Speaker 1: Hey guys, it's Sammy J and welcome to the Let's
Speaker 1: Be Were All Podcast. First, I just want to make
Speaker 1: sure you guys are all staying safe and healthy and inside.
Speaker 1: I love this episode. It is with Alec Benjamin. We
Speaker 1: recorded this right before the coronavirus hit, and that means
Speaker 1: we actually got to record in person, which is really cool.
Speaker 1: This episode is really inspiring for me because we talked
Speaker 1: about his resiliency and persevering in the music business, his
Speaker 1: new album These Two Windows, which is coming out soon,
Speaker 1: his very unique songwriting process, and so much more. I
Speaker 1: cannot wait for you guys to listen, and I can't
Speaker 1: wait for your feedback. I'm really excited to have you
Speaker 1: on my podcast because christ of Fall, You're an incredible
Speaker 1: singer songwriter. I think your lyrics are just so vivid
Speaker 1: and descriptive where it really paints a story. Um You're welcome,
Speaker 1: and I think one of the really cool things that
Speaker 1: I joy about your music is that it's different than
Speaker 1: anything else. And I'm curious, what was the first song
Speaker 1: you ever wrote? And do you remember what was the
Speaker 1: first song I ever wrote? Was a song that I wrote?
Speaker 1: Um Man, I've started a lot of songs before I
Speaker 1: ever completed a full song. But the first song I
Speaker 1: ever wrote, like in full was a song that I
Speaker 1: wrote after my grandpa died when I was like fifteen. Um,
Speaker 1: and uh, yeah, that's it was called. It was called
Speaker 1: Beautiful Pain, and it was like the first time I
Speaker 1: had ever like completed a song and performed it. So
Speaker 1: I consider that like the first song that I made.
Speaker 1: One of the things I found really interesting. I've talked
Speaker 1: to a few people about this on the podcast. But
Speaker 1: you started writing songs based on you created title, and
Speaker 1: then you go off that that's true. Sometimes not all
Speaker 1: the time and sometimes most of the time. Recently, Yes,
Speaker 1: that's how I make music. So how do you come
Speaker 1: up with the title? Read a lot of like random
Speaker 1: sort of poetry things online and then like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'll look for a word that's inspiring to me. And um,
Speaker 1: if you read enough stuff or listen to a conversation,
Speaker 1: is ultimately like a phrase or a word will pop
Speaker 1: out to you. Like someone said something to me the
Speaker 1: other day. Uh, I keep, you know, sitting in my
Speaker 1: car and feeling sorry for myself, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's like kind of poetic. Maybe I can like take
Speaker 1: that line or use it as a title. So I
Speaker 1: just try to be like aware of whenever I'm reading
Speaker 1: something or having a conversation with someone, just like have
Speaker 1: that kind of thing on in my brain where it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: just in case someone says something like poetic, you know,
Speaker 1: make a note of it. Um, So that's how I
Speaker 1: do it. So I think your titles, like, for example,
Speaker 1: death of a hero, right, how do you come up
Speaker 1: with something like that a song like that, because that's
Speaker 1: not necessarily based on well, I was reading a poem.
Speaker 1: I was reading a poem on this website, and um,
Speaker 1: sometimes people ask me if I'm a fan of Panic
Speaker 1: at the Disco, But it wasn't. It wasn't actually the
Speaker 1: death of a bachelor song that inspired that title, but
Speaker 1: something there was another title that I read. It was
Speaker 1: like a death of something and I was just like,
Speaker 1: that's cool. I'll just change the last word and then
Speaker 1: see how it relates to me and use it for
Speaker 1: something else. Do you have a favorite song you put out?
Speaker 1: So what you say, Oh, no, not really, because like
Speaker 1: I don't really like I don't listen to my own
Speaker 1: music really well yeah, I mean not like do you
Speaker 1: ever well do you listen to your own interviews just
Speaker 1: not have to write, right, but but beyond that for
Speaker 1: like for like pleasure, like yeah, exactly. So it's like
Speaker 1: a similar thing. I hate hearing myself right, So I
Speaker 1: don't like hearing myself singing either, and so like I
Speaker 1: listened to my voice or I listened to my voice
Speaker 1: back on songs because I have to you know, edit
Speaker 1: the song or whatever. But I'm never like sitting in
Speaker 1: my car and being like, yeah, man, like this is
Speaker 1: this is tight, Like let's just do another one, you know,
Speaker 1: like of my own music. So I don't really have
Speaker 1: a preference. I think I just like whatever. If I
Speaker 1: put on music and there's like a fan favorite or something,
Speaker 1: those tend to beat the songs that I like to
Speaker 1: play the most because it gets the best reaction that shows.
