November 15, 2023 • 35 mins
Uncle Kracker (@UncleKracker) sits down with Brooke Taylor (@BrookeRadio) and gets a little nostalgic about his lifechanging song Follow Me. He tells us about the exact moment he remembers recording the song on the back of a bus on a tour with Kid Rock.
Uncle Kracker also has some pretty exciting announcements including new music, a tour with Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown Band and Megan Moroney.
Grab a drink, let's go backstage!
Follow on Instagram: @BackstageWBrooke
Uncle Kracker also has some pretty exciting announcements including new music, a tour with Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown Band and Megan Moroney.
Grab a drink, let's go backstage!
Follow on Instagram: @BackstageWBrooke
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
All right, ready to a rockand roll Yeah, all right, let's
make it happen. Backstay with Welcometo the backstage with Brooks. You're all
access passed to music city where nothingis off limits. Grab a drink,
let's go backstage, y'all. UncleCracker is in the house. I feel
like I have to do this,tell me everything. It's like a write
(00:24):
a passage, you know, Matt, welcome in, thanks for having me
in here. I'm so excited wehave to write a passage. Stick that
out there. Makes me feel olderbit well, and it's funny because Okay,
so I was looking this up becauseI was like, this song,
I just feel like when you hearit, some sort of memory pops up,
like with anybody usually it's like,you know, I was born in
(00:45):
eighty eight, so like this songcomes out and I'm like, you know,
in my teens, and I'm like, this is the best. It's
awesome. And I was like,when did this song come out? That
song came out in two so twentythree years ago. Yeah, and listen,
listen, We're not trying to makeyou feel old here, but how
awesome is that? That was cool? I was four when I wrote that
there you go exactly, so you'retwenty seven now. I love it.
(01:08):
But when it comes to like songslike that, I just kind of want
to out of the gate talk aboutthat song because I feel like it's just
one of those iconic songs that whenyou hear it, you know every single
word and that being something that youlike are part of, Like that's your
baby? What is it? Twentythree years later? Like hearing that song
and still hearing everybody go crazy whenthey hear it. It's it's I mean,
(01:30):
I love it. It's fun touh, I guess, just to
have uh, just to have oneof those at least, you know,
one of those songs is a Itwas a It was definitely a life changer
for me and uh and a lotof people around me, I guess.
But uh, it's sweet, it'sI love it. I don't get uh,
I don't get weird about it.I don't get uh. It's just
(01:52):
nice to hear them still. Ididn't think you never think setting out when
you put out one of those,You don't think you're still gonna hear that
thing. Yeah twenty something years later, Yeah, you don't think those are
gonna be as big as it was, and uh, it was definitely sweet
though. I mean, I don'tknow, I don't know, like you
were saying, a whole bunch ofthings come to mind when I hear that
(02:14):
song, and how do you youknow, feelings and uh, just because
it was such a big one forme totally. Do you remember when you
cut the song? Were you guyslike did you know, Like, were
you like this is it like thisis gonna be ahead? No? In
fact, uh it was. Itwas the complete opposite. I was like,
yeah, because I was I was. I was DJing for Kid Rock
at the time, and we hadjust put out his album Doubled Out a
(02:38):
Cause and it was like this biglike uh rock rap uh anthemy album and
uh and it was on fire atthe time, and and uh we were
recording my record, my solo record, in between these little tour stops.
I mean, this tour didn't stop, but uh, we put a we
(02:58):
put a studio in the back ofa bus and and I think throughout the
course of like nine months, wesqueezed in like half hour here, twenty
five minutes there to record this albumon the back of a bus. And
this song was one where we wehad like four days home in the middle
of like the Devil, a lotof calls to her probably was almost three
(03:21):
years long. Yeah, And wehad about four days back in Detroit in
the in the in the suburbs outsideof Detroit. We were in my buddy's
basement when we recorded this song,and I was like, man, Bob
is gonna kill me for this songbecause but it was it started out like
an a cappella song and it wasjust kind of paying homage to like the
old motown stuff, and uh,it just had a different thing about it.
(03:45):
And I just remember thinking, Bobis gonna absolutely murder me for this
song because it was so poppy soundingand totally and uh and yeah, he
almost did murder me over this thing. It was. Uh but uh so
that was I remember it well.But you look back and you're like,
thank god I made that decision.Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean
it was I remember, I remember, I remember recording that and then and
(04:11):
then I had to fly back tola for something and we were somewhere in
a hotel with Mark McGrath from Sugaratte Yeah, one of my best friends,
and Bob and I remember McGrath hewas he was he was making fun
of Bobby. He's like, that'sgonna be the first one out of your
camp. You know. The wholething was we were all this tight knit
thing and it was just funny becausehe was making fun of him about it.
