New York City: Story Behind The New Album

First stop, New York City! Join Old Dominion as they sit down with Carmen to discuss the story behind their new album.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to one fan to interview the band a production
of our Heart Radio We're Old to Me. While on
tour in the U s. We decided to ask one
fan to come hand backstage and ask us questions. You're
in for an inside look into our new album Life
on the Road. Journey is a band and much more.
Welcome to the crew. This week we're in New York City.
So I don't want to be one mad ban. I

(00:31):
don't want to be a rule. It's noon alone, putting
miles on a run down may Maybe we can take
our own show. The rules now, lay down the beat,
you carry either tune, We'll get tattoos and we'll trastion.
Tell baby Hey, I'm Matthew from Ultimate In And in

(00:54):
this episode, we'll be celebrating the release of our new
self titled album. We're talking about the recording and writing process,
what fans can expect from the new music. And in
the celebration of our self titled album, released on October,
kicked off our I Heart Radio podcast series at the
Heart Theater in New York City. I'm with and play

(01:18):
the drums Mr Trevor. I play the keys and acoustic guitar.
Brad play electric guitar. I'm Jeff, I play lead bass.
Never gets all that one Matthew and I am the singer.
The message we want everyone to take away from our
new album is really whatever message you get from it.

(01:39):
To be honest, one thing that we have learned is
that we make music and people make it their own.
So really, our story is your story. What however you
want to take this, I hope you can make it a
a part of your life. We decided to name the
album Old Dominion because, first of all, that's who we are.
We are Old Dominion, and this album felt like we

(02:00):
were the most comfortable with that name. If you've ever
heard the phrase comfortable in your own skin, I feel
like that's the place that we've reached as a band.
We're very comfortable in the skin that we're in right now.
We are All Dominion. So I don't want to bang.
I don't want to do And we're kicking up our

(02:21):
first episode with our new fan interviewer, Carmen. Hi. I'm
Carmen and I'm from New York City. I've been a
big fan since the first album meeting Candy. I heard
about the contest and I thought it would be a
great opportunity to learn more about the album and the
songs that I love. So thank you, I heart Sony
and the band for allowing me to be a part
of the album released day. Okay, come on in. Yeah,

(02:44):
this is Carmen. She won the contest to interrogate you guys,
So two of you can go there, three there, okay, Hi,
we are so excited for the album released party tonight. Um,
how is the crowd and energy here in New York

(03:05):
City different from the other cities you guys have played?
The crowd in New York I feel like has It's
been one of the crowds that kind of adopted us
early early, So we're always excited to come back here
because we know that there's going to be someone here
to listen to us. So I think they're great. Yeah.
I remember when we played was it Irving Plaza, Like

(03:26):
the first time we're opening Chase Rice, Chase Rice. The
crowd was noticeably different than then. Like even It's funny.
We're a country band. Sometimes in the South we struggle,
but in the Northeast we do really well. Well. I
think New York City is pretty great. I'm glad um,

(03:47):
so you guys will be performing a lot of the
songs for the first time today. Is there a new
track that you're really excited to perform tonight? Uh, Paint
the Grass Green is is one that we've recently worked up.
So it's always fun to play the newest song that
you've you've just started playing. So I'm looking forward to
that one. Yeah, I was listening to that at midnight

(04:07):
and it was one of my favorites. So can you
share the story behind that song. Matthew had that title
that idea, and we got together with our friends Russ
Copperman and Josh Osborne one day and Uh, you know,
it's just a it's a song about just desperately wanting
that person that you love to love you back, you know,

(04:30):
and and and you know you'll do anything for that
person and no matter what, you just you know, you
want to make their life as happy as you can
make it, so as you can keep them. So it's
a it's a desperate song, but it's put over a
feel good melody, which is it's always fun to kind
of combine the happy with the sad. I think that
song does a good job of it. It's funny that
song is um it's one of the its like the

