Live Performance and Collaboration with C4RP00L

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
All right, I am here with Carpool, the three guys from Carpool.
What's up, how are you?
What's going on, man?
Thanks for having us.
You're good, man.
Yeah, it's good to have you.
Maybe I can get you guys to introduce yourselves so people can associate your names withyour voices and tell us like the role in the group.
Hey, what's up?
I'm Renzo Starr.

(00:21):
I'm on bass and vocals.
What's going on?
Ken Danger.
I'm on guitar and vocals.
I'm Michael DeVille and I'm a vocalist.
Nice.
So cool.
We got to talking because you guys are coming through New York and right now you're kindof stationed in LA, right?
Yeah, that's great.

(00:42):
So you guys have been on the road a bit doing some touring.
Yeah, we did a little move to New York early in the summer.
I think it was like June.
And then we came back and we got invited back and we liked it so much we figured let's goin early October too.
So yeah, both of them were a fun time.
We've really been trying to make it a goal this year of traveling across the country andjust getting as many show opportunities spaced out as possible.

(01:07):
So we've been doing some in LA, some in New York, and then we even have one in Raleigh,North Carolina for later this year in December.
Nice, and that's a little bit of a homecoming then, I guess, right?
North Carolina.
Cool.
Cool.
I think something that's like cool about the sound you guys have, it's like a kind ofmixture, I would say like a little bit of like alternative rock with hip hop.

(01:33):
It's very melodic.
There's a lot of musical elements and a lot of cool guitar playing, cool bass lines.
And then on top of it, like a rap hip hop style with some singing too.
I think it's a cool blend of genres.
Curious how you guys wound up there.
that's a good question.
I think it's like always been ever evolving just because I feel like the three of usreally love music.

(01:58):
We're always trying to explore and like add new things to like what we describe our tasteas.
And I think at the beginning, like we can all say definitely that we love hip hop andthat's kind of like vocally where a lot of the ideas come from.
But I think all three of us could speak to different artists and different genres thatreally influence us outside of that as well, too.

(02:19):
Yeah, and as far as how that kind of combination of flavors or influences came to be, Ifeel like it was just a natural conclusion of what we were trying to create.
We really were looking at our contemporaries and music that influenced us, but we didn'treally see ourselves reflected in the artists we were looking up to.
And I think that's what gave us that passion and drive to try and combine a lot ofdifferent tastes into a holistic package, or this meal that we serve to people with each

(02:48):
track.
Yeah, honestly, happens.
you
I feel like we could name artists, but that's like ever-changing.
Yeah.
Any one in particular, any style that's kind of current for you guys right now?
Alright, I mean, I guess I'm speaking a little bit for Renzo, but he loves JPEG Mafia, andI do feel like kind of the energy of his music has definitely given a bit of influence

(03:16):
into like the fact that he's so particular and very like in the details about his work.
And I feel like that's kind of also like influenced us to sort of take that same approach.
But again, I mean, I feel like, or sorry, go ahead.
was gonna say even in that same vein of JPEG Mafia, like Childish Gambino, I know somebodythat we all three of us love a lot.

(03:37):
And I think that's because they're unapologetically eclectic with the work they do.
They never try and cater to their audience.
It's more like the audience always has to come to them and just accept them where they'reat with the decision making choices they make with the production.
But I think that's why we love them too is because they just kind of scratch that itch inyour brain of giving you something that's a bit off kilter than what you were expecting.

(04:01):
Yeah, definitely.
I could also say I'm like, mutane too.
Yes, will.
Yeah, know, like someone like Childish Gambino, where they're doing like lots of differentthings in their music, lots of different styles.
Like so often you're kind of encouraged, like as an artist, like you have to picksomething and like go down that lane only because your audience needs to expect the same

(04:28):
thing.
They want to hear that when they hear you.
And, you know, all this trying to fit in with like algorithms so that they know where tosend you guys.
But I don't think most people are that way.
It's just one dimensional like that.
Yeah.
is.
People try to pretend like they are though.

(04:51):
But I feel like everybody has a little side to them where they, you everybody got somemusic that they don't want to play in the car with everybody or something like that, you
know, you know, everybody has that, but some people like to pretend and stuff.
So I feel like everybody should be more open with their choices, you know, you, you for areason.
Right.

(05:12):
Do you have anyone in mind?
I'm going to ask you to out yourself on some.
Yeah, yeah, any music like that for you.
not really.
I'm, I'm, I'm generally open about everything I listen to.
You know, I listen to, mean.
I can't lie, people will look at me and they won't see me as a dude listening to singersand stuff like that.

(05:34):
But I listen to a lot of singing music, a lot of jazz, a lot of different types of jazz.
But lately, I can't lie, I've been listening to lot of SZA.
So SZA is my thing.
But I feel like that's normal for me.
But somebody else, they'll probably be like, you got a beard and all this.
You ain't supposed to be listening to SZA, but it's music.

(05:55):
You know what mean?
Yeah.
I said I feel like everybody has their little thing.
People will call it a guilty pleasure, but I don't feel like it's guilty at all.
True.
refreshing to hear, you know, because sometimes people have that where like, no, it's notreally my thing, you Yeah.

(06:17):
And it all seeps into what you create, and it makes it a more interesting type of thing.
I can hear the jazz in what you guys are doing.
I can hear that, especially a lot of the guitar chords and, you know, it's...
It's got some cool extended chords and interesting voicings on there.
Yeah, I appreciate that.

(06:40):
Thank you, bro.
or a lot of cash on those songs.
I guess, yeah, it's just kind of like when we get together, we just have different thingsthat we might go after.
So it might be like, we're feeling jazz today.
OK, cool.
Or we're feeling R &B or like rock and roll.
And then we sort of layer, again, that hip hop element around whatever the genre we'refeeling.

(07:03):
Right.
Yeah, a lot of times I'll hear a song and it might just be like a small part of it evenI'm taking, you know?
And it could be anything.
Like that's the fun thing about when you get into like writing music, producing music, islike now it doesn't matter what you listen to because there's something to grab, you know,
from like any genre.

(07:23):
Might even just be the production style or just the attitude of the vocalist.
Can all be part of what you put in.
Yeah.
Yeah, I would tell them like a big part of music is delivery.
How you deliver it.
Like a lot of people have no like, I mean, I'm not going to say it doesn't have a lot oflyrical.
I mean, it doesn't have a lot of literal lyrical content, but the way that they say it andthe way they do things like, I mean, James Brown, know, it's like just stuff like that.

(07:52):
You just have to.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Like he didn't really say too much, but the way he said it and the way he did it, it waslike, okay, that's why we get it.
Yeah.
Right.
You can take a word like, Hey, it's all.
He speaks a whole language.
Yeah.
I'm pretty sure he has.

(08:12):
It's just a whole language comes out of that one word and all the ways you express it.
Those are the parts you remember the most though, even like for the least astute listener,like Michael Jackson, you ask them what they know, they're gonna go, hee hee, or they'll
say like one of the ad-libs, just cause that's what's...

(08:33):
Yeah.
Shamow.
You know, like, not even a real word.
you bet.
It really ain't a real one.
you
.
Trademark though.
Yeah, he faked me.
That's crazy.
our own.
We're still trying to figure out what's the carpool ad live.
working to that level.

(08:55):
Yeah.
I don't know if you can like consciously create that.
It probably has to just come out one day, you know, at a performance or at practice orsomething.
Yeah.
communicated through the music.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So how was yours?
You guys invited me to come out to your show in the city.

