Bardo: Beauty School Dropout, Passion, Producing, and How to Cope With OCD Anxiety & Depression.

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Austin Seltzer (00:01):
Welcome to the Grounds for Success podcast.
I'm your host, austin Siltzer.
Together we'll unveil the keysto success in the music industry
.
Join me as I explore my guest'slife stories and experiences to
uncover practical insights tohelp you align with your goals
more effectively.
Hey Copy Drinkers, welcome tothe Grounds for Success podcast.

(00:32):
Today on the episode I have oneof my closest collaborators and
a great friend, bardo.
Bardo is in the band BeautySchool Dropout and if you
haven't listened to their music,you really really need to.
I love it.
I get to mix and mastereverything that's coming out now
, and I have been for a littlewhile now.
I love these guys to death.

(00:53):
Today's conversation, you willsee, is hilarious at times and
incredibly insightful at others.
Bardo's a hilarious dude andour chemistry on camera and mic
was fun to listen back to tomake this intro.
So I can't wait for you to hearthat At a young age, bardo was
already into music production.
I think he said either fromthree or four years old.

(01:18):
He was sitting with a laptopand it could have been a little
bit later, but he was producingin the back of a classroom while
his mom taught at Cal Poly and,like you know, I mean he was
just put into music from such ayoung age, like this is what he
wanted to do, so his skillsobviously are ridiculous by this
point in his life.

(01:39):
We are going to talk about howbeauty school dropout has had
such a meteoric rise in such ashort amount of time, kind of
like all of the intricacies ofthe members and you know how
they cultivated their talentsand their network and whenever

(02:00):
they came together as a band.
It took two years to get tothis point and before this
interview they hadn't gone outon tour and before this
interview they hadn't gone outon tour with Blink 182 and
Turnstile.
And at this point they have buttwo years it took to get to
that and that's it.
I think it was a perfectculmination of so many different
things.
That really just didn't includeluck.

(02:22):
It included all of the hardwork that they put in before
meeting each other and then, ofcourse, after, we're going to
talk about beauty schooldropouts brand and how the fans
resonate with this band becauseof the message they give off.
I think that's so important tohow big they have gotten.
We are going to talk about areally great story on how your

(02:43):
energy makes sure day and howthat came into Bardo's life and
how he uses it now daily.
We're going to talk about afunny story about how Bardo
almost got kicked out of BelmontUniversity in Nashville and we
are going to talk about how OCD,anxiety and depression are

(03:03):
something that Bardo deals with,but especially out on the road
whenever they're on tour.
It just amplifies thosefeelings and how he deals with
that.
It kind of goes hand in handwith how energy makes your day.
We're going to talk aboutLauren Gray and how he met her
and how he was the EP on heralbum that I got to mix and
master with him.
Obviously, it brought us muchcloser as collaborators and just

(03:27):
really knowing what each otheris looking for and what they do,
and I think it really cementedour relationship because it's
just so many tracks afteranother and it wasn't something
that was from his band.
So I mean, it's just adifferent angle, a different
lens, and I love that album.

(03:47):
And we're also going to talkabout the success or grounds for
success, future, like what itcould look like, and he just
spit balls of ideas and Ithought it was really fun, so we
included that.
All right, let's getcaffeinated.
Bardo, super awesome to haveyou here.

Bardo (04:07):
Hey, thanks.
Thanks for having me.
Of course you're my best man,that's right, I might be the
best man in your wedding.
You don't have to answer that.

Look, here's my actual philosophy on that.
It's fucked up to choose a bestman or a best two ever Like is
there, do you actually have abest friend?
It's a lot of pressure.

Bardo (04:28):
No, I don't actually thought about this.
Recently, I think I randomlyhad this thought I don't know
why I was in Texas, that we wereplaying a show in Texas, and I
was like, had this thought, I'mlike I want my manager, alex, to
be the best man in my weddingand I'm like I told him, like
hey, I had this thought I'm notgetting married, like I'm not,

(04:49):
like there's no like I don'tknow.
I think it was more just thevibe.
I was, like you know,daydreaming about shit Like Dan
he would be.
I was really he'd be a goodbest man, because he's so good
at like orchestratingshenanigans and like the day and
the best man.
That's like theirresponsibility is like being the
orchestrator of the day andlike the vibes.

(05:09):
You know what I mean.
That's kind of part of it and Ifeel like he would just be
really good at that.

That's actually so interesting.
Like I've never thought of itthat way, I've always thought of
it as the best friend.
Damn, I've been in a box thiswhole time.

Bardo (05:21):
Leave it to me think about, logistically, who would
conquer the duties the best.
But, I mean also, alex is oneof my best friends in like an
entire world, like, so he'sdefinitely I would probably.
I thought about that and also Ifeel like that's an easy cop
out.
The easiest cop out is like I'mgonna choose my dad, or like my
brother's a family member and Icould see choosing my dad.

(05:42):
I'm gonna have multiple bestman's.
That was my philosophy.
I was like do I have?

to choose one, why can't all of them be my best
men Best?

Bardo (05:50):
men, yes, Well, you kind of have your panel, you get your
like your board of directors upthere with you, but also like
why can't I have some women upthere Like if I have some best
women friends, True?
I don't understand yeah wegotta call someone about this.
Okay, let's get coffee.

Okay first sip, first sip reaction.
So I made Bardo basically myI'm just gonna laugh and call it
famous black coffee mixed withunsweetened oat milk that I
whipped, you know I thought youwhipped it, I whipped it, I
whipped it into shape.

Bardo (06:27):
Okay, and how you?
You asked me.
You said hey, bardo, do youlike your coffee for the utility
or do you like your coffee forthe taste?
What did I say?

Well, you said that you don't like the taste of
black coffee, but you love theutility, so it's like this but I
like the taste of coffee whenit's paired with a creamy
substance.
Oh yeah, that's true.

Bardo (06:53):
And it becomes nutty to me.

Yeah.

Bardo (06:56):
Nice and nutty and a little like chocolatey.

I felt like you had options as to what creamer
to put in there.

Bardo (07:02):
Yeah, this is wow, this is busting, busting as a seams.
This is really good this is areally good coffee.
I wish you could try this.
Well, maybe one day.
Grounds for success Busting.

Damn, I'm going to take that clip, that's for
sure.

Bardo (07:27):
Insert zipper.

Busting.
Wow, damn, I need to have youas my marketing director for
Grounds for Success.

Bardo (07:36):
To be honest, yes, you do , and I would love to be that.
I would love to fill that roleand that hole for you.

So yeah, is everything in the innuendo, or
am I just fucked up in the head?

Bardo (07:46):
Pretty much that's me.
I can't take anything seriously, but that's also why I think
I'd be probably a good marketingdirector, because I think you
got to be a little fucking weirdto have everyone wants crazy
ideas and you got to be a littlebit crazy to give crazy ideas.

I think to be an artist too.

Bardo (08:03):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's really it.
To be honest, that's a cognatequote, but I stole it, you know.

Yeah, he's the kind of crazy that I don't know
we need.
Yeah, he's a little off therocker.

Bardo (08:17):
He's a little canceled right now, but it's okay yeah.

So, to rewind all the way back, let's go all
the way back.
Okay, how was life growing up?

Bardo (08:31):
You grew up in slow.
Yes, I grew up in San LuisObispo, california.
If you don't know what that is,it's not St Louis.
I'm not saying St Louis, I'msaying San Luis Obispo, and it's
three hours north of LA, up thecoast, basically Central Coast
of California.
If you look at a map ofCalifornia, it's right in the.

(08:52):
Have you been there?

No, I've always wanted to.

Bardo (08:54):
It's basically right in the if you're driving to San
Francisco, you drive through it.
Okay, it's basically how todescribe it.
It's imagine Santa Barbara.
You've been to Santa Barbara,Santa Barbara, which is the MILF
capital of the world, second towell, san Diego, different type
of MILFs in San Diego.
What's the difference?

San.

Bardo (09:14):
Diego MILFs, I would say, are a little more beachy.
I would say there's possiblymore.
It's like more rich MILF vibesin San Diego In kind of like
almost Trump MILF vibes, butlike low key, like low key and
they all.
It's just it's a vibe.
It's a kind of a vibe.

(09:34):
You see, it's like rich surferdad works for Rip Curl or some
shit, and then that littleprodigy son who's kind of a
little fucking douchebag, who'slike seven and is really good at
surfing, and you kind of wantto kick him in the nuts but you
can't because he's seven, buthe's kind of a cock and he
bullies you and you're an adult.

Why do I have an exact image Right?

Bardo (09:56):
Super right.

Right.

Bardo (09:58):
And he's like and he's tan.
And then there's the mom with anice trucker hat, super milfy,
big old mom car Did they votefor?

Trump?
We don't know.
Does she bedazzle her Von Dutchhat?

Bardo (10:12):
Yeah, there's no, these are more like like cash, like,
oh, just grab my quick littlelike fucking Roxy hat you know,
out for the day to get coffeewith the gals.
You know that's gonna I'mstereotyping so hard, but that's
San Diego milfs.
I would say Santa Barbara milfsare a little more, I would say
a little more like yoga.
I think as you go north inCalifornia, the spectrum of

(10:34):
hippie becomes a lot moreprominent.
It's like, it's like the, theCalifornia, you know, liberal
spectrum.
It's like I feel like SouthernCalifornia is actually a lot
more Republican than it's weird.
Which is you think, oh, beachySouthern California, carefree,
you know rock and roll, but it'slike there's actually a lot of

(10:56):
Trump supporters.
Oh yeah, like that's kind ofweird.
And then you go up north andthen all of a sudden there's
hippies.
And then that's where I land inthe hippie realm.
Are you a hot?

I'm a milf.
Yoga, I am a milf.

Bardo (11:12):
Yeah, a lot of people don't know that, but I actually
am a milf, that's what Iidentify as.

Yeah, I saw you on the brochure for a yoga place
, a facility up there.
I just yeah, it wasn't.

Bardo (11:24):
You really looked into the work that's actually.
I was really proud of that one,yeah.

Dude you're.
You were bar none like the beststretching milf.

Bardo (11:33):
Thank you, I really appreciate that.
Thank you, yeah, the lesserknown aspect of my career but,
you know, important nonetheless.
But anyways, I divulge I'm fromSan Luis, california.
That whole thing, holy shit.
Oh my God, this podcast isgoing to be wild.
I'm from San Luis, californiaand it's it's kind of Santa

(11:57):
Barbara and it's like SantaBarbara, but it's a college town
.
I'm just going to fucking plowthrough the rest of this.
My life growing up was not avery big music scene in San Luis
, but there was a creative sceneon the list, but it's a small
town.
There were like 20,000 peopleish, and a lot of those people

(12:18):
are college kids.
There was a college that wethink has like a 20,000 person
attendance.
I could be massively misquotingthese numbers.
If I am, I'm sorry, fake news,but anyways, the point is it's
like the, the scene that I grewup in was pretty small and like
it was me and like my handful offriends that I kind of were
like the music scene in our inour high school, and so it was

(12:40):
kind of weird thing to go fromthat and like you're like the
big fish and a really small pondof like yeah, like I'm doing
music, whatever.
And then I moved to Nashvillefor college.
I went to Belmont University, asmall private Christian
university which I'm kind of theanti-Christ so like me showing
up there was like awesome, and Ionly got kicked out of school.

(13:01):
I had to like fucking work myway back in.
We got to cover that at somepoint.
We'll get in there, we'll getthere.
Yeah, stupid shit, nothing bad.
Like just just me vibing, Imean just the anti-Christ doing
his thing, and then they weren'tsuper into that, and then yeah,
and then I ended up droppingout and moved to LA.

(13:22):
But like going from Nashville,from San Luis Obispo, was like a
crazy jump because it just waslike oh shit, there's more than
like 12 kids doing music andlike all of a sudden you're
thrown in this world ofcompeting with everyone for
something.
And I think that was the firsttime I learned like okay, cool,

(13:42):
like I'm looking around me andthere's peers I have to, like
it's not just like I make a beatfor and like try to impress a
cute girl, like at school orlike whatever.
It's like oh shit, no, I'm likethis is like career shit and
this is like I'm.
You know, if I don't crush this, there's three other people who
were in the same classes ordoing the same shit, going to
the same parties that are goingto crush it, and I'm pretty

(14:06):
competitive in that sense.
But I'm not competitive.
But I am competitive.
I just love to like do the bestwork I can.
I love to like, I love to crushopportunities.
And I think that just I kind offlipped a switch and I was like,
okay, cool, and it was a great,like kind of stomping ground

(14:26):
for then LA, we moved out here.
I was like and I honestly kindof built a network somewhat of
like I learned the like, thelogistics and like I've had to
do sessions and run sessions andhow to, like, you know,
navigate someone in the musicindustry.
So when I came out to LA, I waslike, okay, a little more
easeful, I'm still navigating,still learning how to do things.

(14:48):
I'm still figuring out how thefucking, how the hell, to make
songs.
I think that's the beauty ofmusic is, like we don't ever
stop learning.
We're always figuring out newways to do it Absolutely yeah.

So to go back and talk about your, your family
life growing up, how did yourmom and dad and maybe the music
that they listened to and justlike things that you were
subjected to early in life- Goodquestion yeah, how have they
kind of like continued to, Idon't know, make Bart a who he

(15:22):
is?

Bardo (15:23):
To me.
I owe so much my success.
To my parents, I would say,because I think early on music
was never seen as this thing,that like, oh, like, are you
sure you want to do music?
It was always just like yeah,of course you're doing music.
When I was one, my dad mighthave told you the story already,
because you've met him and heloves the story.

Oh, I already know the one yeah.

Bardo (15:46):
Yeah, it's when I was one I got a neighbor, came over and
just like gave me a ukulelerandomly.
He's like, wait, hold on, I havea gift.
And he just came over randomlyand gave me a ukulele and I held
it properly and started jammingon it and I think I just was
kind of always fixated on musicand rhythms and sounds and like
creating sounds and like likejust enthralled, like how the

(16:09):
fuck do you make these thingscome to life and then become
songs?
You know, and obviously when Iwas one I don't like remember
this entirely, but I do rememberand I remember always being
around music and like rhythmsand whatnot.
And my parents will tell meit's like I would just kind of

(16:30):
write these songs.
I could barely speak, but I'dcome up.
I had a song called 98.
98.
98.
And I would just like yellwords but strum this thing and
like, and I just like the wordsthat I fucked with.
I would just kind of like strumand sing, but like from a very
young age and then as I gotolder, I just it never really
went away.

