Jonathan Gonzales from Sunday Drive Records

You know those record labels that you get obsessed with and start to listen to EVERYTHING that they put out, regardless if you've heard the band or not? Well, Sunday Drive Records is that for me and I had to have on the owner, Jonathan Gonzales, on the show to chat about it. We discuss the slow growth of the label since he started it out of his college dorm room, his design work and running. I urge you to listen to this episode and discover the amazing bands he's put out, while also understanding all that it takes to run a label. Enjoy! 

Listen to the Official Outbreak Podcast here (executive produced by yours truly) 

Weekly Recommendation Playlist

Theme Song by Tapestry Gold

Subscribe to the podcast on YouTube

Rockabilia sells you officially licensed Merch from ALL your favorite bands (and your Dad's favorite band, your siblings etc...). Use the promo code 100WORDSORLESS for 10% off your order. 

Evil Greed is a highly curated merchandise provider from Berlin, Germany with fast, worldwide shipping and features stores from bands like Power Trip, Deafheaven, Nails, Russian Circles and so much more. Use  promo code 100WORDS for 10% off your first order today!   

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:19):
You're listening to one hundred words or less with Ray Harkins.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
What is up?

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Everybody? Welcome to another episode of the show, in which
we document people who are just really involved with in
event of music, whether it's punk or hardcore, emo or
indie rock. I don't care what it is as long
as you are, you know, playing it, documenting it, just
moved by it on a you know, cellular level, because

(00:45):
you know, that's just what I care about. And I
like to have these discussions on a weekly basis and
bring them to you for absolutely free, which is just
I mean, gotta love podcast, right, I mean, I know
I do. Anyways, I am thrilled, and I know one
of these conversations, like I say, I'm excited, I'm thrilled,
I'm happy to have. But this one, you know, rubs
a little bit different in regards to the fact that

(01:08):
I just celebrate what this gentleman has brought to the
table in the form of his record label. His name
is Jonathan Gonzalez. He runs a label called Sunday Drive Records.
It's based out of San Antonio, where he lives, and
him and I started corresponding. Gosh, I want to say
he was like twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen where he sent
me a little package of his releases and was like, hey,

(01:30):
just a fan of the show, want you to check
this out. And ever since then, you know, we've just
like kept in touch on the Internet, and I would
say the past three to four years, I've just like
fallen in love with the label. It's one of those
things that reminds me of what I felt like when
I was, you know, sixteen or seventeen, just waiting on
the next rev release, paying attention to what like Victory's

(01:52):
putting out, and just like you know, when a label
develops a personality and you can just like almost blind
by whatever it is they're putting out. That's really what
I feel about Sunday Drive Records. And so I just
think that he's done a really, really amazing job, and
I think you need to pay attention to it. You know,
if you like punk, hardcore, emo, indie rock, all that
stuff that this show traffics in, you will absolutely love

(02:16):
what Jonathan is putting out there. He also started to
play in a hardcore band recently. He's played drums for
a long time, and we talked a little bit about that,
but yeah, I'm totally blanking on the name of his
band right now, which is just like super super amateur
of me. But you know that's neither here nor there.
I mean, I amateur, I'm not pro. I I just

(02:36):
do this for the love of the game, you know. Anyways,
you can always reach out to the show Onwards podcast
at gmail dot com. I love to hear from you,
and for those of you that have been reaching out
because you're like, oh man, your voice like it sounds
like it hurts and all that stuff, I genuinely appreciate it.
You know. I know that not everybody listens to every
single episode, but long and the short of it is

(02:58):
that I've got no on my vocal cords and it's
not threatening in the fact that you know, it's not cancerous,
it's not anything that is degenerative. I'm not going to
lose my voice, but it just sounds like I'm sick
or hoarse a majority of the time. And you know,
some days are better than others, and that's fine. But
the doctor was like, I would not have surgery on

(03:19):
it defire you. It's nothing that. Yeah, they're just really small,
but they happen to affect your you know the actual
sound of your voice. So I was like, okay, Doc,
I'm listening to you. So for those of you that
were concerned, I, like I said, genuinely appreciate it. But
I am doing well. Thank you for your concern. Anyways,
weekly recommendation, right, let's hit that. But before I do that,

(03:40):
you can always email the show on our words podcast
at gmail dot com. Leave a rating and review on
the Apple podcast page helps out tremendously and I really
do pay attention to that. And if you would like
to leave a rating on Spotify. Again, all those things
help air add to the air of legitimacy of the show.
I say air of legitimacy because it's not like we're
I legitimate. I've just lasted for a long time. Anyways,

(04:04):
let's talk about weekly recommendations. If you are listening on
a week's week basis, you'll understand that. You know, like
i'd love to share new music, and I decided to
formalize something in twenty twenty four where I'm like, all right,
each week, I'm gonna recommend a record, EP something that
I've been listening to. Toss it in there, and you know,
some of it may make my year end list. Some
of it is just like really really good music. So

(04:27):
this is a release that I know that most of
you will maybe have heard of in some capacity, the
new Green Day record. No, I'm just joking, that'd be
really funny if I pulled that out. But this is
the new split twelve inch from Downward In Trauma Way Ray,
not Way Trauma Ray. It was released by New Morality Zine.

(04:51):
Big shout out to Nick Love. What he does is label. Actually,
the first time I met Jonathan the guest in the
show and Nick in real life was at their collect
showcase at a program this Kate shop where they have
shows there. Anyways, that's either here nor there, but let's
talk about Downward In Trauma Ray. Both are bands that
just do the heavy shoegaze catchy thing so so well.

(05:14):
I actually saw again Downward at program this. I don't
think it was for the showcase, but it may have been.
I forgot, regardless, And I've seen Trauma Ray I think
yeah once before at the Observatory or the Constellation Room,
the smaller room regardless. These bands smoke. Trauma Ray actually
just recently signed to Dais Records, which I look forward

(05:36):
to their impending full length that I know will be
gracing us in the year twenty twenty four. I'm fairly
certain so. But this split is just the perfect distillation
two new songs from each bands and it's unbelievable. So
check it out and I will include a link to
the playlist that I'm keeping a running tab on all

(05:57):
the music that I put in there. So yeah, just
if you want new music, check that link out and
you will be able to listen to new music. Until
I was gonna say the Cows Come Home, but like
you know, it's limited amount. We're only like, you know,
six weeks into the new year. Anyways, let's talk to
Jonathan Sunday Drive Records. Love what he does, and this
song is actually off a EP that he's releasing from

(06:18):
a band called Generation. The EP is named Satellites and
Suns and it comes out on February sixteenth. I'd never
heard this band and he's outing the song and I'm
just like, dude, you done it again, man, just like
making me a fan of bands, and I love that
about it. So anyways, let's talk to Jonathan. This it

(06:52):
was probably like I want to say, five six years
ago where I remember you wrote me, and you sent
me a little care package of just like, hey, I
just wanted you to be aware of the stuff that
I'm doing. And I've been following the label ever since,
and it just seems to me, like, especially over the
past I would say two and a half to three years,
it seems like you've obviously been able to put out

