Love, Loss, And Finding “God Boy” an Interview with Ryan Woods

Send in your music story!

A church kid with a four-year-old’s guitar and a head full of melodies grows into an artist who threads love, doubt, and faith into a tight, modern pop record—this conversation with Ryan Woods brings that journey to life. We explore how God Boy is more than a title; it’s a lens for understanding infatuation, heartbreak, and the freeing moment when you accept your agency. From the shimmering rework of Loving You in the track two slot to the pulsing honesty of Gun in the Glove Box, Ryan walks us through the album’s arc and the choices that make each song land.

Ryan shares how distance shapes his writing—he waits until the storm passes so the lyric can be useful, not just cathartic. That approach gave us Garden, a tender rush of feeling after COVID-era numbness, and Good Swim, a wedding-born celebration that blooms from a slow sway into bright, percussive joy. We dig into production stories too: why he reproduced Gun in the Glove Box himself on deadline, how he and his videographer Zay built a short-form-first content strategy, and why singable guitar solos beat endless shredding. His influences are clear without being derivative—think Bruno Mars and Kevin Parker energy made in a bedroom, with arrangements that value movement and melody over length.

The heart of the episode is Ryan’s take on faith and free will. Raised religious, he’s honest about the pressure of perfection and the anxiety of feeling predestined. God Boy becomes a statement of agency: even if the plan exists, the freedom to choose is where we live and love. That philosophy meets practice when he defines success not by charts but by impact, sharing a story of a fan who walked through an ice storm to a show and said a song kept her alive. It’s a reminder that music is magic because it’s useful—something you can hold when the night is long.

Stream God Boy, queue up Garden and Gun in the Glove Box, and tell us the track that hit you hardest. If this conversation resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help others find it.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (01:05):
I'm the worst person to have a podcast.

SPEAKER_04 (01:08):
I feel very what is up, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 (01:23):
Welcome back to the Hook and Bridge Podcast.
I am your host, Harley, joinedby my co-host and little sister
Taylor.
Hello, and our other co-host,the other Chris, followed by a
super huge guest for all of us.
I'm so excited.
So this will be so uniting, andI'm so excited to tell you this

(01:44):
story.
This will be the first time infour years that an artist has
been on this show that Taylor isgenuinely excited about.

SPEAKER_06 (01:56):
Now, if any of our other artists are listening, I
loved you guys so much.
However, this is also the firsttime that Taylor has listened to
the music beforehand for theshow.

SPEAKER_01 (02:08):
So without further ado, everybody, please welcome
Ryan Woods to the show talkingabout God Boy today.
Um, Ryan, how are you?
I'm lovely.

SPEAKER_03 (02:23):
Uh the time change has been kicking my ass, but I
dude, I'm here preaching in thechoir.
Yeah, it's made me nocturnal.

SPEAKER_06 (02:34):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's something about itbeing dark at 6 p.m.
that just doesn't sit right withme, and I don't do time.

SPEAKER_03 (02:42):
It's four o'clock and the sun is like setting.
Yeah, that's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 (02:47):
Yeah, I literally it's dark when I wake up and
it's dark when I get home fromwork.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (02:52):
It's dark while I'm at work, and then it's dark when
I wake up from my nap, and Idon't like that.

SPEAKER_01 (02:58):
Yeah.
So Ryan.

SPEAKER_03 (03:01):
Other than that, we're peachy.
Nice.

SPEAKER_01 (03:04):
You got your start in Florida at a super young age.
Tell me a little bit about yourfirst musical experience.

SPEAKER_03 (03:14):
Um, I guess it starts with like doing like
kids' choir and stuff when I waslittle.
Uh my mom was really involved atlike the church I grew up going
to.
So if there wasn't like daycareoptions, they did like a choir
slash daycare thing.

(03:36):
So we just like a bunch of kidslike hanging out and singing all
the time.
So did that, and then there wasa guy also at the church that
offered guitar lessons that Istarted taking when I was like
four, maybe.
Um and yeah, that's that's howit all started.

SPEAKER_01 (03:56):
Do you understand how crazy that is?
I mean, Chris and I have kids,so we we get this, but four,
four years old.
Could you imagine your kidstarting something like that at
four years old?

SPEAKER_07 (04:08):
I have a four-year-old, and yeah, like
that's that's you know, besidesthat, he likes climbing.
I don't I don't see him pickingup anything.

SPEAKER_01 (04:20):
No, yeah, like like to have the capacity, like the
brain capacity to be like, Iwant to learn guitar.
Like, I don't know if my son atfour years old is gonna know
like what a guitar is or does.

SPEAKER_06 (04:32):
Well, maybe because you play guitar.
I think if it's something that'smodeled, do you know what I
mean?
Like they find interest in it.

SPEAKER_01 (04:39):
That's fair.

SPEAKER_06 (04:39):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (04:41):
Yeah, yeah, that's it's it's funny too because no
one in my music or in my familyreally plays music.
Like my parents both like playedpiano a little bit growing up,
and still are but they don'tlike play, you know, they don't
yeah, um they dabble, wasn't acareer or something.
Yeah, they dabble pretty much.

(05:01):
I am teaching my dad guitarright now, which is fun.

SPEAKER_01 (05:04):
Hell yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_03 (05:05):
That's awesome.
It's actually I it made me cryonce because I was like, this is
so wholesome.

SPEAKER_06 (05:12):
Like, I it's so oh, I love that.
It's like a full circle moment.
Are you kidding me?
Taylor Taylor could be.

SPEAKER_01 (05:22):
Taylor, could you imagine us teaching our dad
guitar?
Could you imagine thatexperience?

SPEAKER_06 (05:29):
Teaching our dad?

SPEAKER_01 (05:30):
Teaching him anything?

SPEAKER_06 (05:32):
Like that sounds um, well no, we've taught him a
couple of things.
How to use a computer, how touse the internet that people who
are colorblind actually don'tsee in gray, you know, things
like that.

SPEAKER_01 (05:46):
Um I forgot that that happened.

SPEAKER_06 (05:49):
Yeah, that is that was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 (05:51):
Um he thought I had dog vision, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (05:57):
Oh no, that's so fun.
I don't know if I'd have thepatience.

SPEAKER_01 (06:03):
Yeah, yeah.
Does it get frustrating?

SPEAKER_06 (06:05):
Yeah, like do you get frustrated?
Does that cause a family fight?

unknown (06:09):
No.

SPEAKER_03 (06:11):
Uh luckily, my you know, my family's like pretty uh
peaceful for the most part formy immediate family at least.

SPEAKER_05 (06:22):
Oh everyone says, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (06:24):
I think it's it is weird.
I do get like frustratedsometimes because I'm like, why
can't you make your hand movethis way?
Like, but then I remember when Iwas learning that it was like
even like a G chord was likeI've never moved my hand in such
a manner.

(06:44):
Like my fingers don't do whatthey're told.

SPEAKER_01 (06:48):
Dude, one of the coolest moments for you is gonna
be when your dad comes in andhe's like, I gotta I learned a
song, you gotta see this.
I learned how to play.

SPEAKER_03 (06:54):
And you're gonna be like, dude, this time to me.

SPEAKER_01 (06:57):
Isn't that dude?
That's gotta feel incredible,right?

SPEAKER_03 (07:00):
I could cry.
He's a so he's a pilot, he's aunited pilot.

SPEAKER_01 (07:05):
Hey, shout out, shout out to your dad,
especially in this time in Godbless America for him.

SPEAKER_03 (07:13):
Yeah, that's crazy.
Yeah, he'll be in like a randomcountry, and one time, I think
he was in like Prague orsomething, just chilling.
He has a little travel guitarnow.
He just FaceTimes me and he waslearning every rose has its
thorn.

SPEAKER_01 (07:28):
Yeah, hell yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (07:30):
Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 (07:32):
That's he's a huge fan of like the all the like
70s, 80s, like rock bands, too.