Speaker 1: I find that so much. I mean it makes sense
Speaker 1: when you say it. I just feel like I hear
Speaker 1: artists listening to their songs really Yeah. I heard Kanye
Speaker 1: say once. He's like someone was like, what are you
Speaker 1: listening to right now? He's like, I only listen to
Speaker 1: my own music. Yeah he can. Hey, if I were,
Speaker 1: if I were making music that level, Like if I
Speaker 1: were if I were Kanye probably listened to Kanye too,
Speaker 1: so I can't blame him. Do you have any role
Speaker 1: models that have inspired your music? Yeah? Sure, like my
Speaker 1: my mom and dad and my sister. And then like
Speaker 1: I have a lot of fit like artists that I
Speaker 1: look up to, like John Mayer, Um, I really like
Speaker 1: um Paul Simon, I like eminem A lot. I like
Speaker 1: a lot of different kinds of artists. Um m m. Well,
Speaker 1: I know that John Mayer has become your mentor, which
Speaker 1: is crazy to say, Yeah, it's cool. What is it
Speaker 1: like working with someone who you got to perform on
Speaker 1: stage with you? Who is so I got to perform
Speaker 1: on stage with him your concert? Sure, but still I
Speaker 1: don't know. Yeah, what is the biggest lesson you've learned
Speaker 1: from him? Would you say? There's probably a lot of
Speaker 1: lessons that I've learned from him, But I'm trying to
Speaker 1: think there's so many to try and sort of like
Speaker 1: think of just one this. Well, I guess one thing
Speaker 1: is just like, you know, try and just be myself
Speaker 1: and not worries so much about what other people are doing,
Speaker 1: which I suppose is a challenge, you know, in this
Speaker 1: day and age when there's so much information you're on
Speaker 1: social media, you know, you're you're always focused on like
Speaker 1: what other people have or what other people are making.
Speaker 1: And so one of the cool things is that, like
Speaker 1: for a while I was kind of like, oh man,
Speaker 1: maybe I shouldn't have done this, maybe I shouldn't have
Speaker 1: started making music, and he was like, you know, you're
Speaker 1: on the right path. Just stay the course. So I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's like a lesson life lesson that
Speaker 1: he's taught me, but it was one thing that he
Speaker 1: told me that um was cool and definitely made me
Speaker 1: feel good. I mean, I think working with people like that,
Speaker 1: it's also so inspiring. I'm curious what's your take on
Speaker 1: social media because I've I've heard a lot of different things,
Speaker 1: and oh, well, I think it's like it's like a
Speaker 1: there's pluses and minuses, But I don't really think my
Speaker 1: opinion on social media matters so much because it just
Speaker 1: seems to be the way the world is moving. And
Speaker 1: so it's done a lot of great things for me.
Speaker 1: And also I was sitting next to someone on the
Speaker 1: plane yesterday and we were talking and he was works
Speaker 1: in like I t or something and it has a
Speaker 1: really good job and he was like, yeah, man, I
Speaker 1: got rid of that stuff a long time ago. My
Speaker 1: life is much better for it. And I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: but for me, you know, making music, it definitely I
Speaker 1: kind of have to do it. So, um, do you
Speaker 1: have a healthy relationship with it? Would you say? I
Speaker 1: don't know if when I don't know it, I don't
Speaker 1: know not to go into like a whole Like you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know what people believe about, like you know,
Speaker 1: humanity and stuff, but like you know, social media and
Speaker 1: like technology is definitely like one of the next steps
Speaker 1: and like you know, our human evolution forward. So if
Speaker 1: you're going to evolve, it's usually never like a painless thing.
Speaker 1: So I guess that sort of means it's a good thing, right,
Speaker 1: But it's not it's supposed to. Physically, it's not great
Speaker 1: for you, and mentally it's not great for you. And
Speaker 1: maybe the de pends on how you feel about everything,
Speaker 1: but sometimes those are the same things. But it's definitely
Speaker 1: not good for your neck. Like I went to I
Speaker 1: went to the chiropractor and he was like, you know,
Speaker 1: how much pressure you put on your neck when you
Speaker 1: look at your phone like this in your lap. He's like,
Speaker 1: that's two hundred pounds of pressure on your spine, Like
Speaker 1: that was my backpack for school. I'm like, hunch, now,
Speaker 1: it's not good. It um so ultimately I think it
Speaker 1: maybe isn't necessarily great for the individual, but for humanity
Speaker 1: as a whole, it's probably like the next step for us.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if it matters how I feel
Speaker 1: about it. That's really interesting. I haven't heard that take,
Speaker 1: but it's true. How do you think it's going to
Speaker 1: affect the future. I don't know, but I know that
Speaker 1: it will. That's all I can say. I think people
Speaker 1: are like becoming more integrated with their life with technology,
Speaker 1: So next step is, like, you know, it keeps getting
Speaker 1: smaller and smaller and smaller. Eventually it's going to be like,
Speaker 1: you know, in your arm or whatever. It's on your
Speaker 1: wrist right now. So that's gonna be so scary that
Speaker 1: the thought of it will be cool. Who knows, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but like yeah, I just feel like, you know, you
Speaker 1: see like the spy movies that happen and you're like, man,
Speaker 1: that's not too far away. Probably no, no, it's not,
Speaker 1: it's not. It's coming. Well, I want to talk about
Speaker 1: your music. Mind is a prison lyrically incredible. Thanks. I
Speaker 1: think the way you visualize things and just put it
Speaker 1: into words, that's so difficult to do. And I'm wondering
Speaker 1: when you wrote that song, did you realize that it was?