(16:50):
It was always just like, yeah,I wanted to do music and like,
and then I think, just I Idistinctly remember hearing the
song called he War by Cat Power.
If you know Cat Power, I don'tKind of a how do you describe
Cat Power?
They're like it's one woman Ithink she believes she
identifies as a woman but andit's kind of full key but like

(17:14):
grungy but in just very likebeautiful music.
But I think early on, I believelike her first whole album was
made like on GarageBand withGarageBand loops and actually
the song I think it actually theriff in the song actually
literally was a GarageBand loop,because when I was a little kid
I would fuck her on GarageBand.
I'm like, wait, I know thatloop from GarageBand that's
awesome.
But it was like I rememberhearing this song when I was

(17:36):
like I don't know four or fiveor something like that and for
some reason I have this memoryof just like hearing this thing
and be like God, it literally isa drug, music is a fucking drug
and I just like you just getthis feeling of like fuck this.
You know you hear that songthat you sound so good in the
right moment and everythinglines up and you just it hits so
perfectly and because sometimesit doesn't always hit, you have

(17:58):
a song that you could love andyou hear it again in a different
context and it doesn't hit thesame.
When it all lines up and hitsthe same, it's just like the
best feeling and I rememberhaving that.
And then I was like I need todo this, I need to like, I need
to figure out how I need to be arock star.

I need to like.

Bardo (18:19):
I need to, I want to make music like this, Like I just I
have to like this whole fuckingvibe.
It just like opened up and Ijust, like always, was like
obsessed with it, like obsessedwith music and like fat, like
how to create, recreate thesounds I was hearing, and I
didn't know what the fuck I wasdoing.
I never like.
But I had a garage band from ayoung age, so like literally

(18:39):
from like five onward, like Iwould literally my mom's an
architect.
I'd go with her to.
She was a professor ofarchitecture at Cal Poly in
Sloan and I would go with her toclass at a really young age,
like four or five, and I wouldsit there and she's like okay,
and her students would like, oh,look at this little fucking
goober running around, and theywould sit and I'm like I want to
make music and they're likecool, and they put me on a

(19:00):
little like Mac with garage band.
I'd sit there and just likefuck around with loops, amazing.
Well, like she was teaching andshit like that, and it was like
that was like my daycare and Ijust so that is a big thing, the
fact that, like they justprompted it was always creative.
I was surrounded by creativepeople.
My mom's an architect, likevery one of those creative
people I've known.
She's very much like me.

(19:20):
She's always thinking of thingsand like designing things and I
also was exposed to a lot ofmusic.
Like that's how I found he woreby cat power.
She was my mom and her businesspartner at the time would make
each other these like CD mixedtapes and they would like work.
They'd like do, like let's havea work meeting or like drafting
session on the fuckingdesigning buildings and shit.
They'd come over and they wouldjust like sit there and play

(19:40):
the strokes Orcade fire, deathcab for cutie, all that shit.
So I grew up on like alt rockand just like that's how I found
all the stuff.
And then my dad is a fuckingwild character and he's like me
just on fucking crack and justlike he's always taking me to
music festivals.
We're going up and just alwaysin throw you know dance sessions

(20:00):
and just like whatever.
And just like I was alwaysexposed to just avant-garde,
different shit.
I think from a young age it wasvery like not a cookie cutter
childhood and I just kind of soI'm fucking ranting, I talk so
much.

No, I mean, this is, this is all the juice that
I know that people want to hear.

Bardo (20:16):
Even just the mechanics of learning to use a computer.
There's some people I havefriends now who are just like,
bro, how the fuck do you evenuse a computer?
And I'm like teaching them.
I'm like, what like?
What do you mean?
But I'm like, oh yeah, I'veliterally spent probably a
majority of my life on acomputer, you know.
And if it wasn't producing music, I was like learning about.

(20:36):
I love technology.
I'm super into like technology.
I love like the whole fuckingtech world.
Like my whole newsfeed is justlike AI, shit tech stuff.
I love like staying on top ofall that stuff.
So when I wasn't doing musicshit, I was also like
researching like tech stuff,about like different processors
and computers, how to likeoptimize speed on shit.
Like I remember I was like gotreally into PCs and was like

(21:00):
building my own PC, like when Iwas like 10 or something like
that, and I was like figuringout like what I need and like
bootstrapping at all and yeah,but even that like I was just
tinkering with that shit.
The access, which I feel verygrateful that I had access to,
that I was lucky to have my momeven the fact that she was on a
Mac even because if she was on aPC, literally if she was an

(21:20):
accountant, she probablywouldn't be on a Mac, she, like,
would be on a PC.
But she was an architect andthey use Macs in her classrooms.
So I was go to her classroomswhen she didn't have daycare and
I would just fuck around onMacs and learn how to do shit.
Yeah, that deepens the outlier.

It's crazy actually to think about that
Literally mom, it's my mom youknow, yeah, your dad, pj, told
me a story about how, wheneveryou were basically a baby, he
would rhythmically bounce to themusic and that he imparted the
rhythm into you from hisbouncing.
So whenever he watches this,shout out, pj.

Bardo (21:56):
No, I got a lot of that too from him.
Yeah, like he took me to thingsthat were like very esoteric.
I got all my esotericness frommy dad.
For sure.
It just like the wacky stuff mydad has taught me always how to
look at life differently when Iwas younger.
Sometimes it was evenembarrassing or like scary, like

(22:17):
I see all my friends doingnormal shit.
I'm like dad, why are we goingto a nudist bath house on the
cliffs of Big Sur when I'm sevenyears old, dream by the way,
yeah right, I'm like I want togo out and be doing what the
normal kids are doing.
Why am I going out to thisfucking spot?

(22:38):
Or like doing these breathingrituals and like dance
interpretive dance sessions.
I'm like I don't want to behere and it was scary when I was
growing up.
But then, like, as I get older,I'm like realizing then you
come to and you're like, oh,that actually was so fucking lit
.
And then like looking, I'm likeeven now thankfully, I didn't

(22:59):
like repress it and like evennow, I'm like I love that shit.
I go to these things on my ownvolition.
You know I'm in.
And I'm like cool, I want to doweird shit.
And like push the envelope.
You know that's cool.

I mean we'll get into this later, but that's
very much from my angle kind ofthe DNA of beauty school dropout
is that vulnerability and doingthings that I guess were
against social norm but now arejust really cohesive and the way
that at least people and the Idon't remember the sliding scale

(23:36):
that you talked about ofCalifornia- what is BSD to you?

Bardo (23:40):
I'm always curious.
People like, because it's sofunny.
People like, like, like.
What is it to other people?
Like what would you see BSD?

For those listening BSD beauty school
dropout.
Yes, Bartos the guitarist,producer, writer, Blonde, Blonde
.
I'm the resident blonde boy.
Yeah, but now we got Beapus,but he's not a natural blonde.

Bardo (24:05):
Oh, sorry to expose Beapus, he also shaved his head.
He did so, but he's blonde.
I mean, come on.

What is beauty school dropout?
That's a very deep question,because you guys aren't just a
band, that's for sure.
It's a lifestyle.
I mean you're laughing, but itkind of is.

Bardo (24:27):
Is it not?
It's like a live.

Be the person that you're supposed to be.
Yeah, Meant to be the personthat you feel that you are.
Be that person unapologetically.
But you guys are into fashion.
You're into the web three stuffwhich we can talk about, but
also it's a different world now.
Yeah, you guys are about to goout on tour with Blink.
So you're people who are livingyour dream because that has to

(24:52):
be a dream and turn style.
You guys are.

Bardo (24:55):
It's a wet dream.

Yeah, that's insane, it's crazy.
There's no way of that, fiveyear old you smacking on a
computer.

Bardo (25:06):
Dude, I feel so grateful that we get to do this.
It's like it hits me in waves,it's like we're talking about it
, and then I think I'm like, ohmy God, we get to do this thing.
How many bands there are on theworld?
There's like at least like 40bands and there's they're
probably want to do this tour.
At least 40 bands, maybemillions maybe 45, 45 bands.

There's probably like 45 bands and, I think,
millions, millions of bands.

Bardo (25:34):
Really yeah.

Look, I think that you guys are a safe place
for get out of here.
You guys are a safe place forfans to be themselves and you
are the conduit for those fansto feel like they can tap into
whoever they are.
You guys are idols to peoplewho want to be unapologetically

(26:01):
themselves.

Bardo (26:02):
Yeah, I love that.
That's cool.
I love that.
Hearing that makes me feel likewe're doing something right,
because that was always thevision how to be.
It's weird because it's thisweird thing of like.
I think in our day and time orday and age, there's so many
different, almost like there's arule book for how to be

(26:23):
different, how to stand up forsomething, and it's like okay,
be gay and be loud and be Idon't know Like, dye your hair,
I mean, do all these things.
It's like a rule book of likeokay, here's how you be
different and stand up.
And it's been this weird thingfor us because we're just like
Sometimes I'll find myself andbe like am I weird enough?

(26:46):
Am I gay enough?
Am I funny enough?
Am I doing weird shit with myhair enough?
Am I like should I be wearingmore makeup or like going over
the top on shit?
And then I realized I'm like no, because my only job is just to
be myself, like that's the goalIs just to literally be myself

(27:08):
and be confident in that, likeleading by example, basically.
And it's like whoever you areis fine.
If you're straight, you're gay.
If you're, I can want to dyeyour hair blue or pink or a
fucking just be natural yourhair or shave it or a fucking.
Whatever you want to do,whatever you do with your life,
how you spend your time, it'sjust like it's fine.
It's just really a rule book,and I think I'm learning that

(27:33):
more and more of just truly justbeing who I am and just leading
by example inspires others, andI think that's cool.
So it makes me really happy tohear that that's kind of what
you get the vibe, because, Imean, that's always been our
goal with the whole thing.
It's like, yeah, and I thinkhonestly I'm so grateful for the
dropouts, because that's whatwe call our community of

(27:54):
supporters, because a lot ofthem have really become friends
to me and, especially as we'retouring more, it truly it makes
me realize we do more of this.
It's not for me anymore, it'sso not for me, it's for
everybody else, and it's likeI'm going to start crying,

(28:14):
thinking about it, actually.
But it's this crazy thing whenyou start to meet the people
that resonate with this art thatyou create and it's like they
come up to you and you're like,yo, you guys are my favorite
band, or you guys have helped methrough this thing, things that
I could never have thought ofthese moments, specifically when

(28:36):
you're creating the music andthen someone resonates with it
so much and then you meet thesepeople and it's just like this
song brought us together.
You guys are here at the show,we're all hanging out and it's
just like I don't know.
That, to me, is the mostrewarding thing of all this and
it's like getting to connectwith people and even something

(28:56):
for us as we do, as we grow anddo more like our own headline
stuff and step in the world,meet and greet and everything.
I just want to always be doingthings differently and I don't
want to do the standard, justmeet and greet shit.
I want it to be a culture andfuck the whole step and repeat
photo line.

(29:16):
I hate that shit.
I actually get so bummed whenwe do it at our shows Because on
the opening tour we go out andwe meet everyone at the merch
booth after and it's a bummed meout, but it doesn't bum me out
because I have to meet everyone.
It bums me out because of how Ihave to create a new care, like

(29:36):
a new, okay, cool, refresh.
New person, hey hello.
New person, hey hello.
And it's like I'd rather justbe in a room with everyone and
get to talk.
And I really love after theshows, when we go out to the or
like leaving, we go to the busand everything and like there's
people waiting for us and we'relike yo, what's up?
Yeah, it's a Santa Ana show,dude.

I mean because I got to see that one Holy hell
there were a lot of peoplewaiting, yeah.

Bardo (30:01):
And a lot of them are there for Jaden too, but then
you know, there's our peoplethere for us too.
And like and getting to talkingto everyone in a more candid
way and like we did that, wewere played.
I think it was Oklahoma, wherewas it?
I don't know if I can rememberwhat show it was, but I think it
was Oklahoma and just gettingto like talk to everyone and we

(30:22):
Like literally for two hours Istayed outside and just talked
to a bunch of people and justlike that shit to me is so fun.
And what we want to do with ourmeet and greets, where our
headline stuff is just likecreate an environment where it's
that it's like, even if it'sless people, like 20 people in
it, but we like it's in anenvironment where it's like hey,
let's have food, let's havedrinks, let's like connect with
each other and talk about thingsand like we're all people.

(30:44):
That's the thing.
It's like we are all people andI just want to be like level of
playing field a little bit andit's like I don't feel like I'm
like.
I don't feel like I'm moreimportant than like someone
who's there.
You know, like it's like hey,we're like, it's cool, it's a
cool feeling to have someonelike you're my idol.
It's like I love that, Iappreciate that, and also it's
like I wouldn't be here withoutyou, so like I respect you.

And then you know, same way, I think that
that mentality right there isthe modern day rock star.
It really is In my mind.
It's not about I'm going to putmyself on a pedestal and you
can't really talk to me orsocialize with me, because that
was what a rock star used to be.
I think that being vulnerableand allowing people into your

(31:29):
life and treating them just likeyou would another human,
another bandmate, your dad,whoever it is, I mean that's a
rock star.
That's like actually changingsomebody's life.

Bardo (31:43):
Yeah, totally yeah, I think about that meeting someone
and you're not a douchebag tothem, you know that goes a long
way.
And of course, there's timestoo where I'm just like, you
know, I've deal with my ownmental shit and like I've had
times, as last tour, like I justhad to like step away from like
the meet and greets or whatever.
I'm just like yo, I just haveto like get away, just dealing
with my own stuff.

(32:03):
I think that's also fine too,but just like being say hey,
guys, I got to step out for asecond because I'm also human
and it's not even like a thingof like I'm holier than thou or
like it's just like, you know,respecting yourself.
I think that's also everyoneneeds to.
Just, you know, hey, self caremode, you know, no doubt Is that
something that's also kind oftricky too is like as you grow,

(32:24):
it's like as we grow, there'smore Everyone wants like a hey,
hey, hey, you know they want totalk and you know whatever, and
it's like I love that and that'sthere's.
Sometimes I'm like yo, I justneed to like pause, deep breath,
you know, and then to get readyto go in and like do it again,
you know so Absolutely.

I think that this is where the the main
question of the podcast kind ofcomes in, and we'll we'll get to
explore this, but for you, forBardo, what does success mean?

Bardo (32:59):
For me, success okay, this is, it's a journey.
First of all, success is ajourney.
In a nutshell, if I was justreading the back of the book on
success, flip it over.
What it says is success is nota destination, it's a journey.
And I think you know our world.

(33:20):
We love to create success, theidea of success, as, hey, when I
am successful, like when I getthere, like, oh man, when I'm
successful, all this is going tobe different and, like you know
, I've I've owe this to my dadfor helping me reframe this idea
.
I'm still reframing this myselfand, like, still practicing

(33:40):
this, trying to get better,reminding myself of this.
But success is not adestination.
It really is a journey.
We are succeeding, not like, oh,I want to be successful.
It's like no, we're succeedingright now.
The fact that we're doing thisright now is succeeding because
we could not be doing this.
You could not.
I mean, look at what you builthere.

