WEBVTT - 3OH!3 0:00:01.400 --> 0:00:04.960 Hello everyone, and welcome the inside the studio on iHeart Radio. 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:07.440 My name is Jordan runt Dog, but enough about me. 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:16.880 My guests today are a pair of guys who first 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:19.279 started making music together in their dorm rooms at the 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:22.480 University of Colorado back in two thousand four. They blew 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:25.040 up with their multi platinum smash Don't Trust Me on 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.720 their two thousand seven album Want, and now fourteen years later, 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.560 they've graduated to Need Yes Needs, the name of the 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:34.160 new album. It's a comeback of sorts after nearly five 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.199 years of pursuing outside projects. Their new single I'm So 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.200 Sad as a party song about feeling miserable, which, let's 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.120 face it, is an apt theme for these exceedingly weird times. 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.640 They also teamed up with the utterly Unclassifiable one Guests 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.600 for the track Lonely Machines, and also recently dropped a 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.479 cover of Ariana Grande's Tattooed Heart, which is as the 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:55.640 kids say, straight fire. I'm so happy to welcome Nat 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.120 and Sean, who together are known as three oh three. 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.160 Hey man, thank you and and Sean, thank you so 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:03.680 much for being here. Guys, three oh three are back. 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:05.920 The only good thing to come out of twenty. In 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:09.160 my opinion, your upcoming album is called Need. If I 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.200 believe I have that right, your first album in four 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:15.000 years since Night Sports in Why Now? What made you 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:18.280 decide the time is right? Well, let's see what? Why 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:22.520 Why did we do it now? Sean? Because people need music? 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:24.720 You see what I did there? I don't know, you 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:26.800 know what? It was interesting because I think Sean and 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.680 I work so much, kind of collectively and individually on 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:32.600 other people's music, and on writing and producing music for 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:34.920 other artists, and and so if anything, you know, we 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:37.640 we came together in February right before the kind of 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.200 the pandemic hit and started to write new stuff for 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:42.440 three or three and then when things got locked down. 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:44.440 If anything, I don't know, for us, it kind of 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:47.600 provided us with just this beautiful opportunity to to come 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.360 back to our music and focus on that and um 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:52.560 and make a full record. So, you know, I think, 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:55.320 at least for in our own circumstance, if there's one 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:57.480 thing that can that's positive from it, it's allowing us 0:01:57.480 --> 0:01:59.400 that space and time. And I hear the title need, 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:01.120 and I cour think back to the title of your 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.120 first album, Want. What is the relationship between those two 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:07.160 albums to you and those titles. You know, I feel 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.040 like we could sit here and make the most intelligent 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.800 correlation between those two. But you know, we just thought 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.720 want and then we're like, need would look really cool 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.919 in the same font as well. Uh, same amount of letters, 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.919 same amount of letters. It's sort of the same thing 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:26.079 when we did want. Like I remember actually that thought process. 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:28.120 I think your brother was just yeah, I was. I 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:30.920 was like sending my brother kind of demos from the 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.400 studio and he at one point he just said want, 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:35.920 like you wanted, wanted the full record, and we're like, oh, 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:37.959 all right, let's just call it record. We're like, we're 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:40.320 like surprised that you know those moments when you just 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:42.480 the word, like you say it over and over and 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:45.560 you're like, that is just like road road row. It 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:48.880 Like it was one of those things where we're like want, 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:52.000 want is such a weird word, and this makes us 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:55.960 sound like very intelligent individuals, But we have same sort 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:58.040 of thought process, and I think if we're I don't 0:02:58.040 --> 0:02:59.880 know if we are digging into it. It's like we 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.840 did want a little bit of that full circle. Like 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.679 we've learned so much over the course of what is 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:09.040 it like eleven years since Want came out at this point, 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.600 so like we've learned so much, but we also wanted 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.320 to like capture some of that early spirit of us 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.840 not thinking too much about charts or radio singles and 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:20.400 just like really just getting in and having fun. And 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:22.160 as you can tell with the title of the album, 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:24.560 that's sort of like as much thinking as we kind 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:26.960 of wanted to do as far as creating the songs, 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.520 like we wanted to trust the muscle memory of what 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:31.920 we've created as far as just like our gut of 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.960 having fun and being inclusive and making the music. That 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:37.160 kind of is the spirit of three or three. It's 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:39.720 like a primal thing too, I mean want to me. 