Speaker 1: I don't know. Did you just realize how many people
Speaker 1: it could affect and how many people people could relate
Speaker 1: to it? Um? I think that the song for me.
Speaker 1: When I wrote that song, I wasn't really thinking about
Speaker 1: other people. I was more thinking about, like, what was
Speaker 1: Every time I write a song and I think that
Speaker 1: a lot of people are going to relate to it,
Speaker 1: it usually doesn't. And it usually is because I'm not
Speaker 1: Um yeah it is, it is? But um yeah, you know.
Speaker 1: I think the jury is still out on how many
Speaker 1: people it will actually affect. But from when I when
Speaker 1: I first posted it, I definitely got a bigger response
Speaker 1: than I thought I was going to get. The first
Speaker 1: three lines of that song incredible. Can you just for
Speaker 1: the listeners who haven't heard it, can you just speak
Speaker 1: them or save them? Let me see were the first
Speaker 1: few lines of the song. I don't live in California.
Speaker 1: I'll inform you that's not where I reside. I'm just
Speaker 1: a tenant pay rent inside this body, and I got
Speaker 1: two windows. In those windows what I call in my eyes.
Speaker 1: I'm just going where the wind blows. I don't get
Speaker 1: to the side. Those are the first lyrics of the song.
Speaker 1: How long does it take you to cop with that?
Speaker 1: We wrote the song in like an hour and a half,
Speaker 1: so the lyrics probably took me about thirty five minutes.
Speaker 1: But there have been times where lyrics I mean, but
Speaker 1: it's it's hard to say because like, I've lived my
Speaker 1: whole life to write like the one song. So I
Speaker 1: feel like it's like a culmination of a lot of
Speaker 1: things that result in every single song. So it's not
Speaker 1: like how long did it take? It's like, well, I
Speaker 1: wrote it in a day, but I've lived a lot
Speaker 1: of days before I wrote the song. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: know you've talked a lot about your struggle with anxiety,
Speaker 1: which I can relate to. U. Is it therapeutic songwriting?
Speaker 1: Does that help? Um? No, releasing the songs helps. So
Speaker 1: when I get a reaction of like you know, you
Speaker 1: get comments on the YouTube video and then you can
Speaker 1: actually see that people relate that helps. UM writing the song,
Speaker 1: UM you is probably it's it's writing songs is like,
Speaker 1: especially when you do it for work, it's like a
Speaker 1: tends to sometimes be painful because you don't always want
Speaker 1: to be in the studio, but you know, like you
Speaker 1: got to put out a record and you have a
Speaker 1: deadline and you don't want your record to suck, so
Speaker 1: you're like, well, I'm just gonna go to the studio. Um,
Speaker 1: some days it can be really um, you know, cathartic
Speaker 1: to like get the idea out, but um, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a mixed bag. I don't really know. I think, well,
Speaker 1: what um have you used to help you with your anxiety?
Speaker 1: Because I know you do this on your YouTube channel
Speaker 1: where you go up to people and start singing to them,
Speaker 1: and like for someone who's anxious like myself, I'm like,
Speaker 1: that would stress me. Yeah, it stresses me out too.
Speaker 1: It's not fun. I don't like to Why do you
Speaker 1: do it? Because my label said to be a really
Speaker 1: fun idea to make out a YouTube series, But I
Speaker 1: did it because I was out of necessity. I didn't
Speaker 1: really have a choice. I got dropped from my first
Speaker 1: record company, and I didn't own the master rights to
Speaker 1: any of my songs, and the only way that I
Speaker 1: could spread my music was by literally going out on
Speaker 1: the street and playing my songs for people. So I
Speaker 1: did it because I had to, um, you know, and
Speaker 1: then everyone's like, oh, that's such like a cool part
Speaker 1: of your story. You should go out and do it again.
Speaker 1: I'm like should. I Like that was like one of
Speaker 1: like the worst times in my life, but at the
Speaker 1: same time, it is fun to go out and do it.
