June 17, 2022 • 36 mins
The pop-punk trio discuss their latest single "Assassin," the pros and cons of TikTok, and the challenges of forming a new band in the midst of the pandemic.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the
Studio on iHeart Radio. My name is Jordan runs Ug,
but enough about me. My guests today are self described
purveyors of renegade pop. That's their own unique blend of rock, punk, pop,
and hip hop. The customer genre hints at their diverse
blend of influences, ranging from Juice World to Justin Bieber
(00:23):
and the Smashing Pumpkins. You can get a taste by
listening to their new single, Assassin. After coalescing in the
early days of the pandemic, they've been co signed by
Pop Punk God's Pete Lentz and Mark Hoppus. We touched
on their new music, old influences, and wants to come
from this exciting new group. I'm so happy to welcome
Beauty School Dropout. First off, you've got your latest single, Assassins,
(00:50):
that just dropped, and you said it's about the things
that you love that can kill you. At the same time,
I feel like we've all been there in some ways,
one form or another. Can you tell me a little
bit more about that song? Yeah, you know, I think
we wrote about COVID. Yeah, being glazed by COVID Now,
you know, it's it's just that the age old lore
(01:10):
of like we always want what we can't have, or
you know, sometimes we get into these relationships that trap
us into uh, you know, lustful desires rather than like
things that are good for us are healthy for us.
And we've obviously had a fair share of those toxic relationships,
so we kind of tapped into that energy again. It's
such a great track, and I love the teaser clip
(01:31):
that you shared with Pete Winson Mark Hoppus was just
so funny. I know you worked very closely with those two.
Note what's it like being with them? I mean, you know,
they're like, to me, they're like the founding fathers of
pop punk. Maybe maybe Billy Joe I'm strong in there too,
but I mean that's gotta be so great. Worked alongside them,
it's pretty absurd. It is insane, Like they're like as
(01:54):
being close to them, like obviously like it feels more
like just like a friendship and like that's cool partner
him and all these things, and but it still does
feel just as cool getting a text from one of
them or working with them. It's so say, Mark always
texts me to ask for computer help, and so I
love his personal I t I was like, I know,
(02:15):
but it's pretty cool. It's like, it's it's pretty surreal
being kind of you feel like you're kind of the
chosen band in a way. It's like, okay, cool, like
and we've got some big shoes to fill. Um. But
I think I kind of go back to this idea
that like, eventually we're going to be passing the torch
on someone else, hopefully if you know, we play their
(02:36):
cards right, And uh, I think that's kind of the
thing that really inspires me, is like crushing this opportunity
we have in front of us that we can go
past that torch on. Oh absolutely, I mean, who were
some of the other folks that made you want to
start making music? Dad? Dad, all of our dads, dads,
(02:56):
through and through. It's funny. They actually when we have shows,
they all come out and they meet up and we
call them the Delf Squad. So if you have y'all
ever see the Delf Squad triangulating at one of our shows,
definitely feel free to say, what's up? I love it.
They're more They're more rock star than us. It's so sick.
We don't party, we're nerds. They go hard. I feel
(03:22):
like the harder your parents party, the more you're inclined
to kind of be the more bookish like indoor type.
Maybe maybe that's just me, but because I gotta, I
gotta part of your dad myself, so yeah, yeah yeah.
And then as far as the music influences, is definitely
like Mark because blinkin a two boy green day, I
know that Cold grew up listening to like a little
(03:42):
bit heavier stuff. Bart and I listened to like a
lot of pop punk like Somebody Want Offspring. I love
like indie rock like Arcade Fire. Yeah. I came from
the metal and punk, so I don't know. I like
everything from from Sabbath to like Black Flag to the
more modern like Postcard Court stuff that's on the Radona
days like even Bring Me Early, Bring Me definitely set
(04:02):
me up for for my hardcore days. I think influence
weirdly comes from um. I mean, we listen to everything
because we write and produced for other artists as well,
So we write for you for pops writers too, you know,
or pop pop stars and rappers and you know whoever.
So it's just gonna be been in these situations where
we get to like create a bunch of different styles
(04:25):
of music, and I think because we're constantly in those
comparison settings, we're just like always pulling those influences into
our stuff. And like I was listening to some of
the demos we have do other day and I was like, dang,
like this doesn't really sound like anything else. It's this
weird mix of like you know, hip hop, rock and
pop pop all over the place. But it's just kind
(04:45):
of like it's fun. I love I love what we're doing. Yeah.
I saw a Spotify list that that you shared of
just stuff you were listening to, and it had everything
from Smashing Pumpkins suggesting Bieber on it, and it's just
this incredible range and that totally shows up in your
music too. Do you know the social media account? Um,
I don't know why I phrase like that so grandfa
(05:06):
away I could have ever phrased that, but it's a
Twitter accounts, Instagram account, dust to Digital. Uh. This this
really interesting guy. He's like part archivists, part like music historian,
and he shares all these clips of like people in
foreign countries making music out of like rocks, and like
there's like a people in in in South America playing
(05:28):
the river like a drum, just all these crazy different
types of music and it all shows up in his
account and it's so interesting. I mean, I bet you
it's probably a lot of producers you sample a lot
of that stuff too, because it's really interesting. But I
was looking to talk with this guy, and he had
this theory about how every thirty years there's a turnover
of the the new primary genre. I mean, starting with jazz,
(05:49):
jazz kind of morphing into rock and roll in the
in the fifties, and the eighties, hip hop taken over.
And then he was talking about how you know, in
thirty years after the eighties, it is the twenty tens,
what's the genre? And then he was saying the genres everything,
like with the capital e. It's like we we now
have all this music at our fingertips. It's just a
complete amalgamation and you take little pieces of from everywhere
(06:12):
and make something totally new out of it, and that's
the new genre. Just pretty what you're saying. It's pretty weird.
How like, as we have more access to information and
data and obviously like everything to the internet, like the
cultural pendulum starts swinging faster. It's like just even going
back to that thought, seeing how we shifted from like
this like nickelback Daughtry rock to all of a sudden
(06:35):
like E d M and like Scrillis and all of
vij and all these people taking over the radio to
all of a sudden like trap and wrap too. Now
like back to rock. It's like been in these crazy,
like three to five year stints. Yeah, it's pretty well,
but I like now, I think because there's no barriers,
like everyone just collapse on everything and just steals from everything.
(06:58):
But he's stealing from everything, steal like an artist. It's
like true artists steal, but they know who to steal from.
I think that's the phrase was a great artists copy
true artists. It's true. If you steal it, it's yours.
If you copy it, you're copying because you could never
copy it. Exactly. We're trying to steal from everyone if
(07:20):
we were volauvas every time we make music, because we
like just be like Robin when I was a swag
Oh cool. You said something really interesting in a recent
interview that you think that will reach a new level
of recycling rock music. Kind of what you're talking about,
all the sounds of it and you name check people
like Jaris Johnson. I wanted to name to ask you
(07:41):
more about that totally. I mean kind of, like I said,
the cultural penelum is swinging faster and faster, and I think, like,
I don't know, we obviously have seen this phase of
like really heavily Blink influenced music come and I don't
want to say go, but definitely it's like evolving very
quickly into it is now. Like obviously, like I said,
(08:01):
there's people doing kind of like the Nickelback thing, or
there's people doing like, oh no, I was even listening
to a friends records. I'm not gonna say who, but
they're tapping more into like the old kiss vein and
like seventies eighties glam rock and how that can be
mixed in the modern production, which is that's exciting to
me because that's why I'm like, okay, guys, like history
(08:22):
of rock goes far before the early two thousands, like
let's let's get deep in our pockets if we're really
going to go there, you know. Um So I guess
that's that's kind of where my brain has been, is
like seeing who is going to steal like an artist
from that bag of tricks and that palette like be
able to make it into something modern and fresh. Oh
(08:44):
that's so interesting to say. Talk to me about how
you guys all came together, because it felt sounds like
it was fairly recently in the pandemic. I mean, Cole
and Brent. I know you were in the Strange Faces together,
but how did you all coalesced? Three? Have you ever
heard of the app grinder? Yes? I have. They have
is like for threes section and that's where, Yeah, we
meet up and just kind of like you just want
(09:07):
to make a band. We thought Barto was a catfish,
so I brought be that's exactly make sure we're safe.
