Speaker 1: Pushkin word first broke about the band The Favors back
Speaker 1: in February, when cryptic posts revealed that Billie Eilish's producer
Speaker 1: and brother Phineas was making new music with singer Ash.
Speaker 1: Soon after, both artists began performing these songs live, introducing
Speaker 1: The Favors to audiences even before an official release. Now,
Speaker 1: the band is putting out their debut album, The Dream.
Speaker 1: They call it a real chemistry album, the product of
Speaker 1: free flowing writing and jam sessions with their close friends
Speaker 1: David Marinelli on drums and Ricky Gourmet on guitar. On
Speaker 1: today's episode, you'll hear Phineas and Ash perform two standout
Speaker 1: tracks from The Dream. Times Square, Jesus and the Hudson
Speaker 1: will also dig into their collaborative process, exploring how their
Speaker 1: creative partnership shapes not only the music, but even the
Speaker 1: way they present themselves to the world. This is broken record,
Speaker 1: real musicians, real conversations. Here's my conversation, Phineas and Ash
Speaker 1: of The Favors.
Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Phineas, I'm Ash, and we're the Favors And
Speaker 2: this is our song Time Squared Jesus.
Speaker 3: Mm hmmm mm hmmm. It's easy tell someone loud.
Speaker 4: To fee not.
Speaker 3: It's fun to tell someone you love that it's real.
Speaker 5: The house your dady built is underwater.
Speaker 3: No use China not to be mother's daughter.
Speaker 5: Everybody knows your my weakness. Your don't p seecret. I'm
Speaker 5: a friend every time I walk by.
Speaker 3: Time, squeechess.
Speaker 5: He tells me to confess before my grad.
Speaker 3: But I don't want to be see.
Speaker 4: She's everything had.
Speaker 5: I have a walk.
Speaker 6: To be because she's used and I'm no thread of ooh.
Speaker 3: Still pick up your mother from me? She said I
Speaker 3: should move on just my father's son.
Speaker 5: Everybody in asy my weakness.
Speaker 3: You're in allen see secret.
Speaker 5: I'm a fo every time I walk by time, squete Jesus.
Speaker 5: He tells me to confess before month.
Speaker 3: I don't want to be saved. Looks your neve read
Speaker 3: fill up your share.
Speaker 4: Nothing that you said has ever crown.
Speaker 3: Use me to talk about your saif you come off me,
Speaker 3: but I know you mean well.
Speaker 5: Everybody knows any on my weekness. You're all in secly.
Speaker 5: I'm a felly d.
Speaker 3: My walk, but I'm squich Jesus. He tells me to
Speaker 3: confess with forma.
Speaker 1: You guys just on the spot like re re arranged
Speaker 1: that fighting for our lives.
Speaker 7: That was all Finnea's just now. That was very I'm
Speaker 7: sitting here very impressed by my friend.
Speaker 1: The fact you said that earlier, how impressed you were
Speaker 1: when he sat because you weren't sure if he had
Speaker 1: worked on it, worked on it. He hadn't. He just
Speaker 1: was kind of he just kind of fell, you know,
Speaker 1: fell out of his fingers, and you said it was like,
Speaker 1: how incredible is have a friend that talented? And then
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there and I'm.
Speaker 8: Listening to you sing Yeah I know the same way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like you must be the same way.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 8: Making his whole record was like that.
Speaker 2: It was like, I don't know, two people carrying the
Speaker 2: same heavy thing, you know what I mean. You're like, oh,
Speaker 2: you're you're totally strong, Like you're I only have to
Speaker 2: carry my side of this, you know what I mean.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's really great.
Speaker 2: I feel like totally it's fine that in life oftentimes
Speaker 2: you're like one person is better at some thing than
Speaker 2: the other person, and so you're like we're we're sharing
Speaker 2: this burden. But I am sometimes I feel self conscious
Speaker 2: when it's me, when I'm like I'm not lifting the
Speaker 2: way that this other person is lifting and I feel
Speaker 2: like making this record, I was like, oh, we're just
Speaker 2: like both of us, I think we're like this is
Speaker 2: kind of a lightlift because the other person we're with
Speaker 2: it is so competent.
Speaker 1: Are there instances where you might more typically feel like
Speaker 1: you're not carrying your end of the bar?
Speaker 2: Or you know, I guess anytime I do something like
Speaker 2: brand new, like I score film and TV now and like,
Speaker 2: I'm not very good at it, and you know, I
Speaker 2: might have a good idea or a good instinct, but like,
Speaker 2: I'm not experienced, So I have to ask a lot
Speaker 2: of questions. I have to call my music editor and
Speaker 2: call the filmmaker and you know, call the music soup
Speaker 2: or whatever it is, and be like, what do you think?
Speaker 8: What should I do? What should I do next? You know?
Speaker 2: And so I'm grateful to those people for, you know,
Speaker 2: being down to work with me.
Speaker 1: Do you feel comfortable in that position having to make
Speaker 1: not exactly knowing knowing that you're not exactly sure of?
Speaker 2: Truthfully, I feel super self conscious and kind of bad
Speaker 2: about myself and event and that's and but that's the
Speaker 2: only way I've ever gotten better at anything is like
Speaker 2: wanting to not feel.
Speaker 8: That way anymore.
Speaker 2: Like the first couple of records I produced, I was like,
Speaker 2: I'm I felt so demoralized, and then you just get
Speaker 2: through a couple of them and you're like, Okay, I
Speaker 2: didn't die.
Speaker 8: I mean do some more.
Speaker 2: And eventually like we made this album in a way
Speaker 2: where I was like, oh, I feel very confident about
Speaker 2: how this should sound, and I don't know. I listened
Speaker 2: to the whole album on the way over here to
Speaker 2: kind of get like in the headspace of talking about it, and.
Speaker 8: I was like, oh, I love the way this sounds.
Speaker 8: It's awesome.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I feel very well matched in a lot of ways.
Speaker 7: I'll say I think we do, like probably lift each
Speaker 7: other up when the other is like maybe not as
Speaker 7: proficient as something like what he just did on piano
Speaker 7: for times, Greg Jesus, I could not have done.
Speaker 9: I'm decent at piano.
Speaker 7: I did the other song, but I am not, you know,
Speaker 7: I just don't have the same skill set. And I
Speaker 7: feel like Phineas is that kind of person that's like
Speaker 7: I've got your back. Like, I don't think it's always
Speaker 7: just going to be a fifty to fifty thing. I
Speaker 7: think it's sometimes it's going to be like a sixty
Speaker 7: forty and we're going to like show up for the
Speaker 7: other person in the way we need to.
Speaker 1: And how often is that that balance between the two
Speaker 1: of you in this particular partnership. How often is that
Speaker 1: strictly to do with the record or the recording and
Speaker 1: the writing, and how much do that sometimes just lifestyle?
Speaker 1: I would say.
Speaker 2: I would say writing the album was like, you know,
Speaker 2: fifty to fifty, cut the circle in half, like very
Speaker 2: very even, and she'd bring stuff in and we'd finish
Speaker 2: it together, and I brought an idea two and we
Speaker 2: finished it together. And then when we were in the
Speaker 2: room starting stuff together, it was like very that the
Speaker 2: writing of the record.
Speaker 8: Was totally fifty to fifty.
Speaker 2: And then I purposefully made the recording of the record
Speaker 2: like a little bit raw. It was like me and
Speaker 2: Ash and the two other guys who contributed musically played
Speaker 2: drums and guitar, all in a living room, really in
Speaker 2: a room about this size, and Ash and I sang
Speaker 2: into these Mike capsules and we were in the room
Speaker 2: about this far away from each other, and so I'm
Speaker 2: kind of involved. I sort of forced everybody to be
Speaker 2: present for the whole recording. There was no kind of
Speaker 2: like I've made records before where like maybe if Ash
Speaker 2: is just singing on that song, she's like gonna come in.
Speaker 8: Much later in the day.
Speaker 2: And we didn't do it that way with like everybody
Speaker 2: was there for each others, but like the drumm would
Speaker 2: play pass and we just sit there and we'd be like,
Speaker 2: nice job, Maybe do that ending a little differently, Like
Speaker 2: it was very democratized for sure. Yeah, in the mixing
Speaker 2: post production process, I was sort of doing that on
Speaker 2: my own because I had the computer, but I'd send
Speaker 2: Ash everything and get her feedback on it and then
Speaker 2: sort of vice versa. Like the kind of creative the
Speaker 2: visual side of it has been like all helmed by
Speaker 2: Ash and all, you know, like references and images she's
Speaker 2: come up with which I've loved.
Speaker 1: So would you hang around earlier in the day as
Speaker 1: they're tracking the instrumental bit of it?
Speaker 7: And then absolutely, I mean, and I had my own
Speaker 7: opinions about what was getting played, you know, Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 7: or Ricky you know who's on guitar, would play a
Speaker 7: riff over and over and over and he would develop
Speaker 7: it and it would become and it would like morph
Speaker 7: into something because we all were sort of like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 7: that's it, Oh you're onto something, or David be like
Speaker 7: try this, but we did. When we first sort of
Speaker 7: came up with the whole concept, I went and going, well,
Speaker 7: maybe we should hire an engineer so that we're kind
Speaker 7: of tracking this live. And then you aren't bearing all
Speaker 7: the weight of the.
Speaker 1: Thing because the director actor I was.
Speaker 9: Like, you produce all these amazing albums.
Speaker 7: And then I felt, I think the truthfully as I
Speaker 7: felt self conscious that I wasn't going to lift enough
Speaker 7: weight on that end, on that end, and then I
Speaker 7: think we got to the point where I'm like we
Speaker 7: both were like, well, he's a producer, Like you're a
Speaker 7: brilliant producer.
Speaker 9: We're kind of idiots if you don't produce.
