August 8, 2025 • 28 mins
On this episode of Takin’ a Walk, host Buzz Knight chats with genre-blending artist Quinn XCII, diving deep into his personal journey, musical evolution, and the importance of mental wellness. From early success to maintaining authenticity in the spotlight, Quinn XCII opens up about how he finds balance through creativity, self-reflection, and staying grounded. Whether you’re a longtime listener or new to his sound, this conversation offers insight, inspiration, and a few laughs along the way.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
My dad, I would say, is the closest to what
I got this from, because he's a he's a good
karaoke singer, but he needs about seven crown royal and
waters and him to get going. So I joke and
say that that was where I got my singing abilities from.
But who knows.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Step into the rhythm of a story. It spans campus
dorm rooms, platinum records, and soul searching adventures. On today's
episode of Taking a Walk on buzz Night, joined by
Quinn ninety two, an artist who has turned amazing lyrics,
genre defying sounds into an anthem for a generation in motion.
(00:41):
He's got a seventh album out called Look I'm Alive.
We'll find out about the inspiration for it and more
with Quinn ninety two coming up next. After a few
words from our sponsors, Taking a Walk, Quinn, it's a
pleasure to have you on. Take it a walk, my friend.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Thanks man, it's a zonre to be here, Thanks Buzzy.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So we asked this question to kind of open things
up since we call this this little podcast Taking a Walk,
Quinn ninety two, is there somebody you would like to
take a walk with? Living or dead, and who might
that be.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
That has such a good question. And to preface this,
I was expecting us to be walking today on the
sidewalk talking, so I'm glad we're not, because buzz I
told you off the air. I'm in New York right now.
It's about one hundred degrees or something, so this is
much more comfortable to be speaking to you in some
ac So I have two answers, and they're very at
the end of the spectrum. Here on the other sides
(01:51):
of the spectrum, I should say, there's my daughter, who
is nineteen months old, who just started walking not long ago.
She's very fun to walk with. There's not much conversation,
and she's wanting to run up everyone's driveway and she's
very invasive, so it's a bit of a it's a
bit of a hectic walk, but it's beautiful nonetheless. And
(02:11):
then on the opposite end of the spectrum is Bill Murray,
who I've been a fan of four years. I even
got him tattooed on my arm here, and he's I
don't know, I've just heard so many stories about him
and seems like a guy who's got some really good
I don't know, it just a good conversation to have
with And yeah, Bill's probably I would I would probably
(02:33):
have to give him the nudge over my daughter.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
It's so funny that you mentioned Bill Murray. Have you
ever met him?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
By the way, No, I've never met him. I'm hoping
to one day stumble. I've got a book of his
where it's all about It's called The tal of Bill Murray,
and it's about Bill Murray showing up to people's parties
or work events or just kind of interrupting their lives
spontaneous and he doesn't say anything. He just wants to
(03:02):
fit in. And he's just like a He's just like
a fly in the wall. So I'm hoping that will
happen to me someday. I'm not I'm not. I'm not
banking on it, but maybe that's my only chance of
beating him.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Well, you never know, especially that you're in New York City.
The hysterical thing about it is, I was just looking
at my dopey to do list for the day and
on the list is Bill m which which is Bill Murray.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
In that.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I'm I'm putting together a special celebration episode for this
place in New York City at the Carlisle Hotel that
is called Bemelman's Bar. It's it's a legendary spot on
the Upper East Side. And back in December, Bill did
(03:54):
a famous drop by.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I know I so, I think, not to interrupt you,
he filmed the Christmas Special, and I think he shot
it at this bar. I watched it. I think it's
the same place.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
It's a tremendous place. If you get a chance to
pop up there, there's usually a trio performing. And I
guarantee you, whether Bill's there or not, if you're in
a mediocre mood and you go up there, you're going
to leave there in a great mood because it's very
old school New York. But I'm trying to get Bill
to do something to contribute to that upcoming episode that
(04:28):
I'm working on. So it's a pretty pretty funny that
we're channeling Bill Murray.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, I think it's the stars are aligning. I think
Bill's going to have to hear this at some point.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
You never know, as they say, right, So, Quinn, take
me back to the earliest memories of music for you
growing up in Michigan.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, I grew up just outside Detroit, which, as most
know is very have influenced by the early motown scene
that was there in the fifties and sixties, and my
parents just played that constantly around the house when I
was growing up, with house parties and I don't know,
(05:15):
doing the dishes. It was. It seemed to be always
in the background of my life as a kid, and
I just got naturally infatuated, I think, with that music
and catchy pop records, which then led me to discovering
guys like Michael Jackson and even later in life, Sam
Cook and more just you know, really prolific songwriters and entertainers.
(05:40):
And I just I loved music from an early age
because it was sort of forced, not forced upon me,
but it was. It was a part of my environment
since day one. So I can't remember. I can't really
remember life without music. Honestly, It's always just been around.
But ironically, none of my family are musicians. They don't
really have a musical bone and they're in their body.
(06:03):
My dad, I would say, is the closest to what
I got this from, because he's a he's a good
karaoke singer, but he needs about seven crown royal and
waters and him to get going. So I joke and
say that that was that was where I got my
singing abilities from. But who knows. But yeah, to answer
your question, like, it's it's just been something that I've
(06:25):
been around for a while. And then later in life
I got into writing. Like I took a lot of
creative writing classes in school, wrote a lot of short stories,
and so I loved writing also, And then one day
it dawned on me. I was like, why don't I
just fuse these two things I love together and try
writing something. And so in high school I wrote this
(06:47):
little rap song that was not great, but I fell
in love with the process of songwriting right then. I
just there's something about telling my stories over a a
beat or drums or a guitar or something and watching
that turn into something brand new was so cool as
(07:09):
a kid to see, like this thing that you just
created from scratch. And I guess the rest is history.