But but he's not a He's not a catfish. He's
more beautiful in real life. Yeah. Yeah, he's actually just
a bad I don't know if radio I'm not a catfish.
It's a bad bitch. But yeah we know. Actually, Uh,
(09:32):
I slid in too. Uh His exs d m him
being deepest and she was like, oh, yeah, we can
hang out. Can I bring my boyfriend? And I was
like yeah, And then it turns out he actually just
became my boyfriend. Uh, look where this part? This is
true story and then uh, I used to co produce
(09:52):
events with this place called Winston House. Our mutual friend
was performing, and she introduced Barto and I and at
that point, like, I've been kind of into like songwriting
for other people. His whole backgrounds producing for other people,
and uh, you know, we've all been in bands our
whole life, so when we got in there was just
this like this tangible synergy that was so hard to
(10:14):
recreate with anyone else. And from then on it is
like I mean really, it's like since that day, it's
been like every day for the last three years. We
fell in love. Yeah, yeah, just happened out of nowhere.
Definitely not expecting it, but we are because you're cold.
Weren't you initially considering being having like a solo venture
and then it just sort of became what it is now. Yeah,
(10:35):
you know. It's it's funny because like the front end
of the other band started kind of like writing his
own stuff and and and at that point, I was like,
I've spent my whole life playing guitar and bands, but
I always knew that the one I wanted to like
fully send on I would be fronting. And so at
that point I was just like, well, I'm already homeless
and broke, Like what else is there to lose, you know,
so you may as well to choose the lowest paying
(10:56):
job in America and be a songwriter. Uh did that
and started songwriting for other people. And now at that
point I was kind of like flavor testing with producers
and just like also learning how to be a songwriter
and like how to make music, you know, in a
way that is not just like I don't know there's
(11:19):
levels to it, right, Like I think that there's there
at the end of the day. There's a certain like
algorithm and math that comes with songwriting that you can
acknowledge that you can't. And like, at that point is
when I started to acknowledge it how much when your
(11:43):
songwriting is a result of what you hear in your
head versus experimentation. Just like in the moment, I think
it's like pretty fifty fifty. I think the first fifty
is usually what you hear in your head, and then
bringing that from pen to paper and then and then
from there it's usually like the rest of it is
revising it and molding it into something that is bigger
(12:03):
and better. As Bartow always says, it's like we're designing sound.
You know, we're literally designing sound waves. That is what
producing and songwriting is. So it's like really an interesting process.
But yeah, i'd say, like it's really weird when you
think about what we're doing. We're just like tweaking things
to make sound waves sound different. Like these things you
(12:26):
can't see, what you can feel and they make you
have dopamine boost in your brain and then we put
them out. That's what we do. But yeah, it's it's
I mean, it's a big experimentation, like none of us
really know what we're doing at all. Like you go
into session and like this is gonna be shitty, and
then this is really dope, you know, like this cool
thing came out of it. Or like you had this
(12:47):
throwaway idea that you thought was trash that you know, be,
I mean be had an idea that you said you
played and like when you're in high school, right for contact, Yeah,
that base risks like actually like super influenced from a
song that I wrote when I was like yeah, So
it's like ship like that where you're just like, oh wow,
I did not think this would be anything, and then
it becomes something and then you turn on a microphone
(13:08):
and you're just like all right, you try it, and
you try it, and you try and you just throw
melodies down with just gibberish and then you fill in
the blanks, you know. So there's there's no right or
wrong way to do it. But we've also recently been
tapping into like trying to write the song first before
we even produce it, and just like we call it
the camp fire test, where you just once you get
(13:30):
an idea, you're like, cool before we throw anything else,
because you can kind of get disguised. Like that's where
like a lot of modern production now is like cool,
you have a crazy beat, like the song, can you
like sit there by a campfire and sing it? You know.
So it's like I think that's that's the real key.
Does the song stand up? But the song stands up,
the production just comes easy. Well, here's a question with
(13:51):
from a very personal place. I'm somebody who's loved music
my whole life. I can play a couple of different instruments.
I have never been able to write a song in
my entire life. Just I can't do it. I don't
know if it's I'm just not tapped into that part
of the universe. I'm too inhibited. I don't know what
it is, But what would you say to someone like
me who's having a hard time sort of tapping into
that that part of themselves? Like, how do you how
(14:12):
do you start? Basically let go mushrooms a number of
times some of my dearest friends. Yeah, but Barta said, also,
just like letting go, it's like a matter of just
like the first thousand are probably gonna be terrible, but
that's like it's just like experienced through it. Like it's
(14:33):
like if you finish a song, that's the hardest thing
ever to do. Yeah, it's like it's it's this crazy
ego chapter. You're like, oh, dang, I gotta like I mean,
you just gotta not care because there's really is no
right way to do it. There's no right answer. There's
no like, oh this is good. It just does it
feel good? Cool? Have you heard baby Shark before? Yes?
(14:53):
Pay for that song sucks, but like like when you
listen to it, you're like, this song, Hey, it's awesome,
and like it's like a cultural phenomena. It's like if
I told you I read a song about baby sharks,
Like don't do it. It's the whole family of sharks
and family sharks. Also keeping that there's like four or
five parts at most usually, and like keeping that that
(15:16):
the ground you is like you know, it is this
big scary thing. It's like, oh, I have to make
words and sounds and all these things work together. But
it's like, realistically, a song usually is a composition of
four or five parts. It's like, you know, as fung
as you, they don't even have to be good parts,
just just identify those parts. My mom. I went to
visit my mom a couple of weeks ago, and I
(15:36):
was like helping her clean out like her closet. I
found this box that she had kept all my like
original songs. It was literally a binder like this thick
of just all these like songs that I had from
like early early days. And it was just like like
little like like napkins and or whatever. And I just
(15:57):
like just had a song called just the song is
called nine was just lyrics was the whole time in
different like cadences, different flows, but basically it was like
I think I wrote that it was like two or something,
but it was just like at least like little things
but she kept it. Now like actually, like I've like
it was wild to see because I'm like, oh my god,
there's like things Ukulele was a kid just like but
(16:18):
I think it's that kind. I think that he said
the first thousand we're gonna suck, and it's like look
back then, it's like, yeah, well, these songs are just
like random words thrown together. But like you evolved and
you flex that muscle. He's work out. I'm still on song.
I can write a really good thing. Yeah. What would
Malcolm Gladwall say about that six hundred? You're getting close? Wow?
(16:39):
That So it sounds like this is this has been
a part of your life making music, all of you
since you know you you were you know, learning to
walk and learning to sing around the same time, it
sounds like my dad wanted to name me Stevie Ray
or Eddie Van. That's yeah. My mom was pissed about it,
says she didn't like to happen. We're definitely bred by
(16:59):
our parents. They thank you dads. There, dads. My dad's
like not very into music at all. My dads like entrepreneurs,
very creative person. He's the most probably the most eccentric,
well he's more escentric than all of us come by,
and that's true, but like, weirdly enough, I just kind
of like I was like, yeah, music, and he was
(17:19):
supportive of That's the key. I think a lot of
kids don't have support from the parents. I think that's
the big difference. Is like the reason all of us
are in this position today is because like throughout our lives,
it was like, you know, even when b was in trouble,
he was grounded, but his punishment was he had to
play music, like that was like his things. So it
was like, you know, it all kind of flows back
(17:40):
and this thing of like where a lot of parents big, no,
hell no, you're not playing music. It doesn't make sense.
