WEBVTT - Alabama Shakes' Brittany Howard 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:13.800 Pushkin. Brittany Howard has never really been the type to 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.320 do things quietly, whether it's fronting Alabama Shakes the voice 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:18.959 that could fill a room and level it in the 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:21.280 same breath, or striking out on her own with two 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:23.840 solo records that hold her sound in wilder and more 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:28.360 personal directions. She's spent the last decade refusing to stay 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.120 in one place for long. Now she's back with the 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:33.440 band mate Zach Cockrell and Heath Fog for a new 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:36.720 Alabama Shake's album, I Must Be Dreaming, their first in 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:39.640 eleven years, and on today's episode, I sit down with 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:41.239 Brittany to talk about what it took to bring the 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:43.760 band back together after all that time apart, and what 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:46.239 this record sounds like on the other side of it. 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:54.640 This is broken record, real musicians, real conversations. Here's my 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:59.120 conversation with Brittany Howard. All right, so LA two days 0:00:59.120 --> 0:00:59.600 and you out. 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:00.400 That's it. 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:02.400 I feel good, Yeah, yeah. 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:04.520 Yeah, I'm ready to go home. I've been on the 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:08.760 road a little bit, not very much, but went to 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:14.360 Red Rocks immediately from like five hundred feet above sea 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:18.640 level to like five and thirty eight feet above sea 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:21.640 level felt great. The first day. Second day hit me. 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:25.520 I was like, okay, all day nausea, coolest, do the show. 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.840 Let's roll it to the show. Awesome. Then we go 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.199 over to Reno and Reno, I didn't know the crowd 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:33.440 was gonna be as lit as it was. It was 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:34.119 like amazing. 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:34.559 Wow. 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:36.720 Yeah, the crowd was crazy. They're like standing up in 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.520 their chairs. There was a couple like slow dancing to 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:41.080 like this really sad song we got. 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:43.559 Wow, yeah to one of the new. 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:46.440 Songs, nah to Gemini. I've never seen anybody slow dance 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:47.240 to Gemini before. 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:47.680 Wow. 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:50.080 That was cooled. That was different. It was interesting. And 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:54.120 then we came to where we go next. I went 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:56.120 to Berkeley, played two shows a degree. 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:56.840 How was that? 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:57.480 It was awesome? 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.760 Yeah? I love Degree. That's great. That's a beautiful Like 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.240 one of you guys, what's this, how'd you guys come 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:03.760 back together? 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:08.880 Well? Okay, So we have this buddy and he owns 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:12.720 this bar in Tuscaloose, Alabama. And this buddy of ours 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:15.160 name is Bow. He used to always take us in. 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:18.000 You know, we show up the bar, pay us like 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.600 one hundred bucks between like the four of us, and 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:22.360 then he would put us up like on his couch 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:24.480 or extra room or something. He always took care of us, 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:27.600 and he was like, hey, since COVID my bar has 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:31.240 been in trouble, couldn't you mind like coming and helping 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:33.680 me out? Just playing? He was asking me, and I 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:35.720 was like, yeah, I'll come through. But then I hit 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:37.080 up the guys and I was like, hey, do I 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:39.600 want to help Bowl out? Go do this thing? Everybody 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:42.359 loves Bowl. They're like yeah, absolutely. So we get together 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:44.880 and we're rehearsing the music and we're like, maybe we 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.600 should just like get together and I don't know, do 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:50.080 a tour, do a couple of tours or something, because 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.920 it's like the ten year anniversary. It sounded color felt 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:54.600 like a cool thing to do for the fans, and 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.320 so we did that. And then and then you know, 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.800 it progressed into like, oh, let's like record a single. Okay, 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:03.840 So we thought we're gonna record like three songs, and 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.000 then it progressed into like, well, we got seven songs, 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:09.600 let's just make some more and make an album. So 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:11.600 it kind of naturally unfolded like that. 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.120 It's interesting that it didn't occur earlier that, like, I mean, 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:17.400 if it was that, it seems like it's pretty easy 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:18.400 once you guys were. 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:21.760 Like I always told people, it's like, look, I never 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:25.959 shut the door, never saying never. It's just gonna happen 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:28.080 when it feels right, and that just happened to be 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:31.240 the catalyst, and it felt like the right time. 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:34.400 Coming back together. Did it feel like it? This feels 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.560 like let's trying to explain to my fromd Ben here 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:40.080 who works on the show with me, that the album 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.800 feels it feels in some ways like you guys didn't 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:44.480 miss a beat, like you guys went back to where 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:48.120 you were. But in some ways it feels also like 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:52.440 I can hear I don't know where you know necessarily 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:54.520 everything you guys been up to in that time away. 