I just I got the bug, and here I am
now fifteen whatever twenty years later.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
So yeah, it's fantastic, and we're gonna trace your evolution
here right up to the seventh album, the new one,
Look I'm Alive. It's fascinating. What's going on with you.
You made reference to your daughter, So we're going to
sort of get inside your head a little bit on
the creation of the great new music for sure. But
(07:42):
speaking of children childhood, if you could describe your childhood
and one song, what would it be.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
A song of mine or just a song in johneral.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Wrong in general? A couple of years too.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I love that question. I'm not gonna do mine. That
would sound that would that would feel weird. I'll pick
something else, something that someone else has made. I would say, jeez,
that's a good question. I love the song Sunday Morning
by Maroon five. And even though that song I'm pretty
sure is about a woman and it's about a relationship,
(08:22):
there's something about I think the title and every time
I hear that song, it brings me back to the
early days of by I mean I even though I
heard that like in middle school, there's something about Sundays
and easy living and uh, slow paced life that was
(08:43):
living in Michigan. I think that song represents that in
a weird way for me. And yeah, my life was
very just classic suburbia, you know, go to school, come back,
blue collar working town and people just kind of I
don't know, just just stuck to their community and didn't
(09:03):
didn't need anything much outside of what they had, And
I think that's a really refreshing thing to remember for
me now as I live in a place like Los
Angeles where it seems like everyone just wants more and more.
So Yeah, Sunday Morning by Marion five is probably that's
probably not the best answer I could give you, but
it's it's the answer I'll give you for now. If
you ask me tomorrow, I might give you a better one.
(09:24):
But yeah, I'll say that.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
It's a good one. And I like the notion of
Sundays and easy living, and it seems often in the
way the world is that's a forgotten trade about the
way people live. Sunday is supposed to be a day
of rest and everything, So I like the answer for sure.
We'll be back with more of the Taking a Walk
(09:47):
podcast in a bit now. If you're looking for a
rock and roll oriented podcast, we invite you to check
out The Imbalanced History of rock and Roll. The History's fascinating.
There's so much to uncover the imbalanced history of rock
and roll explorers, moments in time, albums, songs, events, and
people who had an impact on the history of rock
(10:07):
and roll. They keep rock and roll fun, the imbalanced
history of rock and roll. Find it wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Welcome back to the Taking a Walk podcast.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
I'm going back to Michigan. How deeply did it impact
you when you went to your first Coney Island?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Oh my gosh, Now we're getting into the heavy hitting stuff. Yes,
mister Mustard, Yeah yeah, yeah, okay, I I mean, have
you buzz I'll ask you this first. Have you been
to conye Allen?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Many times. I spent a lot of time the company
I worked for owned and I was part of managing
a bunch of radio stations up that way, wri IF
and w CSX, and so I spent many a day
in the mean streets of Birmingham, Michigan.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Oh oh yeah, oh yeah, well okay, so you get
it though. Yeah, I've I've colle al and for listeners
that I have no idea what we're talking about. Is
this this amazing I'll call it a diner, but it's
just this great American old school restaurant in Detroit. The
(11:29):
the sort of like champion restaurant is Lafayette Cone, which
is in Detroit, which is the first one, and they
basically only sell chili dogs, hot dogs, hamburgers. That's I
think that's about it. And if you mess your order up,
you're just gonna get what they give you. So it's
a real old school kind of joint. And uh yeah,
so buzz yes. When I that is speaking of childhood,
(11:50):
Like you asked me what song reminds me of my childhood?
What food is? It's cone al and that is basically
all I remember doing, and especially in the summertime, like
driving up on my bike with my friends with some
cash in my pocket and getting a two dollars hot
dog and just sitting there and you know, feeling like
a king.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
It was.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
It's it's still to this day like my favorite food
and always brings me back to just I don't know,
like like we were saying, the early days of easy living,
but it changed my life for sure, and that's all
I think. That's also where I found my love for mustard,
which I'm sure we'll get into soon, but I left
that restaurant many times with mostard stains all over my
(12:32):
T shirt, which my mom was not happy with.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I mean, mandatory when you go to a Coney Island
for that to happen. I mean, if it didn't happen.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
How else are you gonna prove that you were there?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
You know?
Speaker 3 (12:45):
I know, I know, now, what was the town that
you grew up in? There in the suburbs cities.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
The city is called gross Point and it's about It's
actually there's a there's a film called gross Point Blank
with John Tusack that came out and I think it
was the nineties, maybe the late eighties, but I think
it was the nineties, and it's all shot in gross Points,
so people might recognize the name of that town. But yeah,
(13:10):
it's about. Uh, it's a really interesting place to grow
up because it's definitely, like I said, it's it's blue collar,
but it's got everything. It's got like a very wealthy
part of it. It's got a middle class and it's
got a lower class. And then about five minutes away
is Detroit and you're in a completely different atmosphere. So
I really grew up seeing both sides of the coin
(13:31):
of like life in general, seeing really insane poverty to
the wealthiest of the wealthy, it seemed like, and everywhere
in between. So yeah, I kind of even though Michigan
is not necessarily the most diverse and uh old short culture.