SPEAKER_01 (07:40):
Um so let's talk a little bit about so I so you
come out of you come out ofFlorida, you go over to
Tennessee, right?
Knoxville, I believe.
Um you kind of get a start inKnoxville, right?
You kind of get things going,revitalize your music around
like age 11, right?
Somewhere around there, 11, 12.

(08:02):
What happens after that?
When when do we start going?
Okay, I want to I want to makethis into a profession.

SPEAKER_03 (08:11):
Um probably when I was like 16.
Uh so I was like a band kid.
My or honestly, since I wentinto high school, so like 15, I
guess.
Um I wanted to be a musicteacher.

(08:32):
Like I wanted to um but I wantedto become like a professor
eventually.
So that was kind of like thepath, and I was like trying out
for like music schools atdifferent like universities near
me.
Um but at that time I had alsostarted posting a lot of covers

(08:53):
and stuff on Instagram, Twitter,all the socials, and uh got a
little bit of traction doingthat, and then a manager reached
out to me and was like, Hey, youknow, you can like do music,
like you can be an artist if youwant to.
Like, and he kind of encouragedme to start like writing and um

(09:15):
showed him my first few songs.
He was like, Yeah, you got this,dude.
Like, if you like, I'm here tohelp.
He basically just startedmanaging me when I was like 16.
Um, started setting me up withlike writing sessions.
So that was the time I was like,Yeah, maybe I'll uh give this a
shot and try it instead of goinglike the educational route and

(09:40):
go the become famous route.

SPEAKER_01 (09:45):
Very different, very different.
Um, so I tried really hard forabout 10 minutes to find some of
your covers, and I can't findthem.
Are they not on YouTube?

SPEAKER_03 (10:00):
I didn't really post much on YouTube.
Oh, that's why Marley only knowshow to use YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
I'm I'm 31.

SPEAKER_03 (10:07):
That's kind of our I was like such a perfectionist,
like I yeah, would like it waswhen you could only post like
15-second videos.
I was also on Vine too, that waslike a big thing for me to shout
out Vine making a comeback.
Yeah, and so I would just getreally good at like 15 second

(10:29):
increments of songs and thenpost those, and it was a lot
easier.

SPEAKER_02 (10:33):
I sure hope it's like a whole um roadway.
I was like, where did that comefrom, dude?

SPEAKER_06 (10:46):
Harley has a whole fun of it.
It's a it's a whole thing.

SPEAKER_03 (10:51):
You have like the the fart sound that has all the
reverb on it.

SPEAKER_01 (10:55):
Uh no, I do have uh I do have this though.
Yeah.
That's that's fun.

SPEAKER_03 (11:03):
It's my favorite sample to like put into like a
shitty trap beat.
And there's always like a sampleof like someone moaning or like
sound.
That's so funny.

SPEAKER_01 (11:19):
Um, what was your favorite cover to do?

SPEAKER_03 (11:24):
Um it's a big question.
My taste has changed so much.
I mean, back then it was reallymore just me kind of riding
trends, honestly.
Like, I'd pick a song that wasbumping, yeah.
Like, obviously, do better thanme picking like my more

(11:47):
pretentious music taste, youknow, the song from that.
Um, so I don't know if there wasreally a favorite.
Um I mean, recently I did Ireleased a cover of uh loving
you by Minnie Ripperton.
That's my favorite cover.

SPEAKER_01 (12:05):
I didn't I didn't realize that that was a cover.
That's incredible.

SPEAKER_03 (12:12):
Yeah, and it started because I just I love that song
so much, but it's so likethere's no drums on it.
It's like an acoustic guitar andlike um like like an electric
piano, like a Rhodes orsomething, and that's it.
That's all that's on the song,and then some like bird like

(12:35):
tweeting and stuff, like there'ssome folly noise.
I don't know, and I was like, Iwant to hear drums on this so
bad.
I want to hear like a band.
Every time I listened to it, Iwould think that, and then I
actually discovered there is aversion that has like a full
band behind it, it's like a liveversion, but it still wasn't
like scratching the itch, andthen I remembered I can just

(12:57):
make it well, yeah.
Um, so if that answers yourquestion, then that's my
favorite.

SPEAKER_01 (13:06):
But so so curious, I did know that that was a cover.
I find it interesting that uh onthe album that seems to be the

(13:44):
one that's kind of popping offright now.

SPEAKER_03 (13:47):
A little bit, yeah.
It it got some really good likeplaylisting.
Um and yeah, it's kind of partof the reason we decided to put
it on the album because wereleased it like almost a year
ago, over a year ago now.
Um and it was we were kind ofjust debating, depending on how
well it did, whether it was justlike a standalone like single

(14:37):
thing or put it on the album.

SPEAKER_01 (14:39):
And I mean it fits so well in the album, man.
Like, truly, it's it's likeespecially in that track two
slot, too.
Like, I'm I'm sure you probablyare aware of like the track
listing of like you should putthis song here, this song there,
and like throwing it in tracktwo is number one ballsy to do
with a with a cover.
Um, but like, yeah, man, it fitsso nicely in the album.

SPEAKER_03 (15:02):
Yeah, well, there's kind of like if you listen to
the like lyrical concepts of allthe songs, too, there's kind of
like a sequence a little bit.
So it's like love, beauty, likelight, uh, and then it like it's
not really about onerelationship, but for sake of

(15:24):
like explaining the sequence,it's like sort of just
representative of the process oflike meeting someone, being
super excited, it's very pureand like whimsical, and then
slowly, like as you get to knowsomeone's the you know, gun in
the glove box is like about themfinding like some weird side of

(15:47):
you that you don't know ifthey'll accept or not, and then
there's like heartbreak, andthen there's like who am I?
What is love?
What is God real?
Is what is my purpose, you know.
So it it's kind of like that'skind of how it always happens
for me.
Every time I go in or out of arelationship, it's like the same
kind of process where like whenit ends, I'm like questioning

(16:11):
everything about my identity,and like because for me, like
love is such a like it drivesme, like it's yeah, I think it's
what you know most humans aresort of all searching for love
in a way, and it's such a likemysterious force, but like it

(16:35):
also is very captivating, andobviously it feeds a lot of
music, and it like um it'sreally like wrapped into my
identity, you know, the way Ilove my friends, the way I love
my family, and the way I love myromantic partners when I have

(16:59):
one, but uh um yeah, and thenlike so like once it ends, my
brain goes to like well, what iswhat about me loved this person
so much to the point where Ilike endured right so much shit
with them and like got you knowendured getting hurt by them

(17:23):
over and over, you know.
So yeah, I always like end upgoing through like an
existential crisis afterrelationships.

SPEAKER_01 (17:32):
Right.
Well, and it's interesting too,like that that's like a clear
like you you nailed like thethrough line throughout the
album, but it's also interestingtoo, like if you end at God Boy
and then start back over, it'sthat it's that same cycle of
like because God boy leads intothe new relationship, like
understanding yourself,understanding you go through

(17:54):
that existential crisis, andthen by the end you've come to
this acceptance.
But if you start the album backover, it's like oh, this is I
found my new person, you knowwhat I mean?
And it's that that cycle, it'sit's really cool, man.
It's really cool.

SPEAKER_03 (18:07):
Yeah, and it was cool too because the all the
music is so old.
Like, I think the oldest trackis probably consideration.
That song's almost six yearsold.
I wrote that, like not long.
It was almost on my firstproject, like right when I first
moved out to LA, and um it justlike kind of didn't it wasn't

(18:28):
like done in time and or doneenough in time to be like
considered ha ha pun intended.
But uh yeah, so it wasinteresting like noticing the
process of how I was like um howmuch I was like relating to the

(18:53):
music and how excited I wasabout it, and it was weird.
I think I went through thatwhole process I just talked
about like three times beforethis music even came out.
So I would like kind of feellike distant from the music for
a while, and then I wouldexperience something that was
like, Oh, I like still relate tothis, that's cool.

