WEBVTT - Black Pumas 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:15.160 Pushkin. First time I heard Black Poomas I was blown away. 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:18.800 The guitar player and producer, Adrian Asada has a production 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:22.720 style that's uniquely his own, sounds both modern and retro, 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:26.520 and Eric Burton's voice is so powerful and soulful it's 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:29.360 hard to believe you've never heard him before. The band 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:32.040 seems like they came out of nowhere and everywhere all 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.600 at once. The runaway to success was short for blackpoolas 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.120 five months after releasing their debut album in twenty nineteen, 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.120 Dawson based band was nominated for Best New Artists at 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.199 the Grammys, and now one year later, Black Booms are 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:47.720 up for even more Grammys, including an Album of the 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:51.239 Year for the deluxe version of their debut. Adrian and 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:54.840 Eric mented a crossroads in both of their careers. Adrian 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:58.480 left his first band after successful run, including a year's 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:02.720 long mentorship with Prince. In this episode, I talked to 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:06.200 Adrian about being taken under Prince's wing. Eric reminis is 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.040 about writing the group's biggest hit in Church, and they 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:16.760 explain their unique chemistry that's led to instant success. This 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:19.760 is broken record liner notes for the digital age. I'm 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:28.920 justin Richmondton. Here's my conversation with Adrian Quesada and Eric 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:33.520 Burton of Black Plumas. Oftentimes, the experience as a fan 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:36.080 of listening to a band is there is a justation 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:38.240 period where you've heard the name, or you've heard a song, 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:40.440 you've heard something and it's kind of like, oh, yeah, 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:42.240 I need to check that out, or people keep telling you. 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:44.960 But you guys really just almost like materialized out if 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:47.160 thin Era felt like it was experienced the same for 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.600 you guys. On the other end, man, it's weird on 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:51.720 one hand, yes, on one hand, no, you know, it's like, 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:53.880 on one hand, it's kind of the culmination of everything 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:57.400 Eric and I've been doing already, you know, in the 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:01.360 years leading up to this and you know, being introduced 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:03.280 to each other in two seventeen. We worked on the 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:06.680 music in two tho seventeen for a good while before 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.840 we played our first show in twenty eighteen. So for us, 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.160 some of these songs are you know, three years old. 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.240 But then on the other hand, from the time we 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.280 played our first show, which was a spring of twenty eighteen, 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:24.400 to the time we were touring and all that, because 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:27.440 we were moving at such a fast pace, it actually 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:28.959 did feel like it happened kind of fast. So I 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:30.960 do remember talking to Eric at our first south By 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:34.079 Southwest and telling him like, man, this is this is 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:37.280 going to happen fairly quickly. And the reason, like I'm 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:39.080 bringing it up is because we're not going to have 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.720 time to think about it or breathe for a while. 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:45.840 And then that's really what happened. And until honestly, the 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:49.520 first time I felt personally like I stopped and was 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:52.120 able to take a breath and look around and process 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:56.160 it was was during the pandemic. Yeah, you know, like Adrian, 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:58.959 he's been in the industry for a while, like he's 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:02.960 not new, Like a lot of the radio stations and 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:06.520 some of the people that we've run into doing interviews, 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.640 they know Adrian from group both Fantasma and Brown Out 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:13.359 and you know Brown Sabbath, and he's got all these 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:17.600 He's done different things and I, on the other hand, 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:23.880 I'm virtually non existent before the Black Pumas online. While 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.040 at the same time, you know, like writing these songs 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:31.560 like Colors, and I wrote Colors like ten years ago, 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:35.160 and you know, touched this guy. I was writing that 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:38.680 when I was busting on the Santa Monica Pere, you know, 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:43.240 a couple of years before meeting Adrian in the first place. 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:46.640 And so I think that being a new kid in 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:52.440 this beautiful music town, you know, finding a partner in 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:56.200 someone who's done it for so long to the degree 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:00.520 that people are interested in hearing what he's got going 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:04.560 on next. And so while Adrian was looking for someone 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:08.040 to write songs on the instrumentals that he had at first, 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:12.880 our friend Brian Ray introduced the The No Body Guy 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:17.440 to Adrian, and you know, Adrian, he liked the songs, 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:21.760 and you know, I think that we're both thankful that 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:24.719 that is the reaction to most of most of the 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.159 people who listened to the music in the first place. 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.520 But it would not have happened if Adrian didn't have 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:33.560 the history that he had in the industry, you know, 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.240 with the quality that he brings to the table, And 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.640 it would not have happened if I wasn't bringing the 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:42.200 songs that I was bringing to the table, as well 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.320 as the live performance aspect of what we do together 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:49.360 as well. So yeah, it's an interesting dynamic, oh absolutely. 