March 14, 2025 • 36 mins
Autumn Kings is a Canadian-based (but almost Detroit) rap rock band who are truly bringing the groove back to the mainstream rock world. After grinding for over a decade the song "Sleep When I'm Dead" finds the band hitting a new height of success. Guitarist/singer/songwriter Jake Diab jones me for a conversation about who they are, how trauma can breed success and hit on that midwest nice.
This conversation took place right before I left for Costa Rica two weeks ago and right before they left to tour Europe.
This conversation took place right before I left for Costa Rica two weeks ago and right before they left to tour Europe.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Attention please and no Cutters rock Cat. I heard you.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
You know, my our manager in autumn, King's Jason Rudolph.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I love Jason. I didn't realize he was managing you guys.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he said me an email, he said,
here's the zoom link for the Cutter interview.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Tell him, I said, hello, I've known Capital's long.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Time, do long ass time from way back and probably
like the college metal days and shit like yeah, holy yeah,
that's that's old school Jason Rudolph. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Man.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
We'll tell him, I said, what's up.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I definitely will. He's a great guy. Man.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It's that Midwest, the Midwestern charm.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Dude, we got it. That was for me. It's that
Wisconsin nice. For everyone else, it's like they're okay, but
they're still okay. I'm just kidding, dude. I appreciate you
taking this time to chat, man.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah. Absolutely. Oh.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Likewise, it's exciting where lots going on, and it's just
perfect time and before we leave next week for Europe.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
So yeah. Well and at the time anybody hears this,
you'll already be in here for a couple of weeks.
But that's okay because I'm going to Costa Rica today
like later today. So we're sneaking this in.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
What's the what's the flight routing like to get to
Costa from so.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Well, technically it's tomorrow morning. I'm going to Costa Rica.
But the flight is out of Rockford, Illinois of all places,
like just random. I'm like, I live near you know,
I could go to Milwaukee, we could go to Chicago,
we could go I mean to be a pain in
the ass. We go to Minneapolis, like Rockford of all,
Like we have two international airports right by my house,
Like what okay? Right, But it's a chartered flight. We
(01:37):
do with my with my morning show every year we
go to a tropical destination. So it's two hundred of
our listeners on on the same flight going to Costa
Rica at six am tomorrow morning. Officially, dude, that sounds
like a freaking party. Wow, have fun, Thank you man.
It's gonna be nuts stupid. And then we got a
broadcast every day, so that'll be so you still work
(02:00):
a little bit, still working a little bit, and now
you know, I'll pull out a cutting nawse countdown on
there too. In the syndicated show, I do, which is
what brings me to Autumn Kings. Autumn Kings has having
You guys have been having some success this year with
the song sleep when I'm Dead and touring and everything else,
and really the name is starting to become at the
(02:20):
forefront of people, but the band has existed for some time.
So dude, bring me back to the beginning. Man, tell
me about Autumn Kings.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, it's been quite the ride. Actually, this year is
year ten, and so it's really funny you hear. I
lived in Nashville for a couple of years and they
call it a ten year town there, So there's this
I guess I don't know if it's science or it's
just people's anecdotes, but it takes about ten years if
you work your butt off, do everything as correctly as
you can, takes about ten years to have success.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
We're kind of at that point.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
But we started off in twenty fifteen in LaSalle, Ontario,
which is a little suburb right outside of the city
of Windsor in Canada. The Windsors just away from Detroit.
So interestingly enough, we're getting all the Detroit influences. Growing
up rock music Detroit. Red Wings just very americanized. You know,
this the most southern point of the massive country of Canada.
(03:14):
And so we started off there really cutting our teeth
in the Detroit scene, grinded, grinded and grinded independently for years,
just playing any meaningful gig that we could, writing our
tails off, trying to hone and write better and better songs,
trying to build a team around us, sending cold emails
to different people in the music business hoping they'd give
us a chance, and having nine hundred and ninety nine
(03:36):
out of one thousand left unread rejections left, right and center,
a couple switches of band member personnel. But somehow we've
through all the touring and writing and listening to people,
you know, taking in advice, leaving some advice, we ended
up getting ourselves to a point where now there's this
genuine momentum. Now we're at the point for the first
time where I can go to my family who's not
(03:57):
in the music business, comes from sort of immigrant work ethic,
blue collar city of Windsor right and show with proof
that it's actually working. Not just me saying guys, I promise,
I promise, I'm not crazy, So.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
No I will I will, mom, I will be a
rock star.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
You'll see, Yeah, you'll see prove it. You'll see you'll see.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It's gonna take a while, but we'll do it. That's
the story, right, that's the story for everybody. It's it's
the overnight success that took ten years to get there.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
That's exactly right. You see it over and over again,
especially in rock. I mean you can just the list
goes on shine down as the first example when you
say that, that comes to mind. I mean, it took
them almost ten years before Sack and Chance came out
and they had that hit.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
But let's go, yeah, well even before that, right, Brett
Brett had a different band and was signed to a
label and it's like, we'll keep you, but not the band,
and he forms this whole new thing and then they
form it, reform it again with Zach and yeah, that's
a that's a wild ride of a story. And now
they sell it arenas all over the world.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
So, I mean a big part of it is who's
willing to take the most crap, right, who's willing to
get hit the hard?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Actually, how do you become you become successful in the
business that you're in music, acting, radio, whatever. It may
be a pr rep who knows, But how do you
become the most successful? Who's ever willing to take the
most crap? There's something to be said about that.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I mean, dude, as hard as people say the music businesses,
I feel for you too. Radio, I'd argue, is probably
even tougher, just riding the waves and just all the
twitches and with the different stations. It's yeah, it's who's
willing to take the most crap. It's almost not even
an intellectual decision. It's it's just a motion like And
I learned that during COVID because for us, we hadn't
made it over that proverbial mountain.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
We haven't.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
We hadn't gotten to the other side yet, right. We
weren't shined Down or Nickelback or Evenge sevenfold or whoever,
or Rise Against. But we were willing to keep going
when there was every reason to quit. All of our
shows were canceled, felt like nothing was happening for a
really long period of time.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
And it didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
There was no you know, technical skill, who could play
the guitar the best, who could write the best song?
Who is the most connected? It was who can just
hold on the longest and endure the pain. And so
I'm glad we've made the choice to do that, and
I wouldn't have wanted to do anything else anyway.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Well, yeah, what else do you get to do? Right
when it's in your blood? It's in your blood.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
COVID was such a weird time for music, and I
know we've had these conversations at length at times when
anytime anybody brings it up, it's the memory start coming
back of oh my god, the confusion. I'm doing radio
shows in my basement and my pajamas, and you know,
buddy of mine, I'm a musician too, And buddy of
mine started playing acoustic at bars in a corner with
(06:34):
a table in front of us. You know, everybody, get
your six feet apart. I mean not that. In Wisconsin
people cared about COVID a whole lot. I mean, let's
be honest. After about six weeks, the bars were like,
now we're open.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
We're good.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
But you know, at the same time, you still had
to sort of kind of follow some of the mandates
and stuff. And for a touring band, like going to
some of those first shows. Shine Down was one of
them with Breton Zach doing the acoustic thing and sitting
down yeah, you know, or being at tables or being
a part you had to be in little pods and do.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
It was wild, so surreal, so surreal, very tough. I mean,
we had a couple big opportunities.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
At that point.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
We were going to be playing the opening game for
the Detroit Tigers. It was I think it was March fifteenth,
more or less of twenty twenty, and then Mark It's canceled.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
So it was tough. What I mean.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
The silver lining for us because we were willing to
take initiative and make the most of it is I
really wanned how to produce music and use pro tools,
the production software, so I was able to learn more
about electronics and incorporating different sounds and fusing those elements
into the band's music. So the one good thing I
would say that came out of COVID is it was
a lot of uninterrupted time to make the best possible
(07:43):
music and I didn't think as hard as it was,
and I would not wish to go back to that,
like there's I would never say, you know, if I
had the choice, I would never want anybody to go
through what we all went through, but we I felt so.
I was about twenty three years old at the time,
twenty four. I remember I had this Tiffany in October
of twenty twenty where I'm like, oh my god, I
(08:03):
can actually write a.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Song like I've been writing for you.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
But just from all that sitting there focused like five
six days a week where no one was ringing your
phone and nothing was happening. We really honed our chops
during that period. And this record that we're going to
be putting out later this year is a lot of
that started during COVID. It's years and years. So that's
the one good little takeaway, a little silver lining.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Can Can I dig into that for a second. You know,
we just had a Every band always brings up something different,
but I kind of realized this a couple of weeks ago.