Speaker 2: There's a nakedness too to making an album. That's like
Speaker 2: we were really being intimate, like the four of us know,
Speaker 2: like the two guys I was with I've known for
Speaker 2: years and Ash got to know intimately through that. So
Speaker 2: it's the four of us in a room and then
Speaker 2: even like the fifth person in the room several of
Speaker 2: the days was a photographer and a murial that Ash
Speaker 2: is very close with that came in. But it is
Speaker 2: just this closeness that like allows you to be really
Speaker 2: brave and really kind of like even though you are
Speaker 2: being observed, like you kind of act unobserved. And I
Speaker 2: felt like that was the thing where I was like,
Speaker 2: I'm willing to trade, like I'm a less good engineer
Speaker 2: than if I hired somebody to come in and do this,
Speaker 2: and I might make a couple of mistakes along the way,
Speaker 2: but like the vulnerability is a trade that I'm willing
Speaker 2: to make of Like, yeah, there's just you kind of
Speaker 2: are like naked in front of each other. That's how
Speaker 2: it feels to be singing that way and to be
Speaker 2: making mistakes over and over. And I just thought like, oh,
Speaker 2: somebody that I'm not so comfortable with might throw off
Speaker 2: the jujuw.
Speaker 8: Of the thing.
Speaker 2: I mean like, yeah, I feel like this album was
Speaker 2: like a real chemistry album, Like that was what made
Speaker 2: it really fun, even like her talking about the like
Speaker 2: Ricky developing his guitar part, like that process can make
Speaker 2: you feel self conscious if you're sitting there noodling and
Speaker 2: three people are.
Speaker 8: Like no, no, no, not that I like, no, I like.
Speaker 2: That part, but like he had to be so kind
Speaker 2: of willing to let us editorialize, and he was. You know,
Speaker 2: so I think that that whole kind of experience, even
Speaker 2: like parts were ashes, like I don't know about that
Speaker 2: harmony part, and like, great, let's think of the other one.
Speaker 2: Let's try another one, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 2: just kind of have to be brave in front of
Speaker 2: each other. So it was it was nice to have
Speaker 2: it be sort of private. Although if we made another record,
Speaker 2: I try to.
Speaker 8: I'll put it this way. Making this album made me
Speaker 8: higher and engineer, and it made me be like I
Speaker 8: wish I had an engineer that I worked with all
Speaker 8: the time.
Speaker 1: Really yeah, because that intimate nature, the intimateness and the
Speaker 1: and the personalness does it feels in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: like the conceit of the album when you listen to
Speaker 1: it as a whole, you know. I got to hear
Speaker 1: a couple of songs as they came out early, and
Speaker 1: then when I finally got sent the full album and
Speaker 1: I listened to it, I was like, I get, I
Speaker 1: get what this is. Sure, so but you so you
Speaker 1: but you would make it a little different this time
Speaker 1: though for another time.
Speaker 8: If you would make that album differently.
Speaker 2: I think I would try to distill the things that
Speaker 2: went well about making that record and then incorporate additional things.
Speaker 8: Got it, Yeah, got it?
Speaker 1: And you guys made this a bit ago, right, A
Speaker 1: couple of years ago?
Speaker 9: Or was it when we finish it a year ago?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 9: A year ago?
Speaker 7: Now?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: A year ago okay, and before you guys did your
Speaker 1: last two solo records, right.
Speaker 7: I finished mine before we finished this, Yeah, but it.
Speaker 9: Was but we kind of started it.
Speaker 8: Yeah. I finished mine pointedly.
Speaker 2: I was like, finished mine, like by July fourth, and
Speaker 2: then we recorded most of this record starting on like
Speaker 2: the twentieth or something. I was like, it was very
Speaker 2: close and proximity.
Speaker 1: Got it because I was as I was listening to Wilson,
Speaker 1: as I was listening to you, yes, exactly, and then
Speaker 1: listening to this again. I just want to discern if
Speaker 1: there was a relationship between the three or if this
Speaker 1: was something completely unique and separate creatively for you guys.
Speaker 1: And I don't know how you guys.
Speaker 2: I wrote all of for Crying Out Loud after we
Speaker 2: wrote half of this record, and so I knew in
Speaker 2: my mind, like that stuff is going to come out.
Speaker 2: So I was probably sort of to some degree, trying
Speaker 2: to not.
Speaker 9: Inform you were informed by it, Yeah.
Speaker 8: Well, trying not to copy it. I didn't want to.
Speaker 2: I didn't want to go and make this album twice
Speaker 2: because I don't want it to be special.
Speaker 8: And then I also didn't want to have there be
Speaker 8: like no paper trail.
Speaker 2: Like if I'd made like a really experimental Synthia album
Speaker 2: and then was like, hey, guys, like by tickets to
Speaker 2: the favorite show, I think that'd be a stranger transition.
Speaker 2: There's songs on my last record, like Cleats and even
Speaker 2: the single for Krandit Lad that like they feel like
Speaker 2: my own, but like they make sense that this came
Speaker 2: after that to me. Yeah, I feel the same about Wilson.
Speaker 2: Wilson has an organic feeling, I.
Speaker 7: Think, yeah, also similarly organic, but I mean topically, you know,
Speaker 7: Wilson was such a self examination of you know, I
Speaker 7: almost quit music and like a journey back to music
Speaker 7: and like relationship with being public person at all and
Speaker 7: just traumas and YadA YadA. Whereas this record was such
Speaker 7: a experiment in writing with these other characters and personas
Speaker 7: and sort of writing like a script, which I've never
Speaker 7: done before. And same was super fun and kind of
Speaker 7: liberating in a way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we'll be back with more from Phineas and
Speaker 1: Ash after the break. We should talk about the writing
Speaker 1: process because that song, in particular times Jesus Is I
Speaker 1: thought it was one of my favorite songs on the
Speaker 1: album thank You, and in a way because when you
Speaker 1: hear the When I heard the first verse at first,
Speaker 1: I wasn't one hundred percent sure what the song was about.
Speaker 1: Then I heard the chorus, I was like, oh, I
Speaker 1: think I know what the song is about. And then
Speaker 1: it gets to the second verse, I'm like, actually, I
Speaker 1: really don't know what the songs about. But in the
Speaker 1: best way, like not in like you know, it's like
Speaker 1: this song is like there's it's clearly feels like it's
Speaker 1: like a song that it's going to like unfurl over it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and maybe change meanings, but w how did you guys? Look,
Speaker 1: what was the writing process on that song?
Speaker 8: The rating president that song was really specific. Do you
Speaker 8: want to talk about it? It's awesome.
Speaker 9: It was really cute of us.
Speaker 7: I mean from the jump, it was like I knew
Speaker 7: we needed an acoustic guitar song on the record, which
Speaker 7: we hadn't had yet. And we were pretty deep into
Speaker 7: making the album, and I was like, we're idiots if
Speaker 7: we don't make that song. And I think I probably
Speaker 7: said that and walked away. And then I came grabbed
Speaker 7: a cold brew for the millionth time of the day
Speaker 7: and then walked in and Phineas was playing the acoustic
Speaker 7: that he was playing that riff that's the main sort
Speaker 7: of melodic hook of Times Square Jesus, and I was
Speaker 7: similar to just now when he just pulled this out
Speaker 7: of his pocket with Time Square, I was like, jaw dropped,
Speaker 7: like that's unbelievable. That's the song. Let's go from there.
Speaker 7: And I think we started with the chorus.
Speaker 2: Yeah, everybody knows that you're my weakness, I think to me,
Speaker 2: like I only need one line to be like great,
Speaker 2: like I'm in, let's write the rest of this song,
Speaker 2: like everybody knows that you're my weakness. You're an open secret,
Speaker 2: I'm afraid. To me, I was like all right, great,
Speaker 2: Like yeah, that's worth pursuing all day.
Speaker 8: That's great.
Speaker 7: And Phineas kept like rattling off like like when you're
Speaker 7: in Times Square and it's like the person Elvis that
Speaker 7: and then he came aim up with times square Jesus,
Speaker 7: and everyone was like, that's it.
Speaker 3: That's so good.
Speaker 1: It's really good. It's a super accessible image, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's like you know what it is when you
Speaker 1: hear it, but then it's obscured coming across.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm square Jesus.
Speaker 2: In La You do see like a Jesus every two years,
Speaker 2: like on an overpass or something, and you're like and
Speaker 2: it's always weird because you're like, I know that's a guy,
Speaker 2: but like Jesus was a guy.
Speaker 8: Huh.
Speaker 1: You have to wonder.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it definitely makes you get introspective for an hour.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what was that was?
Speaker 1: What if God was one of us?
Speaker 3: Uh Uh?
Speaker 2: Whenever that group is called that, that song is the greatest. Yeah,
Speaker 2: well yeah, what if God was one of us? Just
Speaker 2: just a stranger on the bus.
Speaker 8: Trying to make his way home. It's a great song. Yeah.
Speaker 8: But anyway, so then we had the.
Speaker 7: Hook and then we I don't I don't know what
Speaker 7: got into me.
Speaker 9: Yeah, but I sort of was like it's usually the
Speaker 9: cold brew.
Speaker 7: And I was like, what if we did like an
Speaker 7: experiment where we break off into groups and each write
Speaker 7: a verse and phineas as like such an earnest pure
Speaker 7: Man was like, I love that. Let's go write a
Speaker 7: beautiful verse. And then me and Ricky go to the side,
Speaker 7: and I'm like, we have to write the best verse
Speaker 7: of all time. We got to beat their verse, and
Speaker 7: then you did, No, I did verse. We were like,
Speaker 7: best verse gets the first verse, and sure enough, neither
Speaker 7: of those verses did they know?
Speaker 9: Your verse ended up being the first verse.
Speaker 8: But you like, we changed all of it things we.
Speaker 9: Know verse on a shelf.
Speaker 2: Verse was like the third verse, the book, the books
Speaker 2: and the whatever that was in the Yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: we wrote these unconnected things. We had the chorus in
Speaker 2: common to kind of get in and out of, and
Speaker 2: then we wrote these different things. But I think that,
Speaker 2: like Ash wrote this verse that I loved, and then
Speaker 2: I was like, oh well, then let me write a
Speaker 2: prequel to your verse. Like your verse is great, but
Speaker 2: let me contextualize it, and then it'll I'll just mirror all.
Speaker 8: Of the good stuff you wrote.
Speaker 1: And what was it that you What was it that
Speaker 1: she wrote that you particularly?
Speaker 2: I loved that she says you're too much your father's son.
Speaker 2: I loved the.