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:42.840 It seems like very like like something of one's youth, 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:45.080 like just whatever you want and it needs. Seems so 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:47.160 much more like adult too. It seems like a very 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:50.760 primal you got it, you you are in tune with 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:55.080 our thinking you it's basically just it's dad stuff. I 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.000 mean that the teaser for the album is so cool 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.520 because it features all this awesome old footage of if 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:01.440 you guys forming it Warped tour and I think like 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:03.760 two thousand eight. It really seemed to highlight the journey 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.040 that you guys have been on from from then to now. 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:07.680 And I think that comes through in the title too. 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.080 I mean, yeah, it's been it's been amazing. You know, 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:12.200 It's it is kind of a full circle thing because 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:14.800 we're we're back with the initial record label that we 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:16.320 signed with back in two thousand and eight, which is 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.360 our first deal, and photo finished records back with kind 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:21.920 of you know, on on that more indie scale where 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.560 things are or feel more grassroots, things feel more of 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:26.560 a partnership in that sense. And you know, when we 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:28.520 made one in two thousand and eight, we were so 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:31.800 blissfully ignorant about so much stuff. Like I remember being 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:35.000 in the studio in Maryland and uh, producer we were 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:37.119 working with. You know, we we've always producer around stuff, 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:39.679 but we we kind of collaborated on finishing and and 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.400 orchestrating and producing some stuff with Matt Squire at the time. 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:44.240 And I remember Matt saying that a song that we 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.360 had called Colorado Sunrise, He's like, oh, this could be 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:48.240 your second single, And I was like, I didn't really 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.080 understand what he meant, because I DJ for forever and 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:53.560 hip hop DJ's and kind of turntables dj and I 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:55.679 remember you could buy the single and it was just cheaper, 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:57.600 and I was like, oh, that's for DJs who don't 0:04:57.640 --> 0:04:59.480 want to buy the full record, who want the acapella 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:01.800 and thesment. But I didn't understand what that a single was, 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:04.279 like the flag bearer of your whole project and stuff, 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:07.080 and so you know, I think that, and then you know, 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.400 coming out of that the next three years we spent 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:11.960 on the road and and kind of culminated everything with 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:14.040 with a number one song at a pop radio and 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:16.000 don't trust me, and so I think that, you know, 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:19.320 we we I think on this record for the needs 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:21.760 stuff and and really Sean and I coming back together 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:25.400 without any sort of pressure was amazing because we're, you know, 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.479 we're trying to overtly and subconsciously recapture that sense of 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:30.599 just making music to have fun with it. And whether 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:32.640 it's it's a sad song or whether it's a it's 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:34.880 you know, it's an overtly funny song, or or an 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:37.160 angry song or whatever, it's just that sense of of 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:39.599 creative freedom and having fun with the music is I 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.400 think it's it runs as a pervasive link through all 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:44.719 this new music. Well, speaking of singles, your new single 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.520 I'm So Sad seems to be made custom made for 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.440 early one. It's basically that, you know, there's so many 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.160 party songs about feeling good, but this, to me is 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.039 a party song about feeling bad. Essentially. Can you tell 0:05:57.040 --> 0:05:58.760 me a little bit about where that came from? I 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.640 think it's like it's a really awful message for now. Also, 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:03.360 just before we get into it, you can get that 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:07.719 for either or a dollar twenty nine on the Apple Store, 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:10.159 which is cheaper than the full record in case you 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:14.840 want to buy just a single. It's gonna be our 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:18.440 second single as well. So we and uh, yeah, I 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:21.920 think you know, we actually got in. Uh. We were 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:25.040 in Los Angeles and we reached out to our old 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:29.320 friend Benny Blanco, uh, producer and writer and artist. We 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.160 just wanted to get together and sort of again rekindle 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:36.000 sort of like this flame that we built during want 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.080 and even uh in Streets of Gold and stuff like that. 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:41.920 And we went over to his place and this was 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.839 pre pandemic, Like I think it must have been marked 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:48.920 like February and March, yeah, of last year. So like 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:51.400 we went over to his house and a lot of it. 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.600 I mean, if anyone you know has heard of Benny's process, 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:56.160 a lot of it is just kind of like just 0:06:56.200 --> 0:07:00.160 sitting around and making fart jokes and and hanging out. 