The band Fuel was here, you know, the legendary nineties
band and Aaron they're new the singers actually from the
same area I'm from, and we got into this conversation
and talking about pro tools. And you just mentioned pro
(08:45):
tools for anybody who doesn't know. So the process of
songwriting isn't just picking up your instrument, And here's a riff,
and then the drummer lays down a beat, and then
the singer might write some lyrics, and then the bass
player might throw a bassline down. It's really become this
thing where you're sitting at a screen right with some
sort of plugins and in MIDI and MIDI is you know,
(09:08):
digital soundscapes basically, and maybe a guitar or maybe a microphone.
But really that's it now, right, It's songwriting has sort
of become that space for a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Yeah, yeah, it's really interesting. I think it could be
very easy.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
The pure bread metallica loving musician and me could look
at pro tools and yeah, right you too, I love it.
Good good best band on her, no question. And we
can look at that process and think it's a little
rigid or mechanical or two to the grid, and then
it loses the authenticity that music. And let's say the
eighties or nineties, before technology developed, once had.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
The adage of getting in the garage, you know, the
garage band, you know. To quote another conversation I recently
have with the guitar player Sophie Lloyd, mgk's guitar player
who just put out a fantastic solo record shout out.
But yeah, we were talking about that, like she became pop.
People are on YouTube and TikTok. But that process, right
of being in the garage band in writing is sort
(10:05):
of that's the field. That's the what old school minds
right us. Yeah, would think that's the authentic way of
doing it, but no, not necessarily.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Well, the one thing I will say is I look
at those the way I look at chat GPT. It's
a nice assistant, but it's never going to replace the
raw honesty. So when Joe and I are writing songs,
Joe's the other lead vocal band and him and I
write almost every song together. It's always just us riffing
with the guitar and singing and spitting out melodies and
(10:35):
vibing either a guitar or piano, and it's just vibing
melodies and lyrics, and so it's not like we're starting
off mechanically in any way. We let it free flow
because that's how the inspiration begins. And then once we
feel we have sufficient inspiration to make a great song
start to finish, then we can bring it into pro
tools and sort of look visually almost like a video
(10:56):
game for people who love video games. You can sort
of play it out like a video game or like
a movie and see the dynamics and the peaks and
the valleys, and so having that assistance on pro tools
could be helpful, but that can't come first. In our opinion,
it has to be I like that going, yeah, right,
And that's to us the way we are able to
keep We'll keep it honest and real, because if you're
(11:17):
if you're staring too rigidly, you're gonna lose a level
of human element to it, right, right, And we don't.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Want to do that.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Yeah, okay, So what was it about those songs then?
I mean, what did you learn during that process that
caused as you said, you know, the best songs of
your career?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
You you you're becoming more of a songwriter than just
you know, maybe a performer or whatever.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, I think it's my sound a little crazy. I
grew up middle class, growing up in there. Eventually became
you know, my dad started doing really well with this
job and we rose to I guess you could say
upper middle class in Canada.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
So I didn't know harship or struggle. Yeah, yeah, so lucky, Yeah, white?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
You from the suburbs, and uh, I didn't really know
like deep pain. I didn't feel like an eminem level
of pain growing up right, And so I had, by
all measures, a pretty easy, fairy tale esque childhood both
parents and the house, love, et cetera. And so in
my first few years of being an adult, I felt invincible,
like there was nothing I could do. As long as
(12:19):
I worked hard, I could get anything I wanted. Then
on the pandemic happened. It was the first time in
my life where I had to confront something that was
out of my control, like there was nothing I could
do about it, and the competitive instincts of me they
didn't like that. It was very tough to accept that, dude,
you got to stay and you can't go out. And
COVID was very difficult, like on a mental level for me.
And I never knew what negative emotion really was upside
(12:41):
of a few little high school heartbreaks or whatever. So
those are the first, you know, times I felt emotion,
and that birthed a different that birthed the lyricist in me. Actually,
because I'd always been strong on guitar, I always had
a knack for melody and structure for a song. But
lyrically it was always it was always a little tougher
for me from the beginning, and then once more real
(13:02):
life experience was lived and I felt the more full
spectrum of human emotion, I was able to really tap
into both the good and the bad of the human
experience and encapsulate it into a song. And I think
that's what really made for great songs rather than just
really good songs. There's that fine distinction, that that ten
percent distinction there, and I think that came from struggle,
(13:25):
which is why I never look back on hard times
to struggle with or struggle with any level of resentment
or remorse.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Right, Yeah, they're learned experiences. Then at that point review
you can take that and turn it into, you know,
something more positive. This conversation comes up a lot with musicians,
obviously in songwriters, but also comedians. You know, doing a
morning show, it's fun because they get both sides, you
know where you get this. We'll talk to actors and actresses,
and we'll talk to comedians, especially a lot of comedians,
(13:55):
some of which have become friends over the years. But
that that try like the funny people in the world,
or the most talented songwriters in the world. It feels
like they've had to deal with some trauma, They've had
some stuff happen in their lives, you know, and it
sort of that that darkness sort of creates this, you know,
ability to have that sense of humor or to write
(14:16):
some true words in a poetic way.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Absolutely, So that's really interesting and it makes me think
of two things. So my favorite comedian of all time
is bil Berr.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
I don't know if you're I love Bilbert Man love Bilbert.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So you hear and he really lets people into his
childhood and what it was like growing up Irish, sort
of alcoholic family and as a kid shut up and
sit down. And I think he's just one of the
funniest guys. And he's got just such great perspectives well rounded,
doesn't discriminate against people politically or for their religion. He
just really touched it into those raw human emotions.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
That we all feel. So I love I love that
part of it.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
The second thing I would say too, is it's easy,
once you go through a hard time to bask in
your depression or bask in your satness. And that's something
that Autumn Kings never likes to do. We don't like
to adopt that mindset of staying a victim to our circumstances,
and so our songs will touch on the bad, but
there's always a glimmer of hope. And again we've mentioned
(15:13):
Shined Down a few times, but that's one of the things.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
They do really really well.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Because I will say, the last ten to fifteen years
in Rock, in our estimation in Autumn Kings, we feel
like the themes have leaned a little too, a little
too sad, a little too depressing, Whereas if you listen
back to the eighties, if you think of ac DC
or an oasis in the nineties then had tough upbringings too.
It was sort of happy sentiment almost always like very
(15:38):
upbeat and playful, and so we like to tip the
scale to be a little more toward those sorts of
themes and sentiments. So, yeah, it's good, it's good that
we've lived the whole experience. But then we like to
channel mostly positive, optimistic songs and have maybe ten or
twenty percent of our catalog be the more dark, sort
of serious, melancholic songs.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Which tend to be the songs that work. Those are
the songs that tend to resonate with people and and
probably for the same reason. Yeah, it's all I went
through something and this song speaks to me. Now we
all have that song, we all have that artist or
whatever that you know that truly speaks to me.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Right, there's definitely a therapeutic element to it.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
And if you're living in your own head and then
you hear somebody that you look up to as an artist,
who you really respect say the words that you didn't
even know how to articulate, that's just powerful.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
It's powerful, right.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
One hundred percent. But this also makes me want to
do an experiment. I know you had some songs out
obviously before the pandemic. I think you had one album
out before that. If I'm remembering correctly. Uh, I want
to go back and listen to that now, and then
when when does the new one come out? Later this year?
Speaker 1 (16:41):
It's gonna be later this year probably.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Sometimes I want to put them back to back, forget
the forget the in the middle stuff. I want to go.
I want to go straight, like from the first one
to the new one and just hear the difference.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yeah, that's that. It's a great it's a great thought experiment.
Now I will say what I said earlier. I don't
want to downplay the record that we did twenty seventeen
silver Screens.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Because yeah silver screen, thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Joe has always been an incredible lyricist, and he went
before he quit university, he was studying creative writing, like
he's got that kind of he's got that brand.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
So my son's doing right now nice.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, Joe loved that. He's a huge,
huge fan of creative writing. And so I really my
skill set on that record was really guitar oriented, structure arrangement,
and Joe was more of the storytelling guy. So you
still got that honest storytelling, just not necessarily from me
on the lyrical side of it until later on.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
So it would be interesting.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And the other thing with this upcoming record is when
we started off, we were that garage four piece rock band.
The production was really stiol. We didn't have too many
bells and whistles. Then as we transition over the years,
we added an experimented with digital, maybe even more poppy
and em influences in there, and then we sort of
leaned too much that way, and now this next record
(17:55):
raining in where we get the best of those modern
cutting edge sounds and auctions, you know, the pro tools
that can inspire some really interesting just sounds and experimentation,
but having that core rock band because on a live level,
I mean you know this from with your listeners too.