Speaker 9: Stuff to book up your mother from the airport.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was sad and yeah, I just thought it
Speaker 2: was a pure image, and so ours is the house
Speaker 2: your daddy Bill was underwater, and your your your mother's stiff,
Speaker 2: and this kind of like there's a lot of sort
Speaker 2: of like the psychoanalyzing somebody that you used to be
Speaker 2: in love with on this record. That's kind of like
Speaker 2: the main theme is the sort of like remember the
Speaker 2: history of all of this stuff that I know about you.
Speaker 2: There's a song near the end of the record called
Speaker 2: Lake George that's like I've seen the place you were born.
Speaker 2: That's like one of the lines, and I feel like
Speaker 2: that's kind of the whole album is like, yeah, I
Speaker 2: know so much about you, even though you're in the
Speaker 2: rearview mirror of my life. I know all of this
Speaker 2: stuff about you, and you know, whoever you're with now knows.
Speaker 8: Less, which is I think a hard feeling not to have.
Speaker 2: To some degree in your life, especially the older you get,
Speaker 2: because you're young. Relationships they were young too, and so
Speaker 2: you're like, I was there, I was.
Speaker 8: Part of your origin story.
Speaker 2: And then now you're off saying whatever you want about yourself.
Speaker 8: But I know what it was like. I know how
Speaker 8: you were at eighteen and.
Speaker 7: Like who you are is part of because I was
Speaker 7: in your life, that's right. Like I'm me because this
Speaker 7: kid Taylor was my first boyfriend for five years.
Speaker 1: Right, it's a long time for a first boyfriend. I am.
Speaker 2: I had a four year first girlfriend. Yeah, a real monogamous.
Speaker 9: People romantic wow. Yeah.
Speaker 2: But I think that like the verses, the abstract part
Speaker 2: of the verses to me, Like I was listening to
Speaker 2: songs of Leonard Cohen a lot when I was working
Speaker 2: on this record with you, and like he's a real poet,
Speaker 2: but I don't know what he means, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. I know that it's evocative and it's interesting,
Speaker 2: and maybe he can justify, like I can kind of
Speaker 2: justify every line in the song, but it's not important
Speaker 2: to me. What's important to me is like the abstract quality.
Speaker 2: I think we're like we've entered in the last ten
Speaker 2: years into a hyper specific period of songwriting.
Speaker 9: I saw you on the street and then you took
Speaker 9: out your pencil.
Speaker 8: Oh dude, I saw you.
Speaker 2: I saw you on the corner of you know, this
Speaker 2: specific street as the CBS Pharmacy, Like like it's so
Speaker 2: kind of plebeian and there is a kind of a
Speaker 2: there is a power in it. But sometimes I'm like sure,
Speaker 2: but like, if you tell me that a house was beautiful,
Speaker 2: I'll just imagine a beautiful house. I don't have to
Speaker 2: then hear all about you know what I mean, like
Speaker 2: a very very very fine house. Yeah, but I think
Speaker 2: that that to me is like this song's sort of
Speaker 2: opaque quality. To me, it is like I love that.
Speaker 2: I love just sort of like picking out little lines.
Speaker 7: I mean, I know where we're sitting here, like talking
Speaker 7: about the songs. But I do think it's a annoying
Speaker 7: trait when people over explain yeah, you know, because I
Speaker 7: don't want to know what Chris Martin meant by it
Speaker 7: was all yellow, Like I like what I make up
Speaker 7: in my own because I am a romantic and all
Speaker 7: the things I learned.
Speaker 8: A couple of years ago.
Speaker 2: People had come up to me and they go, what
Speaker 2: did this line in this one song mean? And I'd
Speaker 2: tell him and they'd be like, oh, well, what I
Speaker 2: thought it was was this.
Speaker 8: And I'd be like, well, then that's great, Like let's.
Speaker 2: Just all disillusion well and like they're not interested in
Speaker 2: what I They're not actually what they really want to
Speaker 2: hear is that I thought the exact same thing they did,
Speaker 2: which I inevitably never did, and so like now I
Speaker 2: just go like what does mean to you?
Speaker 8: And they say it, I'm like I love that.
Speaker 1: Like that's great, that's a great move. I just pretend that,
Speaker 1: like that's amazing. I mean, that's like the human conditions.
Speaker 1: Everyone just wants walks around, wanted to be affirmed on
Speaker 1: some level. And of course whatever your own lyrics really true,
Speaker 1: could not live up to what someone else has, like
Speaker 1: they imbued to.
Speaker 8: Them, it's really true.
Speaker 1: You know, three four, five years of listening or even
Speaker 1: a single couple of listens, that was a pretty unique
Speaker 1: version of writing.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was the only that was the only song
Speaker 7: that we did that on and we were again very
Speaker 7: deep into the album that point. It really felt like
Speaker 7: we had nothing to lose.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the other really like group think songs were like
Speaker 2: There's Home, Sweet Home, David's brother the Dream. Those are
Speaker 2: the other three that were like we're all shooting ideas
Speaker 2: over the table at each other.
Speaker 8: And that was also really fun.
Speaker 1: And what David's brothers a pretty is a cool one too?
Speaker 1: What was the spark for that one?
Speaker 2: Ash was playing that cool piano part with chords. I
Speaker 2: really don't. This is the best part about writing the
Speaker 2: songs with other people, like chords that are not always
Speaker 2: in my back pocket, like not the thing my fingers
Speaker 2: go to, and I love the chords. And then she'd
Speaker 2: been at the keys all week and so she was
Speaker 2: kind of like, man, I've had to sit here and
Speaker 2: play and sing the whole time. So I was like,
Speaker 2: that's okay, I'll play it for you. So she wrote
Speaker 2: the piano part, but then I sat and played it
Speaker 2: so she could kind of like think and sing well.
Speaker 7: And he has like such a way with rhythm. Rhythm
Speaker 7: on piano is a tough it's just not that easy.
Speaker 7: And like I was like, this is this will be
Speaker 7: a better song if we switch, and by switching, I'm
Speaker 7: not going to play an instrument.
Speaker 9: Anymore, and you have one, and yeah.
Speaker 2: But that was really fun. And that was again like
Speaker 2: kind of a high concept of like got a couple
Speaker 2: of lines deep. I remember like hold my breath and
Speaker 2: count to thirty, which is such a long number, saying
Speaker 2: it's sang really good, but you're like thirty holding your
Speaker 2: breath for thirty seconds, so you're gonna feel it. But
Speaker 2: it was really about kind of like spinning out after
Speaker 2: a breakup, and the premise is like you're you're at
Speaker 2: home and your house is a mess, and you're.
Speaker 8: Like this is pathetic, like I.
Speaker 2: Got to go out, and then you go out and
Speaker 2: you run into the person that you've broken up with
Speaker 2: and you're like this is way worse, like this is
Speaker 2: I have to I should have stayed home, And so
Speaker 2: that became the whole thing. And then we had this
Speaker 2: kind of like geographical thing on the record this time
Speaker 2: Squared Jesus and the Hudson and Home Sweet Home is
Speaker 2: a bar in New York, and we had the song
Speaker 2: the Dream, and we we really made this kind of
Speaker 2: LA New York record. So we were listing all these
Speaker 2: bars in LA, like we're going to say. We had
Speaker 2: the line acupuncture, doing therapy and acupuncture change my shirt,
Speaker 2: my clothes, and my number my number. Yeah, and so
Speaker 2: we're like, what's a bar that rhymes with number? And
Speaker 2: we were slant rhyming of the bar called forty one
Speaker 2: hundred that's on the East Side, and Ash's like, forty
Speaker 2: one hundred is a stupid bar name to sing like,
Speaker 2: She's like I live in Nashville, Like that doesn't that
Speaker 2: was the.
Speaker 9: Voice of reason for sure, because these three boys were like.
Speaker 7: Yeah, forty one hundred, that's so good.
Speaker 2: I think it's I think when you have been there,
Speaker 2: you picture like, I think that bar is like CD.
Speaker 2: And so I was like, I was like, oh, that's
Speaker 2: funny to think about that bar. And I She's like
Speaker 2: saying forty one hundred. It's not like the Dresden has
Speaker 2: a cool name. The Sunset Tower is a cool name.
Speaker 2: Fort is just like a number. Yeah, yeah, And so
Speaker 2: we were like, well, what's a bar that and then
Speaker 2: David was like, well, my brother goes to that bar
Speaker 2: all the time.
Speaker 8: We were like, what if we just never say the
Speaker 8: name of the bar.
Speaker 2: It's just like you're at the bar that with David's brother,
Speaker 2: because that was the bar that he went to.
Speaker 8: And then it became this kind of like who the
Speaker 8: fuck is David's brother?
Speaker 2: Like you're dating the girl you used to date is
Speaker 2: now on a date with David's brother, and you're like, God,
Speaker 2: damn it, that's U And I don't know, the whole
Speaker 2: thing became privately funny to us, and then it was like,
Speaker 2: all right, how can we illustrate that this is funny?
Speaker 2: And then there's like those lines in the second verse that's.
Speaker 9: Like Daddy was a tennis star.
Speaker 8: That's in the dream.
Speaker 2: But there's those lines that's like, yeah, there's try to
Speaker 2: be a different person. Shot way to learn your lesson
Speaker 2: of who you are and who you're not? Uh uh,
Speaker 2: what's what's the one with the eighth in my purse?
Speaker 2: And I've never looked better, but I've never felt worse.
Speaker 8: It's a lot.
Speaker 2: It's just kind of about, you know, picking yourself up
Speaker 2: and trying to move on with your life.
Speaker 9: And waking up in a basement.
Speaker 3: Is that the dream?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 7: You know why I keep confusing talking about can we
Speaker 7: switch the topic? I had a very similar experience writing
Speaker 7: both of those songs because I pretty much just watched
Speaker 7: and like cracked.
Speaker 9: Up the entire time.
Speaker 7: Because they the three like Ricky, David and Finny as
Speaker 7: are like they're the Triple Crown, Like they're the three Stooges,
Speaker 7: you know, and they're they do have this camaraderie that
Speaker 7: I they so graciously let me step into and making
Speaker 7: this album. But they definitely had an established sort of
Speaker 7: like very very close best friend and boys, you know,
Speaker 7: and so they were just like riffing and cracking up
Speaker 7: the entire time writing specifically those two songs.
Speaker 9: So I'm kind of thinking of that.