But it's like there, it's you know, it's fun. It's
it's a great life. It's like, you know, we're all depressed,
but it's awesome. I mean, yeah, to take an instrument
out of a kid's hand feels like taking a book
out of a kid's hand. It's like that seems cruel
(18:01):
to me. That's yeah. You mentioned earlier about the campfire
test versus stuff that you're doing in the studio, and
it almost sounds like the difference between you know, composing
and songwriting is a skill versus sort of making like soundscapes.
Are there any people who really influenced you as soundscapers,
Like I'm a big Brian Eno fan and Pepe Floyd,
(18:22):
I'm a big classic rock guy. Yeah, Robin Thick, Trent
Reson for me, like oh yeah, just so good at
just like creating a motion through sound, and like Hance
White his many movies stuff like it's so cool to
like listen to someone that like writes really good songs
and then writes really good compositions that make you feel
(18:42):
something without necessarily where its I was really insparted, like
Kanye West as a kid, his level of just weird
sounds and you're like, he'll put something out and then
a year or two later you'll see everyone else kind
of catching up to what he did, you know, and
it's like the his like level of sound design is
crazy or it's like, you know, that's he's a true curator.
(19:04):
You know, you can take other things. It creates is
a weird things Deptnes and um Frank Ocean for me
entirely creator earlier Tyle the Creator and Kendrick as well
a lot of rap dudes. It's funny because people always ask,
They're like, oh, like, if you could write with anyone,
or if you could get in the studio with anybody,
who would it be in Every single time I answer
like all the rap, dude. I love Baby Team, I
(19:26):
love Kendrick, I love Tyler, I love bass App. I
think they have like that. Rock has such a formula
to it, you know, and and rap does as well,
but I think there's a different nature to it in
that spirit of like that swag and that kind of
like uh. I definitely like to let influence a lot
(19:48):
of the things that we do. For sure. I love
just taking apart some of those songs, like My Beautiful,
Dark Twisted Fantasy is one of my favorite albums of
all time, And just like picking apart all the sample
and seeing where they all come from. I mean, that's
one of my favorite things to do. It just goes
I mean, for me, it helps me appreciate it more
because it's just like, oh my god, not only are
you such a fan of music that you're pulling in
(20:10):
stuff from such a wide place what we're talking about earlier,
but just the way that you assemble in such a
way that I I'm a big old vinyl nerd. I
love collecting old soul forty fives from the fifties and sixties.
I had no idea that that was that baseline from
like you know, an old Stacks track or something. It's
crazy like the high contrast of things. Yeah, I think
(20:31):
oftentimes I like a lude kind of picture. Music is
like a thing in my brain, like I can like
see like the textures of it, you know what I mean.
And I think there's this really cool thing that Kanye
is where he just like everything's really saturated and distorted,
you know. But it's like something that like like a
smooth vinyl record and then like pairing that with like
(20:52):
a really heavy hitting snare that is clipping and just
like mangled, and it's like, oh, but then it goes
back to like a quiet moment, and then allowed moment.
In a quiet moment, there's like intense dynamics and the
high contrast of stuff, and it's just like it's weirdly enough,
it's kind of like the same kind of like style
like in like like physical art, like the high contrast
(21:13):
like the pop art like Warhol was doing and like
that kind of stuff. But I kind of picture. A
lot of those like screwll X as a similar kind
of vibe, you know, like the really intense, like their
whole the whole motive beyond what they're doing is is
to distort everything. And like but like digital distortion, where
everyone was how you do not distort things digitally and
they're like, no, no, we're going to that's the whole point.
(21:35):
So it's pretty cool. It's like breaking the rules is
like rule number one. Absolutely. What was that great Warhol
piece where he took an early Xerox machine, one of
the first Xerox machines, and just zero a picture. I
think it was a chairman MAO over and over and over,
and because the technology wasn't that great, it would be
it woul almost look like silly putty. It would get
all distorted and strange. And then he would take those
(21:57):
and frame those distorted pictures and frame them and that
was his piece. And that's sounds like similar what you're
say in the distortion exactly, Like I love rules and
just like twisting things like Warhol was remixing art. He's
just bacon beats on canvas. While we're on the topic
(22:29):
of influences, I need to ask this. I am a
a big fan of Greece. I was in the play
in high school. I was vis Fontan, I have to
ask your name, give me, give me the story on
the name. I love the name so much. That was
my grandma's favorite song in Greece. And I watch that
movie probably over a hundred times. And you know, it's
(22:51):
funny because when the name came, it wasn't even like
that wasn't really the thought process. It just kind of
super weird and O c D about titling things um
and this was like still when I was like riding
alone on just like a lot of music and I
think the project. I was calling it like doom or
something completely different, and then I was opposite, Yeah, yes,
(23:14):
totally different. And so I threw Beati school drop out
in my bio on Instagram and then like I remember,
I had a cut coming out with this group highly Suspect,
and at that time I was like, oh, like should
I make this my artist name, like you know whatever,
and he's like Johnny was like no, dude, just use
your name, and I was like okay. But then we
at all met and I was like, okay, well fuck it,
(23:35):
maybe it makes sense for it to be the band's name,
and it kind of just ended up sticking just convenient.
I think we all have an attachment decrease to Like
I was down, I was dancing on my buggy and
my diaper, seeing Kogaris flighting and like swinging the shirt
like there's been I never talked about it, but like that.
I was literally obsessed with this movie too when I
was a kid, like I was like four years old.
(23:57):
You never told me about that. I know because it's
I like you have your moment where you're like your
sweet grandma moment, Like I wish I knew this, but yeah,
one of these videos that I'll get them please do well?
Is it as a music video? That would be that's
a great TikTok. I remember, like I was a kid,
my little sister was in Greece and I went to
(24:19):
see the play. I remember asking my mom, like what
is Beauties will Drop Out? And and she was like, oh,
it's like when you failed out of everything you like.
And I'm like, well, I'm like I'm like damn, Like
that's hard but it's weird. But like I distinctly remember,
like of the entire play, I don't remember the play.
(24:41):
I just remember like that asking my mom that it's
weird like for all these years, and I'm like, and
then this band called Beauty Will drop Out and I
was like, wo manifested it, Yeah, failing out of everything
former band. The meaning behind it, I think was very
tongue in cheek with like I used to make these
magazines for I had a project. I called it Death Cells,
(25:02):
and like the slogan of it was Vanity Kills Death Cells.
And I've always been very drawn to the idea of like,
just as a society, obviously we we kind of have
uh this nature of like sheepishly going for things with
vanity and than you know, just being our full authentic
self because obviously every human has our ego attached to
(25:22):
everything we do, and so um, I think like in large,
that statement of Beauty School dropout was like the prettiest
way of saying something synonymous to that idea of like, hey,
it's okay to detach from those things and those feelings
and to just like completely be yourself and feel safe
in your skin. I feel like you gotta get like
(25:43):
an album blurb from Frankie Frankie Avalon or something. Though,
I feel like that you got to bring a full
circle with them. We also it's a nice like identify
how big we are because when you type and drop
out a minute, you don't see Frankie Avalon anymore. We
know we've made didn't We're hopefully rich at that point,
hopefully we can ye once the top Google. God, that'd
(26:05):
be fun. Beauty school dropout is just such an amazing phrase.
And you've described your sound as I love this so
much renegade pop. I just think that's that's the coolest phrase.
I I want to ask you, Uh, who are some
people in the past who maybe had a renegade pop
sound and didn't know it? Or or are you the
first or there are no others? Nirvana, Alice and Chains
(26:31):
Justin Bieber. Yeah, I'm just kidding. Actually, the later on
at his career, I was gonna say, I think it's
like it's this kind of thing of I bring the
right now, but they're doing they will. I think it's
kind of this thing of like it's pop but you
don't know it is. And I think that's what like
Nirvana crushed. They were just writing pop songs but just
(26:52):
made it heavy. Like we always go into sessions We're
just's like we literally will say like assassin them while
it's coming out tomorrow or the or the it out.