(19:16):
Um, but yeah, it was it wasfunny.
Like, I was also like ending uhlike I just got out of a
relationship maybe like over thesummer, and as I was putting out
the singles, it was like weirdhow it kind of was like I was
putting out the more likeheartbreaky ones, and as I was

(19:36):
putting out each song, it almostlike would manifest in my
relationship too, and it waslike so weird, like uh putting
it out into the world, man.

SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
Man, I mean manifesting it in the energy,
yeah.
Yeah, um, I I do want to passthe mic over to Taylor with her
being such a big fan.

SPEAKER_06 (19:57):
I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_01 (19:59):
Yeah, I I want I want to give you your spotlight,
buddy.
Go go for it.

SPEAKER_06 (20:03):
Thank you.
It's so funny.
Okay, so first of all, I wasn'tgonna talk much because I have a
slight cold.
It's a whole thing.
Anywho, I but I listened.
Harley texted me, he was like,You have to listen to at least
three songs.
Like, it's music that you like,it's your type of music.
I ended up listening to foursongs beforehand.
Love, like, that's the only it'sincredible.

(20:27):
It's the type of music, I don'teven know how to explain it.
Like music that when it'sproduced and you're like, no,
this is really like to theperson, you know what I mean?
Like being like a smallermusician.
I love that type of music whenso much feeling is put into it
and you can tell, and it's notjust like a product of you know

(20:49):
the industry that like it'sreally like you writing it and
how you know.
Anywho, I love it, and it givesme the vibes of like this is so
specific, but SabrinaCarpenter's emails I can't send
because I like the boy.
It's it's like that vibe, and Ilove like just that type of
music, like slower, morelyrical.

(21:12):
You know what I mean?
Like, I yeah, I love it, Ireally do, and I don't think say
that often about music, um, orlike even like an Alex
Warren-esque, yeah, you knowwhat I mean?
Like it has like that sound, andI love that sound.
I'm so glad that you're bringingit out into the world because we
need more of it.

SPEAKER_01 (21:33):
I was also thinking Phineas.
You you have a very like Phineassound, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (21:38):
Yes, yeah, or um, I can see that who sings Golden
Hour?
Who who is that?
Do I remember his?

SPEAKER_03 (21:45):
I don't remember Casey Musgraves.

SPEAKER_01 (21:48):
No, it was a guy he was on TikTok and used.
Oh, Jake, Jake, yes, Jake, J A KE.

SPEAKER_03 (21:54):
Yeah, yeah, Jake with a V.
Yeah, yeah, he's just likeincredible music.

SPEAKER_06 (21:59):
Yeah, yes.
Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_03 (22:02):
Well, I think the yeah, it's interesting because I
like when I hear people tell mewhat they think about my music,
it's like I'm always eager tolisten because I don't try to
make it sound a certain way,really.
It just kind of sounds how itsounds.
I make music and that's just howit comes out, you know.

SPEAKER_06 (22:22):
And I think that's why it's so good.
You know what I mean?
Like you're not trying, you'relike just being you, and that is
your sound.
And I love that you're nottrying to be something that
you're not.
Thank you.
And it's it's so good.
And I will be streaming it ahundred times.

SPEAKER_03 (22:39):
A lot of my music is if it's not about love, it is
about who am I, you know.
Yes, so it's funny because Ithat's sort of like it
indirectly become like a pieceof my brand, is like an identity
crisis, like yeah, onewonderance, I don't know what

(23:03):
self-discovery, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 (23:06):
Let's also let's also talk about uh Dragon Ball
Z.
How important is Dragon Ball Zin your life?

SPEAKER_03 (23:12):
Dude, not much anymore.
What?
But I've watched all of DragonBall, like the original series.
It's my first anime, actually.

SPEAKER_01 (23:24):
Same here, dude.

SPEAKER_03 (23:25):
And Fairy Tale, those were my first two animes,
and then I watched all of DragonBall Z and like GT and uh Super.
Is Super the one they're stilllike putting out right now?
Um started it, but I was like, Ithink yeah, I think passed.

SPEAKER_01 (23:46):
I think super's done, and now they're on to like
them as children again.

SPEAKER_03 (23:51):
It's it's a weird super GTZ, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, they just keep going.

SPEAKER_01 (23:57):
Um, no, dude.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Baruto Naruto, Baruto, Naruto,Naro Baruto, yeah, all of them
shipped in, this, that, and theother.

SPEAKER_02 (24:10):
It's nuts.

SPEAKER_01 (24:12):
Um, no, I saw the YouTube short, and I assume it's
probably a TikTok, but I'm not aTikTok boy.
But uh I saw the short of uh ofyou making garden into a music
video on Fortnite, and you hadLord Beerus, and I was like,
what?

SPEAKER_03 (24:26):
Yeah, that's like my my main fortnight skin.

SPEAKER_01 (24:31):
That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 (24:32):
No, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 (24:34):
So who who's your favorite Dragon Ball Z
character?

SPEAKER_03 (24:39):
Probably just off of vibes, like I do love Beerus.
Yeah, so chill.
Yeah.
Um, I mean, he's not that chill,but I was gonna say the god of
destruction.
Yeah, yeah, I think the oppositeof a chill.
I just love his like one.
I love cats, yeah, right.

(25:01):
And it's just like I don't know,he's just so his idol care
bottle.

SPEAKER_07 (25:08):
So much aura.
Yeah, yeah.
I remember getting wrecked likea million times in Xenoverse.

SPEAKER_01 (25:15):
Yep.

SPEAKER_06 (25:15):
Oh my god.
Don't even get me started.

SPEAKER_01 (25:19):
Yeah, but um, it's been a while.
Taylor oh, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 (25:23):
Probably name a better one if I had recently
like watched Dragon Ball Z.

SPEAKER_06 (25:29):
That's a very acceptable answer.

SPEAKER_03 (25:30):
Probably 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 (25:32):
Taylor's favorite is definitely Gohan, right?

SPEAKER_06 (25:35):
Okay, so here's the thing Gohan or Trunks, it's one
of the things.
Gohan and Trunks, and they'reboth uh in another world my
husband's.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, if that was an option, um,but yeah, depending on the day,
Gohan or trunks.
But specifically, I feel like Ican't say it now because I'm an

(25:55):
adult.
Actually, I'm not gonna say whatI was gonna say.

SPEAKER_01 (25:58):
Yep, smart move.
Not in today's climate, dude.

SPEAKER_06 (26:02):
Not we're gonna go, we're gonna go trunks about
that.
Um, no, we're gonna go trunks.
We're gonna go trunks for forthe you know.
Love that, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (26:11):
Um, Chris, we have never talked about your favorite
Dragon Ball Z character.
I want I want to take a quickguess.
You seem like a piccolo guy.

SPEAKER_07 (26:21):
Oh, I hate piccolo.
Oh wow.
And there's no reason that forno reason.
So I remember first watchinghim.

SPEAKER_01 (26:35):
Majin Boo?
Which one?
Fat Fat Boo or Skinny Boo?

SPEAKER_03 (26:39):
Of course.

SPEAKER_01 (26:39):
Fat Boo.

SPEAKER_06 (26:41):
Does anyone really like skinny boo boo?

SPEAKER_07 (26:45):
He was the first like iconic character that I was
like.
What?
Yeah, oh dude.

SPEAKER_06 (26:52):
I can't believe that you don't pay for it.

SPEAKER_03 (26:55):
A character?

SPEAKER_01 (26:56):
Yes, yes, yes.
The Nimbus Cloud and uh thepull.
What was the pool's he had itwas called something?
The power, the power pull,something like that.

SPEAKER_03 (27:08):
I can't remember.

SPEAKER_06 (27:09):
Can I go Master Roshi?

