WEBVTT - The Lumineers' Wesley Shultz 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:04.680 Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:07.840 Studio on iHeart Radio. My name is Jordan runt Hog, 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:10.880 but enough about me. My guest today has one of 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:14.480 the most recognizable voices in modern folk music. As the 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.959 frontman of the Lumineers, He's played packed stadiums across the 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:21.280 country and helps spearhead the resurgence of roots rock along 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:23.800 with the likes of Mumford and Suns and Fleet Boxes. 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:27.080 This spring marks ten years since the release of their 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.840 self titled debut, which features their breakthrough Smash ho Hey, 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:34.760 as well as favorites like Stubborn Love and Submarines. Two 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:37.479 more chart topping records were to follow, and now he 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:40.920 and his musical partner Jeremiah Frates have released their fourth disc, 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:43.920 Bright Side, which is available at this very moment for 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:48.159 you're listening pleasure singles like AM Radio, Big Shot and 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:51.879 the title track comes steeped in a sentimentality that's been 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.120 well earned given the tumultuous last two years, which have 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.440 been a perspective check for all of us. To be sure, now, 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:00.600 the record is also something of a change a pace 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:03.400 for the guys, and to talk more about why, I'm 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:10.119 joined by Mr Wesley Schultz. I hope you enjoy our conversation. Well, 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:12.039 you got a new album on the way bright Side, 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:15.280 and the title really hits differently given the last two 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:18.720 years we've had. Are these songs the bright side or 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:23.839 the silver lining of two years stuck at home for you? Um? 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:26.720 In a way, I think the way I was thinking 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:33.080 about it was kind of just trying to um create 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:35.839 a rally cry for for for myself, you know, because 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:40.319 it was I felt pretty uh steamrolled by everything. I 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:42.520 think that most people it was a slow drip though, 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.360 was like okay, next month, Okay, next week, and then 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:48.440 it just kept going on and on and on, And 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:52.200 I think, UM, not so much trying to see the 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.440 bright spots, but almost acknowledging that there there is a 0:01:56.440 --> 0:02:01.360 lot of, you know, trying times going on. In the 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.360 last two years. There's been a lot of things to 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:08.520 overcome and and acknowledging those and trying to still have 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:12.480 I guess uh an attitude of like you can't you 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:14.880 can't stop us from from trying, you know, like the 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.640 kind one flew of the Cuckoo's Nest where he's like, well, 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:20.079 at least I try damn it. At least it feels 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:25.079 like that where you're you're not being you know, oblivious 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:27.600 to what's going on around you. You're just you're just 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:31.480 also trying to still try. You're not submitting. Yeah that's 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:33.920 a great scene or cool hand Luke too. You're just 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.920 gonna go try for it. Yeah, yeah, exactly exactly. I 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:40.280 think it's building on that. Have you learned anything new, 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:44.120 either about music or even just about yourself in the 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.160 last two years, given the really kind of transformative time 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:51.399 we've had. Yeah, I mean I learned that I spent 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:53.040 a lot of time you you kind of are what 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:55.440 you repeatedly do, and you know, we spent a lot 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:57.760 of time on the road and got really good at 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:02.560 touring and that life. And then when it was almost 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.320 like we were riding a bicycle and someone stuck a 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.080 stick into the spokes and you fly over the handlebars, 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.040 you know, and it just and and we were grounded 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:13.239 for a while. And I think typically in the last 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.720 ten years plus, there was always something else on the horizon. 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:19.920 You know, there's always like if you're touring, then you 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:21.839 get off the road, then maybe there's a break, then 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:26.400 you write, then you record, then you tour again. It's 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.480 like this strange carousel that you kind of fall in 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:33.079 love with and you get a little bit adept at 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:35.160 And so when everybody said we have to stay at 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.600 home now, we weren't very I wasn't very good at 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:40.880 just like living at home. I didn't know what I 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:45.880 was doing, um, And so I think I learned how 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:49.920 much I had acclimated to that other life over over 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:52.080 the years, you know, and then and then had to 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:56.320 relearn I mean, even just sharing duties as a father. 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:00.960 Now I have two kids and just you know, my 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.480 wife's been sick actually this past week and just waking 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:06.920 up with the kids and just not with COVID. Lucky, 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.880 but she tested every day. It was like every possible 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:14.720 symptom was there, and for some reason it wasn't COVID. Um. 