Speaker 1: I think the thing that's most therapeutic for me spending
Speaker 1: time in my family. But also I really do like performing,
Speaker 1: like in a venue that's really fun. It's fascinating by
Speaker 1: that because for like for me, I feel like that
Speaker 1: would just give me more anxiety, but for you it doesn't. Well,
Speaker 1: um no, because I think that like the sort of
Speaker 1: when you're opening for someone, it's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a different story. And even that I like that challenge,
Speaker 1: but sort of like the terms of of the engagement
Speaker 1: I've already been set before you get there, right, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, the people they know what they're getting, they
Speaker 1: want to be there, and then it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: not so scary, and it's also like it's a pretty
Speaker 1: one sided conversation. Sometimes people will scream at you when
Speaker 1: you're on stage. You know that can be a challenge,
Speaker 1: but um, it's normal. It's different. It's different than like
Speaker 1: going to a party where you don't know anyone and
Speaker 1: like having like a hey, you know it's it's really great,
Speaker 1: it's cool out and you're like, yeah, man, yeah it is.
Speaker 1: That's like those situations always stressed me out, Like having
Speaker 1: to go somewhere when you know no one you go
Speaker 1: by yourself. That's just like m m yeah, that can
Speaker 1: be difficult. How do you handle that? Um, working on it? Well,
Speaker 1: how do you do this? I mean this is like
Speaker 1: this is very uh when when you get up in
Speaker 1: front of like a you know, a thousand people or whatever,
Speaker 1: it's like you're not looking anyone in the eye. I
Speaker 1: feel like this something like this is like a little
Speaker 1: bit more nerve wracking. So how do you you ever
Speaker 1: get nervous having conversations every time? But like a good
Speaker 1: nerves It's I don't know, it's cool talking to people
Speaker 1: like you know, you see them doing these crazy things,
Speaker 1: but people forget like you're human, like you're a person,
Speaker 1: sure you know, And I think that's really cool to
Speaker 1: just see that in real time as well. Okay, that's
Speaker 1: why I like to do it all right, So when
Speaker 1: you're on the tour bus when that's just seems so
Speaker 1: stressful to me to be on a tour bus. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I live on a tour bus. Yeah, I don't like it.
Speaker 1: How do you do that? Not well? Not well? No, Um,
Speaker 1: the first time I was on a tour bus, we
Speaker 1: were in an accident. Um, so that was pretty not fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was not fun. And then since then it's been
Speaker 1: difficult for me to like be on a tour bus.
Speaker 1: I sound like I'm not really happy about everything, but
Speaker 1: I'm like having a great time, you know, like life
Speaker 1: is really good. Um, but there are definitely aspects of
Speaker 1: like touring that I don't love. But how do I
Speaker 1: how do I do it? Well? I just focus on
Speaker 1: the fact that like the next night I'm going to
Speaker 1: get to play a show for people, and that's I
Speaker 1: get to share my music with people and have a
Speaker 1: really awesome experience, and like the whole process of that
Speaker 1: is worth it for me. So um, yeah, it's worth
Speaker 1: it for me to be on a tour bus. But
Speaker 1: also how do I deal with it? I try to
Speaker 1: have like friends, you know, I try to tour with
Speaker 1: people and play shows with people that I really enjoy
Speaker 1: being around, and then you know that can be really fun.
Speaker 1: Sleep better or worse, way worse. Yeah, people say it's
Speaker 1: nice to sleep when it's moving. Yeah, I've yet. I've
Speaker 1: yet to meet those people. No, I'm just kidding. No. No,
Speaker 1: we have a couple of kids on the tour bus
Speaker 1: who were like, man, I sleep so good on the bus.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you're crazy where it's at. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1: It gives me nightmares, So I've heard that. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: not for me. Yeah, but I'm I'm starting to enjoy
Speaker 1: being on a tour bus. But it's a it's a
Speaker 1: it's a skill, like learning how to live on a
Speaker 1: tour bus. So I'm getting better. Yeah, have you been
Speaker 1: on a tour bus? I like, I went on one
Speaker 1: just to look at one. If you can. Did you
Speaker 1: did you sleep on it? No? No? Whose tour bus
Speaker 1: was it? E? Smith? Okay? Very cool. What's your go
Speaker 1: to snap? Would you say my go to snack? Well,
Speaker 1: it depends on well, it just depends on like what
Speaker 1: mode I'm in, you know, right now, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: stay healthy. So like I would tell you that, like
Speaker 1: you would be like carrot sticks, you know, but that
Speaker 1: Proba probably lasts for about two and a half weeks
Speaker 1: and then I'll probably go back to eating slim jims
Speaker 1: and Dorito's lovely. So that's that's like what But it
Speaker 1: just depends. It depends on also where we are, like geographically,
Speaker 1: you know, so if we're in like the UK or Europe,
Speaker 1: like we have a lot more options. You know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot more junk food that you can really play with.
Speaker 1: You know. Something that I've been kind of dealing with
Speaker 1: his you know, I'm doing all these really cool like
Speaker 1: interviews and all these things, and it all happens at
Speaker 1: once and then kind of like come off the high
Speaker 1: of it all, it's like everything is back to normal.