SPEAKER_01 (27:12):
That's crazy.
That's a wild thing to pick.

SPEAKER_06 (27:15):
It might be a little problematic.

SPEAKER_01 (27:19):
Um, I would say mine is probably Vegeta.
The big Vegeta guy.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (27:26):
I fuck with Vegeta.
He was like my man on the videogame.

SPEAKER_01 (27:31):
Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_03 (27:32):
Fight my brother all the time.
I always used Vegeta.

SPEAKER_01 (27:35):
Yeah.
Um, I want to talk a little bitbefore we jump into other stuff
here.
I want to talk a little bitabout um good swim.
Tell me, tell me the storybetween that one and garden.
I want to talk about garden.
Obviously, it's a arelationship, right?

(27:56):
We've established that.
But like what happened in thatspecific situation?
That one garden feels very, verylike lovey dovey, but very
personal.
How how did that correlate towe'll we'll say uh we'll say

(28:18):
lost and found?
Is is lost and found and gardenabout the same situation?

SPEAKER_03 (28:27):
Ooh.

SPEAKER_06 (28:28):
If you want us to stop recording and we can talk
about it, that's okay.

SPEAKER_03 (28:33):
No, uh it's see that's the thing, is like my
songs, none of them are reallyabout like one thing.
Like it takes me experiencing asituation or like a relationship
like two or three times before Ifeel like I have the like

(28:54):
knowledge to write about it, youknow.
Because I really when I writesongs, I really like it to be
productive, you know, like evenif it's like a silly love song,
like let that be like anencouragement to whoever's
listening to go out and lovesomeone, you know.
Um so I I don't like to writesongs in the moment when I'm

(29:23):
going through something, which Ifeel like is different than a
lot of artists.
They usually are like, oh, Ihave a feeling, let me write
about it right now.
But me, I like to process thingsand really make sure I have like
the you know the tact to writeabout it.
Um and so to answer yourquestion, garden really like

(29:49):
that started.
Sometimes I'll start a song butnot finish it because I don't
have the like I don't know theexperience.

SPEAKER_01 (29:56):
You know, I still have you know live live life for
a little bit and find let thesong find you.

SPEAKER_03 (30:05):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So garden was like um and goodswim was kind of I wrote about
when I was like coming out oflike a depressive phase.
Like I I was like it was likeCOVID depression classic.

(30:29):
Um but I was like coming out ofit and I was like, I'm done
being sad, I'm done writing sadsongs because that that's a lot
of my first EP was just about mebeing sad and not knowing why,
because I was young and didn'thave the verbiage to know what
anxiety was yet.

SPEAKER_01 (30:46):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 (30:48):
Um but so once I like matured a little bit,
learned a little more aboutmyself and like how to regulate
my emotions a little better.
I was like, yeah, let's uh let'swrite some happy, happy songs.
And I had a crush at the time,which is the first time in a
long time I had had a crush onanyone, and I was like, oh, this

(31:11):
is great.
Love, I can feel it.
That's awesome.
I'm not dead inside.
Hell yeah.
So that's what Garden's about.
It's just about me realizingthat there is like love in me to
give.

SPEAKER_01 (31:27):
And then swim would be the sequel, right?
Because it's like finding loveand then saying that that
person's like, you're all in,like they're perfect, they can't
find themselves as perfect, butyou do every moment of every
day.

SPEAKER_03 (31:40):
Kinda, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (31:42):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (31:43):
I also it's it is that deep.
But also not that deep because Ikind of just wrote it for my
cousin's wedding.

SPEAKER_01 (31:51):
Oh, really?

SPEAKER_03 (31:53):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (31:54):
Really?
That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 (31:55):
That's what prompted me to write the song.

SPEAKER_01 (31:57):
And then it is a perfect wedding song.
I said I sent it to my wife.

SPEAKER_03 (32:01):
So that's cute.

SPEAKER_01 (32:03):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (32:04):
But yeah, it's a that song.
But yeah, I kind of wanted it tofeel like I don't know.
I love it because it's there'skind of like two phases of it.
Like the beginning is very likeslow dancy and like um like kind
of um just I don't I don't knowwhy I can't think of the word.

SPEAKER_01 (32:27):
Infatuated?

SPEAKER_03 (32:29):
Sure.
Um that was a big one.
Yeah, I'm very infatuated.
I'm sort of like um pining.
That's the word.

SPEAKER_01 (32:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (32:39):
Pining over this woman, and like no one's
perfect, but she's close to it,you know.
Yeah, and then like the drumscome in and it's it's very like
celebratory, I guess.
It's like you know, celebratinglove.
It's like this feels like a goodswim, it's like a cookout at the

(33:00):
pool, you know.

SPEAKER_06 (33:01):
Um you know, the heat is hot and the pool is not
low, super deep, uh veryprofound.

SPEAKER_01 (33:15):
Dude, I mean the the perfect line is what sold me.
I was like, oh yeah, this isthis is a great song.
Like, yeah, not not as good.

SPEAKER_03 (33:23):
That was a moment I was really excited when I wrote
it.
I was like, oh, like you're soclose to it, and then it sends
you into this, like, oh yeah,yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (33:36):
Dude, I can I can only imagine sitting down.
You probably you wrote it andyou're like, dude, this is this
is getting this this is sick.
Um, especially if you wrote itfor a wedding, too.
That's gotta feel like all this.
This is the line that they'regonna be like, oh dude, that's
it.

SPEAKER_03 (33:51):
Yeah, tears in the performing it too, like drunk as
fuck.
I love that five mojitos.
I was like five mojitos deep.
That was like the cocktail theyhad had like five of them, and I
think everyone else was alsodrunk, so they it didn't matter.

(34:15):
But I haven't watched the videobecause I fear that it's not
good.

SPEAKER_01 (34:21):
Oh it's it's a great song, but in my opinion, it is
nowhere near as good as Gun inthe Glove Box, which, if you ask
me, is going to be one of thebiggest songs of the year.
Like, hands down, dude.
This dude, I'm sending this songto everybody.
It's the video, the video'sfucking incredible.

(34:45):
Um yeah, like especially whenyou're in the the bedroom and
the girls on the bed swingingthe gun.
Like, I laughed for two minutesstraight at that.
Um, but the song is catchy ashell, dude.
The chorus is incredible.

SPEAKER_03 (35:01):
Yeah, it's definitely one of my favorites.
I actually, fun fact about thatone, I reproduced it from like
scratch, like the week I had toturn it in.
Because really, there was likesome like the producer I
originally worked on it with,like, wouldn't budge on his
fees, and they were like reallyhigh.
So I was like, I'm just I I cando this myself, like so I put it

(35:27):
right here.
Um, it's amazing.
Turned it in, and I'm wayhappier with it as a result.

SPEAKER_01 (35:37):
But who decides the art direction on the videos?

SPEAKER_03 (35:42):
Um, so that was just like so all the videos I've been
posting on like socials was kindof like an initiative to like
figure out the short formcontent game, right?
Um, I basically went to my teamand was like, I don't think

(36:02):
music videos hold the sameweight they used to.
Like, I think we should putbudget into just like getting a
lot of content made.
So I found a guy, um good homieof mine, his name's Zay.
He's incredible at what he does.
Um uh but we basically likeworked out a deal like with my

(36:28):
label.
We get like X amount of contentfor X dollars um or videos.
Um so we just started likehopping on calls, and each time
we would like do another roundof like shooting, we would just
like be like, okay, like this isfor social media, it can't be

(36:54):
that complicated, like but itjust needs to look good and like
have you know be on brand of thesong, you know.
So we basically would just geton calls and talk about ideas
and be like, okay, this videowe'll shoot on a bridge.
This video we need a payphone.
Where can we find a payphone inLA?

(37:15):
And then we'll shoot there, andthen um so yeah, it's kind of
just me and the videographerjust going back and forth.