(04:32):
Yeah, and of course Bob wasirritated by the whole thing, but
it was it was fun. Iremember every minute of it. That's so
awesome. And Mark McGrath was inwhat music video, the Smile video or
it was in this video okay andfollow Me, Follow Me video. He
played like a mechanic, which wascrazy because I know he was at the
time Fly was out. It waslike the biggest song on earth at the
(04:56):
at the time. Yeah, hecame back to l A just to do
the video for like the afternoon,and he totally didn't have to. That's
awesome. It's cool to like liveout those moments with buddies, I feel
like, and sharing those moments andbeing able to understand what it's like to
make music and be busy but stillmake time for each other. That's really
awesome. Yeah, it was verycool, very cool. He's a good
(05:17):
dude too, but so there's noknowing him now, there's no question he
wouldn't have done that, but yeah, it it is cool to look back
and share all them with your friendstotally. And I got to bring this
up because you posted this picture ofyou and your youngest darted recently while filming
the music video for Smile. Ithink this was like in September or something
that you posted this, and thecaption it said where did all that time
(05:41):
go? And of course I've gotthe little ooh smile. I feel like
all of these songs make me smile, no pun intended. But when you
hear a song like that and youremember those sweet moments of like filming that
music video, does it like doyou get a little nostalgic? Do you
get emotional? Because I mean,I'm a mom. I have to two
year old, so I know it'sgoing by way to day quick. And
(06:01):
when you posted that, I waslike, time is a thief man,
Oh it is? It is?It goes by fast. You know,
it's a It's that thing you knowyou're growing up, everybody always told you
like, don't blink, you know, it goes quick, enjoy it.
It's later than you think, youknow, and you're like, you don't
pay any penny mind. But thenone day. You look back, You're
(06:21):
like, happen you can cuss onHarris? All right, did you see
me? Yeah? You were like, well let me bleep out a second.
But no, you're good. Wecan. We can say what we
want on the podcast. Uh no, you do. You look back,
You're like, well, what thehell did all that? Yeah? It
was just it goes way too fast, especially when you get old. You're
(06:44):
young. Now when you get older, it feels like it goes even faster,
like just the walls start closing inand losing in. And well it
was a Kenny Chestney song, right, don't blink, and it's just like
you hear that song and are like, okay, yeah this is true.
But then, like you said,you become a parent and you're like,
seriously, do not blink. Ohyeah, oh yeah, it's oh my
(07:08):
goodness. You just wait. Youknow, you got a two year old,
and so I have uh I haveI have five kids. Yeah,
I have one kid that just hada baby, which makes me a grandfather.
Amazing, congratulations, so strange,thank you. So yeah, it's
I mean just to think like I'ma grandpa. Yeah, do you go
(07:29):
by grandpa or do you go buysomething else. She just had this baby
a month and some change ago,so it's not even like real yet.
Okay, do you do you wantto go by Grandpa? Are we going
by? Unkie? Like, what'sthe deal? I'll go Grandpa when the
kids ready to talk. Let's doit, you know. Yeah, I'm
gonna do it. I'm gonna doit. But uh no, she's just
so Yeah, I just had onethat just had a baby. I have
two at U of M and thenand then I have a seven year old
(07:51):
and then I have one in diapersinsane, right, Yeah, I mean,
but the best thing ever. Yeah, they are. They are the
best and the worst. I alwaysI always say that to my friends.
I'm like, having kids is thehardest, most amazing thing you'll ever do.
It is it is? Uh theykeep you on your toes. Uh
yeah, they keep you working andthey keep you they keep you. Kids
(08:15):
are great. Yeah, they're great. They really are. Do you have
a moment like obviously doing what youdo, you're on the road, traveling,
you're you know, I feel likeyour your time schedule is a little
bit different than like, say,the typical person who has a nine to
five can drop the kids off atdaycare that kind of thing. Are there
moments of your career that you justyou feel that like inner like turmoil where
(08:35):
you're like, man, I wishI could be home more. I used
to, you know with the uh, with the I say, like my
first round of kids, Yeah Ihad the uh. So I had three
with an X and I have twowith my fiance and uh we just uh
a long time ago, I did. I I didn't struggle with it.