I don't know if when we're doing this interview timeline
for those you can cut this, but um Assassin the
single Assassin is like when we were writing it, we
were literally like, how can we write a biber song
but just make it as heavy as like bring me
(27:14):
or something? And I think we kind of we did that.
That was the goal. So, I mean, I'm sure you've
been asked is a bunch of times, but I'm so fascinated.
What was it like to start a band in the
middle of a global pandemic. I mean, on one hand,
I imagine there must be all sorts of logistical nightmares
that go along with that. But in another, was it
(27:35):
almost nice for for lack of a better term, in
incubation period, Like I read that you you went up
to a warehouse space for like a week and had
you know, like a like a lock in and kind
of started to learn to jail. Was it one of
the pros and cons of sort of starting out in
the middle of all this A lot of learning went
down through the pandemic. It's like the worst thing we
(27:56):
possibly could have done, but in spirit probably like the
coolest thing we could have done, just because I mean,
imagine being a band, right where sevent of your career
is like playing shows, meeting people, congregating, doing all these things,
and then having to basically try and create a platform
for yourself where your only leg up it's like digital
(28:16):
platform and digital footprint. Um. So it was it definitely
led to like a very heavy incubation period. You know,
at the time when COVID started, we had already been
in the studio just about every day for like six
months cataloging, and so that didn't really change like like
in fact, i'd say most of the bigger changes to
the band that were made were like almost in the
second half of COVID when we really started thinking like okay,
(28:40):
things could open up and like this is what it
could lead to. You know, how do we tackle it?
You know, this is a bigger project than just the music.
This is like the business, the operation or web fee stuff,
like so many different ventures under one umbrella. Um. And
that's when I think it allowed us the time in
space to realize like, oh, this is much more than
just like a couple of dude, just playing music and like,
(29:01):
this is what we need in order to achieve the
goals that we're going for. You mentioned the digital footprint,
and there's been a lot of talk on the on
the internet lately about artists and their relationship to TikTok.
For diplomatic reasons, that's all I'll say about that. I
was wondering about your thoughts about TikTok and the how
it relates to the creative process of making music and
(29:24):
how it's what it's been changing the industry. Love hate
for sure. It's it's one of those things that only
comes along once in a blue moon and it's like
a crazy, crazy, crazy discovery tool. Um. But it's also
a complete disruptor of the entire market, and it's like
it's democratized everything. It's it's made it so you know,
a girl in her bedroom who's writing songs that in
(29:47):
Alabama that doesn't even think of being in the music
industry can all of a sudden pop off and okay,
cool and maybe now I can start something here and
it gets the ball rolling. But it's like that's unheard of,
Like that wasn't a thing twen years a don't you
know and that was the thing five years ago. So
it's like that's a crazy, crazy powerful tool. But it's
(30:08):
also this intense like pressure that it puts on a
lot of artists that's like, oh, if you're not doing it,
you're you're going to fail. And it's like my frustration
with it is that I feel like there's a lot
it's like people put an emphasis on TikTok like it's
the only thing, you know, it's like the only thing
to do. It's like, oh, you make music, well you
(30:29):
should make a TikTok, and it's like, well, okay. I
think I think the greater issue is like the mechanics
of it, right, because it's like you now have this
thing where I mean, I'm sure as you've seen like
Halsey speaking up on it a lot, is the the
idea that like most of these labels are declining releases
based on whether or not they can like peak on
(30:51):
a trend. And I think that's a little bit. It's
it's made it easy for the labels to say no, yeah,
it's like, oh, if you're not trending, great, we're not
going to do ship for you. But at the end
of the day, it's like at like you still got
to promote your music. You know, if TikTok dign exists,
it's like kids would still be bitching about the fact
that they have to go down to motows and fly
out their posters. You know. It's like there's always going
(31:12):
to be something to complain about. So it's like it's
like the end of the day, it's just an opportunity
to promote your music and like it's reach to new
audiences and that's one you can do from your bedroom. Yeah, exactly.
I think I think the key is like turning into
something fun and turning into like turning into something like
isn't a chore, you know, I mean, and finding your thing.
(31:32):
It's like your thing is going to be different than
the other person's thing, and the reason their thing worked
is because they're the one doing it. So it's like
your sauce is different inevitably because it's you. So it's
like finding what works for you and and connecting with
your audience. I think that's that's the real takeaway. I
think that's something we've been trying to happen too, is
like we're on TikTok with do your Thing, and like
we've you know figured out a long time. It took
(31:54):
us like what are we even doing on here? Like
this is ridiculous. But then what we realize, like, oh,
people really like these covers were making we're making during
the quarantine. We're like remixing these. Basically we're taking like
Drake songs and turning in into rock songs and or
like other popular songs and like flipping them into these
other things. And and people were like, oh, this is
(32:15):
really cool, and we're filming it in our living room
us like playing it and stuff like that, and that
caught on to a lot of people. And then now
it's just kind of like keeping keep we're feeding the
beast and like you know, to our audience and it's
like this is this weird thing, but it's like it's
not going anywhere, and it does mean another thing, and
it's like I'm very grateful for it, but I get frustrated.
But I've also been like realizing as you grow, there's
(32:38):
more things. There's other things than TikTok, like this, this
podcast is what we're doing, Like this is valuable interviews
and interviews, meeting fans, like you can't take away shows
like shows are still how this whole thing works. And
I think that's something that a lot of labels and
TikTok artists are realizing now because they had songs pop
(32:59):
off on TikTok during the quarantine and shows come around,
they're like, cool, I'm gonna play the show and there's
like four people there and they're like, oh damn, this
is way harder than I Like, that's you can't. You
can't do that, you know what I mean, unless you're
doing something that the audience connects with. And I really
didn't know the day None of this ship matters unless
you have a community. That's our day one, we've been like,
(33:19):
a thousand fans is far more important than a million
of streams. I don't give it. I don't give a
ship about streams because they're paying us like point two cents. Sorry,
yeah you believe at all. It's okay, it's a good
but yeah, it's like it's it's way more, way more
entertaining to have an audience that cares about what you're
doing and it's like believes in what you're doing. And
(33:41):
that's that's what we've done with the dropouts. We have
this audience that like, we love our family, so that's
where we're gonna keep doing. Hell yeah, that's a beautiful message.
Like what do you have coming up next? I mean,
is there a a release date for an impending album
on the horizon. We got Assassin's coming out the day
of this podcast drops, so can we talk about it.
(34:04):
We can't give you dates yet. We do have uh
an EP in the works. It's you know, album EP,
whatever you want to call it, a project of multiple
songs coming out later this summer before we go to
a festival we're playing that. We also are yet to announce,
and but we will be. We will be going to
(34:26):
the UK in August, so make of that. Oh yeah,
we got we got a lot of music coming out
really soon. It's been actually so relieving to be not
only signed obviously, but like to get signed and then
to have that same sense of urgency of like, Okay,
we need to roll out and we need to be consistent,
(34:46):
and we're gonna put it out now. Like I can
tell you how um hard it is to put music
out and have a song be coming out by the
time you already are like over it? Where is no Assassin?
We less than like three months ago and we're still
stoked on it. So it's such a cool feeling to
have music that you're like genuinely excited about and super
(35:07):
proud of coming out like while you're still super excited
and proud of it. Oh, that is awesome. I can't
wait to hear what you have in the pipes. I
can't wait to see out there. Here's cool drop up.
Thank you so much for your time and Dani, your
music has was such a pleasure. Thank you so much.