(07:15):
a lot more records, but then a lot of people
have been paying attention to what you have been doing.
Do you think that is accurate or do you think
it's one of those things where it's just been kind
of like the slow growth mode where it's like, oh, yeah, well,
of course people are not going to pay attention to
first years I'm putting out records because no one knows
who I am or anything.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
But do you think it kind of picked up in
the past couple of years, Uh, yeah, definitely. I Yeah,
So the label started in twenty fifteen, and I probably
sent you that maybe like twenty eighteen or something like that,
And yeah, it was I think about this kind of frequently,

(07:56):
like while reflecting on the label, because it's very weird,
like the first few years, I was definitely just quiet
and I was a college student, so this label was
kind of I guess I was passionate about it, of course,
because I was doing it on top of like homework
and stuff and a job. I think at that age though,

(08:21):
I was expecting a larger return than maybe what you know,
what it in reality what it was, and I was
would sometimes be a little bit bitter at that age,
you know, as a nineteen twenty year old, I'm like, man,
I'm doing like cool stuff, like this is really good music.
These bands are sick, like why is no one checking

(08:42):
it out? And I remember selling like we were just
doing tapes at the time, and I would I was
very I was excited when like people ordered because I
that was you know, new to me, and I would
go to the post office and drop off tapes and stuff.
So that was really cool. But I always thought these
bands that I was, you know, working with at that

(09:04):
time were like so good, and I was like, why
why aren't like hundreds of these coming in? So yeah,
it definitely like just very very very slow. It took
me at least five years to get that little bit
of attention that I thought the label deserved. Obviously, like

(09:27):
the bands that I really do believe in and I
really appreciate their music, so I want them to be heard.
And yeah, so around twenty twenty, I would say it's
that cursed here, but you know, it got a lot
of attention. I think people just had time to you know,

(09:47):
check out new music than what they were used to.
And we started getting little waves of it in twenty nineteen,
maybe some twenty eighteen as well, but really in twenty
twenties when I felt a shift or there's data to
show a shift as well, if you like at Instagram
followers and stuff, and yeah, that's when it's really starting

(10:09):
to pick up. And then I was like, oh, shoot,
maybe I maybe I don't want this right now, but
the you know, but then obviously I was able to
adjust and get to where we are today, and it's
just been a huge, like learning experience.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
Sure sure, well, I think that the idea of what
you're talking about where when you start something you especially
coming from you know, the DIY punk and hardware background
that we both do, like we have this you know
governor in our brain where it's like, oh, we don't
expect it to be successful. I mean we expected to

(10:45):
be like, oh, yeah, some people pay attention and like
I can keep doing this, but not to the point
of where you're ever going to be like, you know,
I'm sure to your point where if you got like
ten orders in one day, you were just like, oh
my god, this is huge, you know, at the very beginning,
like this is amazing. Yeah, But then talking about that
idea of what you're saying, where the you know, the

(11:08):
the reward when you're putting something out that you wholeheartedly
believe in and you want people to pay attention to it,
You're like, wait, what do you what do you mean? Like,
we only sold one hundred of these, you know, seven
inches and I pressed five hundred. What am I going
to do with the other four hundred.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
Of these things?

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah? Definitely those. I've had many, many of those. Yeah,
So especially at that age again like being just a
broke college kid with a side job funding everything myself
and to pay for fifty cassettes and have two of
them sell and they're like, oh shoot, what did I

(11:46):
just do? And then continuing to repeat that. It's pretty
insane looking back at it, but uh, you know I was.
I was passionate about it, and I really did believe
in those the music, even sdr one, you know where
you put out at the tapes show whatever, Like I
think it's still like such a great EP so right, well,
and to.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
Your point too, it's like it's a much different undertaking
when you're pressing, you know, fifty copies of a cassette
versus you know, a thousand LPs like those are a
whole you know, different Yeah, a different scale. But to
your point, it definitely still feels very you know, humbling
when you only, like you say, sell two tapes out

(12:27):
of the fifty you're supposed to try to sell at
some point.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, yeah, so putt putting.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
The focal point on you just because I mean, I know,
sort of generic swaths of you as a human as
far as like we were you actually born and raised
in San Antonio. I was yeah, okay, and so you
know you got to hang out the river walk and
you know, I'm just kidding. Yeah, all the cheesy tourist
stuff that you know, people ye, people know about what
was the family structure like as you were growing up

(12:55):
or like brothers and sisters, mom and dad in the house.
Where'd that look like?

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah? It was pretty standard home, you know, mom, dad,
and I was an only child up until I was
seven Uh. So then I had a little brother at
the age of seven, and I think the year difference
when you're a kid, there was a little bit you know,

(13:20):
uh different as like you know, some siblings to hear
where they're super close and growing up together. Mine was
more so like kind of taking care of my brother,
you know when parents are busy and kind of he was.
He was always like like there's like a baby to me,
you know, so I didn't have like a person growing

(13:43):
up with me all the time, so to like, I
had a lot of spare time when I was a kid,
hanging out with family and friends and school, you know,
playing outside a lot. Uh, learned how to like skateboard
and play basketball and stuff. So that was kind of

(14:03):
my upbringing. And then you know, as my brother got
a little bit older than I was able to show
him like, oh he's are like the cool video games
and music shows and stuff when I was a teenager
and he's like, you know, an elementary or so. But yeah,
other than that, pretty pretty standard home got it.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
I And the way you're describing it, like, did you
feel that I wouldn't use the words maybe obligation because
that sounds like a pretty heavy thing. But did you feel,
I guess, inspired to show that stuff to your younger
sibling to be like, all right, like here's the cool stuff,
you know, like I wish I had someone showing this
to me, so I'm in turn going to show this

(14:44):
to you. Or was that just like an offshoot of
the things that you might thought he'd be interested in.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yeah, I think it was just a yearning to like
share some sort of you know, similar interest as you
went to with like, you know, another friend. And I
mean and the interest I had at that time as well,
you know, weren't like particularly particularly unique or anything. It
was just kind of like, you know, here, this is

(15:10):
like the video game I got last week, or you know,
these are the shows I used to watch, and I
think you'll like this. So yeah, it was more just
so like a simple bonding experience with assembling.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Sure, sure you're like, hey, I would love I would
love to you know, watch Brendan Stimpy or whatever with
a yeah, a friend, so here check this out.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
Yeah, And did you, like you said you were kind
of you know, sports outdoors, like you were kind of
doing a bunch of different stuff.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
You've all, I mean, for as long as i've known you,
and I'm not like a you know, deep Jonathan head.
But You've always been you know, very like thoughtful, soft spoken.
Definitely not the person that I would ever peg being
like the you know, loud mouth of the party or
being like the class cloud or anything like that. I
could be misrepresenting you. But you know, have have that

(16:05):
always been the I guess mode that you've operated in?