Yeah, you know, it wasmore of a wiggle the struggle totally,
(08:56):
but it was it is on yourbrain. You're like, man, I'm
cheating these kids out of a dad. But when you're home, you you
you you uh, you overcompensate.I think maybe yeah I do. Yeah,
it's definitely on your brain, andI don't. I don't really.
I did have a moment or twowhere I did uh. Like I'm not
(09:16):
gonna say struggle with it, butI always thought about it. But when
you're home, you get more timehome too, so you're not I mean
it depends on like how many showsI guess you're going to. Definitely gone
a lot. But the only goodnews is that they it's all they know.
It's all they knew. You know, my first one was born.
(09:39):
I missed the first one being born. I was gone. And then you
know, from an early age,it's not like you know, when I
was a kid, my my mydad would go like on a snowmobiling trip
for the weekend, and I'd belike, oh the world, Yeah yeah,
really coming right there if you needit, thank you, And then
(10:00):
they're coming back. But I usedto hate when my parents left totally.
But that's all these kids know.And I think that's the only thing,
uh, the other thing that makeswell, the only thing that makes me
feel better about it. Yeah.Is it like they're not being ripped away
from something normal that they knew andthis is normal. This is normal.
Yeah, this is this is whatthey know. I love that. Do
they come to shows and stuff andsing everywhere to your songs? Or are
(10:22):
they too cool for school? They'vethey've gone through stages. The older ones
were too cool for school, andthen they were then they were a little
too attentive. Yeah no, andthen uh, but now they're just uh,
they'll come out when it's when it'sa fun one. Yeah, nobody
comes for the beat ones totally right. You're like, okay, you're gonna
be aware like, yeah, yeah, it's Boughkeepsie. You know. They're
(10:45):
like, oh, never mind,We'll come to New York City. Yeah,
right, come to the if it'sif it's a good spot. Got
it. So they want to cometo the fun, the fun big cities,
got it? Got it? Uh. The youngest one, Miles,
he's my second from youngest, buthe's seven and he's just now figuring out
like, uh, what it is? Like he doesn't get it, Yeah,
(11:07):
but he does get it like hisgrandma's and thinks do a good job
of like explaining it to him.Oh that's sweet. Yeah. I feel
like my daughter kind of does thattoo, like because obviously like hosting a
radio show, Like I have mystudio at home, so I'll be in
the office recording stuff and she'll comein there, Mommy, what are you
doing? And then we'll be inthe car and she'll hear my voice and
she's like mommy, mommy, goodjob, mommy, And I'm like,
(11:28):
dude, that's freaking awesome. SoI always like attribute that to Hi.
I'm like artists when they hear theirkids like sing a song back or stuff
like that. I was like,it's got to be the coolest feeling ever
because her like recognizing that and belike mommy, mommy. I was like,
I can only imagine how that feelsfor y'all. Oh my goodness,
I can imagine how it feels forthem. Yeah, true, just to
hear your hear mommy's voice amplified andlike, yeah, it's a whole different.
(11:52):
You know, it's not just bluesClues. You know too, you
know it's right or whatever. They'rewatching it time. Yeah, man,
I love it. I'm still athing. Blue is the new one.
You know what I should have wentto Blue. My little one was watching
that before I left today. Reallyit's bluey or he's got this, the
little one. He just turned three, but he's on like this spidy Okay,
(12:16):
yeah, the little kid spider man. Yes, I know exactly what
we're talking about. I don't knowthe name of it, but in his
amazing friends, you have all ofthe amazing friends. His name's like Lucas
or something maybe I can't remember,but yeah, a little spidy man.
