Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the
Speaker 1: Studio on iHeart Radio. My name is Jordan Runtug, but
Speaker 1: enough about me. My guests today are a pair of brothers.
Speaker 1: But unlike the Gallaghers, the Davies or the Everlei's, they
Speaker 1: get along great, which is something of a rarity and
Speaker 1: rock and roll. You probably became aware of them during
Speaker 1: their tenure in the band Are Five before they struck
Speaker 1: out on their own as a duo with their debut X.
Speaker 1: Now they're back with their sophomore effort Girlfriend. It's an
Speaker 1: eclectic blend that melds a diverse array of influences, ranging
Speaker 1: from classic rock staples like In Excess and Bruce Springsteen
Speaker 1: to nineties hip hop producers like Timberland. Will I Am
Speaker 1: in the Neptunes the records at October fifte but fans
Speaker 1: got an early taste with a string of recent singles
Speaker 1: including Heaven Angel, Number One, Fan and Leave Me Feeling Confident.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy to welcome Ross and Rocky Lynch of
Speaker 1: the Driver era. I hope you enjoy our talk. Take
Speaker 1: a listen. You got a new album on the way, Girlfriend,
Speaker 1: the first since your debut in You said that this
Speaker 1: is your most eclectic work to date. I think there
Speaker 1: was a quote about you saying that this was more
Speaker 1: Rihanna like than your last album X. I wanted to
Speaker 1: start there. What kind of influences went into the pot
Speaker 1: for this? I mean, I guess it's kind of everything,
Speaker 1: everything that we've ever grown up on or anything that
Speaker 1: we've been influenced by recently. UM, it's such a it's
Speaker 1: such an interesting question to answer because like we live
Speaker 1: with music, like music always everywhere with us, UM, like
Speaker 1: on on the best days, like music is playing all day,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? UM, And that could be
Speaker 1: arranged from like Bob Marley to like freaking We've been
Speaker 1: uh talking about a little Wayne recently because of his
Speaker 1: UM he honestly just has an amazing career in some
Speaker 1: amazing tracks as well, obviously, UM. And then like Cardi B,
Speaker 1: like Pharrell, UM, I feel like there's always uh growing
Speaker 1: up with Like there's a lot of like I don't know,
Speaker 1: kind of like mineties like hip hop someone I guess
Speaker 1: that influenced a lot of our production tendencies. And so
Speaker 1: I mean Rolster said Farrell, you know, even like you
Speaker 1: know Drey Uh some stuff that Jay Z has done,
Speaker 1: Like we've been listening to a lot of that recently. Um,
Speaker 1: and then it kind of like it goes all the
Speaker 1: way to like for whatever reason, I was kind of
Speaker 1: obsessed with and we both liked this a lot. But
Speaker 1: like family opera, I listened to a lot of family opera,
Speaker 1: so like it was, yeah, it was. It was a
Speaker 1: white spectrum. Uh, and I I think that's kind of
Speaker 1: why a lot of what we um, a lot of
Speaker 1: what we do now usually a lot of our productions
Speaker 1: tend to have a little a little like hip hop
Speaker 1: R and B flair to him. And you know, we
Speaker 1: always like to kind of just like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: gloss it up with some with some some nice pop elements.
Speaker 1: I feel like even more and more as we go.
Speaker 1: Actually we're sort of like leaning more towards hip hop,
Speaker 1: like the more music we make. Um, so I feel
Speaker 1: like that had still yet to be uh fully accented
Speaker 1: in our music, I guess, but there's undertones throughout for sure.
Speaker 1: It's gonna say. I mean, I think you're three two
Speaker 1: singles back, have an Angel. Let's started off as like
Speaker 1: a hip hop freestyle, right kind of. Um, yeah, you
Speaker 1: were kind of saying that it's a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of the melodies and parts that end up going
Speaker 1: into songs usually are somewhat of like a I'm just
Speaker 1: like a flow or like a freestyle so I have
Speaker 1: an angel For instance, was um, I was in here
Speaker 1: kind of working on in the song and Aweso's just
Speaker 1: like over yonder by the fire kind acoustic guitar and
Speaker 1: essentially it's like the same uh it's someone is the
Speaker 1: same thing of like, oh, let me freestyle, but it
Speaker 1: but you just are kind of doing it with like
Speaker 1: an acoustic guitar and or you know, yeah, the genre
Speaker 1: is is floating more in specifically that song, like a
Speaker 1: little more like funky uh you know yeah, a little
Speaker 1: funk pop rocking a little more. Now you're talking to
Speaker 1: me from your your home studio. You've been insanely productive,
Speaker 1: I think in you released I think five songs. How
Speaker 1: much of this album was done during during Lockdown? In
Speaker 1: the room that you're talking to me in right now,
Speaker 1: was this uh, I hate to say Quarantine project, but
Speaker 1: it was a lot of the stunt during Lockdown. Um
Speaker 1: sort of towards the end of Lockdown. In the beginning
Speaker 1: of Lockdown, it was a bit of an uninspired time,
Speaker 1: you know, the world being shut down and and and
Speaker 1: just like there's nowhere to go, nowhere to see. Um.