Speaker 1: Did it take a while to be able to step
Speaker 1: into that and feel comfortable? Like just sort of I.
Speaker 7: Don't think I ever got comfortable, not in like a
Speaker 7: guys like let me in, not at all that, but
Speaker 7: more so like I have no interest in my voice
Speaker 7: being heard if it's not like needed. Sure, like if
Speaker 7: I have a great line, I'm not gonna be like, hey, guys,
Speaker 7: i have something to say. But if I'm like observing
Speaker 7: them being so intellectual and funny and you know, I
Speaker 7: have no interest in like, hey, guys, remember my ego
Speaker 7: in the room?
Speaker 2: Well I would argue too that, like there's two roles
Speaker 2: in a room like that, and it's like they're both
Speaker 2: totally equal contributions, which is like concepting and then actual
Speaker 2: like rhyming syllables. So like my memory is that like
Speaker 2: we were all really concepting, you know, even down to
Speaker 2: like the name of the bar thing right, You're like, oh,
Speaker 2: that's not the right name, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like that is as that's an equal contribution to like
Speaker 2: saying the word acupuncture in the song it's like, well,
Speaker 2: what's kind of like one of us being like, yeah,
Speaker 2: well you're taking you're trying to make yourself feel better,
Speaker 2: and you're you know, you're you're shaving your beard or you're.
Speaker 7: You know, yeah too, like I'm raz ricky about about lines.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I think that again, I think that, like yeah,
Speaker 2: that the role is one or the other, like David,
Speaker 2: for like in the Dream, you know, you write parts
Speaker 2: of the song without knowing what you're necessarily writing, and
Speaker 2: so we were writing what ended up being the bridge,
Speaker 2: which is that crazy run on sentence, which is, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, I know that you want I know if
Speaker 2: you wanted to call you, would you live in your car?
Speaker 2: But you say you're in Hollywood, sold your guitar just
Speaker 2: to pay for that video you sent to the studio.
Speaker 8: It's all about who you know.
Speaker 1: Like that, another one like that too, The really pre chorus.
Speaker 2: Is like hard not to feel pathetic, max and out
Speaker 2: your credit card on someone's beverage.
Speaker 8: Yes, but again it's like those.
Speaker 2: Are all kind of like born of the seed of
Speaker 2: like we're like, what's a You're like, what's a fucked
Speaker 2: up thing to do? It's a fucked up thing to
Speaker 2: make a to do an American.
Speaker 8: Idol audition, like like.
Speaker 2: And mail that in and like we're talking about like,
Speaker 2: you know the person that we like, you know, you
Speaker 2: live in LA and everybody has like a distant relative
Speaker 2: or a friend who like came here with the same
Speaker 2: dream you had and like did not succeed and is
Speaker 2: either pretending that they succeeded or they're you know, making
Speaker 2: it work whatever it is. So like again, a lot
Speaker 2: of it's like the concept of like yeah, yeah, somebody
Speaker 2: who lives in their car. Yeah that's good, Okay, well
Speaker 2: they made a music they maybe they just auditioned.
Speaker 8: For American Idol. Whatever.
Speaker 2: You're like, do we say American Idol? Do we say
Speaker 2: like do we make it more vague? We say that
Speaker 2: video and like talk about so I don't know. To me,
Speaker 2: that's all kind of like writer's room behavior.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 2: The one I always pointed David at is we had
Speaker 2: that like somebody that you've met at the bar, she
Speaker 2: lives in Venice, And then we had like rhyming that
Speaker 2: like maybe your dad is a dentist, and then David
Speaker 2: was like their dad was a tennis star, and we
Speaker 2: were like we were like, dude, yeah, that was a
Speaker 2: line I never would have thought of, and it rhymed
Speaker 2: even better because you're rhyming bar. But it was also
Speaker 2: just like that's what her dad is. Like the song
Speaker 2: the premise of that song is like you meet a
Speaker 2: NEPO baby like you're you moved to La broke as fuck,
Speaker 2: and you go to the bar and there's a really
Speaker 2: pretty girl who's clearly born a millionaire and you're like,
Speaker 2: let me buy your drink.
Speaker 8: You're like, don't even have the money, and she no money.
Speaker 2: Money is of no concern to this person because her
Speaker 2: dad is you know, Roger Federer or whatever. It is
Speaker 2: like for me, I don't know, it was such a
Speaker 2: better It's the best part of having somebody like David
Speaker 2: there where you're like, oh, I wouldn't have thought of that,
Speaker 2: and that's even better.
Speaker 8: It's way better.
Speaker 1: You mentioned like the ideating part of songwriting into and
Speaker 1: then there's like the separate part, which is like finding
Speaker 1: maybe like the internal rhymes of a of a song.
Speaker 1: Is that something that you both separately? Is that? Is
Speaker 1: that a pretty tried and true process for the both
Speaker 1: of you or for necessarily neither of you All the.
Speaker 7: Time, I think it really changes that I typically I
Speaker 7: start like smack dab in the middle of a song
Speaker 7: and and I'll usually find like a lyric that grabs
Speaker 7: me and then I go from there.
Speaker 1: Do you know it's the middle always or is it
Speaker 1: just turn out to be like the middle?
Speaker 7: No, sometimes the middle turns out to be the beginning.
Speaker 7: But in my head, like there's like a freedom to that.
Speaker 7: There was a song Lake George started that way. I
Speaker 7: was on a walk. It was the last song that
Speaker 7: we wrote on the album, and I was staying with
Speaker 7: Phineas and Claudia and I went on a walk that
Speaker 7: morning because I'm up, like god awful five am well
Speaker 7: before them. And I make the joke like my biggest
Speaker 7: contribution to this band is like all of my best
Speaker 7: ideas come sort of like alone and on a walk
Speaker 7: at you know, six or seven, and I was listening
Speaker 7: to Bookends by Simon and Garfuncle, and you know, the
Speaker 7: Lake George sounds is nothing like anything on that record,
Speaker 7: but it just it sparked a same story album.
Speaker 8: It's like old friend totally.
Speaker 7: Yeah, And I brought in like a verse and a
Speaker 7: chorus to Phineas and we went from there.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I don't know what the point I was making.
Speaker 2: Oh concept, Yeah, I'm going to write not better, but
Speaker 2: way faster. If I have a concept, if I have
Speaker 2: like a if I have a thing to build.
Speaker 8: What do we see it?
Speaker 9: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like the the best example maybe in my life
Speaker 2: if that was like the Barbie Songvillion I wrote like
Speaker 2: I'd seen the movie. I knew what scene they needed
Speaker 2: a song for. Like to me, I had like every
Speaker 2: piece of information to write that, Like I had all
Speaker 2: the legos you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: You just like overnight, didn't you.
Speaker 2: We did it in like an hour and it was
Speaker 2: so fast, but it was because it was so informed.
Speaker 2: Like a lot of making a song is very uninformed.
Speaker 2: You're like, yeah, that's a pretty melody. What are we saying?
Speaker 2: What's the line?
Speaker 8: Who is this? Do you know what I mean? It's
Speaker 8: like a lot of discovery.
Speaker 2: And so if you can get a kind of a
Speaker 2: you know, foundation under your feet to like be like, oh,
Speaker 2: I know where I'm standing, then you can be like
Speaker 2: I can walk that direction and.
Speaker 1: You don't worry that it'll be two on the nose
Speaker 1: if you already, because then you.
Speaker 2: Don't have to because you can still say anything. But
Speaker 2: it's just kind of the It's just the seed of
Speaker 2: like what am I? What am I seeing? What am
Speaker 2: I writing about?
Speaker 7: You can still say anything is really smart. That's a
Speaker 7: good quote.
Speaker 1: You don't have to feel locked in. Yeah. Yeah. George
Speaker 1: Ducolius was telling me how he like, you guys, wait
Speaker 1: I saw that. He like, He's like, yeah, it was
Speaker 1: that's what they want to do it And then I
Speaker 1: can't watch the movie and then.
Speaker 8: Like no, that was a good night. He just said it.
Speaker 2: That was a good example of like how I feel
Speaker 2: like I've I've been rewarded for acting this way, which
Speaker 2: is like you know, we get put in touch with
Speaker 2: Greta Gerwig, We get sent to I guess Warner wherever
Speaker 2: we were, and it was like Greta and David Hayman,
Speaker 2: who I'm like, that's the that's that motherfucker from the
Speaker 2: Harry Potter Behind the Scenes DVD because he's produced all
Speaker 2: the Harry Potter movies. So it's like Hayman, Greta and
Speaker 2: George with us, and it was like they're again they're
Speaker 2: being like very effusive and accommodating, you know what I.
Speaker 8: Mean, like whatever you want to, whatever you want to do.
Speaker 2: And I was like what do you need like what
Speaker 2: where's the what scene? Do you need a song? Let
Speaker 2: us do that, you know what I mean? Like I
Speaker 2: know we could do whatever, but like like let's be
Speaker 2: handyman for you, you know, so kind of getting her
Speaker 2: to be like, well, if we could, if we need
Speaker 2: one song, it's really this one song for this one scene.
Speaker 2: And they're like great, but again it's like you kind
Speaker 2: of have to let people have to be like I
Speaker 2: know you're being accommodator to me, but I want to
Speaker 2: be helpful, like I want to. It's like Ashby, like
Speaker 2: we need a guitar song for this part, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean?
Speaker 8: Like Okay.
Speaker 7: Great is a really big strength of phineases though, and
Speaker 7: I think it's he's made me a better writer in
Speaker 7: that regard because I think that I do have a
Speaker 7: tendency to find something that excites me, like a lyric
Speaker 7: or a word or a title, and then I'll just
Speaker 7: like sculpt away everything that isn't the song, and then
Speaker 7: you're left with like I know what I was saying,
Speaker 7: like you kind of let it reveal itself.
Speaker 8: But those are such great those make such great songs.
Speaker 7: Some of those are really good songs. But I do think, Yeah,
Speaker 7: he's made me a better writer, and like, let's figure
Speaker 7: out what we're talking about and pain, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean that's also by virtue of like Ash can
Speaker 2: do that all day long and write an amazing song alone.
Speaker 2: But if I'm going to be helpful at all, Like
Speaker 2: what if that one mean?
Speaker 8: Like you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're gonna be like that sort of
Speaker 1: group dynamic of writing well or.