Yeah. You so we mentioned thisa little bit ago. I was like,
let's let's pivot a little bit.You were talking about, how,
(12:37):
you know, being friends with MarkMcGrath and like having like that friendship with
him. You posted on your Instagramrecently too, a picture with Gary Levox
and you said, don't have manyof them, but this is one of
them. Yeah, And I wouldassume that means like your close knit friends
that are this there for you,like ride or dies, having those people
in the industry, and I meanespecially people that are that influential, like
(12:58):
I mean Gary Levox is a legendwith rock flats. Like what's it like
having those mentors and kind of friendshipsthat will not only champion you, but
you can also like get advice fromif you're struggling with something. It was
everything, It was everything. Uh. You know, I was young in
the business and uh you know peoplelike McGrath and the Vox and uh Steve
(13:20):
Harwell yeah, uh these people werethey were. It was very important to
have people like that around, youknow, kid Rock, all of them,
everybody. Uh uh. And thereain't a ton of friends, you
know, there's I met a lotof scumbags in this business, right,
There's a lot of ego and alot of but a lot of these cats
(13:41):
that I'm friends with don't have Imean, they could have it here and
there, but not with me,you know, uh, but important,
you know, when when things aregoing on that you don't understand, or
like, you know, money seemsfunny, or hey man, the label's
trying to get me to do this, what would you do if you know
what I mean? Just the advicewas, you know, some of them
had either have been through it andknew how to navigate around or it was
(14:05):
just like like any I guess anyother business. You know, if I
was if I was doing something elseand I had something that I needed to
know, I would have called somebodyelse in that business, like networking type
stuff. So it was, uh, it was very Uh it means the
world to have just friends in general, I guess, but uh yeah,
but especially like friends that knew howto help you not get bent over.
(14:28):
And yeah, no, kiddy,I was just gonna say, we talking
on the podcast backstage like kind ofsome of the ugly stuff about the music
business and a lot of people whoare just fans of music don't realize the
grind and the things that happened behindbehind the scenes when it comes to putting
out a song or releasing what youwant to release and things like that,
and it does it gets it getsuncomfortable sometimes very uncomfortable, and uh,
(14:52):
you'll never hear me complain about anyof it. But it is just like
any other it's unlike any other business. But it's just like anything, yeah,
business something. You know, it'slike there's a motive, but also
it's like it's business, but you'relike, but it's mine, it's me.
I want to do what I wantto do. But then the label
says you got to do something else, and then this isn't testing well,
(15:15):
and it's just like there's so muchbehind it, you know, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, butit's so data driven and totally and I
mean nowadays it's completely uh it's lightyears away from where it was. You
know when I started, yeah,podcasts things like that, it just didn't
exist, you know, Artificial intelligence. Like I know, I'm gonna i'll
(15:39):
sound like a grandpa if I keeptalking about this, but no, but
it's true though, Like we weretalking on the podcast with the guests before
about AI and how it just likescares the ever loving crap out of me.
I'm like, you're telling me arobot who there's nothing there can do
my job? No, thank you? Somebody shoot that computer and like delete
it right now. I mean,it's it's gonna be interesting to see where
(16:00):
that stuff ends up. Yeah,because isn't that so supposed to keep learning
as well? I get smarter asthe days goes on. And I'm just
we as people supposed to keep learningand we don't and we don't know.
I was like, we all justget dumbered by the second because of technology,
we get dumbered by the second.I feel like it's just man,
(16:21):
it's crazy. Well you mentioned somethinghere a second ago about you know,
touring and being on the road andthings like that, and you have this
insane announcement that just came out aboutthis tour that you're going to be a
part of. Tell us all ofthe details. Kenny Chesney, Zach Brown
Band, Megan Maroney, Uncle Cracker. Yeah, I mean, uh fuck,
(16:41):
I don't even know what to say. Just uh, I'm happy to
be on it. Uh, It'sit's I don't even know what to say.
Yeah, speechless. That's fine onlybecause it's such a huge tour.
It's fine, and I just knowwhat it'll entail, you know obviously,
Uh Chesney, I know very well. Zach. I never met Megan Maroney
(17:07):
she's sweet. Okay, Yeah,she's gonna she's gonna be a good time.
You'll love her good, yeah,good, good good. I just
know that. I just uh,well, I'm excited to see uh won't
come April anyway, but yeah,should I mean, listen, a Kenny
Chesney show is always a party.So I feel like there's one there's always
one show a year that I willget out and tailgate for, and that's
(17:29):
a Kenny Chesney show. It's alwaysa good time. Like, give me
a couple, I'll give me asolid amount of drinks before the show and
I'm there. So, I mean, I have toured with them in the
past, and it is always aparty, and it's always a tailgate situation.
It looks like, I mean,every Chesney show looks like you're like
at an Alabama game in the parking. It's honestly like, people go bonkers.
(17:53):
Man, It's very uh it's funto see, I would imagine.
And there's other artists, you know, who get the tailgating thing happening and
stuff like that. But I don'tknow if it's as insane as his.
His stuff just has always been likethat. For oh my god, I'm
not even gonna go far that farback, but just years ago, it
was always nuts. I mean Iremember being a kid and it was like
(18:17):
whenever it's that song, big orangeball floating in the water and there's I
remember being out a Kenny Chesney concertand there's these big orange balls going on.