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.240 You know, like the way what Eric was saying, I 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:55.280 kind of imagine it almost like you know, there's a 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:58.000 plateau or like a mountain, and I've just been climbing 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:00.200 it longer, and he just moved up and we got 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:02.680 to the same point, and we're almost like starting from scratch, 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:04.960 you know. It's like I just see it, like at 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.320 some point we hit a new plateau where we're in 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.000 in the exact same uh. I've never been there either, 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.680 And that's what blows me away the most. It's because 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:18.000 you know, I remember kind of nudging Adrian when we 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.120 were in the airport and like London or Paris. It's like, dude, man, 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:24.400 this is crazy, right, And like, I mean, I know 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:28.599 you've I'm almost embarrassed, embarrassed to even show that I'm 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:32.000 excited around like somebody like Adrian. And then Adrian goes, 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.440 you know, I haven't seen a lot of these stages 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:37.279 in the same in the way that we're seeing them either. 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:41.120 I haven't seen that, And so to hear that, it's 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:45.680 very humbling and amazing to me that a virtual nobody is, 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:49.360 you know, somehow elevating the career of someone who's been 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.880 doing it for such a long time. So you know, 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.000 to the degree that we're experiencing a lot of the 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:58.280 same things for the first time together. What's that hard 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:00.520 for your adrien or in a sense maybe even humbling 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:02.040 to have to start over again, because I mean you're 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:04.520 coming from a group where you had two Grammy nominations, 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:08.520 you know, or a win right one. Yeah, yeah, you know. 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.400 I I don't think Eric and I really at the 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:13.720 beginning had an intention of starting a band. We were 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:15.760 just recording, you know. Eric was getting hit up a 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:19.040 lot by producers in Austin, and we were just having 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:22.400 fun working on music. And I feel like that's why 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:24.400 this is so special to me, is that we had 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.640 really pure intentions. We were just trying to like record 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:29.800 cool songs that we wanted to listen to, you know, 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.040 and Eric would show me something, I'd be like, oh man, 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:34.640 check you know, check out the production on then and 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:36.640 it took us a while to finally say, well, we 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:39.359 should actually be a band and do this, you know. 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.880 So I think it's our enthusiasm kind of rubs off. 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:44.960 I mean, part of why we started it. We were like, well, 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.240 let's play Let's see what it would be like to 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.120 play these songs live, as we had never played them 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:51.760 live together. We were just recording them, and then we 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.880 started playing our live shows, and that was just a blast. Man. 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:57.799 It was just so much fun to be on stage, 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:01.400 and Eric's enthusiasm and stay age presence and everything was 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:04.640 all just contagious and just kind of took off from there. 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:07.120 I mean, those songs are really good. I mean, that's 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:09.480 one of the interesting things too about it feeling like 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:12.120 you guys almost were not here one day and hear 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:15.480 the next is that the song sounds so fleshed out 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:18.040 and so incredible. It's hard to believe that these songs 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:22.080 and the productions were conceived of and created independently. Did 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:24.520 you have the sense when you were recording these that 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.400 these are really special? Kind of yeah, if I was 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:29.720 trying to contain my enthusiasm and just play it cool, 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:33.360 you know, and we just, I don't know, we were 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:35.360 just in a little bubble working on the on these songs. 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:37.560 Like I don't we didn't really show him. I didn't 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.040 really show him to anybody but my wife and maybe 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:42.800 like a couple of people at some point. Every time 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:44.840 I played for somebody, they'd be like, what is that 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:46.720 Play that again, and I'm like, oh, is this guy 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:48.800 Eric Burton? I just met him? Check this out? And 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.040 they'd be like, what the hell Like, I mean, it 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.400 just seemed like early on, like the songs he was 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:57.040 writing and the production style that I was hearing in 0:07:57.120 --> 0:08:00.880 my head was just effortless, man like. We really didn't 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:04.480 really even have to like talk about it that much. 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:06.280 It was just happy we'd just do it. I know, 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:08.360 you guys were going to cut a couple of songs 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:11.160 for this conversation, So I was thinking we could start 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:13.960 by hearing having people hear Colors. What was going on 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:15.440 in your life that led you to write that song? 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.160 I think I was just leading a praise and worship 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:21.679 at a Presbyterian church and was just looking to connect 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.600 with God in my own way, you know, from my perspective, 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:27.560 and so Colors kind of emanates from a place. So 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:31.520 just trying to be honest and in my alignment to source. 