I'm biased, but I don't think there's anything like a
rock show.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
No, nothing, nothing matter that right, It.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Just can't compare. You just can't compare. So we never
want to lose that.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
The thing I love about going to a rock show,
not only do you get to hear your favorite songs
or songs you love, or maybe see a new band
and get introduced to somebody that blows you away, But
it's this sort of thing where everybody in that crowd,
it doesn't matter what religion, it doesn't matter what political
thing you agree with or disagree with. It doesn't matter
(18:43):
if you're gay or straight, or by or trans or anything. Yeah,
all that matters is that you're all there for one reason,
and that's to listen to great music and hopefully release
some of that energy, you know, in a positive way.
And you can all be in the moshpit together. You
can all you can, I'll go to the bar together.
You can all stand in line at the ininal together
you know, whatever it may be, you know, you're together,
(19:06):
and nobody questions it's it's the perfect place for just
true togetherness.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, when you think of it, there's you know, now
that you mentioned that, I can't really think of anything
more unifying.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Again, it's totally biased, but I can't think of anything
for unifying, right.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
I go into rock shows since I was fourteen years
old and playing guitars since I was ten. Yeah, it's
total bias. But at the same time, listen, man, I
grew up Catholic like that, ain't it?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
You know?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, yeah, there's nothing like it. And that's the thing
Joe and I always talk about, especially in this day
and age, when every next piece of news makes you
think that the whole world is going to hell, and
there's a level of seductiveness that people they get, they
get charmed by the seductiveness of the idea that the
world is going to hell, and we really try to
stay away from that. Like with Autumn Kings, we like
(19:57):
to we like to unify, and we like to touch
on timeless human experience emotions.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
For that same reason, because there aren't too many things
in this world where you can genuinely feel totally unified,
if just for a moment, and so we never want
to lose that with the music too.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
That's really important thing.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Is though, is like just for that moment can transform
into a couple more moments. Yeah, maybe even into a
couple more moments. And I don't want to be like,
all right, the weights on your shoulders now, Jake, but
still you know it, it can really transform to that,
and that's the beauty of going to rock shows to
get back to the music really quick. The song's sleep
and I'm Dead mentioned it at the top. Obviously, this
has been a big hit now for the last few
months and continues to or has continued to rise up
(20:39):
the charts, and we'll see who it is by the
time we post this, but either way, there is no
doubt about it. It's a hit song. Thank you in
your mind? Then, what is it about this particular song?
Is it what we were talking about? Is it something
else that seems to be gravitating or seems to be
resonating with people way more than other Autumn Kings songs
(20:59):
have done.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Wow, that's it.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Well, first of all, I really appreciate that, and it's
a great question. I think so yeah, it's touching on
This was one of the first songs where a lot
of I mean, I'm singing the vast majority of the
lead vocals on this song. This came from actually inspired
from high school, the rejections from girls and not having
any sort of click that I fit into. This was
(21:23):
that song when I was fifteen and I didn't fit
in and there were popular kids who were rude and
sort of ran the politics of the high school. I
remember thinking in my head, you just wait till I'm
twenty five, or wait till I'm thirty, and I wrot
show you. I'll show you, And that had that level
of swagger and cockiness paired with that Metallica laced breaking
(21:44):
Benjamin laced guitar and drum influence that I love. I'm
a musical nerd at heart, like I have this requirement
that every Autumn King song we write has to have
different chord progressions and different sounds, and it has to
be something where even though it sounds like a hit song,
it still has to be something I could impress a
fellow guitar geek with. And so the bridge of that song,
it's not an easy riff to play, there's pitch harmonics,
(22:07):
there's chugging and riffing.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
So I think it hurts.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, it's that tickling the fancy of those more musically
inclined people and then just hitting that everyday main street American,
North American or even just the world people who want
to feel like they're invincible. It taps into that aggression, really,
the human aggression that we feel.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
To either make money or crush.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
It in the courtroom if you're a lawyer, or go
to war, whatever the case may be. It taps into
that that just natural human instinct.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Okay, So going back to the live rock and roll show,
then how do you pull it off? Like, how do
you pull it off live? Because if you're like, I'm
thinking about my own setup, and I just got my
first digital rig, Like I've been an orange amp guy forever,
and I just recently in my first you know, gig,
we played the Cherry Show for a bunch of bikers
and I plugged in a line six helix and I
went and I literally brought my Orange amp because I
(22:58):
was paranoid it wasn't gonna work, you know. But even
in that I'm I spent days trying to figure out
that pedal, and I only scratched the surface. How do
you pull it off? Like, how do you do it live?
To be able to switch, you know, to pull off
the sounds and all that stuff. Do you if somebody
is a program like, how are you doing that? Out
of curiosity?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I think?
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I think the most important thing when you have a
song in the studio that leans a little digital. There
are synth sounds, and there are percussion sounds, and there's
strings starting here, and realistically, we're not going to bring
eleven people on the road to play every single one
of those little instruments.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
So the dirty little secret is you put some of
them in the backing track. You put the most the
backing track.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I know, I said it on things like yeah, things
like strings and percussive elements, the more subtle stuff. But
the biggest, the biggest way to pull off a digital
leaning song live is the drums.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
The drums is.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
The biggest thing. So we have all these different hip
hop samples and sounds that we put in the record,
and then we work meticulously with our drummer, Troy Dottie,
who's a beast, to replicate them and really go off
script from what the studio version does and okay, and
replace it with just huge thumping live drums, like with
(24:10):
Sleeping on Dead and our song hell Bound. Those two
are are pretty good examples where they lean pretty digitally
heavy on the percussion side. But live it just feels
like a pure straightforward rock song. It just it really
just sense accentuates the energy from from what's on the record.
The drums is the number one thing though, because we
have guitar bassed in almost every song like that doesn't
really change when it comes to translating from studio to live.
(24:33):
But drums, that is the huge thing that we focus on.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Do you find it as long as we open up
the cannon words of a click track, do you do
you find it harder to add lib to? You know,
do some because the beautiful thing about live rock so
is not only that togetherness what we were talking about
earlier and getting the feeling of it in your soul
in person, but the ad lib portions, you know, the
(24:59):
the that song's a little bit different than how they
played it the other day, or or it's a little
bit different than how it's on the record, you know,
or oh they just in the middle of that jam
session they threw in, you know, two minutes of seeking
Destroyer or something, you know, like, that's the beauty to me.
You've seen the Live Rock and Rolls show. Does it
allow that to do that or how do you manage that?
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Yeah? Totally, yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
You know some bands they'll use a clip track to
make sure that you don't go too fast or too
slow out a standtime, right, But for us, I mean
we have it in a way where you can turn
on or turn off the clip track in the middle
of a song if you wanted to, and then pick
back up where you left off with a click. That way,
you leave a window for spontaneity and improvisation. We definitely
like to do that at the ends of songs too.
(25:43):
I mean we're always we're always winging endings because you.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Want to keep that magic live even as a musician.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Well, and how fun is it to turn around with
your guitar and look at the drummer and go boom?
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. It keeps it more fun.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Whereas if we're going to a script every night, selfishly,
completely selfishly, not even thinking about the fans, I.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Would get bored. I would get so good but then it.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Consequently would affect the fans because they would see that
it's becoming too robotic or you almost risk going through
the motions when you do that, And so would like
to leave especially at the ends of songs, at the
beginnings of songs, and a lot of times in the
middle of songs, just opportunity for us to riff and
wing it a little bit there. And that thirteen year
old curious Metallica loving musician said earlier, I'm.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Back out there. You go, give me two other songs
from Autumn Kings that are out right now that you
really love, you love playing there's something about them. And
mainly this is a self serving question because on the
radio show of this, the Cutting Edge Countdown, I'll play
at least two other Autumn King songs and Sleeping I'm
(26:48):
deads in the countdown, So you know, I might need
three to be honest, but give me two, my man.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
I appreciate that, Yeah, I would say. The other one
would be the song that was released right after Sleep
from Dead. It's called hell Bound. Yeah, And one of
the most special things about hell Bound is that it's
got this this dichotomy where the music sounds fun and upbeat,
and the lyrics are really dark and serious. The whole
thing is about conquering learned helplessness and the idea that
you don't have to subscribe to being a victim in
(27:17):
this life. You have a lot more agency and choice
than you think. So that on the lyrical levels, what's
fascinating about hell Bound? And musically I grew up I'm
half Lebanese and I'm half Macedonian, so I had these
Eastern European and Middle Eastern influences that were indoctrinating me
from a young age.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Right, and while you were still a white guy in
a suburb in the Southern Canada oide of Detroit.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, I can't claim any level of coolness, and.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
But the music was cool that we listened to growing up,
and in subtle ways we infuse that into hell Bound.
