07: The Naaman Creative Show LIVE! (w/ P.M.Tiger)

Well, everybody, we are rolling. So it’s kind of hard to express how cool this is and how meaningful it is that all of you are here. It’s hard to believe that we just. Jordan and I were just talking about where did this idea come from? And we were hanging out one night playing with some new tunes that we’re working on, and I guess it just came about and here we are.

Hit us. Hit us. And now it’s here.

We’ve done it. We manifested it. Yeah, it’s true.

And here you are. So thank you so much for coming. I really appreciate it.

My daughter’s in the audience. My wife’s in the audience. I got friends and family and colleagues and partners and clients and my business coach.

And this is incredible. So I’m not gonna spend too much time on that. But I did want to tell you all how amazing this is.

The owner of the building is here. Thank you, Scott. This place is amazing.

The Florida nest here in St. Pete. So how cool of a place to do all this. And the dudes, the PM tiger dudes.

The dudes. This is one of my favorite bands in the world. I’m a little biased because I know them, because when my wife and I moved to Florida in 2018, I had to find a band.

I had to find a band. I had to find it. I had to have a baby eventually.

There she is. And I found these guys, and I was their drummer for two years about, and it was the. It was one of the biggest pleasures of my life, and it still is because we continue to be able to jam, play music, be friends.

I get to support them and their amazing journey. If you haven’t checked these guys out, they’re absolutely incredible. And so I just, number one, want to get it out there that you guys will see that and you will know how incredible they are.

They have some upcoming shows that they’ll talk about, too, but you guys want to just, like, dive in and maybe get my daughter from being on stage there. She just wants to be here with us. We’re not quite sure what’s going to happen on the.

She wants to meet PM Tiger, too. She does. Well, first of all, thank you for all of the kind words.

Josh, it was a pleasure having you in the band. It’s a pleasure having you as a friend. Glad that we can link back up and do something else.

PM Tiger now. Yeah. And also, Jordan is our audio director of naming creative as well.

So he will be producing this podcast. He wrote the music for this podcast and we’re producing other people’s podcasts. So he is a talented gem alongside his brother and John.

And I wanted to just really quick, so they know context. If you could go down the line, just say who you are and what instrument you play in the band. I’m Josh, and I play the keys, and I’m his brother, and that’s who I am.

I’m Jon. I play guitar. I’m not related to them, but.

But he’s one of my best friends. I am Jordan, and I am the lead singer of the band. He also shreds on guitar.

So I have some favorite songs. There will probably be some inside jokes, but I’ve heard songs that probably won’t be released for many years. Or ever.

Or ever. But, man, are they good. So true.

So true. You’ve heard them all. The one that you just referenced, he hates.

I know one of my favorites. And honestly, that’s the beauty of your guys music, because it’s so diverse that the people within the band can also be really attached to it or not. And I think you’re able to reach more people because of the diversity of that music.

So there’s something very special that you guys are onto. But I want to reverse back. How did this band get formed? Where did PM Tiger come from? Oh, goodness.

All the way back to the beginning. Peachtree City. Peachtree City, Georgia.

And our parents. If you guys are familiar with frogs front room over garage, that’s where it all happened in Georgia. We were in the frog.

Jordan had some songs written with no vocals, and I had barely any music background. And I was like, what if I sang on those songs, man, that’d be cool. And then we came up with some singing, and then we played some open mics, and we were like, whoa.

That feeling I had never performed before. He had been in other bands, and I was just like, whoa, dude, there’s something to this. I have to butt in and give a little bit of information about that first show that we ever played, the open mic night.

So he was singing, Josh. I was playing guitar. Those songs that weren’t really fully written, definitely not pmtiger esque songs yet.

We played a show to a bar, restaurant. Filled, filled maybe like 100, 200 people. It was really upon each ending of the songs, zero applause, zero noise.

Literally nothing, except for, like, clinking of people eating and not liking whatever they eat. We were so nervous before the show, but I wasn’t nervous when I was up there. It was just so interesting to be, like, that awkward moment.

I thrive off of awkwardness, so it was just like people were like making weird faces. Cause, like, what we were singing about and like, it was not. Cause Peachtree City is just like not the same vibe as us.

It’s like conservative Georgia. Like, it’s just a little different, you know? A little different than what you look at us, we’re tattooed, long haired dudes. So they already were looking at us like, what the heck? And then we go up there and sing a song called what the hell? And then they’re like, what are you? Quite literally repeated that name in their response.

But yeah, no, the nerves turned to excitement and that sparked something, sparked the beginning of something that has blossomed into whatever it is now. Yeah, I didn’t sing really anymore except backup vocals. He became a singer.

Then I learned how to play keys. Then we got Max from Florida. We got him from Florida.

Cause he knew them from high school. They were dry. Well, Max was living in the frog with us.

Actually kind of bumming it on the sofa was the original bass player for being. And then John would drive up on the weekends, like 7 hours to come practice. And we didn’t even have a drummer.

It was just an idea. And then, yeah, and then we all decided to move together to Florida, me, Max and Jordan. And then he already was in Florida.

And then we found him on Craigslist. And then we had a band, man, and we started playing shows in like, quit quickly. We’re getting like opening gigs at Crowbar for like some big bands.

And it was like, whoa, dude, is it. Am I right that you posted the ad looking for a band on Craigslist almost directly after you moved down here? Yeah, it was very quick. I was like, I can’t not play music, so I’m doing something about it.

If that’s not the universe, I don’t know what is. We actually found our other drummer on Craigslist, too. Craigslist is really good, man, for musicians.

It works for musicians. Well, yeah, yeah, it was immediate too. I mean, we took a phone call.

It was a long phone call, but I was like, these guys are awesome. There’s something about you. And you sent me when he originally Jordan, I was texting him and he goes, can I send you a couple songs? And blip, blip, a couple songs, come in.

I’m like, whoa, dude. And he goes, can I send you a couple more? And I’m like, okay, sure, you have a couple more already. And it’s like, blip, blip, blip.

And then he’s like, can I send you some more? Literally just kept dumping songs. He had so many. Little did Josh know at the time, there was a catalog of, like, almost 200 songs already.

So I was just kind of giving him some, you know, a little taste. A little taste. But, I mean, how special.

Also, the fact that brothers can be in a band. I mean, when you’re in a band, you become brothers even if you’re not blood related, as John and I have felt. But you guys being brothers, what’s that like being in a band together? Who has siblings out there? All right, so it’s a lot like being in an artistic project with your sibling.

That is what it is. Yeah, exactly. Which.

It’s a lot like that, because if you think about it and you have siblings, you’re gonna butt heads, you’re gonna disagree, you’re gonna get along sometimes incredibly, and sometimes you’re not. And it’s got its ups and downs. But truthfully, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Yeah, man. Like, it started out, like growing up with Jordan. He started playing guitar.

What, when you were, like, twelve or 13? Nine. Nine. And, like, I kind of played trumpet for a little bit and piano for a little bit, but never really did much with it.

Always been, like, musical, but not really pursuing it. And then seeing him be amazing growing up, and then it’s like, I’m never gonna start because I’m the older brother and, like, I’m always gonna be worse than the younger brother. I don’t know.

It was always, like, this weird thing, and then I just started playing, and, like, at first, he didn’t even want me to be in the band because I’ve never played before, but I learned all the parts and it was cool. And then now it’s, like, turned into this whole thing, what, seven years later? Since we started all of this, and, like, we’ve gone through ups and downs of communication struggles and arguing. Like, we even wrote a song about how he used to be able to cut the tension with a knife.

