But one day we were just
Speaker 2: kind of messing around and we decided to just kind
Speaker 2: of play it in the air, like you know, on
Speaker 2: the piano over here and on the guitar o we're here,
Speaker 2: And we realized how interesting the song was. Stripped bear
Speaker 2: as well. So that's when you know that, you know
Speaker 2: there's a little bit more there. You know, you go, okay,
Speaker 2: this could literally be you know, a big, you know,
Speaker 2: bounce around, you know, energetic piece, but it can also
Speaker 2: like cut you. When you play it broken down, it hurts.
Speaker 2: And so that's when we knew that that song was
Speaker 2: was special.
Speaker 1: So yeah, well there's a lot of special songs on
Speaker 1: this man. And I think it's it's so cool that
Speaker 1: you're evolving your artist thry to tap into musical theater,
Speaker 1: which is a completely different art form. But I guess,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, a writer as a writer,
Speaker 1: And maybe I'm wrong here, but did you feel like
Speaker 1: it was a pretty easy transition for you writing songs
Speaker 1: for so many years and in sync and as a
Speaker 1: solo artist and then writing songs for this or was
Speaker 1: it a very different thing for you?
Speaker 2: It was very different, But I was also excited by that.
Speaker 2: The thing is again, as people and as artists, we
Speaker 2: want to continue to evolve, we want to continue to grow,
Speaker 2: And I liked the idea of taking on a project
Speaker 2: that was a bigger picture project. And I also felt
Speaker 2: like because of my background in all of the years
Speaker 2: of learning and being on stage and being in studios
Speaker 2: and writing and reading and seeing films and stories and
Speaker 2: seeing how people connect to their audiences emotionally. I felt
Speaker 2: like all of those years of information prepared me for
Speaker 2: this moment in a way and made maybe ready when
Speaker 2: Jimmy and I started talking and saying why don't we
Speaker 2: write a musical? And it was like, you know, when
Speaker 2: it came out of my mouth, it was like am
Speaker 2: I crazy? Or am I ready? And it was once
Speaker 2: we started the process, I just fell in love with it.
Speaker 2: And so I think, if anything, all of those years
Speaker 2: doing all of those other things prepared me for this
Speaker 2: moment and has given me a unique voice to share
Speaker 2: because I don't want to write the same musical that
Speaker 2: another musical writer is going to make. I think that's
Speaker 2: the exciting thing. If you go see a sign Hom piece,
Speaker 2: you know you're going to get that. When you see
Speaker 2: a Weber piece, you're going to get that. And so
Speaker 2: I think it's exciting to have a different kind of
Speaker 2: voice enter the space and we'll see how how audiences
Speaker 2: react to it.
Speaker 1: So well, it's very evident you're you're so passionate about this,
Speaker 1: shining so brightly, and I can feel it through the screen,
Speaker 1: which is always such a rewarding thing when you're talking
Speaker 1: to an art is there's genuine love and passion for
Speaker 1: what you're doing. And I know a few of your
Speaker 1: peers have tapped into this, right like Duncan Chic with
Speaker 1: Spring Awakening, and I think some of their shows and
Speaker 1: projects Max Martin with a Juliet. Have you gotten any
Speaker 1: advice from peers in the business about maybe bringing this
Speaker 1: to the stage and what that entails.
Speaker 2: You know who. I had a great conversation actually recently,
Speaker 2: just days ago with Nicole Sharesinger, right, So she's doing
Speaker 2: Sunset Boulevard.
Speaker 1: I saw it three times.
Speaker 2: Yeah, dude, So she she called me up and you know,
Speaker 2: and brought me backstage and stuff like that because I
Speaker 2: told her I was going to be in town and
Speaker 2: I was like, I'd love to see it, man. I
Speaker 2: love supporting you. You know. She's always great whenever I'm
Speaker 2: working on something, she wants to hear it, and she
Speaker 2: wants she always is a great person to bounce ideas off,
Speaker 2: because again, an experienced, intelligent, talented, you know entertainer. It's like, hey,
Speaker 2: when somebody's willing to share their point of view with you,
Speaker 2: you take it, and so she's been incredibly kind about
Speaker 2: that stuff over the years. So I went and saw
Speaker 2: the shit and I just told her. I told her
Speaker 2: obviously that she's absolutely amazing in the show, because she is.
Speaker 2: But then we just started talking about different things and
Speaker 2: what her run up to it was like, you know,
Speaker 2: and how it was something that she had always wanted
Speaker 2: to do. She's like, I always knew that I wanted
Speaker 2: to do something in theater. I just always knew. I
Speaker 2: just never knew, like, you know, what's the project, what's
Speaker 2: the time in my life? What is it? You know?
