July 30, 2025 • 34 mins
On this week's In Service Of 5 Seconds of Summer's Michael Clifford sits down with Steve Baltin to discuss Clifford's solo debut, 'Sidequest,' how being a dad changed his perspective, working with electronic superstar Porter Robinson and much more.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey, it's Steve Balton and this week on in Service Up,
I sit down with Michael Clifford. Michael from five Seconds
the Summer is making a solodibious with side Quest. We
talk about what it's like finding his own voice as
a solo artist, being a dad, so much more. Hope
you enjoyed this interview as much as I did. Thanks.
(00:41):
This is Steve here on in Service Up. Dude, Thanks
so much for being here. Michael. You know it's funny.
Thanks talking about this. And before we came on, we
were talking about where you are and it's really interesting
because you said it's where the grandparents are. And you know,
I've talked about this with so many artists and you
know it's interesting. I interviewed Luke Havings last year and
(01:03):
he said something very interesting to me, which I'll get
to in a second. But it's funny because I wanted
to get your perception on this. I've talked about so
many artists. As soon as you have a kid, it
doesn't matter what the hell happened to your life before that,
none of it matters because you realize it's just all
about them, protecting them, making them happy, and most important,
(01:25):
what they think about you, so all the other stuff
that people have said before, You're like, who gives a fuck.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Dude, It really changed my whole, like my whole outlook.
And it also like there's something interesting that I've found
about Like once you have a kid, I'm like, man,
everything else is easy, you know, like I can I
can do anything because I'm like, being a parent is
like the hottest and most fulfilling thing that you can do.
So it is it is definitely like interesting because I'm like, man,
(01:54):
I'm gonna talk about anything else. I'm like anything else
can come my way. And I'm like, yeah, all you know,
like it's it just pales in comparison to like the
the emotion and feeling of of of a kid.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, Search Tanking. He's a friend would put it to
me this way. He said, as soon as you have
a kid, you everything you've ever thought you've known about
being in love forget it because it all changes. You'll
never love anything as much as you love your kid.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You also like you also like you have to like
rest in peace the old version of you that you
had before you were a parent, which is which is
you know, super interesting to me and like coincidentally, like
kind of falls in line with with this album that
I've made. I I sort of like I made a
(02:44):
lot of the music kind of before being a dad,
and then kind of after being a dad, I had
to like go back and sort of like reapproach everything again.
Not because I, you know, wanted to make a record
about being a dad. You know, there's like there's maybe
one song that that is about that on on my album,
but I sort of like I kind of wanted to
just approach it with a new perspective of like where
(03:06):
I was at in life now and you know it's
it's a totally different place than where I was, and
kind of like, you know, it helped me embrace something,
you know, more childlike in myself that I feel like
I've been, you know, trying to force myself to grow
up or something, and it almost like did the opposite
to me. It's like doing the most adult thing that
I could ever do in my life. I was like,
(03:28):
wait a second, I want to you know, that's my
place for that, but everything else, like in music, I
need it to be like just as fun and like
full of that child like wonder as I can as
I can kind of like tap into.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
That's so fascinating to me though, because first of all,
I've heard the record. It's wonderful and we'll come on
to it's But it's interesting because also I see I
just interview everyone in the world, so like I can
talk about people who are way smarter than me, who
can bring up interesting points. And James Bay, who's a friend,
was also saying he made his last album before he
had a kid, and then he went back and realized
(04:07):
that there was stuff in there about being a dad.
He didn't know he had written about it a lot
of times as an artist because music is so subconscious,
you're writing about things you're thinking without knowing you're thinking
about them. So it's interesting that you say that because
on this album, the thing I love about it is
your vulnerability. The fact that you talk about like I'm
not fucking cool and I don't pretend to be you know,
(04:29):
cannot be cool, but you know you talk about it
through multiple songs, and it's funny because I imagine, whether consciously
or subconsciously, that's definitely part of the thinking of being
a dad is especially for the first time he's like,
oh shit, can I do this?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Absolutely, like I think I am like a chronic of
a thinker right of the think everything in my life,
you know, like especially music and parenting. To me, I
like the two things that I'm constantly like so like
I'll dissect every moment and everything to see if I've
(05:07):
done it right. And you know, so for me, there
was like a ton of correlation with with both of
those things, and they're the two things that are like,
you know, the biggest, biggest parts of my life. So yeah,
I like a common theme in in my album and
just honestly, like who I am as a person is like,
(05:27):
you know, can I even do this thing that I'm
trying to do? And I'm like other people kind of
like give me confidence and make me think that I can,
but you know, maybe I just have to give it
a go. And you know, with with a song like
cool as well, like I just it was it was
the first song that you know that I that I said, Okay,
(05:48):
this one is done, you know, and this one I
can kind of hand hand over and let out into
the universe.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
And that was just like that was just like such
a such a a a trip because you know, I've
been I've been delivering songs and signing off on songs
in the band since I was, you know, fifteen, sixteen years.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Old, and then you know, now here I am, and
you know, I've been doing this for like, you know,
thirteen fourteen years, and I'm like struggling to even like
to even you know, be be happy with the music
and sort of like feel like it's ready to be
put out into the world. So, you know, in a
(06:30):
lot of ways, for me, this this record is just.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Like is.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I just had I had to go at some point,
and I had to just I had to let it
go and you know, have other people tell me when
the thing needs to be done by because if it
was up to me, I just keep editing it and
live in a dropbox forever.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
So that's funny though, because I mean, first of all,
when you're with the band, right, you have other eyes
that you can bounce off of, and you know, so
it's like if you like a song, if you're not
sure of it, you know, you still have four other opinions.
When it's in your name, it's a whole different kind
of pressure, dude.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And it's like I was getting to the point where
I was like every single, like Downd and like everything
that made every song. I was just overthinking and you know,
I'm like, does this you know, I'm trying to just
think of like one of the most you know, there's
like in songs you put like ambience tracks and things
(07:37):
that sit in the background of like you know, they
kind of like provide this frequency, and I'm like, does
that represent me? Like that that sound of a you know,
of a tree wrestling, I'm like, is that you know
that nobody else hears? Like literally it's almost impossible to hear.
But there was just so much of that where I'm like,
(07:57):
you know, I didn't understand the concept of like, you know,
every everything that I put out in everything that everyone hears,
Like I no longer can hide behind my friends. You know.