Speaker 3 (16:10):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, very much.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
So.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
I was always the quiet kid and very shy in school.
But I think it's because my parents kind of raised
me like that. That was kind of you know, made
sure I behaved and you know, did good in school
and got good grades and things like that. So I
just kind of, you know, I realized that that was
important to them to be a good student, and so

(16:35):
those kind of traits just sort of followed me and
maybe molded, you know, my help to mold my personality
with that. But I wasn't like, like super shy enough
to make friends and stuff like. I still had a
very strong friend group that I still am friends with today.
And would you know, get along with a lot of

(16:57):
classmates and stuff.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah, you seem to. And again this is maybe playing
a little armtre psychologist, but like you seem the sort
of person where you're friendly and affable, and therefore it
makes you, you know, approachable to people of all different
sides of the spectrum where it's not like, you know,
you were you know, tatted out by sixteen and being like,

(17:20):
oh my gosh, like what's Jonathan into? Like this guy
seems crazy? Where it's like, you know, yeah, you could
be like, oh, yes, I'm talking to basketball people, and
then I'm also talking to you know, the kids that
are going to warp tour or whatever.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah. Yeah, I had a very wide range of friends,
and I think a lot of like people in our
realm kind of experience that you know, growing up where
you have your athlete friends and then the friends and
band and so on, right.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
Right, And it's funny too where I think people of
certain generations and I mean, I know you're younger than me,
but like, there is that idea that you have to
have these separate, you know, friend groups just based on
the fact that you're like, listen, I can't take my
you know, sports friend to you know, a hardcore show
because they're gonna be like, what the hell is this?
You know, It's like you do have to operate in

(18:10):
these kind of like, Okay, I know that they're not
interested in this, so I'm not going to try to
get them into this.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, exactly, very much the case you had, like the
groups for those activities.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Right totally. You're like, there are barriers that exist for
a reason, and that's not just because people don't want
to hang out with me outside of school or whatever. Right.
And so it seems to me too that, like you said,
with your your parents raising you as far as you know,
school and kind of keeping you know, in line, it

(18:42):
definitely seems like that has rubbed off in your the
fact that you know, you went to college and like
you know, your your straight edge, like all of these
things kind of you know, I guess funnel into that.
Would you say that that is reflective.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
Of your experience, Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I've never had the
urge to, like, like I guess, like act out in
that way of like you know, doing drugs and going
to parties and stuff that just like never interested me,

(19:16):
you know, just seeing it in like family situations as well,
like it was always like off putting to me, and
I was like, oh, I do not want to behave
like that, you know, or so yeah, straight edge was
very natural for me to get into. I didn't realize,
you know, what it was until maybe I was like

(19:39):
thirteen or fourteen, maybe you know what I might have
had because I grew up watching wrestling, and yeah, see
I'm punk was pretty big at the time when I
was like ten or eleven, So that was probably the
earliest experience of straight edge, and I was like, oh,
what is that? And then you know, dug a hole
and to that whole world.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
Right, And I love the fact that obviously straight edge
has you know, been able to permeate different levels of
culture where even people that have no context for punk
or hardcore and I mean, you know, yes, of course
I'm punk is connected to that. But you know there
are people where it's like they've literally used you know,
like straight edge as an adjective, but are like, you know,

(20:22):
I'm sure you've seen it, like movies or pop culture,
where it's just like they don't I don't think they
even know that they're referencing like something that's connected to dy.
It's like, Wow, it's incredible that it's gotten so big.
And I love the fact that you could be ten
and be one of the x is on his taped hands.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
That's yeah, I just need to look cool. And then
I was like, oh, I'm like the same, like because
it's funny too because I was in a I was
in a basketball league where the Spurs they had it's
called the San Antonio Drug Free League, which looking back
at it, it is pretty sick. But yeah, it's.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
Like that just got me so stoked. I was like,
I need merch for that.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yeah, I need to find those old T shirts. But yeah,
we had like sometimes the Spurs and like coach Pop
would like come and like hang out with us and
like just do little drills and stuff. But yeah, that
was like a big part of my childhood. Like you know,
first to all have like elementary pretty much, right, and

(21:22):
then I yeah, and then it went into a little
bit of middle school and high school as well. That's cool.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
That's really cool. And I presume that because of that nature,
you were also studious, like you took your grades seriously
or did like was school I guess easy for you
or did you have to put a lot of work
in order to you know, maintain your your a's or b's.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, I was. It's funny to like talk about this now,
but yeah. I was like a really good student. Yeah,
like I had. Yeah, I was like a straight a
student and I I graduated like in the top ten
of my class.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Dude.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, so I like school was like super important. Again,
like mentioned like my parents, like we didn't grow up
in like you know, like the wealthiest home and stuff.
Like we came from a liking in San Antonio. I
wasn't born in the South Side, and like it was
looking back now and like you know, going after going
to school and stuff, I realized we're a little bit

(22:26):
poorer than like the usual like families that I saw
in college. So I was always you know raised like
you know, go to school, get a good job, et cetera.
You know that generation of parents. So yeah, I did try.
It came pretty naturally to me, like easy, I would say,

(22:49):
for the most part. Yeah. And then towards the towards
the middle of high school, you know, I actually like
ninth to tenth grade, eleventh grade and so on, I uh,
that's when I've kind of really got into hardcore and music.
And that's when I started to like lose interests actually

(23:11):
and like school because I was just wanted to, you know,
be involved in music. And stuff, and I had a
band and wanted to tour and stuff. So that's when
it got a little bit you know, mixed up. But
I was still able to you know, find my way
in and still graduate with good grades and h fortunately

(23:31):
get scholarships and financial aid uh to because my parents
didn't pay it all for my college, so I was
able to take it all by myself do that. So yeah,
very lucky for that.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
I am so happy to be talking to you about
rockabilly dot com. Just an amazing, amazing place where you
can pick up officially licensed band merchandise from so many
different genres. But first and foremost you must use the
promo code one hundred words or less. It gets you
ten percent off your entire order, which is awesome because,

(24:06):
let me just they blew my mind when they announce
this merch item. They are doing lava lamps with bands
like Perfect Circle, Sleep Token. I just I saw it.
I was like, I am tickled pink by that idea,
and it's awesome. And again it's officially licensed, so bands
get paid off this. And I don't care. If you're
into like you know, Bob Marley, ACDC, Motorhead anything, you

(24:30):
will be able to find there and then you use
the promo code and you get ten percent off and
it just it works so so well. They ship from
Midwest here in the United States of America. They are
you know, owned and operated. Like punk and hardcore kids
work there. It's a beautiful place. So rockabilly dot Com
one hundred words or less as the promo code, and
that will get you all of the discounts that you

(24:52):
need ten percent off and then you can order a
bunch of stuff for your family, your friends, or maybe
just spoil yourself, you know, Valentine's Day. It's right there. Anyways,
thank you very much, Rockabilia for your support. Sure, well yeah,
I mean amazing. Not the fact that your parents like
weren't able to be in a position to help you
afford that, but the fact, yeah, yeah, you know, you
put your your nose to the grindstone or whatever you know,

(25:15):
bad euphemism you want to use there and be able to,
you know, get a college education and show the fact
that you were able to do that and then also
still be able to actively participate in music, because I
think sometimes like it does get really cloudy when you're
super busy and you're just being like Listen, I got
to work and like pay for my school and like

(25:37):
I can't go to four shows a week, like that's
a lot.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, and I had Yeah, I ended up
getting like a summer job too, like while I was
in high school. So yeah, I definitely take up a
lot more time than I would have liked. But I'm
I mean, I'm glad I did that because it helped,
you know, to kind of set that aside some money
for school. But yeah, it did come down to.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
Use any of those use any of the I mean,
not to get you in trouble or anything. Did you
use any of those student loans to help fund Sunday
Drive And it's an inception.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Probably, So yeah, I don't know, like particularly how much,
but it was all kind of just coming out of
my personal bank at the time, you know, being just
a kid. So yeah, I had no like financial collection
of everything in those years. Everything was just kind of
coming and going, you know, pain going to school supplies
and random food and then Sunday Drive records I had