Like, I can’t really describe it except for that. Like, we would get in these arguments, but if you’re in the room, you don’t necessarily. You can feel it, like.

But now we’ve gotten so good at communicating, and it’s like. It’s honestly turned into such a beautiful thing. It’s pretty cool.

It used to be really bad. There was some yelling. There was some yelling and some arguments.

Arming out on practices. Oh, absolutely. That’s a no go anymore.

Yep. Now it’s not even close to that. It’s just, like, so much love and like.

Like, do we even. We don’t. Art, it’s constructive arguing now.

It’s never, like, name calling or we don’t agree the same way that we used to, where we’d be, like, too hard headed to actually listen to each other or take in new information. And now we’re definitely different there also, that’s the progression of communication with, really, like, any entity, whether it be music or if you’re collaborating in a business, as you progress, you get to understand each other more, and you can communicate more effectively. The same with, like, a relationship.

You get to know one another and, okay, well, this is how we can get past this. And also getting past those things more and more. You learn from those, and you actually don’t then have to hash that out anymore because you already done that.

So there’s a progression there, too. But I think with any band, there’s. It’s like I always say, it’s like if five dudes were painting one painting and they all had different size paint brushes and different acrylics versus watercolor, everybody’s trying to make it look good all at the same time.

How hard is that? It’s ridiculous. Not easy. Yeah, that’s that answer.

And something about it not easy is when you see them play tonight, when you see musicians that you love play, they make it look easy. That’s something that’s special is when you know someone’s pro. Sometimes when you’re shredding, you get.

Yeah, but other than that, when you know your stuff, it’s. It makes that person, makes it look easy, and there’s something very special to that. So we’ll all experience that together tonight and watch them make it look easy.

And honestly, in this environment, stripped down acoustically is harder because you’re not relying on amplification or effects. So it’s a raw, stripped down. Dare I say that this is the first ever banned acoustic performance ever? And for the record, there are five of us, three of us representing tonight.

But, yeah, it is our first acoustic thing ever. And honestly, it’s the first time playing the songs like this. Cause we had to change all of them a little bit to fit the acoustic vibe.

So it’s brand new for everyone. Special for all of you guys here tonight. Yeah, very special.

What does PM Tiger mean? John Paper Mache Tiger. I came up with the name when I used to drive up to Georgia, and their mom has, like, a bunch of knickknacks and, like, a large collection of weird statues and stuff. And she had a papier mache tiger.

And we were struggling to come up with a name, so I said that, and then Max said we should abbreviate it to PM Tiger. And then you kind of got, like, a dual meaning. So, yeah, we had a couple other names at the time.

I think we were flirting with dryknife and house clams. There’s one more. Also attracts birds, right? Oh, attracts birds.

Yeah, that’s my favorite one still. I always name whatever I’m doing. Attracts house clams is pretty good.

All right. House clams is pretty good. I like dry knife if we were, like, a hardcore band.

Yeah, dry knife. Sweet. I think when I was in it and we were thinking about a name for the first full length album, attracts birds came up as.

Oh, that popped up because it’s like, pM tiger attracts birds kind of. Kind of funny. Also, the.

Another one was a PM tiger. Cool album. Oh, that’s still a good idea on the front, like, eighties gear.

Who are the cd frozen in ice. And we were gonna actually physically make that. We had some problem.

We did. We should do that. Yeah, that’s cool.

Yeah, I forgot about that. That’s cool. Oh, man.

If I had my drum kit. Yeah, I’ll add that in later. Just put away in the closet so you can, like, look at it.

Yeah. So we’ve kind of talked about the surface level a bit. You know, some people in the room have listened to their music.

Some people have seen them live. I’ve played with you, so I kind of know this answer a bit, although I’m sure it’s evolved. But can you speak a little about what the songwriting process is like? How do you get from an idea and a concept to the recording? That is amazing that we hear on Spotify.

It usually starts from myself. I hear everything in my head all jumbled up, and I need to get it out quickly. So I will usually record a demo fully, all the instruments, all the parts laid out, however, and then present that to the band, the guys.

And it’s fully reworked. PM workshop time at that point. And then, yeah, we hit the studio after it’s gotten everybody’s special little touch on it, you know, so.

Yeah, but some of the songs, like Johnny Law, that was completely written all together, all of our parts separately, even though he came with, like, that first little guitar riff and singing. And then, like, the new song that we’re working on that we may or may not play tonight, who knows? But that one, him and our bass player, like, really honed in on that and came up with the parts which was really cool. And then we’ve been workshopping it ever since.

It’s kind of different nowadays. I feel like it is a little more collaborative. It’s funny because that’s part of our evolution, because it used to just be him writing all of the songs, and I don’t know if you guys are familiar, but demoitis is a thing.

So you write the song demo, and then you listen to it 500,000 times and share it with Josh Naiman and everybody else, and then you’re, like, stuck on it, and that’s the way it’s gotta be. And then I come in with my new key idea, and you’re like, nah, dude, that’s not how the song goes. And I wanna put on guitar parts.

Nah, dude, that’s not how the song is. And it’s like, dude, it’s just a demo. It’s never gonna be that way.

The final version is never gonna be that. And that’s something that Jordan’s grown so much. He doesn’t.

I mean, he’s attached to the essence of the song, but he’s willing to let it grow and change and realize that it is a five person page painting. It is. That’s what he signed up for.

He’s not doing a solo project. And that used to be a place where we used to butt heads, and it’s so cool to see him grow and be open to ideas. Not necessarily.

It’s. We want to serve the song the best. So, like, if my idea isn’t better, then, like, okay, cool, we’ll go with the cooler idea.

But, like, I don’t know, it’s just, like, it’s been cool to watch it change. And, like, you’re lucky that we stuck around, man. It’s been.

Wow. Well, thank you for sticking around, first of all. Second of all, it feels good to have made that change.

It’s definitely hard. As a songwriter, each song is like your child. You’ve really.

I don’t know, it comes from the ether, and then you create it. You have it, you listen to it way too many times, and then you become obsessed with the way that you originally heard it or the way that you recorded it originally or whatever. And that doesn’t always serve the song the best way that it needs to be.

And that’s what I’ve learned over the years, that it’s not my way or the highway. I may write a demo, but it actually is enhanced by having everybody’s hand creatively placed on it. I did want to work down the line because I think everybody will have an interesting answer to this.

I ask all guests this, but sometimes it’s an entrepreneur. We’ve had another band on discord theory, but I always like to understand what people’s most favorite parts about doing what they do and what’s the most difficult part of doing what you do. And so if you could answer both of those favorite and difficult.

You want to go first? You go first. Okay. I’m better off the fly.

Here we go. Most difficult. I’ll start with that is the fact that I haven’t been playing my instrument as long as everybody else.

So sometimes I get this feeling of, like, fake it till you make it. Like imposter syndrome. Like, I am the key player of PM Tiger, but sometimes we’re playing like a big show.

Like, we opened for the playing white tees one time and it’s just like, dude, I’m just like pushing some buttons, like, literally on the keyboard. Like, I don’t really know how to rip it on the piano, but like, whoa, am I supposed to be here? So it’d be kind of funny if we did make it big time because I’m not classically trained and stuff. And I really did fake it until I made it.

So that’s sometimes a struggle internally. And then the most fun part is doing stuff like this and interacting with people and traveling and playing shows. But it’s really when the first 2nd you step out on stage and we were nervous all month leading up to the show, and when you first step out and it’s like silent and everybody’s looking at you, like it’s that moment.

The awkward adrenaline rush. For me, that’s the part. That’s the moment.