It's like it it's me now, and you know everything
that you hear on it has to be, uh, you know,
like a representation of me, and that just like rippled me.
(08:21):
I was like, man, you know, everything needs to needs
to sound a certain way. Until I kind of like,
you know, that was that was a big journey for me.
It's like finding out like sometimes like it's you just
have to go with your gut and go with with
what feels right instead of like what Analytically in your
(08:41):
head you can like, do you know, like rings to
find what it is you you know, like I was
just running in circles. So anyway, tangent tangent over.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Now it's interesting that do you find then that when
you go back and listen to it. Yeah. Of course,
when you're in the middle of making a record, everybody
feels that way. You're like so overwhelmed and you're too
close to it to really get any perspective on it.
So now when you go back and listen to it,
first of all, like I mentioned the vulnerability, are there
songs that surprise you a little bit when you're like,
(09:16):
I can't believe I wrote that, because again, you know,
you've been in What Luke said to me that was
so interesting when we talked about his EP last year.
He talked about the fact that in writing it, it
was almost like coming to grips with his teenage feelings
and it was like trying to protect someone that you
can't protect anymore. And the way, you know, look, you
(09:37):
spent all this time as a teenager having the success,
and you craft this image for the world, and then
now as an adult you're a dad, you're a husband,
and there's a freedom in letting all that go and saying, fucket,
this is who I really am. I no longer have
to protect that image.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
That's interesting. Yeah, No, that's well said for him, And
I think that's that's been like a theme for him
that you know, even when we made our fifth record,
I was I was feeling that there was like a
lot of a lot of kind of like reminiscing that
Luke was doing on on on the past, and he
was trying to find the right words to say, And
(10:16):
I love how he put that. Yeah, I think it's
it's you know, especially going into into being you know,
solo artists. For all of us in the band, you know,
we have this like we have this this thing that
we all do together, and then when we go and
do our own things, they're so different and they're so like,
(10:37):
you know, they're so like uniquely us in whatever whatever ways.
And so so I think for me, I was just
trying to find like, what's what's that for me? Like,
I don't know what I don't know what that looks
like for me. I don't know what that sounds like
or what what words are right and that represent me.
(10:58):
So so finding out that was I think the biggest
part for me because you know, like ultimately I'm not
I'm not the person who sings the most in in
my band, and you know, I had to find out
like am you know, what's what's my what's my voice
in in this? You know, in this space of fucking
(11:23):
life for you know, music whatever? I was like just
what is what? Like? Who am I? So I think
finding that for me was was a big was a
big theme in my record and like, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
So who was it that you found in this? Because
that's a great thing about writing, of course, is it
shows you you right, and then you kind of figure
it out. Like that's what I was talking about writing
being sub conscious a lot of times it shows you
what you're thinking. So when you go back and listen
to this album, you know, besides being an adult, besides
being a dad, who are you in this album?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Did? I have no idea? And I think, like what
I love about what I've made is that, like the
songs are all so different and they're they're coming from
so many different places and like ideas that that I
feel like it kind of like is part of who
I am. I'm like, really, you know, like I'm I'm
(12:23):
complicated and and like have a lot of parts of myself,
and I I feel like I was able to, like,
you know, I'm not necessarily one person. I'm I'm a
sum of of all my experiences and all of these
different journeys that I've taken in life, and you know,
journeys that I've been lucky enough to be on for
(12:45):
for all of them. That that I just I like,
maybe that is maybe that is me. But sometimes to me,
I feel like there's a few different parts of me
that that sort of like live within different songs. Like
I can kind of hear different parts of me in
different songs and kind of, like I was saying earlier,
I like I wanted to redo a lot of my
(13:06):
a lot of this album after becoming a dad because
I was like, it just it changed so much and
and it I had like a new grip on this,
this new side of me and who I wanted to
be because I sort of like I I found that
that like the childlikes stuff, and like you know, I
(13:28):
was watching someone every day experience something brand new every day,
like everything that she would that we would do together.
My daughter would be like, oh my god, that's like new,
and you know, to me, it's like, I don't know,
like a water bottle. I'm just like, you know, this
is a water bottle that I see every day. And
to her, she's like on a bottle. She just couldn't
(13:50):
believe it. And I think I had this like, you
know thing of like, man, I want people to have
that experience when they listen to my music as well,
you know, like I want that feeling of discovery in
this like you know, like thing that that you know,
I tried to find a few different ways to like
sing lyrics and say things that like only I can say,
(14:13):
you know, like in Cool and the Bridge, I talk about,
you know, like I'm the dude who caught fire with
colored hair from the band with the song about underwear,
and and to me, I was trying to find things
that like only I can say and like only I
can sing. And so to me, I'm like, what's a
few things that like only I can talk about that
(14:34):
that nobody else has experienced? Because I think that's kind
of like the oh sorry, right, okay, Cool. I think
that's like the kind of like the beauty of being
able to do solo stuff compared to like the band
thing is like I can say something that only represents
(14:55):
me now, and you know, in the band, we we
have to find things that we all all say, an
all feel or maybe not necessarily in all the songs,
but like it has to be an equal part to
all of us. So yeah, that was that was just
fun to like experiment with and mess around with and
you know, find some different things to say. I guess so.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Were some of the things that you say in here
that you feel like were things only you could say?
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I would need I'd need a lyric sheet in front
of me. But like cool cool to me is like
the the best, the best like analogy for for that
of like you know, and and the irony of it
is that I wrote it with Callum, you know, and
like Callum really helped me bring this side, bring this
(15:46):
side out of me of like trying to find things
that that I could talk about, and I just I
found that, Like you know that that blew my mind.
