WEBVTT - The Favors (Finneas & Ashe) 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:22.396 Pushkin word first broke about the band The Favors back 0:00:22.396 --> 0:00:25.836 in February, when cryptic posts revealed that Billie Eilish's producer 0:00:25.876 --> 0:00:29.276 and brother Phineas was making new music with singer Ash. 0:00:29.316 --> 0:00:32.716 Soon after, both artists began performing these songs live, introducing 0:00:32.756 --> 0:00:36.756 The Favors to audiences even before an official release. Now, 0:00:36.796 --> 0:00:39.556 the band is putting out their debut album, The Dream. 0:00:39.876 --> 0:00:42.196 They call it a real chemistry album, the product of 0:00:42.236 --> 0:00:44.836 free flowing writing and jam sessions with their close friends 0:00:44.916 --> 0:00:48.556 David Marinelli on drums and Ricky Gourmet on guitar. On 0:00:48.596 --> 0:00:51.556 today's episode, you'll hear Phineas and Ash perform two standout 0:00:51.596 --> 0:00:54.516 tracks from The Dream. Times Square, Jesus and the Hudson 0:00:55.276 --> 0:00:58.156 will also dig into their collaborative process, exploring how their 0:00:58.196 --> 0:01:01.356 creative partnership shapes not only the music, but even the 0:01:01.396 --> 0:01:07.476 way they present themselves to the world. This is broken record, 0:01:07.916 --> 0:01:17.236 real musicians, real conversations. Here's my conversation, Phineas and Ash 0:01:17.436 --> 0:01:18.156 of The Favors. 0:01:19.396 --> 0:01:23.596 Hi, I'm Phineas, I'm Ash, and we're the Favors And 0:01:23.676 --> 0:01:25.636 this is our song Time Squared Jesus. 0:01:27.796 --> 0:01:46.676 Mm hmmm mm hmmm. It's easy tell someone loud. 0:01:46.636 --> 0:01:50.116 To fee not. 0:01:50.476 --> 0:01:54.996 It's fun to tell someone you love that it's real. 0:01:58.556 --> 0:02:02.796 The house your dady built is underwater. 0:02:06.396 --> 0:02:10.996 No use China not to be mother's daughter. 0:02:14.356 --> 0:02:25.356 Everybody knows your my weakness. Your don't p seecret. I'm 0:02:25.356 --> 0:02:32.316 a friend every time I walk by. 0:02:32.436 --> 0:02:33.916 Time, squeechess. 0:02:37.196 --> 0:02:41.956 He tells me to confess before my grad. 0:02:51.236 --> 0:02:53.276 But I don't want to be see. 0:02:56.556 --> 0:02:58.476 She's everything had. 0:02:58.676 --> 0:03:01.196 I have a walk. 0:03:03.076 --> 0:03:09.476 To be because she's used and I'm no thread of ooh. 0:03:12.116 --> 0:03:19.436 Still pick up your mother from me? She said I 0:03:19.636 --> 0:03:24.716 should move on just my father's son. 0:03:27.796 --> 0:03:33.636 Everybody in asy my weakness. 0:03:35.356 --> 0:03:37.956 You're in allen see secret. 0:03:38.196 --> 0:03:49.116 I'm a fo every time I walk by time, squete Jesus. 0:03:50.556 --> 0:03:54.196 He tells me to confess before month. 0:04:04.836 --> 0:04:23.996 I don't want to be saved. Looks your neve read 0:04:24.356 --> 0:04:25.916 fill up your share. 0:04:29.756 --> 0:04:33.476 Nothing that you said has ever crown. 0:04:37.556 --> 0:04:45.996 Use me to talk about your saif you come off me, 0:04:46.596 --> 0:04:49.116 but I know you mean well. 0:04:52.956 --> 0:05:03.116 Everybody knows any on my weekness. You're all in secly. 0:05:03.396 --> 0:05:09.396 I'm a felly d. 0:05:09.796 --> 0:05:17.236 My walk, but I'm squich Jesus. He tells me to 0:05:17.356 --> 0:05:19.036 confess with forma. 0:05:30.396 --> 0:05:34.716 You guys just on the spot like re re arranged 0:05:34.756 --> 0:05:35.796 that fighting for our lives. 0:05:35.836 --> 0:05:38.516 That was all Finnea's just now. That was very I'm 0:05:38.596 --> 0:05:40.396 sitting here very impressed by my friend. 