Speaker 2: And this project came along for her and it's literally
Speaker 2: it's one of the most incredible things I've ever seen
Speaker 2: on stage, you know. But talking to her, she was like,
Speaker 2: this is what I went through in the early parts
Speaker 2: of it, and this is what I was inspired by.
Speaker 2: And she goes, you know, think about this, think about that,
Speaker 2: think about this, and and so it was really fun
Speaker 2: talking to her, and I think, you know what, what
Speaker 2: she shared with me has excited me even more to
Speaker 2: move forward, you know, because again I'm excited about the
Speaker 2: subject matter. But I think seeing her on stage and going,
Speaker 2: you know know what, we've kind of walked in identical shoes.
Speaker 2: She came from a band. I came from a band,
Speaker 2: you know, and she makes music all the time. And
Speaker 2: now she's up there and she's found a way to
Speaker 2: use all the things that she's learned over the years
Speaker 2: to connect with the with those audience, you know, with
Speaker 2: her talents, and to connect with the audience with her performance.
Speaker 2: And I'm and I'm hoping that same kind of knowledge
Speaker 2: base gives me an opportunity to create those connections.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I love the parallels between the two of you,
Speaker 1: and how cool to have that support system. And what's
Speaker 1: so interesting to me is, you know, pussy Katzel's in sync.
Speaker 1: You guys created music very different from musical theater. Right
Speaker 1: when I was listening to you, I thought, oh my god,
Speaker 1: has he been in intense vocal training for the last
Speaker 1: decade because he sounded amazing then, But now it's like,
Speaker 1: you're stretching your voice so much in a way that
Speaker 1: I think only musical theater can allow you to. Same
Speaker 1: thing with Nicole. When you hear her on that Sunset
Speaker 1: Boulevard album Are Live, You're like, oh my god, how
Speaker 1: you know? And your sounds in these projects are very
Speaker 1: different than the sounds in the band. It's still great,
Speaker 1: but very different.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, because they're also you're also thinking about
Speaker 2: the room. You're thinking of Look when you're I guess
Speaker 2: it's just a different approach. But when you say, you're
Speaker 2: singing different notes in a different way, and that's purposeful,
Speaker 2: you know. It's like when I approach some of these
Speaker 2: these bits, when I'm singing them, you know, they have
Speaker 2: to be kind of laid bare, let loose, you know,
Speaker 2: because you're playing a creature, you know, so if you're
Speaker 2: getting into character and that character has been through hell
Speaker 2: and back, you have to kind of strip away a
Speaker 2: bit of that armor and let yourself go with a
Speaker 2: bit of reckless abandon And that's how we approach some
Speaker 2: of the singing parts, and in some of the writing
Speaker 2: as well. It's like, these aren't things that I would
Speaker 2: say maybe in a pop record, right, but this character
Speaker 2: has put me in this position, and I have to
Speaker 2: honor that and I have to push myself. And so
Speaker 2: you're hearing a bit of that, and so that's again
Speaker 2: part of the process. And I think that's one of
Speaker 2: the great things about theater is it gives everybody an
Speaker 2: opportunity to push themselves because you want these characters to
Speaker 2: come to life. You want these characters to be the
Speaker 2: fullest realization that you can make them, and so in
Speaker 2: order to do that, you have to push.
Speaker 1: So through creating, playing with fire, and through seeing people
Speaker 1: like Nicole doing her thing in Sunset Boulevard. Do you
Speaker 1: have the stage bug? Like, do you want to be
Speaker 1: on the stage? We see you on the stage.
Speaker 2: When I started this project, I didn't think about it.
Speaker 2: I just was like, I was so just focused on
Speaker 2: making it. I just was like in my mind, I'm like,
Speaker 2: I have to make this thing. I literally I turned
Speaker 2: into Victor Frankenstein in terms of being obsessed. Jimmy and
Speaker 2: I we would just go in the studio and we
Speaker 2: were so determined to make this, and we're determined right now.
Speaker 2: You know, this is only step one in a long
Speaker 2: process and we know that, but you know, we just
Speaker 2: looked at it as an opportunity to share the journey
Speaker 2: with the audience instead of just kind of throwing everything
Speaker 2: at them at once. Go Hey, this is where we're going.