I would say like place in the world. I feel
like I definitely got to see a lot of life
(13:54):
in where I grew up, just based on being on
the border of Detroit. It was pretty fascinating.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I love the movie The gross Point movie your referenced,
and I love gross Point. And as someone who grew
up there, you know, as you did in the Detroit area,
I mean people who are from there, they absolutely you know,
they live and die by being from that area. Being
from Michigan's it's a special place and I have many,
(14:22):
you know, fond memories from my time being spent there.
You know, your sound over the years, it blends hop,
it blends hip hop, reggae, electronic, many different influences. How
did you sort of cook up this incredible unique style.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, I don't. I don't think it was much of
me cooking it up. Honestly. I think it was like
we kind of were touching on earlier. It was the
early days of just being fed music from my parents
to my I don't know what was around me, and
so like I said that that motown to then growing
(15:06):
up and finding my own tastes. Like Jack Johnson and
Bob Marley and Third Eye Blind and uh it Cutty, Uh,
just a real mix of genres. Yeah, it was, Uh,
it was. I don't think I was doing it deliberately,
(15:28):
like making it be like, Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna
compile all these people I love and then someday I'm
gonna be this hardist and it's going to be a
blend of all of them. It was never that. It
was just I truly am just. I think I just
am a very passionate fan of music, and I'm unbiased
to do music. As long as it sounds good, I'll
(15:48):
listen to it. So I think when it came time
to make my own stuff, the songs I was writing
was just the byproduct of that sort of approach to music,
which was non just grematory and like just accepting of
what sounded good. And so when I started writing my
own stuff, naturally, I think what came out was this
(16:09):
mix and like you said, sort of like sort of
like a melting pot of all these things that I
grew up liking and all these tastes that I had acquired.
So yeah, I don't know if that answered your question.
I don't really know how it happened. It's just life
kind of took its form, and yeah, I just I
once I started writing my own stuff, it was just
I was like, yeah, all of that, all those resources
(16:31):
sort of came out and spilled onto the page. I
guess you could say.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Well, we're sponges and about some things we love, and
obviously we love music. So there's so many things that
are inputed that make us feel good. Maybe don't make
us feel good all the time, but maybe at moments
that we're not feeling good, we need that and they
take us through mental challenges, physical personal challenges, and that's
(17:00):
certainly has traced your work now as here we are
at this moment with the look I'm alive and congratulations
on it, and the the excitement that you have and
the gratitude that you have with relation to where your
life is with your new child, and how it makes
you look at the world differently. Talk about that when
(17:21):
it comes to either the song Olive Tree or or
certainly Yellow Brick Road and the rest of the album.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, I think I think having a child in your
life now, especially a daughter, I mean, it's it's something
that just softens you as a as a man, and
I think it's it would be naive of me too,
and and I don't know, just uh, it would feel
(17:52):
weird if I didn't write music about her, because it
is such it is. It is the biggest part of
my life now. And a lot of my music up
to this point was about past relationships that I've had,
failed failed girlfriends and me getting dumped and yeah, that's
all good and grand, but like it kind of got
to the point where, you know, now I'm a father
(18:14):
and a husband, and I had to kind of look
at myself in the mirror at some point and be like,
am I gonna start talking about what's actually currently happening
in my life? Or am I going to always be
looking sort of in the rear view mirror and touching
on these memories that I'm pretty much over with. I'm not.
I'm there. They don't bother me anymore. But I was
always scared to talk about my personal family life because
(18:35):
I wasn't sure if people would find it interesting. So
to touch on this new record, yeah, it's just that
you'll hear it in the album. Look I'm Alive. It's
really just about gratitude and being thankful for where I'm
at and celebrating the mundane moments of life that I
think we often look over and think are boring and
(18:58):
aren't worth writing songs about. One of the taglines of
the album, it's not even a lyric in the album,
but we've kind of championed it as a slogan. I
guess you could say for the album is that every
moment's worth singing about. And I love that because I
think I think that is the secret to life. And
maybe it is, maybe it's not, but in my opinion,
I think if you can if you can cherish every
(19:20):
inch of this experience and not try and race to
the next one, life becomes more enjoyable and you're you're
not seeking for the next thing. And that's really what
I've tried to do with this album is just celebrate
the here and now and every little thing that comes
with it. So my daughter was a huge inspiration for
(19:42):
that direction. And yeah, I don't know, it feels good
to talk about stuff that's just normal. You know, it's weird,
but it's but it's liberating in a way, you know.
I felt like I didn't have to come up with
a crazy story or a pull out the worst memory
I've had from my girlfriend dumping me in high school,
you know, to make a good song. It feels good
(20:02):
that I can still write good music about these mundane, normal,
quote unquote parts of life.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Well, it is a long trip from creating straight jacket
to creating yellow brick Road. You must admit, right, absolutely, yeah, yeah,
And I'm flashing on as you open the podcast too.
The beauty of it, just that simplicity of taking a
walk with your daughter and the wild eyed enthusiasm that
(20:34):
you know she has for the world and that it
reawakens your enthusiasm about the world is also and the
creative process is also so exciting totally.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I mean seeing you nailed it, seeing her and just
seeing children in general, the way they look at life.