SPEAKER_01 (37:24):
Um now are you getting are you getting backing
from like the label and stufffinancially, or is this all on
you?

SPEAKER_03 (37:33):
Um they pay for it, but I um they give me a lot of
freedom.
Like it is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 (37:39):
That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 (37:40):
I love being with Fearless.
Um but yeah, they pretty muchare just like because they also
there was one time they tried tolike handle the short form
thing.
They're like, we found a guy,like work with him, didn't work
out, it was not I did not getgreat content, honestly.

(38:01):
But um, so I was like, hey guys,do you mind if I interject here?
Um I have a homie who's reallygood at this, and uh so yeah,
that's how that happened.
Oh yeah, dude.
Yep, here's here's the card.
Go go crazy.

SPEAKER_01 (38:21):
Um before we jump into this music game, do we have
any dates coming up?
When when are you gonna takethis show on the road?

SPEAKER_03 (38:32):
Uh I would love to as soon as possible.
Um there's nothing on the booksright now, honestly, but there
is um like there's a couple Bsides that may or may not be
coming out in the near futurefrom the album.

(38:54):
Uh and other than that, we'rejust like submitting for shows
wherever we can and yeah, justdo what we get.
But nothing nothing to plug atthe current moment.

SPEAKER_01 (39:12):
I I say that we should start using one of your
songs as the intro of the show.
That's what I say.

SPEAKER_00 (39:18):
Yeah, wouldn't be mad.
Um wouldn't be mad.

SPEAKER_01 (39:24):
So, my other question that I ask all of my
guests is if you couldcollaborate with any artist, who
would you like to have on acollaboration?
Somebody that fits your sound,Kevin Parker.

SPEAKER_03 (39:39):
Kevin Parker.

SPEAKER_01 (39:40):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (39:41):
Interesting.
Okay.
He's like, or Bruno Mars.
Those are like Bruno Mars wouldbe like, yeah, those are my
North Stars.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (39:52):
Bruno Mars would be perfect, man.

SPEAKER_06 (39:55):
They fit your sound so well.

SPEAKER_03 (39:58):
I think that's sort of like the like comparisons
I've gotten are like if likelike this big artist made music
in a bedroom.

SPEAKER_06 (40:12):
Like, that's no, that's what I was trying to say
earlier.
You just see that's why you'rethe writer.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (40:19):
That makes so much sense.
Um yeah, I love Bruno.
I think he's like he's like thebiggest artist in the world
right now.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (40:28):
Um, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 (40:29):
Which is sick because I've been a Bruno Bruno
fan since I was like a baby.
Like from the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 (40:35):
Um I would I would love to hear you.

SPEAKER_03 (40:36):
The first I ever owned was doopps and hooligans.

SPEAKER_01 (40:41):
I would love to hear you do billionaire.
I think that would be actuallythere's a really old cover of
Billionaire.

SPEAKER_03 (40:47):
Really?
My friend somewhere on my on mypage.

SPEAKER_06 (40:52):
What the show, Harley, how do you not YouTube?

SPEAKER_01 (40:57):
What what's uh what's another good one that I'd
like to see?
Like grenade.
I bet you do a great grenadetoo.

SPEAKER_03 (41:02):
Oh my god.
There's also there is a video ofthat on YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 (41:07):
Of you doing grenade?

SPEAKER_03 (41:09):
10 years old on like the shittiest laptop like
webcam, and I just was likefucking grenade.
It's just an a cappella cover ofgrenade.
The frame rate is like awful,like it's yeah, it's hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 (41:24):
That's so funny.

SPEAKER_03 (41:25):
Um my mom refuses to take it down.
No, it's nostalgic.

SPEAKER_01 (41:31):
It's a normal I've given up on.
You you've been playing guitarfor a long time.
Um, how often, because given andthis isn't your fault at all,
but it's the type of music thatyou're playing.
Given the type of music thatyou're playing, it doesn't
exactly lend to like heavyshredding.
Do you ever get a chance to justlay down and shred on the

(41:52):
guitar?

SPEAKER_03 (41:54):
Uh sometimes.
I really like I love to justlike jam with myself.
Like, yeah, I have like close toprobably like a thousand just
like instrumentals and likerandom song ideas, like just
sitting on my computer that likea couple times a week I'll just
sit down and go through them andthen like jam on them, see if

(42:18):
anything new comes about.
Um there is that is something Iwant to do on this on my next
project.
Um that I kind of already havelike a whole concept and
direction brewing for.
Um so yeah, there's gonna be alot more guitar on that.

(42:41):
So uh you can look forward toit.
But yeah, dude.
As right now it's just kind oflike uh I uh they call it
producer chops, if you've everheard the term, but it's like
like as a producer, you have tobe somewhat like versatile on
instruments.

(43:01):
So I'm probably more of a keysplayer at this point than I am a
guitar player, I'd say.
Um but my first instrument everwas drums.
I guess it was guitar, but likethe one I've like trained in the
most is yeah, percussion.

SPEAKER_06 (43:20):
They put you in drums at like three, right?
Guitar at four.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (43:27):
Um yeah, I mean I get it though.
Like you you have to it thesong, like whatever the song
lends itself to, you know what Imean?
Like you gotta you gotta gowhere the song takes you, not
try and force things in that youwant per se.
So total totally understand.
And and it's I mean, it'sincredible what you're what
you're doing, what you'reproducing.

(43:47):
Um, but I mean I would be Iwould be pumped to hear more
like solos in the next project.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (43:55):
Yeah, there's already the title track, the
tentative title track.
I think a pretty I want it to bethe title track, but we'll see.
Um for the next project I'mworking on, it has a lot of
shredding, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 (44:10):
Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (44:11):
But cool.
I do also love like anthemiclike guitar solos, like yeah.
Um there's a lot on thisproject.
Um, they're very simple, butlike like God boy.
Yes, yes, like one like guitarsolos you can sing.

SPEAKER_01 (44:29):
I I like the idea of more often than like shredding,
like but um like memorable, likelike stairway to heaven, you
know what I mean?
Ho Hotel California type, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (44:42):
Yeah, so that's that was kind of like the there was
honestly a lot of restraintthere on this on God Boy, and
there's a guitar line at the endof consideration too.
Um like try I know there's likeone or two more big oh wait, I

(45:08):
can't talk about that song yet,never mind.

SPEAKER_02 (45:11):
Okay, but yeah, that's my point.

SPEAKER_01 (45:13):
Yeah, you know, I I gotcha.
Yeah, I I noticed like like inthis album and and most of the
other stuff too, butspecifically in this album,
you're very strict on that like330.
There's a couple of songs go alittle over 330, but you're very
strict on like keeping that songdown.
Um do you think that movingforward?

(45:37):
Do you think the industry's kindof done with four and
five-minute songs?

SPEAKER_03 (45:42):
Um, not necessarily.
Um, I just think it's you haveto be sort of like strategic
about it.
Like, yeah.
Um, like there's like afive-minute song on my first
project.
Uh but that's because it's liketwo songs technically, like
there's a transition in it andit goes into a song.

(46:05):
Um and that was like my favoritesong on the project.
And so I like it was like thedeep cut I chose to like put on
the album, you know.
Uh but I don't know.
I think it just like you know,you can't do nothing in the five

(46:27):
minutes, at least, you know.

SPEAKER_06 (46:28):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I will say I could listen to oneof your songs for five minutes.

SPEAKER_03 (46:34):
Hell yeah.
Check out it's called sorryslash happy sad.
Um perfect.
It's a fun little like beatswitch in there.
Um I mean I'm trying to thinklike one song that will never I

(46:54):
I think it's the greatest songof all time, Bohemian Rhapsody.

SPEAKER_02 (46:58):
Like, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 (47:00):
But it's weird, like it's like I like study that song
like and still have no idea whatthe fuck it's about.
But I kind of I feel like it's Ifeel like the beginning, I th I
I almost feel like it's abouthim being like closeted in a
weird way.