(34:01):
This is a beautiful podcast.
Last time I was here, thiswasn't here, and it's like you
could have the mindset of like,oh man, when this podcast is
successful, like you know, it'slike no, no, bro, it's
successful right now.
Look at what you're doing and Istruggle with the band.
It's like, oh, when the band isthis, when the band is that,
you know, when we're doing that,it's like what the fuck am I

(34:21):
talking about?
Literally, at the end of MayI'm playing Madison Square
Garden and it's like unreal andit's that is succeeding.
And you can still have goalsbeyond that.
It's just easy to get suckedinto the idea of, like when
we're there, but there's, thatcarrot is never going to go away
.
There's always going to beanother carrot.
We're going to sell out MadisonSquare Garden one day as a

(34:44):
headline show and then we'restill going to be like, hmm,
okay, now what do we do?
There's always going to beanother thing.
And I think enjoying thatjourney, enjoying the moments
where, like hey, I get to hangout with my friend and talk
about shit like this, that issuccess.
You know, getting to have thatweird rainy day in Chicago, you

(35:07):
know before your show andfucking be drenched in the rain
and you're kind of bummed aboutit, but it's like that's success
because you're in Chicago doingshit and it's just like
enjoying those little highs andlows and like the journey of
everything.
So I think that's what successis Honestly like if you can have
fun doing what you're doing,you're successful.
I don't care what you're doing,you can be a mailman.

(35:29):
And if you're like I'm lovingwhat I'm doing and I'm happy,
but you're so successful, I knowso many people that are
crushing it and fucking sad.
There's been times where I'mlike crushing and people like,
oh my God, congrats, congrats.
And I'm still sad aboutsomething.
But it's not like it's just myown head, it's a fight.
It's like your success lieswithin.

(35:50):
Truly, I think.

Yeah, I mean, that's perfect and I feel like
you're telling me that.
I know that people arelistening to this, but that's
really advice that I need tojust somehow instill in myself.
Like, I do remind myself ofthat, but I oftentimes find

(36:13):
myself chasing a carrot.

Bardo (36:15):
Yeah, we all do.

Yeah, but then at that moment.

Bardo (36:18):
I like what you're doing.
You know, look at this.
I was amazed when I walked inhere, like how the fuck did you
have the time to do this, bro?
This is like one of thecraziest setups I've ever seen,
thank you, and the fact thatyou've just been building this
silently behind the curtain Likelast time I was here this was
not here and I'm like soimpressed.
That is success.
There's so many people say, oh,I want to do this, and they

(36:41):
just don't do it.
And you're doing it, thank you,so cool.

I, whenever I have.
I'll have a moment every nowand then where I'm like, oh, why
didn't I?
Like I'll see somebody mixed atrack and I'll be like, how did
I not get that?
I know everybody on thisproject.
That's like totally my sound.
I would have loved to havegotten that.
I quickly remind myself.
Like, dude, one year ago, ifyou would be looking at yourself

(37:08):
today you'd be like holy fuck,what?
What did wait?
What do I have to do to getthere?
It's just like just realizinglike damn, one year ago you guys
were in such a different place.

Bardo (37:22):
Yeah.

There's no way.
One year ago, you guys thoughtthat you were going to go into
our turnstile and blink, when ittoo.

Bardo (37:27):
A month ago I didn't think we were.
Yeah, I truly did not think wewere.
Every people I mean, cause,obviously, for those who don't
know where we were signed tolabel, called verse wire, that
Mark Hoppus is a part of.
So Mark is technically our A&Rand he's just been an amazing
mentor and just guiding light inour world and just you know,

(37:49):
friend, honestly, and eventhough we have like our
connection, people would asklike hey, are you guys going to
be touring with blink?
And I'm like dude, I was likeno, I don't think we're big
enough.
Like we got to, like we stillhave growing to do which we do,
we still have growing to do.

(38:09):
And I just so, I did not thinkit was even on the radar for,
like you know, it was apossibility, vague possibility.
I mean, okay, yeah, but likeI'm not going to like count on
it by any means.
I just was like yeah, it's fine, we'll get there eventually.
And then we're sitting at a KOAwhich is like a little
campground, like RV park thing,when we went on tour.

(38:30):
Yeah, cause we would like on ouroff days, we'd like take the
whole touring rig there and we'dlike post up and grill out and
whatever it was a vibe.
And we're sitting there andit's like 11 PM we were like
fucking Virginia or some shit.
And Alex, our one of ourmanagers, comes in the RV and
he's like yo, mark is pissed atyou guys.
We're like what.

(38:51):
And we just had an eight hourcall with him that day and he
was like telling us he was veryproud of us and really stoked at
what we're doing.
He's like yo, mark is pissedand we're like what, what do we
do?
And Cole's high and he's justlike oh shit the paranoia.
And we're like, okay, and he'slike you guys, we got to hop
into zoom right now with thelabel.
And it's like 11 PM, our time,like night, like our labels, and

(39:13):
fucking stay up for shit.
Like this.
Like, oh, this is serious.
I'm like, okay, let's hop onzoom.
I'm like, fuck, what could wehave done that?
Pissed off, mark Hoppus, we'regrilling out in fucking Virginia
in the forest, like, oh God,okay.
And we're like hop on zoom andthe whole labels on there.

(39:36):
And they're like guys, this isreally bad.
And we're like what ishappening?
And then Nick or other manager,he's like Sherry, who's the CEO
of the label.
And he's like Sherry, do youwant to tell him?
And Sherry's like, yeah, she'slike well, boys, mark is pretty
mad because you guys are goingon tour with blink 182.
And it's like lose it.

(39:57):
Like just start screaming.
We all started crying and justlike, and then I just it was
just a crazy dream come true.
And I just so did not expect it.
And just like, yeah, it wasjust amazing moment.
I still it doesn't even feelreal.
And I just feel so grateful andjust like, like I was saying
earlier, think how many bandsare in the world that would just

(40:20):
love to be doing what we'redoing and it's kind of ties back
into what we're talking aboutand it's like, even in those
moments, like and even now, Ican still find myself getting
caught up and like, well, Icould be doing this.
I would like.
What am I, bro?
Like life is okay or it's good,like, as you, we're all riding

(40:40):
this wave together and certainpoints you got to let go and
just lean into it and it iscoming at you and just let it
happen.
You know, and it's like I justfeel so lucky and so grateful
and just that we get to do this,and like, truly, it is a dream
come true and I'm just sothankful for the journey and
like, eventually, we're going tobe selling at Madison Square
Garden and it's a journey.
It's actually talking to MGK.
The other day he was out at thelast show of our, of our tour

(41:05):
with Jaden, because him andJaden are really tight, and I
walked off stage and you know hewas there and we'd, you know,
have to have each other up tohello and he's like hey dude,
congrats on the tour, the blinktour and I'm like dude, thank
you.
And I just talked to him alittle bit about like yeah, dude
, it's crazy.
Like you know, I'm super, supergrateful, but I also am very
much ready, like we have a lotmore work to do and I'm ready

(41:26):
for it.
And he's like dude, it's likehe's like it took me 11 years to
get to the point where I wasselling out Madison Square
Garden and it's crazy.
You think about 11 years, along fucking time.
And then, but it got me excited, it didn't get scared me, like
fuck, I have a lot of work to do.
It's like, actually, I'm like,oh my God, I get to do that.
If our first show was two yearsago, we get nine more years to

(41:49):
fucking have fun and do thisshit and, honestly, maybe sooner
, maybe in three years, we'll beselling on Madison Square
Garden.
But it's like, whatever it is,I'm like that excites me.
I'm like, oh my God, that'sfucking cool that we get to do
this for more time.
And I think that's if you dosomething you love, you get
excited for it.
And I just want to make thenote.

(42:09):
Sorry, I'm ranting again.
I want to make the note.
You can chop any of this if youwant, Fucking, just you know.
Whatever, I'll chop everythingthat you've set out, be sipping
coffee, zipper and an ant.
Another thing I want to add,which is very important, and I
want to because Comparison isthe thief of joy and it isn't

(42:31):
always fun.
Just let that be known thatlike, even though our lives and
like things we do and people'slife, whoever you look up to, it
could be us, it could besomeone else, whoever, it's not
always fun and games Like even Isee you, I'm like damn, you
seem so content, you're likecrushing it.
Like sometimes I even find this.
I'm like, oh God, like what afucking legend that guy.
He's probably so stoked.
But like even you justexpressed to me like, oh, you

(42:54):
compare yourself to someone else.
You see that they got a mixthat you wanted.
And it's like comparison is thethief of joy.
Everyone deals with that.
I deal with that on a dailybasis.
I see something else thatsomeone else did.
I'm like God damn it.
And as easy as it is for me tosay like, oh, yeah, we're just
here, and it's like, as long asyou love what you're doing,

(43:14):
you're, you know, like you'regonna have fun, it's like, yeah,
that's so true.
But like the challenge isloving what you're doing and
even if we're, I literally getto make music and create with my
friends and but like there'slogistics to that and like, okay
, figuring out like rehearsaltimes, figuring out like, oh,
weird, awkward label calls where, like, they want to go one
direction, you want to go adifferent direction?
Oh, that was weird.
We have to this photo shoot,but we don't like the photos.

(43:37):
Okay, we have to edit them.
Oh, we have to pay this fee forthis thing and all these like
other things and like banddisagreements.
We fight.
We fight like fucking brothersyou know what I mean.
And it's like there's it's notjust all fun and games, and it's
like that's something I want toreally reiterate is like, but
like it isn't always fun, butmaking it, having fun in those

(43:57):
shitty moments and like turningit around.
And that brings me to a quoteGod, I'm a fucking psychopath.
I feel like I'm on a TED talk.
I'm literally like.
It's like giving me a clap.
We're getting a.
Just cut me off whenever youwant.

No, we're getting a little little the
ounce of what the mind of Bart,it looks like I just think like
this all the time.

Bardo (44:14):
I just go just constant stream.
My next point here is yourenergy makes your day.
Can I go pee?

We're back, Bart .

Bardo (44:24):
Austin.

Explain your.
It's cool because it's likemirrored and somehow the shadow
is casting perfectly on yoursign, yes, so that it's like yin
and yang.

Bardo (44:36):
I think the funny thing is, I think the the light is
shining on those parts.
That's upside down, but okay.

There's light in the darkest places.

Bardo (44:44):
That's right.
So here's my little thing thatwrote down.
I wrote your energy makes yourday, and I love that you do this
.
By the way, this is really cool, like to have it's cool little
segue.
Great, this is a genius.
Austin is a genius.
Your energy makes your day.

(45:04):
I met a woman in Cincinnati andrandomly at a taco restaurant,
as you meet people, her name isQ and she's this great.
She was just like mid forties.
She was just there and just Iwas ordering and she just

(45:25):
recommended me something and shejust kind of had a good vibe
and she, you know, she was like,oh, you got to get this, you
got this, I'm like okay, cool.
And then I got, you know, aside of guac and she's like, oh,
like I want a side of guac andI'm like I got you.

And.

Bardo (45:39):
I just got her side of guac and then we continued
talking and then she's like oh,you got to try this other thing
and she buys me this other thingthat she like wanted me to try
with me or drummer Mike, and shejust exuded this such great
energy and vibe to us that justfelt so welcoming.
She was there alone, we were inCincinnati, we were on tour,

(46:01):
and it just kind of like shiftedmy energy so much where, like
before, I was like hungry andkind of like, oh, like, what am
I doing?
And then just had this kind ofgreat interaction with a
stranger and she stops for asecond and looks at me and she's
like, am I making you happy?
I'm like yeah.

(46:21):
I'm like you are, like it's justlike good, Like she's like you
know, it's like your energymakes your day and I'm like,
damn, that's crazy.
And it's this thing like you'veheard this a million times like
choose happy.
You know you get to decide howyou affect others, like treat
others how you want to betreated, but just the way she

(46:43):
said it just kind of struck homefor me and it's like your
energy makes your day as amantra.
And after that, on tour,because this past tour I've
honestly one of the morestrenuous on me for my mental
health and like my OCD Istruggled with like really
gnarly OCD and anxiety and itbrings up a lot of issues like

(47:04):
with depression and stuff likethat in me and for whatever
reason on tour that gets likeamplified because there's a lot
of highs and lows and like justcrazy shit happening all the
time.
And some days I just like wakeup.
I'm just like so not having it,and that as a mantra for me has
been really amazing.
To just wake up and first thingI say to myself like your

(47:27):
energy makes your day and Ithink practically how to apply
this is.
It truly is just as simple aslike if I come into a space and
just first interaction with youI mean you and I if I show you
love and show you like, hey, I'mgonna give you good energy
right now, it just hits me rightback and it just reflects right

(47:51):
back onto me and it's just likehow can I do that in more ways
in life, like carrying that intothe studio, you know, and like
there was an artist?
How can I like create theenergy where, like, my own
energy truly makes my day, youknow, and it ideally is gonna

(48:11):
exude out and affect others thatway?
But it's like if I just exudegood energy and even in gnarly
moments of just like, okay, Ican choose to be operating a
higher frequency right now, evenif shit is all hitting the fan,
I can choose, like you knowwhat, we're gonna be positive,
we're gonna exude higher energy,and sometimes it's just fucking
hard.
It just shifts things, you know,and it's just like that as a

(48:36):
mantra and as a little reminder.
It just is rad and I've justbeen saying that to myself and
it really has been awesome.
And then you know, like a monthlater in the tour, she calls me
randomly, like I gave her mynumber and she's like she calls
me.
She's like hey, just wasthinking about you, Just wanted
to like check in and like seehow you're doing.
And I'm like what the fuck?

(48:57):
This is so dope.
And she's like oh cool, allright, I'll talk to you later.
Bye, I'm like shit like that.
I'm like fuck, that is so cool.
It just felt like kind of likean angel experience.
Like you meet someone that justlike drops some you know
knowledge bombs on you.
And it's like not even thatprofound of a thing, like choose
happy, be happy, like yeah, noshit, sherlock.
But it's like it's just likewith energy, and I'm a big

(49:19):
believer in energy andfrequencies, and like truly,
that is, everything Isfrequencies, like music is all
frequencies, and it's just likehow I show up in every room if
it's for different frequencies,you know, and I think we are
attracted to other people whooperate on a similar frequency.
So I just want to try tooperate on a has high of a
frequency as I can.

(49:40):
That's why I, like you know,big part of it is I don't drink
and smoke and party and like I,just I want it to be on a
different frequency and I, youknow, find myself gravitating
towards others who are also onthat frequency.

So yeah, I love that that she's.
She sounds very special, like,honestly you'll.
I'm certain that this won't bethe last time you'll get a call
from her, and it'll probably bein the perfect moment when you
needed it most.

Bardo (50:06):
Your energy makes your day, I love that.

I think the next thing that we should dive into
is kind of figuring out maybeinfluences, but kind of how you
really got into music production.
I think we should talk aboutyou dropping out of Belmont and
also almost getting kicked out.

Bardo (50:28):
Kicked out, yeah.

I'm sure that those kind of go hand in hand
with production.
But yeah, I'd love to hear someearly influences, I guess, on
you and how you decided whatfirst.
Did you decide to be an artistfirst or a producer, and we can
go from there.

Bardo (50:48):
Both I think Well, where do we begin?
I think I always wanted to bean artist and I think, as I'm
evolving, I'm realizing I'm anartist of life in a way.
I don't know.
I always wanted to be growingup.
I was a singer in all the bands.

I had no idea you could sing.