0:05:40.836 --> 0:05:42.676 The fact you said that earlier, how impressed you were 0:05:42.716 --> 0:05:44.516 when he sat because you weren't sure if he had 0:05:45.036 --> 0:05:47.316 worked on it, worked on it. He hadn't. He just 0:05:47.356 --> 0:05:50.436 was kind of he just kind of fell, you know, 0:05:50.756 --> 0:05:52.916 fell out of his fingers, and you said it was like, 0:05:53.076 --> 0:05:55.476 how incredible is have a friend that talented? And then 0:05:55.516 --> 0:05:56.276 I'm sitting there and I'm. 0:05:56.196 --> 0:05:58.836 Listening to you sing Yeah I know the same way. 0:05:58.956 --> 0:06:01.436 Yeah, like you must be the same way. 0:06:01.516 --> 0:06:01.716 Yeah. 0:06:02.276 --> 0:06:03.796 Making his whole record was like that. 0:06:03.876 --> 0:06:08.996 It was like, I don't know, two people carrying the 0:06:09.236 --> 0:06:12.636 same heavy thing, you know what I mean. You're like, oh, 0:06:12.676 --> 0:06:16.076 you're you're totally strong, Like you're I only have to 0:06:16.076 --> 0:06:17.796 carry my side of this, you know what I mean. 0:06:17.916 --> 0:06:19.396 Yeah, it's really great. 0:06:19.476 --> 0:06:24.076 I feel like totally it's fine that in life oftentimes 0:06:24.076 --> 0:06:27.716 you're like one person is better at some thing than 0:06:27.756 --> 0:06:30.796 the other person, and so you're like we're we're sharing 0:06:30.836 --> 0:06:33.916 this burden. But I am sometimes I feel self conscious 0:06:33.916 --> 0:06:36.156 when it's me, when I'm like I'm not lifting the 0:06:36.156 --> 0:06:38.756 way that this other person is lifting and I feel 0:06:38.796 --> 0:06:40.316 like making this record, I was like, oh, we're just 0:06:40.796 --> 0:06:42.636 like both of us, I think we're like this is 0:06:42.716 --> 0:06:45.556 kind of a lightlift because the other person we're with 0:06:46.436 --> 0:06:47.676 it is so competent. 0:06:48.236 --> 0:06:51.036 Are there instances where you might more typically feel like 0:06:51.076 --> 0:06:52.716 you're not carrying your end of the bar? 0:06:52.836 --> 0:06:55.316 Or you know, I guess anytime I do something like 0:06:55.396 --> 0:06:58.316 brand new, like I score film and TV now and like, 0:06:58.356 --> 0:07:00.956 I'm not very good at it, and you know, I 0:07:01.036 --> 0:07:03.756 might have a good idea or a good instinct, but like, 0:07:03.996 --> 0:07:06.756 I'm not experienced, So I have to ask a lot 0:07:06.756 --> 0:07:08.996 of questions. I have to call my music editor and 0:07:09.476 --> 0:07:13.596 call the filmmaker and you know, call the music soup 0:07:13.676 --> 0:07:15.796 or whatever it is, and be like, what do you think? 0:07:15.836 --> 0:07:17.596 What should I do? What should I do next? You know? 0:07:17.756 --> 0:07:20.876 And so I'm grateful to those people for, you know, 0:07:20.956 --> 0:07:22.116 being down to work with me. 0:07:22.316 --> 0:07:25.596 Do you feel comfortable in that position having to make 0:07:25.876 --> 0:07:28.956 not exactly knowing knowing that you're not exactly sure of? 0:07:29.876 --> 0:07:33.836 Truthfully, I feel super self conscious and kind of bad 0:07:33.836 --> 0:07:37.276 about myself and event and that's and but that's the 0:07:37.316 --> 0:07:39.436 only way I've ever gotten better at anything is like 0:07:39.956 --> 0:07:41.716 wanting to not feel. 0:07:41.556 --> 0:07:42.596 That way anymore. 