Speaker 2: Even just the two of us, Yeah, it's like I'm
Speaker 2: going to write something stupid if I am not in
Speaker 2: the same like place that she's in. I've worked with
Speaker 2: some really talented songwriters who like won't divulge whether whether
Speaker 2: they know or not, they won't clue me in to
Speaker 2: what they're to, what they're to why they're saying that line.
Speaker 9: Has them such a disservice, Yeah, I mean it's self.
Speaker 2: Consciousness or it's is that what it is or whatever
Speaker 2: it like I or vulnerabile or like fuck I like
Speaker 2: I don't want to tell that person that this is
Speaker 2: what it did. Like I really empathize, but I it
Speaker 2: makes me like useless, Like I'm like, oh, all right,
Speaker 2: well I can sit here and play guitar for you.
Speaker 2: But I can't come with a good line. I don't
Speaker 2: know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: Do you even try in those scenarios or do you
Speaker 1: just kind of no?
Speaker 2: I mean like I'll keep asking questions, but if if
Speaker 2: they won't tell me, I'm like, all right, dude, like
Speaker 2: do let me press.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I've had days with Billy where she's like, you know,
Speaker 2: been that way in the past, years ago. Usually it's
Speaker 2: before like a breakup, and then you go through the
Speaker 2: breakup and you're like, right, so.
Speaker 1: You kind of know it's an early tell. You can
Speaker 1: kind of tell it's well.
Speaker 2: You're it's an early tell that somebody is thinking something
Speaker 2: that they're not got telling you. I mean, and it's
Speaker 2: just kind of knowing any friend, anytime you're like, anytime
Speaker 2: you're somebody's answer is like uncomplicated, like how's how have
Speaker 2: you been? And they're like I've been great. You're like,
Speaker 2: all right, dude, you if you were a great you
Speaker 2: can tell me. You could tell me why, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, like, oh, this thing has been really
Speaker 2: fun and I've been really having a great time surfing
Speaker 2: whatever it is. Somebody's like I've been doing great.
Speaker 8: You're like, all right, you're lying.
Speaker 1: It makes me feel good because I don't think I
Speaker 1: ever get a straight answer to question. Everything's everything good?
Speaker 9: I'm a rambler.
Speaker 7: I had a session with Tobias Jesser Junior before I
Speaker 7: really knew him as a person, and I was like,
Speaker 7: I've never said this out loud, but I think I'm
Speaker 7: going to leave my husband. Wow, you know, and like
Speaker 7: that's what writing sessions are really good for, if you're
Speaker 7: willing to be sort of like vulnerable.
Speaker 9: And I mean that was a really scary thing to
Speaker 9: say out loud.
Speaker 8: But also protected by not knowing him to some degree.
Speaker 9: Yeah, you strangers for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like a trial broadcast in it out.
Speaker 2: I said to I work with this girl, Lucy Healey
Speaker 2: a lot, and she's awesome. She does my jobs like
Speaker 2: we do the same thing separately, and then we've worked
Speaker 2: together and I said to her, like five weeks agaus,
Speaker 2: Like what do you think it is about us that
Speaker 2: makes everybody tell us all of their secrets? And you
Speaker 2: know it's not true universally, but I do think it's like,
Speaker 2: first of all, most people are way less curious than
Speaker 2: you'd think they are. Most people are like not asking
Speaker 2: enough questions. Yes, and then I also think that we
Speaker 2: don't we're not honest with people because of their reactions.
Speaker 2: Like we really underestimate how informed we are by reaction.
Speaker 8: You know what I mean.
Speaker 2: It's like you show your friend the thing you're proud
Speaker 2: of if you feel like they're gonna see it and
Speaker 2: acknowledge it, and you know, really to like understand why
Speaker 2: you're proud of it, you know what I mean? Like
Speaker 2: you you really are are sort of learned by your
Speaker 2: reactions to stuff. And I think one of the things
Speaker 2: that I have really learned from songwriting is like people
Speaker 2: do low key to sit with you and tell you
Speaker 2: traumatic stuff that they've been through, or they do what
Speaker 2: Ash did a tobias and they tell you something that
Speaker 2: they're they've decided they're gonna do. That then is kind
Speaker 2: of your secret to keep, you know. And I think
Speaker 2: it's really important to to not really bad an eye,
Speaker 2: you know, to kind of sit there and just be like, Okay,
Speaker 2: you know, thanks for sharing that. You know now I
Speaker 2: know you more clearly.
Speaker 1: There was I don't know how real it is or not,
Speaker 1: but either in relation to this project or in relation
Speaker 1: to projects of viewers in the past, I've heard you
Speaker 1: talked about bringing in non musical references to sort of
Speaker 1: help shape songs shape.
Speaker 8: Is that an accurate imagery and stuff imager?
Speaker 7: Yeah, definitely when it comes to the visuals. I don't
Speaker 7: know how much it completely informed our lyricism on this record,
Speaker 7: but once we've really got into like the meat and
Speaker 7: potatoes of the album, I was sending pictures of like
Speaker 7: JFK and Jackie.
Speaker 9: O, and I was like, this could be us on
Speaker 9: a sailboat.
Speaker 2: Like you sent imagery like before we even wrote songs.
Speaker 2: I think I thought you sent imagery so early, which
Speaker 2: I loved, was.
Speaker 7: Like great, there's definitely a pincher's board of like Paul
Speaker 7: Newman and I'm like, Phineas is Paul Newman and he's
Speaker 7: going to start tucking his shirts in and where did yeah?
Speaker 1: And he looks so you kind of wuldn't look going
Speaker 1: it's like the casual you know.
Speaker 7: I think I am a real fan of like bringing
Speaker 7: people into an entire like mini universe. So when you're
Speaker 7: listening to an album and you're like, I am so
Speaker 7: clearly in this world there or not, we were in
Speaker 7: that world when we were making it. I just think
Speaker 7: there's something more enticing about a full yeah.
Speaker 8: An image picture.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ricky, who plays guitar in our band, is aesthetically
Speaker 2: motivated like ashes, and I think like his face lights
Speaker 2: up whenever I talk about like what we're all going
Speaker 2: to kind of wear for the shows. You know, I'm
Speaker 2: not saying we all wear this, but I've often been like,
Speaker 2: I really want us to look coordinated, like whatever it is.
Speaker 2: I want us to really look like a unit. Like
Speaker 2: to me, that's a band thing. That's the difference between
Speaker 2: like a solo artist and you know players. It's like
Speaker 2: if a band really looks like it has a cohesive thing.
Speaker 2: And you know, he has such good references and he's.
Speaker 9: Like, I'm telling me one of the coolest looking.
Speaker 2: Style periods that like I don't know about, you know,
Speaker 2: was the Fairport nineties airport casual and you're like, all right,
Speaker 2: man like like things where you're like wow, okay, but
Speaker 2: it's all whenever I look it up, I'm like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a great that's great looking.
Speaker 1: Do you guys land on something?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have some we have some stuff that I
Speaker 2: won't I won't you know, speak out of existence here,
Speaker 2: but yeah, always some good pulls.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, if you said it was a nineties
Speaker 1: airport casualty.
Speaker 2: I briefly went down a nineties airport casual thing and
Speaker 2: it was crazy.
Speaker 8: What is not that?
Speaker 2: Well, what it's like Woody Harrelson wearing like the loudest
Speaker 2: letterman jacket in the world and tucking his pants into
Speaker 2: his socks, and shit, it's quits insane.
Speaker 7: Phyas asked what I was gonna wear today to this,
Speaker 7: and I sent him a picture of the outfit, and
Speaker 7: I was like secretary on lunch, like everything has like
Speaker 7: its own slogan.
Speaker 2: I have four outfits total in my life, and I
Speaker 2: use ashes my barometer of like formal verse casual. Right,
Speaker 2: so like of my four outfits, I'm like, how formal
Speaker 2: are we going? And if she goes formal, I'm alright,
Speaker 2: I'm wearing a suit. And if it's casual, in my god,
Speaker 2: I'll wear my shirt.
Speaker 7: Although it's really cool at a Hyde park, I like
Speaker 7: he brought me out, which was so sweet in this
Speaker 7: for singing like sixty thousand people.
Speaker 9: And he went out in like a.
Speaker 8: Cool like Marnie, like a Martin.
Speaker 7: Bin button down and he looked so laid back, and
Speaker 7: I walked on in this like full sparkle like diva
Speaker 7: out thing, and like I saw comments that were like
Speaker 7: they're be thing, Like.
Speaker 9: They're not, They're not on the same page. I thought
Speaker 9: we looked so cool.
Speaker 7: I thought so yeah, but I was like, I'm kind
Speaker 7: of down whether you think we're fighting.
Speaker 8: I wore it on. I was like, this will look
Speaker 8: great with ashes thing.
Speaker 7: Yeah it was, yeah, you were calculating about it. I
Speaker 7: love that they thought we were fighting.
Speaker 1: I hope they always do the level of like meta
Speaker 1: narrative that I feel like, yeah, you know, fans build
Speaker 1: around like I mean, not even particularly you guys, you
Speaker 1: can talk about all artists about herself.
Speaker 2: No, I mean I feel like probably you know, through
Speaker 2: all of time, but I think certainly in the last
Speaker 2: several years, like it's we talked about you know, Kendrick,
Speaker 2: but it's all rap beef, Like Olivia Rodrigo's first album
Speaker 2: is rap beef, like it's the we and what I.
Speaker 8: Say by rap beef, we say out loud what I
Speaker 8: what I say.
Speaker 2: About that is like what what we want from rap
Speaker 2: beef is oh, I know who they're singing about?
Speaker 8: Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: And that's really what kind of is the motivator, and
Speaker 2: in most popular music is like oh shnap, I know
Speaker 2: that that song is about that guy that's now dating
Speaker 2: that person. Like there is a lot of with like
Speaker 2: it's we've really we're invested in it, you know, And.
Speaker 1: I guess it's the rumors playbook too.
Speaker 8: Well, you've really all been going around for a long time.