That a song that only you know that I'm saying
things that like only I can sing. I'm like I
wrote it with a guy who I've been in a
band with my whole life. And who's known me for
twenty years. I just found that, like the irony was
(16:10):
just like like, of course, of course it was had
to be done like.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Me having talked to a million songwriters, because sometimes again
you're too close to shit, so he probably knows you
in a way that you know things you hadn't even
thought about.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yeah, yeah, And I mean I've known him the longest
I've known anyone in my life, and I just you know,
there's like a different comfort level with with Callum than
than a lot of other people in my life that
I can kind of like, you know, I mean, particularly
with everyone in the band obviously, but I think, you know,
having known Callum since I was like literally a toddler,
(16:48):
I'm like, there's this different level of comfortability where like
he's seen me in every part of my life, and
so I mean some of the other guys too, to
be honest, but I just the way that it works
out was that I was just writing the song Gallop,
it just like he was able to like bring that
that comfort level and sort of like provide this little
like security blanket of things that I've known in the
(17:10):
past and like being able to have you know, like
this this security blanket with the band of like being
able to hide behind my friends, so he was able
to like bring that out of me a little bit,
but also like help push me a little bit and
be like, you know, do this a little so yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, no, like I said, that makes total sense, you know,
because you write with someone who gets a different perspective
of you. Was most of this record written with other people?
Or was most of it alone?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
I wrote with other people. I tried. I tried working
on my own, and I just was like it was
just too hard for me. I was I was just
like I just couldn't I couldn't find I couldn't find
the words, I couldn't find the sounds. I just I
just I needed I needed help, and I needed people
(17:59):
to work with me on it because I was just
I was just, you know, I've never done this before,
so I thought it was going to be like a
similar experience to going in with making stuff that I've
made with the band in the past, and it was just,
you know, like I was saying such a different experience,
and you know, like I was hearing music different, I
(18:21):
was hearing things different because now I no longer had
you know, the the like five seconds of Summer Alias
behind it. It's all of a sudden, like it's just
just me. So I needed I needed I needed to
work with other people, and I needed their I needed
their help. And I loved everyone I got to work
with on this, like you know, particularly like JT. Daily,
(18:45):
who produced like pretty much all of the songs on this,
Like he really helped me like find like find my
confidence in making this stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
No, that's I mean, I think total sense to you,
because it's funny. I think about an interview I did
years ago with Nick Hornby, the writer you know who
wrote High Fidelity, and we were talking about it and
he was saying the biggest problem he had after the
success of High Fidelity was everyone was afraid to edit in.
But he's like, everyone needs an editor, doesn't matter who
you are, you know, like that's why so many people
(19:22):
use Rick Rubin as a producer or like, you know,
it's funny. I actually reached out this morning because we're friends,
to Felde just to say I was interviewing you and
you know, and another friend, Peter Katz, said to say, hey,
what's up. But you know, like that makes total sense,
because again, sometimes you're just too close to shit. And also,
like you say, everybody needs a sounding.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Board totally, and I think for me, I'd had a
sounding board my whole life, you know, like I'd never
made music without it. That like, when I started the process,
I was like, oh my god, like I I can't
be this for myself, Like I need to find people
who I trust in, people that that I you know,
(20:05):
that like whose ears kind of know this. I need
them to be that for me because I'm you know,
like I've said, I'm I'm I'm the guy who will
like be editing a song until you know someone yells
at me and says you've got to be finished with it.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
So yeah, So it's interesting going through the record then,
you know, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
One of the songs I really love is give Me
a Break. I also love remember when you know, for you,
what were those moments then that stand out where you're like,
because look, this way I put it, every artist is
worse critic. You know, every artist is like, uh, but
what does happen as an artist is you hit these
what I call moments of truth where you hit something
(20:59):
that really live and you're like, Okay, that's where I
want to work from that's where I want to use
his building blocks going forward. So what for you were
the building blocks on this record.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I think like there were no specific moments for me,
but like really being able to like let go was
the biggest, the biggest thing for me. And I think JT,
like I was saying, like JT really helped me me,
Like he helped me find my confidence in like my ears.
(21:36):
I sort of like the way that I work is
more of like a like I like to like be
across the like bigger picture of stuff first and then
I get like super granular. And I think he really
helped me like almost get rid of one of those
like get rid of the bigger picture of the song,
and like by having someone else work on stuff, it
(21:58):
was almost like then I can just go granul with it.
So dude, I just I don't know if there were
necessarily moments I think for me, like having Porter Robinson,
who's my number one favorite artist of all time, like
actually I think having him listen to kill me for
(22:21):
always and sort of like do his thing on it
and like and like believe in me. I think that
really sort of like took that that helped me like
get across the finish line. You know, like I I
I don't think i'd be making I don't think i'd
(22:41):
be able to make music, you know, like by myself,
like considered Michael Clifford if I didn't know Porter's music,
so I think his his kind of like co sign
meant meant a lot to me. So yeah, No, there
were no like there were no moments or like or
(23:03):
like epiphanies of like oh my god, I can do this.
You know, like every song and every day was like,
you know, I'm sure everyone fucking hates me because of
how annoying I am and how you know, I'll be like,
let's do this, and then you know, they'll be like okay,
and then I'll make it and I'll do it and
then I'll be like, no, actually you were right originally,
(23:24):
like that was the right thing to do. So I
just I overthink, like I just don't want to keep
repeating myself. But like I struggle to like commit to
one idea on stuff because like there are so many
different ways that you could make it. And I think
when I was putting my name on it, all of
a sudden, I was like it has to be perfect,
(23:44):
Like every single part of it has to be like perfect,
and then I think when I realized, no, it doesn't.
It can actually just be what it is and you
can like move on and people are going to hear
it in different ways anyway. I think maybe that was
a really helpful, helpful part of making it. I don't know,
(24:06):
maybe it all sucks. Maybe I never even had that
moment and that's the closest I got.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
But I love Porter. I've interviewed him fucked first time
when he was like fifteen. Really, yeah, I know it's
a great dude. But it's interesting because that goes back
to what we're talking about the beginning about having a kid,
because again, once you have that, it's like, well, let's
say it sucks, who the fuck cares? Because now you
have this kid that now is more than anything in
the world anyway, and it doesn't suck, by the way,
(24:33):
But you know, as an artist, that's a normal feeling.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah. Yeah, I just found myself like in an absolute
spiral sometimes where you know, I knew that the main
thing I wanted this album to be for me was
was just fun. Like I really wanted it to be fun,
and it's why I called it, you know, something like
fucking side quest. You know, I just I want people
(24:59):
to like get into this world and get into my
mind of like, like this is just fun for me,
and I wanted to like have just a fun experience.