0:07:42.996 --> 0:07:45.316 Like the first couple of records I produced, I was like, 0:07:45.596 --> 0:07:49.156 I'm I felt so demoralized, and then you just get 0:07:49.156 --> 0:07:50.876 through a couple of them and you're like, Okay, I 0:07:50.876 --> 0:07:51.876 didn't die. 0:07:52.116 --> 0:07:52.956 I mean do some more. 0:07:53.156 --> 0:07:55.276 And eventually like we made this album in a way 0:07:55.276 --> 0:07:57.676 where I was like, oh, I feel very confident about 0:07:58.236 --> 0:08:00.476 how this should sound, and I don't know. I listened 0:08:00.516 --> 0:08:01.876 to the whole album on the way over here to 0:08:01.956 --> 0:08:05.276 kind of get like in the headspace of talking about it, and. 0:08:05.956 --> 0:08:07.636 I was like, oh, I love the way this sounds. 0:08:08.236 --> 0:08:08.876 It's awesome. 0:08:09.516 --> 0:08:13.276 Yeah, I feel very well matched in a lot of ways. 0:08:13.436 --> 0:08:18.916 I'll say I think we do, like probably lift each 0:08:18.916 --> 0:08:22.596 other up when the other is like maybe not as 0:08:23.356 --> 0:08:26.676 proficient as something like what he just did on piano 0:08:26.756 --> 0:08:29.356 for times, Greg Jesus, I could not have done. 0:08:29.676 --> 0:08:30.836 I'm decent at piano. 0:08:31.196 --> 0:08:34.396 I did the other song, but I am not, you know, 0:08:35.196 --> 0:08:37.916 I just don't have the same skill set. And I 0:08:37.956 --> 0:08:41.476 feel like Phineas is that kind of person that's like 0:08:41.876 --> 0:08:45.796 I've got your back. Like, I don't think it's always 0:08:45.836 --> 0:08:47.316 just going to be a fifty to fifty thing. I 0:08:47.316 --> 0:08:49.196 think it's sometimes it's going to be like a sixty 0:08:49.316 --> 0:08:51.556 forty and we're going to like show up for the 0:08:51.596 --> 0:08:53.636 other person in the way we need to. 0:08:53.836 --> 0:08:56.916 And how often is that that balance between the two 0:08:56.956 --> 0:08:59.356 of you in this particular partnership. How often is that 0:08:59.476 --> 0:09:03.036 strictly to do with the record or the recording and 0:09:03.076 --> 0:09:06.556 the writing, and how much do that sometimes just lifestyle? 0:09:06.956 --> 0:09:07.676 I would say. 0:09:07.716 --> 0:09:11.356 I would say writing the album was like, you know, 0:09:11.996 --> 0:09:15.196 fifty to fifty, cut the circle in half, like very 0:09:15.836 --> 0:09:18.916 very even, and she'd bring stuff in and we'd finish 0:09:18.916 --> 0:09:21.596 it together, and I brought an idea two and we 0:09:21.676 --> 0:09:23.596 finished it together. And then when we were in the 0:09:23.716 --> 0:09:27.516 room starting stuff together, it was like very that the 0:09:27.556 --> 0:09:28.916 writing of the record. 0:09:28.676 --> 0:09:29.876 Was totally fifty to fifty. 0:09:29.916 --> 0:09:33.556 And then I purposefully made the recording of the record 0:09:34.636 --> 0:09:37.036 like a little bit raw. It was like me and 0:09:37.116 --> 0:09:40.836 Ash and the two other guys who contributed musically played 0:09:40.876 --> 0:09:43.156 drums and guitar, all in a living room, really in 0:09:43.156 --> 0:09:45.556 a room about this size, and Ash and I sang 0:09:45.596 --> 0:09:48.356 into these Mike capsules and we were in the room 0:09:48.516 --> 0:09:50.876 about this far away from each other, and so I'm 0:09:50.956 --> 0:09:53.436 kind of involved. I sort of forced everybody to be 0:09:53.476 --> 0:09:55.716 present for the whole recording. There was no kind of 0:09:55.756 --> 0:09:59.396 like I've made records before where like maybe if Ash 0:09:59.476 --> 0:10:01.596 is just singing on that song, she's like gonna come in. 0:10:01.636 --> 0:10:02.676 Much later in the day. 0:10:02.916 --> 0:10:05.116 And we didn't do it that way with like everybody 0:10:05.156 --> 0:10:07.036 was there for each others, but like the drumm would 0:10:07.036 --> 0:10:08.436 play pass and we