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.000 But yeah, she um she you know, just getting up 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:20.680 with both kids and dealing with that chaos and seeing 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:22.960 how that works. You know, that's some something you've kind 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:26.280 of sheltered from when you're on the road and playing 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:30.480 shows constantly. So um. You know, there's a scene in 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:34.000 that Johnny Cash movie where he's Joaquin Phoenix Johnny Cash, 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:35.760 where he's I think he's like home for the holidays, 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.240 or something, and he's just kind of a zombie and 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:40.120 that can be a little bit of what you are 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.240 and you're more at home in this strange environment on 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:45.560 the road. And I think that that taught me a 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.279 lot about a what my wife is dealing with on 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:52.039 a constant basis. And also just like being a dad 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:55.839 was a beautiful thing that I probably would have missed 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.760 a lot of that time had I not been had 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:00.200 I been out on the road. You know, I just 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.640 there's not enough hours in the day. So um again, 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.360 it's not so much like, oh this is good, right, 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:08.599 it's just more this, this is a beautiful thing that 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:12.200 came out of this just my son, you know, from 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:14.719 the ages of one and a half to now almost four, 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:19.440 being a lot more around him been amazing. I mean, 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.440 that's gotta be a really special bright side. I mean, 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:25.719 does that has that impacted your relationship to music in 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:27.719 any way? I mean, you hear I mean I'm not 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:29.760 apparent myself, but you hear everybody say that. You know, 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:32.120 your whole life changes, and the things that you know 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:36.640 used to matter don't, and priorities shift and just things 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:38.760 just your whole world changes. How is that has that 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:41.080 shown up musically on on this new album. I know 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:44.320 your daughter was born. I think last year. Um, how's 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:48.320 that been? Now it's last year? Yeah, it's wild. Um 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.680 it's the new year. Yeah. I think I've heard that 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:54.559 a lot of people say when you become a parent, 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:56.680 you know you you sort of like take an l 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:59.719 every day. You know you you truly humbled. You know here, 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:02.840 you make a you make this, uh, let's say, make 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.160 a pasta dinner and your kids like I don't want this, 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:09.039 you know, before cheerios and you're like I would have 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.840 just gotten your cheerios. What. Um. And it's not as 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:13.719 simple as making them do what you want them to 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.680 do all the time. Um. I think it's made me 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:21.279 really humble. I think also it's um, you know it 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:26.159 sounds really basic or obvious, but I never really understood 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:29.320 the passage of I never appreciated the passage of time 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:34.560 in this sort of like I mentioned earlier, the carousel 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.000 that exists when you're writing and touring, and that always 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.719 kind of cycle repeats, cycle repeats. Time story feels like 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.480 it stands still. It's almost like living in l A. 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:46.719 You know, I could never live there because there's no seasons. 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.120 It's like it would drive me crazy. And there's no 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.080 seasons sometimes this because you're always You're always on in 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:55.080 the next and I seeing my son just sprout up 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:57.920 and grow and I was like, oh, it created a 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:01.159 sense of urgency within me to try to say, well, 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:05.200 you know, I only have time is flying by. But 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:07.680 I was always like, oh, I have all this time. 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:11.040 I have all this time, so in and not to 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:13.240 be morbid, but in a funny way, I lost my 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:16.200 dad in two thousand and seven, and that you know, 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.560 he died young, and I realized, like, I have I 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:21.280 don't know how much time I'll have, so I really 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:25.840 need to like make the most of this because there's 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:29.080 a level of urgency here, like I could go like 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:33.240 he went, he's my dad, you don't know so um 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:36.559 So anyway, that that sort of idea of time being 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:40.240 really exemplified in your kids and just physically looking at 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:42.400 them and saying like, my daughter is getting all these 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:44.200 teeth now all of a sudden, you know, I went 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.680 from zero to five teeth. You know, it seemed like overnight. 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.640 So that that type of stuff, I think creates a 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:52.160 fire within you to say I want to really do 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:56.600 something special while I'm here with this music and enjoy 0:07:56.640 --> 0:08:00.160 it also, I mean enjoying making bright Side was was 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.000 kind of a strangely new experience. A lot of what 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:04.960 we did in the past with making records was more 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:08.640 of it felt like, you know, a toil and like 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:10.720 pulling teeth in a way where you're kind of just 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:13.720 you're you're trying so hard that you're trying to control 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:17.440 too much. And this was more you know, stream of 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:23.160 consciousness or curiosity or like childlike wonderment going into it, 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:27.160 which gave it a brand new feel. For being our 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:29.600 fourth album. You know, it doesn't sound or feel like 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.480 the other ones because we didn't really plan much out. 