It's like, right now, like I was saying to you, Buzz,
I'm in New York and I'm staring at my hotel
window and there's a shadow on this wall. Are this
hotel across the street from me? And yeah, it looks
cool whatever, you know, But a kid would look at
(21:06):
this and be like, oh my god, like that, what
is that? And why does it look that way? And
why is the sun hitting it? And the way I
look at my daughter walking down the street. That's how
she looks at life, and it's inspiring. You know, It's like,
why can't we as adults look at the world that
way too? And you're you're totally right looking at them
(21:26):
look at life invigorates you and inspires you to live
a certain way. So that's that's what I try to
do it with this album. And I'm sure I could
do at a better job of it, but it's it's
a daily practice, and you know, taking baby steps. I
guess to do my part in that.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
I love that baby steps. That's a perfect way to
look at it really when you think of when you
think about it. But if your daughter's listening to this
right now, what's your daughter's name?
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Her name is Florence.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Florence. What cover your ears for a second. Florence. So okay,
thanks Florence. So Quinn, though, I must tell you, enjoy
these moments because they're so special, because when the first
eye roll comes out of Florence, then you're gonna see
life changing even further.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Oh trust me, trust me, I'm already dreading that moment. Yeah,
I've got I've got some friends who have daughters that
are a little older than her, and not even they're
not even teenagers. They're only like, you know, six or seven,
and they're already they're saying, oh, like, just hold on
to these precious moments while she still wants you to
pick her up in a hugger, you know, because they're fleeting,
(22:33):
you know, so you know, cherish them while they're here.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Does she like music at this point?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Honestly, she does. And I'm not just saying that because
it's what I do for work and stuff, and you know,
we play it. It's funny, just like my parents play
music around the house. My wife and I we play
it around the house all the time because my wife
also grew up with her parents playing music around the house.
So it's funny. We both sort of grew up in
these households that just wanted background music, I guess, to
(23:02):
fill in the silence, I suppose. But now we've we've
sort of adopted that with our mornings in our days
living out in la with with Florence, and like she
loves she loves music. I mean she's not singing or anything,
but you can see she's bouncing around. We play jazz
lives and she loves jazz, So I'm hoping I'm like
(23:25):
molding a little jazz artist right now. But we'll see
what happens. But I think it'd be cool because I
have no musical chops or like, uh, technical abilities or
I'm not classically trained in anything. So I think it'd
be cool to see one of my kids sort of
go down that route and be like a real proper
musician and outshine their dad. But yeah, so, but she
(23:45):
loves me. I think I will say I think she
likes music. But from all the signs I've got, she's
definitely bouncing around, so there's something in there that is
resonating with her.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Oh, I think it's primal. I'm sure she does. You
know that there's a beat that's going on and her
head or that she's kind of envisioning. Absolutely, So it's
so wonderful. I want to talk collaborations in your career.
You've worked with folks like Logic and Chelsea Cutler and
sure I'm leaving someone out. Are there other collaborations that
(24:17):
you kind of look into the future and think, man,
that would be really cool.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah. I mean, I have like a it's like a
Christmas wish list of artists i'd like to work with someday.
But it's funny, you know, I've got I'm getting more
to a point of not getting so hung up on
if those moments happen or not, and just if anything.
(24:43):
Like we said, that word gratitude is coming up again,
being grateful for the people I have worked with. I
feel like I've worked with a lot of different and
amazing artists spanning a lot of different genres, and I'm
pretty content with where I am as far as the
list of people I've got to work with. But yeah,
sure there's a bunch I'm still hopefully able to collaborate
(25:06):
with someday. But it's nice getting to a point in
life where you're not so hung up on those things
happening or not. And like I said, that's just where
I'm at right now. Who knows. Next year, maybe I'll
be hungry for a specific thing to happen. But I'm
just riding the way right now, I guess, so to speak,
and just grateful that I've got the people I've worked
(25:27):
with under my belt. Speaking of collaborators, there's a band
that's on this album called Dispatch, which I've listened to
for I don't know as long as I can remember.
They were like the soundtrack to my early years, and
they've been around since the late nineties early two thousands.
That was really surreal to get them on one of
the songs for the album, which is called Look, I'm Sorry,
Live and let Go and Yes, talk about just like
(25:50):
a three sixty moment of just hearing someone you've listened
to your whole life and then hearing them on a
song that you wrote is pretty surreal. So yeah, shout
out to those guys. That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yeah, I'm very familiar with them living outside of Boston
and their whole legacy and everything and amazing fan base
for sure. And closing, what is the strangest food group
that you've added? Mustard too?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yeah, this is the way to end the commerce, I think.
I mean, I'm serious, buzz when I tell you I
I I put it on I don't. I don't. I
shouldn't say I deliberately put it on everything. But I've
tried it with nearly everything you could think of. I've
tried it on pasta before, which I'm sure people are
(26:39):
just throwing up right now in their mouths. But that
was that was surprisingly not that bad. I'll admit it's
not great on everything, but I think I've loved it
so much that I've I've just given it a rite
of passage that it could taste good on it on anything.
And I'm also making my own mustard, so just as
a self a selfish plug. Right now, please, there's a
(27:01):
mustard I'm making. Well, it's actually the second flavor we've made.
But it's called Mustard Mics because the nickname I had
growing up was Mustard mic. My real name's Mike, and
you can find it at mustard mics dot com. But
it's something I'm I mean, I'm really not joking, like,
I love mustard so much to the point that we're
now making it and I think it's unbiasedly very good.
(27:21):
We'll have to send you a bottle sometime if I
don't know if you're a mustard guy or not. But
it's it's something that is perfect for the summertime on
a hot dog, hamburger or whatever I like to cook
with it. I put it in like tuna, salads in
marinatea and chicken and it's great. So yeah, I'm all
things mustard. That's my next big endeavor in life outside
(27:42):
of music.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
When I love Mustard, I'm all things Mustard as well to.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Make sure to get you buy.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I think it's fantastic. Congratulations on your family, Florence, your
daughter and your new music look I'm Alive and Quinn
ninety two. It's such an honored talking to you man. Congrats,
Thank you man.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Likewise, thank you so much for shied it.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
My dad, I would say, is the closest to what
I got this from, because he's a he's a good
karaoke singer, but he needs about seven crown royal and
waters and him to get going. So I joke and
say that that was where I got my singing abilities from.