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:01.839 And it was, you know, it was fun to be 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:04.760 around him again because we've we've definitely hung out with him, 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:07.120 but we haven't necessarily gotten to the creative process and 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:10.560 we're just writing off the cuff Nat made. Uh. He 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:13.400 had this guitar sequence sort of that he just started 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:15.480 and then I think I just like I think I 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.160 just yelled that out like I'm so sad and uh, 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:20.560 and it was just kind of that that avert like 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:23.240 saying of that, Like it wasn't like some clever way 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:24.960 of saying it or something like that. And it was 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.400 weird to have it over this like anthemic part because 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.480 we're so used to sad song sounding sounding like Elliott 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.040 Smith or like Death Cab or something, you know, so 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:34.840 it's like this kind of like you know, you're used 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:37.720 to these minor chords and slow, melodramatic stuff. And I 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:39.880 was like, you know what, I kind of like the 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:43.280 idea of you know, not feeling bad about like you said, 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:45.800 like we have so many and it didn't like we've 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:47.880 been in the songwriting thing forever and there's so many 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.560 sessions where you just feel like you're kind of down 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:53.840 that day, but you're just trying to write like this ingenuous, 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:57.080 like disingenuous, like party fun song. You're like Today's the 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:59.680 greatest day of ever, and you're just like that's not 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.120 true too. So I think that it was nice to 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:04.960 like sit there and and kind of announce in a 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:07.680 very fun way, just like I'm so sad, and you know, 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:09.880 I don't feel bad about it because it's a time 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:12.480 and place and yeah, so that's kind of the the 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:14.640 m O of that one. And we took it back 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:16.880 to Colorado when we were producing it up and kind 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:19.440 of reworked everything, and I think that the mantra was 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:22.480 to do, you know, honor to those feelings of sadness, 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:26.400 but also approached them with a sense of fun, which 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:28.720 might seem kind of weird and crazy, but I think 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:30.680 it's kind of, you know, it lines up with a 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:32.640 lot of the mantra that we've had with our music 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:34.800 and dealing with serious topics but dealing with them in 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:36.559 a fun way, in a collective way, in a way 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.280 that hopefully people can smile about and and have fun 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:41.800 and and represent some of that energy. Yeah. I mean 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:44.479 the mantra that I keep hearing now just during lockdown 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:46.760 is you know, it's okay to not be okay, it's 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:49.319 okay to feel weird because everything is weird right now. 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:51.320 So I mean it really seems to go hand in 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.240 hand with that message. The timing of it is really perfect. Yeah, 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:58.480 I mean it is. I think everyone obviously across different spectrums, 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.400 is dealing with their their mental health. And I think 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.080 for me, at least in my experience, it was like 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.559 I felt the worst when I tried to fight off 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.480 things that didn't feel okay, like if I felt sad 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:11.760 or something like that. I was like, I feel worse 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.440 when I try and like make this not a reality. 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.320 So I don't know. Again, in the three or three spirit, 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:20.520 like we took something and not being self and indulgent 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:22.640 about being like let's get sad. It's like, you know, 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.200 sometimes you just feel sad, and in that moment we 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:28.120 did and it's still like fun. You can like laugh cry, 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:30.559 you know, you can like smile cry at the same time, 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:32.199 you know, like have that smile on your face to 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:37.880 have a tear coming down, so yeah you could. Yeah, No, 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:40.880 it's my it's my contact it's like my contact lenses. 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.839 Like I feel like Robin Williams was the master of 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:48.200 the smile, and that's like what I always think of thin. Yeah, yeah, 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:52.360 that's a he's a yeah that guy. Yeah, I mean, 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:55.960 shut up, shut up more than Mindy based here in Boulder, Colorado. Yeah, 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:58.880 oh my god, that's right. Yeah. Well, how much of 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.960 the album was actually record? Did in in in the lockdown? 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:04.640 Because you're both together and bolder? Right? Yeah? We were. 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.120 I mean, you know, now we're we're spending some time together. 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:09.679 Sean actually just got back into town, and we're being careful, 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:11.360 you know, we're we're kind of bubbled up with our 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:13.920 families and when we get together, we're we're getting tested 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:15.920 and stuff. But initially in the lockdown, I mean, you know, 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:19.040 we were taking it very very seriously, and obviously still are. 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:22.240 But Shaun and I were actually working remotely, like sending 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:24.040 stuff back and forth, and we were on a zoom 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:25.880 call like we are right now, you know, trying to 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:27.800 write and that's what we've been doing as songwriters and 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:30.839 producers for the last year. Essentially is is doing that 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:32.400 and you deal with it. You know, it's it's interesting. 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:34.959 I think everybody's finding new ways to work and in 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.920 a profession that's so highly creative and collaborative and based 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.440 on kind of vibes off off each other exactly. Yeah, 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.120 it's it's hard and it's it's interesting to do it. 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:47.640 But Shaun and I, you know, recorded some of the 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:49.880 final vocals that are on the record by just sending 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:53.200 stuff back and forth and and and kind of you know, 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:55.840 making the best of what's around. And I think that's 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:59.120 that that in itself, at least in mean producing the songs. 