Even though it's still a pretty straightforward rock song, it's
one of one of my proudest moments doing rap. You know,
Eminem would probably thinks it's weak, and Mike Shinoda would
be like, this is this is newbie stuff. But I'm
really proud of the rap verse that we had on
that song. And so I would say hell Bound and
(28:06):
then see if I say the other new songs Snake
Charmer that we just put out, I'm gonna seem like
a total salesman, like, yeah, play all.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Three of our new songs. Okay, I won't.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
I will even even though.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
I would say that, but we actually one of our
old songs. I would say Power. We have a song
called Power, and that one really hits into just huge
choruses pump up rap versus just like sleep when I'm
Dead and again it's it's empowering. Like generally speaking, Autumn
Kings likes to be a band that leaves you feeling
empowered to be more and do more and enjoy your life.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
So I'd say Power and hell Bound will be the two.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Power in hell Bound. And then you know, just for funds,
these bull see a rap but stinks Charmer might show
them there too. So the album is coming out later
this year. Do we know any other information on it
publicly or anything we can say here?
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I mean, you know our manager Jason, so maybe I
could speak before him, but he'll probably still kill me.
It's still all ready under wraps. Other than it's gonna
be full length, it'll be a full length EP.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
It's a full length album.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Full length record, all original stuff.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
If you like Sleeping on Dad and you like calboun
you like Snake Trauma, there's gonna be a lot more
where that came from. Okay, possibly a couple of singles
before then. We'll have to just see how it goes.
You know, Sleeping on Dead is it's just been rolling
really nice.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Hey, hey man, it's a grower, not a shower.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
It's a grower, not a shower. And you know, I
know somebody who's you could say similar, but.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yeah, Jason's beard, That's what I was talking about, right,
But yeah, the full record will be out probably at
some point in the fall. Lots of touring plans coming up,
and may or may not teach some of the new
unreleased songs on tour, but.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Just stay tuned. It's going to be you know, I'm
sure every artist that you interview tells.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
You, but I don't have I don't have tour dates
and tour plans in front of me, So why don't
you go through that real quick?
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Absolutely so. Tuesday, we're actually going to Europe for three weeks.
We're gonna be doing eight countries, Switzerland, France, poland Belgium. Austria, Netherlands,
Czech Republic. I'm missing one right now.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
France.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Okay, again, by the time I air this, I think
you guys will be in that last week of that stretch.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
So there we go. It's perfect.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
And then we're doing us all the way from May
twenty second to June twenty seventh, going all across America.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I think we're doing like twenty.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Five shows or something like that, so check the check
the website Autumn Kings dot com for details. And then
right after that we fly right to Singapore and we'll
be playing for the US military.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Who's oh, yeah, so that's gonna be pretty sweet.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
It's amazing, hants off. Yeah, it's gonna be pretty crazy year. Definitely,
that's such a cool thing. Any of the festivals you
guys vote for those.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
No festivals yet this year, twenty twenty six is really okay.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
That's probably curious because in the last well again, this
happened a couple weeks ago, but like in the last month,
they've all been announced, like it's been a whirlwind of
crazy ass festivals and tours to go with them. I'm like,
my poor wallet, yeah, being broke by the end of
the night I just I just paid for a wedding.
(31:06):
I don't know how the hell, but yeah, it is
what it is.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
You get married.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
I did, yeah, just month, just over a month ago. Yeah,
I can thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Amazing. Good good good. You feel wiser.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Now. I mean, I have a piece of jewelry on
my hand. That's the biggest difference.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
You know, the only difference. That's aweso.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
No, it's it's been. It's been amazing. She's she's actually
a Puerto Rican And it's funny you're talking about heritages
because she her she's from Detroit originally Pontiac Is where
she grew up and then her dad lives in a
different suburb now, but but then went to high school
in Arizona with her mom. So but they her parents
(31:47):
moved here when they were nineteen twenty years old. And
Puerto Rico is obviously still part of the United States.
So it is what it is. But I just found
I did my DNA testing. I'm a white guy from Wisconsin.
You know, like, it doesn't get any it doesn't get
any whiter, you know what I mean. There's a little
bit of indigenous in US. That's that's that's about it.
It's the only coloring I have. But I got my
(32:11):
DNA test back and I found out I'm actually one
percent Spanish. We high fived.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Oh come on, that's man.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
I'm like, Hi, I am Latin.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
I told you that's where the charisma came from, right,
rat exactly?
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Probably Actually, Uh, Jake, this has been a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Man.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
It's an honor to meet you, and uh, you know,
it's cool to find out we have mutual friends and
people we work with. And I'm really I'm really stoked
for you guys. I truly am like likewise, thank you
so much for having me cutter. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
And obviously, you know, it's really interesting with radio. I
tell all the radio people this. Obviously, Spotify and the
Internet has become a new discovery mode for people, and
we've certainly had some success doing that. But radio is
different because it is a genuine filter that is still
needed and the fact that radio is endorsing us and
in your station and you're taking a chance, it just
(32:57):
makes fans and people and then business take the band
so much more seriously. So I really appreciate, I really
appreciate what you're doing, and especially with rock music in
the Midwest, Like there's something about it that I've been saying.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Yeah, it's wild.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
I'll tell this story really fast and then and then
we'll wrap this up. But yeah, quite a few years ago,
I was doing a a a speaker type situation at CMJ,
which was a college music journal festival that happened in
New York City. So this is when that still existed.
It's that's been closed down for quite a few years
now at this point. But and then you know, it's
(33:33):
a who's who of alternative music people and all that. Right,
So we're doing this thing about who's the next And
at the time, I was doing a syndicated national metal
show and and and it was you know, earlier than that.
I probably met Jason somewhere on that same timeframe, and
I the copic was who's the next Metallica? You know,
it's the kind of the sort of that question, right,
(33:54):
where's the next big band coming from, the next big
metal band or hard rock band or phenom or whatever.
And all these people are talking about, oh, you know,
there's this band from New yorcles, there's this band from
la and you know, they're so huge, and I'm like
there was one band that somebody had mentioned. I'd never
even heard of them. I went, what do you mean
they're so big? Like, I've never heard of them. Well,
(34:15):
you're in the Midwest, though, I'm like, yeah, that's where
music is brought and born. Dude, find me, find me
a big rock band that didn't get big in the
Midwest first, and I'm going to tell you it's false.
You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Oh my gosh, dude, disturb Rise Against Fall Up by
smashing Pumpkin's Alkaline Trio. I mean, you want to just
keep going down the.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
List lip not mud Vane. Yeah, the list goes on, dude,
even go back to all your favorite eighties rockers that
were on the Sunset Strip. You know where Berett Michael's
came from, Pennsylvania or Ohio, one of the two, either way,
you know what I mean. Like it's the point is
like all these guys, you know, Motionless and White. The
dude's from Scranton, you know what I mean. Like you
get in small towns, you get like past that sort
(34:55):
of oceanic corridor and boom, it just opens up a
whole new world.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
See.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I wonder if there's a level of like isolationism when
you don't have the hub or mecca of entertainment right
outside your door that makes you maybe dream bigger or
work harder, or that you have that feeling of being
the underdog that motivates you to work harder. Obviously people
make it out of the Midwest, but even just bands
that were birthed in the Midwest, like I certainly feel
(35:20):
that we didn't have it, yes, right, so it inspired
us to work harder.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
So Midwest for.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Then you just go man and honestly, all the big
cities when I was in a touring original band, it
was I mean, okay, it wasn't anything for you take
a week off of work or whatever, four or five
days or whatever, and we'd go play in Chicago and
Milwaukee and Lacrosse and Green Bay and you know, Eau
Claire wasaw or maybe south of Minneapolis or something like that,
(35:47):
maybe the up Upper Michigan and you go home, you know,
and then in a few months you do that again.
And we did that all the time, and all those
bands did that. You know. When I was living in Madison,
we get all the bands in Des Moines after slipping
not got big, would all of a sudden, all those
bands are like, we're gonna get big too, and you know,
we'd be opening up for bands out of Des Moines
almost monthly probably, And you know, I don't know. It's
(36:10):
just there was something about it, especially that timeframe, so
I think it might be onto something. But either way,
all I know is if you can make it is
forget New York. If you can make it in the Midwest,
you can make it anywhere.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
I would one hundred percent agree with that, especially Detroit.