Speaker 1: It was much more of a of a of a
Speaker 1: self reflective time to to read and meditate and too
Speaker 1: kind of get spiritual, I guess, um. So we so
Speaker 1: we took a lot of our time to do that,
Speaker 1: and then about halfway through we started picking up production again.
Speaker 1: And yeah, you're right, this is this is where pretty
Speaker 1: much it all happens, um, and pretty much all of
Speaker 1: the Driver era has happened in this room. Actually, yeah,
Speaker 1: there was on this album. We basically like wrapped and
Speaker 1: finished everything in here. Um, but where the um some
Speaker 1: songs were started and whatnot. It's you know, it's this room.
Speaker 1: It's uh. In Vancouver, he hit a little spot we
Speaker 1: had like a little uh baby grand you know, like
Speaker 1: a little portable studio set up where some songs were
Speaker 1: started and somewhat you know, not necessarily finished, but like
Speaker 1: got to a good place and even back in our
Speaker 1: old um, our old house, ye are. So there's a
Speaker 1: little there's a track that we started like in the
Speaker 1: living room in our our parents house. And there's another
Speaker 1: there's another song that was worked on in our our
Speaker 1: original studio, in our older band house, which was just
Speaker 1: like a little guest house to a house in the valley.
Speaker 1: And so it's there's a little bit of you know,
Speaker 1: songs from different places, but they all ended up coming
Speaker 1: together here in this room. I think your your latest
Speaker 1: single leave Me Feeling Confident, I think is the oldest
Speaker 1: track on this album, right, Can you tell me a
Speaker 1: little bit about where the genesis of that track? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that one happened when we were between houses. Um,
Speaker 1: we were just finished up a tour something. And on
Speaker 1: that one we were on tour. Yeah, we're on tour.
Speaker 1: That we had a little um, we made like a
Speaker 1: little portable studio rig, like I don't know how many
Speaker 1: years back. That's just kind of like always work, like
Speaker 1: if you just have a mic, we have, you know,
Speaker 1: a little interface that we can accord with. And that
Speaker 1: was just a some night on tour that we just
Speaker 1: we just brought it into a hotel room. I think,
Speaker 1: I want to say, we have bus call that night
Speaker 1: at like midnight, and so we were like, oh, it's
Speaker 1: just going this room for a little they have to
Speaker 1: fix the m o A. Is that why we had that?
Speaker 1: What we have this keyboard, this like big keyboard, and
Speaker 1: it's sometimes my functions and one of our texts has
Speaker 1: to take it in and fix it. I think that
Speaker 1: was what I think that's why we were in the
Speaker 1: hotel room. Oh, because then he was working, he was
Speaker 1: fixing the keyboard, and then we took that opportunity to
Speaker 1: set up like the rest of the we're like we'll
Speaker 1: hang out here. Yeah. And then and then, uh, I
Speaker 1: just found this like weird little cord, that descending chord
Speaker 1: thing and just thought it was all sorts of funky
Speaker 1: and uh, it was just having a heyday with it.