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.280 You've had a couple of solo albums, and I feel 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:01.600 like I can also hear that there's a difference. There's 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:03.560 something else that has been going on for like ten years, 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:06.840 So I don't know if they had been playing other places, 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:10.320 listening to different things. You've definitely been on your own 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.040 journey musically, and so it does feel like it feels 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:17.440 like a really good summation of like probably exactly where 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:18.960 you guys are at, which is do you guys have 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:22.320 a certain chemistry together. But then you've also probably grown 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:24.719 substantially in a decade. Didn'tven think it had been a decade, 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:25.880 But yeah, a decade, right. 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:30.960 Yeah, I think our tastes have grown. I think we're 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:34.440 wiser as people. You know, we're older, and we have 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.400 more life experience. We know what we like, we know 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:39.320 what we don't like. I think it was kind of 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:41.680 like getting back in the studio. We had to reintroduce 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:45.839 ourselves to what we were into, which is funny because I 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:50.440 was into mostly like instrumental composition stuff. Was no singing. 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:53.280 Now yeah, yeah, that's just kind of what I've been 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.160 getting into. It's nice sometimes to make up scenarios in 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:58.440 your head without the lyrics guiding you. Sometimes you know 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:01.880 that's been nice, And then you know the guys have 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:04.360 been into all kinds of other stuff. So we were like, okay, 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:06.760 let's let's figure this out. How do we meet in 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:10.000 the middle. And it's kind of the same thing as 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:12.839 you know, boys and Girls when we first met first 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:14.440 put out that first album. It's like, Okay, how do 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.520 we make music together coming from all these different backgrounds? 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:19.880 Well, you guys, but I guess the difference would be 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:21.440 by the time you make that album, you guys that 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:24.279 had years together just in terms of just being around 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.480 each other forever day to day, right, like yeah, true, yeah, true. 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:30.279 I mean like yeah, you know, Zach came on tour 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:33.039 with me for the Britney Howard Project stuff, and so 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:37.200 like making this album was you know, me and he 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:39.520 talked over texts and phone and stuff like that, but 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.440 we hadn't really hung out physically for like, probably I 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:45.600 don't know, years a while, so it was cool being 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:48.880 back in the room together again. And you know, it's 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:51.240 kind of like we all got sweeter, like everybody just 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:54.480 is that true? Yeah, it's like we're all I don't know, 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:56.120 it's just nicer human beings than we used to be. 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.159 We used to be crazy like wildcats, like in what 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.200 why Oh I mean, I won't get into it was 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:05.960 just the party lifestyle. Let me quit talking. 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:07.960 Nah, keep talking. 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:11.119 No, you know, we're just young. We've never been anywhere before. 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:13.039 All of a sudden, we're like in Europe and England 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:15.640 and Spain. We're just going out and having fun. Like 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.320 you know, everybody thinks like metal bands, oh they're so crazy, 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:20.359 they party too hard, But soul bands are the ones 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:21.440 that actually party hard? 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:22.279 Is that okay? 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:22.840 Yeah? 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:24.400 You know how shocked I was when I read to 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.200 read the friends memoir and I realized there's a quote 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:30.480 like pretty early Billy Preston is like, like you think 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.400 you if you think like pop and rock artists, it's 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:36.039 like it's soul on gospels or the wildest you. 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.760 Gotta look out for them, but that's not us anymore. 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:40.040 Which just like I said, we're just a bunch of 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:40.919 sweeties now. 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.800 So that's hod. So it was kind of like early 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.360 on it was a stereotypical like you were being introduced 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:50.479 to we were living a whole new world and lifestyle. 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:53.440 Yeah, we were living, you know, no regrets, like we 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:56.160 were sweeties. We were just like you know, I don't know, 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.760 just having fun. We were young, but now we're older. 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.280 Were what were some what stands out from those early 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:03.480 not even necessarily in a bad way, but like what 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.599 was even some of the more charmed experiences. I mean, 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.240 you like that record, you got that especially sounding that 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:11.960 record was so big, and so I know there must 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:14.680 have been some like real pinch me moments. 