Bardo (51:13):
I mean I could do it.
I'm not an amazing singer, butlike I love that.
I think it was more.
I was the leader and I wasleading the charge for the bands
I was in and I was like that'swhy I kind of became a singer.
I was like, cool, this is whatwe're gonna do.
And then I realized I didn'tneed a bunch of people to make
music, I could just producemyself and I'm like cool, love
that I can do that.

(51:34):
And then I was like I'm justgonna be a producer, that's what
I wanna do.
I wanna bring ideas to life forother people.
And then when I met the boys andthey wanna do a music dropout,
at first I was like, nah, I'mnot down, I don't know if that's
what I wanna do.
And then I realized that was amassive gift for me, getting to
do it with them and like andjust being thrown into the whole

(51:54):
situation, cause it's like Ididn't realize that's I was
missing that.
Like the artist side of things,like being my own entity, is
like beyond just a producer.
I think that's also this kindof interesting thing too with
our band is like it's very boybandy.
We each have our own.
Like we're very, have our ownpersonalities and like the

(52:14):
dropouts can, like gravitate,they're a fave, you know what I
mean I got the Bardhose, shoutout the Bardhose.

Yeah, yeah.

Bardo (52:20):
And I think the-.

Also Bardhose, I saw it with and Bardhose, yes,
yeah, that's right.

Bardo (52:25):
Okay, we do, like the Bardhose, enjoy a lot of feet
content.
So you know I try to give themwhat they want.
Yeah, yeah, and do you havegreat feet?
Your vibes, your energy ismaking my day.

My caffeinated energy, yes, so really okay,
I'll ask one pointed questionwhat is the story of how you
almost got kicked out of Belmont?

Bardo (52:47):
One time I changed a construction sign to say caution
, dildos ahead.
That was the goaded moment.
That was the best it made thenext the news the next morning
oh yeah, the news the nextmorning.
That was fucking ideal.
We need to put that in the shownotes or something.
Yeah, remind me, I'll find itBeautiful, beautiful photo.
I like was drunk and we triedto do it.

(53:08):
And we're like walking to TacoBell and I'm like, fuck, it's
locked.
And we're like this is apassword.
I looked up a PDF of the manualand, on my walk to Taco Bell,
learned how to operate thisthing and figured out the
fucking override passwordthrough the manual I found
online.
So when we walked back, I'mlike, guys, I got it and went in
and typed the password and itworked.
We got to the admin overrideand it changed the thing to

(53:29):
caution dildos ahead.
Oh my God, I'm pretty sure thepassword is just password.
So if you ever see one of thesethings, that is incredible, it
was crazy.
And yeah, and we changed thecaution dildos ahead.
It was perfect because it waslike on the way, like a very
busy street in my hometown, thishigh school shit, you know what
I mean.
And like the next one,everyone's like going to work
and doing their fucking thingand just like it made the local

(53:51):
news because it said and youremember the chive, oh yeah, and
it was like this big thing andlike literally, it was like
construction science says goshand dildos ahead, like what the
fuck.
That was the most 17 year oldshit ever you know.
But honestly, classic, longstory short.
That was high school.

(54:13):
Then go to I was doing shitlike that, taking that mindset
into a small private Christianuniversity basically, and it
just didn't mesh.
I got in trouble for like had agirl in my room, passed a
certain hour and like kids wouldtell on me and shit like that.
I got in trouble for drinking.
So I was already like kind ofon.

(54:34):
Like you know, I had like acouple of strikes or whatever.
Then somehow they picked me asa welcome week leader.
Like I kind of was like as ameme.
I was like I'm gonna like tryout to be a welcome week leader.
Me and all my friends did it.
I am so confused why you werethe pick for this.
We had like five of us all goout for it.
They only picked me and I'mlike what the fuck?

They were trying their best to get you roped
back in to being a good boy.

Bardo (54:59):
And I'm like what the fuck?
Like they just vibe with me.
I'm probably cause I'm likecharismatic and like I mean I'm
a leader, like I love leadingpeople.
I love that.
I love like taking people down,you know, you know, showing
them paths and whatever.
I just had a different set ofobjectives with my leadership.
And so they picked me as awelcome week leader and they
gave me a bunch of new fuckingkids to romp around with and I

(55:22):
just told them straight I'm like, look guys, here's what this
school is like, here's what it'slike.
I just was real.
I'm not trying to fuckingsugarcoat it for you.
And they fucked with that causeI was real with them.
And then we're like I was likethey wanted to go party.
I'm like, okay, if you guyswant to party, you guys can come
over to my.
We had at that point I had likeapartment style housing,
whatever on campus and we'reusing come over and like we can
drink before whatever, causethey don't really know what to

(55:46):
do.
I'm like, let's do it, safeenvironment, we'll hang out,
I'll monitor everyone, you know,cool.
And then, and I was like someof the welcome week kids over
where I was like, yeah, likejust hanging out.
They were going to go walk to aparty.
I was just going to, like, youknow, be the big bro.
Nothing like crazy.
I'm not like doing drugs withthese fucking kids, or like I
mean basic college shit, basiccollege shit.
Like actually being moreresponsible, like I'm not going

(56:08):
to let people binge drink orlike get fucked up beyond, like,
or like I'm like I'm the guy,I'm like, hey, I'm going to make
sure, if you guys are going todo it, I'd rather you guys do it
with me.
You're not alone in your dormsdrinking alcohol.
Like let me like be a guide orlike, or just be like I don't
know a friend to you, an olderkid being a friend, and then I

(56:28):
don't know, oh, I think when thekids came in, they had like
check in at the fucking thingand like they smelled alcohol
and they were some shit and like.
Then they came in and rolledall of us and I was like that
and at that point I was justlike that was my last strike,
essentially, and I had to go tosee the executioner, where they
were like yo, are you a fuckingdickhead?
And then, like I basically hadto present my case, like look,

(56:50):
I'm not a bad kid, like at all.
I'm just doing normal kids shit.
I'm 19,.
Just hanging out doing normalcollege shit and, like you know
here, we are.

And I think- I'm going to a university that
specializes in music.
Yeah, do you think that we'reall sober Like or Exactly, I
mean like we drink.

Bardo (57:11):
Exactly just life shit.
I'm like, look, I'm learning,I'm doing my thing, I'm not a
bad kid, I'm just like doing mything.
And so after that happened,she's like, look, I'm going to
put you on probation for theschool and if you do anything
else you're gone, like you'reout of.
Like I had to.
Like if I had presented a badcase she could have just kicked
me out of school right there.
But I like petitioned formyself.

(57:32):
And then she's like you're good, you can stay.
And I after that point I waslike, cool, I'm moving off
campus, just moved off campusand continued the shenanigans.
But then shortly after that, Iactually stopped drinking and
like I just realized, like Ijust don't really care to party
anymore and just like I justwanted to focus on more music
shit and like you know.

(57:53):
So I didn't really learn shitfrom Belmont in terms of like
well, I did take a class oncompression.
That was A class, literallyentire class on compression and
gain staging.
That actually was the biggestthing I learned.
Wow, gain staging, which is soimportant, totally important.

Gain staging is massively important, very
interesting that there's thewhole class on that, when now we
can watch YouTube video.

Bardo (58:16):
Yeah, I could have also watched YouTube video on it
before.
I just wasn't even aware oflike that and that would really
open up a lot to me.
It's like the gain, staging,compression they could honestly
like changed my world after likethat class.
But that was really cool.
But other than that, all theother classes like I wasn't
really learning shit in them,other than just like busy work
and whatever.
I was like, okay, cool, here'sfucking.
And my education came fromoutside of the classroom.

(58:42):
Yeah, Just being around otherkids doing shit in the music
industry and like learning howto finesse and just that was the
real education.

So For sure.
Yeah, I ended up.
I didn't go to Belmont, I endedup going to the Blackbird
Academy Six month kind ofintensive program at Blackbird.

Bardo (59:02):
Which is also Nashville.
Yeah, for those who don't know,Exactly, it's a six month
program.

I lived there for a year and it was just in
studio basically all day, everyday recording.
But it is completely what youdo outside of that.

Bardo (59:19):
Oh, totally, of where you learn.
That's the thing.
We put this massive emphasis oneducation in America, where
it's like but our education isshit.
I feel like I hate oureducation system.
It's trash, it doesn't make anysense and it frustrates me
Because I think there's certainareas of it Like yeah, you want
to be an accountant or a doctor?
Okay, cool, go to fuckingschool, get your fucking

(59:41):
education.
I don't care, whatever, do thething, creative shit and like
honestly leaving a lot of otherthings Like why the fuck are you
paying for school, for thisshit, when you can just go learn
it on YouTube or like justlearn it by doing it?
Like an internship is so muchmore valuable.
But the problem is it's a scamand it's like fucking gateway.

(01:00:01):
It's like, hey, you need to paythis fee to get your foot in
the doors, then you can go betaken seriously at an internship
.
It's like, oh, as you're saying, literally the only reason
you're gonna take me seriouslyis because I fucking paid
$50,000 a year just to get myfoot in the door.
No doubt it's so fucked andit's like that is America in a
nutshell.

Austin Seltzer (01:00:17):
I fucking hate that so much Same.
Yeah, I really think I'm notgonna like put my foot down on
it like 100%.
But any creative field, I thinkthat if you have to go to
school to learn, you probablyaren't going to have the
tenacity to make it in thatfield.

Bardo (01:00:36):
Oh yeah, because it always rely on you.
Yeah, you put the autopilot onand you're like.
And you're like, oh yeah, I'mhere.
It's easy to get.
Like oh, I'm in school learning.
It's like, well, are you doinganything with this?
Right, I know kids who like gotout of school and they're like
what the fuck am I even doingwith this?
Or like I don't even know if Iwanna do this thing that I just

(01:00:57):
spent four years figuring outand career change and shit.
And it's just like the factthat we put an emphasis on like
yo, you're 17, pick your fuckingcareer now.
Versus like hey, why don't youjust go vibe out for a while and
figure out what you wanna do?
What do you like to do?

For sure, Crazy, yeah, but Well.
So to pivot away from this butkind of stay on the same thing
is the other question that Iasked is like whenever
production?
I think that you you'reprobably making your living
early on or within the lastcouple of years, probably on
production.

Bardo (01:01:32):
Yeah, production is definitely like the main source
of sauce, for me for sure.

Yeah, and so how did you pivot to that becoming
your main income?
Cause I'm sure that peoplelistening there are probably
tons of people who want to makea living producing music.
So how does it go from a hobbyto being an income, to being a
real career?

Bardo (01:01:56):
It's time and like and passion.
And when I moved out to LA.
So I was when I was okay.
I was when I was in Nashvilleworking for Red Bull.
So I had a different job.
I was, like you know, I was afucking Red Bull girl when I was
in Nashville.

Yeah, I had a bunch of friends who were kind
of the college rep.
Is that what you did?
Yeah, yeah, it's a sweet gig.
We probably knew a lot of thesame people maybe, I'm sure.
Yeah, great networking.

Bardo (01:02:23):
Yeah, oh great, learn how to.
Actually that was amazingbecause I learned the nuances of
big corporate businesses andRed Bull actually gives you a
lot of freedom, Like they were,cause I wanted to throw parties
and shows and shit like that.
And like they were.
Like they literally let us playin events and fly Red Bull

(01:02:43):
Records artists out to throwthese events that we were
hosting, cause they knew we hadins at the school and we could
basically promote these eventswithin the college campus and we
do the collab events with RedBull.
So I learned all how tonavigate all these scenes and
get brand sponsorships and shitlike that.
And like that was amazingexperience for me to just like
do that.
Red Bull is fucking awesome.

(01:03:05):
Like Ron is a really coolcompany.

A lot of very successful people I know in the
creative field have a tie to RedBull.
Red Bull does an incredible jobat like chipping away, like
making an art piece out of justa piece of marble, like I'm sure
that really helped.

Bardo (01:03:21):
Yeah Well, I think they also do a great job of like
hiring up.
They love to like, if you startfrom college, like there was
always an emphasis of like, hey,you could start here and I
could end up like a marketinghigh up executive from a passing
out Red Bull in college, theylove to hire up, like from
within the company and theybuilding up people, versus like,
oh, we're gonna hire this guyfrom Pepsi or we're gonna hire

(01:03:42):
this guy from fucking you knowwhatever, and like they love to
just like build you up.
And there was always thisemphasis of like, hey, if you
can lead and thrive, do it.
And I just I loved thatenvironment and I was like so
I'm cool, I'm gonna lead, youknow, and just like, let's do
stuff, let's fucking crush it.
So, anyways, so that's how Iwas making money.

(01:04:05):
Nashville Moved out to LA, Imoved out to LA, we had a why
did you move to LA for Nashville?
Because me and my roommates inNashville were just like we need
to go and just next step.
We were just all kind of liketwo of my other roommates had
also dropped out and it was meand there was one two of us in
school, two of us out of schooland we're like fuck it, let's

(01:04:26):
just dip.
And we dropped out and movedout and we just knew LA was like
where shit was happening, youknow, and we just like we're
ready for the next step.
I'm like what, we could stay inNashville and stay in this
bubble or go and push ourselvesand like we were ready for
something scarier.
You know what I mean?
What year was this?

by the way, in Nashville 2018, may of 2018.
Okay, yeah, little after mytime.

Bardo (01:04:52):
Yeah.
So we packed up and drove outand it was a little easier,
obviously because I'm fromCalifornia.
So I kind of had like the Iunderstood the California
lifestyle and like but LA is awhole different world too, and
like it was scary and like wejust needed to be in an
environment that was a littlemore uncomfortable.
I'm like having flashbacks tothink about my God.
Honestly it was really scaryand like crazy, and I understand

(01:05:12):
how daunting that can be, andbut it's like taking jumps, like
that is that's the first stepIf you're a producer and you're
like yo, I want to do this, likejust take those steps, like do
those giant steps, like get outthere and do it.
And also, la is like not thatmuch scary, like it's just like
you go to Chicago and do shit,or you'd be in LA and do shit.
It's like it's not like unheardof you know to just come out to

(01:05:35):
LA.
Yeah, it's expensive, but likethere's they pay more for
minimum wage here, like they'llpay you more to do shit because
they know you need to pay forstuff, and it's like, yes, it is
expensive, but it's like that'sjust kind of part of the whole
thing.
Anyways, when we moved out hereand took that just kind of like
that jump.

(01:05:55):
We had this idea for thiscompany where basically it was
like taking beats, where thekind of the Netflix model for
like for artists, for, like youknow, if you're like I want to
watch a movie, I could go rentsomething from Blockbuster or I
could go to a library of digitalstuff and I could like download

(01:06:17):
a beat and then use it orsplice.
A good example they had anetwork of samples or like a
whole library of samples.
We wanted to make a library ofactual built out beats that you
could use Because it was a beatstar.
You could pay like 80 bucks fora beat or 300 bucks to
exclusive license, whatever.
Why?

not pay or the YouTube type beats yeah exactly.