(04:51):
classic thing where we hear it one way and other
people here in a different way. It's like, you know,
you say it's a desperate song, and that's kind of
how I hear it too. Is this like, you know, longing,
desperate sort of sad song, but other people hear it
as a sweet sentiment of like I'll do anything for you.
Which which way do you hear? Do you think? Honestly,

(05:11):
I just a little bit of both. I think it's
just positive at the same time, but like you're just
focused on what could go wrong as well, So yeah,
a little bit of both. Um. How would you describe
the style and the vibe of this new album compared
to the first two? Yeah, the first album in particular

(05:35):
was a very intentional album in every way. You know,
every song was chosen because it felt like it could
be a hit on the radio, and you know, we
just wanted to deliver an album that they could pick
any song off of and play and make it a hit.
And then we kind of stretched that a little bit

(05:57):
on the second album, Um, and it had a little
bit of the same maybe, you know, dipped our toe
in the water of a little bit more emotional material
or artsy stuff. But this one was not intentional really
at all. It was very you know, it was very
spontaneous at times with you know, starting with make It Sweet,
we wrote it in the studio and recorded it and

(06:18):
Hear You Now was another one that we wrote and
recorded in the same day, and then we would just
be hanging out in the control room, you know, going
what are we going to do next? And you know,
then we would try something. So it was a much
more relaxed, unintentional, UM, spontaneous album. Yeah. I love the album. Um,

(06:39):
One Man Band. It's a very honest and emotional song.
I was not ready for it when I heard it
for the first time, you know, I shared it on Instagram. UM,
and I can see that when you guys play that song,
the crowd just goes crazy. Um. Can you share a
little bit more about that song and how you guys
picked it to be a single. That is why we

(07:00):
picked it to be a single is because of the
crowd response. Really, it was from the get go that
song was speaking to people for some reason. Yeah. That's
like the perfect example if you just never know, I mean,
you know, it's it was good, but you just don't
know what's going to really resonate. And that was the
perfect example of going, oh my god, it's just obvious.

(07:22):
You know. Yeah, it's like if you if you knew
that was going to happen, we'd write a million. It's um.
It's such a great track though, um, and it's much
slower and I just wasn't expecting it. But I'm really
glad you guys released as a single. Do you guys
have a favorite song on the album? I have to ask,

(07:43):
just because yeah, it's hard, it's hard to pick one, right,
But at the moment, are you are you've ever done
this before. You're better than a lot of people that
interview us. Well, thank you, first time interviewing. Thank you,
great job. We think interviewed two days ago that was
the worst. And that guy's like and it's his job.

(08:07):
Thank you. That makes me feel for me. Yeah, Like
like you said, it's it's impossible to pick one that
is your favorite, but I think right now at the moment,
I'm really digging out roll. It's sort of snuck up
on me, you know, it's snuck up on all of us.
It was one that, like Matthew said, we're sitting in
the studio and just, uh, we're talking about what songs
we should do, and I didn't really I think that

(08:29):
would be one that we would record. But I always
love the song, and I sort of mentioned it and
everybody jumped on board and and we recorded it, and uh,
it sounds different for us, I think I think so anyway,
But um, it just sounds cool and it's good to
change the flavor sometimes. I think I've had to pick
on and pick hear you now. It's just I don't know,

(08:50):
I just really like everything that's happening in that song.
So that's my pick. I'll go with Panther Grass Green,
like right now, I feel like that's the one that's
the for me. It's always the most recent one that
we've been working on and because then you kind of
see it come to life, and and that one's the
one that's most recently come to life. I'm gonna go
with My Heart is a Bar. That one is. Um,

(09:15):
it's like when we play that every night now, it's
it's a song that I like feel when when I
when we sing it, you know, when those words are
coming out, I feel it every single time. Midnight mess round. Yeah,
all great, answers. I wouldn't be able to pick my
favorite one. I mean, have you made me pick five?