Speaker 1: We just loved it. The type of artists that have
Speaker 1: like a million songs in the vault, like the people
Speaker 1: that just sort of like can't stop right and then
Speaker 1: when it comes to album time, you gotta do this
Speaker 1: kind of massive culling process. Yeah, just getting the vibe talking,
Speaker 1: it feels it feels like you're writing NonStop. I imagine
Speaker 1: that you gotta get a whole lot in reserve. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like I mean, just yesterday, you know, we wanted it
Speaker 1: was Sunday, We watched a little football um and then
Speaker 1: somehow we found ourselves kind of just you know, back
Speaker 1: at the house and we're like, all right, let's you know,
Speaker 1: let's go in the studio and and we're we I
Speaker 1: want to say we like we opened up like three
Speaker 1: different songs that we have been messing up recently, and
Speaker 1: they're you know, it's three brand new songs that we're
Speaker 1: adding to this pile of Like I don't I don't
Speaker 1: know how many kind of like idea wise, just exist
Speaker 1: on our hard drive, but it's it's one of those
Speaker 1: things we were like, we can't we can't help ourselves
Speaker 1: but to want to find the next exciting hook, like
Speaker 1: or like the next exciting beat or like. So so
Speaker 1: sometimes we will end up having like five or six
Speaker 1: of these songs that were just sort of like crafting
Speaker 1: or letting them brew in the in the hard drive,
Speaker 1: if you will, um. But then like you have five
Speaker 1: or six songs over here, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: like Rocky starts playing a riff that's like super cool
Speaker 1: we've never heard before, or like a drum beat comes
Speaker 1: up and we're just we gotta jump on it. You
Speaker 1: can't help ourselves. It's so weird. But so that's why
Speaker 1: we have like thousands of songs and are hard drive
Speaker 1: that hopefully we'll see the light of day eventually, are
Speaker 1: you tinkers? Is it hard to like pet to let
Speaker 1: a song go, like when you stop working on and say, okay,
Speaker 1: you know what it's done? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, there's like
Speaker 1: how do you know when it's done? It kind of
Speaker 1: I mean, whether it's like it's either managed mint it's
Speaker 1: like okay, it's time to go, so we're like all right,
Speaker 1: have it, or it's like this one's done, this needs
Speaker 1: to see the light of day. Rocky stopp E quelling
Speaker 1: that snare drum, Let's get this ship out here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like that, Like I want to say, actually, like like
Speaker 1: right now, songs that aren't released, it's probably like maybe
Speaker 1: like ten to fifteen that are common in like a
Speaker 1: place probably, and it's like like the we like some
Speaker 1: bounces of them, you know, like sitting on our phones,
Speaker 1: you know, um, and they and they're they're basically finished,
Speaker 1: but we probably won't actually be like all right, cool
Speaker 1: it is until somehow there's like a somewhat of a deadline,
Speaker 1: 're like putting together an album or something so and
Speaker 1: then we'll be like all right, cool, like you have
Speaker 1: to that one last thing we were like sitting on
Speaker 1: money to take us like five minutes, um. But like
Speaker 1: like if like in the back of my mind, like
Speaker 1: I kind of know, like whatever, like something like it's
Speaker 1: kind of done, but there's like these couple of things,
Speaker 1: but like we'll do those couple of things when the
Speaker 1: time comes. And that somewhat is like it's like I
Speaker 1: don't know if we're a little bit like a little more.
Speaker 1: I guess like better set up are like are like
Speaker 1: efficiency of like working, Yeah, like we we might there
Speaker 1: might be like you know, we probably get I also
Speaker 1: think there's a there's a very vulnerable aspect to to
Speaker 1: releasing music and letting it go and and um, we're
Speaker 1: getting better at it for sure, but I think that
Speaker 1: is also what maybe delays the release of some of
Speaker 1: these songs is it's, first of all, we like to
Speaker 1: live with the songs a little bit, like like we
Speaker 1: were saying at the end of the day, like it's
Speaker 1: nice to have the song just be ours for a
Speaker 1: little while in case like there are big decisions or
Speaker 1: changes that need to happen, um. And then also just
Speaker 1: kind of putting off the inevitable feeling of like vulnerability. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess what Is that just about you know, these
Speaker 1: things are your babies, These things you put so much
Speaker 1: work into and so much of your heart and emotions into.
Speaker 1: You just nervous for What are you nervous about it?
Speaker 1: Is it just judgment or or not being as good
Speaker 1: as you you wanted to be? Or I think you
Speaker 1: just always think it. I think I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: because like even when I listened to songs on the
Speaker 1: radio or I'm like listening to songs in my car,
Speaker 1: I'm always like, oh, yeah, it can be simple. That's
Speaker 1: okay too, you know. UM, but in the process of it,
Speaker 1: you're thinking, like, oh, like people want to hear me,
Speaker 1: be honest, and they want to hear me like shed
Speaker 1: these layers or like they it needs to be more
Speaker 1: than just like I love this ship. I guess sometimes
Speaker 1: can hold you up, but it can also be simple.
Speaker 1: And actually simple is is the best I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe it's just overthinking, but we've been, but we've that
Speaker 1: was one of the best things about the pandemic is
Speaker 1: it give us a second to like reconstruct what was
Speaker 1: or um just kind of like reevaluate, like what's serving
Speaker 1: us and what's not On a on a mental standpoint, um, so,
Speaker 1: I'm actually really grateful for the pandemic gave me a
Speaker 1: lot of time to like reconstruct, uh some of those
Speaker 1: concepts for myself and and for for production and stuff.
