WEBVTT - Rex Orange County Is Major 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:15.600 Pushkin. Alexander O'Connor wasn't expecting the music sharing platforms SoundCloud 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:18.800 to change his life. The eighteen year old British musician 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:21.800 was just uploading songs for fun, but then people started 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:25.120 taking notice of him and his musical persona Rex Orange County. 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.480 These early recordings started racking up hundreds of thousands of 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:31.880 plays pretty quickly, and one of those people listening was Tyler, 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:33.920 the creator, who we just featured on the podcast a 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.919 couple of episodes ago. Tyler liked what he heard from 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.040 Rex OC so much that he wound up flying him 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:41.000 out to La to work on one of his albums, 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:45.839 flower Boy. And that's not Rex's only famous collaborator. Randy Newman, 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.360 the legendary singer songwriter, duetted with Rex on his toy 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.680 story classic You've Got a Friend in Me. After all 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:55.680 of that, Alex aka Rex is still only twenty one 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:59.000 years old and he's hid another major milestone. He's just 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:03.520 released his major label debut, Pony. Rex out over the 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:05.800 summer with Rick Rubin to preview some of the album 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.680 for him and to talk through the tracks. He discusses 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:11.319 why he's collaborating less and less with other artists these days, 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:13.240 and how that's helped him find his voice for his 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:17.440 new project, which he wrote, recorded and played almost entirely 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:24.559 by himself. This is Broken Record Season three liner notes 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:31.680 for the Digital Age. I'm justin Richmond. Just a quick 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:33.920 note here. You can listen to all of the music 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:36.679 mentioned in this episode on our playlist, which you can 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:40.640 find a link to in the show notes. For licensing reasons, 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:43.360 each time a song is referenced in this episode, you'll 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:48.160 hear this sound effect. Let's listen to now. On Rick's 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:58.560 conversation with Rex, Orange County three Testings, let's talk. Okay, 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.280 so since I saw you last, where have you been? 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.320 What have you been up to since I saw you last? 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:09.320 I've been I've been mainly at home in London, and 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.200 I haven't I haven't gone away too much. I haven't 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:15.880 actually been in America too much or anywhere else. I've 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.120 kind of just spent a lot of time in my 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:21.280 own space and with with the people who I've made 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:23.080 the first music ever with and kind of just like 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:26.800 gotten back to how it was, how it always worked 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:28.800 best after trying a few things. But it was probably 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:30.679 like a period of time after we first met where 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.320 I was trying working with other people, and certain things 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:35.960 worked and a lot of things didn't. It's very difficult 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:38.600 to let people in. I find on the whole when 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:40.880 you when you have a lot of control already, but 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:43.520 I spent a lot of time at home yet writing 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:49.040 and finishing figuring out this next album. Yeah, it's it's 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:54.040 it's great that you gave yourself the time and experience 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.880 of training those different things to see what works and 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:01.440 what doesn't. Because some people, once things get rolling, kind 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:04.560 of get on a track of starting a project and 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:08.920 then sometimes going maybe not the best direction and don't 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:13.080 really stop and think, you know, don't pull back. So 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:15.320 it's great that you got to do all that and 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:18.440 see this works, this doesn't work, And absolutely no, I'm 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.040 so grateful I did, because it's I'd hate. The last 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.920 thing I want is to feel as if I feel 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:26.079 as if I've settled for something that isn't maybe right, 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:28.960 And you do have to try those things more importantly 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:31.240 to know that they're not right maybe than that they were. 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:33.200 We've got a song for the album that's pretty good 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:34.960 and it's with a cool person or whatever, but it's 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:37.680 if it's more valuable maybe to go try that thing 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.040 and realize that it didn't working. Absolutely come back home 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.480 and not work with those people anymore. For sure. I 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.360 like to think that there are no there are no 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:49.560 failed experiments, you know. It's like every experiment we learn 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:51.640 from and we see what works and what doesn't, and 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:55.640 it's really helpful in finding our direction. And it's impossible 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:57.520 to know an advance, you know, until you do it, 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:02.800 it's impossible. Of course, I agree, totally. I'm really anxious 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.360 to hear. Of course, maybe we should hear. Looking forward 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:10.520 to listening. Okay, great, all right, it's and it's mainly 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.280 mainly me and there's no other sort of like listed features. Actually, 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.920 the only other voice on there is my girlfriend and 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:20.719 one of the only other instrumentalists other than the producers, 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:24.520 Pano playing bass, which is amazing. But I don't I 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:26.800 don't want to give too much context. But that's generally like, 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:30.240 that's okay, hopefully that makes some sense. Let me just 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:34.480 make sure it's actually stopping talk about it a little bit. 