(09:15):
It just didn't work out for me.
I'm not that close to New York City.
So it's a bit of a journey.
But how was that coming out and playing?
You like you guys had a pretty cool time.
And there's video of it too, which was awesome.
Yeah, it was awesome time.
It's hard to understate how much fun we really had.
I don't know.
It just was like, again, the second trip, we were like, really got to nail this and do itright.

(09:39):
Lots of people came and just showed support.
And it was just a really fun time.
I don't know.
I give it A+.
I feel like I just had a great time.
mean, it was good vibes all around.
think we were just like, not overwhelmed wouldn't be the word, but really just surprisedby the turnout we were able to get going from out of state and just seeing that there was
still a really good amount of people who were able to participate and that they had areally good reception of it afterwards.

(10:03):
So many people were coming up and talking to us and we just were able to network off ofthat.
We love when it just is easy to meet people who are similar spirited or creative spiritedand they're just trying to go along the same journey that we are.
Yeah, for sure.
was definitely fun.
Can you guys tell me a little bit about how the live performance works?

(10:27):
You've got some instruments, guitar and bass, vocals.
There's also beats going on as well.
How do you set that up?
What's happening behind the scenes there?
It's a bit of mad science, I definitely can say.
It's like a little bit of chemicals over here, some over here, and then Walter White putsit together.

(10:47):
And in this analogy, think Kent would probably be Walter White, because it's usuallyrunning off of his computer.
But we strip the songs down to their elements, and then we assign a part of the melody toeach person.
So I would say usually Kent is going to be doing the guitar stuff, and then for me, I'lltake over the bass aspect of it.
And then for our drums, we usually

(11:10):
to the computer and then we'll run those out of the sound system of the venue.
But I'm sure Kent could share some more about it.
yeah, we have like a couple different ways in which we perform.
would say like currently our full loadout actually includes four of us and we got to shoutout our brother, blue.
he is also on guitar as well.

(11:31):
And, basically, like he said, it would be like, you know, the laptop and that'll just havelike the necessary drum patterns and whatever we can work off with that.
And then, you know, Renzo laid down the baseline, good blue and I will play guitar overthe parts and then we'll just all do our vocals and,
There may be some shows where we might invite a drummer depending on if the vibe is reallyset up for that, but that's kind of how it works.

(11:57):
Are you running some kind of software to play back the tracks?
Yeah, we use Ableton Live actually for our live shows, but that's actually not the dollthat we work off of to make the songs, which is kind of funny.
Yeah.
OK.
So I'm a big Ableton Live user.
That's my thing.

(12:17):
You guys definitely have it best for lives.
We'll never try and take that from you.
sure.
What's that?
Like the performance?
Ableton's setup, I just feel like it works best in a live setting for recording andperforming with it.
Even using plugins and stuff, it usually runs pretty smoothly.
We've kind of moved away from incorporating a lot of plugins into the live setting as ofnow, just because we don't want anything to go wrong.

(12:45):
But we've started testing analog autotune with our live performances just for certainsongs that feel like they need that flavor.
cool.
Yeah, I use Live for performance and I do the same thing.
It's like only Ableton plugins, you only their devices.
Because most of the time if I ever get a crash or ever get some kind of hang up, it'sbecause of something that I tried to load into the project.

(13:11):
But the stuff that they've got is, you know, it's designed to run inside there.
So it's going to be more stable.
And for a long time, the only other plugin I would use Live was
nectar by isotope and for auto tune stuff.
But now they got, inside alive is auto shift.
It's an auto tuner and the new update.

(13:32):
it's like, I don't need that anymore.
You know?
Yeah.
Keep it, keep it like all in the family kind of, you know, so like, we don't have anyproblems.
Exactly.
You can do a lot with them, yeah.
Yeah.
And any DAW, mean, they've, especially as the years have gone by, I mean, things have justbeen upgraded and upgraded and you can, a lot of people think they need to get like the

(13:59):
next plugin, the next device, but most of the time it's about learning what you havealready.
And there's, there's gaps you can fill, of course.
And there's a lot of plugins that do things really well and in a cool way.
but
I think many people, especially people when they're starting out, would be surprised torealize how much you can get done with, I mean, even if you just have like garage band on

(14:23):
your phone, you've, you're so far ahead of where we were, you know, 30, 40, 50 years ago.
It's wild.
No, I'd say that's a good point.
I feel like just you end up going back to things a lot of times and then you realize youactually had the tools you needed the entire time.
It's just you had to figure out how to make it work.

(14:43):
Yeah, right.
Sometimes the limitations make you even more creative too because you have to figure out adifferent way to try and get to the same end result.
I guess that must happen a lot in the live performance, right?
Because you...
three people or sometimes four.
I guess so, yeah.

(15:03):
Yeah, it doesn't really come up though.
solve on the fly quite a few times.
I think as of late, we tried to avoid as much problem solving on the fly as we can, butit's always good to have that toolkit in the back pocket to pull out if we ever have to
MacGyver something.
Honestly, I think I'm blanking on the last time it happened really bad, but I would saythat I think whatever that time was, it made us start over-preparing for our shows now.

(15:30):
Yeah.
Yeah.
There, I think there's like sometimes people have this conception, like if you have thecomputer, like it's kind of doing all the work for you, but you have to do a lot of prep
work to get that ready to bring to a stage especially and have a cohesive performance sothat you're not spending 10 minutes loading songs in between songs and, you know,

(15:58):
searching for things on your computer while you're playing.
I will say that's the benefit to Ableton is that it loads like immediately.
And I feel like other dogs sometimes it kind of takes a little second to get what youneed.
What do you guys use for the recording part, the production?
It's kind of a mix.

(16:18):
Renzel uses FL and makes a lot of beats on there.
I use Logic and I guess that's where like the vocals are mainly recorded at and where themixing is done for at least the last two projects, but kind of floats in between those
two.
Nice.
I was a Logic user for a while until I discovered Ableton Live.

(16:42):
Yeah, it just felt like a songwriting tool for me.
I was in Pro Tools for a while, was in Logic.
And I think if I was an engineer in a studio, with like the desk and everything, likethose particular DAWs would have been a little better.
But that wasn't what I was trying to do.
Yeah.

(17:03):
in the basement trying to make tracks by myself.
So definitely gravitated towards life for that reason.
definitely makes sense.
mean, I feel like it's kind of like everybody just figures out eventually which one helpsthem make the best song.
And then you end up just sticking with that.
And it's like, from then on, you know?

(17:24):
Yeah.
We don't knock nobody's door.
Yeah.
Whatever die you choose, just give us some good music.
Yeah.
right.
The listener is not wondering, Hey, what did you use?
Pro tools logic before I turn this on.
Yeah.
Yeah.

(17:44):
It's like how you use it.
okay, got you, Appreciate you taking the time.
appreciate y'all having me.
I appreciate you having me, Brian.
I'll see you guys later.
Yes, sir.
I appreciate you, I wish I had more time to talk to you, man, but I had to, you know, youknow how it goes.

(18:05):
yeah.
Yes, sir.
I appreciate you.
All right, buddy.
Cool.
All right, we're down to three now.
There's three of us.
I think I said to you guys beforehand, I think that's the most people I've ever had on acall for the podcast before.

(18:25):
Yeah, I think so.
We've done two a couple of times.
Yeah.
You have that distinction.
We always roll deep, so it's not anything new for us.
When you guys make your songs, how does it come about?