Speaker 1: It's good. Was that Leonardo da Vinci quote something like
Speaker 1: Art's never finished, it's only abandoned. Yo. That is I
Speaker 1: love that guy. That guy was a genius for sure.
Speaker 1: Isn't there something I want to say? It's want of
Speaker 1: it's either cam or with some some one of those
Speaker 1: guys is like painting something and you like you like, yeah,
Speaker 1: is is it uh? Or or there's like like working
Speaker 1: over like twelve years or some ship the Mona Lisa? Yeah,
Speaker 1: is it that? Yeah? And he's like he's like like
Speaker 1: he's like doing like he's like a juststing, like barely anything,
Speaker 1: like he like carries it around with like years something
Speaker 1: like is it that it's the Lisa? Is that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think that? Where am I thinking of Michael Angelo?
Speaker 1: I think it's the Mona Lisa. I know Michael Angelo
Speaker 1: was working on the Sistine Chapel for some ridiculous length
Speaker 1: of time. I don't know. I'm not sure though I
Speaker 1: can see them both doing it, to be honest. So it,
Speaker 1: says Leonardo be I mean, this is just some random
Speaker 1: Google thing. Leonardo begins paying the Mona Lisa, which he
Speaker 1: will work on for four years. According to Leonardo Deo,
Speaker 1: well yeah, I'm pretty sure he thought it was bad too.
Speaker 1: I mean, do you are you that way? Like when
Speaker 1: you release your out I mean, if you're listening to
Speaker 1: your first album X for example, like I do listen
Speaker 1: to it's like, oh man, that you know that high hat,
Speaker 1: we could have done something with that high hat and
Speaker 1: that snare or that that that base sounds too trebly
Speaker 1: or something. I mean, do you are you ever satisfied
Speaker 1: with what you do? Um? I think on a on
Speaker 1: a on a vibe level, yes, like whenever you like,
Speaker 1: whenever like a track, or like a pocket a sense
Speaker 1: for rhythm or or like those ways, It's easy to
Speaker 1: be satisfied. Um. The hardest thing to be satisfied about,
Speaker 1: I found is is about my voice, because I've been
Speaker 1: I've been doing this for a long time, and uh,
Speaker 1: it's almost funny now actually, like I can go back,
Speaker 1: like literally, I can go back and listen to a
Speaker 1: song that I did ten years ago, which I don't
Speaker 1: think a lot of people can say um and just
Speaker 1: and just hear like fifteen year old me like singing
Speaker 1: a track and it's almost hilarious because I'm like, wow,
Speaker 1: I sounds so young. It's like but it's it, but
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, it's it's more hilarious than it than
Speaker 1: it is anything else. I think it kind of goes
Speaker 1: both ways to like if we go you know, dive
Speaker 1: into X uh, I guess it's someone inevitable to be
Speaker 1: like all right, cool, like you could have like you said, oh,
Speaker 1: like you know, there's always mixed things. I feel like,
Speaker 1: uh yeah, which you know you're like, oh, like you
Speaker 1: can have more low one Like I'm I'm always like
Speaker 1: like guilty of be like you know, we need more
Speaker 1: lower Like I'm always just like like just trying to
Speaker 1: crank the low end. I'm a bass player, so I
Speaker 1: I really I feel like okay, okay, yeah. So like
Speaker 1: there's there's dona be that, and then there's um. There
Speaker 1: are times where you know, uh say, we haven't listened
Speaker 1: to a song on there for like a second, maybe
Speaker 1: like a year, and we'll stumble upon it somehow maybe
Speaker 1: like I don't maybe some will play it or we'll
Speaker 1: be like oh, we'll like bump it or something, and
Speaker 1: there are moments of like, oh night, like nice job
Speaker 1: rockety Ross from but years ago, I say, like that
Speaker 1: was kind of like you kind of can like I
Speaker 1: don't want you get to a point where you worried.
Speaker 1: Is I don't know, it's you're just like okay, like
Speaker 1: I see what y'all were doing. I don't know, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's good sometimes. Yeah, sometimes like a year out
Speaker 1: or like maybe more, you can like revisit things and
Speaker 1: it definitely gives you a feeling of mom, you know,
Speaker 1: you can buy yourself on the back. It's a good
Speaker 1: feeling for sure. Yeah. I mean this is probably a
Speaker 1: nice segue while we're talking about judging our ourselves to
Speaker 1: talk about number one fan, let's like get into the
Speaker 1: you know, fans, the positive reinforcement your your recent single,
Speaker 1: second most recent single. Uh, tell me more about that.