Speaker 1: So when you when that happens to you after a show,
Speaker 1: how do you not hit that? You don't? You do
Speaker 1: hit it? You hit it every time. It's like I
Speaker 1: was explaining to someone, I was like, Yo, yeah, you
Speaker 1: know you go to you're at You're at John Mayer's house,
Speaker 1: and then you know you're back at home living with
Speaker 1: your parents, and like that's cool too, but it's not
Speaker 1: like the John Massey So it's just it's just it's
Speaker 1: just one of those things. Um, I don't have an
Speaker 1: answer for you. Do you like living at home? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I do. I do, except for when I go on
Speaker 1: a date, you know, and then I'm like, oh, I
Speaker 1: also like live with my parents, you know. But now
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. I wouldn't change it. I like living
Speaker 1: living at home, especially when I spend a lot of
Speaker 1: time on the road. So your album, these two it is, Yeah, Okay,
Speaker 1: how long has it taken you to rate this album
Speaker 1: because it's your first debut album. Yeah, it's like a while,
Speaker 1: I guess, um, but probably wrote it over like seven months,
Speaker 1: eight months, um, But you know, throughout the whole process,
Speaker 1: like I was touring, so it wasn't like a whole
Speaker 1: like seven months of writing songs. I wrote some songs
Speaker 1: on tour. I wrote some songs like while I was
Speaker 1: at home, and then I wrote pieces of songs like
Speaker 1: you know, just all all over the place. So the
Speaker 1: process of making the album's taken a while. But if
Speaker 1: I had like it wasn't like when I made my
Speaker 1: last project, I had like a whole eight months where
Speaker 1: I could just like be at home. So some of
Speaker 1: these songs have I've actually had for like a couple
Speaker 1: of years. My favorite song is the Book of You
Speaker 1: and I. Oh cool, how have you heard it? It's
Speaker 1: not out yet, this will be out, okay, cool, alright,
Speaker 1: that's my favorite song on there too. Well maybe it is.
Speaker 1: I haven't decided. Why is the Book of You and
Speaker 1: I one of your favorites? Um? Because I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, people tell me that it's their favorite. So
Speaker 1: that's why. Because ultimately, I'm a performer, so like, I
Speaker 1: want to make the audience happy. So if people like
Speaker 1: one song over the other one, and I like one
Speaker 1: song over the other song, how long did it take
Speaker 1: for that song to have? For you to write that song?
Speaker 1: I wrote it like in a day, you know. But
Speaker 1: I wrote it two years ago. Um. So I've been
Speaker 1: hanging onto the song for a while and I never
Speaker 1: really thought anything of it. And then I played it
Speaker 1: for my mom and my mom was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I like that song. You should put it out. And
Speaker 1: so I'm going to. So the song the Book of
Speaker 1: You and I. What is the story behind the song?
Speaker 1: This song is about a girl that I liked and
Speaker 1: she broke up with me. And when she broke up
Speaker 1: with me, I pretended like it didn't matter to me
Speaker 1: because she was like this is gonna be the best
Speaker 1: thing for us, and I was like, for sure, because
Speaker 1: I didn't want to admit to her that it made
Speaker 1: me upset, and so this is my admission of being like,
Speaker 1: oh man, I wish I didn't have to end. That's
Speaker 1: what the song is about. And has she heard it?
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, but it's like she's married now, so it's
Speaker 1: all good, Like it's it's a it's the you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's I don't know what I'm gonna say,
Speaker 1: but it's it's over. Yeah, it's over. It sounds like
Speaker 1: I don't know. When I listened to I was like,
Speaker 1: it's kind of magical. Thanks, you know, it puts you
Speaker 1: through like, um, it kind of reminded me have like
Speaker 1: old Taylor Swift when how we describe like a story
Speaker 1: of something and I thought, I thought it was brilliant
Speaker 1: that you took a book but then used it to
Speaker 1: as a metaphor of a relationship. Is that one of
Speaker 1: the songs where you had the title and yeah, I
Speaker 1: found I had the title on like a plane. And
Speaker 1: then I was like going to my friend's house the
Speaker 1: next day to make some music and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've got this title, like we should turn this into
Speaker 1: a song, and that's how I made the song. So
Speaker 1: that's that's like how I do. That's how I've done
Speaker 1: most of the songs that I've written for the last
Speaker 1: like two or three years. But I'm thinking that, like
Speaker 1: my formula is probably gonna change soon because I'm getting Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm getting tired of it. Maybe I'm going to write
Speaker 1: like in a different way. But to be honest, the
Speaker 1: lyrics are the most important thing for me because if
Speaker 1: you told me like tomorrow, like hey, you could still
Speaker 1: make music, but you can't write lyrics with your songs,
Speaker 1: I probably wouldn't make music anymore because lyrics is the story. Well,
Speaker 1: the lyrics are like, you know, the part of the
Speaker 1: song for me where it's like it's more important that
Speaker 1: some that that I have something to say instead of
Speaker 1: like but and like. Music is just like the vehicle
Speaker 1: um to like express how I feel. UM. So if
Speaker 1: I wouldn't, if I couldn't write lyrics, and I wouldn't,
Speaker 1: I would find another form of expression. What do you
Speaker 1: think that would be? Uh? Maybe a podcast. I'm like
Speaker 1: I'm really into podcast. I listened to like a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of podcasts I listened to. There's so many.