(18:45):
Does it start out in the studio?
Does start out with some jamming?
Do you work together, separate?
a lot of different ways.
Honestly, all of the above.
yeah, you described like a couple of the techniques.
I think that our whole process has gone through a transformation recently because we'vebeen trying to do more.
Like I wouldn't even say analog because we're still recording it into a doll, but justjamming out a whole idea and just sitting on that and letting it sit for like 20 minutes

(19:15):
and then moving on to a new idea versus before.
We used to try and just make everything digital and then add in like our instrumentationon top or like start with some drums maybe and then add instrumentation to that.
Yeah, I could definitely agree.
I I feel like it's just been as our careers progressed, we used to be like everything wasdigital, you know, and then we started gaining more confidence in the playing and started

(19:40):
trying to create things based off of that.
And like you said, I would say this year mostly we've been trying to like have a full jamsession and then maybe build the record off of what came from that.
So you guys kind of playing and then listening for like the cool things that happen alongthe way?
Yeah, nice.

(20:01):
I like to do that a lot even like in the stuff I do by myself.
It might set up a beat or something and then just play for a while.
Recording everything but then later come back and be like, all right, like that was a coolfour bars.
That was a cool little riff or a cool vocal line or whatever it is.
It helps me forget that that red recording light is on.

(20:25):
know, because like, you know how that changes everything.
You're like playing, it feels great.
Then you hit the button and you're like, uh-oh.
Why is that?
You always get the best ideas when the recording button is off.
That's why we've had to train ourselves to just always press record as soon as we startdoing anything musical.
Otherwise we miss the golden idea.
every single time.
You have to record and then it's like what idea was I even trying to lay down?

(20:47):
I don't know why that happens.
Yeah, it's like, I don't know, you're being watched or something.
Well, I think like, I don't know, maybe it's related, but they say like in quantumphysics, right?
Like there's all that like possibility like before anyone is observing, but then as soonas...

(21:07):
Yes.
then it becomes a one or zero.
Right.
It becomes something all of sudden once you monitor, maybe on some like weird small levelof a bunch of little parts put together anyway.
Right.
So maybe something weird like that happens.
We're suddenly like, now we're watching.
Now we're paying attention.
Maybe it's that you start perceiving the time more when you start recording and thenyou're like, wait a minute, the rhythm isn't exactly like how it's supposed to be.

(21:36):
Or that once you start putting time to it, that's when it's like, this has to be perfectlylocked in.
Mmm.
Might be something like the metronome distracts you.
I feel like any other noise will like actually make me forget the idea.
Yeah, right.
I don't like playing in metronomes.
I'll just always program like a beat or even if it's a kick drum, four kicks, justsomething about like that metronome click.

(22:02):
It sounds like work or I should be doing scales or something like that to it.
It's not musical, you know what mean?
Yeah.
no groove to it.
It's funny though because the Ableton metronome I feel like it's been on a couple ofsongs.
I'm like blanking right now but I know I've heard it on like at least...

(22:23):
on World Star by Childish Gambino.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Is it?
That's funny.
I gotta check that out.
Right.
You recognize that like, it has a similar effect on me as when my alarm on my phone goesoff when I'm awake.
Cause you know, I'm so used to hearing that, like to knock me out of a dream or somethingin the morning to wake me up.

(22:47):
But then when I hear it during the day, it's almost like, am I about to wake up andrealize I've been dreaming this whole day?
You know, that metronome comes on.
It's like, whoa.
Time to get in front of the people though.
Yeah.
We do the same thing with my band.
We're a three piece like, like garage rock thing, guitar, bass and drums.

(23:12):
And when practice starts, I open up my template.
It's got everything mic'd up.
I hit record and then we record for like three hours or until we take a break orsomething, you know?
And it just allows us to...
not worry about it because we used to do it where like, all right, we're to play the songnow.
Okay, let me hit record.

(23:33):
And then it's like, everyone, all the like life comes out of it.
It just becomes tense instead of that kind of fun energy you get when you're working withother people where you lose yourself in it.
Nah, it's like you almost have to accidentally record it.
I feel like that's also why we will take our phones out and we'll do a voice memo just incase the dog didn't get it.

(23:58):
yeah.
Sometimes those voice memos, like the phone mic, it's pretty darn good now.
You can get some decent recordings off of it.
I think we used a sample.
I think it was during our last New York trip when we were taking a walk and you know likethe walkway sign and it'll be like wait and then it does like a little timer and I think

(24:22):
we sampled that and threw it in one of the songs.
Yeah, on Nino on creature mode velocity, if you listen to Mike's verse, the first verse,there's like the crossing sign sound effect on there.
Yeah, nice.
Yeah, that's a great idea.
this, what is music anyway, you know?

(24:43):
It's organized sound, it's organized noise even.
So if you like notice something that's kind of interesting and you can find a way to putit in there, especially when you start repeating it, the phrase or looping it, it starts
to become musical all of a sudden.
There's something kind of magical to that.
so

(25:03):
he said JPEG mafia, feel like that's one of the, not the secret to his sauce, but that's apart of his whole thesis in like ethos is that anything is music.
So it's like sample something that was never supposed to be musical, turn it into amusical idea and then you usually get something really wild sounding.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's a moment in time, right?

(25:24):
Like when you guys recorded that, that crosswalk, wait, I know exactly what you're talkingabout.
And then like it beeps and, there's other stuff happening in the background.
There's cars coming by or there's birds chirping or people having a conversation and youcould never record it that way exactly ever again.

(25:46):
Even if you stood there two minutes later, it would just be different.
Yeah.
something really magical about you got that moment in time and now it's in the music.
It's true too, I never really thought of it like that.
It'll be different sounds next time you go back or something else will be different aboutthe moment itself.

(26:07):
Yeah.
That's literally what the music is too though.
You're just capturing that one moment where it was the loop or the perfect pattern.
Hmm.
It's like screenshotting your life at a certain point in time.
Yeah, that's true.
Screenshotting your life.
good music is just a good screenshot.

(26:28):
Yeah.
Yeah, they like, can clean things up so much now.
You know, we can edit away all the noise and we can use samples that are perfectlyrecorded at the finest studios with the best mics and engineers.
And sometimes it just, it doesn't add up.

(26:49):
Right.
It lacks a life or something.
But these days when I'm recording, I'm like,
I don't even care what's going on around me half the time, the dog barks or somebody'stalking in the background.
Sometimes that just becomes the cool, weird thing that catches your ear in the song andmakes you want to hear it again.

(27:09):
It'd be like, what's going on there?
helps paint the picture or build the world of the song.
Definitely, it just captures that entire moment.
I know exactly what you mean, because I think there's a couple songs that we've tried todo outdoors just to see if that would make us write different lyrics or choose different
chords or whatever.
And sometimes you will record a vocal and some birds will be chirping or something in thebackground.

(27:33):
It just adds to the vibe.
Right?
That's a cool exercise.
the smoke alarm, needing a battery replacement, doing that little beep noise.
I feel like I've heard some songs with that in it before.
But it really does give it just that extra bit of uniqueness and life to it.
You know, I saw some video, was some celebrity was going on a rant in their house orsomething.

(27:59):
I forget exactly what it was.
But in the background, that little battery beep noise from the smoke alarm was going off.
And that was what everyone was commenting on.
It's like, yo, you've made millions of dollars in the movies.
You can't change your battery.
It's like, even whoever it was has these real world problems.