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:35.640 It was just kind of flowing out. Yeah, there's a 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:39.440 spontaneity there, I think, I I it's apparent on so 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:41.120 many of the tracks. I think I read on the 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:43.880 title track it came together in a day, which I mean, 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:47.400 to me just sounds so fast. I mean, how did 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:49.760 what led? Do you approaching it differently? Was it just 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.959 almost more of because I mean, your last album three 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:54.560 came about I think you were in the middle of 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:56.880 touring it when the pandemic hit. So was this did 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.080 you intend to set out to write a new album 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:01.320 or was it kind of like, well, we've got this time, 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.719 let's let's start creating music and see what happens. And 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:07.439 it was a little more free form than usual. Yeah, 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:12.080 I think, uh so. I I started out the pandemic. Um, 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:14.720 we didn't really I didn't really get to spend any 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:18.480 time with Jare, who I read all the songs with. Um. 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.560 Jared and I grew up together, been playing music and 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:25.680 writing together for sixteen years, and um, you know, there's 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:28.560 a lot of fear, you know. Uh So we didn't 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:30.120 really see each other for a while, so we're just 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:33.760 sitting there. He eventually makes a solo record, and so 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:37.160 do I. Mine is his is like almost classical. Style 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:40.360 of mine is all cover songs. And when I did mine, 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:44.199 it was I was out in the cat Skills and 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:46.959 I was just I was writing a motorcycle to and 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:50.360 from the studio and just showing up and we'd record 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:52.920 and then I'd leave and we'd have two songs that 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.800 seemed like finished every day. And I had no faith 0:09:55.840 --> 0:10:00.000 in myself until that. Until doing that that, I really could, 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:02.319 you know, leave it to chance in a way, or 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.280 leave it to the last minute. It was always like, oh, 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:08.360 I've had so many experiences where there's like a recency 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:12.280 bias where you you make something you think it's great, Uh, 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:16.080 you know, today's what Tuesday, and on Wednesday you hate 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:20.160 it so our Thursday. So there was this sort of 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:23.440 suspicion of my own thoughts, you know, with that, and 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:26.200 this was letting that go and just being free and 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:28.840 so going into right side. It was almost like making 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:32.560 that solo record that was sort of just a a 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:34.520 labor of love, like, hey, I love I love so 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.040 many of these artists in these songs. Let's do that, uh, 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:39.680 because I don't know if I have it in me 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.160 to just write a whole new luminous record with Chair 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.160 and we can't really even get together at this point too. Now, 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:48.800 we we got together, and when we were there, I 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:52.080 kept thinking like, well, let's not overly planned this, because 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:55.679 that was really fun when I just experienced and then uh, 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:59.040 Jared went right along with that, and I think we 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:02.280 were both really impressed with how fast the time went 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.880 in the studio and how much we still are in 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.680 love with the music we made then and we don't 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:11.160 have to be quite so you know, suspicious of It's 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:13.640 like almost like we were like it's guilty until proven, 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.160 and it's in terms of like ideas, we were like, 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:18.120 this is god to be bad. There's no way this 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:20.480 is good, whereas this one was more like can you 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:22.680 believe it? Can you believe it? Like That's how bright 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:24.920 Side was done in the day, because we didn't spend 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.320 that much time. You know, the song bright Side that 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:29.880 is was done in a day. We didn't spend that 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.880 much time over analyzing. It was just like do you 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.880 love it? I love it? Boom, let's go, let's keep going. 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.000 And that's a new thing for us. You know. I 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:40.320 kind of wish we would have done it like that 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.760 all along, but I don't think we were exactly ready 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:47.680 for that. I mean, you mentioned you're so vignette, and 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:51.000 it's cover songs of what I imagine we really formative 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:54.280 influence for you, Bruce Springsteen, Jim Crochy, Warren Yvon, Tom 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:57.720 waits Uh in addition to just being able to to 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:01.240 tackle these songs so quickly. Did having those those early 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:04.240 influences in your mind? Did that take you back to 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:05.920 a certain place? I mean, I guess the fact that 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:07.840 you record a day m radio the video for it 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:09.679 at your high school. I feel like, there's a lot 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.240 of looking back on this record, and I was wondering 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:15.320 if I feel like so many people I know myself 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:19.559 included during the pandemic, have been listening to songs from 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:22.240 when we were younger as kind of like musical comfort food. 