And then when you really are shredding and everybody’s dancing, it’s like, oh, it feels so cool. Like everybody’s into this. Like we are.

This is sick, you know? So please dance tonight so we can feel that if you’re just awkwardly sitting here. I don’t know. I think my favorite part is working in the studio.

I love the gear and the equipment and getting the right sounds and songwriting, too. So that’s always. My favorite part is there’s something really special about working, especially collaborating with the other people in the band.

That is always what’s drawn me to it. The shows are awesome, too, but I think studio is my favorite. The worst part about it is there’s so much work that when I was like 13 and, oh, I really want to be in a band, I never thought I would have to make TikToks like, that sucks.

I hate doing it. It’s not fun. It’s not me, at least.

So that sort of stuff. And then also there’s. There’s a lot of, like, small rewards when you do it, you know, or you wouldn’t do it, but tangible benefits and, like, seeing, like, progress being made towards, you know, all of us would like to do this as a career.

We want this, and that’s what we’ve been building towards. But it’s. It’s very hard to, on the, like, an extended time scale, keep that long term goal in mind and be grateful for the short term successes.

So that can be very difficult, too. It’s important to think about it like that, because otherwise, that’s how people give up all the time. And I don’t think we’re giving up anytime soon.

Yeah, we also have this dream of making it big, but we’re doing it, man. We’re playing shows, we’re doing podcasts. So when we look back on these years, regardless of whether or not we made it big or whatever, we’re in a frickin rock band, touring, having fun.

I’m gonna look back in these years, like, what? We did it, man. We did the thing, right? Like, we’re doing it. Heck yeah.

It’s cool. Didn’t hear the question, but I have to assume it’s, what’s your favorite part, and what’s your least favorite part? My favorite part is definitely songwriting. It’s probably my favorite thing in the entire world, to be honest.

I love writing music. I love writing music with them. It is very special.

It’s very fulfilling. Yeah, that’s my favorite part. So my least favorite part is wearing all of the hats that I never thought that I would have to wear with being in a band, for sure.

And I mean, the discord theory boys touched on this as well. Shout out episode three. But, yeah, I think the.

Being a video editor, being an actor, being a social media. Yeah, like advertisement agency for yourself, you know, having to push everything, being your own marketing team, having to make everything, push it out, keep it alive, keep it going, and all the different hats that actually takes. I would have never, ever thought that that’s what it meant to be in a band, but it does, and more.

It’s only evolving as time goes on. There are more things that you have to be able to do as an artist to show that you’re very well rounded and can actually do it. I feel like professional labels and things are looking for people that know how to already do it themselves.

Successfully, so that it’s an easy transition into the world of, okay, a lot more work, a lot harder work. But you guys are already doing it, so it’s just going to enhance what you guys are already doing. If you start from nothing, I mean, it’s harder to see that the group or whoever that this label would be taking on actually has what it takes to do it.

Yeah. So it’s interesting because you could apply all of your answers to some of the business owners that we’ve had. I mean, myself, there’s such similar threads when you’re taking something seriously and going for it in a big way.

Eric nutting, the growth coach of St. Pete, is in the audience right now. He was our first guest on the podcast, and he had similar answers. Other people had similar answers.

Doug jackson Discord theory kindness.org dot it quote s it’s unbelievable. I feel the same where it’s like, I just want to design and I want to make cool websites and help build businesses.

I don’t want to think about my finances. But luckily, hey, our bookkeeper is here in the audience. Shout out to be smart accounting Adam Morris.

And he takes care of it. So it is sometimes, once you reach a certain point, okay, let’s get some help on this so that we can focus on what we do best. Songwriting, performing.

So eventually, I see someone coming in and helping you with your marketing, et cetera. But there’s something also special about when someone who isn’t normally doing that takes their approach to those things. There’s something unique about it.

Also, when you’re behind the camera and you’re the ones making the decision, when you guys in the audience would visit their profiles, whether it be TikTok or Facebook, you get, like, a glimpse of who you guys actually are and your witty humor and your banter between each other and your ideas in a different format of the song. Yeah. You have five inexperienced people making content, and that’s what you get to see.

There’s nothing wrong with that. So, before this, leading up to this interview, I texted each one of these guys individually, and I said, what? What is something I should ask the other guys? And so I got some interesting insight because they’re questions that I wouldn’t have thought to answer. So I’m going to go down the line.

You actually are. In order of my sheet, I only found out last night that everybody got asked this, by the way, so this will be fun. This will be a surprise.

Yeah. So, Josh, you had even talked about it, but you weren’t a musician. Most of your life, you decided to become a musician, to be a part of this, to play music with your brother.

I’m just wondering what jump started that thought before you. What inspired you to actually do that? Yeah, I think some other people might be able to relate on this, but fear can hold you back, man. And my whole life watching him excel and wanting to be in bands and like, in college, I was in a band for like 2 seconds, like, singing, and it was like, I just never, like, I didn’t want to overcome that fear and just do it.

Cause, like, everybody’s gotta start somewhere. Who cares if you suck at first? Like, everybody’s gonna suck. Like, it’s just what it is.

You gotta be okay with sucking for a bunch of years, then you might be okay at some point. But, like, so, yeah, it was over. Like, it was like, that fear.

And then, like, jordan writing this music, and then it’s just like, dude, this is really cool. And this is my opportunity to get in a band. I was like, dude, if I learn how to play the keys for these songs, can I, like, perform with you? And he’s like, whatever, dude.

And then I came and then my first couple tries, like, it took a minute, but I just like, yeah, that I didn’t even know how to play the keys. I just, like, learned. And now at this point, it’s a whole different game.

But, like, yeah, so, yeah, it was just the music inspired me to overcome my fear, basically. It’s awesome. He also just used the opportunity of wanting to do it and bought all professional gear up front.

And I think that helped jumpstart your motivation to want to, like, keep going and to commit practice and learn it. Yeah, he forced himself to commit in the beginning, was like, ooh, I would love to do something like this. I’m going to drop two grand on equipment and then I am going to have to do this.

It worked. It worked. In poker, I think they call that pot commitment, right, John? Yep.

Yes, they do. All right, John, you rolled up in your mustang. I don’t know if you saw that pretty mustang downstairs, but that’s John’s.

David’s like, oh, yeah, I love that. Talk about pot committed. And they mentioned, you know, maybe.

Maybe talk about his mustang or whatever, or if you prefer metal versus classic rock. But I think maybe this question will give us some insight into this. But someone said, ask John if he could live in one era of time.

What would that era be? Definitely, I want to be, like, 25 in 1969. I could have called that. I knew it was coming.

Well, there it is. What about metal versus classic rock? You had to choose. That is a tough one.

I don’t. I think I’d have to go classic rock. That’s.

That’s what I like. That’s why I started playing. Oh, my God.

I mean, there would be no metal. Yeah. Without it.

True, true. I picked up a guitar because of Led Zeppelin, like, playing my grandfather’s records. That’s why I started playing.

But up until this band, I was only in metal bands. I did that for like eight years, seven years, something like that. A while, a long time.

That’s all I did. And I love it, too. It’s a completely different experience to this.

There’s, like, more adrenaline, higher energy. The people that go to the shows, like, can get really, really invested into it. There’s, like a really tight knit community and really, really hurt.

And they can get injured physically. Yeah. Our bass player was at a festival this whole last week.

He just looks like a dalmatian. He’s got bruises all over him. Oh, wow.

Yeah. Shout out to you, panda. Happy birthday.

Love you, buddy. Aw, cool. Cool.

I just finally added him on Facebook. I thought it was appropriate. Wow, that’s a big step.