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.279 It's completely not what I was expecting at all, much 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:41.400 more upbeat, much more I'll use the word poppy in 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:46.359 a melodic way. Whereas I feel like your your the 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:49.760 other music of yours that I've heard before was more 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.680 more about the style and less about the melody. And 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:57.160 now it's really has a different energy, but it still 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:01.599 has the vibes of the original, or i'll call it 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:06.279 it's not moodiness but emotion of the original short style, sure, 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:09.840 but in a completely different context. And it's really surprising 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:12.919 and refreshing. I'm so glad you reacted that way. I'm 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:17.200 definitely I definitely feel as if it was melody. Like 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:20.920 the song was not lyrically developed at all right at 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:22.800 the beginning, and it existed for a week or so 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:27.000 as just the melody and the structure and the chords 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:30.520 existing as as a thing before the lyrics actually, and 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:32.440 so it kind of just like that was already very 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:35.200 much so solid. And I've been listening to that voice 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.440 memo of me just like mumbling it over and over 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:40.599 and stuff, and it's kind of like it was way 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:42.960 more based within the just the song and the melody actually, 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:45.000 I think primarily and it wasn't necessarily about what I 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:47.479 had to say first off, So I think that I'm 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:50.360 glad that came through. I also really love there's there's 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:52.880 a part towards the beginning of the song, when the 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:57.320 beat drops out and the sound of the vocal really changes. 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:00.400 It's subtle, but when it changes, it gets much more 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.800 intimate and it's a it's a beautiful moment. Yeah, it's 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:07.320 really like tasteful productions. Yes, sir, thank you. That's me 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:09.400 and my good friend Ben Batsy, as well as just 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:11.880 me and him in a room. He makes my last album, 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.039 he makes this one too, but he he became pretty 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:17.560 much my rock of just like my my code, producing 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:19.359 my partner along the whole way. And he did a 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:21.920 lot sonically that and it taught me a lot actually 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:25.160 sonically just explained why things he felt like things sounded 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:27.120 better like this or didn't sound as good like this, 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:30.120 and actually informed me a lot on that kind of 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:31.960 stuff as well. And I'm and now it allows me 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:33.120 to go and be like, oh, I think the second 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:35.160 verse should be really up close, so that the vocal 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:37.360 comes up and it becomes more intimate and you can 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:39.040 talk about it and just a feeling level. But he 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:42.480 can just achieve that it feels really fresh. Thank you. 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:44.920 I'll play this next one. Let me just ask, can 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:46.440 you can you guys send in a pad and a 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:50.440 pen thanks. Okay, this next one is the one you know, 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:57.760 but I felt like he deserves to be honest. When 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:00.640 we come back, Rexel breakdown face to face the new track, 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:07.479 which is heard We're back with Rex and Rick talking 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.360 about the style face to face. So how did that 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:13.920 one come about? That one was actually the first thing 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:18.000 I made on my laptop after my last album, and 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:20.560 it was the part this the keys part that is 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.400 just like the sign waves doing the really simple two 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:27.120 chord part, And it actually existed on my laptop for 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:31.720 a long time before I figured out what I wanted 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:33.239 to say on it or figure out where I wanted 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.920 to take it musically. It was always just this thing 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:38.520 between two chords and had a few synth lines on 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:41.440 top of each other and just a few bits of 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:45.440 it really, and what happened was over time. It's kind 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:47.920 of about it. The song itself is about feeling like 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:50.160 you want to be back home with the person you 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:52.880 actually want to be with, and missing the person you 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:54.760 love and feeling like you're stuck in some kind of 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:59.840 situation elsewhere geographically and literally, that thing where you're all 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:01.400 where else where you don't really want to be with 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:03.520 people who you don't really want to be with and 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:06.440 your and it's literally I had to get I had 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:09.800 to have that situation, which was bigger than just that 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.080 one day of like feeling that thing and having phone 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:15.920 calls where we both wake up, we're both on the 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:17.720 phone with each other, but she's in bed. We're both 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:19.280 in bed, but she is the morning for her and 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:21.360 I'm about to go to sleep. Whatever. It's really surreal 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:25.600 when you're just like really angry but really really missing 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:28.480 someone at the same time and feeling emotional. And I 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:30.880 had to have that before I actually wrote the whole 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.760 song in one go lyrically one of the only times 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:37.440 that really happened, and ended up fitting it to the 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:40.320 original project that was not meant to be. It was 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:43.600 the original instrumental was just for whatever I was going 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:45.600 to write over it, but obviously it kept its place. 