SPEAKER_01 (47:17):
A little a little bit, yeah.
I think so.

SPEAKER_03 (47:19):
That's that's like my the persecution what that
song is about.

SPEAKER_01 (47:23):
But yeah, I think it's about persecution.

SPEAKER_03 (47:25):
But yeah, but every time I listen to that song, I'm
like, how the fuck do you makethis?
What the fuck?
Like, who thinks of this?

SPEAKER_06 (47:35):
Yeah, like who like how wasn't that at the time he
was on drugs, also?

SPEAKER_01 (47:43):
Who Freddie Mercury?

SPEAKER_06 (47:45):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (47:47):
I mean, he was never he was never really a drug guy.
He was a he drank.

SPEAKER_06 (47:51):
Did you watch the movie?

SPEAKER_03 (47:53):
Yeah, I know he was there was like a Coke era for
sure.
Yeah, that's what I wasthinking.

SPEAKER_01 (47:59):
It was definitely before that, though.

SPEAKER_07 (48:01):
Oh, I think a lot of it era was genius.
That's his genius, that's whatit was.

SPEAKER_01 (48:06):
I think a lot of it was just loving Greek mythology,
Galileo, yeah, yeah.
But um philosophy, notmythology, philosophy.
I'm an idiot.

SPEAKER_03 (48:21):
I was gonna say not even like as I get in more and
more into being an artist andlike learn about different
writing types of stuff.
I'm like, how do you even startto write this song?
Like, yeah, what do you it's soweird?

SPEAKER_01 (48:37):
But it's also just like a lot to live up to as an
artist, too.
Like thinking about likelegendary songs in general, like
Bohemian Rhapsody, again, HotelCalifornia, Stairway to Heaven,
Freebird, like like dude, I justI don't know if those will ever
happen again.

SPEAKER_03 (48:53):
And that's just one genre of music, too.

SPEAKER_01 (48:56):
Right, right.
Yeah, man.
It's it's wild to sit down andthink about.

SPEAKER_06 (49:01):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (49:03):
It also it also causes me a lot of stress
thinking about like the age ofsongs.
Like I had this conversation theother day about like somebody
came into work and they're like,Oh, I love Iron Maiden.
And I was like, Oh, I didn'tknow you were a classic rock
guy.
And he was like, Oh, that's notclassic rock.
And I'm like, No, it is though.
It's actually it's almost oldiesnow, like it's it's as old as

(49:26):
Elvis was when I was growing up.
Like, it's crazy, dude.

SPEAKER_06 (49:31):
Yeah, you can't think about it, you're a spiral.

SPEAKER_01 (49:33):
Yeah, like Metallica is gonna play on the same radio
station in the next 10 years asElvis.
They're in the same genre ofmusic now.
It's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 (49:45):
You know what's this is random, but I just thought
about it.
My friend was in tri was doinglike a trivia night thing and
had like a phone a friend.
And the question was, what's themost popular Beatles song of all
time?
And she called me and was like,I don't know what it is, and
I'll listen to Beatles, and Iwas like, It's Here Comes the
Sun.

(50:06):
What really was it was ityesterday?
Googled it, it was Hey Jude, butit's literally not no.
Yeah, it wrong trivia guy wasjust like gaslighting me and my
friend.
He's like, It's yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 (50:24):
Yeah, like it's hey jude's fine, it's it's a fine
song.

SPEAKER_05 (50:30):
Definitely here comes the sun.

SPEAKER_03 (50:32):
It's this isn't an objective like take, like it is
literally here comes the sun, isthe most popular.

SPEAKER_01 (50:38):
Based on like sales alone, like yeah, yeah, it's
it's fat.

SPEAKER_03 (50:45):
It really is.
I don't care what Google says,anyways.
Just remembered that.

SPEAKER_06 (50:52):
Oh, that's too funny.
Can we discuss our funny oopsiesabout the name of the album?
I don't know if you were in ourlittle waiting room that we
have.
Did you hear about it?

SPEAKER_01 (51:02):
No, he wasn't, he wasn't on yet, but yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_07 (51:04):
So Ryan, I'm the only one who can read.

SPEAKER_06 (51:08):
We can't read.
Listen, continue.

SPEAKER_03 (51:09):
Did you think it was good boy?

SPEAKER_06 (51:12):
Yes, no, and I so I was listening to God Boy, but in
my head the title was Good Boy,and I was like, that's an
interesting title for what theselyrics are.
Yeah, and I was really confused,and then I looked, yeah, I was
like, okay, we don't judge, butall right.
And then I oh go ahead.

(51:33):
Sorry, you finished.
Oh so I was gonna say thatHarley had texted me, he was
like, Yeah, the album's calledGood Boy, and so then I think I
had it in my head that it wasgood boy.
So when I read it, I was like,clearly, and then I listened to
it and I was like, That's notthat's interesting, it would be
true.

SPEAKER_02 (51:50):
I'm a very good boy next album, yeah.
That's the yeah, that's thesequel.

SPEAKER_03 (51:59):
Um go on tour with Sabrina Carpenter, yes, and then
my friend, yeah.
That would actually behilarious, dude.

SPEAKER_01 (52:08):
I would I say let's line that up.
Let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 (52:11):
The title is like weird because it kind of was
like there's a lot of like linesyou could draw about the title
that were intended, but also notlike yeah, yeah, that's why I
picked it because it's likevague, yeah.

(52:32):
But it it has a lot of meaningto me that is really difficult
for me to like fully explain,but like in one sense it's like
you know, a commentary on likemy relationship with religion in
general, too.

(52:52):
In another sense, it's more likelike God and boy, these two like
very opposite things almost,like um in that that was kind of
like the the theme of the albumis just like juxtaposition and
like you know idyllic identitiesand what you know, um so yeah,

(53:20):
it's but it's also like it kindof is about me being a good boy
and wanting to be a good boy,yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (53:28):
I mean it it dude it fit like up until she said that
morality, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But also like now that I knowthat it's God boy, like looking
back on some of the songs.
No, it's not that even that itmakes more sense, but it's like
it's more about the relationshipof I not necessarily your

(53:50):
relationship with religion, butmore of the ideal uh or the idea
of being like a god, you knowwhat I mean?
Like, because in the in thealbum you deal with that
existential crisis at the end,and being able to come out of
that with this idea of like, oh,everything's gonna be okay, and
manifesting your next destinykind of gives this ideal of no,

(54:16):
I'm in charge of my my future,nobody's holding the reins, you
know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 (54:21):
Yeah, well that was like like the song God Boy is
about me realizing that andaccepting like um that like uh
because I was raised religious,um and growing up the idea of
like perfection and like beinggood were like really uh like

(54:46):
strict on my conscience andcaused me a lot of anxiety, like
just wanting to like you knowlive like Jesus, you know, uh
which is sort of the case, likeyou know, Jesus is awesome,
great guy, but um wonderful man,yes.

(55:06):
Uh but there was like thispressure that I was always
putting on myself that like youknow it's like I am not in
control, like everything in mylife is predestined, and like
God has it all planned out, andthat was like crippling for me

(55:27):
because I was like whenespecially when I didn't feel
good, I was like, why am I goingthrough this right now?
Like, why is God putting methrough this?
Like, this sucks.
Um so it's kind of letting go ofthat like your like chain, yeah,
you know, and being like freefrom like you know, even if it

(55:51):
really is all in God's hands,that's less pressure on me.
Um, even if it is like even ifit's not, um I don't know, it's
it's a really big concept aboutforever.