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:01.400 I think that was a kind of parkening back to 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:03.360 those old days too, when like in terms of gear, 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:05.480 we didn't have anything, you know, we didn't have any 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:14.680 access to anything. We didn't really know digital. But I 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:17.120 think it was, you know, it's a little bit liberating to, like, 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:21.120 I guess I've been schooled so much to want everything 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.800 to be the cleanest, most high fidelity thing you can, 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:25.600 and then I think it's refreshing to come back to 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:27.480 be like, Okay, this is what's around, let's make it 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:29.760 sound dope, and let's let's you know, less is more 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:31.800 in terms of kind of doing things. I think it 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:35.240 was you know, we we kind of have since realized that. 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:37.040 I think in a lot of those early days, our 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.080 first thought was our best thought. At least that's what 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:42.920 like we maybe can rationalize it as you know, looking 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.280 back on it. Like in our songwriting process, there wasn't 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:47.240 too much second guessing. I think it's because maybe we 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:49.679 didn't know anymore. We just dug the stuff that we 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:51.280 were doing. But I think in that same sense we 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:52.920 were trying, we tried to come come back to that 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:56.600 in this process in terms of being separated and and distant, 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:58.600 and then also in terms of the vibe of the song. 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:00.520 I think it was just less second thing and just 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.520 more going with your first kind of intention. That a 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:05.719 gutt roll kind of energy that we had on most 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:07.440 of the stuff. And it's tough for us like to 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:09.360 do the zoom thing because I think so much of 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:13.240 our collaboration is like pheromone based. Uh, We're like we 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.839 really go off each other's aromatic presence. So as I 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:18.760 had to get the nat, he actually was nice enough 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:20.760 to make me a gnat candle that I could like, 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:23.319 and I worked from a sent him. I sent him 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.000 like a pillow that I just sprayed down with some 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:28.000 of my my cologne and my musk. You're gonna make 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:30.800 him a Shawn scratch and sniff now to like, yeah, 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.200 keep going? Did you just make our new merch our 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:37.679 new teacher so gross? And I was like a Chilian 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:51.640 uh and coffee. Basically, it does seem like the sort 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:53.600 of home recording stuff is the whole back to the 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.000 basement approach probably does take you back to your roots 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:57.760 in a lot of ways, just by necessity because of 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:01.240 everything that's going on. I think NAT's happy place, regardless 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:03.560 if if it wasn't. He always wants to be in 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:05.920 the basement. Man, That's where he wants to make stuff. 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:09.280 He's he's a basement voice, basement dweller. No, you know, 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.640 we started this way. We started at the University of Colorado. 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:15.559 We're just um students working hard at our education and 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:18.040 having fun with music and just starting in my basement. 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:20.960 You know. Progressively we're we've we've done pieces of all 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:24.079 of our records in basements and boulders. It's a basements 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.600 and boulder. Remember when you remember one of the first 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:28.840 days that we were working on one of our records, 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:31.280 I remember you brought your dog in here and your 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:34.000 dog laid down like a hot six inches of dog on, 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.120 which is really weird cause your dog is the best dog. 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:40.320 I think she was just Silver was just like she 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:44.640 wanted us to know who is who is Bossom? Everyone's 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.240 a critic? Yeah exactly, She's like, you know what, I 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.560 might be your dog, but I'm not really shout all 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:54.000 over our music. I mean, how has your songwriting process 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.280 evolved since you know, making music in your dorm at 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:59.000 the University of Colorado in two thousand three? Like, what's 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:01.079 what's that shift been like making there? Or is it 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:03.440 state essentially the same? I feel like it's been like 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:06.400 such a journey to come back to the same place. 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:08.800 Like I think you you take everything that you learn, 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.360 but it is a circle because I think you you 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:13.679 go away, Like I think there was a long time 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.480 that I fought a lot of what Nat was talking about, 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.880 like that instinct, like that first thought or feeling that 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:22.880 you have um when you come into a session. You 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.800 fight it because you overthink things. You start thinking of 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:28.640 the context, You start thinking about if you're writing with 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.280 another artist, you start thinking about what the label wants, 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.160 what works on the charts. It's just like, you know, 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:37.400 at some point you have to learn how to unthink 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:40.440 and just kind of enjoy the experience and and and 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:42.520 make a song. If you're working with an artist, but 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:44.360 they have like a direction that the A and R 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:46.760 tells you, like when you go in, don't you dare 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:50.080 do a song that's under one ten bpm? Like we need? 