But who knows.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Step into the rhythm of a story. It spans campus
dorm rooms, platinum records, and soul searching adventures. On today's
episode of Taking a Walk on buzz Night, joined by
Quinn ninety two, an artist who has turned amazing lyrics,
genre defying sounds into an anthem for a generation in motion.
(00:41):
He's got a seventh album out called Look I'm Alive.
We'll find out about the inspiration for it and more
with Quinn ninety two coming up next. After a few
words from our sponsors, Taking a Walk, Quinn, it's a
pleasure to have you on. Take it a walk, my friend.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Thanks man, it's a zonre to be here, Thanks Buzzy.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So we asked this question to kind of open things
up since we call this this little podcast Taking a Walk,
Quinn ninety two, is there somebody you would like to
take a walk with? Living or dead, and who might
that be.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
That has such a good question. And to preface this,
I was expecting us to be walking today on the
sidewalk talking, so I'm glad we're not, because buzz I
told you off the air. I'm in New York right now.
It's about one hundred degrees or something, so this is
much more comfortable to be speaking to you in some
ac So I have two answers, and they're very at
the end of the spectrum. Here on the other sides
(01:51):
of the spectrum, I should say, there's my daughter, who
is nineteen months old, who just started walking not long ago.
She's very fun to walk with. There's not much conversation,
and she's wanting to run up everyone's driveway and she's
very invasive, so it's a bit of a it's a
bit of a hectic walk, but it's beautiful nonetheless. And
(02:11):
then on the opposite end of the spectrum is Bill Murray,
who I've been a fan of four years. I even
got him tattooed on my arm here, and he's I
don't know, I've just heard so many stories about him
and seems like a guy who's got some really good
I don't know, it just a good conversation to have
with And yeah, Bill's probably I would I would probably
(02:33):
have to give him the nudge over my daughter.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
It's so funny that you mentioned Bill Murray. Have you
ever met him?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
By the way, No, I've never met him. I'm hoping
to one day stumble. I've got a book of his
where it's all about It's called The tal of Bill Murray,
and it's about Bill Murray showing up to people's parties
or work events or just kind of interrupting their lives
spontaneous and he doesn't say anything. He just wants to
(03:02):
fit in. And he's just like a He's just like
a fly in the wall. So I'm hoping that will
happen to me someday. I'm not I'm not. I'm not
banking on it, but maybe that's my only chance of
beating him.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Well, you never know, especially that you're in New York City.
The hysterical thing about it is, I was just looking
at my dopey to do list for the day and
on the list is Bill m which which is Bill Murray.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
In that.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I'm I'm putting together a special celebration episode for this
place in New York City at the Carlisle Hotel that
is called Bemelman's Bar. It's it's a legendary spot on
the Upper East Side. And back in December, Bill did
(03:54):
a famous drop by.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I know I so, I think, not to interrupt you,
he filmed the Christmas Special, and I think he shot
it at this bar. I watched it. I think it's
the same place.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
It's a tremendous place. If you get a chance to
pop up there, there's usually a trio performing. And I
guarantee you, whether Bill's there or not, if you're in
a mediocre mood and you go up there, you're going
to leave there in a great mood because it's very
old school New York. But I'm trying to get Bill
to do something to contribute to that upcoming episode that
(04:28):
I'm working on. So it's a pretty pretty funny that
we're channeling Bill Murray.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, I think it's the stars are aligning. I think
Bill's going to have to hear this at some point.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
You never know, as they say, right, So, Quinn, take
me back to the earliest memories of music for you
growing up in Michigan.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, I grew up just outside Detroit, which, as most
know is very have influenced by the early motown scene
that was there in the fifties and sixties, and my
parents just played that constantly around the house when I
was growing up, with house parties and I don't know,
(05:15):
doing the dishes. It was. It seemed to be always
in the background of my life as a kid, and
I just got naturally infatuated, I think, with that music
and catchy pop records, which then led me to discovering
guys like Michael Jackson and even later in life, Sam
Cook and more just you know, really prolific songwriters and entertainers.
(05:40):
And I just I loved music from an early age
because it was sort of forced, not forced upon me,
but it was. It was a part of my environment
since day one. So I can't remember. I can't really
remember life without music. Honestly, It's always just been around.
But ironically, none of my family are musicians. They don't
really have a musical bone and they're in their body.
(06:03):
My dad, I would say, is the closest to what
I got this from, because he's a he's a good
karaoke singer, but he needs about seven crown royal and
waters and him to get going. So I joke and
say that that was that was where I got my
singing abilities from. But who knows. But yeah, to answer
your question, like, it's it's just been something that I've
(06:25):
been around for a while. And then later in life
I got into writing. Like I took a lot of
creative writing classes in school, wrote a lot of short stories,
and so I loved writing also, And then one day
it dawned on me. I was like, why don't I
just fuse these two things I love together and try
writing something. And so in high school I wrote this
(06:47):
little rap song that was not great, but I fell
in love with the process of songwriting right then. I
just there's something about telling my stories over a a
beat or drums or a guitar or something and watching
that turn into something brand new was so cool as
(07:09):
a kid to see, like this thing that you just
created from scratch. And I guess the rest is history.