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:19.080 One of the pinch me moments was probably just like 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:23.480 meeting Bill Withers was really cool. He hung out with 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:26.160 us after the show. He hung out with us and 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.880 Michael Kewan Nuka's group, and that was awesome. That was 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:32.280 really cool. You know, there's somebody you here ever since 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:34.520 your little kid. Now there he is in the flesh, 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:38.880 talking to you, smiling at you. And I remember, like 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.000 I used to smoke cigarettes. I don't know more, but 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:45.320 I remember being under the staircase, like hiding from Bill 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:47.920 Withers because he had already reprimanded me. He was like, 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:51.720 you gotta quit. And I was like okay, and then 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:53.400 like it was my grandpa or something, I was like, 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:56.400 let me hide under these stairs. He found me. What 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:58.480 he said he was like, he was pointed at me 0:07:58.520 --> 0:07:59.760 and he's like, I see you. And I was like, 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.920 oh my god, I gotta pinch myself. Bill Withers is 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.240 over here, like, you know, trying to help me out. 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:08.560 But you got to take that advice. I mean, look 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:11.760 I did eventually. Whatever, Bill Withers, I feel like you 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:12.400 kind of. 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.160 Yeah, I know, and I knew then too. Yeah, I 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:16.080 just being hard headed. 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:20.640 That's a meeting Bill Withers is phenomenal because. 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:24.320 Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, he's a cool guys. He's 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:29.760 kind of everything you think he would be wise. You know, 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:31.680 he's just got one of those voices when he speaks. 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:36.400 You just listen to him and you know, yeah. 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:37.560 Did he did he hear you got? Did you watch 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:42.040 you guys play? Or hear the record? Was the effusive the. 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:46.960 Yeah, you know he was. He was very excited about 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:49.320 the whole thing. You know, he was just like I 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:51.360 think I remember him saying, like, you know, you're going 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:54.280 straight to the moon something like that, which is I 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:56.120 can barely say it out loud because I'm you know, 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:01.959 I'm still trying to digest that, because it's just I'm 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.680 just grateful for an opportunity like that. So something like 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:08.240 that happening is crazy. And you know, also there's like 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:14.600 meeting my peers finally, like you know, Tyler creator, Child's Game, 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:18.120 being a solange and just meeting those people and talking 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:21.280 music with them and people I respect I'm inspired by 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.920 as well, So that's always cool. You just never really 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:26.320 never know who you're gonna run into. 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.199 Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's funny because it's funny you bring 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.720 up them as peers, because they definitely are peers, both 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:36.400 creatively and also just like in terms of we're sort 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.840 of like the artists who broke kind of around when 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.559 you guys broke, but it's like it's funny because at 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:46.560 the time you guys broke, there was soul music, but 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.880 the soul music was like kind of like retro soul 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:53.679 music with either like not disparagingly because there's some great artists, 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:57.400 but like Charles Bradley, like in Sharon Jones recipes, it 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:01.600 was phenomenal, but it was sort of like in that 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.120 sort of vein of thing or like the Mark ronson whatever, right, 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.400 and rock bands weren't really breaking, so you guys really 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:14.440 like broke them all. You guys got or slipped through 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:18.080 or broke the mold or transcended or went to the moon. 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:19.520 Don'tend to go to the moon. 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:25.400 It I actually don't know how that happened myself. I 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.080 still think about that, like you always get that feeling 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:30.480 of like why us and why not somebody else? Because 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:32.760 you know, we were listening to all that daptone stuff. 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:36.440 We loved Charles Bradley, we loved Sharon Jones, we loved 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.840 Minihanan Street Band, we loved all those groups, and we 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:42.280 were very studied to these groups. We loved how tight 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.120 the rhythm sections were, and it's something we strived to 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:48.320 to be like. But you know, we also had all 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.640 these other influences too, and wanted to experiment just a 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:53.720 little bit more. And I don't know, to me, that 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:56.680 feels natural just to do something a little bit other, 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:01.200 just to see what can happen, and especially bringing all 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:03.440 of our music tastes together, it felt like that's just 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.160 where that's where we had to end up. 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:06.560 You know. 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.040 We couldn't go full retro this way, because I don't 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:12.800 know if that style would drive with all of our 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:15.920 style of playing, you know, yeah, yeah, So I think 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:18.000 we just did something a little bit more garage rock, 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:20.560 like a little more aggressive because it felt good. It 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:23.920 felt good too, especially as a woman. It felt good 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:29.599 to front a group and be aggressive and not I 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:32.520 don't know, just any stereotype just throw it to the 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:36.880 side and just be full of I don't know, whatever 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:40.240 rage or whatever it is that I'm body when I 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:43.080 do my thing just feels good, feels cathartic, and it 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:44.920 felt like the right thing to do. It felt honest. 