Like ironically, I was making it really difficult for myself,
and I was like I was, I was making it
hard to have fun making making this music because I
(25:22):
was so like hell bent on it being perfect and
exactly what I wanted it to be. That that once
I started to embrace like, man, this is just something
that I want, I want to have fun with that,
that was like a that was just like a thesis
that I that I kept holding onto with this is
(25:45):
like like anyone who And even though like a lot
of the topics are like you know some of them,
some of them are pretty heavy for me, and you know,
some of them are a little more lighthearted, self deprecating
or whatever it be. But I just wanted people to
like go into this album and feel like they can
kind of come out on the other side of listening
(26:06):
to it, like feeling like they know me more and
also like being even more confused about who I am.
So I think like there's this there's this this balance
where I don't think anyone has really ever like heard
me and heard what I what I have to say
when it comes to music properly just in the nature
(26:28):
of the of the band. And that's the beauty of
all of us doing these solo projects is now we
can like hear all of us individually and like what
we all you know, what represents all of us?
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, So what are the albums that have done that
for you when you hear that, you know an intentionally
what you were saying earlier about your daughter or two
and everything being new and that sense of discovery. I
love that feeling, and I love that feeling with music.
When you were a kid. What was the music that
first gave you that feeling where you heard it and
you're like, do you feel like you're the first person
in the world to hear this?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
To discover something?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Man?
Speaker 2 (27:04):
And I mean, I know the internet was like a
different time back back when I was like, you know,
discovering music and listening to stuff, but like there was
nothing better than like you know, going to YouTube or
like LimeWire or whatever it was, and like discovering this
(27:24):
thing that like you felt like you had this like
little ownership of and you know, I used to like
burn CDs for for my friends and like I'd give
them out and I'd be like, dude, wait till you
wait till you hear this. Like I can't even remember
what some of the albums are now, but you know,
my my DNA is like I'm an emo, you know,
I grew up listening to like emo heavy metal, like
(27:47):
that was the ship that inspired me to get into
making music. And you know that's that's not the like,
you know, metal wasn't necessarily the path that I went
down in life, but like I have that like in
my in my blood essentially, you know. So I think
like what was what was fun for me is like
finding the thing in the DNA that I bleed and
(28:10):
in this like kind of like you know, EMAO alternative
like whatever that is. But I was like I don't
want it to necessarily just feel like that, Like I
don't want to make something that's like a nostalgia album
or like I don't want to make something that's even
like a quote unquote like pop punk album. Like I
wanted to feel different and I wanted to feel like
(28:30):
it lives in its own world and its own lane
that like that, like dips its toes into all these
different territories of music that I that I love. So
I think, like when I think back on the stuff
that I discovered, you know, like I remember discovering my
can for the first time, and I was just like
I was just enamored with the world that they built
(28:51):
and the kind of like like pieces that they they
put together, and and like I felt like, I was like,
nobody else knows about this. And this was like on
kind of the tail end of when when they were
like about to take a hiatus or whatever, and I
was like, nobody else knows about this. And then I
go on YouTube and I'd see they're playing till like
sixty thousand people, and I'm like, what you know? And
(29:14):
we lived in like a small town in Australia, like
in the in the in the suburbs, and I was like,
why did none of my friends know about this? And
stuff like that? So that was that was, you know,
that was that was a big part of my childhood,
was like discovering stuff and like, you know, feeling like
like I, you know, I loved artists that I that
(29:37):
I felt like I kind of could relate to or
sort of knew and I think that, like, you know,
I really want to. I really want people to sort
of like understand a little more about me on this
and feel like they can relate with me in some way.
And maybe, I mean, maybe not, but I guess it's
the goal.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Well, well, I'm going to wrap up on podcast note,
which is the show is called in service of and
the reason why I have talked to artists about giving back,
how they do that, how it influences their music. And
I'm sure you have a very different perspective on it
now being a dad, because all of a sudden you
probably think about that very differently because you know, this
world we live in is so fucked up at the moment,
(30:19):
and you're like, what the hell am I gonna leave
my daughter?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah? Yeah, dude. I mean I feel like I've spent
I've spent a lot of my life kind of giving
two different two different things, and I'm like, you know,
I've been in service of a lot of different people
over the course of my career, and now there's only
(30:46):
one girl who runs everything for me, and that is
a little freaking a little toddler who's asleep in that
room over there. She runs my life now, it.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Probably in ways that like liberating as well, because it's like,
all right, you know, you've spent out, and giving back
is such a broad thing in music, because just making
music that makes people happy is giving back. And I
talked about there with artists like you know, in a
weird political climate like we have in the US, where
you're like okay, like I talked about Blondie and they're like, well,
(31:25):
we just write music to get people escape. That's giving
back because when every day you're living into this fascist regime,
you're like, ship, we need a break.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah. Totally relate to that big time. And especially you know,
we've had we've had an interesting career where where you know,
we've done a lot of a lot of things, and
you know, we've been lucky enough to like play and
see see the different people around the world that you know,
like we've we've helped, you know, like like the be
(32:00):
any part of their life at all. And I think
like that sometimes is a harsh, like a harsh reality
that that comes with with this sense of pressure of like, man,
I just I really hope that I'm doing you know,
that that memory of whatever those people have of you
know me, Like I just I want. I would never
(32:23):
want them to look back and be like, man, like
I can't, like I hate that I gave that guy
my energy. So I always am trying to like be
the type of person that I hope that that people
can be proud of giving giving to me too, you know,
because like I've been given amazing opportunities from those people.
(32:47):
So I guess that's like a thing as well with this,
is like I want I want this music to be
something that like, people who know me are proud of
as well. Like, and I don't even mean like people
who I know personally, Like I mean people who have
listened to the band and people who who you know,
have have ever heard my name and you know, wanted
(33:10):
to know anything about me. I just I want to
do them like I want to make them proud with
this as well.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
So yeah, well, well that does feel like a good
wrap up. Note is there anything you want to add
there and ask you about?
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I'm sorry I ended all of my phrases with so yeah, man,
it's all good. I mean, that doesn't feel good that
I ended all of it with like, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Now you're all good man. I enjoyed the conversation. Thank you,
so much. And yeah, I mean congrastulations on the record,
and again, as someone who's talked with everyone from fucking
James Brown to a wreath of Raglan to derive from
MI cam numerous times, you know, like it's all normal
as an artist. You know, if you if you feel
good about what you've done, that you probably have done
(33:57):
it wrong.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Yeah, that's that's a good that's a good point.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Cool man. Well, congratulations on everything and most important to
congratulations on being a dad.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Thanks Rav, I appreciate you taking the time man, thanks
for talking with me.