I just I got the bug, and here I am
now fifteen whatever twenty years later.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
So yeah, it's fantastic, and we're gonna trace your evolution
here right up to the seventh album, the new one,
Look I'm Alive. It's fascinating. What's going on with you.
You made reference to your daughter, So we're going to
sort of get inside your head a little bit on
the creation of the great new music for sure. But
(07:42):
speaking of children childhood, if you could describe your childhood
and one song, what would it be.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
A song of mine or just a song in johneral.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Wrong in general? A couple of years too.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I love that question. I'm not gonna do mine. That
would sound that would that would feel weird. I'll pick
something else, something that someone else has made. I would say, jeez,
that's a good question. I love the song Sunday Morning
by Maroon five. And even though that song I'm pretty
sure is about a woman and it's about a relationship,
(08:22):
there's something about I think the title and every time
I hear that song, it brings me back to the
early days of by I mean I even though I
heard that like in middle school, there's something about Sundays
and easy living and uh, slow paced life that was
(08:43):
living in Michigan. I think that song represents that in
a weird way for me. And yeah, my life was
very just classic suburbia, you know, go to school, come back,
blue collar working town and people just kind of I
don't know, just just stuck to their community and didn't
(09:03):
didn't need anything much outside of what they had, And
I think that's a really refreshing thing to remember for
me now as I live in a place like Los
Angeles where it seems like everyone just wants more and more.
So Yeah, Sunday Morning by Marion five is probably that's
probably not the best answer I could give you, but
it's it's the answer I'll give you for now. If
you ask me tomorrow, I might give you a better one.
(09:24):
But yeah, I'll say that.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
It's a good one. And I like the notion of
Sundays and easy living, and it seems often in the
way the world is that's a forgotten trade about the
way people live. Sunday is supposed to be a day
of rest and everything, So I like the answer for sure.
We'll be back with more of the Taking a Walk
(09:47):
podcast in a bit now. If you're looking for a
rock and roll oriented podcast, we invite you to check
out The Imbalanced History of rock and Roll. The History's fascinating.
There's so much to uncover the imbalanced history of rock
and roll explorers, moments in time, albums, songs, events, and
people who had an impact on the history of rock
(10:07):
and roll. They keep rock and roll fun, the imbalanced
history of rock and roll. Find it wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Welcome back to the Taking a Walk podcast.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
I'm going back to Michigan. How deeply did it impact
you when you went to your first Coney Island?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Oh my gosh, Now we're getting into the heavy hitting stuff. Yes,
mister Mustard, Yeah yeah, yeah, okay, I I mean, have
you buzz I'll ask you this first. Have you been
to conye Allen?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Many times. I spent a lot of time the company
I worked for owned and I was part of managing
a bunch of radio stations up that way, wri IF
and w CSX, and so I spent many a day
in the mean streets of Birmingham, Michigan.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Oh oh yeah, oh yeah, well okay, so you get
it though. Yeah, I've I've colle al and for listeners
that I have no idea what we're talking about. Is
this this amazing I'll call it a diner, but it's
just this great American old school restaurant in Detroit. The
(11:29):
the sort of like champion restaurant is Lafayette Cone, which
is in Detroit, which is the first one, and they
basically only sell chili dogs, hot dogs, hamburgers. That's I
think that's about it. And if you mess your order up,
you're just gonna get what they give you. So it's
a real old school kind of joint. And uh yeah,
so buzz yes. When I that is speaking of childhood,
(11:50):
Like you asked me what song reminds me of my childhood?
What food is? It's cone al and that is basically
all I remember doing, and especially in the summertime, like
driving up on my bike with my friends with some
cash in my pocket and getting a two dollars hot
dog and just sitting there and you know, feeling like
a king.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
It was.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
It's it's still to this day like my favorite food
and always brings me back to just I don't know,
like like we were saying, the early days of easy living,
but it changed my life for sure, and that's all
I think. That's also where I found my love for mustard,
which I'm sure we'll get into soon, but I left
that restaurant many times with mostard stains all over my
(12:32):
T shirt, which my mom was not happy with.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I mean, mandatory when you go to a Coney Island
for that to happen. I mean, if it didn't happen.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
How else are you gonna prove that you were there?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
You know?
Speaker 3 (12:45):
I know, I know, now, what was the town that
you grew up in? There in the suburbs cities.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
The city is called gross Point and it's about It's
actually there's a there's a film called gross Point Blank
with John Tusack that came out and I think it
was the nineties, maybe the late eighties, but I think
it was the nineties, and it's all shot in gross Points,
so people might recognize the name of that town. But yeah,
(13:10):
it's about. Uh, it's a really interesting place to grow
up because it's definitely, like I said, it's it's blue collar,
but it's got everything. It's got like a very wealthy
part of it. It's got a middle class and it's
got a lower class. And then about five minutes away
is Detroit and you're in a completely different atmosphere. So
I really grew up seeing both sides of the coin
(13:31):
of like life in general, seeing really insane poverty to
the wealthiest of the wealthy, it seemed like, and everywhere
in between. So yeah, I kind of even though Michigan
is not necessarily the most diverse and uh old short culture.
I would say like place in the world. I feel
like I definitely got to see a lot of life
(13:54):
in where I grew up, just based on being on
the border of Detroit. It was pretty fascinating.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I love the movie The gross Point movie your referenced,
and I love gross Point. And as someone who grew
up there, you know, as you did in the Detroit area,
I mean people who are from there, they absolutely you know,
they live and die by being from that area. Being
from Michigan's it's a special place and I have many,
(14:22):
you know, fond memories from my time being spent there.