(09:36):
Maybe I'm making you pick your favorite one right now,
my favorite one. If you had to do it, you
have to do it. Okay. Let me think, Um, what's
in your head right now? Every song? Can I pick two?
I'm going to go with one man band and I
think Paint the Grass Green or Midnight mess Around? Okay,

(09:59):
so I picked the the best you could. Yeah. So, um,

(10:23):
have you guys ever written a song that's so personal
that you didn't want to share it with the world. Yeah,
I might have written a song that I maybe didn't
want to share with the person that it wasn't about. Yeah, yeah,
I mean for me some people do. Was was that song?
You know? I think? Um We're I was talking to Shane,
our producer, about cutting that song, and I was like, man,

(10:46):
I just don't know if I could do that. I
don't know if I could put that out there. I
don't know if I could even sing that every night
without losing it, you know, And and he said, you know,
that's exactly the reason you should do it. It's a
jerk like that. But Thomas w Yes Thomas Wright was
a right, And how do you guys pick the final

(11:08):
track list? Yeah, I mean we we it's a lot.
We have a lot of songs, so, um, it's just
a discussion, a constant ongoing discussion listening, and but we
tend to not record more than we put on the
record for whatever reason. Maybe there's one. Yeah, there seems
like there's maybe one that doesn't make it. Yeah, I
would think there was one that didn't make it this time.

(11:28):
The last two albums there was one or two left
that we recorded that didn't make it. But this one
everything because of the way we made this album. It
was just sort of like we were saying, like we'll
be hanging out, going let's try this one. I wound
up being on the album. But um, so yeah, but
you know, ultimately it's just a lot of us talking
about what we're liking. And sometimes you'll have two songs

(11:50):
that are sort of fill the same spot, you know,
they're sort of similar, and you just kind of look
and see which one you think is better, and we
all hopefully agree and and there's usually like two or
three right off the bat that we know we you know,
I think on this um, we came in with I
don't know, what do you say? Maybe three? Maybe we

(12:11):
knew Smooth Sailing was definitely going to be one. I
saw the reference on the album cover was an accident.
The whole picture was pretty much an accident. Yeah, people
keep reading into it, but it's really it's aught. You
guys did that on purpose in the American flag. We
didn't realize that. That's like, it looks like a set,

(12:36):
but it was. That was a real room and we
were in it. You know, there are articles about this
to everyone thinks you guys picked that room. I know,
we just randomly wound up in that room. I thought
it was funny, and we were filming something else for somebody,
like a liner or something, and it was such a
crazy looking room out side of the couch. And then
Mason here behind you were like, Mason, take a take

(12:58):
a picture of this, and he just have a few photos.
And that was that. And then once we decided that
was the album cover, we bought the couch and the painting.
The couches here tonight on stage. It is. It's not
on stage, but you will see it later, okay, an, okay, well,
let's just sit on it. You might not want to. Okay,

(13:23):
well I didn't know. You guys didn't do that on purpose. Um,
so when do you guys find time to write? You
guys are always on tour. I wrote a song while
we were sitting here. It is we have to write
on tour. A lot of this was written in dressing
rooms and backstage or on the bus or you know so,

(13:45):
and then you know, when we're home. We love writing songs,
so we try to plug into some of those co
writes that you know, we don't get to do on
the road. We bring people out on the road with us,
and you just gotta make it work. And also we
have a lot we've written so many songs that sometimes
when we're recording on and then we run a lot
of time ago. A couple of these are old. Is
there a favorite memory from just the making of the album,

(14:07):
whether it's in the studio or the writing sessions, there's
a lot of things. There were a lot of moments
I think, um, recording a song like our Role was,
I was going to say, it was really cool. That
was because it was such a different sound and there
was so much different things going on, and and that
song was sort of a surprise we were all like,

(14:28):
oh yeah, let's try that, and we jumped in there
and we're suddenly doing something we've never done before. That
was pretty exciting. There was it was a lot of
that on this record. They're just like, let's try this
and then you know, sometimes it works, sometimes it didn't.
But the fact that we had the time and the
comfort level to experiment was really fun. Yeah. It's a
really good song and I was listening to it at