Bardo (01:06:37):
But why not just pay a subscription to get access to
all the beats?
And we're like no one's doingthis Still to this day, no one
is doing this.
And so we started doing it andit was started to work.
And then we just we're doingthat for a while, and so that
was kind of the first thing.
We kind of like ventured intolike I don't know a bunch of
other little elements of it, andthen out of a while it just

(01:07:00):
kind of like I think that welike kind of lost the drive for
it.
It was requiring like we're allalso doing other stuff at the
time too, and like I was alsolike my own production stuff.
I was also making all the beatsfor this thing and then like
also producing for like otherpeople, like getting my like
that was the always wanted to bea producer.
I wanted to like I didn't justwant to do this, I wanted to
like produce big artists too andyou know, do a thing.

(01:07:22):
And it just kind of like wekind of found ourselves like
drifting apart and this kind oflike whole things we kind of put
on hiatus and then like allright, it didn't really kind of
come back to it.
But, with that being said, Ijust kind of like I don't know,
like I found myself making itwork and there's been totally
been hard times were like whatthe fuck am I going to do?
Like oh my God.

(01:07:43):
And luckily I've just made itwork and just like I feel very
blessed that I get to do what Ido.
And production is weird Causelike you like won't get paid for
like months, and then you coulddo one thing that pays out a
lot and you know, cool, okay,great, and then now you're good
for like the next couple ofmonths and then you like, okay,

(01:08:03):
got a next thing and like Idon't know, and I think just
everything you do builds up yourprice tag.
You know what I mean and Ithink, yeah, so I guess it
advice for like a young producerjust like get out there and do
it and just like network andtalk, to just say, say yes to
stuff and also say no to stuffIf you like, truly you don't

(01:08:23):
want to do it, don't do it.
But also you never know whatyou're going to get like for
sure.
Because as much as I want tosay like be wary of saying yes,
follow your gut, but also likebe open.
Like that's how I met literallyhow I met Cole.
I went to a event that myfriend she was like her friend
was playing or something, and Iwent with her downtown at the

(01:08:46):
row and after I was like cool,I'm about to go home.
I'm just like you know whatever.
And she's like no, like come on, there's a rooftop thing after
hours thing.
Come with me to this likesunset rooftop event.
It's a private event, myfriends are playing.
I was like I want to go homeand she's like come on, just
stay for like 20 minutes,whatever.
All right, fuck it, go up there.

(01:09:06):
First person I meet is Cole andhe's like talking about music.
He's like I'm going to comeover the next day and write.
I'm like cool, and he comesover and brought Beepis with him
and here we are.
So for those, who don't know?
Cole is the singer of Beepis isthe bass player and we have our
drummer, mike Michael Rose, andinsane drummer.

(01:09:26):
Yes, we're the best to ever doit.
And yeah, I just like so.
In that moment I'm like Ididn't want to do it but I did
and I'm now here we are.
You know, we're like so.
Yeah you never know, you just.

You're so right about you never know.
And honestly, in the beginningyou should really not think
about no, unless it is givingyou the like that pit in the
stomach, Like I should not dothis.

Bardo (01:09:53):
Follow your gut.
If there's nothing saying don'tdo this.
If something is saying yo don'tdo this, this is sketchy, don't
do it, like I've learned that.
But if there's something, ifnothing's saying no, and you're
just like, oh I'm tired, likeyou know what, you never know
who you're going to meet, youknow what I mean, and just like
be kind to people, be kind andjust like you never like it just

(01:10:14):
goes, it's time.
It's like literally like yougot to be a cockroach and just
like not give up and just keepfucking going.

That's a great analogy.
You know, yeah, and show up.

Bardo (01:10:26):
Yeah.

I think that the LA scene in particular because
I can't really talk about others, it's so based on people
recurring, seeing you like overand over, and they're like dude,
I see this guy everywhere.
I got to talk to him.
Yeah, hey, dude, what's yourname?
Some you know something likethat.
If they see you out, maybe youdon't even have an interaction,

(01:10:50):
but they feel that you are apart of the culture.
Yeah, culture.

Bardo (01:10:54):
And also remember everyone is just as scared as
you are.

That's the best thing to do, yeah.

Bardo (01:10:59):
Like everyone wants to be the cool guy and like in LA,
everyone walks in a room like,okay, he's a fucking cool guy,
everyone.
But it's like, dude, everyoneis just as scared as the next
person.
And like the best thing you cando is just talk to someone, be
friendly and say, hey, dude,like I love your jacket, love
your outfit.
And like watch their energyshift from like oh my God, thank
you, because I bet they werefucking self conscious about

(01:11:21):
that jacket before the left Likeoh, this doesn't look good, or
whatever.
Everyone deals with that shit,every fucking person, and I
think that's like a big thing toremember is just like be kind
and just genuine with people and, you know, be human.

Yeah, so whenever you you had this
business, this rent beatbusiness, you said that you are
working on your own productions.

Bardo (01:11:45):
Yeah, I was all like doing sessions and stuff like
that.

Yeah, how, the whole while and how were those
coming in?
How, and I'm sure it's justmeeting people?

Bardo (01:11:51):
Yeah, just for through friends and just like I don't
know just and a lot.
Like I wasn't really making abunch of money on the, I'd make,
you know, a little productionfee here and there.
Like you know also knowing yourworth too, Like cool, like
doing sessions, but also be likehey, like if we use this song,
like I want to get paid for andlike being up front, being up
front and communicating that,you know, and like I had to

(01:12:13):
learn how to do that shit, youknow.

like I think that's one thing that most
producers that I know, and thatsome of those people are very
big have a very, very, very hardtime saying, like I have a
production fee, it will be so,and so they wait until the very
last minute, whenever the artistand team are now scrambling to
get the song mixed and they'relike, hey, by the way, this is

(01:12:37):
my production fee, and at thatpoint I personally think that's
a little too late.
Oh yeah.

Bardo (01:12:42):
Yeah, you definitely got to go into it.
I've started now like I have amanager.
Now I don't like to talk moneywith artists Same and thankfully
I have manager.
We have managers that do this,which is great, so we get to
vibe and talk to each other.
I love that our managers justtalk money and stuff.
It's beautiful.

Yeah, I linked Alex the other day up with
Spencer.
So, Alex and Spencer is mymanager and I said I'm just
linking you two daddies up andtext to talk numbers.

Bardo (01:13:07):
And then I was like and I think that's just such a better
way to do it.
And so I will say, likesometimes we'll have the
conversation like hey, listen,like, because sometimes they're
friends that hit me up Like, hey, what do you charge for?
Like you know, like this andthis and whatever.
And I'm like, look, I'mchanging to do the thing this to
you honestly, as a friend, likethis is what I would normally
charge someone, like maybe Iwould like to hook you up.

(01:13:30):
I'm also like you know, if I'mputting it working to something,
the same way that if I reachedout to the you and said, hey, I
wouldn't want to make sure youget paid for something too.
So, and then from there I'lljust like pass it on to our
managers to figure out, and youknow, and just like they can
talk about everything.
So I like this degree ofseparation.
I think it's also reallyimportant to be upfront and like

(01:13:51):
hey, this is what we're workingwith here, because you're right
, it's too late.
If you like, go through thewhole thing.
And then it's like okay, cool,not even figured the fee.
And sometimes it just is likethat, Like different artists
carry different, likestipulations, like major label
artists, like everyone knowsthere's good, yeah, there's
going to be a fee, and like Ithink you can discuss that feel

(01:14:12):
later on.
But I think also behooves theproducer to discuss it in
advance to low key.
Because I've also found like ifyou wait too long to discuss
the fee, even with a major labelartist where everyone knows
there's going to be a feeinvolved, you get there and then
they're like it's even, it's solate in the game.
It's easier for the label to belike hmm, actually we're kind
of like going lower on thebudget on this one, we're going
to pay you, you know, half whatyou normally would expect.

(01:14:34):
Or if you go in saying, hey,fyi, I'm worth this much, like
this is what I normally charge,just so you guys know it, like
it behooves you, the producer,to be more upfront because
they're like okay, cool, this iswhat we know we're getting.

Yeah, I resonate with that way, more Like, of
course I'm not the label withthe budget, but as a mixer, just
like how it goes is if a mixcomes to us, we immediately say
it will cost X, it will costthis much.

Bardo (01:15:06):
Yeah.

And if you want to move forward, that's what it
is.

Bardo (01:15:08):
And music just started to cut you off.
Music is a weird thing toactually.
You fish your thought.
Then I have a little thing toadd.

I mean that's the thought on the mixer and
with a producer, especially ifit's with a label, if you throw
out the number that you wouldcharge.
So they come to you and they'relike this is the artist and
we're, you know, we want to getyou guys into session.
So it's like awesome, Wouldlove to do that.
This is Bartos rate for aproduction right now and these
are the points like, for thoseof you don't know, points on the

(01:15:38):
master.
So Bart would make a royalty onsongs that he has produced.
Just saying that up front andthey're like damn for this song.
We have a little bit less thanthat, is that okay?
Yeah?

Bardo (01:15:51):
And you figure out, you can kind of talk numbers in
advance and that means that theyare interested in still moving
forward.

But if they're like wow, that is so far out of
our price range, Well, yeah.
Didn't you know it's not worthyour time or then you are like
you know what I really want towork with this artist?
We're down to go that low.
But then at least you have anoption and there's not this
weird moment where you're like,oh, oh shit, are we going to be
able to finish this track at thefinal?

(01:16:16):
You know the finish line.
And then now you've put in allthis time and love and effort
into a track and now if they'relike, oh man, we don't nearly
have that money.
Now you're left with a sourtaste in your mouth.
You're like, fuck, I put somuch time and effort and love
into the song and now I feellike I'm being strong armed.
But if you say it in thebeginning, you actually have a
choice.
That's so true, yeah.

Bardo (01:16:38):
And music is also weird too, because the way you get
paid.
It's like if I was an architectand someone came to me and was
like hey, can you design abuilding for me?
Draftups my ideas for thisdesign, you know.
And I'm like cool, yeah, Idraft up a bunch of ideas.
Even if they don't use thoseideas, I would still be sending

(01:16:58):
an invoice for giving them myideas and my time.
But music is not that way.
We could go and have a wholesession and write a song and
then at the end of the day, like, cool, I don't want to use this
.
You're like okay, that's fine.
And of course, as you getbigger, like as you grow, like
it doesn't mean a certain pointwhere, like I'm going to just be

(01:17:19):
like, hey, you know I'm, youjust need to pay me.
I have my day rate of just like, you just got to pay me just to
be there.


Bardo (01:17:28):
But it's this weird thing of like like you have to earn
that.
But it's such a weird thingwhere it's like you put a lot of
time into like ideas that so alot of them don't come out.
So that's also the thing withproducers too.
I think this is another pieceof advice, and something I'm
actually even getting better atis like recycling ideas, because
remember that like I mean I wasgoing to my fucking my laptop

(01:17:51):
today and just looking at allthese ideas that I have in there
, because I was actually I gothit up to do to send in some
pitch for an artist and he'slike yo, like can you send beats
for this artist?
Like I'm in studio with himright now and I'm like, yeah,
cool, and I was going through my, my whole like production world
, like looking for shit I havethat could fit this realm, and I

(01:18:15):
ended up going through likesession songs that I did with
other artists.
That just didn't happen liketwo years ago, that we just had
ideas and I was like, cool, I'mtaking this and I would just go
in the, take their vocal out,send the beat to someone else
and like, let's say this newartist then say I love this, I
want this, I want this littleidea of it Cool.
Then we can figure the splitsof the whole thing after a

(01:18:37):
little cut that other artistsand say, hey, you get pub on
this now, but like that's alsopart of the production is like
recycling and recycling ideasand stealing from your own shit
you know what I mean.
And like using those assets tolike work for you because just
just because it doesn't meanit's dead, because it didn't
come out it's, you can stillrepurpose it.
And like turn into somethingelse, and you know I think

(01:18:58):
that's really important to do.
And like steal from yourself.
You know that's a good littlenuance.

Yeah, while you were giving the analogy of the
architect earlier it anotheranalogy hit me which I hope.
Hope it sounds good coming outof my mouth as it does in my
head, but I think it mightresonate with people.
The analogy is what if you goand hire a contractor to build a

(01:19:26):
house for you and you know theydraw out the?
plans and now it's your breakingground.
You're starting to build thishouse.
At the time of building thathouse, you owe money.
You owe the money that thecontractor is building this
house with.
They're not just like frontingall of the money to build this

(01:19:50):
house.
Yeah, you owe 30, 40, 50% ofwhatever the building cost is
going to be.
You get it from the bank, butthere's money due at the time of
building.
If you're a producer, you arebuilding a house, but then this
is how far this analogy can go.
Now the house is done andlivable, but you, you are the

(01:20:14):
label or the artist and you'relike, yeah, I don't think I'm
going to live there.

Bardo (01:20:21):
Yeah.

And you just walk away and you don't pay for
it.
Yep, that is how it is.
Whenever you have fully fleshedout a track and it is ready to
go, it is a perfect house, andthen it's not paid for.

Bardo (01:20:34):
Yeah, I've had times sessions, multiple sessions to
finish a song, hours and hoursand just like stressful moments
to finish a song that they'relike didn't even come out, and
it's like, wow, that's crazy.
But that's also kind of art too.
You can like, you need to likesee an idea through, but I think
it's, it's weird, like why dowe do that?

(01:20:55):
And then to take it one stepfurther, that's just producers.
Songwriters don't even get paida fee.
Yes, now I will say producers,in my opinion, are doing a lot
more of the heavy lifting,especially producer songwriters
like myself, like I activelyparticipate in a songwriting of
a song and also bringing thatsong to life and making it a

(01:21:18):
thing.
There's a lot more heavylifting in that than what a
songwriter is doing.
But a songwriter the songwouldn't be a thing without a
songwriter, for sure.
And I think it's fucked thatthe producer is the only one
that gets a fee.
And I really think there shouldbe a songwriting fee and I

(01:21:39):
think with bigger writers thereare.
But it should be more standardto say, hey, listen, guys, if we
have you know, you're a smallartist and you have $1,000 to
pay a producer I think thereshould be $1,000 to pay a
songwriter and let's say that'sthe pool.
You know, we have a $2,000budget, half for songwriter,
half for production, and there'stwo producers in the song and

(01:22:00):
three songwriters.
Great, split that up A thousandfor the producers, a thousand
songwriters, or they can decideamongst themselves how they want
to do it.
I just think there should be afee associated with songwriting,
because it's kind of the weirdthing.
What's his name?
Oak Felder, or is it Oak Felder?
Yeah, oak Felder.
He heard this thing when helike I think it was him who made
this analogy.
He kind of used the houseanalogy but he was like imagine,

(01:22:23):
as a songwriter, you only getpaid for that house if it's an
award-winning house and veryfamous house, because that's how
songwriters litigate, paid onlyon royalties, right?
So they're like yeah, you couldwrite this, you could have,
like you could build a hundredhouses, but the only one that
like really caches you out islike oh, yeah, I have this one

(01:22:43):
famous house that everyone knowsabout, so now I get paid for
that one.