It's always been a crazy party withhim. The beach balls are nuts
every time. I mean it's upthere trying to sing and people are like
hitting the ball at you. Youknow, it's uh, it is fun
(18:37):
though, it is fun. It'sa it's a it's a different vibe.
And I've been on a lot ofdifferent tours, different genres, different,
but it's it's one of the I'dsay it was it's the most fun touring
can get totally artist. Well,let's talk about that because you said different
genres, different things. So you'regoing to be on tour next year with
Kenny Chesney. You just got offtour was He's Top and Leonard skinnerd I
(19:00):
have to imagine that was just amazing. Oh man. Yeah, just being
able to watch zz Top play everynight, it's like, uh, like
a dream anyway, just being asa so when when I was even though
I'm old, you're not old kid. They were zz Top was uh.
(19:23):
They made great records and legendary records, but just so so when it came
time up, like do you wantto tour with Eazy Top and Leonard Skinner?
And I'm like, man, uh, I can't believe, like that's
even a question right now. Iwas worried about like the fit, you
know, but I was I wasn'tgonna let anybody else know that I was
(19:44):
worried about either. Yeah, Iwant to yes, well, and I
was just talking with a friend aboutlike that whole imposter syndrome where you start
just to like overthink things and you'relike, maybe I'm not for that,
but it's just like, no,that's a lie. Like let's do this
dang thing, you know what Imean. Oh yeah, fake it till
you make it. That's right.How weird I feel. I'm gonna walk
(20:07):
myself off a cliff exactly, andthen see how it goes. You know,
I'll either stand up or we're justgonna crash. That's all right,
We'll figure it out when we getthere. Yeah, this is a little
weird, but I'm gonna have fundoing it totally. Well, I want
to talk to you about this newsong that you just released. Let me
put a little clip on it forI want to back and drew the this
(20:32):
is dolled cruising Altitude. Tell meabout this song and how it came to
So that was just well, ohwell, I think I was about two
years ago. No, Uh soI sat down with JT and the Warm
Brothers and we wrote that, andI remember us talking about the Warm brother's
(20:53):
dad was a pilot. We hadgot talking about how where they had grown
up in Florida, and I waslike, oh, man, I think
I want to say it was Tampaor something, but but their dad was
a pilot. So I was like, well that had to be weird,
Like my dad owned a gas stationwhen the kid, you know, JT's
(21:14):
well, it depends on which dadwe're talking about. It his, but
it's a he had u he wasJT was adopted, so he had a
guy that the man that adopted himand raised him. But then it turned
out his real father was famous.Uh so he had this whole o the
thing. And then the Warner brothersdad was a pilot, and I was
like, planes weren't exactly like mything. But I thought, wow,
(21:37):
that'd be interesting, like if yourdad was a pilot. Like so,
so, I don't know. Wejust started talking about it and then Cruising
Altitude popped up as a title andthen uh, I forget if which one,
if it was Bred or Brad thatjust started riffing on it right away,
and then just one of them funyou know, happened quick songs.
You know, fun ones are alwaysfast. I think, you know,
(22:00):
when you can get it done anda half hour totally nice. Well,
and it's funny. I always say, like songs are funny to me because
it's like you said, what twoyears ago this happened, and then now
it's like, you know, twoyears later, this song actually comes out.
Yeah. Well, well for meit was COVID messed up a lot
of plans, you know, totallyratewell, it derailed a lot of people's
(22:22):
plans, but yeah, some worsethan others. But yeah, it's just
been uh, just been sitting arounddoing nothing and you're like, let's do
it. Now's the time. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, It's been a
while since I had released anything,and we were waiting on all kinds of
different things. But I was justlike, man, nowadays people are peeling
off songs like every other day bythemselves. You know that isn't that like
(22:47):
supposed to be the cool part aboutsocial media and internet and you know things
like that. I remember twenty yearsago, I would beg my record label
to go back in and do anew record like oh, no one every
three pretty much every two years orthree almost. It was you had to
go through your cycle and get allthe songs out, all the singles out,
like yeah, like still sitting aroundlike, no, that didn't work.
(23:11):
I gotta wait six months and youknow, and just to put another
one. It was such a uh, it was such an old school way
of doing things, you know,and they just wouldn't budge. Yeah.