Speaker 2: Do you want to be a part of this? Come
Speaker 2: to the next thing that we do. And I think
Speaker 2: it's great to build your audience, and that's what we're
Speaker 2: doing through this process. In terms of being on stage,
Speaker 2: though again I've started to think about it now. I
Speaker 2: actually didn't think about it in the beginning. I just
Speaker 2: wanted to, you know, make this thing, but I would
Speaker 2: be open to it. The only problem you have to
Speaker 2: deal with with me is is that I'm going to
Speaker 2: want to make something else. So because while you know,
Speaker 2: the time you spend on stage is the time that
Speaker 2: you're not in the studio. And actually, to be perfectly
Speaker 2: honest with you, I have Jimmy and I are already
Speaker 2: talking about more ideas, which is kind of insane, but
Speaker 2: you know that's just the kind of creators we are,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Well, I feel like if you were to
Speaker 1: be on stage, you have to now keep kind of
Speaker 1: in theme to the project you're working on. So it
Speaker 1: would have to be like a jeckal and Hyde reboot
Speaker 1: on stage or like a Phantom bring Phantom back. You know,
Speaker 1: I could see you in that vibe.
Speaker 2: Well, I think anything that I would be on stage
Speaker 2: with for like a run of something would probably be
Speaker 2: something that I would want to have been a part
Speaker 2: of creating. That being said, we do have one that
Speaker 2: we've already written aside from this, and that would be
Speaker 2: a fun one and it's nothing like this, because why not.
Speaker 2: But but I think the connective tissue in terms of
Speaker 2: me being in something or be being a creator and something,
Speaker 2: I think it more boils down to because I don't
Speaker 2: see Phantom as a Jesus Christ superstar, you know. I
Speaker 2: think they're two very different shows created by Weber, and
Speaker 2: so I think that you're allowed. I think you're allowed
Speaker 2: to have range when you're being creative in the theater
Speaker 2: space as well. Now, well, some of the melodies you
Speaker 2: know live in the same family, probably just because it's
Speaker 2: you're talking about the same writer. But I don't necessarily
Speaker 2: think that you have to be to be kind of
Speaker 2: boxed into a genre. You have to I have to
Speaker 2: go where my heart takes me and where I'm inspired,
Speaker 2: because I think the best product that I make is
Speaker 2: from truth, and so so when I when I'm out
Speaker 2: there and I'm truly believing in what I'm doing, That's
Speaker 2: when I'm at my best. And I think people can
Speaker 2: kind of sniff that out.
Speaker 1: Well, that's why you've had such longevity, right, and that's
Speaker 1: why you're continuing to do amazing things, and it's scary
Speaker 1: to take on something like this. It's a big leap
Speaker 1: of faith. You're putting your blood, sweat, and tears in it.
Speaker 1: It's a different thing for you and your fan base,
Speaker 1: but you have such a burning passion for it that
Speaker 1: you said, I got to do it and I got
Speaker 1: to see this. It's that you like what I did.
Speaker 1: There burning passion, but it's it's seriously, it's an amazing
Speaker 1: thing that you're creating, and I imagine that you must
Speaker 1: be very proud. And when you look back at your
Speaker 1: whole career and everything you've accomplished, what do you feel
Speaker 1: the most proud about.
Speaker 2: I think I'm proud of the relationships that I've created.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's like any one project that I'm
Speaker 2: super proud of. I think I'm more proud of the
Speaker 2: people that I've met along the way and been able
Speaker 2: to work with and the impression that we've left on
Speaker 2: one another. Very rarely, you know, knock on wood, but
Speaker 2: very rarely do I have a bad experience, because I
Speaker 2: am a bit picky fair. But the thing that I'm
Speaker 2: proud of is the friends that I've made along the way.
Speaker 2: When I think back to the to the mouse Club,
Speaker 2: and I think, Wow, I've made some lifelong friendships there.
Speaker 2: And even if I don't talk to those people for
Speaker 2: years at a time, ten years at a time, I'm
Speaker 2: appreciative of them and I can tell them that I
Speaker 2: love them because again, they're part of me. And everything
Speaker 2: about that situation, it came in on a high note
Speaker 2: and it left on a high note, and it was
Speaker 2: a beautiful situation. And the same thing with the guys.
Speaker 2: It's like, when we came together, we had a genuine
Speaker 2: enthusiasm about what we were doing, and when we came
Speaker 2: in together, we were pushing for everything the right way.
Speaker 2: And when we decided we had made the run that
Speaker 2: we had aimed to make, we went out on a
Speaker 2: high as well. We were thankful for everything and we
Speaker 2: felt like, you know, we were doing the right thing
Speaker 2: and and so and that's that's I think what I'm
Speaker 2: most proud of is I'm thankful that all the experiences
Speaker 2: that I've had have been experiences that I'll look back
Speaker 2: on and say, I've made a friend along the way,
Speaker 2: and I feel like I did it the right way.
Speaker 1: Jason. The name of the show is called I've never
Speaker 1: said this before and as we wrap up, I finish
Speaker 1: every interview by asking my guests, what is something that
Speaker 1: you've never said before? And that question can mean anything
Speaker 1: you wanted to mean. So take the floor, my friend,
Speaker 1: what would you like to say today?