It’s funny, the other day he was like, wait, Naaman was in your band? We were like, yeah. Why do you think we like with him? That’s the only reason we hang, is because I was in the band. You have to be initiated to hang.

Genuinely, though, he had no idea. He asked point blank. He was just like, oh, I thought he was just a friend.

He’s like, no, that was our drummer for the first two years. That’s cool. That’s fun.

Still discovering stuff about each other. Well, I went to a party that your current drummer hosted, and we were hanging out on the porch for a while, and then we went inside and I was like, wait, are you panda? And he’s like, yeah. Like, after an hour and a half of being at the event.

Because I was just like, oh, there you are. So, okay, Jordan, last. So Josh fed me some good stuff.

He goes, ask him about the time Josh pulled you on the scooter behind his bike, or the time you got attacked by bees or your highlighter. Skinny jeans and purple Osiris high tops. Or why you’re afraid of lake loons.

So many things. Yeah, but really, Lake Lane, I want to know. He mentioned that you had speech and hearing problems in elementary school and now you’re a musician, so I was fascinated by that.

Oh, the idea you’re cool with talking about that. Absolutely. So I couldn’t hear her talk until I was like six and a half.

I had a bunch of. I was at the ent all the time, ear, nose, throat, doctor, getting tubes in my ears almost ten times as a kid growing up. Bunch of stuff had my tonsils out.

I just could never hear as a child, so I couldn’t talk either. And I had to take speech classes and get all those tubes in my ear surgery to get all the water drained and stuff and. Yeah.

Oh, the irony is thick to be a musician later in life, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m glad that I can hear and talk now, but maybe it’s not so ironic. Maybe you, like, heard music first, like.

Or like, felt vibrations. Totally. You know, I mean, our parents fed us so much music from like, such a young age, from the beatles to earth, wind and fire, to Chicago to everything in between.

And. Yeah, from, I’m sure before I was six, they were playing that stuff, so it’s amazing. And shout out to Dave and Crystal.

They’re huge supporters. Mom and dad. Yeah.

All right, look behind you guys. There’s a piece of paper and a sharpie. We’ve reached a new segment of the show.

Oh, what is this? A brand new segment. So on that piece of paper, there’s the other two people’s names, and what I want you to write down is what song you think those people’s favorite song of yours is. So what? Like, of PM TVM Tiger of PM Tiger.

So what’s the other two’s favorite PM Tiger songs? So it’s gotta be an official song that’s out. Yeah, I guess it doesn’t have to be out. I think that probably makes the most sense, though.

Okay. Cause the other ones don’t exist yet. Yeah.

I just wanna say this paper is really nice. I think it’s recycled. Yeah, it’s up to this paper.

Yeah. Can we talk about this paper a little more? So I think you’re all done. Yeah.

How do you wanna do? Let’s see. So let’s start with Joshua. This is not gonna mean anybody or mean anything to people who haven’t listened to these songs.

But Jordan, I say, mister big shot. Most recent release. John, the song Johnny law.

I knew that was. I knew someone would put Johnny law for you. So are they accurate? Did he get it right, Jordan? Well, don’t tell him yet.

Yeah, let’s wait till the end. Let’s wait till the end. That Simon.

Nothing. So. Okay.

John, it’s not real. Don’t read into it. Indica for Jordan and shapes for Josh.

Great answers, man. These are all good songs. It’s a hard question.

I went shapes for Josh, and I said, because of how it was written, and then I said, for John, mister big shot because of the solo at the end. I was torn on that one. Yep.

All right. How accurate were we? You first. I would say that either Indica or Mister Big shot are my two favorites.

So you guys both nailed up? Yeah. Nailed it. From what’s out so far? From what’s out so far.

Mm hmm. How about you, John? Big shot is definitely my favorite right now because it’s so long. Got it.

So you guys know each other well so far. You’re like two for two. Johnny Law is also cool, but I think some of the newer stuff, like, resonates with me, like, more now.

Yeah. Is it because of the solo? He rips the hardest solo. Solo’s a big part of the entire world.

The end of Mister Big shot and Mister Big shot is their newest song, and they just released a music video, which is super cool. We did that ourselves. Thank you.

You produced it yourselves. And it is so cool. I was like, where’s this going? And I was like, oh, my goodness.

How cool. So I highly recommend you guys. Check that out.

It’s like, it’s just such a cool story. It really paints a picture. And they.

And I knew that they did it themselves before I watched it, and I was blown away. It’s John’s the star. John is the star in that one.

I thought that was a cool. Well, let’s be touch, too. Budweiser’s the star.

Yeah, he’s wearing a Budweiser shirt. They sponsored it, so we’re on our way. They’re really rising, but, yeah, you guys got mine right, too.

Somehow. You both said it. But shapes is like a weird song.

It’s not necessarily my favorite because of the way it was written. It’s because it’s so weird. And we keep it in the set, and everybody thinks it’s weird live, and they dance to it in a weird way, and it’s like.

It’s just the weirdest song we have out. It’s like, it’s weird. Come out to the show on Sunday.

You’ll see us play it for sure. Oh, yeah. We do have a quick plug show on Sunday.

We are opening for a band, two bands, quarters of change and rebounder. We’re playing at the crowbar. If anybody wants to come out.

It’s an earlier show, too, so it’s not even going to be a late night on a Sunday. We play at like, what, 630? Yeah, I think the whole show will be wrapped up by like 939 30. So, yeah, it shouldn’t be too late.

Everybody’s invited. Awesome. Yeah.

If you guys haven’t seen these gentlemen live, my goodness. Just gems right here, man. Okay.

That, was that a cool segment? Did you like it? Was that? Yeah, I kind of, yeah. Like, I never thought about it. Like, yeah, it was hard not to tell Jordan, like, some of my ideas because I was cooking him up and he’s sitting right there next to me and I’m like, oh, you wanted to all day.

I wanted to really bad. But now we’ve reached the rapid fire section. You knew it was coming.

Oh, God. You knew it was coming. So.

And honestly, I am going to challenge you a little. Do rapid fire because it’s fun. Three of you.

And so if you all go into like a Doug Jackson tangent episode two style. Oh, goodness. You know, lawyers tend to talk, but I think you guys could keep it rapid.

All right, so just quick answers as quick as we can. As quick as you can. Don’t think about it.

But if you need to, you can expand upon it. But you lose two points for every second. But the points don’t matter.

Yeah, I don’t want to lose any points. I’m not trying to lose points. It’s like, whose line is it anyway? You just got 100 points.

But remember, the points don’t matter. All right, let’s start and we can just go down the line. Josh, you’re always the first.

You’re closest to me. What is your biggest source of inspiration? My life experiences. Are you sure? Are you sure? Your final answer, are you locking that in? Yeah, I think so.

Just, like living my day to day and thinking about the experiences that I’ve had, I’m thinking, I think that’s usually a lot of people’s inspiration, but it’s my inspiration. Cool. I definitely think struggles in my life.

It’s easy to channel those creatively. And then artists that came before me, there’s so many that I draw inspiration from every time I play and sit down and do it. Sadness, that usually is what triggers most of my inspiration.

Sadness, you know? So that’s good. He doesn’t. Well, on that positive note, let’s go on to the next question.

It’s funny. I don’t know if it’s funny, but Jordan is such a joy if you’ve never been around him. Have fun being sad.

Okay. Do you have a favorite musical artist or a favorite album. I know this is a tough question.

Mm. Just do your best. Favorite.

I know. It’s like, sometimes it’s like, what am I in the mood for? I mean, that is the. Yeah, that’s the answer that I was gonna say.