(28:20):
Honestly, it's a really adult moment, because it just happened to me a couple of days ago,and I was like, no, I understand why my parents always had that beeping noise.
They were like, we're too busy to switch out this battery.
We'll do it eventually.
Yeah.
Yeah, I climb up there and undo it.
Much work.
You're too much.
for that quarter of a second of irritation every minute or two.

(28:43):
It's like, whatever.
in the house eventually goes like blind to the noise.
They never hear it anymore.
It's only when guests come over and they're like, what is that noise that keeps going off?
Right?
it's interesting.
wonder, I guess that happens in our music too, like the things we hear and we kind of goblind to a little bit and then people hear it.

(29:03):
Maybe so.
Can you guys tell me a little, sounds like you have a good story of how you guys gottogether and started making music together.
You want to share that a little bit?
Yeah, I guess we both have like different perspectives of it, but from mine, I met Mikefirst.

(29:28):
Like was saying, we went to NC State, so all of us were in Raleigh and they had like astudio inside the library that students could use.
So I was just pulling up there like all the time my freshman year.
And I think it was like right before the holidays or maybe around this time I met Mike andwe just started recording on some stuff.
You know, just kind of got to know each other that way.

(29:49):
And then a second semester I met Renzo because like one of my friends was like, bro, thisguy's like a crazy singer.
You have to come down here and come meet him right now.
And I was like, okay, cool.
So like I think I majored in computer science my first year.
So I was like, okay, I'm definitely leaving I don't like I don't care about this at all.
Whatever and get on there I meet him and he's got like this like childish Gambino t-shirton and it's got like all of the albums up until like I think awake and my love was on

(30:15):
there and We like this whole like this combo about that because we both love childishGambino and I think it just kind of Made us start recording stuff.
And then he Mike and I we start making music
We take a trip to California in 2018 and around that time I had been messaging somebody onInstagram just about guitars and random stuff like that and he happened to live in

(30:40):
California.
So when we got there we decided to meet and that was good blue and kind of joined up,started making some stuff and that's how the band came together.
How far back are we going?
How long you guys been doing this for?
Well, as a group?
You said what?
I think it's like six or seven years now.

(31:01):
Yeah, it's about six or seven years, yeah.
Individually though, we've kind of all had our own timeline with making music as well toothough.
But yeah.
Yeah, it takes a little time for that chemistry to build a bit too, where you start tounderstand each other and kind of intuit what they're going to do and how to react to what

(31:22):
they're playing.
Yeah, exactly.
I think that also, too, that was kind of like we just naturally had like a similar tastein music, especially when we were younger.
think that we just had like certain artists like Tyler, the creator, like Mac Miller, likejust whoever that we all just kind of knew that we liked.
And something about the inspiration and the vibe off of that kind of helped us find theright place.

(31:44):
You know what I'm saying?
Like land and sort of everybody have their own ideas and we can all be like, OK, we likethis.
And it moves towards like a more finished project.
Right.
Yeah, you're all bringing your own thing, but there's sort of a commonality that workswith it.
And even beyond the music too, feel like another thing we really did connect on that maybeis a part of the story is business too.

(32:07):
Because we were really interested in networking, meeting other people to create moreopportunities for whatever would be in our future.
And so I think we both saw that in one another that we were trying to play more shows andexpand our network outside of just our social group and just our local area.
So there's always been like a.

(32:28):
aspiration in that way between all of the members and I think we just have been pushing atthat.
Yeah.
It's a big part of it, right?
I think a lot of people that get into music find themselves in a lot of other things as aresult.
Like, you know, content creation, networking, like you said, or building websites, or Imean, there's so many things that I don't think I would ever have done if it wasn't

(32:57):
because it would help me get music out there and learn more about it and reach new people.
Exactly.
I was going to say, I feel like that kind of creates like a positive loop in your lifewhen you're able to like do that.
Because I think like Renzo was saying, we know we came together because we all like had apassion for music and we're willing to say, I'll learn whatever it takes in order for the
music to like do what I want it to do.

(33:18):
And I think that maybe also in our personal lives from doing that, we picked up someskills that then maybe got us a job in our personal life or like.
whatever we might have learned from a job or from school, we apply the music and it wouldjust kind of continue in sort of a way like that.
Yeah, you know, that's a good point.
I never really thought about that.

(33:39):
I teach high school English as my day job, you know, and a lot of people at my job thinkI'm like some tech whiz with the computers, you know, and I'm not.
just, know, basic stuff that you learn because you want to make music on your computer,right?
That's like why I know anything about computers.

(34:00):
I probably wouldn't even have a computer if I didn't.
play music.
Honestly, basic to you though, but to somebody else it probably seems like it's a wholenother coding language to try and understand how to connect the piano to the computer or
whatever it may be or connecting to it in your face.
Well, like some, thing I run into a lot is like their, their, like smart board won'tdisplay or the sound won't come through.

(34:26):
like, I know how to get the audio out of the computer into the thing.
You know, like it's like connecting my guitar to my amp.
Yeah.
It's, it's true.
It does happen.
And I always kind of laugh, but it's, there's a lot of transference and skills.
And I think even like personally, socially, like
When you guys are playing music together, for instance, you're both playing guitar, yousort of have to like have a conversation a little bit.

(34:52):
Yeah.
I mean, I've played with people that where they're just going, you know, they're doingtheir thing and you're just trying to like hop on their train and figure out how to fit
in, but they're not, you know, paying attention to what you're doing at all.
And then other people, you can tell they're like, all right, let's drive this traintogether and let's see what we can do.

(35:14):
And it's a lot like that with interacting with other people, kind of, you know, how arethey feeling?
to what I'm saying, how are they reacting, are they comfortable, are they stressed out?
I'm sure we all know people that don't pay any attention to that and other people too, andthey're difficult to be around.

(35:35):
Yeah, no, definitely.
It is kind of a good point.
feel like after a while you learn that music is also about listening as much as it isabout playing.
And like you said, in real life, that applies to lot of situations as well.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think it was Miles Davis, who's like, the most important notes are the notes Idon't play.

(35:57):
Something along those lines, you know?
And what impact a note has is often largely dependent on the notes around it and sometimesthe silence around it.
And what you might be doing on say like
bass or the guitar that makes this note really come through on this other instrument.

(36:22):
Nah, definitely not.
Like, I context, it's so huge.
And I feel like we're still trying to work towards a more perfect version of that too,because there's already so much going on with what we produce that we're, I feel like all
still trying to find that perfect balance of silence with choosing the right notes, youknow?
Yeah, because it's almost at odds, not even at odds with who we are.

(36:44):
But I think that we would never describe ourselves as minimalist.
We would definitely lean more towards maximalist.
And I think that a part of creating the beautiful music is really learning where to leavethose spaces of silence and knowing when to take away and carve away, really have a
subtracted process.
I think that that's kind of.

(37:04):
where our bread and butter is, is that we have a very subtractive process.
We try and throw as many layers and ideas on as we can, and then we start taking it downand taking it to its bare best idea, and then just keeping whatever little adornishments
we want to from that initial session.

(37:25):
Yeah, you build it up real big and then it's it's sculpting away at the stone to find thestatue.
Exactly.
It's one of my favorite ways to actually get my ideas into songs.
Cause like as an Ableton Live user, it's very easy to be in session view and just likebuild a loop up.

(37:48):
You have four or eight bars and you got this like huge thing happening and it's like,yeah, this part's great.
But then it's like, what?
So a lot of times stretch it out across that timeline in the arrangement view and thenstart taking things out, taking things out.
What does it sound like when just the drums and the bass play?