The live scene here is just inside.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Dude, Detroit man. Such a good scene, such a good scene. Absolutely,
Jake is a pleasure man. Thank you seriously so much
for this.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Thank you, Carter. Appreciate the time Cutter's rock cast. Don't
forget to tune in exactly
Attention please and no Cutters rock Cat. I heard you.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
You know, my our manager in autumn, King's Jason Rudolph.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I love Jason. I didn't realize he was managing you guys.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he said me an email, he said,
here's the zoom link for the Cutter interview.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Tell him, I said, hello, I've known Capital's long.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Time, do long ass time from way back and probably
like the college metal days and shit like yeah, holy yeah,
that's that's old school Jason Rudolph. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Man.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
We'll tell him, I said, what's up.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I definitely will. He's a great guy. Man.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It's that Midwest, the Midwestern charm.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Dude, we got it. That was for me. It's that
Wisconsin nice. For everyone else, it's like they're okay, but
they're still okay. I'm just kidding, dude. I appreciate you
taking this time to chat, man.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah. Absolutely. Oh.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Likewise, it's exciting where lots going on, and it's just
perfect time and before we leave next week for Europe.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
So yeah. Well and at the time anybody hears this,
you'll already be in here for a couple of weeks.
But that's okay because I'm going to Costa Rica today
like later today. So we're sneaking this in.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
What's the what's the flight routing like to get to
Costa from so.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Well, technically it's tomorrow morning. I'm going to Costa Rica.
But the flight is out of Rockford, Illinois of all places,
like just random. I'm like, I live near you know,
I could go to Milwaukee, we could go to Chicago,
we could go I mean to be a pain in
the ass. We go to Minneapolis, like Rockford of all,
Like we have two international airports right by my house,
Like what okay? Right, But it's a chartered flight. We
(01:37):
do with my with my morning show every year we
go to a tropical destination. So it's two hundred of
our listeners on on the same flight going to Costa
Rica at six am tomorrow morning. Officially, dude, that sounds
like a freaking party. Wow, have fun, Thank you man.
It's gonna be nuts stupid. And then we got a
broadcast every day, so that'll be so you still work
(02:00):
a little bit, still working a little bit, and now
you know, I'll pull out a cutting nawse countdown on
there too. In the syndicated show, I do, which is
what brings me to Autumn Kings. Autumn Kings has having
You guys have been having some success this year with
the song sleep when I'm Dead and touring and everything else,
and really the name is starting to become at the
(02:20):
forefront of people, but the band has existed for some time.
So dude, bring me back to the beginning. Man, tell
me about Autumn Kings.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, it's been quite the ride. Actually, this year is
year ten, and so it's really funny you hear. I
lived in Nashville for a couple of years and they
call it a ten year town there, So there's this
I guess I don't know if it's science or it's
just people's anecdotes, but it takes about ten years if
you work your butt off, do everything as correctly as
you can, takes about ten years to have success.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
We're kind of at that point.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
But we started off in twenty fifteen in LaSalle, Ontario,
which is a little suburb right outside of the city
of Windsor in Canada. The Windsors just away from Detroit.
So interestingly enough, we're getting all the Detroit influences. Growing
up rock music Detroit. Red Wings just very americanized. You know,
this the most southern point of the massive country of Canada.
(03:14):
And so we started off there really cutting our teeth
in the Detroit scene, grinded, grinded and grinded independently for years,
just playing any meaningful gig that we could, writing our
tails off, trying to hone and write better and better songs,
trying to build a team around us, sending cold emails
to different people in the music business hoping they'd give
us a chance, and having nine hundred and ninety nine
(03:36):
out of one thousand left unread rejections left, right and center,
a couple switches of band member personnel. But somehow we've
through all the touring and writing and listening to people,
you know, taking in advice, leaving some advice, we ended
up getting ourselves to a point where now there's this
genuine momentum. Now we're at the point for the first
time where I can go to my family who's not
(03:57):
in the music business, comes from sort of immigrant work ethic,
blue collar city of Windsor right and show with proof
that it's actually working. Not just me saying guys, I promise,
I promise, I'm not crazy, So.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
No I will I will, mom, I will be a
rock star.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
You'll see, Yeah, you'll see prove it. You'll see you'll see.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It's gonna take a while, but we'll do it. That's
the story, right, that's the story for everybody. It's it's
the overnight success that took ten years to get there.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
That's exactly right. You see it over and over again,
especially in rock. I mean you can just the list
goes on shine down as the first example when you
say that, that comes to mind. I mean, it took
them almost ten years before Sack and Chance came out
and they had that hit.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
But let's go, yeah, well even before that, right, Brett
Brett had a different band and was signed to a
label and it's like, we'll keep you, but not the band,
and he forms this whole new thing and then they
form it, reform it again with Zach and yeah, that's
a that's a wild ride of a story. And now
they sell it arenas all over the world.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
So, I mean a big part of it is who's
willing to take the most crap, right, who's willing to
get hit the hard?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Actually, how do you become you become successful in the
business that you're in music, acting, radio, whatever. It may
be a pr rep who knows, But how do you
become the most successful? Who's ever willing to take the
most crap? There's something to be said about that.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I mean, dude, as hard as people say the music businesses,
I feel for you too. Radio, I'd argue, is probably
even tougher, just riding the waves and just all the
twitches and with the different stations. It's yeah, it's who's
willing to take the most crap. It's almost not even
an intellectual decision. It's it's just a motion like And
I learned that during COVID because for us, we hadn't
made it over that proverbial mountain.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
We haven't.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
We hadn't gotten to the other side yet, right. We
weren't shined Down or Nickelback or Evenge sevenfold or whoever,
or Rise Against. But we were willing to keep going
when there was every reason to quit. All of our
shows were canceled, felt like nothing was happening for a
really long period of time.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
And it didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
There was no you know, technical skill, who could play
the guitar the best, who could write the best song?
Who is the most connected? It was who can just
hold on the longest and endure the pain. And so
I'm glad we've made the choice to do that, and
I wouldn't have wanted to do anything else anyway.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Well, yeah, what else do you get to do? Right
when it's in your blood? It's in your blood.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
COVID was such a weird time for music, and I
know we've had these conversations at length at times when
anytime anybody brings it up, it's the memory start coming
back of oh my god, the confusion. I'm doing radio
shows in my basement and my pajamas, and you know,
buddy of mine, I'm a musician too, And buddy of
mine started playing acoustic at bars in a corner with
(06:34):
a table in front of us. You know, everybody, get
your six feet apart. I mean not that. In Wisconsin
people cared about COVID a whole lot. I mean, let's
be honest. After about six weeks, the bars were like,
now we're open.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
We're good.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
But you know, at the same time, you still had
to sort of kind of follow some of the mandates
and stuff. And for a touring band, like going to
some of those first shows. Shine Down was one of
them with Breton Zach doing the acoustic thing and sitting
down yeah, you know, or being at tables or being
a part you had to be in little pods and do.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
It was wild, so surreal, so surreal, very tough. I mean,
we had a couple big opportunities.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
At that point.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
We were going to be playing the opening game for
the Detroit Tigers. It was I think it was March fifteenth,
more or less of twenty twenty, and then Mark It's canceled.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
So it was tough. What I mean.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
The silver lining for us because we were willing to
take initiative and make the most of it is I
really wanned how to produce music and use pro tools,
the production software, so I was able to learn more
about electronics and incorporating different sounds and fusing those elements
into the band's music. So the one good thing I
would say that came out of COVID is it was
a lot of uninterrupted time to make the best possible
(07:43):
music and I didn't think as hard as it was,
and I would not wish to go back to that,
like there's I would never say, you know, if I
had the choice, I would never want anybody to go
through what we all went through, but we I felt so.
I was about twenty three years old at the time,
twenty four. I remember I had this Tiffany in October
of twenty twenty where I'm like, oh my god, I
(08:03):
can actually write a.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Song like I've been writing for you.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
But just from all that sitting there focused like five
six days a week where no one was ringing your
phone and nothing was happening. We really honed our chops
during that period. And this record that we're going to
be putting out later this year is a lot of
that started during COVID. It's years and years. So that's
the one good little takeaway, a little silver lining.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Can Can I dig into that for a second. You know,
we just had a Every band always brings up something different,
but I kind of realized this a couple of weeks ago.