Speaker 1: Where did that that title come from? The message of
Speaker 1: that song? UM kind of has a lot of messages.
Speaker 1: I think initially it was always about UM my girlfriend
Speaker 1: H who is an artist as well and and really
Speaker 1: talented artists and UH and UH want and you know,
Speaker 1: just I don't know how personal I want to get
Speaker 1: about Uh, Essentially, it's about just being like, hey, like
Speaker 1: I like, I've definitely made mistakes, like everyone makes mistakes,
Speaker 1: but I'm here and uh and I want to do
Speaker 1: my best and um, I'll be your number one fan,
Speaker 1: like I'll be there for you, uh and I'll be
Speaker 1: support I'll be supportive of of of of us, of us,
Speaker 1: you and us um and then and then this the
Speaker 1: the other side to that song is wanting to be
Speaker 1: your own number one fan, you know, because because oftentimes,
Speaker 1: especially in art, the artist is you're you're of the
Speaker 1: person holding yourself back like share like you might get
Speaker 1: like positive praise, negative praise, whatever, it doesn't even matter.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, it's it's like
Speaker 1: up to you to do it or to not do it. Um.
Speaker 1: And so it's also about like you're on number one
Speaker 1: fan and like, dude, what you love kinda uh do
Speaker 1: you want to add anything onto that? Uh ir for
Speaker 1: some reason, like to mention this, but that's like somewhat
Speaker 1: of uh when like that song uh, like we we
Speaker 1: had a track four and once we kind of started
Speaker 1: um thrown on you know, a top line and whatnot.
Speaker 1: It was right around this time when Ross fell out
Speaker 1: a treat and I don't like, I don't know why.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's it's relevant to the verse. He
Speaker 1: thinks this is funny because it's like like to me,
Speaker 1: it like it like kind of sparked like the let
Speaker 1: down moment of like the verse um like literally fell
Speaker 1: out of a tree. Yeah, Like he literally hit concrete.
Speaker 1: He was like hurt and hurt. Yeah, he was like,
Speaker 1: I don't know how many tie up I had to
Speaker 1: have been fifteen or two. The branch breaks underneath him
Speaker 1: and he just just his cement and which is a
Speaker 1: terrifying feeling. Yeah, you're right, you're the ground like fell
Speaker 1: out from under you. Dude. It's not a fun feeling.
Speaker 1: So at that point, not only are you like, well,
Speaker 1: I I don't really know how people feeling, but okay,
Speaker 1: like I was pissed. Yeah, you're like do you feel
Speaker 1: some extreme pain and your and somewhat whether that pain
Speaker 1: or something that or not, you're like somewhat maybe feeling low. Uh,
Speaker 1: And to me, it kind of like sets up the
Speaker 1: arc of the song of like I don't know, like
Speaker 1: coming back around like being like I got you somehow,
Speaker 1: Like in that moment, I feel like I got you,
Speaker 1: so like yeah to me and to me it just
Speaker 1: paints like this some song coming. Yeah, I'm like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: it's got out of a Treatum song makes sense now,
Speaker 1: I don't know, dude. Any of the feelings that went
Speaker 1: into Number one Fan inspire the title for the album Girlfriend. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean like girl girl. The reason we like the
Speaker 1: name girlfriend is because it it really tied all the
Speaker 1: songs together. Well, um, but yeah, I think I think
Speaker 1: Number one Fan is is um probably one of the
Speaker 1: best songs under the title. Probably. Yeah, you mentioned uh
Speaker 1: the song I'm Gonna make sure I'm saying all right
Speaker 1: crazy Baby spelled differently um as being a standout track
Speaker 1: in the album. What is it about that song that
Speaker 1: really makes it special for you? The things we'd like
Speaker 1: to say about that song is, uh, it's kind of
Speaker 1: the first song because you know, what we're talking about
Speaker 1: having an angel house is kind of like, you know,
Speaker 1: there's uh someone just like a flow and of some
Speaker 1: of like a freestyle. Uh. Crazy Baby was somewhat uh
Speaker 1: in that same way, But it's kind of the first
Speaker 1: song where we both just did that and and did
Speaker 1: our part separately. Because growing up, you know you're going
Speaker 1: to sessions and whatnot, and it's like you're making you're
Speaker 1: making a song some a couple of people that you
Speaker 1: just met that day, and you're like sitting on a verse.