(26:39):
an eighteen year old But yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
The reason I asked that is because I definitely my
parents were kind enough to be able to help me
with some of my college education before I dropped out.
But my mom definitely was like, hey, you need to
take out a student loan to show responsibility. And it
was like, you know, it took out it was like whatever,
five or six thousand dollars, like a lot, but not
like a crushing about And all I did was just

(27:04):
use that to put out a record, which like it's like,
it's such an idiot, but at the same time, it's like,
of course, stoke that I put out a record. It's
like that's fine. Yeah, definitely, you make you make those
choices to your point of just like hey, this is
all collected into one thing, so of course, like you know,
yeah some of some of this is going to pay
for that, and vice versa.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
So when you were because like you mentioned, you played
drums and bands like so as you started to you know,
become more enamored with you know, DIY punk hardcore shows
and stuff like that, did you immediately want to play
an instrument or did the instrument kind of come first
and then obviously you got into other stuff later. Uh.

Speaker 2 (27:45):
Yeah, I think it happened a little bit before I
had a guitar, When I was like in maybe third
or fourth grade that I got for my birthday, and
I kind of fiddled around with that. I never got
particularly good at it, but I knew how to play
simple chords. But I really got interested in drums I

(28:09):
think in middle school, maybe seventh or eighth grade, and yeah,
there I realized quickly they're a lot more fun. And
so I asked my parents for a drum kit I
think in ninth grade, and they got me one, like
a starter kit, and it's all like all I ever
wanted to do from that point on. And I would

(28:32):
make a bunch of noise in the house and learned
songs at the time. I think like Shed from Title
Fight just came out, and I remember just like drumming
along to that whole record and learning all the parts,
and then you know, I quickly realized like, oh, I
can play drums like at least good enough to like,

(28:53):
you know, to this speed. And then immediately I wanted
to start a band. After that. Yeah, I was kind
of going to shows simultaneously around like eighth and ninth grade.
I think I was like thirteen at my first hardcore show,
and that really like opened my eyes to like, oh,

(29:16):
I can do anything I want, Like I'm seeing these
bands like play on this stage and book their own
shows and make their own shirts and put out their
own merch and yeah, it was very very eye opening
as a as a young kid, and since then I
was very determined to you know, kind of realizing that

(29:37):
I can do what I want if I put the
work into it. Mm hmm. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
I love it. Especially it's so freeing as a kid
because you know, I mean, you're you have no real
autonomy of your own besides like you have to go
to school, you gotta do all these things, and you
do what your parents tell you. And the fact that
you can be like okay, I can go to this
room and like play loud music and and eventually go
to show, like you just see the world open up,

(30:03):
and it is so exciting. I love that feeling.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, it was so cool, and yeah because I get
I think at that time, you know, the only like
like knowledge that you have of music around that age
is like, oh, the bands play, you know, behind a
barrier and there's huge lighting, and like you don't get
to meet the band like they're famous. All that is
like completely stripped away. At a hardware show and I

(30:28):
was like, oh, these you know, the band's just kind
of walking around and you can just go talk with them,
like they're just like regular people, like some of these
kids going to my school too. So yeah, it was
very eye opening and I'm so glad that that happened
to me at a at a young age.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Yeah, it's incredible. How did you even get, you know,
exposed to that, because not like unlike your sibling that
you could obviously pass some records down to, you know,
were you just kind of discovering this via friends at school?
I know skateboarding was probably an intro point as well.
How is that getting into you initially?

Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yeah, I'm trying to think so. Yes. Obviously with skating
and like Tony Hawk games like that interested me in punks.
I kind of knew what punk was in general, and
then I was really into the Spurs growing up too,
and watching basketball games. There would be like some like

(31:27):
punk ish music plane and I would be like, oh,
what is that and it would be like Good Charlotte
or like you know, System of a Down or like
these random like bands, and then I would kind of
look that up and try to like figure it out.
I remember like trying to figure it out, but I
didn't have the answer to like you know, oh this
is hardcore or whatever from an older sibling or like

(31:51):
a friend. And I remember going to the store, I think,
like at Walmart or something, and I got like this
is like in second or third I was very young,
but I think I got like a simple Plan CD
and like I knew about like Blink one eighty two
and I was my Chemical Romance like things like that,

(32:12):
so I was like, you know, I knew about that stuff,
but specifically with hardcore, I think in in middle school,
I was, uh, it's like the mall emo scene was
really big at that time, like oh eight oh nine,
so like Ben's like a data remember or like bring

(32:34):
Me to the Horizon and the Devil Wars product stuff
like that. I was like, Okay, this is heavier. It's
not like punk, but it's like kind of metal ish.
I was like, okay, like I like this music, but
like it wasn't like I didn't love it. So and
then after that in high school, I was a freshman.

(33:00):
That show that I mentioned I had there was this
venue Caught the White Rabbit in San Antonio. It's Caught
the Paper Tiger Now, and we I went to a show.
Before that, I think it was like it was like Autumn, now,
what was it, August Burton's Red and like Bring Me
to the Horizon in like twenty ten, and then shortly

(33:22):
after the Story So Far came, I think, and like,
I like this world like completely open, so like like
I mentioned Title Fight and like Man Overboard Transit the
Story so Far, all those like pop punk bands with
like kind of hardcore roots was there. And then I
was just on the internet, like on YouTube or like

(33:45):
at the time, Tumblr was really big and kind of
kind of diving through there, and I think I just
kind of found my way into hardcore via that way.
And then I met these older kids in high school.
There's this group that I always saw like they looked
like hardcore kids, and yeah, I got kind of I

(34:08):
just became friends with them. I didn't have any hardcore
shirts at that time because I was like barely getting
into it, and yeah, I just kind of made friends
with them. I was like, oh, yeah, kind of seem
like it would be friendly and yeah, and then I
they kind of showed me, you know, what was kind

(34:29):
of happening like locally at least because at the time
hardcore and san Antonio was very big at like in
the local level versus like a lot of like touring
bands coming through. Obviously the Torn bands mainly went to Austin.
So yeah, So I think it was in twenty ten
in the winter. I went to that show. I think

(34:51):
it was like a New Year's show, like in ne
Year's Eve or Christmas something like that, and I saw
this band called Aflickted Nature and that was like their
set is like was so wild. I was like scared,
like just people like hitting each other and stuff. And
I was like these kids that I was with were older,

(35:16):
so they're like maybe sophomores or juniors at that time,
so I was kind of just like standing behind them
and kind of experiencing everything. And yeah, so since that show,
I like totally dope into like you know, everything else
around that time. Now I didn't looking back at it now,

(35:36):
I wish I like went deeper, like to like the
eighties and nineties, but I was like very into like
contemporary stuff, so have Heart and like verse and like
all the Bridge nine bands defeat her at that time,
or like the bands that really like like pulled me
in and then uh and like all this bands I

(35:57):
mentioned before that.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
So yeah, well I love I appreciate the description of that,
just because it shows when you as a kid, like
you're just consuming all this stuff, like you're not really
putting it. I mean, you know that bands sound different,
but you're not really putting it in genre buckets. And
you know, as ridiculously descriptive as we are once we
get adults where it's like, oh, this is you know,