(38:08):
Like, that's kind of nice.
It makes it sound cool when the other parts come in.
And a lot of times, the first thing I recorded winds up in the trash.
Might be like a guitar I was strumming away on.
And since it was the first thing, you have to fill out the space.
So you're just strumming and strumming and strumming.
But then when it's in the whole context of the arrangement, it's like, it's too busy.

(38:32):
Like, it sounds better without it.
Yeah, no, I think that we've kind of gone through the same thing too.
It's like you build up maybe even like a sample or something you build off of somethingand then you end up just subtracting that because everything sounds better without it.
Hmm.
Especially when we listen to stuff on a loop for so long in the DAW.
It's like, I actually hate this now.

(38:52):
Let me turn this off and then just keep the new idea that I put on top of it.
Yeah.
So you'll sample something and then build on it, and then the sample winds up in thegarbage.
Sometimes that happens.
Yeah.
That's cool.
on purpose too, like trying to recreate the sample.
Like I feel like Kent has done that a lot.

(39:13):
Like find a sample, figure out what the loop is gonna be, but then just replay all theinstruments from the original sample and then you don't even need the sample anymore
because you have it right there.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah, you can sort of jam with the sample, come up with your own parts and yeah, that's afun way to do it.
It gives you a lot of, a lot of for me, like sampling, like if I'm going to sample like asong, which I don't think I've ever like done a track that did that, but I have done

(39:45):
things where I sample something, build on it and it gives me like the vibe.
Thank
You know, or the groove maybe, like the certain drum beat has a feel and I'm playing offof it.
And then I can take it out and I've got that feeling still, know, kind of that movement orwhatever it is, the flow that the song has.

(40:07):
That's kind of hard to recreate when you're programming things in.
doing it all by hand or whatever.
Yeah, not true.
I think that's also why we like to do the jamming thing too, because it kind of just likespreads the workout for one, but also it just gives you like the energy to go back and
forth on and eventually you'll find that final product.

(40:29):
Hmm.
can kind of see with maturity too how computers have become so integral to our lives everyday that we use the computer outside of musical work and it makes it to where when we get
to doing musical work we're like, actually let's just stick to doing the instruments.
That way we don't have to use technology too much and overuse it as a part of our day.

(40:50):
Yeah.
So I've got like a laptop that I use.
don't even, I don't have a desktop.
It's all just on the laptop.
So it's got like the track pad on it, you know, where you just kind of move your finger.
And sometimes I think about it.
I'm like, all I'm doing is this motion with my finger, right?
Just on that track pad.
And if I do it in a certain pattern, a song comes out.

(41:13):
If I do it in another pattern, like a Facebook page loads or like an email gets sent or.
Like it's just wild that these like little tiny motions we do with our hands can make atotally different result depending on what you're doing.
But sometimes the music work starts to feel just like sending an email and it's nice toget away from those little just finger wiggling motions and you know play a guitar, play a

(41:43):
keyboard or even like a midi controller, bang out like a beat on it or something.
Yeah, no, I definitely feel like that.
That's what's so beautiful about being like a, or being creative and even just not music,but like visual art too.
It's like the emotion, the human creativity will create an impact that could live on past,you know, our time on this planet and also make a huge impact on someone else's life.

(42:06):
So many songs have, you know, changed the world just off of words and repetition.
Sometimes, you know, when the spirit is low, I can start thinking about like music andwhat I'm doing.
And it's like, it feels really trivial, right?
You're making little noises and singing about like your problems or whatever you're doing,right?

(42:31):
You're making these silly songs.
And I can almost like get this feeling of like, what's the point?
What are we doing?
You know, like.
There's so many things going on in the world.
There's so much you could be doing to contribute and here you are, like tinkering withlike a kick drum, running through like some plugins or something.
But like you said, right?

(42:53):
Like I can't tell you how many times in my life, like when I felt like that, where it wasthe very thing that helped me through it was a song or a piece of music, or even just
playing it, playing the guitar, playing music myself.
It's, there's something really valuable to it.
You know, now we need that expression.
Yeah.
inherently human like you said it's truly expression, self-expression.

(43:16):
Sometimes you can't just like do it you can't let out what you need to just by sayingsomething or just by exercising or doing it you have to like create whether it's fashion,
it's art, it's music, whatever it could be.
I just think that that's like a huge part of life and I feel like me personally I couldn'teven imagine what my life would be like if I didn't create in some type of space.

(43:43):
I can say the same.
I think there'd be fewer smiles on my face.
Yeah, I definitely could see myself in more grades in my outfit choices.
A lot more suits.
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, definitely.
It helps a lot getting that out.

(44:04):
Because it's one of those things, and I think especially when you play live, when you playwith other people too, that you can just forget your problems for a little while.
It's not like they go away, but you kind of forget them.
And then...
When you're done, you come back and instead of looking at your problems from here, nowyou're over on the other side of it.

(44:25):
And it doesn't look so bad, you know?
It looks like this wide when you're staring at it, but then when you look at it from theside, it's like real thin and narrow, you know?
And time away from that and often something where you're losing yourself rather than justruminating on whatever it is that's bothering you for hours and hours.
It's really a healthy and important thing.

(44:48):
Yeah, no, I feel the same way.
like just being able to have that perspective shift is so important.
And it's kind of similar to like if you go work out, you know, it's like a good benefitfor your mental health.
And I feel like music and sports are kind of the same to me in that way, where it's like,sometimes I just need to do this just for the sake of like, letting my mind rest and think

(45:08):
about other things so I can come back to whatever it is in life and, you know, have thatnew perspective that I need.
Yeah, very true.
Cause you kind of can't be thinking about problems in the game or, you know, when you'reexercising, you're just trying to like survive and exert yourself and all that.

(45:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's a healthy expression of that.
think like we, we have, like we, we are the, descendants of people that like had to
fight to survive and had to really go through some crazy stuff to survive.
Now it's like, you know, I don't wake up in the morning wondering if I'm going to have tooutrun like some kind of carnivore.

(45:58):
But I still think we have that programming in us.
So it's really important to physically get that out and not just think about it all thetime.
Good point.
It's kind of like that with music though.
If you start ruminating on the track, like you were saying before, like give it 20 minutesand then leave it alone and come back later.

(46:19):
You almost need to do it for that too.
Cause if you don't, then it becomes the problem you're stressing about.
of...
I'm sorry.
yourself in the foot trying to perfect an idea when really you just needed to give it timeto cook and then come back to it with a fresh eye.
And I definitely have had to teach myself that in every creative fashion.

(46:41):
like sometimes it's better to just step away from a project and come back with a freshmind, fresh ear, fresh eye.
Part of the puzzle I'm trying to solve with myself is seeing ideas through.
I think a lot of people have hard drives full of unfinished ideas and And something thatreally does help me is working at this almost faster than I can go speed.

(47:11):
Just top speed, that part's good, next part, move on, go.
That's the chord progression, and just keep going.
and it, it's helpful, but there's also that other side of it.
Like you said, like sometimes he can't do that.
It needs to sit, it needs to wait and figuring out when it's time to, you know, be thekind of like just full speed ahead guy or the patient, like let it happen, let it grow

(47:41):
like a garden or something.
It's, hard to know when that is.
Do you guys like run into that?
Like you.
figure out ways to deal with creative blocks and challenges along the way.
Honestly, that happens to us all the time.
And sometimes there will be projects that are like four years old.
And one of us would just be like, yo, do you remember this song?