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:52.080 And it's like it's hard to just shed that off 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:54.880 and go you know what, who cares? Because a lot 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.120 of times, and at least in my experience, you get 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:58.640 this direction from A and R s and then you 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:00.920 hear the first single and they're like, well, this guy 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:03.400 came in and totally smashed it in a different direction. 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:05.920 You're like, Okay, well it doesn't matter anymore. Let's just 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:14.280 enjoy the process. Hey, you can't sing more than like 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:16.640 fifteen seconds of that, I don't think. I mean, it's 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:18.480 this are you're gonna have to pay for the license? 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:22.200 Did you write that? Did you write that that? Yeah? 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:27.320 I wrote all of Metallica's early middle middle Yeah. I think, 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.640 I mean, I think I've We've just come back, like 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:32.560 or at least personally speaking for songwriting, it's like I've 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:34.920 come back to the place where I just want to 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:36.960 have fun with it and I don't want to overthink it. 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:39.240 And you might leave the day with a song that 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:41.320 might not see the light of day. But you might 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:44.120 as well enjoy that process too, you know, because if 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.400 you fight it and you don't enjoy the process either, 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:48.240 you're also gonna have a song that doesn't see the 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:50.240 light of day. By by the odds of it, that's 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:52.320 how the songwriting works. So you might as well enjoy 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:54.920 the process because that's all that matters to get you 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:57.680 to wherever you're gonna go. So is it easier for 0:15:57.720 --> 0:15:59.840 you to write three or three stuff because that's sort 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:02.200 of external pressure of trying to put yourself into another 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.560 artist is out the window. It's an interesting man. It's 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:08.120 it's an interesting question because you know, as I mentioned, 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:10.440 we've done so much writing for other artists, and I 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:12.840 think it's amazing because you you work on so many 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:15.400 different things, and especially you know, producing and writing. You 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:17.760 work in different genres and you know, whether it's a 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:20.040 hip hop act or a country act or I've done 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:23.160 scoring for movies and and and video games and stuff, 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:25.200 and I think that it's kind of it is easier 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:26.840 in the sense that like it's your own stuff, and 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:29.240 and the tangent between making the music and releasing the 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:31.440 music is there. It's like whatever, it's essentially kind of 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:33.480 you know, whatever you want to do, you do, which 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:35.680 is amazing. But the other part is like you you 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:38.240 kind of do have to find out what you are 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:41.280 again and like find kind of return to the mantra 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:42.960 of what you're doing. You know, we keep talking about 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:44.600 this mantra of of of three or three, and I 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.160 think as we've gotten older, it's kind of become more 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:50.440 clear that it's about fun, it's about inclusiveness, it's about energy, 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.720 it's about you know, sonically, it's about pushing some boundaries 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.000 and having things be a little edgy but but also 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.840 inclusive on the sonic side. And I think that, um, 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.360 it's interesting. It's it's you know, on on one hand, 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:03.960 it's liberating, and I think for me at least, it 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:06.160 takes it takes like a session or two to get 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:08.360 back into and be like, Okay, yeah, this is this 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:11.320 is what we're doing, and this is how fun it 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:13.359 can be and how amazing it can be. And then 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:15.439 once once we're in that groove, it's just it's so 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:17.480 much fun. Yeah, because I think there's a time where 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.440 we actually when you're talking about writing four artists, there's 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:22.920 a time when we are writing for the artist three 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.600 or three rather than just embodying it. Like that's the 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:27.920 tough part is you're like, what would three or three 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:30.240 do or what would people expect? And it's I think 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:32.680 at the at some point you just gotta go, what 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:34.960 do we have fun doing? In this case, we're not 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:37.320 through three. We're actually just the mail, the models and 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:40.080 the media trained guys. Is this like the Andrew w 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:45.720 k Hey, it would be I know, like slip Knot 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:47.679 has the best idea. They just have the mask you 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.520 can kind of just like cycle through member we could. 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:52.760 We had for I forget what record it was for 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:54.479 for Omens or Night Sports or someone's, but we had 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:57.240 an idea to just higher like kind of just better 0:17:57.400 --> 0:17:59.800 looking versions of ourselves, which is not that hard, but 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.680 find these dudes who who would just be so charming 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:04.600 and like so nice, and they would do all of 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:07.200 our interviews and all of our public appearances and all 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:08.919 that stuff, and we would just do the music. And 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:11.120