But you know it's when you're youngand you're you're being creative and you're trying
to you're trying to. Uh.They were the gatekeepers totally. You just
(23:32):
uh, you know, you gottacrack some eggs and make some mom lets.
Yeah, but you you know,you just bag them the uh man.
Now, these kids don't know howgood they haven't. Nowadays, everything's
just instantaneous, right, They recorda little voice memo on their phone,
they release it, and then thefans go nuts about it and they're like
they like it, so let's putit out. It's just like, man,
(23:52):
social media is like it's crazy.Yeah, it's nuts. It is.
It's definitely weird how it's kind oflike evolved into, like you said,
such a different industry than when youfirst started. Yeah, Like there's
no uh, there's no like mystique, there's no uh, there's no building.
Uh. It's all like instant gratification. Right, you can't there's no
(24:14):
like you know, everybody's coming soon, coming soon, coming, There's no
none of that waiting period anymore.It's just like, well, it's gonna
happen, right people want now,Like we used to have to record shows
to watch them if we couldn't seethem. Yep, you had to wait
the entire year to get to thefinal episode. Now they just dropped the
whole thing like boom to watch it. Yeah, there's a whole season,
you know. Like there's something aboutthe waiting though that I don't know.
(24:37):
Maybe it's just like the nostalgia inme where I'm like I like to know,
like, Okay, this episode's comingout, and it's like you wait
for the next season of a newlike a new series or whatever. You're
watching. Waiting was healthy? Yes, you know, like even like I
don't know when they started doing likethe uh you know, like and this
is no pack on the Voice ornothing. I remember seeing something They're like
(24:59):
we're on nineteenth season of The Voice, and I'm thinking, like the thing
hasn't been out nineteen years or whateverit was. But like they just do
like multiple seasons in the year.Yeah, yeah, we didn't have that
week, you know what I mean, if you were if you had nineteen
seasons like the Simpsons, you hadnineteen years. Yep. I don't know
how many seasons they got now,but you know what I'm saying, totally
(25:21):
yeah, Like wait a minute,why are we uh fast forward? And
everything's just it's two months. It'sso But he needs to calm down a
little bit, man, Just there'sbeauty in the Waiting too. Wright.
Just calm down a little bit,y'all and just wait be patient. Okay,
don't let me sound like a grandpahere teaching people patients on the podcast
today. I love that healthy.It's healthy. We're waiting it's healthy.
(25:41):
That is so true. Well,let's kind of go there. Do you
have a favorite show that you liketo watch. Are you anything that you
like you can't wait for the nextseason or something that has just been your
favorite recently? I mean I gotstuck watching Yellowstone and we're still waiting on
this thing. Man. They needto figure it out. Like okay,
listen, Kevin Costner love you,but like let's figure this out, sir,
(26:03):
right, yeah, like you're gonnalet that divorced derail your biggest thing
you've done in how many years?Well, and like you're it's like,
okay, I want you to beyour whole relationship thing, like figure it
out, but also like we're importanttoo. Okay. That being said,
though I got last night I poppedon that law man the mass reeves like,
(26:23):
uh, so far, so good. Okay, see where that thing
goes. But no, I don'thave any Like Yellowstone was one I looked
forward to, and they make youwait, see it smart guys, They
make you wait. Is it isit because of all that mass or is
it just like is that where they'regoing back to that? Like maybe I
(26:45):
don't know because they gave us likeit was Yellowstone and then they had the
nineteen eighty nine and then like allthe or whatever was it nineteen eighty nine.
I can't remember eighteen eighty nine,seventeen some yeah, one of the
one of those numbers. But it'sjust like, gave us these little crumbs
and we're like, I think Idon't know. They were good though,
too. I thought, right,it's so good. The one with Tim
(27:06):
and Faith knocked it out of thepark. Come on, he uh they
shocked me, like, I waslike, oh, what's this gonna be?
Same? But I loved it.Well, they're both awesome in it,
and yeah, and who was thedaughter? She was great. The
narrating part, m hm. Ican't figure out is that her still narrating.
(27:26):
It's still her. It's not evenshe's not even in it. Yep,
it's still her. So I thinkit's kind of like her telling the
story. Is that she's watching itfrom heaven. Maybe I don't know,
should be. But Tim with hiswhole like acting thing, would you ever
even dabble in that? No?Keep me away from it? Okay?