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.360 Did you always have like that? I wanna call a 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:49.719 punk rock aggression? But it's like that, you know what 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:51.840 I mean, like that rock sort of. 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.199 Yeah, I'd say, like from the get go, because we 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.400 were listening to like MC five, we were listening to 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:02.839 les Eppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, I was listening to 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:06.000 groups like Converge, American Nightmare. 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:09.160 Wow, Converge. Yeah, they don't even get talked about much anymore. 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:09.280 No. 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:12.840 I like that shit though, Like that's that's It was 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:14.640 just like whatever I could get my hands on or 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.400 my ears on. Rather when I was coming into music 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:20.800 and learning how to play, like if if it had 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:23.160 any like, I don't know if it stuck out to me, 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:25.800 I'm listening to it. I like it, I'm learning from it, 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:30.320 and from the get go, it's like this is something 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:33.080 I like ac DC. I like the way he plays guitar, 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:38.360 The Kinks. Uh No, that just happened by accident. I 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:40.640 actually didn't have my own guitar. That was our guitar 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:42.360 players guitar, and he let me borrow it so I 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:44.360 could play guitar. I didn't have one. 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:46.520 Yeah, but then it just felt good. Yeah, it looked 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:46.920 good too. 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.000 Yeah, it was. It kind of became my thing, but 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:53.000 it just happenstance. I kind of like, you know, just 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:57.000 whatever sounds good is what I'll play. Yeah, And to 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:58.720 this day that's how I am. I don't really stick 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:01.840 to this or that. New guitars can be cool sometimes 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:05.600 sometimes not. I just play whatever whatever I find. Really, Yeah, 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:06.960 but what. 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:08.840 You were saying, it was in ac DC Kinks. 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.200 Yeah, the Kinks. I like Dave Davies because his solos 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:15.959 are always just so a motive. It's not really it 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:18.880 doesn't always have to be technical to get your point across. 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:21.800 And yeah, I just was pulled to that. I was like, 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:23.559 I can do that. Yeah. 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:24.560 Is that? 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:25.160 Was that. 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.559 A surprise to your parents? Like that in your family? 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:32.079 I know you have a sister too, Like was that like, 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:34.520 were you like an aberration in your household or was 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:36.240 that like what everyone in your house was kind of? 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:40.200 Well, I okay, So I have an uncle and he 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:42.400 was kind of like a metal guitar player, but he 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:44.719 also knew some Jimmy Hendrix and when I was a 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:46.800 little girl, he woul plays songs like guns and Roses 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:49.120 and Jimmy Hendricks and whatever he knew, and we thought 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:52.080 it was like amazing, you know, And so I knew 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:53.920 from a very early age. I want to do that. 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:56.439 And then I had this other It's my great uncle. 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.800 He played like bluegrass music, so he turned me on 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:06.080 to you know, like classics like Elvis and and what else. 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:09.160 I don't know. He liked Elvis, like the animals, he 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:11.760 liked kind of this stuff. And so he had this 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:14.360 woodworking shop and I remember staying up late one night 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:17.000 and they were practicing their bluegrass band and I came 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:18.800 in there and they gave me the microphone and I 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.960 saying wild thing and I was singing what was I singing? 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.400 I don't know, some Elvis songs. And I remember looking 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:29.800 at all these grown men and and the way that 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:33.640 my little voice affected them, and they were just shocked 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:36.800 and smiling and laughing. And I sang until like I 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.600 think my throat was bleeding, until my great aunt came 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:40.600 in there. I was like, Bren, you got to go 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:43.240 to bed, you know. And but I I loved that 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:47.080 feeling of being amplified. And you know, maybe it goes 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:50.560 back to just being heard being sing or something like that. Maybe, 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:53.480 but you know, it was those moments that I was like, 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:55.600 I think this is something that I really would like 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:55.960 to do. 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:59.720 Yeah, okay, but everyone I think not everyone, but a 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.440 lot of people like having a microphone in a bully 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:06.960 pool bit and be heard. But yeah, it's like having 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:10.360 a voice like that though, to have that in tandem 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:12.840 with I mean, you know that's what everyone's not blessed with. 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:17.600 Yeah. Well, I didn't know I could sing until maybe 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:19.320 I was like fifteen. 