Hey, it's Steve Balton and this week on in Service Up,
I sit down with Michael Clifford. Michael from five Seconds
the Summer is making a solodibious with side Quest. We
talk about what it's like finding his own voice as
a solo artist, being a dad, so much more. Hope
you enjoyed this interview as much as I did. Thanks.
(00:41):
This is Steve here on in Service Up. Dude, Thanks
so much for being here. Michael. You know it's funny.
Thanks talking about this. And before we came on, we
were talking about where you are and it's really interesting
because you said it's where the grandparents are. And you know,
I've talked about this with so many artists and you
know it's interesting. I interviewed Luke Havings last year and
(01:03):
he said something very interesting to me, which I'll get
to in a second. But it's funny because I wanted
to get your perception on this. I've talked about so
many artists. As soon as you have a kid, it
doesn't matter what the hell happened to your life before that,
none of it matters because you realize it's just all
about them, protecting them, making them happy, and most important,
(01:25):
what they think about you, so all the other stuff
that people have said before, You're like, who gives a fuck.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Dude, It really changed my whole, like my whole outlook.
And it also like there's something interesting that I've found
about Like once you have a kid, I'm like, man,
everything else is easy, you know, like I can I
can do anything because I'm like, being a parent is
like the hottest and most fulfilling thing that you can do.
So it is it is definitely like interesting because I'm like, man,
(01:54):
I'm gonna talk about anything else. I'm like anything else
can come my way. And I'm like, yeah, all you know,
like it's it just pales in comparison to like the
the emotion and feeling of of of a kid.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, Search Tanking. He's a friend would put it to
me this way. He said, as soon as you have
a kid, you everything you've ever thought you've known about
being in love forget it because it all changes. You'll
never love anything as much as you love your kid.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You also like you also like you have to like
rest in peace the old version of you that you
had before you were a parent, which is which is
you know, super interesting to me and like coincidentally, like
kind of falls in line with with this album that
I've made. I I sort of like I made a
(02:44):
lot of the music kind of before being a dad,
and then kind of after being a dad, I had
to like go back and sort of like reapproach everything again.
Not because I, you know, wanted to make a record
about being a dad. You know, there's like there's maybe
one song that that is about that on on my album,
but I sort of like I kind of wanted to
just approach it with a new perspective of like where
(03:06):
I was at in life now and you know it's
it's a totally different place than where I was, and
kind of like, you know, it helped me embrace something,
you know, more childlike in myself that I feel like
I've been, you know, trying to force myself to grow
up or something, and it almost like did the opposite
to me. It's like doing the most adult thing that
I could ever do in my life. I was like,
(03:28):
wait a second, I want to you know, that's my
place for that, but everything else, like in music, I
need it to be like just as fun and like
full of that child like wonder as I can as
I can kind of like tap into.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
That's so fascinating to me though, because first of all,
I've heard the record. It's wonderful and we'll come on
to it's But it's interesting because also I see I
just interview everyone in the world, so like I can
talk about people who are way smarter than me, who
can bring up interesting points. And James Bay, who's a friend,
was also saying he made his last album before he
had a kid, and then he went back and realized
(04:07):
that there was stuff in there about being a dad.
He didn't know he had written about it a lot
of times as an artist because music is so subconscious,
you're writing about things you're thinking without knowing you're thinking
about them. So it's interesting that you say that because
on this album, the thing I love about it is
your vulnerability. The fact that you talk about like I'm
not fucking cool and I don't pretend to be you know,
(04:29):
cannot be cool, but you know you talk about it
through multiple songs, and it's funny because I imagine, whether consciously
or subconsciously, that's definitely part of the thinking of being
a dad is especially for the first time he's like,
oh shit, can I do this?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Absolutely, like I think I am like a chronic of
a thinker right of the think everything in my life,
you know, like especially music and parenting. To me, I
like the two things that I'm constantly like so like
I'll dissect every moment and everything to see if I've
(05:07):
done it right. And you know, so for me, there
was like a ton of correlation with with both of
those things, and they're the two things that are like,
you know, the biggest, biggest parts of my life. So yeah,
I like a common theme in in my album and
just honestly, like who I am as a person is like,
(05:27):
you know, can I even do this thing that I'm
trying to do? And I'm like other people kind of
like give me confidence and make me think that I can,
but you know, maybe I just have to give it
a go. And you know, with with a song like
cool as well, like I just it was it was
the first song that you know that I that I said, Okay,
(05:48):
this one is done, you know, and this one I
can kind of hand hand over and let out into
the universe.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
And that was just like that was just like such
a such a a a trip because you know, I've
been I've been delivering songs and signing off on songs
in the band since I was, you know, fifteen, sixteen years.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Old, and then you know, now here I am, and
you know, I've been doing this for like, you know,
thirteen fourteen years, and I'm like struggling to even like
to even you know, be be happy with the music
and sort of like feel like it's ready to be
put out into the world. So, you know, in a
(06:30):
lot of ways, for me, this this record is just.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Like is.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I just had I had to go at some point,
and I had to just I had to let it
go and you know, have other people tell me when
the thing needs to be done by because if it
was up to me, I just keep editing it and
live in a dropbox forever.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
So that's funny though, because I mean, first of all,
when you're with the band, right, you have other eyes
that you can bounce off of, and you know, so
it's like if you like a song, if you're not
sure of it, you know, you still have four other opinions.
When it's in your name, it's a whole different kind
of pressure, dude.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And it's like I was getting to the point where
I was like every single, like Downd and like everything
that made every song. I was just overthinking and you know,
I'm like, does this you know, I'm trying to just
think of like one of the most you know, there's
like in songs you put like ambience tracks and things
(07:37):
that sit in the background of like you know, they
kind of like provide this frequency, and I'm like, does
that represent me? Like that that sound of a you know,
of a tree wrestling, I'm like, is that you know
that nobody else hears? Like literally it's almost impossible to hear.
But there was just so much of that where I'm like,
(07:57):
you know, I didn't understand the concept of like, you know,
every everything that I put out in everything that everyone hears,
Like I no longer can hide behind my friends. You know.
It's like it it's me now, and you know everything
that you hear on it has to be, uh, you know,
like a representation of me, and that just like rippled me.