(36:20):
emo pop wrap, like all the different descriptors, and so
you're just consuming it devoid of context and you just
like it because either it's loud or aggressive or melodic
or whatever. And I think that it does hopefully get
you to a point where you are able to do
exactly what you did and just do the research where

(36:40):
you're just like, oh, yeah, like I want to find
out this band, and all of a sudden, I've opened
up a little corner of the world with Boston hardcore
or whatever. I think you just you start to go
all those different directions.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Yeah, And I grew up. I'm twenty seven, and my
age is a little bit weird because just like I'm
kind of I technically I'm the millennial, but I have
like the gen z ish, like I'm like on the
on in the between, and so I grew up very
like savvy with computers and so like I knew about

(37:12):
the Internet and stuff, and like knew how to research,
and like I would burn like CDs on LimeWire and stuff.
So I was like I got that early experience of
the of the Internet at a young age. And like
my I was always like intrigued into like this music,
just like heavier or like more punk or melodic stuff,

(37:33):
because I think my parents exposing it to me at
a younger age, like my or my dad was more
like on just like the heavier like classic metal side
like Ausye or like Metallica, you know, Black Sabbath, things
like that, and then my mom was like on the

(37:54):
alternative side. So I got like my earliest music experience
is like hearing my mom seeing the Cranberries when I
was like a baby, like probably like three or like four,
and and then like hearing the Smiths and like New
Order and things like that, like The Cure, like all

(38:16):
that was always in my household. And so when you
kind of combine those and then our young kid in
the two thousands and being more exposed to punk music,
it's like a very like natural evolution to find your
way into hardcore.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
I think, yeah, it's like you were the pump was
primed of being like, oh, I'm looking for something maybe
a little more aggressive than this, and then you start
to you know, get exposed to the other things, and
it's like you could. I mean, most people's road to
you know, punk and hardcore is either you know, metal

(38:50):
or obviously more on the punk side, and when you're
talking about going into hardcore and so yeah, it's like
the pump does need to be pribed in some capacity
to be you can't just yeah, just be like I'm
listening to Disney Music and all of a sudden, I'm
listening to mad Ball.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
It's like that doesn't happen.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
You gotta yeah, you gotta build. You got to build
the road to that.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Yeah. And luckily my uh or my parents are they
had me pretty young, so my I think my mom
was like twenty, but she was like I was born
in ninety six. So in the nineties was like Smashing
Pumpkins and like Nirvana and like even Helmet was like
pretty big around that time. So I remember like we
had those CDs in the house and like I was

(39:29):
like privy to like this type of like a little
bit heavier music, a little bit different and yeah yeah,
like in that Sunday Drive. Now, that's it's pretty much.
That's pretty much what it is. A combot nation of
alternative music and punk and hardcore.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
Military, gun botch Abananda, Frozen Soul. What do all these
bands have in common? How about they all have web
stores at Evilgreed dot net. They are an amazing place
where if you are banned, you know, they sell your merch.
I have an online storefront all that great stuff. But

(40:06):
let me give you a promo code one hundred words.
It gets you ten percent off of your entire order.
And I love Evil Greed because they act like a
record label where they work with all things, you know,
heavy hardcore, punk, metal, all that stuff, but they filter
it through their own lens. And you know, they're not
opening the doors for every single band and every single

(40:26):
record label to work with them. It's a really, really
great company. And they're based in Berlin, Germany, but they
ship worldwide and we here in the United States can
benefit right now for a very very advantageous shipping cost.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
And it gets to.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
You, like, I mean, I'm living California, so like seven
ten days. I've ordered from them before. I love them
so much for it. But go to evilgreed dot net.
Trust me in saying that if you're a fan of
this podcast and the band's featured on there, there's like,
I think ninety five percent crossover there. It's like I
could go through their whole list of bands and be like, oh, yep, yep,

(41:02):
I had a member of that. Oh yep, yeah, did that?

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Did that?

Speaker 1 (41:05):
So trust me, go order from them. It is a
great company, all independently owned and operated, and I've met them,
hung out with them. Just love what evil Greed does.
So evilgreed dot Net promo code is one hundred words
in order merch Vinyl, all that stuff to be shipped
directly to your house. Thank you, Evil Greed. When you

(41:25):
started to, you know, have a desire to play in
a band, and I mean, I'm sure the desire was
there before you actually started a band and you know,
played drums, inet and everything like that. When did you
play in bands before? I guess you're the one that
you actually, you know, played some shows with and put
music out with. You know, what were some of those

(41:47):
early attempts to kind of get something going?

Speaker 2 (41:50):
Uh, yeah, I there weren't really like bands. It was
more so just like hanging out with friends that I
knew who played music. So sure, it was just like
we're just played a bunch of covers like you know,
Nirvana stuff or like like the bands that I mentioned
at the time, like the Doors Product things like that.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Of course.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
Yeah, so like uh you know that. Yeah, we didn't
really have to band names or like release anything our
play shows. It was more so just like hanging out
in a garage and you know, playing drums and guitar
and stuff. And then in high school. Yeah, and twenty

(42:32):
thirteen is when the first band started. It was called Evident.
I played drums for that and we ended up.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
That's actually not not to interrupt your strain of thought,
but like that's so that that's difficult for me to
quantify and qualify your sound because usually band names are
so blatantly obvious when you're years old, where it's like,
you know, you can just immediately tell so I can't.
I can't even articulate what you sounded like. So what

(43:02):
did you sound like? That's that's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Yeah, So what I mentioned earlier is like after all
of that, like ma Emo stuff. Is like when I
really got into like like pop punk and and punk
and hardcore stuff, and like I was super into to
the contemporary stuff, so were pretty much just like ripped

(43:24):
off Title Fight and like you know, like Basement or
like Daylight at that time. It was so it ended
up pretty much sounding like that. We put out like
one EP and uh yeah, I played drums to it
and we wrote the EP and like a Day in
My Backyard. So it was very like simple. But I

(43:46):
was able to like learn from that and obviously and
learn how to book shows and get on shows. And yeah,
I remember like when you first got to there, I
was like, Okay, how do we play a show? And
then I was like, oh, let's go to a show
and then you know, we'll like meet these people and
like you know get on uh you know, hang out
with a promoter and and get on the show. So

(44:09):
that's what we did.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
Right and kind of I mean not fast forwarding too much,
but just the like you have always seemed to have
that like you wanted to get on a show, so
you kind of you know took some action, you know,
did something, and that nature doesn't always you know, come
to everybody usually it's like, especially when you're talking about
a band, like maybe there's one, maybe two people that

(44:33):
have that, you know, go get an attitude where it's like,
all right, let's figure this out or whatever. And then
not to say that the other members aren't valuable because
they're bringing maybe something else to the table. But have
has that self starter nature always been kind of who
you are as well?