just sit there and we'd be like, 0:10:08.556 --> 0:10:10.836 nice job, Maybe do that ending a little differently, Like 0:10:10.876 --> 0:10:15.396 it was very democratized for sure. Yeah, in the mixing 0:10:16.236 --> 0:10:18.516 post production process, I was sort of doing that on 0:10:18.556 --> 0:10:21.716 my own because I had the computer, but I'd send 0:10:21.716 --> 0:10:24.836 Ash everything and get her feedback on it and then 0:10:24.956 --> 0:10:28.076 sort of vice versa. Like the kind of creative the 0:10:28.196 --> 0:10:31.916 visual side of it has been like all helmed by 0:10:31.956 --> 0:10:36.036 Ash and all, you know, like references and images she's 0:10:36.196 --> 0:10:37.676 come up with which I've loved. 0:10:37.996 --> 0:10:40.196 So would you hang around earlier in the day as 0:10:40.236 --> 0:10:43.596 they're tracking the instrumental bit of it? 0:10:43.676 --> 0:10:46.396 And then absolutely, I mean, and I had my own 0:10:46.436 --> 0:10:50.396 opinions about what was getting played, you know, Yeah, I mean, 0:10:50.596 --> 0:10:54.876 or Ricky you know who's on guitar, would play a 0:10:54.996 --> 0:10:57.156 riff over and over and over and he would develop 0:10:57.196 --> 0:10:59.396 it and it would become and it would like morph 0:10:59.476 --> 0:11:02.836 into something because we all were sort of like, oh, yeah, 0:11:02.916 --> 0:11:05.316 that's it, Oh you're onto something, or David be like 0:11:05.356 --> 0:11:10.996 try this, but we did. When we first sort of 0:11:11.316 --> 0:11:16.916 came up with the whole concept, I went and going, well, 0:11:16.996 --> 0:11:21.156 maybe we should hire an engineer so that we're kind 0:11:21.156 --> 0:11:25.076 of tracking this live. And then you aren't bearing all 0:11:25.116 --> 0:11:25.876 the weight of the. 0:11:25.876 --> 0:11:29.436 Thing because the director actor I was. 0:11:29.396 --> 0:11:31.276 Like, you produce all these amazing albums. 0:11:31.516 --> 0:11:34.556 And then I felt, I think the truthfully as I 0:11:34.596 --> 0:11:38.796 felt self conscious that I wasn't going to lift enough 0:11:38.876 --> 0:11:41.676 weight on that end, on that end, and then I 0:11:41.676 --> 0:11:43.836 think we got to the point where I'm like we 0:11:43.876 --> 0:11:47.996 both were like, well, he's a producer, Like you're a 0:11:48.076 --> 0:11:49.116 brilliant producer. 0:11:49.356 --> 0:11:51.596 We're kind of idiots if you don't produce. 0:11:51.716 --> 0:11:54.636 There's a nakedness too to making an album. That's like 0:11:55.516 --> 0:11:58.436 we were really being intimate, like the four of us know, 0:11:58.556 --> 0:12:00.396 like the two guys I was with I've known for 0:12:00.556 --> 0:12:03.316 years and Ash got to know intimately through that. So 0:12:03.356 --> 0:12:04.796 it's the four of us in a room and then 0:12:04.836 --> 0:12:07.716 even like the fifth person in the room several of 0:12:07.756 --> 0:12:11.156 the days was a photographer and a murial that Ash 0:12:11.236 --> 0:12:13.156 is very close with that came in. But it is 0:12:13.196 --> 0:12:16.756 just this closeness that like allows you to be really 0:12:16.796 --> 0:12:19.476 brave and really kind of like even though you are 0:12:19.516 --> 0:12:22.516 being observed, like you kind of act unobserved. And I 0:12:22.676 --> 0:12:24.116 felt like that was the thing where I was like, 0:12:24.196 --> 0:12:27.476 I'm willing to trade, like I'm a less good engineer 0:12:27.476 --> 0:12:29.236 than if I hired somebody to come in and do this, 0:12:29.316 --> 0:12:30.996 and I might make a couple of mistakes along the way, 0:12:31.036 --> 0:12:35.196 but like the vulnerability is a trade that I'm willing 0:12:35.196 --> 0:12:38.196 to make of Like, yeah, there's just you kind of 0:12:38.236 --> 0:12:40.116 are like naked in front of each other. That's how 0:12:40.156 --> 0:12:42.556 it feels to be singing that way and to be 0:12:42.796 --> 0:12:44.796 making mistakes over and over. And I just thought like, oh, 0:12:44.836 --> 0:12:48.516 somebody that I'm not so comfortable with might throw off 0:12:48.556 --> 0:12:49.676 the jujuw. 