The band Fuel was here, you know, the legendary nineties
band and Aaron they're new the singers actually from the
same area I'm from, and we got into this conversation
and talking about pro tools. And you just mentioned pro
(08:45):
tools for anybody who doesn't know. So the process of
songwriting isn't just picking up your instrument, And here's a riff,
and then the drummer lays down a beat, and then
the singer might write some lyrics, and then the bass
player might throw a bassline down. It's really become this
thing where you're sitting at a screen right with some
sort of plugins and in MIDI and MIDI is you know,
(09:08):
digital soundscapes basically, and maybe a guitar or maybe a microphone.
But really that's it now, right, It's songwriting has sort
of become that space for a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Yeah, yeah, it's really interesting. I think it could be
very easy.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
The pure bread metallica loving musician and me could look
at pro tools and yeah, right you too, I love it.
Good good best band on her, no question. And we
can look at that process and think it's a little
rigid or mechanical or two to the grid, and then
it loses the authenticity that music. And let's say the
eighties or nineties, before technology developed, once had.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
The adage of getting in the garage, you know, the
garage band, you know. To quote another conversation I recently
have with the guitar player Sophie Lloyd, mgk's guitar player
who just put out a fantastic solo record shout out.
But yeah, we were talking about that, like she became pop.
People are on YouTube and TikTok. But that process, right
of being in the garage band in writing is sort
(10:05):
of that's the field. That's the what old school minds
right us. Yeah, would think that's the authentic way of
doing it, but no, not necessarily.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Well, the one thing I will say is I look
at those the way I look at chat GPT. It's
a nice assistant, but it's never going to replace the
raw honesty. So when Joe and I are writing songs,
Joe's the other lead vocal band and him and I
write almost every song together. It's always just us riffing
with the guitar and singing and spitting out melodies and
(10:35):
vibing either a guitar or piano, and it's just vibing
melodies and lyrics, and so it's not like we're starting
off mechanically in any way. We let it free flow
because that's how the inspiration begins. And then once we
feel we have sufficient inspiration to make a great song
start to finish, then we can bring it into pro
tools and sort of look visually almost like a video
(10:56):
game for people who love video games. You can sort
of play it out like a video game or like
a movie and see the dynamics and the peaks and
the valleys, and so having that assistance on pro tools
could be helpful, but that can't come first. In our opinion,
it has to be I like that going, yeah, right,
And that's to us the way we are able to
keep We'll keep it honest and real, because if you're
(11:17):
if you're staring too rigidly, you're gonna lose a level
of human element to it, right, right, And we don't.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Want to do that.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Yeah, okay, So what was it about those songs then?
I mean, what did you learn during that process that
caused as you said, you know, the best songs of
your career?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
You you you're becoming more of a songwriter than just
you know, maybe a performer or whatever.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, I think it's my sound a little crazy. I
grew up middle class, growing up in there. Eventually became
you know, my dad started doing really well with this
job and we rose to I guess you could say
upper middle class in Canada.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
So I didn't know harship or struggle. Yeah, yeah, so lucky, Yeah, white?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
You from the suburbs, and uh, I didn't really know
like deep pain. I didn't feel like an eminem level
of pain growing up right, And so I had, by
all measures, a pretty easy, fairy tale esque childhood both
parents and the house, love, et cetera. And so in
my first few years of being an adult, I felt invincible,
like there was nothing I could do. As long as
(12:19):
I worked hard, I could get anything I wanted. Then
on the pandemic happened. It was the first time in
my life where I had to confront something that was
out of my control, like there was nothing I could
do about it, and the competitive instincts of me they
didn't like that. It was very tough to accept that, dude,
you got to stay and you can't go out. And
COVID was very difficult, like on a mental level for me.
And I never knew what negative emotion really was upside
(12:41):
of a few little high school heartbreaks or whatever. So
those are the first, you know, times I felt emotion,
and that birthed a different that birthed the lyricist in me. Actually,
because I'd always been strong on guitar, I always had
a knack for melody and structure for a song. But
lyrically it was always it was always a little tougher
for me from the beginning, and then once more real
(13:02):
life experience was lived and I felt the more full
spectrum of human emotion, I was able to really tap
into both the good and the bad of the human
experience and encapsulate it into a song. And I think
that's what really made for great songs rather than just
really good songs. There's that fine distinction, that that ten
percent distinction there, and I think that came from struggle,
(13:25):
which is why I never look back on hard times
to struggle with or struggle with any level of resentment
or remorse.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Right, Yeah, they're learned experiences. Then at that point review
you can take that and turn it into, you know,
something more positive. This conversation comes up a lot with musicians,
obviously in songwriters, but also comedians. You know, doing a
morning show, it's fun because they get both sides, you
know where you get this. We'll talk to actors and actresses,
and we'll talk to comedians, especially a lot of comedians,
(13:55):
some of which have become friends over the years. But
that that try like the funny people in the world,
or the most talented songwriters in the world. It feels
like they've had to deal with some trauma, They've had
some stuff happen in their lives, you know, and it
sort of that that darkness sort of creates this, you know,
ability to have that sense of humor or to write
(14:16):
some true words in a poetic way.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Absolutely, So that's really interesting and it makes me think
of two things. So my favorite comedian of all time
is bil Berr.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
I don't know if you're I love Bilbert Man love Bilbert.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So you hear and he really lets people into his
childhood and what it was like growing up Irish, sort
of alcoholic family and as a kid shut up and
sit down. And I think he's just one of the
funniest guys. And he's got just such great perspectives well rounded,
doesn't discriminate against people politically or for their religion. He
just really touched it into those raw human emotions.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
That we all feel. So I love I love that
part of it.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
The second thing I would say too, is it's easy,
once you go through a hard time to bask in
your depression or bask in your satness. And that's something
that Autumn Kings never likes to do. We don't like
to adopt that mindset of staying a victim to our circumstances,
and so our songs will touch on the bad, but
there's always a glimmer of hope. And again we've mentioned
(15:13):
Shined Down a few times, but that's one of the things.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
They do really really well.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Because I will say, the last ten to fifteen years
in Rock, in our estimation in Autumn Kings, we feel
like the themes have leaned a little too, a little
too sad, a little too depressing, Whereas if you listen
back to the eighties, if you think of ac DC
or an oasis in the nineties then had tough upbringings too.
It was sort of happy sentiment almost always like very
(15:38):
upbeat and playful, and so we like to tip the
scale to be a little more toward those sorts of
themes and sentiments. So, yeah, it's good, it's good that
we've lived the whole experience. But then we like to
channel mostly positive, optimistic songs and have maybe ten or
twenty percent of our catalog be the more dark, sort
of serious, melancholic songs.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Which tend to be the songs that work. Those are
the songs that tend to resonate with people and and
probably for the same reason. Yeah, it's all I went
through something and this song speaks to me. Now we
all have that song, we all have that artist or
whatever that you know that truly speaks to me.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Right, there's definitely a therapeutic element to it.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
And if you're living in your own head and then
you hear somebody that you look up to as an artist,
who you really respect say the words that you didn't
even know how to articulate, that's just powerful.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
It's powerful, right.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
One hundred percent. But this also makes me want to
do an experiment. I know you had some songs out
obviously before the pandemic. I think you had one album
out before that. If I'm remembering correctly. Uh, I want
to go back and listen to that now, and then
when when does the new one come out? Later this year?
Speaker 1 (16:41):
It's gonna be later this year probably.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Sometimes I want to put them back to back, forget
the forget the in the middle stuff. I want to go.
I want to go straight, like from the first one
to the new one and just hear the difference.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yeah, that's that. It's a great it's a great thought experiment.
Now I will say what I said earlier. I don't
want to downplay the record that we did twenty seventeen
silver Screens.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Because yeah silver screen, thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Joe has always been an incredible lyricist, and he went
before he quit university, he was studying creative writing, like
he's got that kind of he's got that brand.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
So my son's doing right now nice.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, Joe loved that. He's a huge,
huge fan of creative writing. And so I really my
skill set on that record was really guitar oriented, structure arrangement,
and Joe was more of the storytelling guy. So you
still got that honest storytelling, just not necessarily from me
on the lyrical side of it until later on.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
So it would be interesting.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And the other thing with this upcoming record is when
we started off, we were that garage four piece rock band.
The production was really stiol. We didn't have too many
bells and whistles. Then as we transition over the years,
we added an experimented with digital, maybe even more poppy
and em influences in there, and then we sort of
leaned too much that way, and now this next record
(17:55):
raining in where we get the best of those modern
cutting edge sounds and auctions, you know, the pro tools
that can inspire some really interesting just sounds and experimentation,
but having that core rock band because on a live level,
I mean you know this from with your listeners too.