You know, your sound over the years, it blends hop,
it blends hip hop, reggae, electronic, many different influences. How
did you sort of cook up this incredible unique style.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, I don't. I don't think it was much of
me cooking it up. Honestly. I think it was like
we kind of were touching on earlier. It was the
early days of just being fed music from my parents
to my I don't know what was around me, and
so like I said that that motown to then growing
(15:06):
up and finding my own tastes. Like Jack Johnson and
Bob Marley and Third Eye Blind and uh it Cutty, Uh,
just a real mix of genres. Yeah, it was, Uh,
it was. I don't think I was doing it deliberately,
(15:28):
like making it be like, Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna
compile all these people I love and then someday I'm
gonna be this hardist and it's going to be a
blend of all of them. It was never that. It
was just I truly am just. I think I just
am a very passionate fan of music, and I'm unbiased
to do music. As long as it sounds good, I'll
(15:48):
listen to it. So I think when it came time
to make my own stuff, the songs I was writing
was just the byproduct of that sort of approach to music,
which was non just grematory and like just accepting of
what sounded good. And so when I started writing my
own stuff, naturally, I think what came out was this
(16:09):
mix and like you said, sort of like sort of
like a melting pot of all these things that I
grew up liking and all these tastes that I had acquired.
So yeah, I don't know if that answered your question.
I don't really know how it happened. It's just life
kind of took its form, and yeah, I just I
once I started writing my own stuff, it was just
I was like, yeah, all of that, all those resources
(16:31):
sort of came out and spilled onto the page. I
guess you could say.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Well, we're sponges and about some things we love, and
obviously we love music. So there's so many things that
are inputed that make us feel good. Maybe don't make
us feel good all the time, but maybe at moments
that we're not feeling good, we need that and they
take us through mental challenges, physical personal challenges, and that's
(17:00):
certainly has traced your work now as here we are
at this moment with the look I'm alive and congratulations
on it, and the the excitement that you have and
the gratitude that you have with relation to where your
life is with your new child, and how it makes
you look at the world differently. Talk about that when
(17:21):
it comes to either the song Olive Tree or or
certainly Yellow Brick Road and the rest of the album.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, I think I think having a child in your
life now, especially a daughter, I mean, it's it's something
that just softens you as a as a man, and
I think it's it would be naive of me too,
and and I don't know, just uh, it would feel
(17:52):
weird if I didn't write music about her, because it
is such it is. It is the biggest part of
my life now. And a lot of my music up
to this point was about past relationships that I've had,
failed failed girlfriends and me getting dumped and yeah, that's
all good and grand, but like it kind of got
to the point where, you know, now I'm a father
(18:14):
and a husband, and I had to kind of look
at myself in the mirror at some point and be like,
am I gonna start talking about what's actually currently happening
in my life? Or am I going to always be
looking sort of in the rear view mirror and touching
on these memories that I'm pretty much over with. I'm not.
I'm there. They don't bother me anymore. But I was
always scared to talk about my personal family life because
(18:35):
I wasn't sure if people would find it interesting. So
to touch on this new record, yeah, it's just that
you'll hear it in the album. Look I'm Alive. It's
really just about gratitude and being thankful for where I'm
at and celebrating the mundane moments of life that I
think we often look over and think are boring and
(18:58):
aren't worth writing songs about. One of the taglines of
the album, it's not even a lyric in the album,
but we've kind of championed it as a slogan. I
guess you could say for the album is that every
moment's worth singing about. And I love that because I
think I think that is the secret to life. And
maybe it is, maybe it's not, but in my opinion,
I think if you can if you can cherish every
(19:20):
inch of this experience and not try and race to
the next one, life becomes more enjoyable and you're you're
not seeking for the next thing. And that's really what
I've tried to do with this album is just celebrate
the here and now and every little thing that comes
with it. So my daughter was a huge inspiration for
(19:42):
that direction. And yeah, I don't know, it feels good
to talk about stuff that's just normal. You know, it's weird,
but it's but it's liberating in a way, you know.
I felt like I didn't have to come up with
a crazy story or a pull out the worst memory
I've had from my girlfriend dumping me in high school,
you know, to make a good song. It feels good
(20:02):
that I can still write good music about these mundane, normal,
quote unquote parts of life.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Well, it is a long trip from creating straight jacket
to creating yellow brick Road. You must admit, right, absolutely, yeah, yeah,
And I'm flashing on as you open the podcast too.
The beauty of it, just that simplicity of taking a
walk with your daughter and the wild eyed enthusiasm that
(20:34):
you know she has for the world and that it
reawakens your enthusiasm about the world is also and the
creative process is also so exciting totally.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I mean seeing you nailed it, seeing her and just
seeing children in general, the way they look at life.
It's like, right now, like I was saying to you, Buzz,
I'm in New York and I'm staring at my hotel
window and there's a shadow on this wall. Are this
hotel across the street from me? And yeah, it looks
cool whatever, you know, But a kid would look at
(21:06):
this and be like, oh my god, like that, what
is that? And why does it look that way? And
why is the sun hitting it? And the way I
look at my daughter walking down the street. That's how
she looks at life, and it's inspiring. You know, It's like,
why can't we as adults look at the world that
way too? And you're you're totally right looking at them
(21:26):
look at life invigorates you and inspires you to live
a certain way. So that's that's what I try to
do it with this album. And I'm sure I could
do at a better job of it, but it's it's
a daily practice, and you know, taking baby steps. I
guess to do my part in that.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
I love that baby steps. That's a perfect way to
look at it really when you think of when you
think about it. But if your daughter's listening to this
right now, what's your daughter's name?