Depends on how I’m feeling. But, I mean, if I had to choose one right this second, it’d probably be the album come down machine by the Strokes. Oh, that’s a good one.

It’s like, most people don’t vote it as one of their top albums, but I see it as, like, what they’ve turned into. Dude, it’s a good album. That one’s good.

It’s good. It’s red like my shirt. I love many of the songs that are on that.

All of it from start to finish, and it kind of takes you through a journey. They have dance songs, they have serious songs, like, everything. And that was, like, before the void, so then it was like, you kind of see a glimpse into the void and where he was going with this stuff.

Right. Cool. Yeah.

So tough. This would be a hard one for musicians. Like, what’s your favorite song? Have fun with that, at least album.

Like, we can at least have a conversation. Favorite song. Impossible to choose.

I think I’m gonna go Boston’s first album. All right. All right.

There it is. Classic. Of course.

Yeah. Oh, goodness. I would probably also go with the Strokes.

They’re an all time favorite band of mine. I definitely have drawn inspiration from them, but I can always put them on and listen to them. Really, any album, any song, they are great.

But if I had to choose my favorite album from them, as they are, my favorite artist, probably. Angles has a lot of very, very interestingly written music on there. Very interesting vibes.

And I think that they achieved a masterpiece of an album while all writing and recording their parts separately from each other. The Strokes are kind of going through some turmoil at the time, and they all recorded and wrote separately and sent tracks in to be, like, worked by a producer, and that’s how that album came to be. And I personally think it’s awesome.

Yeah, it’s definitely one of their best. It’s interesting that they don’t like it. Oh, yeah, they really dislike it.

And I assume it’s because of the vibes surrounding how it was created, when it was created, but, yeah, they made a masterpiece there. I agree with you. That’s my favorite.

And come down machine. Both of those are. I’m, like, pretty tight on the team.

Yeah, they both have their moments all right, last rapid fire question, and this is a fun one. How do you define success? I think it’s all about relationships. Being able to communicate effectively and gathering people that support you and people that you can feel comfortable supporting.

I think that as humans, relationships are everything. That’s why it’s so cool to connect with different people in the community and connect with fans and stuff. Cause that’s like all the money and the cars and all that stuff.

It’s like a game of monopoly. When you die, none of that matters. But the relationships that you built could keep somebody that you inspired or whatever, could inspire somebody else and just keeps going and going.

And I think that that is what it means to be human. And so I think that to be a successful human is to connect. But that’s my definition.

I love that. I love that, too. That was awesome.

I think living well, whatever that means to each person. How do I define success? Happiness, and whatever that means to the individual. Just being happy, man, that is that successful in itself.

But to have a life filled with happiness, I think, is probably the greatest payoff. And whatever happiness means to you, I mean, that could mean so many different things. But if you’re happy, I think that you’re fulfilled and successful in turn.

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So this is your chance to ask these guys a question. Okay, so every band, when they go on tour, go in, go like they have, like, an insane experience at least once. What is each one of your experiences of being on the road? Ooh, goodness.

Craziest tour experience. There has been a few. This is pretty crazy.

When we go on tour, how we generally sleep is in a tent. That’s how we usually do it. I’m clamping, though.

For the record, we cut down costs. We have nice cots, so we usually camp when we’re on tour to stay close with each other and save a little bit of money and it’s easier to find places. People.

Yeah. Offer up their yards. It’s pretty cool.

Yeah. So that’s pretty crazy. Yeah.

What about you, John? I got a couple. I’m trying to think about which one do you have? Some of them. The babes.

The babes. The craziest thing that happened. It’s hard to say the craziest.

There’s so many things. But the one that just sticks out of my mind was when we brought your brother along with us on tour. He came to a couple shows and he just wanted to come along.

And that dude is a wild card if you’ve ever met him before. Dude, he just, like, one night, just, like, disappeared for the whole night. He wasn’t even at our show.

He was supposed to record video. Didn’t even come to the show. Met up with us later, may or may not have had a couple drinks, was like, dude, I crashed a wedding.

I kissed the bride’s mom, dude, it was crazy. He’s like, and I got this whole handle of tequila or whatever he had, and he’s like, did he just steal that from the wedding? He’s like, yeah. And then, like, he disappeared again.

And he’s like, I’m not gonna go back with you guys. And we’re like, okay. But we’re like, we’re leaving at like six in the morning, dude, to make the next show, so, like, you need to be back.

Didn’t see him. Didn’t see him. And then in the morning, he’s just like, passed out in the back of the van in the spot that I’m supposed to be in.

Whatever, but, yeah. And then he was just there. Passed out.

At least he was there. But it was. He’s crazy.

Love you, Justin. We’d take him on. I’d take him again.

It was fun. I did a tour once in a different band. I wasn’t even in the band.

I used to just play guitar for other bands that needed someone to go on the road with them. And we had a show in Poughkeepsie, New York, which is about an hour north of Manhattan or so. And the next show the next day was in Atlanta.

I wanted to kill the booking agent, it was terrible. But we split the drive up into four hour shifts. So I had the first shift from midnight to 04:00 a.

m. and I stayed up from midnight to four and then with the singer from four to eight. And we were driving through these mountains in Pennsylvania, and the fog was so thick that we almost went off the side of the cliff a couple times, and we were exhausted.

Exhausted. And we were like, we can’t even pull over because there’s nowhere to go. We just had to, like, get out of it.

And the other two guys were asleep in the back. And then when we. We get out of the mountains at 08:00 a.

m. and we were like, wake up. We’re done.

And then we barely make it. The van doesn’t stop. We finally get to the gig, and the venue got shut down, and we didn’t get to play.

Oh, my God. God. Oh, it’s pretty crazy.

That is crazy. How did the venue get shut down? It was, like, not a legit venue. It was not legit.

It was, like, a Diy space. And then they, like, didn’t clear it with anybody. And then the cops got called.

Shout out to the booking agent. Yeah, thanks for that, dude. We’ve gotten the cops called when house shows are fun, but police don’t like them.

Yeah, we’ve had a couple of hard shows also. I played one of those, and those are fun. People are literally right there, dude.

We had one recently, and it was, like, packed out for all the other bands. We were going on last, and then the cops came. We didn’t even get to play.

We sold some merch for the record. Shout out. Tampa and St. Pete people showed up for us, and we really wanted to play that night, and the cops did not let that happen.

I think there’s a term for that. Blue balls. Yep.

Yeah. We were so stoked, the rug got pulled up. Did you guys, like, have an emergency band practice the next day to release? That doesn’t do it.

There was no release. Oh, that sucks. There’d be nothing worse than, like, showing up and not being able to play because you’re looking so forward to those shows.

That’s, like, the epitome. Not ideal. No, not ideal.

I think that’s the only time that that’s happened, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so. Hi. What’s your favorite show that you played? And what’s your least favorite show that you played? Oh, interesting.

For the record, all shows are cool. I agree. But the side that y’all don’t see if you’re coming out to our show is, like, how many times we practiced, how long it took to take the pack up the gear, put it in the van, rent the u haul, all that crap, and then drive it over, unload, and then we play for you for, like, 20 or 30 minutes.

Sweet. And then we do all of it again. So, like, think about that.

And then we played a show where we went to a venue where, like, I’m not even exaggerating. It was, like, five people, like, less than this. And, like, we were just like, all right, was this from Miami? Oh, well, there’s also that one that had no people.

So my background. I keep it as my background. Cause there’s just lights and fog and not even.