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.000 I was wondering if the actual compositions, uh, you know, 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:28.800 bear those marks of early influences from when you were 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:32.120 first falling in love with music. Yeah, you never, I've 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.080 never really thought about that way, but yeah, I think 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:36.520 I think that's a lot of where we go, you know, 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:42.000 to feel something. You know, you're kind of numb. I was, 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:45.920 so you get so numb throughout this whole uh last 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.559 now almost two years. Um a way to tap back 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:52.640 into yourself as to say where I come from? You 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:54.800 know where I come from musically, where I Where are 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.600 these all these beautiful memories that were attached to this 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:01.920 music before the world seemed to stop, you know. Um. 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:04.640 So I think part of it was that, and then 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:08.920 part of it was trying to you know, I had 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.280 a friend he went to Berkeley. He used to be 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:13.760 in our band and then he went to Berkeley and 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:17.000 he's he's a really avant garde kind of jazz music 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:21.839 kind of guy. And his name is Joe. And Joe said, 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:25.120 you know, I love what you guys are doing, and 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:27.480 we were kind of like downplaying it. Hey, you know, 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:29.880 it's not what you do. And he's like, if you 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:33.400 love playing a G chord, or just play a G chord, like, 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:37.600 stop stop trying to impress some other music person in 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:42.040 the room and make music for you, and and and 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:44.040 and that that leve will emanate and that will like 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:48.679 kind of radio out. And and this album is very 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:52.440 much I think like that where there's not an ego 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:56.360 in it. It's just some these these songs that were following, 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:58.600 you know, we loved making and then going back to 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.560 the high school, it was like part of it is 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:04.800 realizing your attitude back then was a beautiful one. A 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:07.200 lot of times, you know, it was like you you 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:10.640 felt indestructible, and I think just trying to find that 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:13.679 again within us, because you feel all of us feel 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:17.520 so vulnerable and fragile and like everything can be stripped 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:21.440 away in a moment. Because of how this played out, 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:25.280 I think psychologically maybe that was why I wanted to 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:28.480 go there as a like from the lyrical standpoint and 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:32.880 from the feeling was just I like that feeling invincible 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.560 and invincibility. I like going on that first drive with 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:37.560 your friend who just got his license or maybe he 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:39.200 doesn't have his license and you're in a car and 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:41.800 you're just driving and you're lighting a cigarette, you're breaking 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:43.920 a bottle behind a convenience store, and you're you just 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:47.320 kind of like you feel like the world is yours, 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.440 as opposed to right now, you're you don't even belong 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.680 in this world, you know. It's kind of so maybe 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.040 it was that too. It wasn't so much conscious as 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:58.560 it was that feels good to think about those things 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.240 that feels good to And it wasn't even like I 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:03.160 want to be that age again, and I just I 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:07.480 want that attitude. I want that feeling again, that you know, 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:11.280 feeling of being fifteen or something and if someone plays 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:15.080 you some song you had never heard and it changes 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.440 your life, you know, which is like a m radio. 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.240 Where we shot the video at our old high school, 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.720 which it would have been my union this year. I've 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:25.600 never set foot in it in twenty years, so it 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:28.320 was really strange to go back and be like, this 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:32.239 is my first time back, and some of my fellow classmates, 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.480 a couple of from like teachers now and um, it's 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:40.480 just wild, you know, going back and um, but the 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:43.520 passage of time and like realizing, oh, you know, some 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:47.320 of us kept that innocence and that curiosity. It's like 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:49.720 what we loved about what we continue to love. I 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:51.680 think as fans, if you're a fan of Neil Young, 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:55.880 is that he just always seems like in wonderment of 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:59.000 what he's doing, he's like gets lost in it. It's 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:03.080 not it's not um scientific, it's not clinical. It's it's 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:04.920 just like a guy who loves what he does and 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:09.000 almost approaches it like a kid would. Oh totally. I was. 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:14.080 I was waxing poetic with a friend recently about his solos, 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:15.840 and this is going to come out as an insult, 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:18.320 and I mean it as the highest compliment. I love 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:20.600 the fact that he so many of his solos it's 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:23.160 like he can't play them, but he plays them anyway. 