You We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio,
(35:31):
a production of I Heart Radio. For more episodes of
Inside the Studio or other fantastic shows, check out the
I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
to your favorite podcast. Ye
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the
Studio on iHeart Radio. My name is Jordan runs Ug,
but enough about me. My guests today are self described
purveyors of renegade pop. That's their own unique blend of rock, punk, pop,
and hip hop. The customer genre hints at their diverse
blend of influences, ranging from Juice World to Justin Bieber
(00:23):
and the Smashing Pumpkins. You can get a taste by
listening to their new single, Assassin. After coalescing in the
early days of the pandemic, they've been co signed by
Pop Punk God's Pete Lentz and Mark Hoppus. We touched
on their new music, old influences, and wants to come
from this exciting new group. I'm so happy to welcome
Beauty School Dropout. First off, you've got your latest single, Assassins,
(00:50):
that just dropped, and you said it's about the things
that you love that can kill you. At the same time,
I feel like we've all been there in some ways,
one form or another. Can you tell me a little
bit more about that song? Yeah, you know, I think
we wrote about COVID. Yeah, being glazed by COVID Now,
you know, it's it's just that the age old lore
(01:10):
of like we always want what we can't have, or
you know, sometimes we get into these relationships that trap
us into uh, you know, lustful desires rather than like
things that are good for us are healthy for us.
And we've obviously had a fair share of those toxic relationships,
so we kind of tapped into that energy again. It's
such a great track, and I love the teaser clip
(01:31):
that you shared with Pete Winson Mark Hoppus was just
so funny. I know you worked very closely with those two.
Note what's it like being with them? I mean, you know,
they're like, to me, they're like the founding fathers of
pop punk. Maybe maybe Billy Joe I'm strong in there too,
but I mean that's gotta be so great. Worked alongside them,
it's pretty absurd. It is insane, Like they're like as
(01:54):
being close to them, like obviously like it feels more
like just like a friendship and like that's cool partner
him and all these things, and but it still does
feel just as cool getting a text from one of
them or working with them. It's so say, Mark always
texts me to ask for computer help, and so I
love his personal I t I was like, I know,
(02:15):
but it's pretty cool. It's like, it's it's pretty surreal
being kind of you feel like you're kind of the
chosen band in a way. It's like, okay, cool, like
and we've got some big shoes to fill. Um. But
I think I kind of go back to this idea
that like, eventually we're going to be passing the torch
on someone else, hopefully if you know, we play their
(02:36):
cards right, And uh, I think that's kind of the
thing that really inspires me, is like crushing this opportunity
we have in front of us that we can go
past that torch on. Oh absolutely, I mean, who were
some of the other folks that made you want to
start making music? Dad? Dad, all of our dads, dads,
(02:56):
through and through. It's funny. They actually when we have shows,
they all come out and they meet up and we
call them the Delf Squad. So if you have y'all
ever see the Delf Squad triangulating at one of our shows,
definitely feel free to say, what's up? I love it.
They're more They're more rock star than us. It's so sick.
We don't party, we're nerds. They go hard. I feel
(03:22):
like the harder your parents party, the more you're inclined
to kind of be the more bookish like indoor type.
Maybe maybe that's just me, but because I gotta, I
gotta part of your dad myself, so yeah, yeah yeah.
And then as far as the music influences, is definitely
like Mark because blinkin a two boy green day, I
know that Cold grew up listening to like a little
(03:42):
bit heavier stuff. Bart and I listened to like a
lot of pop punk like Somebody Want Offspring. I love
like indie rock like Arcade Fire. Yeah. I came from
the metal and punk, so I don't know. I like
everything from from Sabbath to like Black Flag to the
more modern like Postcard Court stuff that's on the Radona
days like even Bring Me Early, Bring Me definitely set
(04:02):
me up for for my hardcore days. I think influence
weirdly comes from um. I mean, we listen to everything
because we write and produced for other artists as well,
So we write for you for pops writers too, you know,
or pop pop stars and rappers and you know whoever.
So it's just gonna be been in these situations where
we get to like create a bunch of different styles
(04:25):
of music, and I think because we're constantly in those
comparison settings, we're just like always pulling those influences into
our stuff. And like I was listening to some of
the demos we have do other day and I was like, dang,
like this doesn't really sound like anything else. It's this
weird mix of like you know, hip hop, rock and
pop pop all over the place. But it's just kind
(04:45):
of like it's fun. I love I love what we're doing. Yeah.
I saw a Spotify list that that you shared of
just stuff you were listening to, and it had everything
from Smashing Pumpkins suggesting Bieber on it, and it's just
this incredible range and that totally shows up in your
music too. Do you know the social media account? Um,
I don't know why I phrase like that so grandfa
(05:06):
away I could have ever phrased that, but it's a
Twitter accounts, Instagram account, dust to Digital. Uh. This this
really interesting guy. He's like part archivists, part like music historian,
and he shares all these clips of like people in
foreign countries making music out of like rocks, and like
there's like a people in in in South America playing
(05:28):
the river like a drum, just all these crazy different
types of music and it all shows up in his
account and it's so interesting. I mean, I bet you
it's probably a lot of producers you sample a lot
of that stuff too, because it's really interesting. But I
was looking to talk with this guy, and he had
this theory about how every thirty years there's a turnover
of the the new primary genre. I mean, starting with jazz,
(05:49):
jazz kind of morphing into rock and roll in the
in the fifties, and the eighties, hip hop taken over.
And then he was talking about how you know, in
thirty years after the eighties, it is the twenty tens,
what's the genre? And then he was saying the genres everything,
like with the capital e. It's like we we now
have all this music at our fingertips. It's just a
complete amalgamation and you take little pieces of from everywhere
(06:12):
and make something totally new out of it, and that's
the new genre. Just pretty what you're saying. It's pretty weird.
How like, as we have more access to information and
data and obviously like everything to the internet, like the
cultural pendulum starts swinging faster. It's like just even going
back to that thought, seeing how we shifted from like
this like nickelback Daughtry rock to all of a sudden
(06:35):
like E d M and like Scrillis and all of
vij and all these people taking over the radio to
all of a sudden like trap and wrap too. Now
like back to rock. It's like been in these crazy,
like three to five year stints. Yeah, it's pretty well,
but I like now, I think because there's no barriers,
like everyone just collapse on everything and just steals from everything.
(06:58):
But he's stealing from everything, steal like an artist. It's
like true artists steal, but they know who to steal from.
I think that's the phrase was a great artists copy
true artists. It's true. If you steal it, it's yours.
If you copy it, you're copying because you could never
copy it. Exactly. We're trying to steal from everyone if
(07:20):
we were volauvas every time we make music, because we
like just be like Robin when I was a swag
Oh cool. You said something really interesting in a recent
interview that you think that will reach a new level
of recycling rock music. Kind of what you're talking about,
all the sounds of it and you name check people
like Jaris Johnson. I wanted to name to ask you
(07:41):
more about that totally. I mean kind of, like I said,
the cultural penelum is swinging faster and faster, and I think, like,
I don't know, we obviously have seen this phase of
like really heavily Blink influenced music come and I don't
want to say go, but definitely it's like evolving very
quickly into it is now. Like obviously, like I said,
(08:01):
there's people doing kind of like the Nickelback thing, or
there's people doing like, oh no, I was even listening
to a friends records. I'm not gonna say who, but
they're tapping more into like the old kiss vein and
like seventies eighties glam rock and how that can be
mixed in the modern production, which is that's exciting to
me because that's why I'm like, okay, guys, like history
(08:22):
of rock goes far before the early two thousands, like
let's let's get deep in our pockets if we're really
going to go there, you know. Um So I guess
that's that's kind of where my brain has been, is
like seeing who is going to steal like an artist
from that bag of tricks and that palette like be
able to make it into something modern and fresh. Oh
(08:44):
that's so interesting to say. Talk to me about how
you guys all came together, because it felt sounds like
it was fairly recently in the pandemic. I mean, Cole
and Brent. I know you were in the Strange Faces together,
but how did you all coalesced? Three? Have you ever
heard of the app grinder? Yes? I have. They have
is like for threes section and that's where, Yeah, we
meet up and just kind of like you just want
(09:07):
to make a band. We thought Barto was a catfish,
so I brought be that's exactly make sure we're safe.