(08:21):
I was like, man, you know, everything needs to needs
to sound a certain way. Until I kind of like,
you know, that was that was a big journey for me.
It's like finding out like sometimes like it's you just
have to go with your gut and go with with
what feels right instead of like what Analytically in your
(08:41):
head you can like, do you know, like rings to
find what it is you you know, like I was
just running in circles. So anyway, tangent tangent over.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Now it's interesting that do you find then that when
you go back and listen to it. Yeah. Of course,
when you're in the middle of making a record, everybody
feels that way. You're like so overwhelmed and you're too
close to it to really get any perspective on it.
So now when you go back and listen to it,
first of all, like I mentioned the vulnerability, are there
songs that surprise you a little bit when you're like,
(09:16):
I can't believe I wrote that, because again, you know,
you've been in What Luke said to me that was
so interesting when we talked about his EP last year.
He talked about the fact that in writing it, it
was almost like coming to grips with his teenage feelings
and it was like trying to protect someone that you
can't protect anymore. And the way, you know, look, you
(09:37):
spent all this time as a teenager having the success,
and you craft this image for the world, and then
now as an adult you're a dad, you're a husband,
and there's a freedom in letting all that go and saying, fucket,
this is who I really am. I no longer have
to protect that image.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
That's interesting. Yeah, No, that's well said for him, And
I think that's that's been like a theme for him
that you know, even when we made our fifth record,
I was I was feeling that there was like a
lot of a lot of kind of like reminiscing that
Luke was doing on on on the past, and he
was trying to find the right words to say, And
(10:16):
I love how he put that. Yeah, I think it's
it's you know, especially going into into being you know,
solo artists. For all of us in the band, you know,
we have this like we have this this thing that
we all do together, and then when we go and
do our own things, they're so different and they're so like,
(10:37):
you know, they're so like uniquely us in whatever whatever ways.
And so so I think for me, I was just
trying to find like, what's what's that for me? Like,
I don't know what I don't know what that looks
like for me. I don't know what that sounds like
or what what words are right and that represent me.
(10:58):
So so finding out that was I think the biggest
part for me because you know, like ultimately I'm not
I'm not the person who sings the most in in
my band, and you know, I had to find out
like am you know, what's what's my what's my voice
in in this? You know, in this space of fucking
(11:23):
life for you know, music whatever? I was like just
what is what? Like? Who am I? So I think
finding that for me was was a big was a
big theme in my record and like, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
So who was it that you found in this? Because
that's a great thing about writing, of course, is it
shows you you right, and then you kind of figure
it out. Like that's what I was talking about writing
being sub conscious a lot of times it shows you
what you're thinking. So when you go back and listen
to this album, you know, besides being an adult, besides
being a dad, who are you in this album?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Did? I have no idea? And I think, like what
I love about what I've made is that, like the
songs are all so different and they're they're coming from
so many different places and like ideas that that I
feel like it kind of like is part of who
I am. I'm like, really, you know, like I'm I'm
(12:23):
complicated and and like have a lot of parts of myself,
and I I feel like I was able to, like,
you know, I'm not necessarily one person. I'm I'm a
sum of of all my experiences and all of these
different journeys that I've taken in life, and you know,
journeys that I've been lucky enough to be on for
(12:45):
for all of them. That that I just I like,
maybe that is maybe that is me. But sometimes to me,
I feel like there's a few different parts of me
that that sort of like live within different songs. Like
I can kind of hear different parts of me in
different songs and kind of, like I was saying earlier,
I like I wanted to redo a lot of my
(13:06):
a lot of this album after becoming a dad because
I was like, it just it changed so much and
and it I had like a new grip on this,
this new side of me and who I wanted to
be because I sort of like I I found that
that like the childlikes stuff, and like you know, I
(13:28):
was watching someone every day experience something brand new every day,
like everything that she would that we would do together.
My daughter would be like, oh my god, that's like new,
and you know, to me, it's like, I don't know,
like a water bottle. I'm just like, you know, this
is a water bottle that I see every day. And
to her, she's like on a bottle. She just couldn't
(13:50):
believe it. And I think I had this like, you
know thing of like, man, I want people to have
that experience when they listen to my music as well,
you know, like I want that feeling of discovery in
this like you know, like thing that that you know,
I tried to find a few different ways to like
sing lyrics and say things that like only I can say,
(14:13):
you know, like in Cool and the Bridge, I talk about,
you know, like I'm the dude who caught fire with
colored hair from the band with the song about underwear,
and and to me, I was trying to find things
that like only I can say and like only I
can sing. And so to me, I'm like, what's a
few things that like only I can talk about that
(14:34):
that nobody else has experienced? Because I think that's kind
of like the oh sorry, right, okay, Cool. I think
that's like the kind of like the beauty of being
able to do solo stuff compared to like the band
thing is like I can say something that only represents
(14:55):
me now, and you know, in the band, we we
have to find things that we all all say, an
all feel or maybe not necessarily in all the songs,
but like it has to be an equal part to
all of us. So yeah, that was that was just
fun to like experiment with and mess around with and
you know, find some different things to say. I guess so.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Were some of the things that you say in here
that you feel like were things only you could say?
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I would need I'd need a lyric sheet in front
of me. But like cool cool to me is like
the the best, the best like analogy for for that
of like you know, and and the irony of it
is that I wrote it with Callum, you know, and
like Callum really helped me bring this side, bring this
(15:46):
side out of me of like trying to find things
that that I could talk about, and I just I
found that, Like you know that that blew my mind.
That a song that only you know that I'm saying
things that like only I can sing. I'm like I
wrote it with a guy who I've been in a
band with my whole life. And who's known me for
twenty years. I just found that, like the irony was
(16:10):
just like like, of course, of course it was had
to be done like.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Me having talked to a million songwriters, because sometimes again
you're too close to shit, so he probably knows you
in a way that you know things you hadn't even
thought about.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yeah, yeah, And I mean I've known him the longest
I've known anyone in my life, and I just you know,
there's like a different comfort level with with Callum than
than a lot of other people in my life that
I can kind of like, you know, I mean, particularly
with everyone in the band obviously, but I think, you know,
having known Callum since I was like literally a toddler,
(16:48):
I'm like, there's this different level of comfortability where like
he's seen me in every part of my life, and
so I mean some of the other guys too, to
be honest, but I just the way that it works
out was that I was just writing the song Gallop,
it just like he was able to like bring that
that comfort level and sort of like provide this little
like security blanket of things that I've known in the
(17:10):
past and like being able to have you know, like
this this security blanket with the band of like being
able to hide behind my friends, so he was able
to like bring that out of me a little bit,
but also like help push me a little bit and
be like, you know, do this a little so yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, no, like I said, that makes total sense, you know,
because you write with someone who gets a different perspective
of you. Was most of this record written with other people?