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:36.240 So you were leading essentially like a church group. Yeah, 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:41.040 I was hired to learn hymns on my guitar and 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:43.400 kind of you know, before I came into the church, 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.440 they were listening to recordings and I'm like, what, there's 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:48.600 no music going. You know. I was going to a 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:51.000 different church at the time, but they caught wind of 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:54.120 me through you know, some family, and they paid me 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.960 to come and lead some hymns, and so that's what 0:08:58.000 --> 0:08:59.880 I did. I would learn some of the hymns and 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:04.280 then start writing my own pretty much. And Colors was 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.680 one of those that were reflective of trying to break 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:10.240 out of just singing that kind of music. Did you 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:13.360 ever perform that in the church maybe once? Do you 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:16.439 remember how it was received? Yeah? It was always received 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:20.720 very like pretty well, you know, but there's obvious, this 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:25.120 this obvious difference you know, between you know, me writing 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:29.480 my own song as opposed to like singing these like 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:32.920 old hymnal songs and stuff like that. So I am 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:36.080 I imagine now that I probably came off a little 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:39.160 bit more worldly than people were used to. But that's 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.360 I mean, I guess I would have been unlike the 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:43.840 time when a lot of the great gospel songs that 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:47.880 we sing in church now were written, you know, right exactly. 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:50.480 And you know, to be honest, I look up to 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:54.800 people like Sam Cook and Ray Charles and Arita Franklin 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:56.920 who were able to kind of take what they learned 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.800 in church and to give it a univer verstal approach. 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.920 And that's kind of how I kind of see a 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:06.720 little bit of my development and as a songwriter and 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:10.120 a performer as well. Adrian, were you very connected to 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:11.880 gospel music at all, because it seems like that's the 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.800 world that Eric's wire coming from. Not particularly, no, man. 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.720 I grew up Catholic and went to Catholic school, and 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:22.120 I'm from South Texas, and the connection to music with 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.320 the churches in South Texas, I think is a bit 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.160 of a different experience. Although although I love it, you know, 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:31.400 but that wasn't my upbringing. Honestly, it really wasn't mine either. 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:36.000 I mean I wasn't really in a gospel singing church, 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:38.520 like learning like how a wreatha Franklin that I had 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:42.160 no way near close is just I just feel coming 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:46.640 from that from the church in general and its strictness 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:50.079 to sing, like to have certain content, you know. Just 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:55.079 taking what I've learned and making it my own is 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:58.320 what I mean by coming from singing in church and 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:00.480 then writing my own songs and stuff. When I moved 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.600 to Austin. Actually my freshman year in college, I did 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:06.040 go to the University Catholic Center, which was across from 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:09.120 my dorms, and I thought I would play guitar and 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:11.760 there for a second there, I was like, maybe I'll 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:14.440 go play guitar at the at the University Catholic Center. 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:17.680 But man, the music was not inspiring to me. If 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:20.640 Eric could, if I had like heard colors or something there, 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:22.800 you know, I might have joined. I might have taken 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:25.760 a different career turn. We'll be back with Adrian and 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:33.880 Eric after this break. Here's more of my conversation with 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:38.280 Adrian Quesada and Eric Burton. One of the cool experiences 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:42.280 with your music is it sounds familiar because it sounds 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:44.600 it sounds soulful and the way that music used to 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:47.280 sound soulful. But when I'm listening to your voice, Eric, 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:50.080 like I can't pinpoint a particular singer that you sound like, 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:51.680 but you can hear the gospel. You can hear the 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:56.160 soul sometimes in your writing and colors, even in the lyrics. 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.440 There's almost like a country element to just sound like 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:02.640 specific and clear the lyrics are, the verses are and 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.640 aiding with the production. There's not one person it sounds 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:07.480 like in terms of arrangement production, Like you can't say 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:10.360 it's Isaac Hayes or Curtis Mayfield, but there's such as 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.800 such soul Imbaut and the way you're producing these tracks. Yeah, 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:17.200 I mean there's certain nods, very specific nods. I think 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.400 every once in a while we throw in a little 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:23.520 wink here and there to a particular influence. But I 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:26.360 don't think when Eric and I were working when we 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:29.640 first met, Well, what's funny. I actually probably have to 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:31.640 punt this back for to Eric to clarify on this, 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:33.560 But like I remember him telling me he had never 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:37.920 really sang on a song that he didn't start himself, 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:40.920 like these instrumentals, you know, So he was telling me 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:42.960 he was kind of struggling to kind of fit in 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:45.480 or I'm like, everything you're singing sounds gold in to me. Man. 