But but he's not a He's not a catfish. He's
more beautiful in real life. Yeah. Yeah, he's actually just
a bad I don't know if radio I'm not a catfish.
It's a bad bitch. But yeah we know. Actually, Uh,
(09:32):
I slid in too. Uh His exs d m him
being deepest and she was like, oh, yeah, we can
hang out. Can I bring my boyfriend? And I was
like yeah, And then it turns out he actually just
became my boyfriend. Uh, look where this part? This is
true story and then uh, I used to co produce
(09:52):
events with this place called Winston House. Our mutual friend
was performing, and she introduced Barto and I and at
that point, like, I've been kind of into like songwriting
for other people. His whole backgrounds producing for other people,
and uh, you know, we've all been in bands our
whole life, so when we got in there was just
this like this tangible synergy that was so hard to
(10:14):
recreate with anyone else. And from then on it is
like I mean really, it's like since that day, it's
been like every day for the last three years. We
fell in love. Yeah, yeah, just happened out of nowhere.
Definitely not expecting it, but we are because you're cold.
Weren't you initially considering being having like a solo venture
and then it just sort of became what it is now. Yeah,
(10:35):
you know. It's it's funny because like the front end
of the other band started kind of like writing his
own stuff and and and at that point, I was like,
I've spent my whole life playing guitar and bands, but
I always knew that the one I wanted to like
fully send on I would be fronting. And so at
that point I was just like, well, I'm already homeless
and broke, Like what else is there to lose, you know,
so you may as well to choose the lowest paying
(10:56):
job in America and be a songwriter. Uh did that
and started songwriting for other people. And now at that
point I was kind of like flavor testing with producers
and just like also learning how to be a songwriter
and like how to make music, you know, in a
way that is not just like I don't know there's
(11:19):
levels to it, right, Like I think that there's there
at the end of the day. There's a certain like
algorithm and math that comes with songwriting that you can
acknowledge that you can't. And like, at that point is
when I started to acknowledge it how much when your
(11:43):
songwriting is a result of what you hear in your
head versus experimentation. Just like in the moment, I think
it's like pretty fifty fifty. I think the first fifty
is usually what you hear in your head, and then
bringing that from pen to paper and then and then
from there it's usually like the rest of it is
revising it and molding it into something that is bigger
(12:03):
and better. As Bartow always says, it's like we're designing sound.
You know, we're literally designing sound waves. That is what
producing and songwriting is. So it's like really an interesting process.
But yeah, i'd say, like it's really weird when you
think about what we're doing. We're just like tweaking things
to make sound waves sound different. Like these things you
(12:26):
can't see, what you can feel and they make you
have dopamine boost in your brain and then we put
them out. That's what we do. But yeah, it's it's
I mean, it's a big experimentation, like none of us
really know what we're doing at all. Like you go
into session and like this is gonna be shitty, and
then this is really dope, you know, like this cool
thing came out of it. Or like you had this
(12:47):
throwaway idea that you thought was trash that you know, be,
I mean be had an idea that you said you
played and like when you're in high school, right for contact, Yeah,
that base risks like actually like super influenced from a
song that I wrote when I was like yeah, So
it's like ship like that where you're just like, oh wow,
I did not think this would be anything, and then
it becomes something and then you turn on a microphone
(13:08):
and you're just like all right, you try it, and
you try it, and you try and you just throw
melodies down with just gibberish and then you fill in
the blanks, you know. So there's there's no right or
wrong way to do it. But we've also recently been
tapping into like trying to write the song first before
we even produce it, and just like we call it
the camp fire test, where you just once you get
(13:30):
an idea, you're like, cool before we throw anything else,
because you can kind of get disguised. Like that's where
like a lot of modern production now is like cool,
you have a crazy beat, like the song, can you
like sit there by a campfire and sing it? You know.
So it's like I think that's that's the real key.
Does the song stand up? But the song stands up,
the production just comes easy. Well, here's a question with
(13:51):
from a very personal place. I'm somebody who's loved music
my whole life. I can play a couple of different instruments.
I have never been able to write a song in
my entire life. Just I can't do it. I don't
know if it's I'm just not tapped into that part
of the universe. I'm too inhibited. I don't know what
it is, But what would you say to someone like
me who's having a hard time sort of tapping into
that that part of themselves? Like, how do you how
(14:12):
do you start? Basically let go mushrooms a number of
times some of my dearest friends. Yeah, but Barta said, also,
just like letting go, it's like a matter of just
like the first thousand are probably gonna be terrible, but
that's like it's just like experienced through it. Like it's
(14:33):
like if you finish a song, that's the hardest thing
ever to do. Yeah, it's like it's it's this crazy
ego chapter. You're like, oh, dang, I gotta like I mean,
you just gotta not care because there's really is no
right way to do it. There's no right answer. There's
no like, oh this is good. It just does it
feel good? Cool? Have you heard baby Shark before? Yes?
(14:53):
Pay for that song sucks, but like like when you
listen to it, you're like, this song, Hey, it's awesome,
and like it's like a cultural phenomena. It's like if
I told you I read a song about baby sharks,
Like don't do it. It's the whole family of sharks
and family sharks. Also keeping that there's like four or
five parts at most usually, and like keeping that that
(15:16):
the ground you is like you know, it is this
big scary thing. It's like, oh, I have to make
words and sounds and all these things work together. But
it's like, realistically, a song usually is a composition of
four or five parts. It's like, you know, as fung
as you, they don't even have to be good parts,
just just identify those parts. My mom. I went to
visit my mom a couple of weeks ago, and I
(15:36):
was like helping her clean out like her closet. I
found this box that she had kept all my like
original songs. It was literally a binder like this thick
of just all these like songs that I had from
like early early days. And it was just like like
little like like napkins and or whatever. And I just
(15:57):
like just had a song called just the song is
called nine was just lyrics was the whole time in
different like cadences, different flows, but basically it was like
I think I wrote that it was like two or something,
but it was just like at least like little things
but she kept it. Now like actually, like I've like
it was wild to see because I'm like, oh my god,
there's like things Ukulele was a kid just like but
(16:18):
I think it's that kind. I think that he said
the first thousand we're gonna suck, and it's like look
back then, it's like, yeah, well, these songs are just
like random words thrown together. But like you evolved and
you flex that muscle. He's work out. I'm still on song.
I can write a really good thing. Yeah. What would
Malcolm Gladwall say about that six hundred? You're getting close? Wow?
(16:39):
That So it sounds like this is this has been
a part of your life making music, all of you
since you know you you were you know, learning to
walk and learning to sing around the same time, it
sounds like my dad wanted to name me Stevie Ray
or Eddie Van. That's yeah. My mom was pissed about it,
says she didn't like to happen. We're definitely bred by
(16:59):
our parents. They thank you dads. There, dads. My dad's
like not very into music at all. My dads like entrepreneurs,
very creative person. He's the most probably the most eccentric,
well he's more escentric than all of us come by,
and that's true, but like, weirdly enough, I just kind
of like I was like, yeah, music, and he was
(17:19):
supportive of That's the key. I think a lot of
kids don't have support from the parents. I think that's
the big difference. Is like the reason all of us
are in this position today is because like throughout our lives,
it was like, you know, even when b was in trouble,
he was grounded, but his punishment was he had to
play music, like that was like his things. So it
was like, you know, it all kind of flows back
(17:40):
and this thing of like where a lot of parents big, no,
hell no, you're not playing music. It doesn't make sense.