(27:48):
Uh yeah, no, I can't. I can't. I don't have the
I don't want to say nerve.I just don't have the I don't have
well, you see me, I'mkind of a little uh, I'm not
that talkative. I'm not that.Uh, yes, you are reading scripts
and stuff. Then you'd have torememorize stuff. Yeah. True, I
don't have that in me. That'sa lot of pressure. I feel like,
(28:10):
yeah, I'm just not There's nothere's so many people that are more
qualified for those things. Gotcha.I mean, I'm with you. I
keep me away from it, likeI'm good. I'm good just sitting here
behind a microphone where nobody can seeme. You know, I love it?
Yeah, I love it. Okay, So I want to kind of
go back to the beginning of yourcareer and sort of we were talking about,
(28:30):
you know, some of the nostalgiathings with Smile and follow me.
What about the very very beginning,When did you fall in love with music
and decide like, you know,I think this is what I want to
do. So I fell in lovewith rap music. Growing up in Detroit,
they had like you know, thepublic access stations you at like Friday
(28:52):
at midnight, these things would comelike you'd get the cool programs like after
midnight, so you'd have to stayup pretty late if you were younger to
watch these things. And I justremember the Fat Boys video came on this
had to be nineteen eighty three.I was probably nine or ten four,
(29:15):
but they had a there was avideo for jail House Rap, and I
just remember watching this like whole andrap had been like brewing and and I
just remember going, that's the bestthing I've ever seen in my life.
And I had fallen in love withrap music then and then and then I
just from there, I just startedwell, I bought a drum machine,
(29:37):
turntables. I just remember starting writemy own songs, you know that.
Uh, probably eleven, okay,twelve, Yeah, and then by the
time I was like fifteen, Ihad a record deal. I was fifteen
because we had a we had hadto go to see an attorney to that
because I was under age to signa contract. Know what they did.
(30:00):
They did something legal though for meto do it, to be able to
do it, okay, uh andthen uh and then yeah, that was
the first time i'd ever like,uh felt like the sting of a sign
on a contractor oh gosh, yep, the sting. That's a whole other
conversation for another day. Yeah,man, But uh so that was like
(30:22):
a and I was fit, likeI said, fifteen at the time.
And then by the time I wassixteen, I was like showing up at
these studios to record and I couldn'tbecause the labelhood owed the money for other
things. And you're like, waita minute, this doesn't make any sense
to me, Like yeah, uhso it was really bad. And then
I remember the this label had owedkid Rock a bunch of money, so
(30:44):
he uh he had them wash itand let me out of the contracts.
So shout out to kid Rock that'sawesome. Yeah yeah, and then uh
but but but yeah, So Iwas young when when I fell in love
with rap, I love that.I mean, who doesn't, right,
I mean you have to. Ifeel like growing up, I mean rap
music now I feel like is sodifferent than different. You know this the
(31:10):
like original. I mean like nowadays, I feel like it all just sounds
the same. Back then, youknew who was singing, right, you
know what I mean? Their identitythere was, people had identities, identities,
different styles, different. It isdifferent, and I you know,
I couldn't tell you one thing thatI really dig rap wise. Yeah,
(31:33):
not that there isn't any totally,just that it had You know, when
you're thumbing through for so long,you don't find anything you quit looking,
right, that's so true. Butso yeah so rap. But but then
DJing when I was younger too,you you, you, I started appreciating
a lot of other types of thingstotally different. You know, you find
(31:55):
out really quick if you're a DJthat you're not really playing all the things
like to play you just and stufffor the other people want, you know,
yeah, something better than others.Right. You're like, you're not
allowed to request this one song Irefuse to play. Yeah. Oh man.
When you're when you're eleven writing songsin your probably bedroom or like at
(32:17):
your home somewhere, do you what, like, do you remember that first
process of like pretending to write,not pretending, but like pretending like you
know what you're doing, you know, like you're doing it by yourself.
You're like, I don't know ifthis is right. Yeah, well,
yeah you don't know anything. Istill don't know if it's right, you
know, right, But that's thethat's the best part of you know,
(32:39):
creating, I guess is h onlyyou know like what the process is.