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:47.640 I mean there's there're nods, you know, there's nods in 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:49.920 my production there. I think there's little winks and nods 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:54.120 between us to our influences. But ultimately, I don't even 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:55.920 think we had a discussion on like well let's make 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.800 that sound like this. You know, I never told Eric there. 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:00.640 I don't think he ever told me that as well. 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:04.760 But what that was initially when when I reached out 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:06.120 to people and was like, hey, do you know anybody 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:08.000 I could collaborate with this on this? A bunch of 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:10.360 people sent me ideas like, oh, check out this such 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:14.760 and such person, all real talented people, but nobody really 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:17.160 uh made me kind of jump out of my seat 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:19.280 and reach out until I saw until I heard about 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:21.360 Eric and and one of the main reasons why I 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:25.040 was they were like, oh, I just you know, you 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:27.800 hear a soul singer and you just imagine like that 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:31.000 kind of especially nowadays, like that retro soul kind of 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:33.840 like thing. But I just looked him up and I'm like, 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:38.200 now he's playing like an acoustic guitar or you know, 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.920 almost more like Neil Young than that, you know what 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.559 I mean. But he but it's soulful, but it's his soul. 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:46.040 I don't know. It was just so much to me 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:47.839 that I was just like perked up and was like, damn, 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:50.240 this dude is like is an individual, you know, And 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:52.040 that's the main the most important thing I think both 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:55.280 of us have wanted to convey with through through the 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:58.280 music is like just that it sounds like us, you know, 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.960 and the band name. It's like the imagery is super strong. 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:05.760 How did you guys land on Black Pumas? Adrian went 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:08.560 cat crazy on me. Man, Yeah, he came back from 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:11.080 he came back from Mexico. I'm gonna tell the story down. 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:15.800 Go ahead, go ahead, Yeah, okay, he came back from Mexico, 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.680 was really inspired by the cat iconography, and I'll let 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:24.040 you conclude, Adrian. I'm uh, you know, we sent a 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:27.360 slew of text back and forth of different names and stuff, 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:30.800 and Adrian kept sending me cat names. I'm like, what's 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:36.960 your problem, Like I remember, like like we're gonna be yeah, yeah, 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:40.000 that's I forgot about that one man. I remember reading 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.400 about pumas. I went like literally stayed up like three 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:46.360 nights just reading about Puma's, Jaguar's lions, all of them. 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:50.000 And then I read about the black puma, that there 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:52.080 is no such thing as a black puma, and then 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:55.400 there's like all these kind of weird crypto zoology sites 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:58.360 of people like whatever just went down rabbit holes. I mean, 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:00.600 it was literally just weird. Texting back fourth it was 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:03.040 like black pumas and he's like that's nope, okay, yeah, 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:05.880 black Puma was like black Pumas is great, it's it's strong, 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.640 it's easy. You don't even want to know what I was, 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:10.920 what I was sharing with Adrian. I wish I could 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:13.720 find those textual. Oh my, he like he was just 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:16.800 like I remember, just like us laughing at each other. 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:19.200 I don't know if Adrian was like smoking or something 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:24.040 like that or whatever, but I just remember getting to 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:26.840 know him through like coming up with these names and 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:29.640 stuff and like mines had to do with like spaceships 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:35.600 and this and that, and like Adrian's like Mighty Royals Cats. Yeah, yeah, 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:38.400 that was fun. I'm glad we uh we stuck with 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:41.840 black Pumas. Yeah. No, absolutely, there is an element of 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.800 you guys that feels like you're engaging on social things. 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:46.720 So even if that wasn't intention with the name, it 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:50.080 feels right. I think there's like an undercurrent, there's an 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:54.840 undertone of some real fire and the both of us 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:57.640 as it pertains to what we see that is going 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:02.720 on socially. But when we make the music, it's never 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:07.520 we're never thinking about like, hey, like let's speak to 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:11.400 the George Floyd's situation in a way that is going 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:15.280 to really spark something and like some empathy in people 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:18.880 like colors. When I wrote that, I was I was 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:22.880 just thinking about just being aligned within myself. If I 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.520 wasn't thinking about race, and that's what's amazing about the 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.720 power that comes from, you know, being a band in 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:30.800 the first place, writing the music that we write in 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:35.080 the first place, because at the times progress and different 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:37.440 things happen, people are going to want to take the 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.840 music and make it universal as it pertains to the 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:44.240 times and what's actually going on. So when we have 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:51.320 conversations together, you can feel the compassion for people who 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:56.640 aren't aren't treated as fairly. But when we're making music, man, 0:16:56.840 --> 0:17:00.960 that's like sanctuary time. Like it's just about coming together 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:05.320 to have fun, you know, being honest and not just 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:09.119 pity partying, you know, so to speak, if I may, Yeah, 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:11.159 does it feel weird to have built up all this 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:13.000 