Speaker 2: I mean I think that, you know, our relationship with
Speaker 2: artists on social media platforms is exacerbated. We can pick
Speaker 2: apart rumors in retrospect. But like when rumors came out,
Speaker 2: they didn't they didn't know that that was what was
Speaker 2: going on. They just were like, wow, great songs, they
Speaker 2: sound in love, you know what I mean? And then
Speaker 2: like you you dissect it years later, but now it's
Speaker 2: in real time.
Speaker 1: In in real time, Like how like does that impact
Speaker 1: how you guys feel about stuff when you put it out,
Speaker 1: because it's like as soon as something comes out, there's
Speaker 1: no like gestation.
Speaker 2: Pulling crazy, Like anytime I work on a project and
Speaker 2: I send somebody something and they react instantly, you know,
Speaker 2: they have a note or something, I'm like, motherfucker, sit
Speaker 2: on it.
Speaker 8: Sit on it for a day, like you know what
Speaker 8: I mean? Yeah.
Speaker 2: How often are you like shown something and you love
Speaker 2: it immediately. Stuff takes time to like process and.
Speaker 8: Absorb, you know.
Speaker 1: I'm more like like sometimes someone sends me something nothing
Speaker 1: for it.
Speaker 2: I mean more of the story, which is Ash's biggest
Speaker 2: song like a year later started to blow up, which
Speaker 2: to me is a real testament to like, what's the
Speaker 2: story on that. Well, the story is that it was
Speaker 2: being underserved by a label, which is true of most
Speaker 2: music in the world, you know, even great labels.
Speaker 8: It's like it's starless.
Speaker 2: Songs didn't even get on like New Music Friday on
Speaker 2: Spotify when it came out. This was back in the
Speaker 2: period of time where I felt like playlists were kind
Speaker 2: of the the top dog and using discovery. Now it's
Speaker 2: not true anymore, but it was, and so it just
Speaker 2: was like underserved. Everybody that would hear it was like,
Speaker 2: this is an awesome song. I'd go to her shows
Speaker 2: and like that. Everybody loved the song, but it just
Speaker 2: wasn't exposed. And then it got amazing sync in a film,
Speaker 2: a Netflix film, and so then it was really had
Speaker 2: good exposure.
Speaker 8: I mean, people still had to do legwork. They still
Speaker 8: had to like.
Speaker 2: Like the scene in the movie and go look up
Speaker 2: the song, but they did, you know, and then it
Speaker 2: started to get really popular.
Speaker 1: Are thinks the main driver now is that the no
Speaker 1: no they help?
Speaker 2: Yeah, sinks totally help, but people are everybody's viewership is
Speaker 2: still fright there.
Speaker 7: Is feels like the main driver is rap beef yes,
Speaker 7: And I think that you know there. I think Phineas
Speaker 7: and I both went into this going like we know
Speaker 7: what they're gonna do with.
Speaker 8: This project, Like, yeah, they're gonna think where Stevi Nixon.
Speaker 7: Also, we're like, there isn't a lot of what we
Speaker 7: created with the Favors isn't happening a ton like almost
Speaker 7: like there's like a really specific lane that we stepped
Speaker 7: into that like we knew there was gonna be the
Speaker 7: Fleetwood Mac comparisons and all of that, and I that's okay.
Speaker 7: I think I really like. It wasn't until Little Mess
Speaker 7: came out that we were like, oh oh, because we
Speaker 7: both we were in New York doing press before Little
Speaker 7: Mess came out. We're sitting on your couch and we
Speaker 7: were like, people are probably gonna, you know, create a
Speaker 7: narrative for us. How do we feel about that? And
Speaker 7: how are we going to respond, and we were very
Speaker 7: casual about it and we were very like, you know,
Speaker 7: it'll be what it's going to be.
Speaker 9: Yeah, we'll see how it goes. And then little mess came.
Speaker 8: Out and it was like yeah, it was extreme.
Speaker 9: An initial like sort of uh yeah.
Speaker 2: I think that the difference is like, if we were
Speaker 2: both single, I'd probably feel like no desire to defend anybody,
Speaker 2: do you know what I mean. I'd be like, well, whatever,
Speaker 2: we are just friends. But they can think whatever they
Speaker 2: want whatever. But I think the fact that we're both
Speaker 2: in like really long committed relationships, not only do I
Speaker 2: have a desire to like be like, no, you guys
Speaker 2: don't understand John Ash's fiance. I love John like that
Speaker 2: everything is everything is great. We love that guy. Claude
Speaker 2: and I are great. Like not only do I have
Speaker 2: that element of it, but I also think that like
Speaker 2: I don't want people to think that we're scumbags when
Speaker 2: we're not, you know what I mean, Like, I think
Speaker 2: that's kind of more than any Yeah, I think that
Speaker 2: more than anything else. You're like no, no, no, no, don't
Speaker 2: think that we're like bad people or you know, not
Speaker 2: that not that you're a bad person. If you have
Speaker 2: an affair, but don't think we're don't think we're doing
Speaker 2: an illicit thing.
Speaker 1: It's more fun too, by the way that it's not, well,
Speaker 1: it's more it's definitely safer.
Speaker 8: It's definitely like gonna make our careers longer.
Speaker 9: You know what I mean, Like, there's no maybe our
Speaker 9: lives longer.
Speaker 8: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: I was having some covers with somebody the other day
Speaker 2: about somebody else that I will not name, and I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, yeah, I mean they're you know, they
Speaker 2: don't talk. And they were like why And I was like, well,
Speaker 2: they had an affair. And they were like why don't
Speaker 2: they talk?
Speaker 8: And I was like, what do you mean they had
Speaker 8: an affair? Dude?
Speaker 2: Like there is no like, it is so rare to
Speaker 2: do a destructive thing and then salvage any form of
Speaker 2: your relationship after that, you know what I mean. Like, yeah,
Speaker 2: even if you're the people having an affigure like that,
Speaker 2: you're it's gonna be bad, you know what I mean? Yeah,
Speaker 2: but yeah, I mean again, it's like I think somebody
Speaker 2: said they were like, it's you guys, but it's not
Speaker 2: you guys, Like it really is like the it's the
Speaker 2: same to me as your music video persona Right. Ash
Speaker 2: stars in an Ash music video. She's tap dancing, there
Speaker 2: are backup dancers whatever. There's like an interesting narrative thing.
Speaker 8: It's not really her, but it is really her.
Speaker 9: Right, It's kind of like how we are when we're live.
Speaker 8: That's exactly what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Like, Yeah, the Hudson music video, which I love, is
Speaker 2: like we're running around New York. We're holding hands, we're
Speaker 2: into each other, We're dancing on top of a chest set.
Speaker 2: Like it's not us, it is us because we're singing
Speaker 2: the song and it's us in the video and we're friends.
Speaker 2: But it's like it's it's fulfilling and narrative kind of
Speaker 2: like we're talking about in all things. It's like you're
Speaker 2: really trying to like show people the narrative that the
Speaker 2: song is articulating.
Speaker 1: Yeah, one last break and we're back with Phineas and
Speaker 1: Ash of the Favors. I want to pick back up
Speaker 1: the Hudson threat, but I want but before moving too that,
Speaker 1: I want to go back to like what you said earlier,
Speaker 1: which is that like you you step, you guys both
Speaker 1: step squarely into like a genre. Yeah, I was shocked
Speaker 1: how little that's actually happened, like outside of like Johnny
Speaker 1: Cash and like June Carter, I've done some stuff or
Speaker 1: like Tammy Wynette and like George Jones, like you know,
Speaker 1: but there's it's like it's a lot of country, and
Speaker 1: then it's like Fleetwood, Mandi Gaga and Tony Bennett Lady
Speaker 1: like like straight up you well yeah, yeah, right, yeah, right,
Speaker 1: there's those, there's those and yeah, and then there's like
Speaker 1: one off do you know, like one offs like you know, but.
Speaker 7: Yeah, like Islands in the Stream, Yeah, exactly, the duets
Speaker 7: that have been famously famous, but but a.
Speaker 2: Whole album like like in the Civil Wars and Fleetwood
Speaker 2: Mac and you know, there's probably others that. I mean,
Speaker 2: like this is like the Marias are in that boat
Speaker 2: right now. There's like Josh and Maria both singing and writing,
Speaker 2: and she's really the singing, you know, ninety percent of it.
Speaker 7: But that was another important thing I think to Phineas
Speaker 7: and I was we didn't want it to just be
Speaker 7: like a duet record, you know, we wanted to be
Speaker 7: sort of like parallel singing with each other and either
Speaker 7: in unison or harmony. But if we're in harmony, you're
Speaker 7: not really sure who's doing the harmony and who's doing
Speaker 7: the lead, like that was an important piece of us
Speaker 7: creating it.
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure you sure who's doing that like
Speaker 1: in the songs, like who's doing what narratively unless you
Speaker 1: really focus maybe on like the pounds, but if you
Speaker 1: just sort of were just kind of letting it wash over.
Speaker 7: There's a crazy TikTok that went viral of us singing
Speaker 7: Till Forever Falls Apart and the camera's only on me,
Speaker 7: but it's you singing, and everyone's like, oh my god,
Speaker 7: I thought she is the like the boyish, But yeah,
Speaker 7: I think it's a cool We do blend really nicely too.
Speaker 7: That that was like a stroke of luck being good
Speaker 7: friends that sound good together.
Speaker 1: You know, Yeah, how did the whole thing come together?
Speaker 1: And how did like the favors? How did like you know,
Speaker 1: obviously you guys have collaborated to degree before.
Speaker 7: Well, I mean, the real impetus was I was taking
Speaker 7: a pretty big like musical hiatus, uh and was very
Speaker 7: unsure about returning to making music again, and for for
Speaker 7: loads of reasons, for out reasons, for you know, being
Speaker 7: a little disillusioned by the music industry, or entertainment industry,
Speaker 7: but also just like not having dealt with serious trauma
Speaker 7: in my.
Speaker 9: Life, YadA YadA.
Speaker 7: So I took I was like Goodbye World in February.
Speaker 9: Of twenty twenty three, yep.
Speaker 7: And like two months into that, like therapy and whatnot,
Speaker 7: I started like what can I be creative in other ways?