0:12:49.276 --> 0:12:50.516 Of the thing. 0:12:50.596 --> 0:12:52.476 I mean like, yeah, I feel like this album was 0:12:52.476 --> 0:12:56.396 like a real chemistry album, Like that was what made 0:12:56.396 --> 0:12:58.556 it really fun, even like her talking about the like 0:12:58.676 --> 0:13:03.436 Ricky developing his guitar part, like that process can make 0:13:03.476 --> 0:13:06.236 you feel self conscious if you're sitting there noodling and 0:13:06.316 --> 0:13:07.236 three people are. 0:13:07.116 --> 0:13:08.876 Like no, no, no, not that I like, no, I like. 0:13:08.836 --> 0:13:11.036 That part, but like he had to be so kind 0:13:11.076 --> 0:13:15.076 of willing to let us editorialize, and he was. You know, 0:13:15.116 --> 0:13:17.956 so I think that that whole kind of experience, even 0:13:17.996 --> 0:13:19.516 like parts were ashes, like I don't know about that 0:13:19.556 --> 0:13:21.596 harmony part, and like, great, let's think of the other one. 0:13:21.676 --> 0:13:22.956 Let's try another one, you know what I mean, Like 0:13:23.396 --> 0:13:24.876 just kind of have to be brave in front of 0:13:24.876 --> 0:13:28.556 each other. So it was it was nice to have 0:13:28.596 --> 0:13:32.156 it be sort of private. Although if we made another record, 0:13:31.996 --> 0:13:33.036 I try to. 0:13:34.036 --> 0:13:35.916 I'll put it this way. Making this album made me 0:13:35.996 --> 0:13:38.036 higher and engineer, and it made me be like I 0:13:38.076 --> 0:13:39.556 wish I had an engineer that I worked with all 0:13:39.596 --> 0:13:39.876 the time. 0:13:39.996 --> 0:13:43.796 Really yeah, because that intimate nature, the intimateness and the 0:13:44.996 --> 0:13:47.756 and the personalness does it feels in a lot of ways, 0:13:47.756 --> 0:13:49.636 like the conceit of the album when you listen to 0:13:49.716 --> 0:13:50.876 it as a whole, you know. I got to hear 0:13:50.956 --> 0:13:52.636 a couple of songs as they came out early, and 0:13:52.676 --> 0:13:54.516 then when I finally got sent the full album and 0:13:54.556 --> 0:13:56.756 I listened to it, I was like, I get, I 0:13:56.796 --> 0:13:59.516 get what this is. Sure, so but you so you 0:13:59.596 --> 0:14:02.076 but you would make it a little different this time 0:14:02.116 --> 0:14:03.276 though for another time. 0:14:03.156 --> 0:14:04.916 If you would make that album differently. 0:14:04.956 --> 0:14:08.196 I think I would try to distill the things that 0:14:08.636 --> 0:14:12.956 went well about making that record and then incorporate additional things. 0:14:12.996 --> 0:14:13.996 Got it, Yeah, got it? 0:14:14.556 --> 0:14:17.716 And you guys made this a bit ago, right, A 0:14:17.756 --> 0:14:18.596 couple of years ago? 0:14:18.916 --> 0:14:21.876 Or was it when we finish it a year ago? 0:14:21.996 --> 0:14:22.076 Right? 0:14:22.116 --> 0:14:22.716 A year ago? 0:14:22.876 --> 0:14:23.036 Now? 0:14:23.116 --> 0:14:23.316 Yeah? 0:14:23.396 --> 0:14:26.636 A year ago okay, and before you guys did your 0:14:26.756 --> 0:14:28.996 last two solo records, right. 0:14:29.876 --> 0:14:35.276 I finished mine before we finished this, Yeah, but it. 0:14:35.196 --> 0:14:36.556 Was but we kind of started it. 0:14:36.676 --> 0:14:38.356 Yeah. I finished mine pointedly. 