But it's like there, it's you know, it's fun. It's
it's a great life. It's like, you know, we're all depressed,
but it's awesome. I mean, yeah, to take an instrument
out of a kid's hand feels like taking a book
out of a kid's hand. It's like that seems cruel
(18:01):
to me. That's yeah. You mentioned earlier about the campfire
test versus stuff that you're doing in the studio, and
it almost sounds like the difference between you know, composing
and songwriting is a skill versus sort of making like soundscapes.
Are there any people who really influenced you as soundscapers,
Like I'm a big Brian Eno fan and Pepe Floyd,
(18:22):
I'm a big classic rock guy. Yeah, Robin Thick, Trent
Reson for me, like oh yeah, just so good at
just like creating a motion through sound, and like Hance
White his many movies stuff like it's so cool to
like listen to someone that like writes really good songs
and then writes really good compositions that make you feel
(18:42):
something without necessarily where its I was really insparted, like
Kanye West as a kid, his level of just weird
sounds and you're like, he'll put something out and then
a year or two later you'll see everyone else kind
of catching up to what he did, you know, and
it's like the his like level of sound design is
crazy or it's like, you know, that's he's a true curator.
(19:04):
You know, you can take other things. It creates is
a weird things Deptnes and um Frank Ocean for me
entirely creator earlier Tyle the Creator and Kendrick as well
a lot of rap dudes. It's funny because people always ask,
They're like, oh, like, if you could write with anyone,
or if you could get in the studio with anybody,
who would it be in Every single time I answer
like all the rap, dude. I love Baby Team, I
(19:26):
love Kendrick, I love Tyler, I love bass App. I
think they have like that. Rock has such a formula
to it, you know, and and rap does as well,
but I think there's a different nature to it in
that spirit of like that swag and that kind of
like uh. I definitely like to let influence a lot
(19:48):
of the things that we do. For sure. I love
just taking apart some of those songs, like My Beautiful,
Dark Twisted Fantasy is one of my favorite albums of
all time, And just like picking apart all the sample
and seeing where they all come from. I mean, that's
one of my favorite things to do. It just goes
I mean, for me, it helps me appreciate it more
because it's just like, oh my god, not only are
you such a fan of music that you're pulling in
(20:10):
stuff from such a wide place what we're talking about earlier,
but just the way that you assemble in such a
way that I I'm a big old vinyl nerd. I
love collecting old soul forty fives from the fifties and sixties.
I had no idea that that was that baseline from
like you know, an old Stacks track or something. It's
crazy like the high contrast of things. Yeah, I think
(20:31):
oftentimes I like a lude kind of picture. Music is
like a thing in my brain, like I can like
see like the textures of it, you know what I mean.
And I think there's this really cool thing that Kanye
is where he just like everything's really saturated and distorted,
you know. But it's like something that like like a
smooth vinyl record and then like pairing that with like
(20:52):
a really heavy hitting snare that is clipping and just
like mangled, and it's like, oh, but then it goes
back to like a quiet moment, and then allowed moment.
In a quiet moment, there's like intense dynamics and the
high contrast of stuff, and it's just like it's weirdly enough,
it's kind of like the same kind of like style
like in like like physical art, like the high contrast
(21:13):
like the pop art like Warhol was doing and like
that kind of stuff. But I kind of picture. A
lot of those like screwll X as a similar kind
of vibe, you know, like the really intense, like their
whole the whole motive beyond what they're doing is is
to distort everything. And like but like digital distortion, where
everyone was how you do not distort things digitally and
they're like, no, no, we're going to that's the whole point.
(21:35):
So it's pretty cool. It's like breaking the rules is
like rule number one. Absolutely. What was that great Warhol
piece where he took an early Xerox machine, one of
the first Xerox machines, and just zero a picture. I
think it was a chairman MAO over and over and over,
and because the technology wasn't that great, it would be
it woul almost look like silly putty. It would get
all distorted and strange. And then he would take those
(21:57):
and frame those distorted pictures and frame them and that
was his piece. And that's sounds like similar what you're
say in the distortion exactly, Like I love rules and
just like twisting things like Warhol was remixing art. He's
just bacon beats on canvas. While we're on the topic
(22:29):
of influences, I need to ask this. I am a
a big fan of Greece. I was in the play
in high school. I was vis Fontan, I have to
ask your name, give me, give me the story on
the name. I love the name so much. That was
my grandma's favorite song in Greece. And I watch that
movie probably over a hundred times. And you know, it's
(22:51):
funny because when the name came, it wasn't even like
that wasn't really the thought process. It just kind of
super weird and O c D about titling things um
and this was like still when I was like riding
alone on just like a lot of music and I
think the project. I was calling it like doom or
something completely different, and then I was opposite, Yeah, yes,
(23:14):
totally different. And so I threw Beati school drop out
in my bio on Instagram and then like I remember,
I had a cut coming out with this group highly Suspect,
and at that time I was like, oh, like should
I make this my artist name, like you know whatever,
and he's like Johnny was like no, dude, just use
your name, and I was like okay. But then we
at all met and I was like, okay, well fuck it,
(23:35):
maybe it makes sense for it to be the band's name,
and it kind of just ended up sticking just convenient.
I think we all have an attachment decrease to Like
I was down, I was dancing on my buggy and
my diaper, seeing Kogaris flighting and like swinging the shirt
like there's been I never talked about it, but like that.
I was literally obsessed with this movie too when I
was a kid, like I was like four years old.
(23:57):
You never told me about that. I know because it's
I like you have your moment where you're like your
sweet grandma moment, Like I wish I knew this, but yeah,
one of these videos that I'll get them please do well?
Is it as a music video? That would be that's
a great TikTok. I remember, like I was a kid,
my little sister was in Greece and I went to
(24:19):
see the play. I remember asking my mom, like what
is Beauties will Drop Out? And and she was like, oh,
it's like when you failed out of everything you like.
And I'm like, well, I'm like I'm like damn, Like
that's hard but it's weird. But like I distinctly remember,
like of the entire play, I don't remember the play.
(24:41):
I just remember like that asking my mom that it's
weird like for all these years, and I'm like, and
then this band called Beauty Will drop Out and I
was like, wo manifested it, Yeah, failing out of everything
former band. The meaning behind it, I think was very
tongue in cheek with like I used to make these
magazines for I had a project. I called it Death Cells,
(25:02):
and like the slogan of it was Vanity Kills Death Cells.
And I've always been very drawn to the idea of like,
just as a society, obviously we we kind of have
uh this nature of like sheepishly going for things with
vanity and than you know, just being our full authentic
self because obviously every human has our ego attached to
(25:22):
everything we do, and so um, I think like in large,
that statement of Beauty School dropout was like the prettiest
way of saying something synonymous to that idea of like, hey,
it's okay to detach from those things and those feelings
and to just like completely be yourself and feel safe
in your skin. I feel like you gotta get like
(25:43):
an album blurb from Frankie Frankie Avalon or something. Though,
I feel like that you got to bring a full
circle with them. We also it's a nice like identify
how big we are because when you type and drop
out a minute, you don't see Frankie Avalon anymore. We
know we've made didn't We're hopefully rich at that point,
hopefully we can ye once the top Google. God, that'd
(26:05):
be fun. Beauty school dropout is just such an amazing phrase.
And you've described your sound as I love this so
much renegade pop. I just think that's that's the coolest phrase.
I I want to ask you, Uh, who are some
people in the past who maybe had a renegade pop
sound and didn't know it? Or or are you the
first or there are no others? Nirvana, Alice and Chains
(26:31):
Justin Bieber. Yeah, I'm just kidding. Actually, the later on
at his career, I was gonna say, I think it's
like it's this kind of thing of I bring the
right now, but they're doing they will. I think it's
kind of this thing of like it's pop but you
don't know it is. And I think that's what like
Nirvana crushed. They were just writing pop songs but just
(26:52):
made it heavy. Like we always go into sessions We're
just's like we literally will say like assassin them while
it's coming out tomorrow or the or the it out.