Speaker 1: You're like trying to write this verse with these with
Speaker 1: these people for like two hours or whatever, and everyone
Speaker 1: was like throwing out all these words on like what
Speaker 1: of James Dean reference, Yeah, just like hod like the
Speaker 1: like your most typical like songwriter words and sentences and
Speaker 1: crazy baby is uh is exactly not that, it's it's
Speaker 1: I I got back from I came back from my
Speaker 1: girlfriend's apartment actually, and Ross was in here. Um he
Speaker 1: just had that song up. He had I think you
Speaker 1: just started. Just like a lot of our workflow is
Speaker 1: um which we do. We do, you know, we're kind
Speaker 1: of hands on with everything when it comes to the music,
Speaker 1: but a lot of times I'm a little more producer
Speaker 1: and he's a little more um top liney. But I
Speaker 1: got back and he was in here do the majority
Speaker 1: of the production on that song, and he had and
Speaker 1: he had a couple of his parts that he was
Speaker 1: already doing, and I was just outside, uh kind of
Speaker 1: like yo, I'm like I'm bubing this thing. I was
Speaker 1: like trying to like sink it to him. He was like,
Speaker 1: get in there, bro, it's like get down. I was
Speaker 1: like very talk like um, and and again it just
Speaker 1: kind of you're like, all right, I guess that's the
Speaker 1: part now. And and again it's not like it was
Speaker 1: like all right, look like how can I like come
Speaker 1: in with these like what what lines can I say?
Speaker 1: It was just like, oh, here's these lines are like
Speaker 1: happening currently, and um, you know it's I wasn't even
Speaker 1: trying to think of words, you know, it was like
Speaker 1: they're just they're just kind of coming out. So in
Speaker 1: that sense, it's somewhat is like a a freestyle, but
Speaker 1: it's also like maybe maybe the maybe you've you've found
Speaker 1: the part you're looking for, like the last thing. A
Speaker 1: little thing I want to add about this song too,
Speaker 1: is it's um a good representation of our of our
Speaker 1: uh like orally chaos um when it comes to our music,
Speaker 1: because sometimes, like Rocky is kind of saying like we'll
Speaker 1: just throw things on the canvas and and uh often
Speaker 1: sometimes just like let it stick and work with it,
Speaker 1: even if it's like has like minor mistakes or whatever.
Speaker 1: Is it um. So this song is like a cool
Speaker 1: version of that where it's like orally chaos UM, where
Speaker 1: if you listen closely at the pockets real wonky and
Speaker 1: it's just like a lot of cool elements hidden throughout
Speaker 1: that you can UM and I just take a listen
Speaker 1: to it and see if you see, if you hear it.
Speaker 1: It sounds like so much of your process is letting
Speaker 1: things happen organically. I know there was an interview you
Speaker 1: gave recently, I think with Entertainment Weekly where you're talking
Speaker 1: about how m making music is almost like a meditation
Speaker 1: for you. It's it's sort of reawakened UM. You know
Speaker 1: it affected your spirituality in a way. I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you more about that about sort of like being
Speaker 1: present in the moment when you're you're making music and
Speaker 1: how that impacts just you know, you're you're in a
Speaker 1: spiritual level in a broader sense. UM h m hm.
Speaker 1: We're I think you're like, we're seeing this a little
Speaker 1: bit ago. But there's something with UM like like attempting
Speaker 1: to write music UM in itself is like it's one
Speaker 1: of the like craziest like transformation UM processes. Uh. I think,
Speaker 1: especially especially if you are trying to uncover or or
Speaker 1: or like arrive at like something like, um, arrive at
Speaker 1: some version of of what is true to you. Um,
Speaker 1: you know it is very much a spiritual a spiritual thing. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: even if you don't start at that place, like if
Speaker 1: you're an atheist, like trying to make music, I think
Speaker 1: eventually you're gonna gonna have to sort of surrender to
Speaker 1: the fact that it's a little bit beyond your control, um,
Speaker 1: the process of it. And and we've found the more
Speaker 1: you do try to control it, and this what's so
Speaker 1: weird about this is this process directly reflects, like it's
Speaker 1: directly reflected in just like everyday life. But trying to
Speaker 1: control it's unveiling just kind of squashes the magic of it.