(48:03):
And then all of us would get excited about it.
It's like, let's finish that and put it out.
Just kind of letting things sit definitely.
I guess it's sort of like wine or something where it's like, it's got to age so that wayit can be perceived properly or whatever.
But, I mean, there's tons of times where I feel like we'll have an idea and we'll let thatthing rest forever and then we'll come back to it and that's what it needed was for us to

(48:25):
like mature as people or just to go through other experiences to give it like the contextthat it needs to be successful.
Hmm.
Yeah, think like creating things sometimes we can come from a place of insecurity too andthink that if you don't put out your idea fast enough, it's like, somebody else is going
to steal this idea or somebody else is going to do something and then everyone won't careabout this idea when I'm ready to share it.

(48:50):
But I also.
I don't know who said this quote, but it's like, it's not about who did it first, it'sabout who did it right.
And so you can sit on an idea.
Somebody could have already had the idea first, but just because somebody did it firstdoesn't mean that their idea is superior or subverts yours.
Right.
Yeah.
Because only you are going to do it your way.

(49:14):
You know, that's kind of our, superpower we all have is, you know, you were you.
Yeah.
And even if like there's, I mean, of course there's like flaws built into that.
There's things I can't do exactly right, but I find a weird way around that.

(49:36):
And sometimes that's the...
style and sometimes that makes it more relatable because it's real and embracing that canbe tough.
like you said, insecurity, think is maybe is what the word you said.
And it requires so much vulnerability too, especially when you're working with otherpeople to, you have to be able to go there and like kind of let yourself be exposed in

(50:03):
front of other people.
What's that?
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
I get the feeling though you guys have been through this enough times, long enoughtogether, that you have some comfort with each other in that.

(50:23):
Yeah, I can definitely say that.
Yeah, I definitely think we do.
On a professional level and on a friendship level, for sure, there's that connectionthat's able to help us to keep creating.
But honestly, as far as process goes, I feel like we're always rediscovering it, too.
We figure out one way, and it works, to create a collection of ideas.
But then we want to make new ideas.

(50:43):
And we're like, actually, we need to remove the campus.
And this time, we're painting on the floor, just because we need to switch up the way thatwe go about creating our ideas.
Has anything like that happened recently that you can think of?
Anything you've tried together or?
Hmm good question.

(51:06):
I mean honestly maybe
that need a fresh start.
the new perspective of like jamming to create the songs as opposed to like like normallyit would be like he might have a beat or I might have a beat and like a verse or just part
of a song and then we bring it to the table and everybody likes it and records on it or wedon't and it just gets shelved and I kind of feel like as of late we've had a lot of

(51:29):
sessions of just like any record will jam we'll see what comes out of it and then I thinkthat gives a song a bit more freedom of like where it can go.
instead of being like locked into the box and to whoever originally produced it and whatthey made.
But yeah.
the spot like nothing is really jumping to me but I do feel like sometimes we'll employlike a found footage type or found audio type of strategy to our music like how we said

(51:57):
about the song where we sampled the walking sign where it's like wait like we were justwalking and we heard it and we were like that'd be cool I don't remember which one of us
said it it might have been Kent it might have been Mike but said that would be cool in thesong let's record it and then we just went to the studio that day and literally put it
into the song and we're like that's exactly what
So sometimes it's just like we hear something, we'll be out eating and we maybe hear asample or something playing on the radio in a restaurant.

(52:21):
That's like a culture none of us are familiar with.
And then that will create a whole nother idea.
Just because we paused in that moment and we're like, we need to say this now.
We can't miss out on this.
Because this is giving my brain like that itch when you know you're about to have a goodidea.
Hmm.
Yeah.
Being like aware of that is important.

(52:42):
Having that ear open all the time, right?
Like somebody decided, Hey, that'd be cool.
The sample.
Hey, do that.
Yeah.
It's mixing it up like that is good with the band I play with, with the guys I'm with,we'll often like I play guitar and my buddy Alex plays bass and my friend Chris plays

(53:04):
drums.
And sometimes Chris and I will switch.
He'll get on the guitar and I'll play the drums and there's vocal mics on them all.
And I do most of singing in the band on guitar though.
But when I get on the drums, like the only way I can really sing when I'm playing thedrums, just because of my limited abilities in both areas is like together.

(53:29):
So it becomes very percussive.
It's like, the words come out as I'm playing.
So
Brown bag at that point.
Yeah, it becomes like a rhythm thing.
totally different types of songs come out of that.
That I just wouldn't do strumming a guitar, playing guitar chords or something like that.

(53:49):
Because my whole body is trying to hold this rhythm.
So the voice has to kind of follow.
But it's a fresh, yeah, and it's really fun.
It's exciting.
And it also kind of removes some of the like pressure, know, like
because I don't really play drums in the band, know, so what?

(54:10):
And, you know, if someone else starts singing, it's like, yeah, I'm not the singer, but,you know, we're just having fun.
And it's not serious anymore, you know?
You guys were saying one thing that we're all kind of drawn to each other with was thatyou had like sort of like this business mind, this like kind of taking it seriously.

(54:34):
But there's also...
a point like with your music and I feel this in the stuff I've been listening to is thatyou're kind of not so serious at the same time with it.
Like you're kind of light about it at some time.
Yeah, we definitely have had to learn like when to be serious, when to just let it be fun,because there definitely can come a point where you know you're hammering down too much,

(55:02):
you know you're trying to make everything too rigid, and then it just takes the fun out ofit you know, and I can say that I feel like maybe we've almost gotten into that corner and
then we pulled ourselves out of it at the last second and kind of figured out like when isthe time to be in which bag, but yeah, no I think that's good assessment.
think that we're able to still remember to have fun because whenever we all get together,it just already seems like a moment to celebrate that we're all together to like commune

(55:30):
and just whether it's create or whether it just to share each other's like space, itbrings an excitement to us.
I think that where the seriousness comes in is just really having wisdom from howmusicians have been treated historically and just always keeping that in mind so that we
protect ourselves that way we're never like taking advantage of

(55:51):
or put ourselves in a situation where we're like, I don't like how this is.
It seems one sided for one person.
We just try and make sure we always get what we're worth.
Yeah.
We're lucky, right, in that we had people that were, totally exploited by managers orrecord labels.

(56:12):
These cautionary tales that some of the biggest artists ever, too.
I was watching the Elvis movie that came out not too long ago.
Elvis was in really bad financial shape at one point.
You're like, what?
Elvis?
How does...
it's all about the image.
So they just project an image of success or wealth and luxury.

(56:37):
But behind closed doors, the car's getting repossessed and the lights are turning on.
Yeah, like the manager's taking way more than they're supposed to.
I mean, there's so many stories like that that have happened.
Now at least we kind of have some sense of some of the potholes that are in the road thatwe can drive around.

(57:00):
You we have like headlights at least on our car now.
They were just trying off clips half the time.
Exactly, yeah.
I feel like that's kind of why we feel like we have a responsibility to like holdourselves accountable and try our best not to put ourselves in situations that reflect
that or just eliminate options for us, you know?

(57:21):
Right.
Yeah, it's true.
It's, it's, you know, sometimes it can be very tempting.
It sounds like a great offer or, or it'll be great exposure.
You know, that's, that's a dangerous word to hear from anybody.
It'll be great exposure.
Yeah.
That is like a shyster word.