Speaker 7: And I started writing this like script that was about
Speaker 7: a band, and I was like, what they like, imagine
Speaker 7: there's these two characters and they're going on this whatever
Speaker 7: we want to start it by blah blah blah blah
Speaker 7: blah blah. And then I was like, I know nothing
Speaker 7: about writing scripts. For one, so you're an idiot. And
Speaker 7: for two, I've never been in a band. So if
Speaker 7: I want to be a writer, if I should read more,
Speaker 7: and I need to start a band and like probably
Speaker 7: fulfill that.
Speaker 2: I've written some scripts to and I've read so few
Speaker 2: of them that like when I'm writing, I'm like exterior, I.
Speaker 8: Guess like like.
Speaker 3: I'm like god light, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I always jokes anytime anyone's like are you going to
Speaker 2: write a book? Ever, I'm like I'd have to read
Speaker 2: one first, Like like there's like like I'm good at
Speaker 2: making music because I love listening to music, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, like, yeah, sorry, that's the thing I
Speaker 2: love Alison.
Speaker 7: I sort of was like, that's a dumb idea. Why
Speaker 7: am I trying to do that? And then I hit
Speaker 7: Phineas and was like, hear me out? You know, do
Speaker 7: you want to try this thing with me? And it
Speaker 7: was such an immediate yes.
Speaker 9: Do you want to start a band? I was like,
Speaker 9: hear me out.
Speaker 7: We start a band and we we put out one
Speaker 7: album or whatever we write, we cut, that's the album.
Speaker 7: We put it out, play a week or two a
Speaker 7: show and call it a day. And you know, he
Speaker 7: replied all caps like yes please, and then this solves
Speaker 7: all my problems, which is really sweet. And six months
Speaker 7: later we were making the album.
Speaker 1: What made you so receptive to it at that point
Speaker 1: because you, in my mind, you'd collaborated with more people
Speaker 1: than you like when I went to back, was like, yeah.
Speaker 8: Not that ba.
Speaker 1: Actually the collaboratord that as many people as I thought,
Speaker 1: And so it.
Speaker 9: Is, you know, like why do you take a chance?
Speaker 2: Uh love ash like loved you know the idea of
Speaker 2: getting to work with her more.
Speaker 8: It sounded so fun.
Speaker 2: I think it was so kind of like even though
Speaker 2: it wasn't, it felt so sort of like clearly conceived.
Speaker 8: I was like, oh, I can picture that.
Speaker 2: Obviously I pictured you know, you can't like I didn't
Speaker 2: picture the twelve songs we ended up with and whatever.
Speaker 2: But I was like, oh, I can see that. I
Speaker 2: can see loving that, I can see you thinking that's great.
Speaker 2: And it was also like one of those things where
Speaker 2: like the other rule is like say yes to the
Speaker 2: thing you'd be jealous of if somebody else did it.
Speaker 8: You know, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2: I mean like that's been you know, not to toot
Speaker 2: our own horn, but like the last year of kind
Speaker 2: of like when it's been wrapping up and I've told
Speaker 2: some people about it, they're like, damn, yeah, that's really cool,
Speaker 2: I think because it just scratches a lot of like
Speaker 2: the itch of why all of us do this. Like
Speaker 2: it's kind of like the album is called The Dream,
Speaker 2: but like the dream that we all kind of had
Speaker 2: in like high school was like, dude, if me and
Speaker 2: my best friends were in this band and then we
Speaker 2: got to play whatever, you know, Austin City Limits or something,
Speaker 2: and like, yeah, you make these sort of compromises along,
Speaker 2: like like the you know has it been a complete
Speaker 2: dream come true that I've gotten to like do all
Speaker 2: this stuff with my sister.
Speaker 8: Oh my god. Yes, it's been the best thing in
Speaker 8: the world. And I love working with her. I'll work
Speaker 8: with her until I die.
Speaker 2: I love working with her, to touring with her all
Speaker 2: those years, I didn't have the mental capacity to picture
Speaker 2: that growing, you know what I mean, when I'm fifteen,
Speaker 2: Billi's eleven, right, I'm not like.
Speaker 1: Dude, no one's.
Speaker 8: Well, it's just like too hard to imagine.
Speaker 2: If somebody said, like, would that be cool to you,
Speaker 2: I'd be like, of course that'd be cool to me.
Speaker 8: I didn't know that was an option. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2: But what I like, I always joke like my high
Speaker 2: school dreams were like I want my band to open
Speaker 2: for a band that plays the fond of Theater in
Speaker 2: LA just like twelve hundred people.
Speaker 8: That's like how big my dreams were. They're very small.
Speaker 8: Sounds awesome, you know.
Speaker 2: And again, so I think I think telling people over
Speaker 2: the past year like, well, yeah, and I like, are
Speaker 2: going to start a band and it's got a band name,
Speaker 2: and we're just going to do like cool one off
Speaker 2: shows kind of We're not going to like hit the
Speaker 2: road hard. We're going to do like just some shows,
Speaker 2: and it's been really fun, and so I think people
Speaker 2: in there it's the same way I felt when I
Speaker 2: when she invited me to do it, I was like, Oh,
Speaker 2: that sounds fun and cool. And then to be honest,
Speaker 2: like everybody I've played the record for, whether it's like
Speaker 2: people in the label business or like you know, like
Speaker 2: Paul Cartwright who played the strings on the album, like
Speaker 2: they really I think that we had so much fun
Speaker 2: making it that they just get it, like they hear
Speaker 2: it and they're like, oh, yeah, like it. It's taken
Speaker 2: no translating time. I've been making this analogy to Ash
Speaker 2: for a few months now that like what I've tried
Speaker 2: to do several times in my career is like the
Speaker 2: music equivalent of like when you go to a fancy
Speaker 2: restaurant and you're not quite sure what you're eating, but
Speaker 2: it's good, right. They're like, there's an emulsifier and this
Speaker 2: you're and like you end up eating like two dollars.
Speaker 2: There's like a doll up of this and like a
Speaker 2: strange cracker that looks like a daisy and.
Speaker 8: You're like wow, and you take a bite and you're like,
Speaker 8: I'm not.
Speaker 2: Even sure what that is, and I think I like
Speaker 2: it and I know this is nice and interesting, but
Speaker 2: it takes the time. And then maybe a month later
Speaker 2: you're like that restaurant was really good, Like that was crazy, but.
Speaker 8: It's such an adjustment yep.
Speaker 2: And I always joke that, like what we've made is
Speaker 2: like this is spaghetti and it's marinera and there is
Speaker 2: fresh basil, and you're like, I love spaghetti, dude, Like
Speaker 2: there's a kind of a like straight but it might
Speaker 2: not be the most original, never been done before thing,
Speaker 2: but it's like you're you like this, like this is
Speaker 2: jeans and a T shirt, Like this is.
Speaker 1: It has been done, so like I said, it was surprised,
Speaker 1: Like so it felt like it had been done much
Speaker 1: more than it hadn't hadn't. But the band thing, of course,
Speaker 1: has been done. But it also feels like the band
Speaker 1: thing is a bit of a it's like we're a
Speaker 1: little far away from it, you know, at this point,
Speaker 1: it doesn't feel like if you.
Speaker 7: Want to be successful, don't start a band, Like no
Speaker 7: one would have probably recommended it, but good thing, we
Speaker 7: were doing it in total secret. You know, we didn't
Speaker 7: you know, tell any in one of the public We had,
Speaker 7: didn't tell our managers. We were very very private about
Speaker 7: the whole thing. And really the people that Phineas brought
Speaker 7: in to the secret was David and Ricky, you know,
Speaker 7: who became the.
Speaker 8: Part of it.
Speaker 9: Yeah, and it was so safe.
Speaker 2: And the other magic of a band name too, is
Speaker 2: it takes a little bit of the identity away in
Speaker 2: a fun way where you're like, oh, like, are you
Speaker 2: guys the Favors And you're like yes, and you're like,
Speaker 2: is are David and rat part of the Favors? You're like, yeah,
Speaker 2: Like it's a band, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 2: the like it's sort of yeah, it's us on the cover,
Speaker 2: but it's like that's the fun part about a band
Speaker 2: in general, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, absolutely, The Hudson We've talked a lot about
Speaker 1: la kind of feel like geographically and you're in Nashville,
Speaker 1: and I feel like some of that was brought to bear.
Speaker 1: So The Hudson is a bit of a one of them.
Speaker 1: It's a gorgeous song on the album Love It.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of New York on this record. I
Speaker 2: mean Lake George is in New York. Times Square, Jesus
Speaker 2: is New York. Home Sweet Home is a bar on
Speaker 2: the Lower East Side, So it's a lot of New York.
Speaker 2: It's more New York than Lam.
Speaker 7: But it's interesting because we wrote them you know album
Speaker 7: and did it all and in La and it does
Speaker 7: have this very New York identity to it. And I
Speaker 7: think like Phineas and I both have a very like
Speaker 7: sweet and romantic, you know relationship with New York. Like
Speaker 7: my first trip to New York, I was like falling
Speaker 7: in love with a guy that was an alcoholic and like,
Speaker 7: oh my god, it was like not very good to.
Speaker 9: Me, and like and then that's it. The city became
Speaker 9: that for a while.
Speaker 7: And then I went with someone I was in a
Speaker 7: good relationship with and I loved, and it became you
Speaker 7: know so And I think similarly, you.
Speaker 2: Had told me that my school girlfriend moved away to
Speaker 2: New York to go to college, and so I had
Speaker 2: such a like young and immature feeling of like choosing
Speaker 2: this pert, you know, choosing this place over choosing like
Speaker 2: any semblance of a you know, relationship With me, I
Speaker 2: was like, oh my god, you're moving away from your
Speaker 2: whole life and and me as part of it.
Speaker 9: And New York is your David's brother.
Speaker 8: Oh, I was like.
Speaker 2: Mad at New York, the city, mad at it, you know,
Speaker 2: And then I'd like go to New York in that
Speaker 2: chip on your shoulder way of like this isn't so special,
Speaker 2: you know which of course it is, dude, New York
Speaker 2: is the best. Yeah, but like, well the best is strong.
Speaker 8: It's amazing. It is an amazing city.
Speaker 2: And I think that, like again, it's a testament to
Speaker 2: like our relationships with people informing our relationships with places.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: I mean, like Ash is my Nashville friend. Like I
Speaker 2: go to Nashville, Like, yeah, I get to see Ash.