Literally not even one person all the way to Miami. Zero people. It was like a Halloween festival, and we came on at, like, six, and nobody was there.

They screwed us out of town. Van, why would you put us on so early? Why would you start it so early? So that was my. Yeah, but I still have jerk cut.

That one was fun. So Miami was still fun. Cause we, like, we ended up making a whole thing out of it.

We had other shows. I don’t know. But the one that we played here, like, where it’s in Tampa somewhere at this, like, jamaican food place.

And then the jerk hut, and then this, like, that’s the one I was originally talking about. It just, like, for whatever reason, hit me in the gut, like, oh, this sucks, man. Why are we even here? Like, there’s nobody here that cares.

It’s like, we’re playing for the other bands. Cool. Like, I don’t know.

It wasn’t great. My favorite show. Hmm? Favorite show where I felt the most stoked really quick.

While you’re thinking of that, I had a bad show where five people came, and my wife was one of them, and one guy had the gall to come down during our soundcheck and goes, why aren’t you guys playing? And we go, we’re sound checking. We’re about to play. He goes, play? And we’re like, we need to sound check.

And then we’re going to play. And he just dipped and never came back. This dude in his suit, I was like, you, sir.

I don’t like you, sir. That was the record label that was gonna try and sign you guys. My moment.

Why did we just start playing? I came here to see you play, man. You’re not playing. I’m out.

And really, in the grand scheme of it, we probably should have just started playing because the soundcheck didn’t matter. It’s, like, for five people. Hey, we got a 6th.

Great. Yeah, I think probably we opened for this pretty big band called tops, and it was, like, our first, like, really, really legit show, and it was like, the feeling was just so cool, like, and then they came up to us afterwards, and the lead singer was totally into some of our songs and totally named them and was like, keep playing stuff like that. You sound like, blah, blah.

And it was just like, all right, like, this is cool. Like, we’re not. And then it was packed out, obviously, and it was like, I don’t know.

It was cool. That was the coolest one. I couldn’t agree with you more because I was your drummer for that.

And that was super cool because they were touring from Canada, and I looked up their music, and I was like, these guys are awesome. I dig this music. And then.

And then I kind of geeked out. Cause they were, like, unloading, and I was like, oh, there they are. And it was cool.

Cause it was only us and them. There was no other acts. It was just.

Yeah, my favorite show. So I have two favorites. One would either be when we opened for the plain white tees.

That was very cool. For anybody that doesn’t know who the plain white tees are, you’ve probably heard the song hey there, delilah before on the radio. That’s them.

So we opened for them, and that was an awesome experience. Really great time. And now we have a lasting friendship with the lead singer.

Oh, yeah. Who knows? Maybe a collab to come. Calling it out now.

Shout out. Shout out to tom Higginson. You’re putting it out there.

Another one of my favorite shows. We opened for a band called Sloth Rust at the Orpheum. That show was awesome.

You were so. Great turnout. We retained a lot of new fans from that, and I was so, so sick.

So sick. Played the show. Probably one of our best performances that we’ve done.

Unfortunately, some fans in the front might have gotten sick. Who knows? But we don’t know. We don’t have the.

It was a great show. You’re gonna get some spit on you. Yeah.

So those two are probably my favorites. My least favorite has gotta be the Miami show. That was a lot of work and a lot of preparation, and we were on, like, a short tour run, if I recall correctly, and then to show up in Miami for one of our first Miami shows, and quite literally nobody was there.

It was actually our second Miami show. The first one was crazy. Kirby cone.

Okay, good point. Good point. Kirby Con.

Yeah, that was an insane show. Was it a conference about the game, Kirby? It was like an anime. It was an anime sort of thing.

It was. It was nuts at a crazy venue. It was completely.

So. It’s like a really big venue that they, like, way over packed, fire hazard wise. Like, no.

Like, I’ve never been in a building like that where there’s one exit, and we are, like, packed in like, sardines on all three floors. And, like, you couldn’t run out if you wanted to. It was very, very dangerous.

You’re claustrophobic. You’re screwed. We were on the stage, and behind the stage it was fine.

But, like, out there, we did go out in the audience a little bit. It was wild. That’s rock.

I can say that my wife was in the audience for the Miami show, though. So she was the one. Yeah, she was dressed as a teletubby.

It was pretty sweet. That’s. Yeah.

So we had one teletubby in the audience and two teletubbies in there. Yeah. Oh, yeah, we had two.

And we knew both of them. Yeah. So, wow.

Doesn’t count foot. We didn’t know it at the time. We actually thought there was two fans, like, going crazy and telly, Toby Goss.

And you’re like, all right, this is kind of cool. And then we found out as them found out later, and then we. Unfortunately, they didn’t like that as much.

Our reaction to it being them, we were just like, ah. We thought it was somebody real. And then they’re like, what? We dressed up for you? Like, oh, yeah, thanks.

You don’t realize that it was empty and what that feels like. All the smoke and all the lights in the room wasn’t small. And then just to have nobody in there was like, okay, well, we’re going to practice up here to ourselves.

This is going to be a crazy rehearsal. We didn’t look at each other. We’re just like, let’s rip.

I mean, and we did. It was cool. We did rip it.

Yeah. We should interject with that video that we took of us on stage right as we’re before we’re about to play. We should throw that in there because it’s really funny.

I have it somewhere. The one from Miami. Yeah, I do remember, but that’s why I keep it as the background on my screen.

I mean, it looks cool with the lights and stuff, but, like, just, like, keeps you humble. It’s the lowest we’re ever gonna be, hopefully. That’s cool.

That’s actually really interesting. Most people have, like, the opposite of that as their background. Like, you would think plain white tees.

And because I was at that show, that was awesome. And I’ve never seen your logo. Oh, yeah.

That is a cool background. All right, I take it back. How about you, John? I’m gonna do a different worst show with this band.

That is the worst one. But I have another one with another. This is another tour I was doing.

And we played at this place called drunk horse pub in Fayetteville, North Carolina. And it was like, it was definitely a strip club at some point. And it still was, but they would randomly have metal shows there.

It was just in a really weird place. Obviously didn’t know this, going there. You just show up and then you’re there.

And there was a convenience store right across the street. And I was walking and, you know, to get, you know, whatever, a drink of something. And I’m coming back.

And then as I’m leaving, somebody comes in with a shotgun and stands up the convenience store. And this was like, five, five pm, four pm, like, no one’s at the venue. And I just, like, watched it happen.

As I’m walking away, I was like, that’s not good. I still have to be here for another 10 hours. So we stayed and we finished the show and the cops were all there.

And then I wasn’t gonna engage with them at all. So I just pretended like I never saw that. And then I played another show there.

Again, you didn’t learn your lesson. He couldn’t get enough. He had to go back.

It’s like watching cops. You’re like, john, if you’ve learned anything from him, he’s into the pain, and so he just keeps coming back. Furthermore, I feel like I’ve heard a saying before, no pain, no gain or something.

You take it literally. Yeah, that was scary. One of the best ones, the best shows ever was.

I’m gonna make it kind of two of them. Cause I think they’re really related. The two times we played in Jacksonville, the first Kona show and then the follow up.

The first one was really cool. We played at the skate park and just, you know, there’s kids skating, everyone’s having a good time, and they all came in and there was just a really cool connection and some skate park. Yeah, it’s Tony Hawk pro skate.

It’s in the game, like, the biggest, oldest skatepark in the US. If you played in the skate park. Tony Hawk pro skater.

You’ve seen the venue that we played at, actually, which cool, sweet, cool place. And there’s this girl there that was, like, super into it. Oh.

And she was like, yeah, definitely. Like, I want one of you from the shout out. Abby.