Yeah.

Bardo (01:22:47):
It's like but all these other ones, like all these other
ones, don't get paid for it.
It's like oh yeah, well,whatever.

Yeah, it's like a churning bird.

Bardo (01:22:54):
It may make four dollars a year because of fucking
shit-ass royalty rate and it'sjust like what?
Like I don't know, it's weird,it's.
The music industry is kind offucked in that sense, and
especially now, like there's somuch more money being made, like
this whole thing, like, oh,like guys, pirating isn't an
issue anymore.
The music industry is back.
The music industry is makingmore money than ever has before.

(01:23:17):
Absolutely, we can pay people,it's okay.

Yeah, I mean the majors are making like there's
significant billions, there'sbudgets for this believe it or
not, just fucking pay people.

Bardo (01:23:30):
You know what I mean and it's just like I don't know.
There's definitely I knowthere's a shift in that.
Like people like standing upfor this shit while I'm on my
rant and on my soapbox.
We need more women producing.
4% of producers are women but,like, majority of them are
songwriters.
Even if you think just on astructure basis, if 96% of

(01:23:53):
producers are men and majorityof songwriters are women, who
gets paid the fee?
Yeah, wow.

What a yeah, what a gender shift there with
money.
I didn't even, I didn't eventhink about that.
Think about that Great pointRight.

Bardo (01:24:08):
Just inherently the way this business is built.
Producer men are getting paidwhen women aren't getting paid
because of their job title, andit's like why.
And it's this kind of weirdthing too for me, cause like I
feel guilty, sometimes eventaking a fee, because it's like

(01:24:34):
it's as weird as a dance too,because it's like the songwriter
could literally be there for aday or for three hours and they
write the song, cool as done.
They leave, they get to go home.
I have to finish the song thatnight.
I have to do, you know, four tofive rounds of notes, different
sessions with the artist to getthe song over the top.
Export stems with the files isa lot of other shit that I'm

(01:24:54):
doing on top of it to make itover the top.
So I think a fee is valid.
I think there's a lot of shitthat a producer does beyond that
validates them getting paid afee.
And I think there shouldtotally be like some some saying
thing like hey, if this songcomes out, even if it's like 150
bucks, hey, you were there thatday writing the song.

(01:25:16):
Here's $150 for the three hoursyou were there, for sure, like.
Or $1,000 because it's like youknow, whatever it scaled up
with the budget of the artists,like I think that should totally
be a thing and it's just weirdthing.
Like should it come out of theproducer budget?
No, I don't think it shouldcome out of the producer budget.
I think it should come out ofthe label budgets.
Like open up more money, it'sokay.

(01:25:37):
Like that's a part, that's ateam member you know.

so I think that's a perfect point and I
really hope that anybodylistening to this understands a
little bit more deeply kind ofthe grand scope of making a
track and what goes into itbehind the scenes.

Bardo (01:25:55):
So that's my little soapbox rant on the music
industry and the shit.

that's unfair, you know so I'm curious to know,
kind of the do you have a trackthat you worked on Maybe it
wasn't even one that came outand had success that way, but a
track in mind that you worked onthat felt like a seismic shift

(01:26:23):
in hobby career?

Bardo (01:26:25):
Hmm, um, you, you, you End Very, hmm, not really Well,
kind of actually, actually.
Well, I think there was a time,more of an era.
I remember I was doing someproduction work on the Trevor
Daniel album and then I alsowere on the same time the Lauren

(01:26:49):
Sanderson album and I justremember like those like me and
Coley were doing a bunch ofstuff with them and I just
remember just kind of likenoticing myself level up in like
like vibe selections and likejust I don't like you know sound
selection and just kind of likeI don't know the sonic

(01:27:12):
aesthetic of things and justgetting better at that kind of
vibe and just operating asession and stuff like that and
like I don't know, like I thinkit's just also, at the time I
was just doing it a lot.
I was like the pace at which Iwas operating was just faster.
I was just kind of like gettingafter it and I think that was

(01:27:34):
just kind of a shift.
But yeah, I don't know, I'mstill learning, I'm still
figuring out how to do it.
My big thing now is like I'mactually I feel like I'm going
through that right now withoperating more on feeling than I
am thinking and this is apractice, but this is something
I urge producers and anycreatives really to do is like,

(01:27:57):
don't think about what you'redoing and just feel it a lot
more than thinking.
Even like the song we justworked on I probably sound like
a fucking psychopath, callingyou and giving you notes, like
I'm like listen, I know this isincorrect and this song is too
loud and it's distorting, but Ilove it because it feels better
to me and I don't want to thinkabout it too much.

(01:28:17):
And like we literally forreference, I, we had Austin
makes our last record and likehe did his first initial mix on
it and I call him like go backto the demo and just elevate it.
And he did and he crushed itand but because I love, I didn't
want to lose that initialfeeling that it gave me and I
just realized like chasing thefeelings far more important than

(01:28:38):
chasing, like the idea or likethe like the technical aspect of
something.
And yeah, and even like justit's hard and it's hard, but
you're looking at a screen andthere's so many colors and
things to look at knobs andgraphs and and like buttons and
you're like, okay, there's somany things.
You're like I could change this,but like do I need to?
Like, does it?
What does it feel like?

(01:28:59):
And closing your eyes and justlike okay, like how does this
feel to me right now?
And checking in on yourself,that's a big thing.
And like throughout the sessionis like, how does this melody
feel?
How does this core progressionfeel?
How does the tempo feel?
And just like little thingslike that and like I've just
kind of been diving into thatand even when I'm making
instrumentals and beats and shitlike that, like God chasing

(01:29:20):
that fucking high of a goodfeeling song, so good.

Yeah, I mean, you really said it.
We're referring to your nextsingle.
That already has a date and I'mnot sure when this episode is
going to come out.

Bardo (01:29:35):
Yeah, we were announced.
May 19th is the next song.
Well, yeah, yeah, this is aepisode could come out after
dying to be you if it's out orhasn't come out yet.

Yes, yes and fucking amazing track, thank you
.
But yeah, whenever I, wheneverI heard it, I already knew you
had told me we literally madethis.

Bardo (01:29:53):
Wait, you are listening to basically a day one, with a
couple changes because, like youguys, nailed the vibe, yeah
literally just yeah, it was theproject I sent you was the day
one project Like just this iswhat it is, this is the one
we've been listening to andgenerally, like you go through
the fucking like 40 differentversions of a song, like little

(01:30:14):
edits, and I'm just this wayLike no, keep it, yeah.
And then we just we changed alyric.
We just literally actuallyeliminated a lyric and made it
even simpler.
It just had a lyric repeattwice and we just doubled the
vocals.
Yeah, that's like okay, cool,but the song was like we just
didn't change it.
They didn't touch the mix on.
My end is like this is what itis.

(01:30:35):
And then I want to send it toyou.
We just like I want it to bethis, just elevate it, just
clean it up slightly.
Yeah, you know.
So.

And that's.
That's the way it ended up.
It's just cleaned up slightly.
And then we went through somefun revisions on like vocal
timing and tuning, which justelevated the record.
But my first like instinct wasI want this bass to be cleaner
so that we can make it justlouder and bigger.
But the fucked up distorted lowend, that stereo.

(01:31:08):
The cacophony yeah it.

Bardo (01:31:11):
It is the rawness that you're looking for, and
sometimes the fucked upaccidents are the things that
make the song Literally the bestmoments I've ever had in like
production, I feel like arealways the moments where I'm
like I did not mean to do that,there's so not what I was trying
to do, but that sounds fuckingridiculous.

(01:31:32):
We're keeping it.
It's crazy and that's thebeauty of it Not thinking about
it, just doing it and feelingthat felt amazing.
Keep it.
You know yeah.

Without a doubt.
So now I want to, I want tofigure out, because we just
basically did an entire recordtogether UEP, the Lauren Gray
album.
Yep, you produced all thetracks with basically a core
group of friends.

Bardo (01:31:57):
Yes, I got to pink slip Inverness Beapus, coley Dasha,
amelia.

Amelia.

Bardo (01:32:06):
Moore, Mckay, Stevens, McGregor, Leo, Josh Golden.
Fuck, I feel like I'mforgetting Lauren Gray obviously
you.
I feel like I'm forgetting someof this.
So many fucking people.
There's like two, two differentwriting camps with so many

(01:32:27):
different people coming through.

Yeah, yeah, I'm curious.
So two questions here, likefirst of all oh J-Bock, oh, of
course J-Bock.
Yes, sorry, buddy, how did youmeet Lauren?

Bardo (01:32:43):
Just, we'll start with that, met Lauren.
She came how do we I've got setup somehow just a manager shit.
I think like, hey, you know,she was looking for different
producers and got thrown in withme and then me and Coley just
did a session with her.
So the song Let Down was thefirst song we ever made together
Really, which made the record.

(01:33:04):
And yeah, and I think whatLauren how Lauren and I hit it
off is I just listened to herand she was coming out of a
situation where, like she waskind of forced to do a bunch of
stuff she didn't want to do,like genre wise with her old
label, and I think she sheliterally told me she's like

(01:33:28):
you're the first producer thatlistens to what I want to do.
But I'm like that sounds,that's crazy.
What are you talking about?
Like that's the fucking job,literally listening to the
artist's vibe and just adding mysauce to it through their vibe
to elevate their vision, andlike I think it's just this.
Yeah, and I think she's justfucked with the fact that I

(01:33:50):
listened to her and I, like youknow, could have kind of like a
big brother relationship withher.
You know what I mean?
I grew up with two littlesisters too.
So it's like I've alwaysconnected with girls very easily
, like find myself likebefriending girls Sometimes
easier than guys.
Like I just vibe with, like, Ijust feel like at home, it's
like okay, cool, like you'relike a sister kind of vibe, like

(01:34:10):
it's easy for me to just getalong with it.

That actually you know you saying that I
actually think that I get alongwith women much better.
And I've always been curiousabout that and I wonder if it's
because I do have a youngersister.
Yeah, I'm going to be honest,we're, yeah, you're tight.
Well we're tight, but we smackheads, oh really.
But I think that buildscharacter.

Bardo (01:34:30):
Like you understand that, like I didn't have a brother to
my reference, I never, like it,had to deal with that shit.
But I like I don't know it wasalways around women and like,
just like, okay, I just kind ofunderstand the vibe and it's
easy for me to relate to themand like show up in a way that,
like you know, and just respectwomen and like you guys are like
I don't know, there's neverlike the toxic.

(01:34:52):
I just try to like, really tryhopefully I'm not this way but
like really try to not have thetoxic masculinity aspects of
things and just like I reallyvalue women, I think like the
world doesn't value them enough.
I think a big part of that isbecause I grew up with that.
I'm like it's been an integralpart of my life.
My mom is an integral part ofme being here as we discussed

(01:35:14):
you know what I mean.
And it's just like so I don'tknow Long story short with
Lauren.
I'm like why would I not listento you with the fuck you
talking about?
This is your vision, you know,and I respect your opinion, and
I think she just liked that andwe just hit it off and yeah,
here we are.

So, yeah, I have to say that I think of all the
albums like from start to finishI've worked on, I think that
those tracks are the best, andwhat I mean by best.
But let me thank you.
Let me do it.
I mean it's amazing workingwith you and now, like I think,
as the album went on, like wehave absolutely locked in on how

(01:35:53):
we work together, figuring outjust if I get your project like
it's so simple, it saves youtime, it saves me time but then
I really understand thefundamentals of what's going
into the track.
It's much more simple, but whatI mean by best is just like

(01:36:14):
sound selection, the trackselection, the overall sonics,
the way that each track makesyou feel I mean cohesively.
Really, I think it's the bestthing that I've ever worked on.
Hell, yeah, I think I reallyappreciate that.

Bardo (01:36:31):
Yeah, it's kind of a hodgepodge of a record.
There's like moments of likeblack eyed peas kind of vibe,
like pop songs, then like idiommoments and then like straight
just like folk songs, yeah,which I think is really cool.
But I love the fact that it allblends together and, yeah,
honestly, really proud of thatrecord, like it's one of those

(01:36:52):
songs, one of those recordswhere it's like I worked on
things and I'm like cool, I'mdown to working on this, like I
don't necessarily feel like thisis something I would listen to
all the time, like it justbecause sometimes it's just like
the artist wants it a differentway and you're like, okay, cool
, let's go that way and I justhave a different opinion about
things and whatever, and that'sfine, like we can, but I still
want to see their vision throughand I just thought something I

(01:37:16):
would always listen to all thetime but I'm like still proud to
have worked on it.
But then this record issomething I'm like, I genuinely
like I like added, I'm like cool, I'm excited this is out so I
can add these songs to myplaylist, so I can listen to
these songs, because I like Ifeel like it was like I was
making these songs for myself.
In a way, I'm like this is whatI want, this is what I want to

(01:37:38):
hear, you know so.

Yeah, I mean.
So we went to her birthdayalbum release party thing and
the tracks played from start tofinish, yeah, and that was so
cool to hear that legitimately.
I was like fuck.

Bardo (01:37:50):
I love it.
I love all these songs.
What's your favorite?
One or two?
You can pick two.

Yeah, I think the let down for sure, but I'm
trying to remember the one songnamed the.

Bardo (01:38:04):
Tele freezes over.

Yes.

Bardo (01:38:06):
Yes, I think until hell freezes over is also definitely
one of my favorites Dude.
That's a banger.
So good and enough for you,great song.
How much of me is enough foryou that's like, oh my God,
that's that one.
And predictable, alsopredictable.

So you like this is, this is the thing.
They're all there.
Really.
It's a really great out.
It's so everybody goes andlistens.
And now that, now that you'veheard from Bartow- that was
actually one of the first steps.

Bardo (01:38:37):
I'm like, oh, I love the executive production role.
That's eventually what I wantto like really step into is like
I want to find my own like alittle prodigy Bartow, like my
guy that just can do a lot oflike the heavy lifting stuff.
But I like want to be more oflike hey, let's like I want to
oversee this, especially becauseI get busy with touring and
like I mean already now I'm likewe're literally just got off a

(01:38:58):
two month tour and we're aboutto leave in like four days for
another two month tour.

With many other stacked behind it.

Bardo (01:39:03):
Yeah, yeah, exactly yeah.
Other shit lined up.
So it's like festivals.

And getting like yeah, maggie Lindemann, yeah,
exactly.
Or Stan Atlantic, stan Atlantic.
What did I say?
Wow, I'm sorry.
Yeah, stan Atlantic, yeah yeah.

Bardo (01:39:20):
Really cool stuff, so thankful for it.
And also like, how do I, how doyou, how do you, balance being
a producer and also like beingan artist, you know, and anyways
, yeah, I think that's reallysomething I like I've been
diving into is like, what doesthat look like for me in like
the overall executive productionrole, where like could be
thinking like hey, here's thisidea that I have, it's a sample,

(01:39:42):
it's a loop, and I put theseelements on top of it.
I want to give it to you and Iwant you to add your stuff, and
I want to give it to you and youadd your stuff and then bring
it back and I'm going to thenship it off to this person to
like seal the deal on it and itbecomes something that it is.
And like that fascinates me inlike the slow burn on these

(01:40:05):
things and the progress ofthings.
I've had songs that like werewritten for something totally
different, that ended up withsomeone else, that like becomes
something different, like thoselike maybe a two year long
process of it shifting andevolving into something else.
You know, I mean it's like it'show it goes.
You know, yeah, swap the drumsout, change the vibe, but like
the core idea was there andbecomes the other thing you know
.