(57:43):
Exactly, yeah.
Whenever you hear that, it's like it's time to start listening a little bit closer.
But I feel like we've kind of learned to navigate those type of situations and also stilltry and be like, I'm sure you can tell from us, like we're really friendly and we always
are down to work with other people who are like creative and constantly trying to likeexpand our network too.

(58:03):
But I think we try and just be smart about the way we do it.
One thing my mom has said before, it's like it doesn't...
cost anything for a candle to light another candle.
So we're always down to uplift other people and try and give a light to them, just likehow we expect, or not expect, but we hope other people feel the same for us.

(58:25):
You said it doesn't cost anything for a candle to light another.
That's great.
Yeah.
And in fact, it I know moms, right?
Like we never listened to them when we were kids, but now we're like, yeah, damn.
sense.
calling back for the advice.

(58:45):
Yeah.
But in fact, like in that metaphor, it actually only benefits that candle because now likethe goal of illuminating the room, you know?
she that's kind of the whole idea is that it's just making it brighter for everyone.
So it really is only going to help us all out.
Yeah, yeah, it's so true in music, you if there's like a group you guys have a show withor something.

(59:11):
The shows only get better when you work together, when you lift each other up, you know,because now your fans are exposed to them and their fans are exposed to you and even
becomes like a little bit of a movement that starts to happen.
And, you know, there's so many of those different cities in the world, Detroit, like
Seattle, New York punk rock.

(59:33):
It wasn't one group that was just like, and everyone followed.
was like they all came up together.
And then maybe somebody kind of gets the lift off, but everyone else comes along for theride half the time.
Yeah, it doesn't take away from the contribution from all the members too.
It's always gonna be like a Nirvana or something, but it doesn't mean there's no OasisSoundgarden and a ton of other artists that are within that same realm.

(01:00:04):
Yeah, a younger version of myself would feel like jealous or, you know, little like, whatabout me?
Why can't I do that?
But as, as I've seen, you know, it, anyone that has a success or victory in this is justproof that it's possible.

(01:00:25):
And being aligned with that, being around that is only only benefits you learn from it.
Sometimes it.
directly benefits you where you get invited to be with them, play with them, whatever itis.
But just the fact that anybody can do it is uplifting.

(01:00:46):
And that I think fuels the creativity and makes me want to come back and try again andkeep working at it.
It's like inspiration.
I feel like it's just best to be around people who are actually trying to pursue the samething as you, because then you can help each other, you guys have ideas you can share, and
like you said, everybody goes up, somebody eventually will go up as well.

(01:01:07):
It's gonna spread the wealth.
really is a blessing like you said just to even be able to create or like that we havecreativity and are able to make this music is a blessing in it in and of it of itself and
something Kent has definitely reminded me of before too is when we first moved to LosAngeles we're like networking meeting a lot of people making tons of new music and just

(01:01:30):
really enjoying our lives and he's like maybe this is the moment that we've been like
looking forward to and always imagining for ourselves and we're living it right now.
We need to just appreciate this moment for what it is because you know we're buildingourselves up and thinking we're aspiring for something else but what if this was really
what our calling was.

(01:01:51):
So was your move from North Carolina to California as a group with Music in Mind?
Yeah?
was 2022 and we were all like, it like, you know, still post COVID and we were just like,we can't be in the same place.
We needed a change of scenery.
So I think it was, what was it?
July, August, September, each one of us moved like one by one.

(01:02:15):
And then we all ended up here.
Wow.
think had there not been COVID, it really might have even been like a 2020 move, but thatjust shifted all time lines.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What a gap in time, right?
Everything just went crazy.
But that's, think, you know, that kind of leap of faith thing.

(01:02:40):
but, but the presence of mind to realize like, Hey, this is, we're doing this.
We're the worst thing that can happen is that you guys will be like 55, 60 years oldlooking back on life.
Wasn't it cool?
We gave that thing a shot.
At least being able to say that instead of being like, what if we tried?

(01:03:02):
I don't want to be saying that.
just moved, you know, took a chance when we could.
really feel like we're that's, we even have a lyric literally where it's like we risk itall on passion.
But I honestly feel like we really do.
We're just the type where we can't live our life and think, what if we had done this?
We just have to do it because we would hurt so much from having that curiosity in the backof our mind questioning the life we abandoned or like the goal we abandoned, really.

(01:03:28):
Hmm.
Well, you know, we have this idea of like, there's like secure paths in life, but there'sno security in life.
mean, you know, you just never know what the hell's going to happen.
And, even the paths that we're told when we're kids that are secure, you know, go tocollege, get a job.

(01:03:50):
Like you do that and then you realize there's no jobs, you know, or like there's, there'sno guarantees to any of it.
So to not do what you love, to not take a swing, you definitely won't enjoy it that way,not taking your chances.

(01:04:11):
Exactly.
But to do it, that's gotta be just such a thrill to do that with your buddies and be like,here we are, new place.
Because you know each other, you've already got a little group now, a group of friends,which I'm sure bonds you even more in that situation.
it definitely helps with creating the stuff with that premise of friendship, but then likeyou were saying on trips or playing shows, just so many memories and experiences go into

(01:04:40):
that that are like, that's just contributing to the friendship at that point, you know?
That has nothing to do with the music after then.
And I think on a layer beyond too, it helps knowing that you're not crazy for wanting topursue your passion or your creativity and that there's other people who also are trying
to do the same thing or feel like that similar drive in themselves.

(01:05:02):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, people that remind you that you'd be crazy not to follow the things you love inlife.
It's amazing.
Like you said, it's such a privilege in of itself, right?
Like this is, these are the problems we're solving in this point in human history.
We have that luxury to be trying to make songs, you know, trying to get our music outthere.

(01:05:27):
It is such a, if...
If we didn't have it, we'd be dying for it.
You know, so it's, it's a great to have and that we live in such a good time for that kindof stuff.
And, know, you guys can go out, play, put out music.
can go, I can set up my own tour if I want to.

(01:05:48):
can, I don't need a record label to get it on streaming service.
Anything, YouTube, like I can just make a video.
People could see it.
Yeah.
wasn't too long ago we didn't even have that.
It's inspiring.
our lifetime.
Yeah, that's pretty interesting.
That's crazy.
There would be no way for us to even share a music video if YouTube didn't exist.

(01:06:11):
I feel like that's been the hallmark of our whole story though is DIY, literallyeverything we've done.
And I heard you mention it earlier during our conversation about how you've had to pick upa lot of different skills and like wear different hats, video editor or like content
creator or whatever it may be just because.
That's what it required to want to this, this release music in this day and age.

(01:06:34):
And I think we just have had to fall in line in the same way as pick up different skills.
None of us know how to master music.
Well, somebody is going to have to learn how to mix and master now because we needsomebody to do it.
every single time.
Yeah, I can remember in high school, we had a band, a couple other kids had bands inschool, and one of them came out with a website.

(01:06:57):
We were like, what?
A website?
Like, how did you even do that?
And they're like, I just figured it out.
And they're like, OK.
So then we figured it out.
To see someone else could do that, we figured it out.
We made one.
And then we realized like, could press our own CDs.
Like if we just pull together our band fund, you know, buy some shows like we can make ourCD.

(01:07:22):
And we did that.
And it was like, how'd you do that?
It's like we just did it.
You know, we just decided to do it and sent it away.
And, you know, it was so crazy to like have that power that you know, and.
But it kind of took other people seeing, like, other people like me did that.