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Her name is Florence.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Florence. What cover your ears for a second. Florence. So okay,
thanks Florence. So Quinn, though, I must tell you, enjoy
these moments because they're so special, because when the first
eye roll comes out of Florence, then you're gonna see
life changing even further.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Oh trust me, trust me, I'm already dreading that moment. Yeah,
I've got I've got some friends who have daughters that
are a little older than her, and not even they're
not even teenagers. They're only like, you know, six or seven,
and they're already they're saying, oh, like, just hold on
to these precious moments while she still wants you to
pick her up in a hugger, you know, because they're fleeting,
(22:33):
you know, so you know, cherish them while they're here.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Does she like music at this point?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Honestly, she does. And I'm not just saying that because
it's what I do for work and stuff, and you know,
we play it. It's funny, just like my parents play
music around the house. My wife and I we play
it around the house all the time because my wife
also grew up with her parents playing music around the house.
So it's funny. We both sort of grew up in
these households that just wanted background music, I guess, to
(23:02):
fill in the silence, I suppose. But now we've we've
sort of adopted that with our mornings in our days
living out in la with with Florence, and like she
loves she loves music. I mean she's not singing or anything,
but you can see she's bouncing around. We play jazz
lives and she loves jazz, So I'm hoping I'm like
(23:25):
molding a little jazz artist right now. But we'll see
what happens. But I think it'd be cool because I
have no musical chops or like, uh, technical abilities or
I'm not classically trained in anything. So I think it'd
be cool to see one of my kids sort of
go down that route and be like a real proper
musician and outshine their dad. But yeah, so, but she
(23:45):
loves me. I think I will say I think she
likes music. But from all the signs I've got, she's
definitely bouncing around, so there's something in there that is
resonating with her.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Oh, I think it's primal. I'm sure she does. You
know that there's a beat that's going on and her
head or that she's kind of envisioning. Absolutely, So it's
so wonderful. I want to talk collaborations in your career.
You've worked with folks like Logic and Chelsea Cutler and
sure I'm leaving someone out. Are there other collaborations that
(24:17):
you kind of look into the future and think, man,
that would be really cool.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah. I mean, I have like a it's like a
Christmas wish list of artists i'd like to work with someday.
But it's funny, you know, I've got I'm getting more
to a point of not getting so hung up on
if those moments happen or not, and just if anything.
(24:43):
Like we said, that word gratitude is coming up again,
being grateful for the people I have worked with. I
feel like I've worked with a lot of different and
amazing artists spanning a lot of different genres, and I'm
pretty content with where I am as far as the
list of people I've got to work with. But yeah,
sure there's a bunch I'm still hopefully able to collaborate
(25:06):
with someday. But it's nice getting to a point in
life where you're not so hung up on those things
happening or not. And like I said, that's just where
I'm at right now. Who knows. Next year, maybe I'll
be hungry for a specific thing to happen. But I'm
just riding the way right now, I guess, so to speak,
and just grateful that I've got the people I've worked
(25:27):
with under my belt. Speaking of collaborators, there's a band
that's on this album called Dispatch, which I've listened to
for I don't know as long as I can remember.
They were like the soundtrack to my early years, and
they've been around since the late nineties early two thousands.
That was really surreal to get them on one of
the songs for the album, which is called Look, I'm Sorry,
Live and let Go and Yes, talk about just like
(25:50):
a three sixty moment of just hearing someone you've listened
to your whole life and then hearing them on a
song that you wrote is pretty surreal. So yeah, shout
out to those guys. That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yeah, I'm very familiar with them living outside of Boston
and their whole legacy and everything and amazing fan base
for sure. And closing, what is the strangest food group
that you've added? Mustard too?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yeah, this is the way to end the commerce, I think.
I mean, I'm serious, buzz when I tell you I
I I put it on I don't. I don't. I
shouldn't say I deliberately put it on everything. But I've
tried it with nearly everything you could think of. I've
tried it on pasta before, which I'm sure people are
(26:39):
just throwing up right now in their mouths. But that
was that was surprisingly not that bad. I'll admit it's
not great on everything, but I think I've loved it
so much that I've I've just given it a rite
of passage that it could taste good on it on anything.
And I'm also making my own mustard, so just as
a self a selfish plug. Right now, please, there's a
(27:01):
mustard I'm making. Well, it's actually the second flavor we've made.
But it's called Mustard Mics because the nickname I had
growing up was Mustard mic. My real name's Mike, and
you can find it at mustard mics dot com. But
it's something I'm I mean, I'm really not joking, like,
I love mustard so much to the point that we're
now making it and I think it's unbiasedly very good.
(27:21):
We'll have to send you a bottle sometime if I
don't know if you're a mustard guy or not. But
it's it's something that is perfect for the summertime on
a hot dog, hamburger or whatever I like to cook
with it. I put it in like tuna, salads in
marinatea and chicken and it's great. So yeah, I'm all
things mustard. That's my next big endeavor in life outside
(27:42):
of music.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
When I love Mustard, I'm all things Mustard as well to.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Make sure to get you buy.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I think it's fantastic. Congratulations on your family, Florence, your
daughter and your new music look I'm Alive and Quinn
ninety two. It's such an honored talking to you man. Congrats,
Thank you man.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Likewise, thank you so much for shied it.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts
Host
Lynn Hoffman
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!