SPEAKER_07 (56:08):
Yeah, it makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_01 (56:10):
No, yeah, it's exactly what I was trying to go
for of like that idea of likeremoving that, like, okay, well,
it's it's in my hands now.
Like, I I'm not set in stone bysomebody else, I can choose what
the next move is, and yeah, itdoesn't remove you from
religion, right?
It can still be the sense oflike God allows human freedoms,

(56:34):
like he allows free will, soit's just giving that free will
back is tough, you know.

SPEAKER_03 (56:42):
Yeah, yeah.
And there's also like there's awhole like side of like
spirituality that a lot ofpeople believe in that we are
like manifestations of Godalready, and like that's why
we're such an intelligentspecies, and like well, all that
stuff, but um like we're Ialmost think of it as like

(57:08):
different like uh variations orlike pieces of the pie of God,
yeah, yeah.
Human is like part of like thegreater consciousness, you know,
like so I it it's kind ofleaning into that idea too,

(57:28):
yeah.
Um but yeah, it's it's a lot toyeah, no, no, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 (57:38):
Yeah, that's kind of why the title track it's also uh
Rick and Morty did that episode.
You remember that episode ofRick and Morty where it was like
greater conscious?

SPEAKER_04 (57:51):
Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_01 (57:55):
Rick and Morty, that's one of those shows, man,
where they pull out theseconcepts where like I think
about them days later.

SPEAKER_03 (58:00):
Yep, yeah.
There was an episode that fuckedme up.
It was the whole one, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (58:09):
That fucked me up for like days, yeah, and then
like the Citadel, the Citadelfucked with me for a while.
I was like, Damn, dude.

SPEAKER_03 (58:20):
Oh I also have a Morty skin on Fortnite.

SPEAKER_01 (58:24):
Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (58:26):
Sweet.

SPEAKER_06 (58:27):
So what I'm hearing is we have to play Fortnite to
get cool skins.

SPEAKER_03 (58:33):
I actually don't I don't play it that much anymore,
but I was I got really good atit like before anyone else did.
So like season two of Fortnite,I owned, yeah, and then it blew
up, and then it got supersweaty.
Yeah, I had to I had to hang itup.

(58:55):
Had to retire.

SPEAKER_04 (58:57):
Dude, I I played Fortnite for the work is late
run.

SPEAKER_01 (59:03):
I played Fortnite for the first time recently,
like I had never played itbefore.
Yeah, like within the last twoor three months, and uh it's
really fun.
It is really fun, but like Idon't fully understand what I'm
doing.
No, I played I played Call ofDuty for a long time, and it's
yeah, it's not the same, but itis the same, you know?

SPEAKER_03 (59:24):
Yeah, well changes to like some people like um I
mean there's different modes nowtoo.
Like there was a while I gotreally addicted to all the like
simulator games that people thatlike the users make in Fortnite.

SPEAKER_01 (59:39):
Oh the Tiger Hero on there now, yeah.
It's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 (59:45):
Yeah, no, there's some really interesting things.
That's like like I it's one ofthe craziest like game formats,
I think, is like yeah, oh yeah.
You the game blows up and thenyou open it up for people to
make more games inside the game,you know.
Right, like the only other gamethat's really like that is Rob

(01:00:06):
Roblox, maybe.
Yeah, yeah.
Actually, you can do that inBattlefield, you can make maps
in Battlefield now.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:13):
Really?

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:14):
Yeah, dude, that's pretty much my friend.
It was it was it was a duck huntmap.
It was yeah, dude.
Um so like they set up this liketower you have to like run
across, and there's a bunch ofsnipers like trying to like pick
people off.
And if you make it to the end ofthe obstacle course, you get to
come like kill all the snipers.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:36):
That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:38):
That was really cool.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:39):
Um well, unfortunately, we're not gonna
be able to play the gametonight, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_06 (01:00:45):
React to time.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:47):
We we unfortunately are getting close on the time,
but uh that just means that youget to come back.
You should definitely come backand hang out with us again.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:55):
I would love to.
This is probably my favoritepodcast I've ever done.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:58):
Hell yeah, dude.
That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:00):
Really?

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:01):
Oh, you stop you are really fun people.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:06):
I'm gonna ask me a lot of bullshit questions, so
yeah.

SPEAKER_07 (01:01:12):
Oh well, well, actually, I I might have a I
might have a bullshit questionfor you.
Oh I still love those.
Um what what do you see assuccess?
Like what is your I don't wantto say what's your end goal, but
um, you know, because you youknow it's take things further.
But uh yeah, what what whatwould you define as success for

(01:01:35):
yourself?

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:36):
That is quite the opposite of a bullshit question.
Yeah, right.
Yeah, Chris just pulled that outof his pocket.
What?
Yeah, I mean um I've beenwanting to say it the whole
time.

SPEAKER_06 (01:01:46):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:48):
Nah.
Ask me anything.
Um it's weird because it's insome ways like like I can look
at my career as already asuccess.
If I compare it to the rightpeople.
Um but there's also like there'sa whole fucking ladder of like

(01:02:11):
artists and bands you have toclimb.
Um so I guess like the baselevel of success for me is just
being able to do this for aliving.
So I don't think if we choosethat.
Um you know, but the it's like avery fickle industry, you know,

(01:02:32):
like um like I could be brokesix months from now and have to
like rebuild that alreadyhappened once actually, in in
between this project and my lastproject.
I had to rebuild my team, got anew label, uh, had to move back
to Tennessee, came back, umalmost went broke again.

(01:02:56):
Uh and finally, like, you know,um, but yeah, uh so yeah, it's
there's different levels, Iguess.
So the bass level would I thinkI've like achieved.
Um I get to put music out.
Um fortune enough to have a songthat has like 50 million

(01:03:19):
streams.
That's pretty cool, even thoughI hate it.
Um that's how it goes.
Um, so I guess that's anotherbenchmark is having that one
song that I hate that happens toalso be my biggest song.

(01:03:41):
Um and then wait, wait a second,which is mostly just being uh a
bad texture.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:50):
Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_03 (01:03:51):
Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, okay.
But that when I was 17.
Yeah, I I ruined a relationshipbecause I was bad at texting.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:03):
Or me with most friendships, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (01:04:10):
Including including mine and Chris's, actually.

SPEAKER_03 (01:04:13):
Yeah, you know, yeah, but um and then like on
the spiritual, like artisticlevel, I think success to me is
like just being able to liketouch people with my music.
Um if one person is listening,then you know, yeah, I think
that's uh like I said earlier, Ireally want my music to be

(01:04:38):
productive.
Like I want people to listen toit and it makes them think in a
positive or productive way orquestion uh you know their
character, even you know, in myyeah, yeah.
Am I the person the song issupposed to be about?
Like, you know, um maybesomething's wrong with me.

(01:04:58):
Maybe I'm a problem.

SPEAKER_04 (01:05:00):
I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:02):
Well, and and having having your music touch people
in a way of like even like mystory of being able to send
that, like, hey, this is how I'mfeeling about you today.
You know what I mean?
Like, yeah, that's that's hugeto be able to share that um in
music with somebody important inyour life.

SPEAKER_03 (01:05:17):
Yeah, no, and it it's it's there's it's so
saturated these days, too.
It's like easy to get caught upin like how like um or or f just
find meaning in like what I'mdoing when there's there's so
many other people doing it.

(01:05:38):
How what right do I have to youknow be a bigger artist than
this person?
You know, there's people thathave like two monthly listeners,
they'll listen to their musicand be like, holy fuck, like
yeah, why am I doing like thisperson needs to be huge, yeah,
and you know, um but it's yeah,I just want to be able to like I

(01:06:06):
don't know.
I'll tell a quick story.
I was playing a show in Houston.
Um it was during like there waslike a big like ice storm that
came through, and like asold-out show became only like
30 people were there.
Um and but this one girl likeshe like couldn't drive there,

(01:06:31):
she walked to the show like twohours.
Like she walked um through andit's like it's an ice storm, it
was fucking cold, yeah.
But she like had to see theshow, and I even posted I was
like, please don't come to theshow if like it's unsafe.
Like I promise we'll be back,like you know, just be safe.