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Oh yeah, definitely, And again that that kind of came
with going to hardcore shows and you know, kind of
just realizing that I could do what I want to.
But I mean, I guess even at an earlier age too,
Like for example, I taught myself at a skateboard. Like

(45:12):
I asked for a skateboard for like Christmas or a
birthday or something, and I was like around maybe nine
or ten, and I remember just like skating on the
sidewalk and like falling like every single time for like
like hours, like maybe like two hours, and then finally
I was like riding the skateboard. So yeah, this things

(45:33):
like that, or like even learning how to ride a bike.
I learned how to ride a bike and that's like
four or five, so pretty early on, and my mom
like just like taught me my mom and my dad
and you know, getting into basketball. That was just like
something I saw on TV with the Spurs plane and
I was like, oh, I want to go play basketball.
So yeah, these things just kind of happened, and you know,

(45:56):
and the same with school. I was like, okay, like
I need to do good in school, so I'm gonna
study for the test and get a good grade. I
don't know, everything's just kind of connected linearly to me
like that.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
Sure, and the idea you know, playing in bands and
playing shows and touring and stuff like that. When did
it occur to you that you were like, Okay, this
is actually how people get out records and how they
put out their stuff. Like did you make that connection
you know earlier on where it's like, okay, this is

(46:29):
how labels on the you know, DIY level work. So
I see that, you know, maybe I there's a path
forward for me to do that.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
Yeah. So I think it was the realization happened after
we recorded that EP, because we actually went to like
a studio and did everything, and then after I was like, okay,
like how are we going to release this? Because I
wanted to have like, you know, some sort of physical
copy at shows, so they would come buy and we

(47:00):
didn't have like any local labels or anything at that
time to ask, and so I was like, Okay, we'll
just have to do it ourselves. Then, so I went
to like office depot or something and got like CDRs
and got like jewel cases and uh like sticker labels
for the CDs and and then I was like, okay,

(47:23):
well we're gonna I'm going to design everything and then
we're gonna make our own CDs. And so that's what
we did. And they had like back covers and spines
and everything. So yeah, right, the so as you.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Started to you know, actually do the label in college
and you know, balancing all of the of what you
were doing with I know clearly there's a aesthetic approach
in your designer by you know, trade and professional life.
When did I guess, when did design become a part

(48:00):
of obviously the fact that you could you know incorporate
that in with what you're doing at the label side
of things start to happen.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
Yeah, since the beginning with the label, because I studied
design in school. So I guess kind of backtracking to
how I got there while I was in in in
that band and booking shows and we used to do
like a bunch of house shows, and so I had

(48:31):
to make the posters for them, and I figured out
what photoshop was, and I got like a free copy
installed on my laptop and was doing all of that
without the knowledge of what graphic design is. And then
I remember we had like a career fair at our

(48:52):
school and one of the school that I went to,
A and M had came and I learned that graphic
design was a thing, and I was like, oh, I'm
already doing this, like this can be a good, good option,
and so yeah, that's why I ended up going to
school for. It was called visualization, so it was kind

(49:15):
of just the study of visual design, and yeah, I
chose to go that route because I knew that I
can be still be incorporated with music. So like when
I was doing like the CDs and stuff, I was
like kind of realizing that somebody needs to do this,
you know, like the whatever records I'm buying and stuff.

(49:35):
So this is an actual thing that can be a
career path. And so yeah, that's what I ended up studying.
And then I started Sunday Drive after my first year
of school, so I think it was the June May
or June of twenty fifteen, and so I had a
year of experience or two semesters of experience and design

(50:00):
and I quickly kind of like like knew, you know,
like how to do stuff, but also like I hadn't
some sort of vision that like I knew that the
label needed to have. And yeah, that's kind of where
that foundation was. So as I was in school and

(50:23):
learning more and more over the years, obviously like the
designs got better and better with Sunday Drive and I
was I was like doing stuff like outside of school
work like with Sunday Drive, and that really helped me
to like learn even more than maybe like other classmates.

(50:45):
So yeah, I was kind of like pushing myself in
that way to like figure out like, you know, how
to set up a booklet for example, and in design
for you know, to print you know, J cards or whatever.
And yeah, that really like got me ahead in school
at that time. And working simultaneously with Sunday Drive in

(51:06):
school really helped me to be the designer that I was,
you know, and was very lucky to be a good
student in that class as well my graphic design courses
and was learning like for my professor a lot, and

(51:28):
and like just like I was just consuming so much
like knowledge. I'm very glad that I ended up going
to school because if I was to like just keep
designing the way I was, obviously wouldn't be the strongest.
But just being surrounded by other creative individuals and learning
even more like art history and things, it really like

(51:50):
strengthened my skills as a designer. And I'm glad that
Sunday Drive kind of has this visual identity that exists now.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
Yeah, exactly. Well, it's like you were, you know, doing
double time work because you were doing the school work
and then you were doing the label work. That all
was able to help develop that, you know, maybe quicker
if you were doing both of them separately so to speak.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
And I asked this next question not to embarrass you,
but just in the idea that like, clearly none of
us know what we're doing when we start stuff, and
like we were talking about, you know whatever, printing up
fifty tapes and only selling too what like you know,
maybe fast forwarding a little bit, like what were some
of the I guess early mistakes that you made or
a mistake that sticks out where it's like, oh, man,
I learned a lot from this just because you know,

(52:40):
I can't do it this way or I need to
think about, you know, this approach differently in order to
keep make this, you know, more sustainable. Like is there
something that sticks out in your mind when I ask
you that question? Uh?

Speaker 2 (52:52):
Yeah, I think putting out vinyl on your tenth release
with very little identity was maybe not the startest smooth Yeah,
and doing like I think we did three hundred copies
or so with the with the band that you know

(53:15):
it again, like it's really good and who I believed in,
But weren't you know, at the level maybe that to
be putting out that many copies of vinyl because they
were like a touring band or anything. They played shows
and did like little mini tours and weekenders and stuff,
which was good. But yeah, for the amount of money

(53:38):
for those records and the amount of money that I
was making at the time, just did not Yeah, but
we did it, and I really that was always a
goal Sunday Drive. I just wanted to put out vinyl
and I was very eager, I think, and I did it,
and I was happy. I was like super excited when
they came in, Like getting final delivered to your apartment

(54:01):
is like like so like exciting, it feels like Christmas
like it.

Speaker 1 (54:06):
Still, yeah, for sure, Well, especially when it shows up
in those you know, eighteen boxes and you're like, yeah,
this is what this is what five hundred copies looks
like or whatever.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
Yeah exactly or real right yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
Or the first time a palette shows up at your
house where we're like, oh, this is what a thousand
copies looks like. Oh my yeah, okay, I have to
ask someone to put in their garage or something.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
Yeah. But yeah, that that that that was a learning
experience for sure. And you know, I just realized that
like I didn't take things a little bit slower and
grow and not rush things. So that kind of guided
me to I think our next final release was like

(54:58):
maybe ten ish releases later or so, and I was
gave me a little bit more time to like save
and invest for that, purchase the.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
Right and then feel like it's the right you know,
bet to take so to speak. If it's you know,
a band that, like you said, is maybe a little
more active or touring where it's like, yeah, you could
kind of have that experience where it's like oh okay,
like if a band is looking to play five shows
a year, it's gonna be tough for me to sell
copies of their show or whatever.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
Yeah. Yeah, so definitely things like that, And also just
like I wish I was more organized at that time too,
a huge I think part of it was just like
not having the time to even you know, think about that,
like because I was, you know, I was a full
time student and I had a part time job and

(55:52):
then did Sunday Drive. So yeah, I wish I just
like had like for example, that I don't. I didn't
have a spreadsheet of catalog numbers until like like twenty twenty,
so I have like I had to go back and
like catalog everything, or like I didn't have you know,