I don't know if when we're doing this interview timeline
for those you can cut this, but um Assassin the
single Assassin is like when we were writing it, we
were literally like, how can we write a biber song
but just make it as heavy as like bring me
(27:14):
or something? And I think we kind of we did that.
That was the goal. So, I mean, I'm sure you've
been asked is a bunch of times, but I'm so fascinated.
What was it like to start a band in the
middle of a global pandemic. I mean, on one hand,
I imagine there must be all sorts of logistical nightmares
that go along with that. But in another, was it
(27:35):
almost nice for for lack of a better term, in
incubation period, Like I read that you you went up
to a warehouse space for like a week and had
you know, like a like a lock in and kind
of started to learn to jail. Was it one of
the pros and cons of sort of starting out in
the middle of all this A lot of learning went
down through the pandemic. It's like the worst thing we
(27:56):
possibly could have done, but in spirit probably like the
coolest thing we could have done, just because I mean,
imagine being a band, right where sevent of your career
is like playing shows, meeting people, congregating, doing all these things,
and then having to basically try and create a platform
for yourself where your only leg up it's like digital
(28:16):
platform and digital footprint. Um. So it was it definitely
led to like a very heavy incubation period. You know,
at the time when COVID started, we had already been
in the studio just about every day for like six
months cataloging, and so that didn't really change like like
in fact, i'd say most of the bigger changes to
the band that were made were like almost in the
second half of COVID when we really started thinking like okay,
(28:40):
things could open up and like this is what it
could lead to. You know, how do we tackle it?
You know, this is a bigger project than just the music.
This is like the business, the operation or web fee stuff,
like so many different ventures under one umbrella. Um. And
that's when I think it allowed us the time in
space to realize like, oh, this is much more than
just like a couple of dude, just playing music and like,
(29:01):
this is what we need in order to achieve the
goals that we're going for. You mentioned the digital footprint,
and there's been a lot of talk on the on
the internet lately about artists and their relationship to TikTok.
For diplomatic reasons, that's all I'll say about that. I
was wondering about your thoughts about TikTok and the how
it relates to the creative process of making music and
(29:24):
how it's what it's been changing the industry. Love hate
for sure. It's it's one of those things that only
comes along once in a blue moon and it's like
a crazy, crazy, crazy discovery tool. Um. But it's also
a complete disruptor of the entire market, and it's like
it's democratized everything. It's it's made it so you know,
a girl in her bedroom who's writing songs that in
(29:47):
Alabama that doesn't even think of being in the music
industry can all of a sudden pop off and okay,
cool and maybe now I can start something here and
it gets the ball rolling. But it's like that's unheard of,
Like that wasn't a thing twen years a don't you
know and that was the thing five years ago. So
it's like that's a crazy, crazy powerful tool. But it's
(30:08):
also this intense like pressure that it puts on a
lot of artists that's like, oh, if you're not doing it,
you're you're going to fail. And it's like my frustration
with it is that I feel like there's a lot
it's like people put an emphasis on TikTok like it's
the only thing, you know, it's like the only thing
to do. It's like, oh, you make music, well you
(30:29):
should make a TikTok, and it's like, well, okay. I
think I think the greater issue is like the mechanics
of it, right, because it's like you now have this
thing where I mean, I'm sure as you've seen like
Halsey speaking up on it a lot, is the the
idea that like most of these labels are declining releases
based on whether or not they can like peak on
(30:51):
a trend. And I think that's a little bit. It's
it's made it easy for the labels to say no, yeah,
it's like, oh, if you're not trending, great, we're not
going to do ship for you. But at the end
of the day, it's like at like you still got
to promote your music. You know, if TikTok dign exists,
it's like kids would still be bitching about the fact
that they have to go down to motows and fly
out their posters. You know. It's like there's always going
(31:12):
to be something to complain about. So it's like it's
like the end of the day, it's just an opportunity
to promote your music and like it's reach to new
audiences and that's one you can do from your bedroom. Yeah, exactly.
I think I think the key is like turning into
something fun and turning into like turning into something like
isn't a chore, you know, I mean, and finding your thing.
(31:32):
It's like your thing is going to be different than
the other person's thing, and the reason their thing worked
is because they're the one doing it. So it's like
your sauce is different inevitably because it's you. So it's
like finding what works for you and and connecting with
your audience. I think that's that's the real takeaway. I
think that's something we've been trying to happen too, is
like we're on TikTok with do your Thing, and like
we've you know figured out a long time. It took
(31:54):
us like what are we even doing on here? Like
this is ridiculous. But then what we realize, like, oh,
people really like these covers were making we're making during
the quarantine. We're like remixing these. Basically we're taking like
Drake songs and turning in into rock songs and or
like other popular songs and like flipping them into these
other things. And and people were like, oh, this is
(32:15):
really cool, and we're filming it in our living room
us like playing it and stuff like that, and that
caught on to a lot of people. And then now
it's just kind of like keeping keep we're feeding the
beast and like you know, to our audience and it's
like this is this weird thing, but it's like it's
not going anywhere, and it does mean another thing, and
it's like I'm very grateful for it, but I get frustrated.
But I've also been like realizing as you grow, there's
(32:38):
more things. There's other things than TikTok, like this, this
podcast is what we're doing, Like this is valuable interviews
and interviews, meeting fans, like you can't take away shows
like shows are still how this whole thing works. And
I think that's something that a lot of labels and
TikTok artists are realizing now because they had songs pop
(32:59):
off on TikTok during the quarantine and shows come around,
they're like, cool, I'm gonna play the show and there's
like four people there and they're like, oh damn, this
is way harder than I Like, that's you can't. You
can't do that, you know what I mean, unless you're
doing something that the audience connects with. And I really
didn't know the day None of this ship matters unless
you have a community. That's our day one, we've been like,
(33:19):
a thousand fans is far more important than a million
of streams. I don't give it. I don't give a
ship about streams because they're paying us like point two cents. Sorry,
yeah you believe at all. It's okay, it's a good
but yeah, it's like it's it's way more, way more
entertaining to have an audience that cares about what you're
doing and it's like believes in what you're doing. And
(33:41):
that's that's what we've done with the dropouts. We have
this audience that like, we love our family, so that's
where we're gonna keep doing. Hell yeah, that's a beautiful message.
Like what do you have coming up next? I mean,
is there a a release date for an impending album
on the horizon. We got Assassin's coming out the day
of this podcast drops, so can we talk about it.
(34:04):
We can't give you dates yet. We do have uh
an EP in the works. It's you know, album EP,
whatever you want to call it, a project of multiple
songs coming out later this summer before we go to
a festival we're playing that. We also are yet to announce,
and but we will be. We will be going to
(34:26):
the UK in August, so make of that. Oh yeah,
we got we got a lot of music coming out
really soon. It's been actually so relieving to be not
only signed obviously, but like to get signed and then
to have that same sense of urgency of like, Okay,
we need to roll out and we need to be consistent,
(34:46):
and we're gonna put it out now. Like I can
tell you how um hard it is to put music
out and have a song be coming out by the
time you already are like over it? Where is no Assassin?
We less than like three months ago and we're still
stoked on it. So it's such a cool feeling to
have music that you're like genuinely excited about and super
(35:07):
proud of coming out like while you're still super excited
and proud of it. Oh, that is awesome. I can't
wait to hear what you have in the pipes. I
can't wait to see out there. Here's cool drop up.
Thank you so much for your time and Dani, your
music has was such a pleasure. Thank you so much.
You We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio,
(35:31):
a production of I Heart Radio. For more episodes of
Inside the Studio or other fantastic shows, check out the
I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
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