Speaker 2: Like I don't know how I feel about Nashville. I
Speaker 2: just know I like the person that lives there, so
Speaker 2: I get to hang out with her. It's like, you know,
Speaker 2: these places are informed by your history with them. La
Speaker 2: for me, California for Ash, Like I grew up there.
Speaker 2: So it's like my whole life is informed the way
Speaker 2: I feel about LA. Yeah, you know, so it's easy
Speaker 2: to write about LA. It's where I've lived my whole life.
Speaker 8: But yeah, New York is a kind of a ghost story.
Speaker 1: And you were at least partially raised San Jose. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: fully raised San.
Speaker 7: Jose, fully raised and mine times there till nineteen and
Speaker 7: then I went to college in Boston, so and then
Speaker 7: Nashville was my first like pit Stock.
Speaker 9: But after college, you.
Speaker 1: Still do you feel connected to San Jose.
Speaker 7: Still California nor you know, no, none of my family
Speaker 7: is there anymore. They all left and people divorced and
Speaker 7: family died, and you know, there's not like a sweetness
Speaker 7: to it anymore. La feels more like home in California,
Speaker 7: and now I live there for eight years. Yeah, so
Speaker 7: and my like two of my closest friends live here
Speaker 7: and there's Phineas and like, yeah, it's a different I
Speaker 7: have a different relationship with La now than the old home.
Speaker 2: But also I mean an album, there's kind of like
Speaker 2: the three there's like the three places that you just
Speaker 2: keep having to go to, Like we had to go
Speaker 2: to New York and do a bunch of Romo, which
Speaker 2: is fun, but like somewhere you have to go to
Speaker 2: go to, like London, which we just did too. There's
Speaker 2: like it is it is like there's no right place
Speaker 2: to live when you're making an album because you to
Speaker 2: go to the other place.
Speaker 9: Don't have to go to Nashville.
Speaker 2: I guess if you're not making a country record, you
Speaker 2: kind of don't go to Nashville. But it's the same
Speaker 2: Dell Or You're you're always kind of pulled off to
Speaker 2: do some other thing.
Speaker 7: But you know, all the storytellers in Nashville like want
Speaker 7: us there, Like.
Speaker 8: We should go. Yeah, at some point.
Speaker 1: I want to ask about one more song and then
Speaker 1: and then I want to ask you guys to play
Speaker 1: the Hudson.
Speaker 8: That's right.
Speaker 1: I am ordinary people. It's an outlier on the records.
Speaker 1: Or and you guys went full jazz, which was like awesome.
Speaker 7: I loved it the first song, like I you brought
Speaker 7: in this and I brought on the Hudson.
Speaker 9: But we sat on your.
Speaker 2: Couch and wrote ordinary people in like now like my memories,
Speaker 2: Like we sat on the couch writing ordinary people. Wall
Speaker 2: Claudia like put on her Halloween costume. Wow, before we
Speaker 2: going to a Halloween party.
Speaker 9: Yeah, baking in olive cake for us or something.
Speaker 1: That sounds like the scene of the song.
Speaker 2: But I mean that was the part about making the
Speaker 2: whole record was it was little vignette after little vignette
Speaker 2: of like.
Speaker 8: Oh, let's all go sit by the pool, and.
Speaker 2: Like, you know, it had a real kind of atmosphere,
Speaker 2: which I liked because sometimes like the thing that has
Speaker 2: kept me out of traditional music studios, it's like, yes,
Speaker 2: there is an atmosphere, of course, but like it is,
Speaker 2: it is different from real life, and I like the
Speaker 2: atmosphere of like, yeah, we're my dog is in the
Speaker 2: living room with me, and I'm kind of on the
Speaker 2: couch thinking about that and getting my head straight. So yeah,
Speaker 2: the jazz song, I think, was like what if we
Speaker 2: wrote a little jazz song and then kind of did
Speaker 2: that cal in response like maybe it's cold outside thing and.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you crack up during.
Speaker 2: On mike, which was fun, and it was a live take. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and then we re recorded it and I was like, no,
Speaker 2: the live take is so great. Just put out the
Speaker 2: live take. But yeah, I mean that I think that
Speaker 2: that song, which is totally an outlier, is sort of
Speaker 2: a like this can be whatever we want and the
Speaker 2: only thing that we're trying to care about is quality control. Right,
Speaker 2: if we'd written a really bad jazz song, we'd be like,
Speaker 2: all right, well we'll cut that, fine, we'll put that,
Speaker 2: we'll take that off. But it was just kind of
Speaker 2: had like a joy to it that. I was like,
Speaker 2: this is cute and.
Speaker 9: Kind of literally giggle.
Speaker 2: It's kind of a bite of ginger, you know, it's like, oh,
Speaker 2: it's a little palate cleanser in the middle of this record.
Speaker 2: That's pretty Like that's not a heartbreaking song at all.
Speaker 2: That's a very sweet, lovey, dovey, super sweet song. Yeah,
Speaker 2: what's that line of like you say we're no good
Speaker 2: for each other, you're too selfish for a lover, which
Speaker 2: I think is so funny. And oh and then uh,
Speaker 2: don't worry, I'll be early. I'm not ready.
Speaker 8: It's cute too, but I'll wait. Yeah, I'll just wait.
Speaker 8: But I don't know.
Speaker 2: It was just like a really cute like that again,
Speaker 2: Like so in that fictional vein of like these are
Speaker 2: like who are these characters and what are these moments?
Speaker 2: And how do we build this kind of you know aesthetically.
Speaker 1: I want, I wanted. It made me. I fell in
Speaker 1: love with those characters.
Speaker 9: Cool, I'm not you know, I love them. Yeah, I
Speaker 9: think they're really special.
Speaker 1: There's a there's a a lyric on the Hudson she
Speaker 1: want to ask you guys to play that like to me,
Speaker 1: like just I didn't hear it the first couple of
Speaker 1: times I listened, but there's like, you know, after a
Speaker 1: handful of times, I don't know what I believe. Have
Speaker 1: faith in me? Or I don't know what I believe
Speaker 1: have faith in me.
Speaker 8: I put my trust only truth.
Speaker 1: The only truth I know is you, the only truth
Speaker 1: I knows You.
Speaker 8: Great Ash line man, that that's you. Yeah, the whole
Speaker 8: song is Ash. It's so great.
Speaker 7: Well second versus a Phineas but the you know, my
Speaker 7: couplet on the balcony, I catch a I gave you
Speaker 7: my coat to sit on the balcony. I'd catch a
Speaker 7: cold if it keeps you. That's not the most Phineas
Speaker 7: ass lyric.
Speaker 8: It's a great line too, but such such great lyrics.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I like heard a joke, not joke.
Speaker 9: That's like every great song is a worship song. And
Speaker 9: I was like whoa.
Speaker 7: And then they were like kind of talking about the
Speaker 7: Hudson in that context, and I was like, oh shit,
Speaker 7: we do say I don't know what I believe.
Speaker 9: Please have faith in me. The only truth I.
Speaker 3: Know is you.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's kind of religious.
Speaker 9: Could sing it in church maybe, yeah, sure, But yeah.
Speaker 8: That was like the one of the first lines as
Speaker 8: played for me was like the like.
Speaker 3: The trees were bearing naked and so we.
Speaker 2: And I was like, oh, that's such a like that
Speaker 2: has so much feeling to me in it and it
Speaker 2: kind of comes out of nowhere, which.
Speaker 8: I really liked.
Speaker 7: Two old strangers sharing really personal things. I was like,
Speaker 7: I'm a good Songwriter's that.
Speaker 9: I was really proud of that one.
Speaker 8: That's a great yeah on your Paul Simon. Shit, it's
Speaker 8: awesome that you know.
Speaker 1: That made me think of still crazy after all these years.
Speaker 1: You know, I saw an old love on the street.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like insane, you know, but I mean
Speaker 1: obviously wasn't like but it's just was like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: this is this is really there's just yeah, amazing stuff.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 8: Should we close it out with the song, it'd be great.
Speaker 8: Let's do it great.
Speaker 6: Thanks you will lay for the last train home. We
Speaker 6: had away losing track of time. The trees were bare
Speaker 6: and they get and so we too, old strangers sharing
Speaker 6: really purse and all things.
Speaker 3: Lost. The sun is send on the Hudson. He touched
Speaker 3: my head and kissed you.
Speaker 1: Then.
Speaker 5: Said you forgot how good I found on your lambs.
Speaker 3: I thank god.
Speaker 9: I hope you man.
Speaker 4: I don't know where I belong Iho n Noney's gone.
Speaker 4: I've got nothing bad.
Speaker 3: I don't know what I believe. Please have faith in me.
Speaker 4: You only truth I know is you.
Speaker 3: Took my com Sit on the balcony. The cats are cold.
Speaker 3: If it keeps you all.
Speaker 7: Lake was frogs in and so will we.
Speaker 3: We won't know. We won't make it to screaking.
Speaker 5: I don't know where along ohout even known as gone.
Speaker 5: I've got nothing bad. I don't know would I believe?
Speaker 5: Please have faith in me. You'll meet choose?
Speaker 3: I know issue, It's me back here year from now.
Speaker 3: Maybe then it works out. I'm trying not to think
Speaker 3: value and you a calm December and come the storm.
Speaker 5: Fall back into my house, walk the hadsome back to.
Speaker 5: I don't know where all belong about hell, the known
Speaker 5: is gone.
Speaker 3: I've got nothing my you. I don't know what I believe.
Speaker 3: Please have faceing. The only choose I know?
Speaker 4: Is you? The only choose?
Speaker 3: Hello? Is you.
Speaker 4: The only truth? A no issue.
Speaker 1: An episode of Description, you'll find a link to a
Speaker 1: playlist of our favorite songs from Phineas and from Ash,
Speaker 1: as well as the Favorites album be sure to check
Speaker 1: out YouTube dot com slash broken Record Podcast to see
Speaker 1: all of our video interviews, and be sure to follow
Speaker 1: us on Instagram at the Broken Record Pod. You can
Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at broken Record. Broken Record is
Speaker 1: produced and edited by Leah Rose, with marketing help from
Speaker 1: Eric Sandler and Jordan McMillan. Our engineer is Ben Holliday.
Speaker 1: Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries. If you
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Speaker 8: Expect Henny Beats. I'm justin Richmond.