Speaker 1: But I really like Joe Rogan, so he's cool. You
Speaker 1: ever listened to his podcast? I've listened to a few episodes.
Speaker 1: I really like Dax Shepherds. Okay, cool? Do you know
Speaker 1: theo Van? I'm a fan of his podcast. There's like
Speaker 1: a lot of pods. There's this guy named Eric Eric
Speaker 1: Weinstein who has a cool podcast. Yeah, there's like a
Speaker 1: whole There's a lot of them. So I'm sure there's
Speaker 1: a lot of podcasts that you listen to that I'm
Speaker 1: not familiar with. And there are so many podcasts. That's
Speaker 1: what's so cool about it. I feel like, what do
Speaker 1: you ever draw? No? No, what do you ever act?
Speaker 1: Maybe I would like do some sort of you know,
Speaker 1: sketch comedy or something. I don't wouldn't do stand up
Speaker 1: But are you talking like S and L type? It
Speaker 1: may be cool to try and write some skits for
Speaker 1: other people or something like that that would be fun
Speaker 1: to do. I don't think I'm not like a stand
Speaker 1: up comedy kind of person. I don't know, I'm not
Speaker 1: like I'm not funny enough to do. You have like
Speaker 1: any good go to jokes? No? Okay, I'm going to
Speaker 1: get my parents are going to roll their eyes. I
Speaker 1: read this on Ellen when I was eight years old,
Speaker 1: and it's okay, what do you call a fake noodle? Uh?
Speaker 1: It's I want to I don't know, and the pasta okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was gonna I was thinking if you're going to say,
Speaker 1: what do you call a scared noodles? Thinking a chicken noodle?
Speaker 1: That that's the other, that's a ya. Another thing I
Speaker 1: want to talk to you about is you know you
Speaker 1: got signed, Yes I did, and then you got dropped?
Speaker 1: Yes I did. How do you have What was it
Speaker 1: like coming back after then getting signed again? And how
Speaker 1: do you stay motivated and not? I have like an
Speaker 1: interesting I have an interesting like it was? It was?
Speaker 1: It taught me a lot getting signed to a label
Speaker 1: at a young age. Um, you know a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff comes down to timing, you know,
Speaker 1: and like it wasn't the right time. Um I think that, like, um,
Speaker 1: it's it's I wrote a whole album when I was
Speaker 1: signed to Columbia Records and then they dropped me, and
Speaker 1: then you know, it would have been one thing if
Speaker 1: like the music wasn't good enough and for a long time,
Speaker 1: like I believe that it wasn't. You know. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: just this just wasn't the album. And then you know,
Speaker 1: now I have a song that's I wrote six years
Speaker 1: ago that should have been a hit like multiple times,
Speaker 1: and it's finally now it's called the water Fountain maybe
Speaker 1: getting out there, and so like, you know, at first
Speaker 1: I was really excited, but now I'm kind of like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: Like for some reason, it makes it makes me look
Speaker 1: back and be like, uh, when't this could have happened
Speaker 1: when I was eighteen, you know, And so I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: think about how how much time I wasted. Um So,
Speaker 1: I have a very troubled relationship with that whole thing.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I'm grateful for the opportunity
Speaker 1: to think ultimately, in the long run, it will make
Speaker 1: me like a much stronger artist. And things happen when
Speaker 1: they're supposed to. Um So. Yeah. So in those moments
Speaker 1: when you found out you got dropped, did you ever
Speaker 1: want to give up music or was it something you know?