(01:06:54):
And I ended up live streaming ittoo, so um, anyways, after the
show ended up being one of myfavorite shows too, it was
really like intimate.
Like, I felt like I was justlike performing for like a bunch
of my friends, just like a groupof like 20-30 people in front of
the stage, like and they wereraging too.

(01:07:15):
It was so sick.
It felt like there was 200people in there.
Um, but after the show, thisgirl walks up to me, she tell
tells me that she walked there,and I was like, Holy fuck, you
didn't have to do that.
But then she's like, Well, Ihave I like got you a gift, and
she hands me this little likebrass ring.

(01:07:37):
Um, I have it somewhere, I'm notgonna pull it out, but um she
was like, You saved my life, andI was like, Oh, oh really, uh,
and usually I'm like, Yeah,whatever.
But right, right.
She was like, No, you actuallysaved my life.

(01:07:57):
I was like, about to killmyself, and your song came on,
and it was it was exactly how Iwas feeling, and I realized I
wasn't alone, and you know, it Ididn't didn't kill myself, so

(01:08:17):
that was that was really cool,and I cried, yeah, yeah.
I like cried and like hugged herfor like five minutes.
I was like, that's probably themost like special thing that my
music's ever done for me andsomeone else.
Like, that's I've gotten DMsfrom people too that have said

(01:08:40):
the same, and it was like um itwas the song I was talking about
that was like about the anxietythat I had that I didn't know
what to call, you know.
It's just called how I'mfeeling, and I'm basically just
describing anxiety.
I'm like, I just feel like thissucks.
Um but yeah, um at the very endof the song, it goes like but I

(01:09:08):
know I'll get through it andI'll be okay.
This is just how I'm how I feelright now, though.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:14):
So that's dude, that's fucking incredible.

SPEAKER_03 (01:09:18):
That's insane.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:19):
That that is success, like that right there
is success.

SPEAKER_03 (01:09:24):
Yeah, so that's probably my biggest answer to
your question.

SPEAKER_07 (01:09:29):
No, it was it was perfect, it was it was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:32):
Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_05 (01:09:33):
Wow, unreal damn dude.

SPEAKER_06 (01:09:39):
What a note to end on.

SPEAKER_03 (01:09:42):
Yeah, music is magic.

SPEAKER_06 (01:09:44):
Music is magic.

SPEAKER_03 (01:09:46):
Yeah, I think it's funny.
People like there's all thislike fantasy about magic and
like wizards and stuff, but it'slike we can make music, like
that's so we can make videogames, dude.
Like, we can make like reallysimulated worlds within
computer, you know?

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:05):
Yeah, that's sick.

SPEAKER_03 (01:10:07):
Um, we can I don't know, even like like plumbers,
dude.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:11):
Like no, I don't know pipes.
Chris is a plumber.

SPEAKER_03 (01:10:17):
Really?
I fuck with plumber.
Like, I don't know pipes likethat.
Well, you do.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:24):
I mean, water is water is magic.
Water is magic.
Yeah, I don't know.
Upstairs, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 (01:10:33):
No, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:34):
I bet Chris knows.

SPEAKER_03 (01:10:37):
Does that have to do with pressure?
I don't want to go near the thepoop either.
Yeah, no, it's not that bad.
I commend you.
It's not that bad.
Trust me, it's not that bad.

SPEAKER_02 (01:10:49):
There are worse things.

SPEAKER_07 (01:10:50):
I might have to try it.
I think that they're the realheroes.

SPEAKER_03 (01:10:57):
True.
But that's the thing, it's likeI think like the term art can
apply to anything.
Yeah.
Um yeah, like I think a plumberis an artist, you know.
I think an electrician, or like,you know, I think the only thing

(01:11:17):
that makes you not an artist isif you're not particularly like
passionate and care about whatit is that you do.
Um, you know, so I think it's umlike I don't know.
For example, I have a friendwho's a photographer, and I

(01:11:39):
mostly work with him justbecause he loves taking photos
so much.
He's not like probably not thegreatest photographer ever, but
he like it's like a joy to likewatch him shoot photos because
he gets like really worked upwhen he takes a good photo and
he's like, uh yeah, this is abang, you know.

(01:12:00):
I'd way rather work with likeyou know, a photographer like
that, with like you know, thatshoots on an iPhone even or
something, or better yet, aSamsung, I don't know, but then
work with someone that's likeyou know, that treats it like a

(01:12:21):
nine to five day job, you know,yeah, exactly.
Yeah, so there is an art to allthings.

SPEAKER_01 (01:12:29):
You've inspired my work week, like yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (01:12:31):
I'm gonna go into my barista job and make coffees
like I've never made thembefore.

SPEAKER_03 (01:12:39):
Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:12:40):
That that's the message that people need right
now.

SPEAKER_03 (01:12:42):
Yeah, when people talk about like in cooking, like
making something with love, likethat's how it works.
It's because it's just likecaring and like putting the
extra you know touch on thingsthat right, you know, for

(01:13:03):
yourself or someone else, youknow, just do all things with
love.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:08):
Yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_03 (01:13:09):
So but so you're a barista, you're a plumber, and
then what do you do, Harley?

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:14):
Uh I'm in sales.

SPEAKER_03 (01:13:17):
That's a that's an art.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:20):
Yeah, it can't it definitely can it definitely can
be.

SPEAKER_03 (01:13:25):
He works Smashcraft, not sales called Mercantile.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:35):
Oh man, it's too funny, dude.
Ryan, thank you, thank you somuch for coming on the show,
man.
This has been one of my favoriteinterviews of all time.
Like, true.

SPEAKER_03 (01:13:45):
I learned of my month, likewise.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:48):
Um, everybody check out Ryan Woods, check out all of
his music.
God boy is available right now.
Yes, um, check it all out, man.
I I can't say it enough.
My my personal favorite is Gunin the Glove Box.
That's that's my personalfavorite.
So please check that one out.
Taylor's is Debbie.

SPEAKER_06 (01:14:04):
Yeah, I I love Debbie so much.

SPEAKER_03 (01:14:11):
She's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:13):
Um, but again, man, thank you so much for coming on.
I'm gonna let you go.
I know we're we're a little overhere, so I don't I don't want to
hold you up.
And dude, come back, please.
Definitely come back.

SPEAKER_03 (01:14:25):
Just to chat anytime.
I'd love to.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:27):
Oh yeah, man.

SPEAKER_03 (01:14:28):
Um, I guess you you I mean you guys have my team's
info.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:32):
Yeah, yeah.
You got our M.

SPEAKER_03 (01:14:34):
OpenSlot, let me know.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:35):
Yeah, I'd love to yeah, follow the Instagram and
whatnot.

SPEAKER_06 (01:14:40):
That you're so real for that.
And we can listen to it all daylong.

SPEAKER_02 (01:14:44):
It's called Righteous Vanity.
Yeah, there you go.
There you go.
It's not press.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:52):
Oh, hell yeah, dude.
All right, thanks again.
It's been real, everybody, andpeace.

SPEAKER_03 (01:15:00):
Peace.
Peace.
Thank you, guys.

SPEAKER_01 (01:15:02):
Thanks, man.
Of course.
All right, of course.

SPEAKER_03 (01:15:06):
Do I leave now?

SPEAKER_01 (01:15:07):
Yeah, I got you.
If you want, you don't have to.

SPEAKER_03 (01:15:15):
Like uh after like a hookup, you know, yeah.
So do you want to hang out orlike oh what are we exactly?

SPEAKER_07 (01:15:25):
Do I put my shoes back on?
Oh no, we have never took themoff.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah, right, we're in thebathroom.

SPEAKER_01 (01:15:36):
Let me let me at least click the end button.
Thanks for listening to theLincoln Bridge Podcast.