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:47.680 But when you wrote the words, did you write the 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.080 words with the chords in mind or did you write 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:52.200 write it more like a poem and then realize that 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:55.360 they worked over the chords the latter I wrote them 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:59.680 as a wrote the verse three year I then found 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:01.920 that it worked over this music. Yeah, I imagined it 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:05.160 to be some kind of disco ish sort of one 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:08.760 twenty one t tempo of just fall to the floor 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:10.440 and I can imagine it, but I didn't. I didn't 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:14.320 hear those chords necessarily, and I just fit them. Yeah, 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:16.600 pretty much what you just said. That had the lyrics 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:20.080 and then fit those two everything else interesting And when 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:24.080 did the beat come? The beat was actually in the 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:27.000 original logic far, which was just some logic drums that 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:31.520 which is putting on the keyboard. It sounded like like 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.280 I could imagine the beat being there from the beginning, 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:37.160 but I it can sound like that, but it doesn't 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:41.040 feel that happened. It sounded like that, so I was curious. Yeah, no, 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.200 that was that was always there from the beginning, but 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:45.559 never was never meant to come in until it was 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:47.920 always meant to come in where it came in. Yes, yeah, 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:50.319 but it's still I feel like that beats implied through 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:52.720 the whole thing, you know, like I feel that energy 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:55.920 when the beat comes in. It doesn't feel like, yes, 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:58.520 it feels like dramatic because it's a beat, but I 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.520 feel like we're already in that rhythm. Yeah, clearly you're 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:06.280 prepared for absolutely. That's great. So the musically it didn't 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:09.559 change much from the original idea. Not a lot there 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:13.280 was well, there was a lot of chipping away, adding 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:16.440 things that we felt like within the studio having like 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:18.640 different you know, the melotron in the bridge and the 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:21.640 idea of having the strings they're all not and like 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:24.360 there were things that conversations that me and Ben had 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:26.600 for a long time, but actually on the whole, yeah, 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:29.360 pretty much came in in a certain way and and 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:32.199 was done over two or three days. The first time 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:34.400 got it to a certain point where it pretty much 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:36.840 sounded like an rough version of this pretty much, but 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:39.079 then there was a lot of details that we wanted 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:42.800 to go into overtime and changing certain bits, and it's 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:44.760 kind of hard to remember in ways, it's almost like 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.319 it's a blur of like it was always I could 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:49.680 from the day that I've figured out that poem would 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.240 work over this thing. It's kind of just since then, 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.320 it's like, well, I mean I just put it there 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:56.240 and did my best, and he did his best. And 0:10:56.280 --> 0:11:00.560 that was hard to really explain completely understood understand that 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:04.720 in the in that moment of the burst of creativity 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:08.480 of like discovery, a lot of things happen very quickly, 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:12.200 and sometimes I know in my experiences. Sometimes I'll hear 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:15.560 something after we've recorded it, and I don't even remember 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.640 that it happened, because it's you're kind of in this 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:22.960 zone where things are just happening, and then afterwards you 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:25.720 look back it's like, wow, that's incredible, Like I know 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:28.120 I was involved, but I don't really remember how that 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:32.640 happened exactly. Very exciting. It's a thrilling feeling. It's like 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:36.080 almost being in an altered state. Yeah, yeah, you're like it, Yeah, 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:39.840 do you do you feel that way? Often? No, Often 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.400 it happens. It's it's I feel like a lot of 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:44.600 the time in the studio, we're waiting for that to happen. 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.280 I don't think about it as waiting, but there's a 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.680 lot of times when sort of we know that there's 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.600 something that needs to happen. You're just kind of waiting 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:57.360 until the stars align, and then all of a sudden 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:00.760 it starts happening, and then it's sort of feels almost 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:06.040 out of control that it just this momentum starts. I 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:08.920 always when when I realize it's happening, I always try 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:10.840 to relax and just think, okay, I just hope that 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:12.840 it goes as long as it can go, yeah, just 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:18.560 like stay out of the way of this momentum that's arrived. Yeah, 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:21.280 within the air, definitely, I have that. I've had that 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:23.719 a few times. But it's it's you always. I think 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.440 you always had an intention, but you never it's hard 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:28.679 to explain the process. But in the middle I can 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:30.800 just look back at what I originally was trying to 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:34.160 do and go, well, I did achieve that, or I didn't, 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:36.040 but it's still great and it's better for it, and 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:38.400 we found something else that I wasn't expecting. But it's 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.160 hard to sometimes pin down the moment. In the middle bit, 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.360 I think absolutely absolutely. And when did Pino play on it. 