So yeah it's.

Bardo (01:40:27):
That's kind of what I'm stepping into now.

I love that, yeah, so.
So let's, we're now we're goingto fast forward.
Okay, let's say that you havehit the ceiling as far as your
music career can go, because, Imean, I totally think that you
guys will sell out Madison.

Bardo (01:40:48):
What does that even mean, though I don't think there ever
is a ceiling.

So I'll paint the ceiling for you.
Okay, you sell out MadisonSquare Garden?
Yeah, it really doesn't getmuch bigger than that, and there
are ways that it can get bigger.

Bardo (01:40:59):
We're like post Malone, like level, like, just like
we're like one of the notableartists, like top 100 artists,
yeah, I mean, even if we talkedabout MGK, yeah, okay, yeah,
let's just say as big as he is,which is tremendously big.

Yeah, you guys hit that, and you're also
executive producing albums thatare filling you.

Bardo (01:41:20):
Yeah.

What else is there?
And what I'm kind of alludingto here is that we had this
little joking moment, but kindof serious that we I threw out
acting.

Bardo (01:41:31):
Yeah, I really want to act, really, really, really want
to act.
I want to act, but I reallywant to play the villain in
things.
I love that kind of like.
I think it would be fun for mypersonality type because I'm
sure you, I'm kind of aneccentric person and I get very
passionate about things.
And Captain Ramble yes, captainRamble and I think it would be

(01:41:55):
so fun to channel that energyinto like just this like devious
kind of like the Joker typepersonality characters, because
I think for me is like it'd beso fun and like what a cool way
to like I'm like, yeah, I'm,I'll do it, but I'm going to
play the villain.
Like I want to be the fuckingbad guy in this, like I want to
be the fucking over the topcharacter.

Do you have a favorite Joker?
I don't, I mean everybody.
Hey, don't, don't look at, I'mnot kidding, he's a little bit
of a dut.

Bardo (01:42:27):
No, he's kidding me, he is the Joker, like that is like
one of the best performancesever in my opinion of acting
history and hate me if Joaquinis by far my favorite.

Really Absolutely no, dude, he's ledger
is goaded.
He is, and it was incredible.
And then Joaquin.

Bardo (01:42:45):
Joaquin was good.
He was really good.
He was really good.
But just something about theledger's performance I just was
so like, oh my God, like it waslike, like soul-shaking, like
that just is the Joker.
It was inspiring for me.
It's like I just wanna do someshit like that, where it's like,
wow, this is just so.
But Joaquin Phoenix likehonestly, yeah, same kind of

(01:43:05):
vibe, but just like it's just adifferent thing.
Different.
I just resonate with thealleged performance.
More yeah.

I think that Joaquin his performance.
There's so much empathy thatthat might be the wrong word
here.
I can actually put myself inthat position and just see how
this just came to this.

Bardo (01:43:25):
Yeah, it was a cool origin.
It was a cool origin story oflike, wow, honestly, great film,
amazing film.
But yeah, I just think it'd befun like channeling that energy
the insane, because I don't feellike I get to do that all the
time.
Like I feel like, in a way, youhave to repress those crazy
moments where, like if I justwanna scream or like you just

(01:43:46):
wanna feel that energy and likelet it go, and I feel like if I
was playing the villain, I couldjust be that character that
just fucking unleashes feelingsand just opens the floodgates
and like just go over the top.
You know, yeah, without a doubt.

I think it'd be really fun.

Bardo (01:44:03):
So I actually talked to one of our, one of the agents on
our team.
He does like a lot of thecrossover stuff for like music
and then like film and TV andlike I pitched him, I'm like I
said what I wanna do, I plantedthe seed.
So right now I'm obviouslythere's a lot on my plate.
So it's not like the forefrontof my mind, but something came
up, fuck yeah.

So yeah, and I think that the world does open
as you guys get more of aspotlight.
Yeah absolutely.
It's.
Yeah, I mean we were.
I brought up Jack Harlow.
He seems to be like a very hottopic right now, but really I
mean so you know now he's gonnabe in this white boy can't jump
show and crossing over frommusic to that, but it makes it

(01:44:42):
much, I'm sure, more seamless.
I don't know.

Bardo (01:44:45):
But more seamless once you have a platform.
Yeah, definitely, and I think,further go into like the things
I wanna do.
I want to like I love food.
I would love to like have arestaurant or like a something
of a sort a compound I don'teven know what the fuck or like
we're talking about, like whatthat we want.
You know what you're talkingabout.

(01:45:05):
This could turn into.
Yeah, I think that's stuff likethis.
It's kind of shit like thatinterests me, like ideas beyond
music.
I'm a producer of life.
It's more than just music andthings I like.
I love creating shit.
That's why I love producingLike.
I want to like create things.

(01:45:25):
The passion is just.
It just yeah, like I don't carewhat the fuck it is Like, I just
love ideas and seeing ideascome to life.

And yeah, just like I think this is honestly
why I resonate with you so much,because that's me.

Bardo (01:45:42):
Yeah.

I used to produce, but I have moved on to
other things because I felt thatmy gifts or whatever my passion
is is aligned with other things.
But I just want to create.

Bardo (01:45:53):
Yeah.

That's why we're here talking yeah, honestly,
because I don't think thateither of us know the waves that
an episode like this can create.

Bardo (01:46:02):
Yeah.

Somebody, or tens or hundreds of people who
watch and feel like they have togo and create.

Bardo (01:46:09):
Like Exactly.
I also really good point to goover that.
I heard this recently.
Tyler creator had this likeinterview and he was like you'd
never know, it's easy to getcaught up.
I'm like, oh yeah, I only hasfive views or whatever.
But Tyler was making the pointwhere he's found so many artists
that way, where, like, heliterally finds them and they
have like a hundred views on avideo.
But Tyler the creator is one ofthose 100 views and he's like

(01:46:31):
you never know who is watchingand it's like it's not about the
amount of views, it's likeabout the potency of those views
.

I mean, I guess I'll say mine first so that you
can kind of hear an example.
But we were talking about thisearlier and this has been a goal
for a very long time.
First of all, this podcast hasbeen a goal for a very long time
, but I personally felt like Ineeded to get my mixing career
and life in a point where,financially, I'm like, okay, I'm

(01:47:02):
ready to start something else,right yeah.
Because I didn't.
The vision that I had wassomething more grandiose, like a
room, like this but now thatthis is rolling the five year
plan, I've always, always wantedto have a coffee and breakfast
spot and really a hole in thewall.
Grounds for success, groundsfor success.

(01:47:23):
And I have also wanted to havelike a hole in the wall bar that
serves like stellar fuckingwings but not like ones with
garnish on top, just a sloppygood ones, you know.
Should we give them?
Should?

Bardo (01:47:36):
we do the little brainstorm session we were just
having when we were walking downhere About the little, the
grounds for success thing.

Yeah.
So I'll throw out the idea thatI had.
And then how you used yourmarketing wild brain.
So the idea for anybody who'slistening that you know wants to
make this a reality one day isI want to have a coffee shop
that serves damn good breakfast,and when I mean that like so I

(01:48:01):
saw Legit weird shit too.

Bardo (01:48:03):
Yeah, esoteric like why not, why just babel and cream
cheese?
Why not some wild shit on thatbagel?

you know I'm done with that.
I got to see you on tour inAustin, so we happened to be
there at the same time and I'mfrom Dallas, austin.

Bardo (01:48:19):
So in Austin.

Exactly and dude some of the breakfasts that I
had there was just insane.

Bardo (01:48:25):
It's insanely good.

Food is life changing.
It is so some kind of likeSouthern breakfast food with
like fun twists but very smallmenu.

Bardo (01:48:36):
So you know we do it right and then Can I pause for
two seconds?
I have to pee, so bad Again.

We're back, berta.

Bardo (01:48:44):
Such a cool vibe in here.
It's like how cool that be toreplicate this whole style.
But I mean so much of like acafe is like the network and
like getting to hang out at aplace with like other
like-minded people and like Ifeel like if people in our
circle were to open somethinglike this, it would generate a

(01:49:05):
vibe of like other musicindustry people and
entertainment industry peoplecirculating in that area.
Like how cool would it be tolike have a membership aspect to
this thing, right when.
But it's not like absurd.
We even like 20 bucks a monthor whatever it is or like, but
just have.
It's kind of like a workplacewhere you can go.
It's a vibe, but cheap coffee.

(01:49:26):
Once you're in it's not like youknow, soho house or like it's
membership and also it'saggressively expensive.
It's like it's just like no,it's like, hey, it was real like
membership to get in, but thenit's like really reasonable once
you're in and then great food,great coffee, great vibes.
I still like the ticketingthing for outside, like for, you

(01:49:49):
know, guests can come in withtickets, memberships can just
get in and really reserve thespot.
You know that's fucking cool.
But then also it was referralbased, so you can't get in
unless someone refers you.
I think that's really cool.
I mean, granted, you alreadycan do whatever you want with it
.
But I think that it's such avibe where like creates a space,
like, oh, I would pull up tothis thing and like I would work

(01:50:12):
here, I would exist here, Iwould, you know, work this into
my schedule during the week tojust stop at this place to just
hang out and see who else I see,cause it's like there's a
community aspect of it.
The community aspect of stuffis, I think, the crucial and
like business developmentespecially now.

Yeah, I mean absolutely.
There's so many, especially fora coffee shop.
There are so many freakingoptions.

Bardo (01:50:34):
Oh yeah.

What makes you go to one place over another.
Yeah, you know it's location,so it had to be a good location,
but there has to be more.
It can't just be great coffee,cause, let's be honest, I'm one
of the probably only people whoreally gives a fuck about the
notes of a coffee, or this orthat you know, most people, I
bet, are functional and theywant it to not taste like shit.

Bardo (01:50:57):
Yeah, but what else?
Yeah you want the vibe you want,like okay, it's, you feel good,
it's feeling Just like.
Why do we listen to a song?
Because it's feeling it feelsgood being there, existing at
the coffee shop and like thetransaction of everything feels
good.
That's why I love the idea oflike the membership.
It's like you're a part of thisthing.

(01:51:17):
You're like it feels good beinga member and when you're there
you're also not blowing yourwallet on coffee.
You're just like yeah, it'sgreat food, great coffee at a
really reasonable price, causeit's offset by members of cost.
One of the best feelings islike is why I love going on tour
cause you go and you experiencegreat food, but it's not crazy

(01:51:41):
expensive.
Cause you're like in Milwaukeeor something, or like some or
Oklahoma, and like you just likehey, this is, you know,
breakfast sandwich like seven toeight dollars and you're like
wait what?
This is seven to eight dollars,Like for a really solid meal,
where here it's like 15 to 16dollars for the same thing and

(01:52:04):
it's just like wait what Like,and it feels better when you
know you're not overpaying forsomething.
I mean where it's like creatingthis thing that's like has
great value to it.

It's like oh, you're so right about the value
comparison, because that'sunfortunately.
Whenever I go to a place I'mlike hmm, you know what?
This is a great burger, but for$22, and then I have to buy the
fries.
I mean, it doesn't really tastethat good, exactly.

Bardo (01:52:29):
And people, I think, are getting smarter about stuff, and
it's like.
I would rather have a situationwhere it's like your value is
so there.
It's a high quality productthat serves the customer more so
than anything, cause you'll getmore customers that way, and
lifelong customers.

(01:52:49):
Versus like yeah, we have aproduct, it's dope and it's also
overpriced For us, like no,this is the correct pricing, it
feels good from like, cause thenit's like you don't feel guilty
buying it.
You want I'm going to come backand get this fucking burger,
cause it's not overpriced.
It's like Chipotle is like thisyeah, great deal, great food.

(01:53:10):
It's just great.
It's just like.
It's a great look howsuccessful Chipotle is.

They used to have memberships.
Really, I don't know if theystill do, but you used to get a
black card and if you came inyou could.

Bardo (01:53:21):
Yeah, yeah, they would give it to certain people and
like they could like Chipotlefor life.
I think Lauren actually has one.

Yeah, those should be an influencer type
there.

Bardo (01:53:28):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, but yeah shit like that.

It's like I'm sorry, by the way, just being an
influencer would not get amembership at this coffee place.
Yes, yes, I mean, it's aboutvibe.

Bardo (01:53:42):
Yes.

Also, I would love to set up areas where
producers felt like they couldbring their laptop and
headphones and work.
Yeah it was sick.
That'd be so cool Like I feellike this would be inspirational
to a creator.

Bardo (01:53:55):
You can have a little room, like you could book it out
like online, say a littleproduction room or a mixing room
or something Like I love spacesthat are like multi-use.
It's not just, it's just coffeeand laptops, it's like coffee,
laptops, podcast production room, mixing room, like you have a

(01:54:15):
rooftop bar to just sunbathe, ifyou want I don't know.
Just a little vibe Like I thinkthat's so cool, I think that'd
be a really, really cool spot,yeah it is really cool.

So for my last question, something I've been
wondering I don't know how, Idon't know this answer, but I
think it's going to help otherpeople who are wanting to break
through as a band just getnoticed, get any kind of forward
momentum going.
But how did beauty school dropout, start getting traction in

(01:54:46):
LA?
And before you answer that, fora while I had heard the band's
name and there was a point whereit was like barely brought up
but I would hear it every nowand then because I mean I am in
like the old scene in LA.
But then there was like aseismic shift, Like I don't
remember the day but I doremember the day type thing,

(01:55:10):
where it was just like everybodywas talking about BSD.
It was like yo, bsd is playinghere, bsd is doing this, be it,
you know.
Like it just like became athing, like it was synonymous
with LA, like that culture, andI was like, oh fuck, okay,
that's awesome.
And I still had not met you guys.
I met Beapus at.
I think it was Buzz's MichelleBuzz artist, buzz, fucking love

(01:55:35):
her.

Bardo (01:55:36):
She actually just has a song.
She had a.
One of her songs came out in myDiscover Weekly.
That added my play Statuesincredible song.

She produced the entire thing I can't remember
the name of it.

Bardo (01:55:47):
That is yeah, I can't remember the name of the song.
It's like there's no drums,it's like vocals.
It kind of remind me of likeImogen Heat.
That sounds like Liberation.
Yes, Liberation.
That's the song.
Amazing and same song.
Amazing song.
You fucking crushed it.
She produced that one too.