0:14:38.436 --> 0:14:41.436 I was like, finished mine, like by July fourth, and 0:14:41.436 --> 0:14:43.596 then we recorded most of this record starting on like 0:14:43.596 --> 0:14:45.716 the twentieth or something. I was like, it was very 0:14:45.716 --> 0:14:47.436 close and proximity. 0:14:47.356 --> 0:14:50.196 Got it because I was as I was listening to Wilson, 0:14:50.276 --> 0:14:53.476 as I was listening to you, yes, exactly, and then 0:14:53.476 --> 0:14:55.876 listening to this again. I just want to discern if 0:14:55.876 --> 0:14:57.796 there was a relationship between the three or if this 0:14:57.916 --> 0:15:01.196 was something completely unique and separate creatively for you guys. 0:15:01.196 --> 0:15:02.876 And I don't know how you guys. 0:15:02.996 --> 0:15:06.156 I wrote all of for Crying Out Loud after we 0:15:06.196 --> 0:15:08.836 wrote half of this record, and so I knew in 0:15:08.876 --> 0:15:11.716 my mind, like that stuff is going to come out. 0:15:11.756 --> 0:15:15.436 So I was probably sort of to some degree, trying 0:15:15.516 --> 0:15:15.876 to not. 0:15:16.516 --> 0:15:18.676 Inform you were informed by it, Yeah. 0:15:18.436 --> 0:15:20.276 Well, trying not to copy it. I didn't want to. 0:15:20.516 --> 0:15:23.396 I didn't want to go and make this album twice 0:15:23.796 --> 0:15:25.156 because I don't want it to be special. 0:15:25.236 --> 0:15:26.596 And then I also didn't want to have there be 0:15:26.676 --> 0:15:27.876 like no paper trail. 0:15:28.516 --> 0:15:32.156 Like if I'd made like a really experimental Synthia album 0:15:32.716 --> 0:15:35.636 and then was like, hey, guys, like by tickets to 0:15:35.676 --> 0:15:38.316 the favorite show, I think that'd be a stranger transition. 0:15:38.356 --> 0:15:41.396 There's songs on my last record, like Cleats and even 0:15:41.436 --> 0:15:43.316 the single for Krandit Lad that like they feel like 0:15:43.396 --> 0:15:46.196 my own, but like they make sense that this came 0:15:46.236 --> 0:15:49.236 after that to me. Yeah, I feel the same about Wilson. 0:15:49.356 --> 0:15:51.276 Wilson has an organic feeling, I. 0:15:51.196 --> 0:15:57.276 Think, yeah, also similarly organic, but I mean topically, you know, 0:15:57.796 --> 0:16:03.076 Wilson was such a self examination of you know, I 0:16:03.076 --> 0:16:06.556 almost quit music and like a journey back to music 0:16:06.676 --> 0:16:12.396 and like relationship with being public person at all and 0:16:12.996 --> 0:16:16.316 just traumas and YadA YadA. Whereas this record was such 0:16:16.356 --> 0:16:24.556 a experiment in writing with these other characters and personas 0:16:24.636 --> 0:16:28.076 and sort of writing like a script, which I've never 0:16:28.116 --> 0:16:32.236 done before. And same was super fun and kind of 0:16:32.396 --> 0:16:33.556 liberating in a way. 0:16:33.756 --> 0:16:37.476 Yeah, yeah, we'll be back with more from Phineas and 0:16:37.516 --> 0:16:43.876 Ash after the break. We should talk about the writing 0:16:43.916 --> 0:16:47.676 process because that song, in particular times Jesus Is I 0:16:47.676 --> 0:16:49.316 thought it was one of my favorite songs on the 0:16:49.356 --> 0:16:53.596 album thank You, and in a way because when you 0:16:53.636 --> 0:16:55.996 hear the When I heard the first verse at first, 0:16:55.996 --> 0:16:58.276 I wasn't one hundred percent sure what the song was about. 