Yeah. To draw on my arm, and I’m gonna get it tattooed. And so he raised me so large, it was huge.

And it says tiger cult. And we were like, okay, yeah. You’re gonna get a tattoo.

I hope you don’t, actually. That’s a really bad design. She comes to the next show, and she has it tattooed on her own.

Tatted. Huge tiger tatted. With pictures of her getting the tattoo and everything.

Yeah. That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Yeah.

She had other cool tattoos, so that’s dedication. Yeah. And the tiger cult is a thing, so, like, if you want to join, just hit us up.

All we need is your soul. They’ve got mine for life. So I see it’s not really that much to ask for.

Come on. Come on. What else you guys got? Yeah, so I saw Boston open in New York, which was awesome.

That is awesome. That was amazing. Still remember it? So you mentioned going crazy.

David Lee Roth, Van Halen did going crazy. I think it was the producer that walked in, and they started ranking on him, and they made it part of the song. So my question to you guys is, you mentioned about practicing the song.

My son’s a musician, so I know what you guys go through. Did you ever actually get into the studio or do it live? And all of a sudden, the song took something original by either feeding off the audience or feeding off each other. And you said, hey, that’s really good, and we have to go back to the studio and rework the song.

Hmm. Question. We’ve done lots of, like, we’ll play a song that we’ve written together in a room for the first few times, and then, you know, we’re doing it, and then time 20 comes around.

Time 30, time 40, and each time, people will experiment. So in that sense, yes, but we haven’t. We’re not really the type of band that, like, gets in a room altogether and then tries writing it something together in the room.

We’re more like, Jordan is bringing his ideas, and then we’re working on it together. There’s a little bit more, like, planning. I’ve done it that way.

I think this way works better. I think you generally get more consistent progress. But playing it together in a room, there’s something special about it, too, especially Jordan’s, like, vocal parts.

He’ll change the vocal melody based on how it feels when you’re singing it with the group. And some of the coolest melodies that we have, I think, have come from taking what you thought was awesome and then improving, and then you end up with something awesome. Even the song like Mister Big shot or catfish motel, we wrote those with our buddy Austin Coop.

He helped produce those, and he’s obviously got his influence, too. So when we were all in the room together, we brought the demo that we had already worked out. Then we go in there, and then he has some weird idea, and then.

Or, like, he had the song stuck in his head and he came with a weird idea, and then we end up changing everything. But, like, there’s even, like, one of the key parts that’s not even my part, where he was just, like, ripping something on the keys and, like, holy crap, dude. We’re using that, like, out of nowhere.

It’s like, yeah, let me have the keyboard for a second. And so it’s just like. And then also, though, like, as far as coming up with something, then if it’s already been recorded, I’m, like, a believer that, like, unless, I guess I’m open to it changing, but, like, it’s kind of like a snapshot in time, you know? Like, the song is always going to keep changing.

We’re never going to play it again the way we’re going to play it tonight. It’s never going to be played like that ever again. Every show, it’s completely different.

So the day that we decided to record it or the days is also the same thing. Like, it’s never going to be that ever again. It’s just a snapshot of the song, and you kind of got to let go and just keep moving on.

But sometimes maybe there’s some kind of idea where it’s like, whoa, we haven’t released this song. We’ve already recorded it, but we gotta change that part. I’m totally open to it, but I don’t think it’s happened yet.

I kind of feel like we’ve adapted that way of thinking after seeing Harvard in Atlanta a while ago. Yeah. There’s a band that literally said what I just said, and it inspired me.

Shout out Jesse from Harvard. Yeah. Heck, yeah.

But he’s the shout out king. Oh, yeah. Shout out Austin.

Coop, we mentioned you just a couple minutes ago. I just. I have short people problems, so that’s why I wanted to make sure I’m not walking up to the mic.

Obviously, the career path you guys have chosen has a certain kind of lifestyle choices that you have to make. What have you seen have been worth the trade offs? And what is it that you wake up and you’re like, this is not worth it. Best and worst parts about this life, some of the biggest payoffs to doing something which was kind of mentioned earlier, you put so much time, so much effort, so much passion, and you don’t really see a lot of return, but some of the return that you do get are die
hard fans that genuinely connect with your music and connect with the band.

And that truly does mean everything. That’s probably the greatest thing to be able to wake up and experience going to a show and seeing people genuinely wearing your merch and excited to be there and experience the tiger cult live with us. It’s really special.

I think that’s probably the coolest part for me. The hardest part is putting in so much effort, so much effort all the time. And you really don’t see much return.

From social media, to putting out songs, to numbers on. Everything doesn’t always reflect the hard work and the dedication that you actually put into your craft. But those little things are what makes it all worth it and what keeps the.

Keeps the drive alive. For the record, we are not a professional band as far as that being our only source of income. And so that is kind of a struggle.

Not yet. Like, we, all three of us, I mean, everybody in the band has a full time job. Luckily, we can work remotely in our job, so it works well with touring and stuff, so we can still get paid and be on the road.

But, yeah, that’s a struggle for me, is like, I just want to be an artist and do stuff like this and write music and wake up whenever I want, when I’m feeling creative, do whatever I want. But that’s not the reality of the situation. And I gotta get up and go to business meetings and.

Well, they’re all virtual, but I still. I’m in boxers and this shirt, but, like, you know, but, like, business meetings, but, like, that is the biggest struggle for me, just not being able to, like, just like you were saying before, like, you just wanna write songs and even just within the band and then. Yeah, and then also, it’s so much work and, like, it’s cool to do stuff like this, but we haven’t made it to a point where this can be our income.

And, like, I read a really interesting book where it’s like, the lucky few are able to do the thing that they enjoy most in life and get paid for it. But, like, most people live a life of, like, you’ve got your income source and, like, you gotta put in a lot of time to that, but you’ve got to give yourself enough time to also do the things you enjoy. So even if this doesn’t work out and that’s our, you know, they match up, it’s like we’ve all been lucky enough to come up with some kind of job
where we can have the income coming in and we can pursue our passion.

And when we look back on this moment, like I was saying before, it’s pretty badass to just be able to do this, but it would be even cooler if we were just traveling the world and didn’t have to worry about all this other stuff. That would be tough in itself, traveling all the time and go, go, go. But we’ll see.

What’s your favorite part? My favorite part of this lifestyle is, like, being able to be genuine and artistic, man. I think we consume so many things all day, all the social media, all this food, all this stuff, and we don’t put out enough in the world, so it’s cool to just produce some stuff. Create name and create shout out.

Thanks for that. Yeah, that’s cool. I think the hardest part is balance.

It’s really hard to have a full time job and a partner and family and friends and mowing your lawn and doing your dishes and band stuff. Like, it just. It takes up so much time, and there’s a lot of people here that are entrepreneurs, and that’s kind of.

It’s similar to that. I think that you have your day job, whatever that may be, and that stuff follows you everywhere you go. It can consume your life a lot, and you can very, very easily neglect other important parts of your life trying to pursue something like this.

And it’s consistent. I think we all regularly put in 20 to 30 hours a week into the band, at least. Like, it’s a.

It’s a lot. When you add on 40 hours for your day job, that’s definitely the hardest part. It’s easy to lose sight of it.

Or, like, I’m like, neglect your day job for a little bit. Like, you’re not doing as well as you could there because you need to focus on other things and vice versa with the band. Like, sometimes you can’t prioritize the band, but that it hurts your.

Your brothers. You can’t do that either. So that’s our part.