I'm biased, but I don't think there's anything like a
rock show.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
No, nothing, nothing matter that right, It.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Just can't compare. You just can't compare. So we never
want to lose that.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
The thing I love about going to a rock show,
not only do you get to hear your favorite songs
or songs you love, or maybe see a new band
and get introduced to somebody that blows you away, But
it's this sort of thing where everybody in that crowd,
it doesn't matter what religion, it doesn't matter what political
thing you agree with or disagree with. It doesn't matter
(18:43):
if you're gay or straight, or by or trans or anything. Yeah,
all that matters is that you're all there for one reason,
and that's to listen to great music and hopefully release
some of that energy, you know, in a positive way.
And you can all be in the moshpit together. You
can all you can, I'll go to the bar together.
You can all stand in line at the ininal together
you know, whatever it may be, you know, you're together,
(19:06):
and nobody questions it's it's the perfect place for just
true togetherness.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, when you think of it, there's you know, now
that you mentioned that, I can't really think of anything
more unifying.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Again, it's totally biased, but I can't think of anything
for unifying, right.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
I go into rock shows since I was fourteen years
old and playing guitars since I was ten. Yeah, it's
total bias. But at the same time, listen, man, I
grew up Catholic like that, ain't it?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
You know?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, yeah, there's nothing like it. And that's the thing
Joe and I always talk about, especially in this day
and age, when every next piece of news makes you
think that the whole world is going to hell, and
there's a level of seductiveness that people they get, they
get charmed by the seductiveness of the idea that the
world is going to hell, and we really try to
stay away from that. Like with Autumn Kings, we like
(19:57):
to we like to unify, and we like to touch
on timeless human experience emotions.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
For that same reason, because there aren't too many things
in this world where you can genuinely feel totally unified,
if just for a moment, and so we never want
to lose that with the music too.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
That's really important thing.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Is though, is like just for that moment can transform
into a couple more moments. Yeah, maybe even into a
couple more moments. And I don't want to be like,
all right, the weights on your shoulders now, Jake, but
still you know it, it can really transform to that,
and that's the beauty of going to rock shows to
get back to the music really quick. The song's sleep
and I'm Dead mentioned it at the top. Obviously, this
has been a big hit now for the last few
months and continues to or has continued to rise up
(20:39):
the charts, and we'll see who it is by the
time we post this, but either way, there is no
doubt about it. It's a hit song. Thank you in
your mind? Then, what is it about this particular song?
Is it what we were talking about? Is it something
else that seems to be gravitating or seems to be
resonating with people way more than other Autumn Kings songs
(20:59):
have done.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Wow, that's it.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Well, first of all, I really appreciate that, and it's
a great question. I think so yeah, it's touching on
This was one of the first songs where a lot
of I mean, I'm singing the vast majority of the
lead vocals on this song. This came from actually inspired
from high school, the rejections from girls and not having
any sort of click that I fit into. This was
(21:23):
that song when I was fifteen and I didn't fit
in and there were popular kids who were rude and
sort of ran the politics of the high school. I
remember thinking in my head, you just wait till I'm
twenty five, or wait till I'm thirty, and I wrot
show you. I'll show you, And that had that level
of swagger and cockiness paired with that Metallica laced breaking
(21:44):
Benjamin laced guitar and drum influence that I love. I'm
a musical nerd at heart, like I have this requirement
that every Autumn King song we write has to have
different chord progressions and different sounds, and it has to
be something where even though it sounds like a hit song,
it still has to be something I could impress a
fellow guitar geek with. And so the bridge of that song,
it's not an easy riff to play, there's pitch harmonics,
(22:07):
there's chugging and riffing.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
So I think it hurts.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, it's that tickling the fancy of those more musically
inclined people and then just hitting that everyday main street American,
North American or even just the world people who want
to feel like they're invincible. It taps into that aggression, really,
the human aggression that we feel.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
To either make money or crush.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
It in the courtroom if you're a lawyer, or go
to war, whatever the case may be. It taps into
that that just natural human instinct.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Okay, So going back to the live rock and roll show,
then how do you pull it off? Like, how do
you pull it off live? Because if you're like, I'm
thinking about my own setup, and I just got my
first digital rig, Like I've been an orange amp guy forever,
and I just recently in my first you know, gig,
we played the Cherry Show for a bunch of bikers
and I plugged in a line six helix and I
went and I literally brought my Orange amp because I
(22:58):
was paranoid it wasn't gonna work, you know. But even
in that I'm I spent days trying to figure out
that pedal, and I only scratched the surface. How do
you pull it off? Like, how do you do it live?
To be able to switch, you know, to pull off
the sounds and all that stuff. Do you if somebody
is a program like, how are you doing that? Out
of curiosity?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I think?
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I think the most important thing when you have a
song in the studio that leans a little digital. There
are synth sounds, and there are percussion sounds, and there's
strings starting here, and realistically, we're not going to bring
eleven people on the road to play every single one
of those little instruments.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
So the dirty little secret is you put some of
them in the backing track. You put the most the
backing track.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I know, I said it on things like yeah, things
like strings and percussive elements, the more subtle stuff. But
the biggest, the biggest way to pull off a digital
leaning song live is the drums.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
The drums is.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
The biggest thing. So we have all these different hip
hop samples and sounds that we put in the record,
and then we work meticulously with our drummer, Troy Dottie,
who's a beast, to replicate them and really go off
script from what the studio version does and okay, and
replace it with just huge thumping live drums, like with
(24:10):
Sleeping on Dead and our song hell Bound. Those two
are are pretty good examples where they lean pretty digitally
heavy on the percussion side. But live it just feels
like a pure straightforward rock song. It just it really
just sense accentuates the energy from from what's on the record.
The drums is the number one thing though, because we
have guitar bassed in almost every song like that doesn't
really change when it comes to translating from studio to live.
(24:33):
But drums, that is the huge thing that we focus on.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Do you find it as long as we open up
the cannon words of a click track, do you do
you find it harder to add lib to? You know,
do some because the beautiful thing about live rock so
is not only that togetherness what we were talking about
earlier and getting the feeling of it in your soul
in person, but the ad lib portions, you know, the
(24:59):
the that song's a little bit different than how they
played it the other day, or or it's a little
bit different than how it's on the record, you know,
or oh they just in the middle of that jam
session they threw in, you know, two minutes of seeking
Destroyer or something, you know, like, that's the beauty to me.
You've seen the Live Rock and Rolls show. Does it
allow that to do that or how do you manage that?
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Yeah? Totally, yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
You know some bands they'll use a clip track to
make sure that you don't go too fast or too
slow out a standtime, right, But for us, I mean
we have it in a way where you can turn
on or turn off the clip track in the middle
of a song if you wanted to, and then pick
back up where you left off with a click. That way,
you leave a window for spontaneity and improvisation. We definitely
like to do that at the ends of songs too.
(25:43):
I mean we're always we're always winging endings because you.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Want to keep that magic live even as a musician.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Well, and how fun is it to turn around with
your guitar and look at the drummer and go boom?
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. It keeps it more fun.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Whereas if we're going to a script every night, selfishly,
completely selfishly, not even thinking about the fans, I.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Would get bored. I would get so good but then it.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Consequently would affect the fans because they would see that
it's becoming too robotic or you almost risk going through
the motions when you do that, And so would like
to leave especially at the ends of songs, at the
beginnings of songs, and a lot of times in the
middle of songs, just opportunity for us to riff and
wing it a little bit there. And that thirteen year
old curious Metallica loving musician said earlier, I'm.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Back out there. You go, give me two other songs
from Autumn Kings that are out right now that you
really love, you love playing there's something about them. And
mainly this is a self serving question because on the
radio show of this, the Cutting Edge Countdown, I'll play
at least two other Autumn King songs and Sleeping I'm
(26:48):
deads in the countdown, So you know, I might need
three to be honest, but give me two, my man.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
I appreciate that, Yeah, I would say. The other one
would be the song that was released right after Sleep
from Dead. It's called hell Bound. Yeah, And one of
the most special things about hell Bound is that it's
got this this dichotomy where the music sounds fun and upbeat,
and the lyrics are really dark and serious. The whole
thing is about conquering learned helplessness and the idea that
you don't have to subscribe to being a victim in
(27:17):
this life. You have a lot more agency and choice
than you think. So that on the lyrical levels, what's
fascinating about hell Bound? And musically I grew up I'm
half Lebanese and I'm half Macedonian, so I had these
Eastern European and Middle Eastern influences that were indoctrinating me
from a young age.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Right, and while you were still a white guy in
a suburb in the Southern Canada oide of Detroit.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, I can't claim any level of coolness, and.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
But the music was cool that we listened to growing up,
and in subtle ways we infuse that into hell Bound.