Speaker 1: Like you like you can just get in your own way,
Speaker 1: which is the idea behind Number one fan, is like
Speaker 1: stop getting in your own way just just like you
Speaker 1: can just you can allow it. And I love and
Speaker 1: and love it and and kind of like allow yourself
Speaker 1: to be great by being your own number one fan. Um,
Speaker 1: that's like the second idea. But I think that's why
Speaker 1: music has such a spiritual reaction for the people that
Speaker 1: make it speak because yeah, it's when you witness magic
Speaker 1: while trying to or or while deciding not to try.
Speaker 1: Just so like being with the music, you end up
Speaker 1: witnessing magic in your life. I don't know where that
Speaker 1: necessarily came from. Um. And you'll hear this from the
Speaker 1: likes of a lot of like amazing musicians John Lennon
Speaker 1: and UM, Billy Joel and UM, Chris Martin, um from Coldplay,
Speaker 1: like all sorts of musicians will will say the same thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when did you discover that you grew up in a
Speaker 1: really musical household? Um? Pretty much our parents didn't play music,
Speaker 1: but our oldest brother it was just like obsessed with
Speaker 1: um all the biggest stuff, you know, the Beatles and
Speaker 1: Elvis and Michael Jackson and and we used to recreate
Speaker 1: his music videos and dances and stuff and put on
Speaker 1: shows for our family. Wait, I need to know everything
Speaker 1: about that? What what videos? That's awesome? Like? Oh man,
Speaker 1: we did like justin Timberlake music videos and videos all
Speaker 1: the moves and everything. Oh yeah, yeah, we moved by
Speaker 1: move like we were like degree too. We did agreece
Speaker 1: and we were like like we copied them exactly. Oh,
Speaker 1: the Darren's dance groove stuff for I think that was him, right, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so much so that our mom at a really young age,
Speaker 1: was like, all right, they obviously like to do this.
Speaker 1: I can't get them to not do this. They're always
Speaker 1: just performing in my basement. And so she enrolled us
Speaker 1: in dance classes and like choir and stuff. We're a
Speaker 1: real really young age. UM. So yeah, like we've we've
Speaker 1: spent like days upon days like I was. I did
Speaker 1: like a bunch of ballet. Rocky did a little bit
Speaker 1: of ballet too, but he was don't feel like he
Speaker 1: was as much into UM. But like, yeah, so we
Speaker 1: have a pretty extensive dance background because of that. UM
Speaker 1: but uh, I don't know. I man, I felt like
Speaker 1: music just kind of found us when we were really young,
Speaker 1: thanks to our oldest brother, UM, and then step by
Speaker 1: step we've just gotten here. Ross. I have a ridiculously
Speaker 1: specific question for you, speaking of influences. I was reading
Speaker 1: an interview gave I think it was with h M
Speaker 1: V and about your your favorite albums, and you name
Speaker 1: checked the Paul McCartney and Wings album Back to the Egg,
Speaker 1: which is one of my favorite albums that no one
Speaker 1: ever like. He makes fun of that album himself, and
Speaker 1: I've always loved that album. I just wanted to ask
Speaker 1: you about that because I think that's a great record
Speaker 1: that nobody ever talks about. You know, it's so funny.
Speaker 1: Oh man, I felt bad now because it's it's I
Speaker 1: don't actually know a whole lot about that record. They
Speaker 1: were I thought they were asking, like what album cover
Speaker 1: you be like, Oh, yeah, the cover is nuts. Yeah
Speaker 1: it covers great, But you know what I actually have,
Speaker 1: I should probably listen to it a few more times.
Speaker 1: I'm probably not as like dedicated to it as you are,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Oh, it's a bizarre record.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's like I mean, maybe that's why I
Speaker 1: like it, because I'm just I'm a huge McCartney nerd,
Speaker 1: and I've just heard all the stuff like Ram and
Speaker 1: Band on the Run that everybody always listens to, and
Speaker 1: that's the one that just never gets played. So maybe
Speaker 1: it just sounds fresher than me. But it's weird. It's
Speaker 1: from like seventy nine, so he's trying to do like
Speaker 1: it's like punk stuff but then also a little bit
Speaker 1: of new wave, and then also just him being weird
Speaker 1: and doing like spoken words stuff, and then there's like
Speaker 1: a jazz track on there. It's just this bizarre record
Speaker 1: and the the the actual like not just the genres
Speaker 1: he's playing it, but the sounds itself are really weird.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I'm curious, but what you guys, as
Speaker 1: as you know, serious music makers, I'm like a fan
Speaker 1: just like me. Uh, but think of it. I think
Speaker 1: you might enjoy it. Gotta go peep that now for sure.