(01:07:45):
They're nothing different.
They don't have superpowers, you know?
And that's kind of like what I'm saying about, like, when people finish songs, put outalbums, and take a tour, have a good show, whatever, it's just proof that it's not
impossible.
And...
I definitely agree.
feel like it's just you see somebody do it and then it just inspires you to go and pick itup yourself and the next person sees you do it and it builds up and then everybody's kind

(01:08:12):
of doing their thing.
There's something psychological and I think it's the story of like the four minute mile.
I think it's four, I don't know, maybe it's five.
Do people run miles faster than four minutes?
Jordan's a little kid, so I don't know anything about that.
I'm really not sure.

(01:08:34):
want to say five or six might be average.
I think six is average.
I don't think that's average.
That's pretty extreme, but...
sounds right to me.
But whatever the time was, I think it was four minutes, like, people were convinced, like,human beings can't do that.
It's just physically impossible.

(01:08:55):
Until somebody did it.
And then other people started doing it after that person did it.
It was like, we all had this kind of limit on ourselves that was not real, but we justdecided and agreed.
And then boom, next thing you know, we're doing it.
And there's so many things like that, like,

(01:09:16):
like airplanes, this is impossible, I can't do it.
And then, you know, like the Wright brothers do it and whatever it was like 1919 orwhatever.
And then like 40 years later, we're on the moon.
It's the yeah, exactly.
It's it's great to it's a much more healthy way to look at it that way than like, thoseWright brothers did it.

(01:09:39):
How come it wasn't me?
I hate them.
You know, all that kind of stuff.
But yeah, things I guess you learn from music, right?
Things that life lessons you can take away from it.
Never know what it can apply to later in life.
Yeah.

(01:10:00):
So what are you guys up to now?
You're back home.
So you were in New York just a few weeks ago.
And now you're back home.
Any plans for now or take time?
we have a couple of shows in November that we're preparing for.
so, you know, carpool.
is like the group that you've been introduced to, but we also do like some stuff outsideof there.

(01:10:24):
And we have a show with one of our collaborators, Arlina, and that's a little group wehave called The Nod Theory.
So we'll be doing a show for that.
I'm pretty sure another carpool show in November.
So getting on stage, practicing, seeing what's going on with that, and maybe some newvideos and other things.
We'll see.
Nice.

(01:10:45):
some new accompaniment to the music that we've already released and like some new likevisuals to go along with that.
Just trying to keep pushing that.
I think just finish the year strong too.
I feel like we've had a really good year so far and I've like been or I I'll say just formyself I'm proud of us for what we've been able to accomplish just in three quarters of
the year so I want to see what we do with this last little quarter.

(01:11:08):
Hmm.
Right.
Now that's fun.
So adding the new element to the live show, some stuff, some stuff for people to see.
think it's.
around your way.
So hopefully they'll be one that's close enough.
Yeah, yeah, keep me posted, please.
I think what you guys do is cool.
It's nice to see live musicians playing, and especially in a hip hop genre, you to see youguys doing so much melodic stuff and musical.

(01:11:41):
It's funny, guitar music has really taken a huge dip in the last 15 years or whatever itis.
But where I'm hearing more guitar than ever is a lot of hip hop.
Like it's in there, it's in the mix.
Maybe sometimes it's the samples, but there's a lot of like interesting guitar playing.
And I'm starting to see like the kids at school, like coming back around to guitar alittle bit, you know, where it was like no one cared about guitar.

(01:12:08):
And so it's fun and I'm happy that you guys are doing your part in that just to, it justspices up the genre, you know, keeps things interesting.
and gives, especially the next generation too, something to look forward to.

(01:12:29):
It's a cool sound you guys have.
I'm enjoying it.
Yeah, I appreciate that.
And I feel like that is kind of really cool to see a lot of people circling back.
Because I know what you mean where it seemed like it was not super popular for like acouple of years.
And now it seems like there's been a bit of an explosion around it again.
So we're excited about that too.

(01:12:51):
I'm kind of hoping that, you know, as things are getting a little weird with AI, you know,AI artists, I've even gotten emails for this podcast, do you want to interview our AI
artist?
I'm like, not really.
Like, I don't know.
Like, how's that going to work?

(01:13:11):
But I'm hoping that people
start to really appreciate the human element, you know, and in a lot of the things thatyou guys are doing from whether it's the instrumentation or like finding cool samples that
are so unique to that particular moment in time and incorporating that into music, all thestuff that humans bring to the table that is interesting.

(01:13:35):
I'm hoping that we start swinging in that direction a little because maybe for a whilethere things were getting real clean and polished and now it's
looks like it could get even more so.
But there's kind of nothing.
thing we always try and remove from our music.
Like you said, the human element, the imperfection of our music is really what makes itspecial.

(01:13:59):
hopefully we're able to keep that alive and I think there's no way AI can ever recreatethat.
Just the imperfection.
Well, when I first got a computer to make music, I was so excited.
I'm going to put my drums on the grid and I'm going to have everything to be right.
I can get the takes perfect.
And once I finished the song, I was like, what's wrong with this?

(01:14:23):
Everything's perfect.
Why don't I like it?
What's missing?
But it's that kind of stuff, that feel and life.
I took life out of it.
Too many takes, you get it too clean, eventually it won't even sound like what you weregoing for.
It's crazy.
you miss the kind of point which is to have something with expression and life and soul.

(01:14:47):
I think you guys are doing cool stuff.
So for people listening, carpool, but the A is the number four.
Are those zeros actually?
I'm just noticing.
see, now you're really mixing it up.
So imagine the word carpool, but the A is a four and the O's are zeros.

(01:15:08):
So that's what they need to think.
It came up as I was searching, the four was enough for Google to know what I meant.
We told you we like the business, so I'm glad our SEO is working.
haha
Yeah.
Well, you know, it's always a consideration, right?
Like if the name of your band was, I don't know, like...

(01:15:30):
like a really common word, like it's un-Google-able.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, like how does that come across on Google?
So even though like the word carpool is common when you start putting those numbersinstead of the letters, then it's like, okay, you must mean this.
So smart way to, it keeps it like a word people can understand without making itun-Google-able, if that's a word.

(01:16:02):
So you got your website, is carpool.com, again with the four and the zeros.
You guys are on social media.
I'm gonna put all that stuff in the links for the show.
Anywhere you want people to go other than that to check you guys out.
Definitely check out the YouTube page.
We post all of our videos, sometimes some blogs.

(01:16:23):
It's just an assortment of content there.
Right.
I'll put the link to the New York show that you guys just did too.
Cool, thanks.
Thank Yeah, we're trying to post more of those live shows and then just post more vlogstoo.
So if you're not catching us on YouTube, probably Instagram is where we'll be at withupdates.
Cool.

(01:16:43):
It's important, again, you bringing the human side out, making people interested in youguys.
I've so many of favorite bands, like after a while, I just like the band.
I just like the people, and I'm interested in them.
So again, great time to be able to do that, nowadays?

(01:17:03):
Exactly.
Introduce them to everybody.
Just kind of let people all like this verse from this person and whatever their favoriteparts are, you know?
And that's just how they develop.
Yeah.
here comes Renzo's verse.
Awesome.
He's got a cool flow.
Nice.
Well, thank you guys for coming on and everyone listening, check out Carpool.

(01:17:27):
Thank you, Brian.
Appreciate you for having us.
for having us Brian, seriously, it's a great time chatting.
Cool, we did it.

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