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:48.360 He played on it probably three quarters of the way 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:50.360 through making it, so it was already practically like it 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:54.000 just had a like a synth base. I think before 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.120 that was just kind of driving on like halftime of 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:02.360 the drums. And I think what happened was I was 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.000 speaking to someone who said, you should try and not 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:08.840 do everything yourself, and you should try and invest in 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.560 people who are really really great at their craft, because 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:15.320 if they've spent their whole life doing that one thing, 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:19.840 then you probably on paper they can do it. They 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:21.439 can do it the best or whatever. It's like going 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:24.040 compared to you. You're competent. I'm competent on bass, and 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:25.360 there's a lot of album, A lot of this album 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:27.640 I played the bass on, but it was not because 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:30.440 those songs didn't necessarily in my head feel as if 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.760 they deserved like the you know, it wasn't all about 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.400 the bass. I don't think those other songs, but that 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.439 one for me and bending him and I had a 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:42.120 conversation where it was like do we just you know, 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.640 after soon after that other conversation about you should invest 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:46.080 in you know, other people who do they think, not 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.160 do everything yourself, I just said, why don't we get 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:49.959 Peno to play on this song? And I think we 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:51.920 joked about it before and was like, imagine if he 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:54.640 would ever do such a thing. But you realize these 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:57.560 people are around and they do actually play, you know, 0:13:57.600 --> 0:13:59.640 their instruments for people when you ask. So you just 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:02.360 had to ask, and it was a very very special 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:04.120 moment for me because I was just a big fan 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.679 of him and all his work and having him to 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:08.679 do it so quickly and I'm sure I know you've 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:12.360 watched him. Yeah, that's fantastic. Did you play him the 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:14.240 original bass part or did you just play him the 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:17.439 track with nothing I played? Do you know what happened? 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:20.560 I played him the We sent him the song and 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:23.600 it had the sign basin, and he actually called me 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:25.640 to find out how I wanted to do it in 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:27.720 terms of keeping the sign basin or not, because he 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.360 was like, I quite like how it is in there, 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:32.320 and I wonder if we can have the digital based 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:35.200 and the meet the live human based working together. And 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:37.080 I was like, I'd like to know that. We'll see 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.160 if we can or can't. And he came in open minded, 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:41.720 and we quickly realized that it was better with just 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:44.160 him than the since. But he was he called me 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:46.440 to say, what should we do with that? Because I'm 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:48.440 interested to know that. I said in the email, it's 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:50.560 like it's already a bass part there, but obviously it's 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.040 a case of either switching it out or seeing how 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:55.760 it goes. But he actually picked up on that and 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:59.080 we had the conversation and it worked out for the best. 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:05.280 What would you say, what would you consider your influences 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:08.800 throughout everything or in general? I don't think we ever 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:13.640 talked about this before. Maybe not. I feel like as 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:17.160 a child, I was very open to kind of a 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:21.160 lot of different types of music, and I was inspired 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:23.280 a lot by bands and I played the drums, so 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:25.520 I was listening to Wheezer and Blink one eight two 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:29.160 and Green Day and to put to put like a 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:31.720 corner of those type that type of music at a 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:34.920 young age I really loved. And then there was this thing, 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:37.760 now that's why I call music CDs where they would 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.320 have just like a compilation of pop music. And it's 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:42.960 like but they would they would have like Homecoming by 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:46.760 Kanye on there, or they'd have like like Atomic Kitten 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:48.320 or like there was like there was like real like 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:50.760 pop or just like Girls Aloud. It was there was 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:52.960 just every sort of side of pop music that was 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:55.320 still working on the radio could go on this compilation CD. 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:57.120 And I think I was just exposed to a lot 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:00.320 of different stuff. And you I soon realized. I didn't 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:02.120 real realize until maybe a couple of years ago. But 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.600 you certain like certain things you're drawn to and always 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:09.120 like certain things. Certain places resonate with you or don't. 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:13.000 And it's very easy it's hard to like fake enthusiasm. Actually, 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:15.520 if you if you're somewhere or you hear something that 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:17.680 you're not actually into. So there's certain things for me. 