Speaker 1: It's it's super weird. We're gonna we're gonna bump that
Speaker 1: after this, uh little chat. What have you been listening to?
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people I know during lockdown
Speaker 1: I've been kind of turning to musical comfort food and
Speaker 1: playing stuff that they haven't played since they were in
Speaker 1: like high school. I know I've been doing that. What
Speaker 1: it's been on your your your speakers lately? A lot
Speaker 1: of reggae? Um, let me just pull my Spotify. I
Speaker 1: kind of did what you just said where I wouldn't
Speaker 1: listen just recently. Just I used to like this album
Speaker 1: a lot, but okay, go ah, oh yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: cool record. I really I liked the album a lot
Speaker 1: and I hadn't heard it in like a second. But
Speaker 1: hungry Hungry Ghost record at that record around that time,
Speaker 1: like I liked it a lot and I hadn't listened
Speaker 1: to it, and just like the other day, I want
Speaker 1: listen to the whole thing. I was like, Oh, it's sick.
Speaker 1: They have that to me kind of it. It's kind
Speaker 1: of early for its time because everything in there sounds
Speaker 1: super like. They was like, yoh, let's just like make
Speaker 1: a computer record, like it just sounds like it's in
Speaker 1: the box or like maybe that's why I like it,
Speaker 1: but like I don't. It's a fun Yeah, I'm really like, Okay, go,
Speaker 1: I think they're underrated. I gotta check that out again.
Speaker 1: All Right, you played you played back to the a
Speaker 1: go play Hungry Ghost and comp that'ds good. Well my my, my,
Speaker 1: last you know question, a couple of questions about the tour.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be getting back out in the roads, and
Speaker 1: that's gotta be nice. After eighteen months, I think of
Speaker 1: of being being home. It feels good. It feels good.
Speaker 1: It's it's really reassuring to know that all this work
Speaker 1: that we've done over the past ten years has um
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's kind of like a really nice
Speaker 1: security blanket. Because you know, over the quarantine and stuff,
Speaker 1: it's like you spent all this time alone and without
Speaker 1: like work and and and getting to see like the
Speaker 1: people who enjoy the music and stuff, and you know
Speaker 1: they can you can just kind of forget about it,
Speaker 1: I guess a little bit. But it's it's really reassuring
Speaker 1: to be like, Wow, we can freaking go to Europe
Speaker 1: and like sell out all these like these shows in
Speaker 1: South America and and freaking we're playing two nights at
Speaker 1: the Fonda in l a Um and we know and
Speaker 1: and it's just like it's just really nice to know
Speaker 1: that people want to come see the show and and
Speaker 1: even though we've been doing it for so long and
Speaker 1: like I'm sure it's gonna be a lot of the
Speaker 1: same people. Like That's that that was really exciting to rerealize. Um,
Speaker 1: because I feel like it just hit me the last
Speaker 1: few days because someone was like someone they were like, yeah,
Speaker 1: Argentina sold out in ten minutes or something like that.
Speaker 1: Are and um, I don't know, I'm just like I
Speaker 1: guess we're just not in the know all the time
Speaker 1: with those kind of facts. But I was just like,
Speaker 1: holy crap, that's really that's really something man. And and
Speaker 1: I'm really grateful, really really grateful because because we've worked
Speaker 1: hard to be in this position for sure, no doubt. Um.
Speaker 1: So that feels really good, really really good. And uh
Speaker 1: and I'm really excited to to to put together a
Speaker 1: great show and go see all the fans and knock
Speaker 1: their socks off. We still have yet to do a
Speaker 1: lot of that work, that pre show work, uh, caring
Speaker 1: out for the tour, but um, it's gonna be great.
Speaker 1: Oh man, Well, I can't wait for that incredible homecoming
Speaker 1: on the stage. Ross Rocky, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: your time, and it really appreciates been such a pleasure
Speaker 1: talking to you. It's been great talking to YouTube man.
Speaker 1: Thank you well. Safe travels on the When when's the
Speaker 1: tour kick off again? I think November fifty okay, oh
Speaker 1: how sooner than I thought? Wow? Okay, Well, safe travels.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the hell out of it. Man. I'm really I'm
Speaker 1: so glad you're getting back out there. Thanks. Thanks for
Speaker 1: really excited. It could be great. We hope you enjoyed
Speaker 1: this episode of Inside the Studio, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more episodes of Inside the Studio or
Speaker 1: other fantastic shows, check out the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.