Speaker 1: I didn't? Um, I didn't. When I got dropped. I
Speaker 1: remember my manager called me and he was like, hey, um,
Speaker 1: this is uh you know, we spoke to so and
Speaker 1: so at the label and they said that, you know,
Speaker 1: they're no longer gonna have you as an artist on
Speaker 1: the label, and you know, there's nothing we can do
Speaker 1: about it. And I was like, all right, what do
Speaker 1: we do now? You know, you kind of just gotta
Speaker 1: figure what the next step is. Um. But there was
Speaker 1: never a point where I was like I'm going to
Speaker 1: give up. I think that's important. It's really that must
Speaker 1: be hard to do, especially at how old are you
Speaker 1: when you got dropped? I was twenty one, so I
Speaker 1: was like an adult, you know, yeah, Um, but I
Speaker 1: guess it's hard at any age. Um. But yeah, it
Speaker 1: was a bummer, but it is what it is. So
Speaker 1: as a singer songwriter, is it one of those things
Speaker 1: because I've always been curious about this. Does it like
Speaker 1: can you remember a song and you can put it
Speaker 1: back your head and focus on it later? Is one
Speaker 1: of those things where like you wake up in middle
Speaker 1: night because it's all you can think about writing songs? Yeah? Um,
Speaker 1: it just depends on it just depends. Sometimes I really
Speaker 1: have like a song idea that I got it write down,
Speaker 1: like right before I'm getting on stage, or and sometimes
Speaker 1: I have to force myself to write music because I
Speaker 1: am just not feeling like it. Um So it just
Speaker 1: it just depends how do you do it when you're
Speaker 1: like just not in the mood. Because I feel like
Speaker 1: it's one of those things. Well, I don't really have
Speaker 1: a choice because ultimately it's like my job. So I
Speaker 1: wake up and then I'm like, well, I don't really
Speaker 1: want to finish my album, and then you know, the
Speaker 1: labels like, well it's do. So it's not really about
Speaker 1: what I want sometimes, Whereas like you know, when I
Speaker 1: was fifteen, if I didn't want to write a song,
Speaker 1: I didn't have to. But I made the decision that
Speaker 1: this is how I want to support myself financially. So
Speaker 1: it's not always about what I want to do. It's
Speaker 1: about what I have to do. It's called responsibility. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So in your free time, what do you do when
Speaker 1: you're not writing music? Uh? This? You know, chill? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, hopefully I try to have to
Speaker 1: promote the music, you know, So it's like making music
Speaker 1: and promoting it in like a cycle. That's what I do.
Speaker 1: What are you most excited for about this album? Putting
Speaker 1: it out? Yeah, just like seeing how people feel about
Speaker 1: the songs. That I made. How does this album differ
Speaker 1: from your stuff in the past. It's the next step
Speaker 1: in my evolution as an artist. So like older, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm older and I have different things on my mind.
Speaker 1: And um, musically, uh, the instrumentation and production on some
Speaker 1: of the songs is I feel like a little bit
Speaker 1: more involved. So as an artist, what is your goal?
Speaker 1: Is it to win? Graham means, is it to really
Speaker 1: to more people? Uh? Well, I think I'll have a
Speaker 1: I think I'll have a way of changing that so
Speaker 1: that you know, whatever I ultimately do achieve, I'll try
Speaker 1: to find a way to tell myself if that was
Speaker 1: my goal the whole time. But if you ask me
Speaker 1: total world domination, I want. I want it all and
Speaker 1: I don't want to compromise my integrity as an artist either,
Speaker 1: So that probably won't happen, But that's my goal. As
Speaker 1: you grow as an artist, are you afraid because you know,
Speaker 1: more people have more opinions that's gonna um affect the
Speaker 1: quality of your music. Yeah, well I'm not afraid of that. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm afraid that I'm going to take into consideration the
Speaker 1: wrong opinions because um, because like I don't know everything.
Speaker 1: You know, and I like to make my music better,
Speaker 1: and I do listen to people. I'm open to listening
Speaker 1: to other people's input. It's just I don't always trust
Speaker 1: myself that I know who knows what they're talking about,
Speaker 1: you know. So sometimes I feel like I have to
Speaker 1: find the right people. Who's who are going to give
Speaker 1: me the right input? How do you know if someone's
Speaker 1: like the right person you can trust? Um, I give
Speaker 1: them one chance and if it's wrong, then I don't
Speaker 1: give them another chance. Yeah. No, I listened to my
Speaker 1: friend Chrissie and my mom and I play them music
Speaker 1: and they've been right almost every single time on which
Speaker 1: songs are going to connect and which ones aren't. And
Speaker 1: uh so you know that's who I listened to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but but but you know, I'm I'm also open that
Speaker 1: will evolve because I have more people around me, and
Speaker 1: then you know they those two don't know everything. And
Speaker 1: I always the more people you have giving you ideas
Speaker 1: the best to just have to make sure that you
Speaker 1: pick and choose which ones are right for you. So
Speaker 1: I'm sure I've made mistakes and I'll continue to make
Speaker 1: those mistakes, but I think a bigger brain trust is
Speaker 1: always better. Yeah, that's what the computer lets you do.
Speaker 1: That's ultimately like how I decide, right, Like yeah, my mom,
Speaker 1: my friend Chris Chrissie choose. But like who lets me
Speaker 1: decide is like my fans. You know, if I post
Speaker 1: a song and they're not listening to it, it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter what anybody says, like the record company or whatever.
Speaker 1: If if people don't like the music, they don't like
Speaker 1: the music, you know, so it doesn't My mom could
Speaker 1: be like, this is the best song you ever made,
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if the fans aren't listening to it.