Or was most of it alone?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
I wrote with other people. I tried. I tried working
on my own, and I just was like it was
just too hard for me. I was I was just
like I just couldn't I couldn't find I couldn't find
the words, I couldn't find the sounds. I just I
just I needed I needed help, and I needed people
(17:59):
to work with me on it because I was just
I was just, you know, I've never done this before,
so I thought it was going to be like a
similar experience to going in with making stuff that I've
made with the band in the past, and it was just,
you know, like I was saying such a different experience,
and you know, like I was hearing music different, I
(18:21):
was hearing things different because now I no longer had
you know, the the like five seconds of Summer Alias
behind it. It's all of a sudden, like it's just
just me. So I needed I needed I needed to
work with other people, and I needed their I needed
their help. And I loved everyone I got to work
with on this, like you know, particularly like JT. Daily,
(18:45):
who produced like pretty much all of the songs on this,
Like he really helped me like find like find my
confidence in making this stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
No, that's I mean, I think total sense to you,
because it's funny. I think about an interview I did
years ago with Nick Hornby, the writer you know who
wrote High Fidelity, and we were talking about it and
he was saying the biggest problem he had after the
success of High Fidelity was everyone was afraid to edit in.
But he's like, everyone needs an editor, doesn't matter who
you are, you know, like that's why so many people
(19:22):
use Rick Rubin as a producer or like, you know,
it's funny. I actually reached out this morning because we're friends,
to Felde just to say I was interviewing you and
you know, and another friend, Peter Katz, said to say, hey,
what's up. But you know, like that makes total sense,
because again, sometimes you're just too close to shit. And also,
like you say, everybody needs a sounding.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Board totally, and I think for me, I'd had a
sounding board my whole life, you know, like I'd never
made music without it. That like, when I started the process,
I was like, oh my god, like I I can't
be this for myself, Like I need to find people
who I trust in, people that that I you know,
(20:05):
that like whose ears kind of know this. I need
them to be that for me because I'm you know,
like I've said, I'm I'm I'm the guy who will
like be editing a song until you know someone yells
at me and says you've got to be finished with it.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
So yeah, So it's interesting going through the record then,
you know, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
One of the songs I really love is give Me
a Break. I also love remember when you know, for you,
what were those moments then that stand out where you're like,
because look, this way I put it, every artist is
worse critic. You know, every artist is like, uh, but
what does happen as an artist is you hit these
what I call moments of truth where you hit something
(20:59):
that really live and you're like, Okay, that's where I
want to work from that's where I want to use
his building blocks going forward. So what for you were
the building blocks on this record.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I think like there were no specific moments for me,
but like really being able to like let go was
the biggest, the biggest thing for me. And I think JT,
like I was saying, like JT really helped me me,
Like he helped me find my confidence in like my ears.
(21:36):
I sort of like the way that I work is
more of like a like I like to like be
across the like bigger picture of stuff first and then
I get like super granular. And I think he really
helped me like almost get rid of one of those
like get rid of the bigger picture of the song,
and like by having someone else work on stuff, it
(21:58):
was almost like then I can just go granul with it.
So dude, I just I don't know if there were
necessarily moments I think for me, like having Porter Robinson,
who's my number one favorite artist of all time, like
actually I think having him listen to kill me for
(22:21):
always and sort of like do his thing on it
and like and like believe in me. I think that
really sort of like took that that helped me like
get across the finish line. You know, like I I
I don't think i'd be making I don't think i'd
(22:41):
be able to make music, you know, like by myself,
like considered Michael Clifford if I didn't know Porter's music,
so I think his his kind of like co sign
meant meant a lot to me. So yeah, No, there
were no like there were no moments or like or
(23:03):
like epiphanies of like oh my god, I can do this.
You know, like every song and every day was like,
you know, I'm sure everyone fucking hates me because of
how annoying I am and how you know, I'll be like,
let's do this, and then you know, they'll be like okay,
and then I'll make it and I'll do it and
then I'll be like, no, actually you were right originally,
(23:24):
like that was the right thing to do. So I
just I overthink, like I just don't want to keep
repeating myself. But like I struggle to like commit to
one idea on stuff because like there are so many
different ways that you could make it. And I think
when I was putting my name on it, all of
a sudden, I was like it has to be perfect,
(23:44):
Like every single part of it has to be like perfect,
and then I think when I realized, no, it doesn't.
It can actually just be what it is and you
can like move on and people are going to hear
it in different ways anyway. I think maybe that was
a really helpful, helpful part of making it. I don't know,
(24:06):
maybe it all sucks. Maybe I never even had that
moment and that's the closest I got.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
But I love Porter. I've interviewed him fucked first time
when he was like fifteen. Really, yeah, I know it's
a great dude. But it's interesting because that goes back
to what we're talking about the beginning about having a kid,
because again, once you have that, it's like, well, let's
say it sucks, who the fuck cares? Because now you
have this kid that now is more than anything in
the world anyway, and it doesn't suck, by the way,
(24:33):
But you know, as an artist, that's a normal feeling.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah. Yeah, I just found myself like in an absolute
spiral sometimes where you know, I knew that the main
thing I wanted this album to be for me was
was just fun. Like I really wanted it to be fun,
and it's why I called it, you know, something like
fucking side quest. You know, I just I want people
(24:59):
to like get into this world and get into my
mind of like, like this is just fun for me,
and I wanted to like have just a fun experience.
Like ironically, I was making it really difficult for myself,
and I was like I was, I was making it
hard to have fun making making this music because I
(25:22):
was so like hell bent on it being perfect and
exactly what I wanted it to be. That that once
I started to embrace like, man, this is just something
that I want, I want to have fun with that,
that was like a that was just like a thesis
that I that I kept holding onto with this is
(25:45):
like like anyone who And even though like a lot
of the topics are like you know some of them,
some of them are pretty heavy for me, and you know,
some of them are a little more lighthearted, self deprecating
or whatever it be. But I just wanted people to
like go into this album and feel like they can
kind of come out on the other side of listening
(26:06):
to it, like feeling like they know me more and
also like being even more confused about who I am.