(56:13):
I didn't know how to like do royalties until like
years later I did, or like figuring out how to
distribute music to get it on streaming, Like just like
things like that I wish I you know, learned early on,
but everything just kind of happened organically. And obviously now
I'm kind of have everything you know, well documented in

(56:35):
archives appropriately, so it's just a shorting curve, right of course.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
Well, yeah, you're still learning you're you're making mistakes now
that you don't even know are mistakes. They're just small.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
The something that I've always admired about what you have
done as well in regards to the sonic palette that
you existed with Sunday Drive. Or it's basically like, dude,
I'm to release a you know, Replacements inspired band, and
then yeah, of course I'm gonna release a you know,
metallic hardcore record, and like that's always been rooted in
what Sunny Drive is. Where it's like, as long as

(57:10):
it exists in this sort of world that I exist
in the DIY you know parameter, That's what I'm gonna
focus on and looking at, you know, a label like
Run for Cover, which I know is obviously a big
inspiration for you. You've articulated that in the past. Do
you want to, I guess, stretch as far as they
have where it's like, you know, putting out records from

(57:32):
bands that obviously are still indie but you know, is
really kind of far afield from what they have been
you know, known to do in the past.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
Uh. Yeah, I think I am very open with like music,
but I think I don't know, there just has to
be something to my liking. I'm not like totally turned
off by a specific genre or like type of band,
but I do like it when it comes to me

(58:04):
like organically nowadays. At least before it was different because
you know, nobody knew who send the Drive voice. I
had like look at bands and send them emos. But
now nowadays a lot of a lot of our releases
are just organic, So like friends of friends on the
label would just like send me stuff and get it,
you know, text me a link or whatever. And those

(58:28):
friends of friends just happened to be rooted in DIY
and like hardcore and stuff. So yeah, I feel like
at most of our bands, like a lot of them
are just hardcore kids playing alternative music, and I think
that kind of lay some sort of foundation for sending
Drive where like we easily share you know, similar ethics

(58:52):
from being you know, involved in punk and hardcore, but
like enjoy other types of music. But yeah, I don't
want to like categorized when they drive into like one
thing as well, so I do want to like continue
to evolve what that field goes to. I'm not sure
it just kind of happens organically, like for example, like

(59:15):
I got into Neil Young this year and and like
Teenage Fan Club, and we just happened to put out
like a very of those bands, like inspired record from
Dan Dara and the Rain, and that record up being
like one of my favorites of the year. And that
happened organically. I like, I really like that music, and

(59:37):
then I appreciated dance music from years ago as well,
and him being in Milespeck too was just like another
cool connection, I think, And yeah, that I really like
when that happens like very organically, just kind of going
day by day and it continually to evolve. The label

(59:57):
in that way is more interesting to me. Don't have
like a particular like goal or like, you know, section
of what I want the label to be in. I
think it's just gonna grow as as my musical taste
grows as well.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Sure right, Yeah, you don't have a a spreadsheet of like,
all right, I gotta put up three hardcore records this year.
I gotta put up yeah, yeah, that'd be terrible and
kind of all the last two things I wanted to
hit on, one of them being kind of related to
what we were just talking about. How and I'm sure
You've had to learn this, you know, in different aspects.

(01:00:34):
But how do you decipher, you know, between bands that
like you enjoy versus bands that like you want to
put their record out? Because I'm sure there are people's
stuff that you enjoy where you're like, Okay, I can't
put this out because I either you know, like they
don't they're not gonna play shows or whatever. Like you
have to, you know, use the business calculus side of
your your head, you know, how do you kind of

(01:00:56):
walk through that process as you're figuring out what you're.

Speaker 3 (01:01:00):
To put out.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
Yeah, it's a good question. I think early earlier on
I will get those a little bit confused because I
was like, I like this, I want to put it out.
And now I have a better understanding of like separating
sort of like enjoying music as an individual listener versus like,

(01:01:23):
oh this kind of fits on Sunday Drive. So yeah,
it's just kind of sometimes when I find something, and
a lot of the times now it'lba already attached to
a label, which kind of helps me because I don't
have to like yearn for you know, that band to
put out a record on Sunday Drive just because there's

(01:01:44):
so many like independent like and hardcore labels now too,
which just wasn't a thing. It wasn't or it wasn't
as prevalent in like twenty fifteen or twenty sixteen, for example,
But now you got you know, streets of eight Days,
you know, from within corruption things like that happening on
a smaller scale. That kind of takes care of a
lot of that, and so that definitely helps. But if

(01:02:08):
they're if if I really enjoy something and I don't
know like anyone in the band or like anyone connected
to it, it typically takes me a little bit longer
to like reach out. But uh yeah, for example Fever Child,
when I first hurt them, I got very lucky because

(01:02:31):
I had one person I was connected to them, which
was Born the singer of Rise and Fall, and I
think I followed we have followed each other, and luckily
they happened to be from the similar area in there.
He was friendly with them, and so I was able
to kind of get connected with a Fever Child because
right when I heard the EP, I was like, this

(01:02:52):
needs to be honest. Any drive like so this is this.

Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Is so perfect for if you were if you were
like building a bank in in a lab this is like,
so up your ally.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Yeah, yeah exactly. So yeah, there are like circumstances where
that happens, but I tend to get lucky or like
there's at least one connection with them where it's not
too far apart. But yeah, in general, I the most
of the stuff I enjoy, I don't feel a need
to like ask them to like join the label, because,

(01:03:28):
like I said, if anything is coming to me organically
from like friends and friends of friends, like I usually
enjoy it already because we are friends. So like that
stuff kind of just naturally gets in the label and
then you know, them being friends just makes me want
to help them more. So yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
Absolutely. Uh. And the last thing I want to hit
on was the fact you're a runner, Jonathan, which is
something that you know, not everybody does. I mean, obviously
it's a popular pastime, but like you have been very
dedicated with it. I've noticed over the past whatever year
or so, maybe even a little bit longer. What what

(01:04:06):
attracted you to that and what kind of keeps you,
you know, motivated beyond the fact that obviously it's good
for you, you know, healthy for your body, et cetera,
et cetera. What kind of attracted you to it?