Speaker 1: Would you ever try another genre of music? No? No, Well,
Speaker 1: I don't love I love music, but I like a
Speaker 1: certain kind of music. You know. I'm not like I
Speaker 1: don't dance or anything, and I don't like have any
Speaker 1: like you know, I'm not trying to like make club music,
Speaker 1: so like that wouldn't make me happy. It's not the goal. Um.
Speaker 1: So no, this is probably like the genre that I'll
Speaker 1: stay in forever. Um I love like Bob Dylan and
Speaker 1: Paul Simon and Leonard Cohen and those kinds of people
Speaker 1: who like are they have a message? Um? And there
Speaker 1: are other types of music too, like obviously there's a
Speaker 1: lot of rock music and hip hop music or whatever,
Speaker 1: but I don't see myself as like one of those artists,
Speaker 1: like a rock or hip hop artist. Dream collap you
Speaker 1: know what. I just worked with Kasey Musgraves. That was
Speaker 1: really cool. Um, that was really fun. But it's hard,
Speaker 1: Like artist collaborations can be difficult, especially when you work
Speaker 1: with someone as talented as like Casey or John Mayer
Speaker 1: or whatever, because it's like they're already making amazing stuff,
Speaker 1: you know, so sometimes it's like figuring out like what
Speaker 1: you guys are gonna do together, Like how you're gonna
Speaker 1: make something awesome together. It's can be challenging. Um, But
Speaker 1: my dream artist collaboration, I don't I can't answer that
Speaker 1: for you, but it was pretty awesome getting to hang
Speaker 1: out with John and getting to work with Casey, and
Speaker 1: I work with Khalid that was really cool. Um. But
Speaker 1: like Casey and Khalid are like two of the most
Speaker 1: talented people I've ever been around, So sometimes the challenges
Speaker 1: is like, well, how do I add something to this
Speaker 1: or is that ever intimidating like going into the room. Yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: but it's intimidating going to the room with anybody you know,
Speaker 1: whether they've had success or not, doesn't. It's always like,
Speaker 1: how are we gonna do this? Because you're starting with nothing.
Speaker 1: So but that's what's really cool. I think you start
Speaker 1: with an idea in your head and then it's out
Speaker 1: in the world. Yeah. Well, sometimes you walk into the
Speaker 1: session you don't even have an idea in your head,
Speaker 1: and then you have to write, you know, come up
Speaker 1: with one, and that can make it more challenging. Do
Speaker 1: you remember the first time you had like you had
Speaker 1: the idea for something and then the world is hearing it.
Speaker 1: Do you remember that feeling? It just happened so many
Speaker 1: times where it's like when I made a song and
Speaker 1: then released it yeah, yeah saying uh saying replay by
Speaker 1: ia s on Facebook and I posted the video and
Speaker 1: it was horribly embarrassing. So that's that's the first half
Speaker 1: the time I can remember, like I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put out this cover I did on my Facebook. Um,
Speaker 1: but it was it was it was horrifying and exhilarating
Speaker 1: at the same time. So that's why I guess why
Speaker 1: I keep doing it. Yeah, is that feeling just like,
Speaker 1: is it like an addiction? Almost? Yeah? Is mhmm. Very interesting.
Speaker 1: M M well, I think you should make a podcast,
Speaker 1: all right, maybe I will. Maybe I will. Thank you
Speaker 1: for having me on your podcast. I appreciate it. Thanks.
Speaker 1: Your album is incredible. Thanks. I cannot wait to see
Speaker 1: you perform. Okay, well I'm excited. Uh and you're amazing
Speaker 1: at what you do, so I appreciate it. Thanks for
Speaker 1: for it was it was a privilege to do this
Speaker 1: with you. Thanks, thank you. Thank you guys so much
Speaker 1: for listening to this episode of Letslie Real Podcast. I
Speaker 1: hope you guys enjoyed it. To make sure you follow
Speaker 1: Alec Benjamin on all of the socials It's at Alec
Speaker 1: Benjamin and stay tuned for his album These Two Windows. Also,
Speaker 1: Alex just to release a new song called six ft
Speaker 1: Apart inspired by COVID nineteen and it's such a beautiful
Speaker 1: song and has a beautiful message and it's what the
Speaker 1: world needs right now. So go check it out and
Speaker 1: make sure you also follow me on Instagram at It's
Speaker 1: Sammy J. That's I T S S A M M
Speaker 1: Y J A y E. And don't forget to follow
Speaker 1: our podcast account because we have a giveaway going on
Speaker 1: right now. I made hats with Jordan Fisher in our
Speaker 1: last episode, and you can still win them, so I
Speaker 1: would make sure you put an entry in the podcast
Speaker 1: account is Sammy j Dot. Let's be real and with
Speaker 1: everything going on in the world, I just want to
Speaker 1: make sure you guys are safe and healthy and I
Speaker 1: will see you guys next year