0:16:58.756 --> 0:16:59.956 Then I heard the chorus, I was like, oh, I 0:16:59.996 --> 0:17:01.716 think I know what the song is about. And then 0:17:01.756 --> 0:17:03.356 it gets to the second verse, I'm like, actually, I 0:17:03.396 --> 0:17:05.756 really don't know what the songs about. But in the 0:17:05.836 --> 0:17:07.436 best way, like not in like you know, it's like 0:17:07.476 --> 0:17:10.316 this song is like there's it's clearly feels like it's 0:17:10.316 --> 0:17:13.036 like a song that it's going to like unfurl over it. Yeah, 0:17:13.156 --> 0:17:16.316 and maybe change meanings, but w how did you guys? Look, 0:17:16.356 --> 0:17:18.036 what was the writing process on that song? 0:17:18.596 --> 0:17:20.596 The rating president that song was really specific. Do you 0:17:20.636 --> 0:17:21.836 want to talk about it? It's awesome. 0:17:21.876 --> 0:17:23.276 It was really cute of us. 0:17:25.156 --> 0:17:28.876 I mean from the jump, it was like I knew 0:17:29.156 --> 0:17:31.956 we needed an acoustic guitar song on the record, which 0:17:31.956 --> 0:17:34.276 we hadn't had yet. And we were pretty deep into 0:17:34.356 --> 0:17:36.436 making the album, and I was like, we're idiots if 0:17:36.436 --> 0:17:39.796 we don't make that song. And I think I probably 0:17:39.836 --> 0:17:43.716 said that and walked away. And then I came grabbed 0:17:43.716 --> 0:17:45.796 a cold brew for the millionth time of the day 0:17:45.876 --> 0:17:50.676 and then walked in and Phineas was playing the acoustic 0:17:50.876 --> 0:17:53.436 that he was playing that riff that's the main sort 0:17:53.436 --> 0:17:56.876 of melodic hook of Times Square Jesus, and I was 0:17:57.116 --> 0:18:00.276 similar to just now when he just pulled this out 0:18:00.276 --> 0:18:03.036 of his pocket with Time Square, I was like, jaw dropped, 0:18:03.916 --> 0:18:08.876 like that's unbelievable. That's the song. Let's go from there. 0:18:09.876 --> 0:18:12.636 And I think we started with the chorus. 0:18:12.276 --> 0:18:15.076 Yeah, everybody knows that you're my weakness, I think to me, 0:18:15.236 --> 0:18:18.956 like I only need one line to be like great, 0:18:19.316 --> 0:18:21.676 like I'm in, let's write the rest of this song, 0:18:21.716 --> 0:18:25.156 like everybody knows that you're my weakness. You're an open secret, 0:18:25.196 --> 0:18:26.956 I'm afraid. To me, I was like all right, great, 0:18:27.196 --> 0:18:30.076 Like yeah, that's worth pursuing all day. 0:18:30.156 --> 0:18:30.676 That's great. 0:18:30.876 --> 0:18:34.516 And Phineas kept like rattling off like like when you're 0:18:34.556 --> 0:18:37.876 in Times Square and it's like the person Elvis that 0:18:37.916 --> 0:18:41.436 and then he came aim up with times square Jesus, 0:18:41.476 --> 0:18:44.716 and everyone was like, that's it. 0:18:44.796 --> 0:18:45.676 That's so good. 0:18:45.956 --> 0:18:48.596 It's really good. It's a super accessible image, you know, 0:18:48.636 --> 0:18:50.036 and it's like you know what it is when you 0:18:50.076 --> 0:18:53.436 hear it, but then it's obscured coming across. 0:18:53.756 --> 0:19:01.156 Yeah, I'm square Jesus. 0:18:58.116 --> 0:19:01.156 In La You do see like a Jesus every two years, 0:19:01.156 --> 0:19:03.876 like on an overpass or something, and you're like and 0:19:03.916 --> 0:19:06.396 it's always weird because you're like, I know that's a guy, 0:19:06.796 --> 0:19:10.996 but like Jesus was a guy. 0:19:11.516 --> 0:19:11.876 Huh. 0:19:11.916 --> 0:19:12.716 You have to wonder. 