So I think like there's this there's this this balance
where I don't think anyone has really ever like heard
me and heard what I what I have to say
when it comes to music properly just in the nature
(26:28):
of the of the band. And that's the beauty of
all of us doing these solo projects is now we
can like hear all of us individually and like what
we all you know, what represents all of us?
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, So what are the albums that have done that
for you when you hear that, you know an intentionally
what you were saying earlier about your daughter or two
and everything being new and that sense of discovery. I
love that feeling, and I love that feeling with music.
When you were a kid. What was the music that
first gave you that feeling where you heard it and
you're like, do you feel like you're the first person
in the world to hear this?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
To discover something?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Man?
Speaker 2 (27:04):
And I mean, I know the internet was like a
different time back back when I was like, you know,
discovering music and listening to stuff, but like there was
nothing better than like you know, going to YouTube or
like LimeWire or whatever it was, and like discovering this
(27:24):
thing that like you felt like you had this like
little ownership of and you know, I used to like
burn CDs for for my friends and like I'd give
them out and I'd be like, dude, wait till you
wait till you hear this. Like I can't even remember
what some of the albums are now, but you know,
my my DNA is like I'm an emo, you know,
I grew up listening to like emo heavy metal, like
(27:47):
that was the ship that inspired me to get into
making music. And you know that's that's not the like,
you know, metal wasn't necessarily the path that I went
down in life, but like I have that like in
my in my blood essentially, you know. So I think
like what was what was fun for me is like
finding the thing in the DNA that I bleed and
(28:10):
in this like kind of like you know, EMAO alternative
like whatever that is. But I was like I don't
want it to necessarily just feel like that, Like I
don't want to make something that's like a nostalgia album
or like I don't want to make something that's even
like a quote unquote like pop punk album. Like I
wanted to feel different and I wanted to feel like
(28:30):
it lives in its own world and its own lane
that like that, like dips its toes into all these
different territories of music that I that I love. So
I think, like when I think back on the stuff
that I discovered, you know, like I remember discovering my
can for the first time, and I was just like
I was just enamored with the world that they built
(28:51):
and the kind of like like pieces that they they
put together, and and like I felt like, I was like,
nobody else knows about this. And this was like on
kind of the tail end of when when they were
like about to take a hiatus or whatever, and I
was like, nobody else knows about this. And then I
go on YouTube and I'd see they're playing till like
sixty thousand people, and I'm like, what you know? And
(29:14):
we lived in like a small town in Australia, like
in the in the in the suburbs, and I was like,
why did none of my friends know about this? And
stuff like that? So that was that was, you know,
that was that was a big part of my childhood,
was like discovering stuff and like, you know, feeling like
like I, you know, I loved artists that I that
(29:37):
I felt like I kind of could relate to or
sort of knew and I think that, like, you know,
I really want to. I really want people to sort
of like understand a little more about me on this
and feel like they can relate with me in some way.
And maybe, I mean, maybe not, but I guess it's
the goal.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Well, well, I'm going to wrap up on podcast note,
which is the show is called in service of and
the reason why I have talked to artists about giving back,
how they do that, how it influences their music. And
I'm sure you have a very different perspective on it
now being a dad, because all of a sudden you
probably think about that very differently because you know, this
world we live in is so fucked up at the moment,
(30:19):
and you're like, what the hell am I gonna leave
my daughter?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah? Yeah, dude. I mean I feel like I've spent
I've spent a lot of my life kind of giving
two different two different things, and I'm like, you know,
I've been in service of a lot of different people
over the course of my career, and now there's only
(30:46):
one girl who runs everything for me, and that is
a little freaking a little toddler who's asleep in that
room over there. She runs my life now, it.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Probably in ways that like liberating as well, because it's like,
all right, you know, you've spent out, and giving back
is such a broad thing in music, because just making
music that makes people happy is giving back. And I
talked about there with artists like you know, in a
weird political climate like we have in the US, where
you're like okay, like I talked about Blondie and they're like, well,
(31:25):
we just write music to get people escape. That's giving
back because when every day you're living into this fascist regime,
you're like, ship, we need a break.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah. Totally relate to that big time. And especially you know,
we've had we've had an interesting career where where you know,
we've done a lot of a lot of things, and
you know, we've been lucky enough to like play and
see see the different people around the world that you know,
like we've we've helped, you know, like like the be
(32:00):
any part of their life at all. And I think
like that sometimes is a harsh, like a harsh reality
that that comes with with this sense of pressure of like, man,
I just I really hope that I'm doing you know,
that that memory of whatever those people have of you
know me, Like I just I want. I would never
(32:23):
want them to look back and be like, man, like
I can't, like I hate that I gave that guy
my energy. So I always am trying to like be
the type of person that I hope that that people
can be proud of giving giving to me too, you know,
because like I've been given amazing opportunities from those people.
(32:47):
So I guess that's like a thing as well with this,
is like I want I want this music to be
something that like, people who know me are proud of
as well. Like, and I don't even mean like people
who I know personally, Like I mean people who have
listened to the band and people who who you know,
have have ever heard my name and you know, wanted
(33:10):
to know anything about me. I just I want to
do them like I want to make them proud with
this as well.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
So yeah, well, well that does feel like a good
wrap up. Note is there anything you want to add
there and ask you about?
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I'm sorry I ended all of my phrases with so yeah, man,
it's all good. I mean, that doesn't feel good that
I ended all of it with like, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Now you're all good man. I enjoyed the conversation. Thank you,
so much. And yeah, I mean congrastulations on the record,
and again, as someone who's talked with everyone from fucking
James Brown to a wreath of Raglan to derive from
MI cam numerous times, you know, like it's all normal
as an artist. You know, if you if you feel
good about what you've done, that you probably have done
(33:57):
it wrong.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Yeah, that's that's a good that's a good point.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Cool man. Well, congratulations on everything and most important to
congratulations on being a dad.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Thanks Rav, I appreciate you taking the time man, thanks
for talking with me.
Hosts And Creators
Elvis Duran
Garrett
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