(14:48):
work and I just found myself bopping. I'm like, okay,
I gotta focus on It's just seemed like a pretty
focused person. I mean, yeah, if anyone's listening, what do
you do for am I allowed to show that I'm
I'm in marketing or NBC? Cool? Yeah? So, um yeah,

(15:13):
I was just bopping to a song. I'm like, okay,
let me just focus, get this out of the way,
and then do this interview. How do you focus on?
How do you have to do that now? I was
just like, Okay, the songs that don't make it on
the record, do you guys just give it away or

(15:33):
maybe release it for a future project. That's what I
want to do. There's a couple of songs that were
that we recorded on Meeting Candy sessions that I would
like to re release somehow in the future. I don't
know if it's like a rerelease of Meeting Candy. Maybe.
I was talking to Trevor the other day about it
would be cool to release Meet and Candy on vinyl
with those two other songs. Yeah, what were they on it?

(15:57):
I'm on it and it goes without saying wow. Yeah,
and it would be cool to rerelease those And I'm
trying to think of what didn't make it onto Happy Endings. Oh,
it was everything to lose, everything to lose and everyone's
a while. I still have that mix. I pull it
up and I'm like, and I remember in the moment,

(16:18):
we were like we totally screwed that song up. But
when I listened to it, I'm like, oh, it's actually
pretty cool. People would like it. Maybe hopefully one day
you'll hear it tomorrow. I know I'm still gonna listen
to the album today. Um so a lot has changed

(16:39):
since Me and Candy. How how have you guys grown
as a band over the years. I think Matthew touched
on it, but um, you know, when you come out
and you're new, you're just hoping you can just somehow
have one song on the radio, and you were really
trying to write catchy songs for the radio. But once
you know, we've had some success us and you know,

(17:01):
we feel like, you know, maybe we're going to stick
around for a little while. Then you get a little
more comfortable and a little more confident, and you know,
kind of like this album, you get a chance to
try different things, explore, take more time. So I think
we've really figured out who we are as a band,
what we sound like, and figured out how to um
push the envelope a little bit and and you know,

(17:23):
say some different things and sound a different way. I
think we're also learning who are fans are you? Yeah,
But you know it's like when break Up with Them
came out, you know, all the people that came to
the show. We're you know, between eighteen and twenty two
year old girls. And then as we you know, release

(17:45):
more material and we grow, our sound changes. Now you
can look out in the crowd and there's you know,
kids and grandparents and all kinds of people. And so
we're learning who are fans are and what they like,
and that ultimately will help us give them the right music. Yeah.
I Um. When I went to the first show of yours,

(18:08):
which was at c M A Festen, you guys play
at the Riverfront stage. That was a crazy crowd. That
was a crowd. It was packed. I think people were
outside and waiting to just go in, and it was packed.
It was a ten degrees. I'm like, is this real life?
But a lot of changed since then, and now you

(18:28):
guys are playing bigger venues and I got to see
you guys here several times in the city as well,
and there's not one show that isn't sold out. It's
doing pretty good. It's exciting. I'm excited for you guys.
Do you guys ever mess up lyrics? Really? Pretty much?
Probably just don't notice it, but I mean I mess

(18:51):
up the lyrics, So I just don't know how you
guys remember it all. There's just so many songs. Yeah,
it's muscle memory. Forget one word, You're for the rest
of are you also? The minute you start to think
about it, the minute you go like, I don't know
if I know this or not, You're screwed. Yeah, I've
been overthinking this interview for days now. She knows, and

(19:13):
I think that's why I just couldn't follow the paper,
but set the bar high for sure. Thanks. I'm happy
to hear that been flying solo for so long. Nobody's
singing the Hardy. You know what, that was really cool.
I don't even know why I was so nervous. Um

(19:33):
the band is just super chill. I Heeart and Sony
and the guys gave me this opportunity to interview them,
so that was really cool. Thanks for joining us on
this stop of the tour. One fan interview of the
band is production my Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,

(19:56):
orherever you listen to your favorite podcast, We'll see you
at the next show. You'll get tattoos and we'll trash.
Will tell rooms baby, take my hand. I don't want
to be on one mad bad