Yeah, I don't know if it's her and Lance.
Oh yeah, but amazing so good.
I love Buzz, but I think it washer misfit release party and
Beepus and Royal and the SerpentRoyal I'm just gonna say Royal
now, but Royal was there and Ijust remember you guys had some

(01:56:21):
Web 3 stuff moving and I went upto Beepus and at that time he
was just going by, brent, and wetalked Web 3, not about music
really, just like about ideas inthe future, and we had this
heart to heart moment and thatis how I came into y'all's world
.
I then sat down and went toDune with him and we ate and we

(01:56:44):
talked again.

Bardo (01:56:45):
Dune, the restaurant.
Yes, I'm gonna go there afterthis, I think.

No way.

Bardo (01:56:50):
I was like that oh and out water.

There's one down the street, there's one
downtown.

Bardo (01:56:53):
Metatrainian food right.

Yes, yeah, there's one right in downtown.

Bardo (01:56:56):
There's one downtown.

Love it.
That's where we went, and weagain just like so good their
beach sandwich.

Bardo (01:57:01):
My dad randomly met the owner of Dune backstage at
Coachella.
No way and like he brought methere, he's like I've wanted to.
Just my friend at thisrestaurant that I met backstage
at Coachella.
I'm like so random but okay.

He's a rockstar.
To me, dune is insanely good,oh so good.
Oh my God, yeah, anyways,continue.
So we just had a heart to heartthere and I said, hey, man, I
don't ever ask people for mixingwork like to the artist, it's
just like sometimes I do, butnot really.
I was like, dude, what you guysare doing is so awesome and I

(01:57:36):
really love that music.
I just mixed Maggie Lindemann'salbum so I can dance in that
world If there's ever anopportunity, just remember.
And like an entire year later,we made plans and God laughed,
was ready to mix and I had youguys over and I took a stab at
it and luckily you guys dug itand now we're here.

(01:57:59):
But I want to know how thatseismic shift of barely hearing
about BSD to one day I justcould not not hear BSD.
What the hell happened?
That's great.

Bardo (01:58:14):
I mean also, that's also so cool for me to hear that
that's the word on the street,that like it's synonymous in the
culture, like that's coolthat's.
I just got giddy thinking aboutthat Because I think when
you're so close to the flame,you constantly are feeling like
am I even doing the right thing?
Am I good enough?
And like, is anything we'redoing actually hitting people?

(01:58:34):
So it's really cool to hearthat and thank you for saying
that.
I appreciate that.
Yeah, that's really cool tohear and makes me really excited
.

So I really think that that's true, and
especially whenever Royal becamein your circle, you guys
together is I mean.

Bardo (01:58:52):
that is kind of it's a crew, yeah, a family, the OK.
So there's a couple layers tothis.
A less is more and likescarcity is like actually a
really powerful tool and I thinkfor us what we did a good job
at around this is really propsto Koli, our vocalist.

(01:59:16):
He is has been very connectedin like different scenes in LA
and he's like a very socialbutterfly, the kind of cupid
character connecting people andhe's really good at like he
understands the less is morementality.
And early on the shows like ourfirst show ever two years ago

(01:59:36):
in May, like literally almost tothe date, like this next month
like is our first show two yearsago.
Holy shit Was at the like afterhours show was like mid COVID
After hours show at this vintageshop called Haven House on La
Brea and our friends owned itand they were throwing these

(02:00:00):
kind of like underground likepunk shows after hours and just
they would invite their friendsopen bar, whatever, just kind of
like a vibe, like it was midCOVID.
So we use that as anopportunity like look, people
are going to want to dosomething.
We also knew that there waskind of a built in audience from
them doing these shows here,but we knew how to like game it.
We're it's like we could.

(02:00:21):
We didn't want to do thetraditional route of like we're
showing a show, showcase orfucking whatever.
It's like.
No, like we're going to do thisunderground shit.
That felt raw and fun and itwas packed the fuck out and even
if, like truthfully at the time, even if 20% of the people in
that room were there for us andeveryone else was there for the,
just the party and like becausea friend invited them, or like

(02:00:42):
their friends of the storeowners or whatever, it was
packed and it was a vibe and itwas something to do and we gamed
it where it's like.
We then gave us that roomful ofpeople and we delivered a
fucking performance for them andeveryone left been like, oh,
that was cool, and then theytalked about it.
So the next show we did Harvardand Stone same thing.

(02:01:06):
We, we ran the show.
It was like we had the controlover it because our good friend,
mark Houston, who owns, likeHarvard and Stone no vacancy,
good time.
David Wayne's like those bars,like just the fun, just like

(02:01:27):
dope bars in LA, him and hisbrother, they, you know good
friend of our management team,and he's like, just do something
and he's a big fan of the band.
He's like just have fun, throwyour own shit.
And we like took control andthrow our own shit.
We took like we curated theevening.
We didn't have any openers, itwas just us.
First two shows, no openers,just us.
It's curated BSD.
And we again divided everyone.
At that point I think there wasa little bit of hype of like oh,

(02:01:49):
the last show is dank, don'tmiss this one.
People came out and then likewe delivered a great performance
.
Even those free shows weweren't charging for tickets.
It was like we did it for theculture, for the community, and
delivered on that and that wastwo shows in.
And then we then we did anotherone that was like a homies
birthday party who's veryconnected in the scene and like

(02:02:11):
he's like we I want you guys toplay my birthday party and we're
like down and I think there waslike lines out the door to get
into this event but like peoplecouldn't even get in.
There's people who like showedup and waited all night and
still didn't even get in.
But the beauty of that was like, even though it wasn't even our
event, the word was like oh,that was a beauty school dropout

(02:02:32):
show, and you couldn't get intothe beauty school dropout show
because the line was too long,and so it kind of became this
thing of like oh, it's hard toget into these things.
So we provided these events andthese experiences for free for
the culture, but veryperiodically.
It wasn't like we're playing ashow every weekend and like I
think there's a power in likeless is more and like it's the

(02:02:56):
in and out method versusMcDonald's, you know, and like
our menu has four things on itand that's what it is, and we
it's so and they are $8.
And we it's a and they are $8versus $4 for a burger, but it's
a really good burger and I meanit's reasonable, but it's like
you know, it's like it's fourand it's it's.
This is our culture and we'vebuilt this culture when, like,

(02:03:17):
we own it, we're not selling itoff to people like this is our
culture and we've always hadthat mindset.
Early on, that was always thethesis and we stuck to our guns
with it and and yeah, I think.
And then we with we got the,the, the blessing of getting to
go on tour with Royal as herband on her tour, and she was

(02:03:41):
gracious enough to let us playStarfucker in the set because we
had a song together and it was.
We were the opening bands bandon that tour and even now at our
shows on tour, we still havepeople come out to us like I
found you guys through that,through being the opening bands
band, which is crazy.

(02:04:02):
It's like wow, okay, that'scool.
And so really props to Royal.
She put us on early on, reallybelieved in us early on, when
she didn't need to, but she did.
She saw something and shebelieved in us and I mean, and
she continuously playsStarfucker with you guys.
Yeah, so that's yeah, and.

Starfucker is a banging song.
It is, and everybody singsalong.
But the coolest thing is, everytime that I hear her get on the
mic after that track or after ashow like I'll just say the
Grammy party she will say youguys are some lucky
motherfuckers to see these guysin a small venue because they're
going to be world fuckingfamous one day.

(02:04:39):
Just remember that.
And every time I hear her saythat it's pretty fucking cool
because somebody who's playedreally, really big shows like
Rockin' Rio with me Like holyhell, yeah, massive shows.

Bardo (02:04:54):
She played Coachella.
Like Coachella, I mean, youknow, like big, big shit.
Royal is an icon and I'm sothankful that she believes in us
the way she does, and I believein her.
She's truly one of the coolestartists out there, doing it
Absolutely.
And like it's so cool DJ, Ijust feel blessed, I don't know.
So back to the you know theplaybook.

(02:05:16):
I guess I think that, and itless is more, value yourself and
like do good art and art is God.
And like don't sacrifice goodart.
It has to be good music, it hasto be good art and be a good
person and to be kind of people.
That's something we've alwaysbeen really like keen on is like

(02:05:38):
we want to be the biggest bandin the world and, at the same
time, be a band that, even ifwe're like selling out Madison
Square Garden, everyone, down tothe catering person, is like
they are truly kind people andlike they give a shit, like I
don't want to lose that.
I really fucking hope we don'tlose that.

(02:06:02):
And like I just want to be kindto people and like you know, and
be great.
You know, show gratitude andlike gracious and it goes a long
way and there's really likebeing a real person to others
and like, yeah, it shows up evenand also then also divulge.
Or I digress into another thingthat we have early on is Coley

(02:06:25):
and I were doing a lot ofwriting for other artists when
we were building the band.
We actually use that as kind oflike a little alley-oop.
We'd like we started using likea beauty school dropout as a
production, like credit on songthat we produced.

So we'd be like hey, if like me and Coley
produced the song.

Bardo (02:06:44):
Be like me, Bartow and Coley and then and beauty school
dropout on the song asproducers and even just getting
the foot in the door and like itwas always like another thing,
or even finessing a feature onsomething like early on, and
just I don't know being a partof it and just like adding value
to things and I just, yeah, Idon't know Believing in
ourselves.

(02:07:04):
Also, like we're just likealways believing in ourselves,
Just like, yeah, that we aregoing to be the biggest band in
the world, and it's like, yeah,why can't we?
You know, and we're stillworking at it and we're still on
our way and I'm so confident inwhat we're doing, you know, and
very thankful that we get to doit.
Yeah, man, I am, I'm thankfulto be a part of it.

I certainly believe that you guys will be
that and I'm just, I'm glad tobe able to watch you guys do it.
Oh, thank you, thank you forwatching and thank you for being
a part of it, truly, absolutelyit is.

Bardo (02:07:38):
It's a dream.

Dude, thank you so much for being here, having a
freaking awesome conversationabout so many different things
and unzipping and zippingzippers and, you know, throwing
around ideas and letting us seea little snapshot into your
rambling mind, captain Ramble,which I love, all of the rambles
.

Bardo (02:08:00):
It's pretty cut the rambles, but you know, yeah,
that's me, dude, it's been apleasure, thank you.
Thank you so much for having me.
Seriously, this is a lot of fun.

Okay, so now that you've listened to this
episode, I'm sure that there'slike so many funny moments and
awesome key takeaways, butultimately I hope you understand
that more about who BeautySchool Dropout is, what they
stand for, how they cametogether and all had unique
networks and skills, and howit's just like the perfect

(02:08:35):
culmination of people to be in aband to attract the eyes of
First Wire like Sherry and MarkHoppus, pete Wintz, all these
people who believe in this band,and how it's really taken them
to where they are today.
Some of the key takeaways Iwould love to talk about the

(02:08:59):
your Energy Makes your Day story.
Bardo was talking to a womanwhile they were on tour, just
waiting for some food, and sheasked him if he was happy and
she basically went into thestory about how your energy
creates your life, your day, andwhat he took away from it is,

(02:09:23):
whatever room or opportunity oranything that he walks into, he
wants to bring the best energypossible, like happy, passionate
, stoked on life, energy, and hebelieves that, and I believe
too that you will feel better,but also it will make those
around you feel better.
If they're down, it will liftthem up.

(02:09:43):
I just I thought that the storyabout how this came to his life
was so awesome and I hope youdo too.
I loved that.
He says success is not adestination, it's the journey,
and I feel like that's what thispodcast is really about.
It's about highlighting thejourney is to success.
It's not so much about thesuccess itself, and me

(02:10:07):
personally, I am on that journey.
I have had some success and I'mable to pay for my life and
music, but I'm on the road andI'm trying my best to enjoy
every step and sometimes that'sdifficult and I think this
podcast is a way to reflect,through others, that journey.
I loved this line.
He said everything you dobuilds up your price tag, and

(02:10:32):
that really resonated with me,because we have to choose, as
creators or as a mixer andmaster, which projects we take
on at a certain point.
Work comes in very quicklysometimes and you only have so
much time.
You have to choose the projectsthat resonate with you, the
ones that will move your careerforward, the ones that build a

(02:10:55):
better relationship, and I dothink that everything that we
work on builds our price tag orit lowers your price tag and you
just have to be selective andyou need to know your worth, but
you also need to know what canhelp you out.
I love this line be a cockroachand keep going.
That was his line on how tocontinue forward through

(02:11:20):
difficult things.
I thought that was hilarious.
But ultimately, whenever youlisten or watch this episode, I
think that the biggest thingabout Bardo is his passion.
Like dude, exudes passion allthe time and I feel like he
doesn't talk about shit hedoesn't care about.
He is just bouncing, like inthis video.

(02:11:42):
You should watch it.
He's just bouncing around andusing his hands like crazy
because he's so passionate aboutthe things he's talking about.
And I think that, above all else, passion will take you far in
life.
It will just magnetically bringpeople into your life that
resonate with what you'retalking about, or somebody that

(02:12:02):
you're talking to and you'rejust exuding passion about it.
That person will.
They won't be able to help, butthink about the people they
know that they could connect youwith that maybe you will have
an equal passion about.
I really think that mosteverything in my life has
happened because I talkpassionately about the things I

(02:12:23):
care about.
I unapologetically talk aboutthe things I love at a
heightened level, because itjust gets me so excited to talk
about it that I think it'smagnetically pulled people into
my life and I really I felt likeBardo is the same person as me
in that.
So I wanted to highlight that.

(02:12:45):
And, lastly, always believe inyourself.
Believe in yourself above allelse, in the things that you are
passionate and the things thatyou do.
And this goes hand in hand withthe last point is like, if you
do not believe in yourselfwholeheartedly, in what you are
doing, how can somebody elsethere was a great thing that

(02:13:08):
happened or great thing thatMiddy said in his podcast about
some particular person tellingtalent, who do you want to be?
And that person paused and didnot have an answer.
They hadn't figured it out yet.
And the person who asked thatquestion was like stop, don't

(02:13:28):
worry, I'm not going to sign youtoday.
You may have all this passionand this and that about what
you're doing, but you don'tbelieve in it yet and that's
okay.
But go and find that and comeback.
And what I'm saying here isthat if you don't believe in
yourself so wholeheartedly thatthe person across from you

(02:13:49):
completely understands and hasconfidence in you, you're
hindering your ability to moveforward.
So have that confidence and beable to back it up.
Of course, but you've got tobelieve in yourself, and I know
Bardo does, and I know BSD does,and I know that that's why
they're having the success thatthey're having.

(02:14:09):
So thanks for listening to thisepisode.
I hope you took so much awayfrom it.
Catch you on the next one.
Thanks for listening to theGrounds for Success podcast.
I want to thank all of thepeople who work on this podcast
and help me out.
My team is everything to me,and without them, I couldn't
bring these to you every singleweek.
I couldn't post on social media, you know, with all the clips

(02:14:32):
that we have, and so I thank youguys so much.
I want to also thank all of myclients on the Mixing and
Mastering side, because withoutyou, I could not have Grounds
for Success.
So thank you so much.
If you're enjoying the Groundsfor Success podcast, please
follow, like and subscribe onwhichever platform you're
listening or watching on.
It helps us out a ton and Iwant to keep getting this

(02:14:54):
content to you in whichever wayyou listen or watch.

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