0:19:13.076 --> 0:19:15.796 Yeah, it definitely makes you get introspective for an hour. 0:19:16.076 --> 0:19:17.636 Yeah, what was that was? 0:19:18.276 --> 0:19:19.396 What if God was one of us? 0:19:20.996 --> 0:19:21.596 Uh Uh? 0:19:21.956 --> 0:19:25.356 Whenever that group is called that, that song is the greatest. Yeah, 0:19:25.956 --> 0:19:29.076 well yeah, what if God was one of us? Just 0:19:29.076 --> 0:19:30.116 just a stranger on the bus. 0:19:30.036 --> 0:19:34.436 Trying to make his way home. It's a great song. Yeah. 0:19:34.476 --> 0:19:35.596 But anyway, so then we had the. 0:19:35.516 --> 0:19:38.676 Hook and then we I don't I don't know what 0:19:38.836 --> 0:19:40.156 got into me. 0:19:40.876 --> 0:19:44.396 Yeah, but I sort of was like it's usually the 0:19:44.436 --> 0:19:45.116 cold brew. 0:19:45.116 --> 0:19:47.636 And I was like, what if we did like an 0:19:47.636 --> 0:19:52.476 experiment where we break off into groups and each write 0:19:52.516 --> 0:19:57.516 a verse and phineas as like such an earnest pure 0:19:58.076 --> 0:20:00.956 Man was like, I love that. Let's go write a 0:20:00.956 --> 0:20:02.956 beautiful verse. And then me and Ricky go to the side, 0:20:02.996 --> 0:20:05.476 and I'm like, we have to write the best verse 0:20:05.516 --> 0:20:08.396 of all time. We got to beat their verse, and 0:20:08.436 --> 0:20:12.196 then you did, No, I did verse. We were like, 0:20:12.316 --> 0:20:16.396 best verse gets the first verse, and sure enough, neither 0:20:16.556 --> 0:20:18.436 of those verses did they know? 0:20:18.596 --> 0:20:20.516 Your verse ended up being the first verse. 0:20:20.556 --> 0:20:23.156 But you like, we changed all of it things we. 0:20:24.796 --> 0:20:26.636 Know verse on a shelf. 0:20:26.556 --> 0:20:28.756 Verse was like the third verse, the book, the books 0:20:28.756 --> 0:20:30.956 and the whatever that was in the Yeah, I mean 0:20:30.956 --> 0:20:33.396 we wrote these unconnected things. We had the chorus in 0:20:33.436 --> 0:20:35.796 common to kind of get in and out of, and 0:20:35.796 --> 0:20:37.996 then we wrote these different things. But I think that, 0:20:38.076 --> 0:20:41.996 like Ash wrote this verse that I loved, and then 0:20:41.996 --> 0:20:43.396 I was like, oh well, then let me write a 0:20:43.396 --> 0:20:45.796 prequel to your verse. Like your verse is great, but 0:20:46.396 --> 0:20:50.036 let me contextualize it, and then it'll I'll just mirror all. 0:20:49.916 --> 0:20:51.156 Of the good stuff you wrote. 0:20:51.276 --> 0:20:52.996 And what was it that you What was it that 0:20:53.076 --> 0:20:53.996 she wrote that you particularly? 0:20:54.036 --> 0:20:56.276 I loved that she says you're too much your father's son. 0:20:56.876 --> 0:20:58.276 I loved the. 0:20:58.276 --> 0:21:00.156 Stuff to book up your mother from the airport. 0:21:00.236 --> 0:21:03.356 Yeah, it was sad and yeah, I just thought it 0:21:03.396 --> 0:21:06.356 was a pure image, and so ours is the house 0:21:06.396 --> 0:21:09.116 your daddy Bill was underwater, and your your your mother's stiff, 0:21:09.396 --> 0:21:11.556 and this kind of like there's a lot of sort 0:21:11.596 --> 0:21:16.476 of like the psychoanalyzing somebody that you used to be 0:21:16.476 --> 0:21:18.516 in love with on this record. That's kind of like 0:21:18.596 --> 0:21:21.676 the main theme is the sort of like remember the 0:21:21.716 --> 0:21:23.756 history of all of this stuff that I know about you. 0:21:23.796 --> 0:21:25.516 There's a song near the end of the record called 0:21:25.556 --> 0:21:28.116 Lake George that's like I've seen the place you were born. 0:21:28.716 --> 0:21:30.076 That's like one of the lines, and I feel like 0:21:30.116 --> 0:21:33.396 that's kind of the whole album is like, yeah, I 0:21:33.476 --> 0:21:35.876 know so much about you, even though you're in the 0:21:35.916 --> 0:21:38.716 rearview mirror of my life. I know all of this 0:21:38.756 --> 0:21:42.636