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:19.720 I think I just always was always drawn to things, 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:22.320 not necessarily who they would buy. I would never be 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.280 like I love that artist, everything by them is great. 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:26.360 It's like I find that hard even today to say 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:28.960 I love everything from one person. It's really a small 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.800 handful of people who've ever done that for me. But 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:34.760 I found people like Kanye and people like Stevie Wonder 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:38.400 at a young age, and his discography was one of 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:40.120 the first things I've really found, like there were so 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.760 many different styles but just using a lot of the 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:45.800 same chords, but so many different chords in different keys, 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.080 and just realized I thought I'd kind of just realized 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.360 what genius was. But then at the same time, it's schooled. 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:53.800 People would show me Eminem and jay Z and have like, 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.720 show me an MP three player in the flesh and 0:16:56.840 --> 0:16:58.960 someone had I had an MP three player with one 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.040 Eminem song and one jay Z song, and I think 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:06.800 it was I think it was fac by Eminem Unfortunately 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:08.800 We're not. Unfortunately was amazing, really but like that was 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:10.480 like one of the first rap songs ever heard, And 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:15.520 then I believe it was What more can I say 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.240 or something from the Black album by Jay I think, 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:20.040 which was at that time. I was just kind of 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:22.760 like I didn't know what that even was, and that 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:24.919 was just my first introduction. So I kind of I 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:28.040 feel as if I was just gravitated towards what was 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:29.399 put in front of me. But then there was so 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:30.760 much put in front of me. I didn't have to 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:33.280 get into all these other bands from pop bands from 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:35.679 the UK and stuff. Certain things. I was into certain songs, 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:37.280 but there was a lot of cause, and I think 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:41.240 a lot of theory and certain vocal melodies and stuff 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:44.320 actually that I wasn't like always driven to melody. Sometimes 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:45.560 they would just be the cause and they would be 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:48.399 a vocalist doing something that actually didn't really resonate with me, 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.399 but I could just point out certain bits that I 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:54.800 loved about it, mainly music. Actually, honestly, I haven't really 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:56.640 had a lot of I'd be lying if I said 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:58.840 I'm really influenced by films and stuff, because I'm not. 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.679 But I do, you know, I enjoy watching films like 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:04.040 a lot of people. But I think most of what 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.440 truly truly resonates with me is either just like people 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:10.080 saying words that make me want to go and do 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:13.800 something or real like sound at sonics and chords and 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:17.080 music from any type of person, any type of band. 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.879 Just just a lot of influences really that could go 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:21.640 on a long list, but I think when I really 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:24.119 put it down to just what resonates with me, I 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.640 think that's that's all. And I've just I love music 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:28.680 as well, so it probably it helps you know when 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:31.800 did you start experimenting with chords? It moved from drums 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:38.240 to two keys. I mean I actually probably experimented with 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:42.199 the keys before the good idea. I've probably experimented with 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:46.280 keys before drums, and was playing like Cold Play songs 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:49.840 on the piano at a young age, like whilst learning drums. 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:51.000 But there was there was a point when I was 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:53.560 at school. I went to a place called the brit School, 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.119 and when I arrived there on my first day, I 0:18:57.160 --> 0:18:59.399 met a guy called Jim who played the drums, and 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:01.240 I came as a drummer as well. And in the 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:02.840 year there was sort of like four or five people 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:07.720 that played drums and they had everyone performer a set 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:11.760 like not a set, sorry, like a solo performance on 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:13.280 the first dick, so we could all kind of like 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:17.040 show the year what we did, and I remember watching 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:19.560 Jim play drums and I was I just thought, I 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:22.879 don't think I'm a drummer. I think he is a drummer. 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:24.800 I think I'm someone that is competent on drums, and 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:27.800 i'm I love drums, but I also I've spent I've 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:29.680 spent time doing a bit of keys, I've spent time 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:31.520 doing a bit of this, and like singing and stuff, 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.280 and Jim or I'm assuming, having not knowing him at 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:35.879 the time, I was like, I guess this guy's just 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:37.960 spent his whole life doing drums because he look he 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:40.679 sounds like someone who's put so much into the drums, 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:42.600 which I've I can't catch up on that. And there's 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:45.120 so many people out there, you know, it's very instant, like, well, 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:48.000 that's probably not my calling. I think that's his calling 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:50.960 all someone else of that sort. And what happened was 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:54.640 I probably that sparked me to think that I could 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:57.960 just do something else. And people were putting me onto 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:00.600