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.120 How old are you there in that moment? Oh, I 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.000 was like four or five, and it didn't occur to 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:26.240 you then like based on the reaction like, oh man, 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:28.400 maybe I can't they like what I was too little too. 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:33.240 Yeah, But when I was like when I was eleven, 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:35.640 I saw a band play for the first time and 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:38.520 it was just like in my high school high school gym, 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.600 and there was just like some high school kids playing 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:46.160 and I was like, that is what I want to do, wow, 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:48.360 Because it was so shocking to me that those kids 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:50.440 I go to school with have like the secret, and 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:52.600 the secret is they can play these instruments and have 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:55.400 this effect on these people. And it was almost like 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:58.040 slow motion, like I looked at the people dancing and 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:00.720 I looked back at the guitar player and I was like, 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:01.680 that's what I want to do. 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:02.040 Wow. 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:05.920 And turns out that guitar player was album Shake's guitar player, 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.840 heath Way. Yeah. He later became our guitar player. Yeah. 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:14.400 And I remember recording my own demos. I was always 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.040 teaching myself instruments because I wanted to be in a 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:19.280 band so bad. I was just like, I gotta practice 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:21.560 everything because I don't know if I'm going to meet 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:22.840 a drummer. I don't know if I'm going to meet 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:24.040 a bass player. I don't know if I'm meet a 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:26.560 guitar player. So I'm gonna be ready to play anything. 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:31.840 So I was practicing, I was borrowing instruments, and I 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:34.960 remember making a demo. I was using this app, well, 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.160 the software called Audacity. You could just record a line. 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:39.800 At the time. I made this little demo and I 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:41.720 burnt it on City and I remember putting it on 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:44.480 my mom's dresser and she had taken it to work 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:46.240 with her. She had listened to it, came back from 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:47.920 work and she was like, I didn't know you could sing. 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.560 And that's when I was like, oh, maybe I can sing. 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:53.520 And because I didn't really know, wow, And so I 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:55.640 just like, you know, I practiced it. I didn't just 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:59.000 show up singing. You know, I had to practice, and 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:02.320 I practiced by singing long to albums and just trying 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:05.320 to get the voice straight not shaky. 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:07.359 So what albums would you sing to? 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:11.240 Back then? It was like a lot of Queen Because 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:14.159 I really liked Framemakery's harmonies. I was like, try to 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:16.080 I go through the song over and again, pick a 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:20.600 harmony and learned harmonies. And at the time, I think 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:22.960 Red Hot Peppers by the Way came out. 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:24.200 That's still one of my favorite albums. 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:26.919 It's a great album. Yeah, and I would sing all 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:30.159 of those songs and yeah, it was a third eye blind. 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:32.680 I had a third eye blind city. I would sing 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:34.760 all those songs and it was just getting my voice 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:39.240 like ready. And eventually I found the right group of 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:41.760 guys and I was able to be the singer and 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:43.479 started banding. 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:45.120 So how'd you reconnect with Heath? 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:50.280 Oh? Well, so me and Zach so I So I 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:52.440 had another demo and I knew Zach was a bass 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:54.840 player because you know, we went to school together. So 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.640 I brought a CD to Zach. Didn't really know him, 0:17:57.960 --> 0:17:59.720 but he had like cool band shirts, like I ad 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:01.719 the dry event shirt on it, and I knew who 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:03.120 that was and I was like, all that, that guy 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.320 must be cool. So I gave him my CD and 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:07.760 I was like, hey, man, like I play instruments too, 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:10.159 this is this is where my music sounds like. You know, 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:11.879 let me know if you ever want a jam. So 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:13.800 he took the CD he had like a little Honda Civic, 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:17.520 and I mean we both went to the Honda Civic. 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.080 He listened to the demo CD, which is like very 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:24.720 vulnerable to sit there and listen to your demo with somebody, 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:26.280 but he was like, oh this is cool. Yeah we 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:28.800 can jam, and I was like, oh cool. So we 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:31.200 started getting together like not every day, but just about 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:35.959 every day after school, and we started writing music together 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:39.719 and eventually we found a drummer to play with, and 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:43.480 that drummer knew some of Heath's buddies. So we had 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:46.840 another demo and he showed it to Heath's buddies and 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:49.080 Heath was like, oh man, you guys should open for 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:52.280 my band. And I was like, cool, we'll open for 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.359 you if you help our band by playing guitar. And 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:56.720