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
Yeah, I think, uh so I started running in I
would say consistently in twenty twenty two and I think
October November, and up until then, I tried, actually tried
to run like maybe years before that, and I hated it,

(01:04:42):
like like I was attracted to it because like it
seems like it looks cool, like it's such a cool sport.
Obviously it's like one of the healthiest things that you
can do for your heart. And I knew that I
wanted to like have some sort of physical activity because
I wasn't doing much physically because this is like during

(01:05:04):
like COVID and stuff. So I have a remote job
and I was just kind of at home and I
wanted to get out. So yeah, at that time, I
think I just started to walk just to kind of
get out of the apartment for a bit, and that
slowly kind of evolved into like, you know, wanting to run.
And then I think I was listening to a podcast

(01:05:29):
with There's two I believe, so there's one with with
Pat Flynn. I forget which which podcast it was, but
he was talking about a recent like fiddle Head Run
that they did, and like he hadn't ran or something
like up like recently, and the shows that he did

(01:05:50):
were like not up to part you know physically as
he would like to have been. And I was like, oh,
that's interesting. And then I heard Walter Watter Trifle talk
about it. These are two of like my favorite musicians
by the way, and so and yeah, he was talking
about like just running on tour uh on like the

(01:06:11):
recent quick sand tours and stuff, and that could just
kind of like inspired me a little bit more because
I had already tried it previously from from hearing that,
and yeah, it just kind of drove me to like, Okay,
let's try this again. And I did, and again I
hated it because I didn't know how to run, and

(01:06:33):
it was like it was a whole learning experience. So yeah,
so I was I would run and I would want
to go fast, and I would get tired obviously, and
I'm like, okay, I want to give up. And so
I had to kind of like learn and I watched
just like a you know, research, just like we were talking
about earlier research and like on YouTube and like watch

(01:06:56):
other runners and hear other podcasts and interviews and stuff
with different runners, and I quickly realize like, oh, I
don't have to go fast, like I can just run
out of my pace, like I'm not trying to impress anyone,
Like I can just go slow. And that's what I did.
So I did this thing called zone two training, where
you keep your heart rate in zone two, which is

(01:07:18):
a relatively low effort, and I ran. So that's kind
of it's kind of difficult when you're when you're starting,
because you're you get frustrated and you're like your heart
needs to be in that range of like one. At
my age, it's like one thirty to one, and so
you run and then you like hit the next zone

(01:07:38):
and you're like, shoot, I gotta stop. So like you'll
like stop and walk for a bit and then start
running again. And it was like a mental like training
in a way because like it gets you connected with
like your heart and what your heart, what work you're doing,
and so yeah, that really helped me. I did that
for like maybe like four five months, and and then

(01:08:00):
I was like, Okay, I think I have enough foundation
to begin like doing some training for my goal was
like I want to do a half marathon and in
the future I want to do a full marathon, and
so then I started a whole training program for a
half marathon and that taught me a lot as well,
just learning to run not only run slow, but also
do like speed work and run faster, do long runs.

(01:08:23):
Like my first long run was like maybe five miles
or something, and I was so rewarding after because I
was like, I've never ran five miles for example.

Speaker 1 (01:08:33):
Yeah, just like this, this is possible.

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
This is crazy. Yeah, exactly, just like getting these like
little like milestones and like nobody cares at all, like
in the world too, Like it's only like me. And
then like I share like my fiance and like that
really like just her alone, just like really just sharing
that with her because I wouldn't really talk about it

(01:08:56):
with anyone. That really helped me. And yeah, I just
continue to like still do it. And then I realized
like it helped me mentally as well, because it's like
it's a huge like like mental training. I don't know
if people like realize that because you're running and you're
running alone and you have time to think and there's

(01:09:20):
like no one out. I run in the mornings like
at like six six seven am, so like no one's
really out, like the sun is barely rising. It's like
my favorite time of the day. And yeah, it's like
totally helped me mentally and physically. I'm able to like
run longer now and run faster, and it's all kind
of happening like naturally organically, and I hope to I

(01:09:44):
almost hit a thousand miles this year. I was like
trying to, right, but it's fine, didn't happen this year,
but I'll try to do it next year and hopefully
that marathon will come soon. I'm excited for you.

Speaker 1 (01:09:57):
Yeah, well that's not I mean the the Tracksmith Slash
Sunday Drive Records collaboration pure where you know, because you're
the label's aesthetics and the running community broadly speaking, could
you know fit really well in and you could you
could easily do like all right, here's your marathon playlist
Dog Sunday Drive Records.

Speaker 2 (01:10:18):
Yeah, top the bottom, here you go exactly. Yeah, Now,
like any like running aesthetic, I see now, I'm like
I am immediately attracted to it. It's just kind of
annoying in a way, but also I just love it.
Like we have like Sunday Drive poster that's hanging over
here is like like like Olympic athletes and stuff. Sure, yeah,

(01:10:40):
I don't know. I just got like totally involved into
that whole world and like seeing the aesthetic of like
vintage like you know, running gear and like you know,
the New York Marathon in the sixties and like seeing
how people dress. Like it's like a whole of the
world that I've like love to like dive into. And
it's obviously been like driving the graphic on Sunday Drive

(01:11:01):
now it's like, well it's like anything with movement.

Speaker 1 (01:11:04):
Yeah, yeah, well it's cool. I like when you can
bring in different elements that are influenced by the other
things that people are into. Because when I mean yes,
like it's easy to throw you know, and this is
not throwing shade at anybody that does this, but like
you know, blood and guts and skulls and flames and
all that stuff, like you know, that's like relatively easy

(01:11:27):
to do. I mean not easy, but like it's it's
low hanging fruit. So it's like you're if you're being like, hey,
how can we make this look like you know, how
can we make this hardcore band look like you know,
a sixties running poster or whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:11:40):
Like let's exactly. That's literally like my favorite thing to
do of design, Like I love to like combine different
elements like that, like movie posters from like like vintage
movie posters and like with combined with like factory records
stuff and also like you know, a sick of a

(01:12:01):
sick of it all record or like like I have
these three things on my mood board that are like
totally different, but like somehow I'm grabbing like elements from
each and it's it's so cool to do.

Speaker 1 (01:12:12):
Right, totally, just like check out this demented Pinterest board,
like just go ahead, try to find three elements like this,
like just pulling capable corps and yeah, here we go,
like try try to do this. Yes, well, Jonathan, thank
you so much for hanging out with me and letting
me pink palm around your brain. I appreciate it, and
I appreciate the work you do with the label my friend.

Speaker 2 (01:12:33):
Of course. Thank you so much for having me. I
really appreciate it. It's been I've been I think I
mentioned this when I met you in person, but it's
been I've been listening to this podcast for like almost
ten years or so, so like being able to be
on the show now, it was like so like crazy
to me, but yeah, I really appreciate it. I'd appreciate all,
like the work that you've done in this and like
just hearing like other musicians' stories has really helped inspire me,

(01:12:57):
like as a as a creative and so yeah, super
excited to be on.

Speaker 1 (01:13:04):
There you go, hopefully you got to know Jonathan and
in turn you then become a super fan of his
label like I am. And I just I love it
because I'm old and you know, there is that whatever
that random Spotify study that it's like, you know, most
people stop checking out new music when they're like, you know,

(01:13:24):
in their early thirties, and I just I really really
really like the fact that music can still move and
excite me, because you know, I know that doesn't happen
for many people. So the fact that I can be
you know, like a like a child with Jonathan's record
label makes me really really happy. So the big shout
out to Jonathan and just being a really really sweet individual.

(01:13:46):
Next week, I have a man named Will Killingsworth. He
plays in Orchid, he plays in Bucket Full of Teeth.
He's also played in like ritual mess and just a
lot of bands in general. Basically in my mind, definitely
a screamo legend as it were. And yeah, I had
a discussion with him, and he's also a producer. He's

(01:14:07):
like recorded nine million bands and I know that's an exaggeration,
but he has recorded a ton of bands, and he's
mixed a lot of stuff, mastered a lot of stuff,
and he's just you know, basically hanging out doing doing
his thing his recording studio and making punk and hardcore
bands sound good. And then he also is very affordable,

(01:14:29):
which is awesome. So anyways, we got Will Killingsworth on
the show next week, and until then, please be safe, everybody.