I don’t even mind camping, like, or going to shows and not getting to play and, like, living on the road and that stuff can weigh on you. But I, like, love it enough that it doesn’t matter. In fact, that that can be some of my favorite times, is being on the road, and you just don’t have the same responsibilities other than, like, you got to get to the show and you got to play, and then you got to go home, and then you got to do it again.

That is one of the best parts. I second that. I love being on the road, and it’s so much fun.

It’s like a tangible thing. When you’re on the road, it’s like, that’s the full experience. You’re not just driving 20 minutes.

It’s as real as it gets. Yeah. You’re going somewhere else and taking your music into a new realm and letting other people experience that that otherwise wouldn’t have.

How cool is that? I would like to say one more thing. I think that a huge positive to this is the ability to be very vulnerable in front of different groups of people and the fulfilling things that come from just being that vulnerable with new people. Yeah.

I think it’s a beautiful thing. It’s all about the connection, baby. The relationships.

Oh, boy. We came full circle. Full circle, full circle.

Wow. I got a new worst thing late on me. Venue bathrooms.

Ooh, horrible. What about gas station bathrooms? Also horrible. Dude.

We have some stories. We regularly rate them. So, like, whoever goes in first will come out and be like, two out of ten.

So many are hit and so many are poor that we’ve had to start keeping track. You’d be surprised what you find in these bathrooms, man. It’s really bad.

Yeah. And that’s your only one. Yeah, that’s what you get.

Until we get, like, a. Like a bandwagon on the very first tour. Not first with Adam.

Yeah, he bought, like, piss jugs, like, for truckers. Like, they actually use urine sacks. We didn’t.

Each member only Max used it. The rest, we returned the other ones. But it turns out.

Turns out it was easy enough to just not use them and use the bathrooms along the way. So before you guys go into your beautiful music, every band has that song that every time you go into a live concert, you must play that song. In your case, what would be that song? If each of you have your own individual one, just share it with us.

A must play live song. I wish we had a huge hit that we were required to play. I mean, right off the top of my head, I have to say shapes.

That tends to come back to every single live show that we play. Yeah. Except today.

But generally. Yeah. There’s something about that song where it’s weird.

It’s completely different. Different than what our other music usually is like. And I think the audience, in almost every situation that we’ve played, it responds weirdly well to it, even though it’s completely different and very strange.

Maybe that’s why. Yeah, absolutely. It’s a great song.

That’s a song that pretty much makes every song. And have fun listening to that song and not bobbing your head or moving to it. And I think that it gets people moving no matter what.

For the record, the reason why we didn’t play tonight is because it’s got the bass and drums that you have. It needs the rhythm. Yeah, yeah.

It’s true. Yeah. I’d say that one always gets put in the set.

I think our new song that we’re working on is gonna become one of those songs, too. It’s another dancey song that’s just like. I think everybody’s gonna love it.

We’ve never played it live. If you come to the show on Sunday or just stick around version today, there’ll be a version. How about you, John? You care to weigh in? I think that, like, historically, that is one of the ones that’s been most consistent shapes.

Yeah, yeah. Yep. I mean, that goes down to my time, and I loved playing that song.

Oh, it’s been around for a minute. No, I think it pretty much always makes it in. Even if we choose, like, a rock set, it still is in there somewhere.

And it fits just fine. Gets people going. So that’s why.

Yeah, it’s dynamic. I really hope mister big shot, like, makes most sets. I’m really proud of that song.

I think it’s a good one. He rips. It’s the solo.

It’s the solo. He needs it. Oh, goodness.

Well, thank you all for your questions. It’s time where we can enjoy the songs. Like, we got this build up, and I think there’s something special now you all got to see under the hood.

And now we’re going to actually turn the engine on. Strip down, you know, but no pressure. No pressure at all.

But don’t mess up. Oh, great. So I just wanted to say thank you again for everybody that came out tonight.

This is really awesome. And, yeah, we really appreciate it. Thank you so much for sharing tonight with us.

With that being said, this first song is called Catfish Moto. You don’t understand yourself at all. But you never call when I need you or the door.

But you’re exceptional yet you never dare when I call and you don’t see it. You don’t care and you don’t take me anywhere I see it, oh, it’s clear I need somebody with me here and I don’t understand myself at all. But I never call when I need you or I don’t.

But you’re exceptional yet you never dare when I call and you don’t see it so you don’t care you don’t, you don’t take me anywhere whoa, whoa. And you don’t know so you don’t care you don’t take me anywhere oh, I see it and it’s clear I need somebody here. Thank you.

Thank you. This next song is about loving yourself. And sometimes that’s hard to do, but you gotta do it.

So this song is about loving yourself. It is called love 40. She’s got business cards.

I got business cards. You gotta try to brush it off like you don’t care and then you gotta move on to anywhere oh, that you go but you gotta believe this. They never mean it, you never see it, you know it’s true and you gotta believe this that when they see it it’s still as easy as picking you and you don’t say the things you really wanna do.

Why stop now? It’s me and you well, they don’t play. So let’s just do it over in a brand new way say it’s alright, so it’s okay well, I’m not anyway. Whoa.

You gotta try to brush it off like you don’t care. Linden. You gotta move on to anywhere oh, that you go.

But you gotta believe this. They never mean it, you never see it, you know it’s true. And you gotta believe this, that when they see it, it’s still as easy as picking you.

And you don’t say the things you really wanna do, why stop now? If it is only me and you. You don’t say the things you really wanna do, why stop now? It’s me and and you. Well, they don’t play.

So let’s just do it over in a brand new way. Say it’s alright, so it’s okay well, I’m not anyway. Whoa.

If you really want to come back now, then you gotta learn to come back down. You gotta turn around, shape it all. Now it’s over and done.

You don’t know what you’re really missing. Thank you, guys. This next song is the newest song that we put out, most recent.

This one’s called Mister Big Shot. And it’s about sometimes you get too big for your britches. You know, you got to learn how to dial it back a little bit.

Learn more about yourself. So this one is called Mister Big Shot. Make your big plans pretend they fell through when nothing really works out quite right for you.

So you tell em all to tell em all and say that you’re through and you just wanna show em all that you are brand new, big break, keep it to yourself? Mistakes you put on the shelf? I could never really help myself out? The hole but I found a new way, new place I could go? You’re all I knew? All that was left, left in my head? You missed a big shot. But you never really understand? You’re climbing right up to the top? Well, don’t forget to shoot your shot. Big shot, big shot.

So here we are again, my only friend? I hate to see this out until the very end? And I can tell this look you’ve painted under your face? Time is up undone you live your life like a race. Big break, keep it to yourself? Those mistakes you put on the shelf? And I can never really help myself in time. You’re what I need but can never find.

You’re all I knew? All that was left? You missed a big show but you never really had to stop. You’re climbing right up to the top? And don’t forget to shoot your shot. Big shot, big shot.

You missed a big shot. But you never really had to stop. Climbing right up to the top.

Don’t forget to shoot your shot. Big shot, big shot. All right, this last one is real special because we’ve never played it live before, so who knows how it’s gonna go? It’s called ghosts.

And this is the stripped down version. It’s about change. It’s about ghosts, past versions of yourself.

A ghost of yourself, if you will, if you, if you will, yeah. Help me unpack parts of my past, they take me back? Ooh, whoa. Dust on the ground? Ghostly sounds repaint this town? Ooh, whoa.

And life’s not fair? It’s in the air? Floats by like ghosts? Where on our own I can’t be found, not anymore I know for sure the clock is telling lies? It’s never gonna be the way it was before? Before? Always want to see you walking through the door? But we float by like ghosts, we’re on our own? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What.