momentum of the last few years just to sort of 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:17.119 have it, you know, just come to a stand still totally. Yeah, 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.879 we realize and are thankful that we're kind of a 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.520 studio band first. You know, we didn't start off as 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:28.720 a live band anyway, so you know, it's it's obviously 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.639 a bumer to not like play some of these some 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:33.760 of the biggest festivals we would have played, some of 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:37.040 the biggest rooms we would have played this year. But 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.520 I think that we both can still take a step 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:43.320 back and be thankful for the opportunity this is to 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:47.800 kind of in the industry's retrograde, just kind of go 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.199 back into our you know, our comfort zone that is 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:55.080 writing and just coming up with different ideas that kind 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:57.520 of get us going. And what more of a better 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:01.199 time is is you know, the civil unrest and the 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:06.720 COVID nineteen things that are going on to work through creatively. 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:10.000 Are you guys able to write and record right now? Um? Yeah, 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:12.879 it's it's yeah, on and off kind of we're chipping 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:16.200 away at a new record with ideas. You know, have 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:20.920 everything from from kind of like songs that we've already 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:24.879 begun in the studio to two ideas that on phone 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:27.240 messages to songs that Eric's written on guitar on his 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:29.480 phone and has recorded it. It's all over the place. 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:31.639 We have a lot of sketches. We just need to 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:34.439 kind of I think Eric's gonna be writing here for 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:37.960 a little bit and uh and then we'll we're gonna reconvene, 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:39.800 you know, before the end of the year, hopefully lay 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:41.399 a lot of it down. And on one hand, I 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:46.600 actually feel like the touring going completely away, uh is 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:48.879 gonna be good for us because if we had, like 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:52.720 try to do this in between tours, there'd be a 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:55.560 lot of noise, you know, Like I just feel like 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:59.840 there'd be we probably would feel like that pressure and 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.520 that all the noise of what happens on tour and 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:07.800 regular life. And on one hand, it's like everything just 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:10.520 paused and went silent, and I feel like it's back 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.720 to the whole reason we made these songs. And I 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:17.439 remember Eric one time telling me something like on a plane, like, man, 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:18.960 I want to record more stuff just so I have 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:21.320 something to listen to. And it's just like, you know, 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:24.800 at this point, just back to square one, without feeling 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:27.080 any pressure, and it's just like, just make something we 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:29.720 would want to listen to. Is it different writing and 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:32.200 recording together now, given that you guys are actually like 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:36.520 a band now and essentially the first time around, you 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:39.760 guys weren't quite a band yet, you know, certainly hadn't 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:42.440 had the success he had add yet, does it feel 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:45.359 does a context feel different in terms of writing recording? 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:48.600 Does a collaboration feel different, like when we recorded the 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:52.440 second half of the album, which we're you know, the 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:54.240 way I kind of just the easiest way to describe 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:56.760 it as songs that Eric started on his guitar, you know, 0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:01.440 versus writing a song to an instrumental. We kind of 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:06.000 are We recorded those pretty live with the band. From 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:09.720 a production standpoint and like a technical standpoint, which is 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:13.080 you know what I bring is I feel like it's 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:17.240 because of the pandemic and quarantine and us not being 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:19.760 able to really get the band in here all the time, 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:23.159 and us crowd into a studio, it's actually forcing me 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:26.840 to step outside the box and and like make these 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:30.240 creative decisions that I think would keep us from falling 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:32.800 into our comfort zone or at least me production wise, 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:35.680 falling into the same bag of tricks. It's forcing me 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:38.440 to kind of like and just think outside the box 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:40.440 a little bit and make more creative decisions that I 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:43.000 think is going to be good overall for the next album. However, 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:47.960 however that comes together musically, same with the other aspects 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:51.520 of it too, is as far as um. I don't 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:54.680 know if you could look at this as a production aspect, 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:59.080 but I remember being in well we Paris sitting outside. 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:05.040 That's so funny, say, but Adrian showed me this, this riff, 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:07.600 this blues riff. I was like, man, yeah, yeah, that's 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:10.920 kind of cool. And then I always think because we 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:14.359 had had a conversation with the label before and I 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:17.280 was like, man, I can't wait to like maybe collaborate 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:19.520 this person or that person or this person, and it 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:23.119 was more from them. They were kind of encouraging the 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:26.000 same sound. And so what I realized, it's like, okay, 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:29.440 so we can't forget where we come from, but hey, 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:34.160 there's still different levels within a room. Like just because 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:36.040