Speaker 2: I've never said I'll be a monster before? Whether maybe,
Speaker 2: just maybe. I think that's probably the best thing I
Speaker 2: can come up with it right now because it's such Again,
Speaker 2: that's a deep well of a question. That's a great
Speaker 2: that's a great question to pose to people.
Speaker 1: Thank you. You know it came from I cover a
Speaker 1: lot of you know, movie premieres and press junkets where
Speaker 1: you got three minutes or five minutes with someone and
Speaker 1: I'm like, like, man, you can't have a real conversation here,
Speaker 1: and I always see people wanting to share a different
Speaker 1: side to them. So that's where it was born. But
Speaker 1: you know what that that answer is very on brand
Speaker 1: for this conversation, So I like it. I like it
Speaker 1: a lot. JC Before we go, I'm going to share
Speaker 1: one thing that my friend shared with me. My friend Lisa,
Speaker 1: when I was telling her about this interview today, was
Speaker 1: so excited. She's a huge fan of your work, always
Speaker 1: has been, loves this new concept album supports.
Speaker 2: All you know, it's a weird but yes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, she but she thinks it's genius. And I
Speaker 1: think that's what's cool is a lot of your eurog
Speaker 1: fans are now coming with you onto this journey and
Speaker 1: it's a pretty magical thing, you know. And she said
Speaker 1: to me, an in sync reunion of any kind would
Speaker 1: heal the millennial generation. When you hear that, well, what
Speaker 1: do you feel? Because that is an amazing statement.
Speaker 2: It's incredibly humbling, that's for sure. You know, when you
Speaker 2: are yourself, I don't know you. You just think you're
Speaker 2: going through life being you, and and sometimes you know,
Speaker 2: really it's the kindness of strangers that is going to
Speaker 2: put things into perspective. When someone that you never met before,
Speaker 2: that you don't know, shares an act of kindness, it's
Speaker 2: humbling and then I look, I appreciate it to the moon.
Speaker 2: So but it's also hilarious that that would be the
Speaker 2: context you could heal the millennials.
Speaker 1: You of the power, You of the power, My man,
Speaker 1: jac Thank you. This was such a blast. I loved
Speaker 1: you know, hearing you celebrate, hearing us celebrate some of
Speaker 1: your past work, but really diving into this new project.
Speaker 1: Like I said earlier, I am such a fan of
Speaker 1: theater and musical theater and that creative space. And I
Speaker 1: hope you keep going with this. I hope you have
Speaker 1: massive success with this. I hope that I see you
Speaker 1: down the block in New York City doing the show
Speaker 1: on stage. And I believe in it, So keep going.
Speaker 1: I think it's a really special thing you have.
Speaker 2: Thank you man. Again, I think I think it's it's
Speaker 2: inspired me in a way that I haven't been inspired
Speaker 2: in a long time. And so I'm thankful just to
Speaker 2: be feeling this way about working on a project. And
Speaker 2: I hope that the voice that Jimmy and I are
Speaker 2: bringing to the theater world is something that people find
Speaker 2: interesting on some levels.
Speaker 1: And how can we continue to support.
Speaker 2: PWF Musical dot com. You know, you connect you with
Speaker 2: all the music, all the socials and everything like that,
Speaker 2: and hopefully you can you know, if you go check
Speaker 2: that stuff out, you can follow the journey of this
Speaker 2: whole thing, because again, we just released a record. This
Speaker 2: is the beginning, right so you know, next thing, you know,
Speaker 2: we're going to be in a building, so we're singing
Speaker 2: these songs live on a stage and addressing the book.
Speaker 2: We're thinking about a concert first and then going from
Speaker 2: concerts into workshops and then all these other things. But again,
Speaker 2: this is the beginning of the process and where it
Speaker 2: goes will be up to anybody who is reaching out,
Speaker 2: who is curious about it. It'll the project will literally
Speaker 2: be in everyone else's hands.
Speaker 1: Well, rock on, keep it going, and in the meantime,
Speaker 1: keep healing a generation.
Speaker 2: That's the goal.
Speaker 1: Jay Z, Thank you so much, my man, thank you.
Speaker 1: I've never said this before. It is hosted by me
Speaker 1: Tommy Diderio. This podcast is executive produced by Andrew Piglisi
Speaker 1: at iHeartRadio and by Me Tommy, with editing by Josh
Speaker 1: Shua Colaudney. I've Never Said This Before is part of
Speaker 1: the Elvis Duran podcast network on iHeart Podcasts. For more
Speaker 1: rate review and subscribe to our show and if you
Speaker 1: liked this episode, tell your friends. Until next time, I'm
Speaker 1: Tommy Diderio.