Even though it's still a pretty straightforward rock song, it's
one of one of my proudest moments doing rap. You know,
Eminem would probably thinks it's weak, and Mike Shinoda would
be like, this is this is newbie stuff. But I'm
really proud of the rap verse that we had on
that song. And so I would say hell Bound and
(28:06):
then see if I say the other new songs Snake
Charmer that we just put out, I'm gonna seem like
a total salesman, like, yeah, play all.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Three of our new songs. Okay, I won't.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
I will even even though.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
I would say that, but we actually one of our
old songs. I would say Power. We have a song
called Power, and that one really hits into just huge
choruses pump up rap versus just like sleep when I'm
Dead and again it's it's empowering. Like generally speaking, Autumn
Kings likes to be a band that leaves you feeling
empowered to be more and do more and enjoy your life.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
So I'd say Power and hell Bound will be the two.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Power in hell Bound. And then you know, just for funds,
these bull see a rap but stinks Charmer might show
them there too. So the album is coming out later
this year. Do we know any other information on it
publicly or anything we can say here?
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I mean, you know our manager Jason, so maybe I
could speak before him, but he'll probably still kill me.
It's still all ready under wraps. Other than it's gonna
be full length, it'll be a full length EP.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
It's a full length album.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Full length record, all original stuff.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
If you like Sleeping on Dad and you like calboun
you like Snake Trauma, there's gonna be a lot more
where that came from. Okay, possibly a couple of singles
before then. We'll have to just see how it goes.
You know, Sleeping on Dead is it's just been rolling
really nice.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Hey, hey man, it's a grower, not a shower.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
It's a grower, not a shower. And you know, I
know somebody who's you could say similar, but.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yeah, Jason's beard, That's what I was talking about, right,
But yeah, the full record will be out probably at
some point in the fall. Lots of touring plans coming up,
and may or may not teach some of the new
unreleased songs on tour, but.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Just stay tuned. It's going to be you know, I'm
sure every artist that you interview tells.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
You, but I don't have I don't have tour dates
and tour plans in front of me, So why don't
you go through that real quick?
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Absolutely so. Tuesday, we're actually going to Europe for three weeks.
We're gonna be doing eight countries, Switzerland, France, poland Belgium. Austria, Netherlands,
Czech Republic. I'm missing one right now.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
France.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Okay, again, by the time I air this, I think
you guys will be in that last week of that stretch.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
So there we go. It's perfect.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
And then we're doing us all the way from May
twenty second to June twenty seventh, going all across America.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I think we're doing like twenty.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Five shows or something like that, so check the check
the website Autumn Kings dot com for details. And then
right after that we fly right to Singapore and we'll
be playing for the US military.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Who's oh, yeah, so that's gonna be pretty sweet.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
It's amazing, hants off. Yeah, it's gonna be pretty crazy year. Definitely,
that's such a cool thing. Any of the festivals you
guys vote for those.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
No festivals yet this year, twenty twenty six is really okay.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
That's probably curious because in the last well again, this
happened a couple weeks ago, but like in the last month,
they've all been announced, like it's been a whirlwind of
crazy ass festivals and tours to go with them. I'm like,
my poor wallet, yeah, being broke by the end of
the night I just I just paid for a wedding.
(31:06):
I don't know how the hell, but yeah, it is
what it is.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
You get married.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
I did, yeah, just month, just over a month ago. Yeah,
I can thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Amazing. Good good good. You feel wiser.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Now. I mean, I have a piece of jewelry on
my hand. That's the biggest difference.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
You know, the only difference. That's aweso.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
No, it's it's been. It's been amazing. She's she's actually
a Puerto Rican And it's funny you're talking about heritages
because she her she's from Detroit originally Pontiac Is where
she grew up and then her dad lives in a
different suburb now, but but then went to high school
in Arizona with her mom. So but they her parents
(31:47):
moved here when they were nineteen twenty years old. And
Puerto Rico is obviously still part of the United States.
So it is what it is. But I just found
I did my DNA testing. I'm a white guy from Wisconsin.
You know, like, it doesn't get any it doesn't get
any whiter, you know what I mean. There's a little
bit of indigenous in US. That's that's that's about it.
It's the only coloring I have. But I got my
(32:11):
DNA test back and I found out I'm actually one
percent Spanish. We high fived.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Oh come on, that's man.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
I'm like, Hi, I am Latin.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
I told you that's where the charisma came from, right,
rat exactly?
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Probably Actually, Uh, Jake, this has been a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Man.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
It's an honor to meet you, and uh, you know,
it's cool to find out we have mutual friends and
people we work with. And I'm really I'm really stoked
for you guys. I truly am like likewise, thank you
so much for having me cutter. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
And obviously, you know, it's really interesting with radio. I
tell all the radio people this. Obviously, Spotify and the
Internet has become a new discovery mode for people, and
we've certainly had some success doing that. But radio is
different because it is a genuine filter that is still
needed and the fact that radio is endorsing us and
in your station and you're taking a chance, it just
(32:57):
makes fans and people and then business take the band
so much more seriously. So I really appreciate, I really
appreciate what you're doing, and especially with rock music in
the Midwest, Like there's something about it that I've been saying.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Yeah, it's wild.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
I'll tell this story really fast and then and then
we'll wrap this up. But yeah, quite a few years ago,
I was doing a a a speaker type situation at CMJ,
which was a college music journal festival that happened in
New York City. So this is when that still existed.
It's that's been closed down for quite a few years
now at this point. But and then you know, it's
(33:33):
a who's who of alternative music people and all that. Right,
So we're doing this thing about who's the next And
at the time, I was doing a syndicated national metal
show and and and it was you know, earlier than that.
I probably met Jason somewhere on that same timeframe, and
I the copic was who's the next Metallica? You know,
it's the kind of the sort of that question, right,
(33:54):
where's the next big band coming from, the next big
metal band or hard rock band or phenom or whatever.
And all these people are talking about, oh, you know,
there's this band from New yorcles, there's this band from
la and you know, they're so huge, and I'm like
there was one band that somebody had mentioned. I'd never
even heard of them. I went, what do you mean
they're so big? Like, I've never heard of them. Well,
(34:15):
you're in the Midwest, though, I'm like, yeah, that's where
music is brought and born. Dude, find me, find me
a big rock band that didn't get big in the
Midwest first, and I'm going to tell you it's false.
You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Oh my gosh, dude, disturb Rise Against Fall Up by
smashing Pumpkin's Alkaline Trio. I mean, you want to just
keep going down the.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
List lip not mud Vane. Yeah, the list goes on, dude,
even go back to all your favorite eighties rockers that
were on the Sunset Strip. You know where Berett Michael's
came from, Pennsylvania or Ohio, one of the two, either way,
you know what I mean. Like it's the point is
like all these guys, you know, Motionless and White. The
dude's from Scranton, you know what I mean. Like you
get in small towns, you get like past that sort
(34:55):
of oceanic corridor and boom, it just opens up a
whole new world.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
See.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I wonder if there's a level of like isolationism when
you don't have the hub or mecca of entertainment right
outside your door that makes you maybe dream bigger or
work harder, or that you have that feeling of being
the underdog that motivates you to work harder. Obviously people
make it out of the Midwest, but even just bands
that were birthed in the Midwest, like I certainly feel
(35:20):
that we didn't have it, yes, right, so it inspired
us to work harder.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
So Midwest for.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Then you just go man and honestly, all the big
cities when I was in a touring original band, it
was I mean, okay, it wasn't anything for you take
a week off of work or whatever, four or five
days or whatever, and we'd go play in Chicago and
Milwaukee and Lacrosse and Green Bay and you know, Eau
Claire wasaw or maybe south of Minneapolis or something like that,
(35:47):
maybe the up Upper Michigan and you go home, you know,
and then in a few months you do that again.
And we did that all the time, and all those
bands did that. You know. When I was living in Madison,
we get all the bands in Des Moines after slipping
not got big, would all of a sudden, all those
bands are like, we're gonna get big too, and you know,
we'd be opening up for bands out of Des Moines
almost monthly probably, And you know, I don't know. It's
(36:10):
just there was something about it, especially that timeframe, so
I think it might be onto something. But either way,
all I know is if you can make it is
forget New York. If you can make it in the Midwest,
you can make it anywhere.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
I would one hundred percent agree with that, especially Detroit.
The live scene here is just inside.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Dude, Detroit man. Such a good scene, such a good scene. Absolutely,
Jake is a pleasure man. Thank you seriously so much
for this.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Thank you, Carter. Appreciate the time Cutter's rock cast. Don't
forget to tune in exactly
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!