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.560 It's just sheer force of will, him just hitting that 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:39.760 gretch or whatever it is. And I love that. And 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:42.320 you mentioned earlier about being you know, fifteen years old, 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:46.800 and that that sense of confidence, for lack of a 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.840 better term, I mean, I feel like in those days, 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:51.960 we don't have that judgment voice in our head when 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:54.240 we're trying to create. You're just doing it and the 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:56.960 fact that you're making anything is so exciting. And then 0:16:57.040 --> 0:16:59.080 later on you think, oh that sucks. And the older 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:01.600 you get, the more you think, I've done this, this 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.520 is bad, this will never work there. And how do 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:10.040 you balance, um, keeping that sense of youthful freedom while 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:14.200 also being somebody with you know, a season's musician with 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.600 twenty years of touring under your belt, Like, how do 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:19.960 you balance those those those two sides of you. Yeah, 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:24.120 I mean I think, Um, part of it is you're 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:27.879 constantly I mean I just watched the Beatles documentary, you know, 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:31.639 all nine hours of it. It was it was great. Um. 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.720 But one of the things I noticed, and I don't 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:36.399 know if this is what they were doing, but to me, 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:38.800 it's what they were doing, is they were constantly playing 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:41.919 other people's songs, kind of goofing around, And it was 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.520 in my head it was their way of forgetting what 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:49.120 they were there to do, you know, putting them hypnotizing 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:53.119 themselves so that the real stuff could come out. Because 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:55.720 if you just sit there and you just you know, 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.040 hack away at the same thing over and over and 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:00.080 sort of beat a dead horse. You don't get you 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:04.160 were And so part of trying to silence the inner 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:06.560 critic is to just forget that you're there to make 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:08.719 something that will later be judged. You know, you're just 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:11.240 you're just playing stuff and you're poking around in the dark, 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:17.639 and something happens, like, you know, get back, where what 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:20.880 is this? And uh, it's but I feel like that's 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:22.840 that's a lot of you know, it doesn't happen all 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.880 the time, but when it happens, Uh, it's so special. 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:28.280 And Paul knew it. And that's the other thing is 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:30.879 you can have something really special and he shows it 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:34.040 to John and John's like, all right, there's nothing like 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:37.200 you've done it, you know, which I think is what 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:40.200 a lot of people assume. It's like there's an instinct 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:43.440 in the room with someone, someone's someone's leading some sort 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.280 of charge about it and and magic happens. So I 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:49.480 think part of it is just forgetting to be innocent, 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:51.440 is to forget what you're there to do, and you're 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:55.600 just playing around. You know. It's just like you know, 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:58.280 that's how the song bright Side began. Jared was warming 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:01.880 up you know, and like the drum beat for that 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:04.879 was him was warming up and kind of imitating what 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:07.600 I was playing on guitar and then taking it in 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:11.440 his own direction. And then once he did that, now 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:14.760 my guitar parts not there anymore because he's playing the 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:17.360 thing I was doing. So now I have to do something. 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:22.639 And it's almost like improvisation versus you know, Okay, you 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:25.040 did that, so then I'm gonna do It's not so 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.080 you know, planned out scientific, which I think is a 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:30.960 big part of that feeling of innocence, is just and 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:34.240 then also just actually not there's nowhere else to go. 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:36.359 You've left yourself. The only way to go is to 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:39.720 do it in that room. Instead of well we have 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:42.840 a good song, but let's try to beat it. It's like, no, 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:44.920 we didn't really have a song yet. We just had 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:49.760 a shitty voice memo that we're going to build off of. 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.160 So part of it, I think is setting yourself up 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:55.320 to have that. But I wish I had, Like I 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:58.120 said earlier, I wish I had approached every album this way. 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:01.520 But then again, I'm like, it's money, you can't really 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:03.719 plan that much about it. I don't know if that 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:07.080 was our personality or a confidence level before, because what 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:08.879 we're talking about a lot of it is just just 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:14.439 like almost bravado, but like a naive bravado, like you know, 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:18.760 like I remember Simon, our producer, he kept like putting 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:22.120 his middle fingers in the air like like all the time, 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:24.760 and everybody started doing that. It was just like this 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:29.200 attitude that you feel when you're of a certain mindset, 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:31.680 a certain age, that you try to just live within 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.879 that while you're doing it, but easier. I don't know 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:37.679 how Nil Young has maintained that and and you know, 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:40.560 it's it's incredible, or even you know Tom Petty when 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:43.800 he was alive, or Bruce Springsteen. Um, there's a lot 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:45.800 of people that I grew up listening to that have 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:50.560 maintained into their later years in some beautiful, beautiful way. 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:53.919 And you just try to like sponge it off of 0:20:53.960 --> 0:20:55.720 them of like how do they do that? You know, 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:59.639 try to feel their vibe. I had read that in 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:02.200 the UH in the studio when you start sessions for 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:04.280 a new album, you have a kind of a mood 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:07.280