And if you know what the processis, yeah, and it's never really
it's only done when you're happy withit, to be honest, you know
it's ah, so people like me, I'm never happy. So it's so
(33:01):
it's you almost have to like,uh so it took a while, Like
when you let like somebody in onproduction and somebody in there produce to help
you know when it's done, yeah, me, because I'll just I'll go
back and like, well, Ineed to rewrite this or I need to
I like to rewrite until like Ihate schlap. You know, I just
(33:22):
have to. But yeah, you'realways like you always feel like you can
do better totally, but you needsomebody to help tell you cut it out
sometimes. I mean, we needwe need one of those people in our
lives period, those people that arejust like, listen. I have a
friend who one time I got ina fight with my husband and I was
like venting to her about it.She was like, you're being kind of
a petty wife right now, andI was just like, thank you for
(33:43):
telling me that and being honest withme, but also like you know,
like she's like, you're being naggy, and I was like, am I,
okay, thanks for reeling me backin. But it's so it's so
true, like you need those inevery aspect of your life. I feel
like you do. You do almostlike life coaches. Yes, shout out
to all the life coaches in ourlife. Well, to end the podcast,
I always do a fun little thing. There's a little gumball machine right
(34:05):
next to you on the bottom.Right there you see the little green grab
that. There's a final question inthere for you for the podcast, which
I think kind of goes along withwhat we've been talking about. So I
think this is going to be perfect. M little gumball question machine. Let's
see what song do you have onrepeat? Any good? Any good ones
(34:32):
right now? It can also beyour own music. That's fine too,
it's not at the moment though.If you went to my truck, it
would be a patche Rose Okay,it would be a right chili Pepper song
right now. I'm not sure why, Like, I don't even want to
tell you that that that's but I'mbeing honest. It's on repeat right now.
(34:54):
I love it the groove I keep. Sometimes you just go with what
feels good. You know it does, it does. But yeah, that
was a no. You didn't letme down at all? Are you kidding?
Read out chili Peppers? Who doesn'tlike the red hot chili per?
(35:15):
Well, we love you, andI'm so excited for you and the new
song. I'm excited for this tournext year. You know that I'll be
there screaming every single song on thetop of my lungs, and I can't
wait to see you again. Whatdo you what's on? You want to
go out with new song? Followme or smile? Let's go out with
new song. Let's do it.I want to thank you for being here,
(35:36):
Matt. It was so good tomeet you. Yeah. Yeah,
here too, Yeah, very cool, spot perfect. Thank you so much.
All right, ready to a rockand roll Yeah, all right, let's
make it happen. Backstay with Welcometo the backstage with Brooks. You're all
access passed to music city where nothingis off limits. Grab a drink,
let's go backstage, y'all. UncleCracker is in the house. I feel
like I have to do this,tell me everything. It's like a write
(00:24):
a passage, you know, Matt, welcome in, thanks for having me
in here. I'm so excited wehave to write a passage. Stick that
out there. Makes me feel olderbit well, and it's funny because Okay,
so I was looking this up becauseI was like, this song,
I just feel like when you hearit, some sort of memory pops up,
like with anybody usually it's like,you know, I was born in
(00:45):
eighty eight, so like this songcomes out and I'm like, you know,
in my teens, and I'm like, this is the best. It's
awesome. And I was like,when did this song come out? That
song came out in two so twentythree years ago. Yeah, and listen,
listen, We're not trying to makeyou feel old here, but how
awesome is that? That was cool? I was four when I wrote that
there you go exactly, so you'retwenty seven now. I love it.
(01:08):
But when it comes to like songslike that, I just kind of want
to out of the gate talk aboutthat song because I feel like it's just
one of those iconic songs that whenyou hear it, you know every single
word and that being something that youlike are part of, Like that's your
baby? What is it? Twentythree years later? Like hearing that song
and still hearing everybody go crazy whenthey hear it. It's it's I mean,
(01:30):
I love it. It's fun touh, I guess, just to
have uh, just to have oneof those at least, you know,
one of those songs is a Itwas a It was definitely a life changer
for me and uh and a lotof people around me, I guess.
But uh, it's sweet, it'sI love it. I don't get uh,
I don't get weird about it.I don't get uh. It's just
(01:52):
nice to hear them still. Ididn't think you never think setting out when
you put out one of those,You don't think you're still gonna hear that
thing. Yeah twenty something years later, Yeah, you don't think those are
gonna be as big as it was, and uh, it was definitely sweet
though. I mean, I don'tknow, I don't know, like you
were saying, a whole bunch ofthings come to mind when I hear that
(02:14):
song, and how do you youknow, feelings and uh, just because
it was such a big one forme totally. Do you remember when you
cut the song? Were you guyslike did you know, Like, were
you like this is it like thisis gonna be ahead? No? In
fact, uh it was. Itwas the complete opposite. I was like,
yeah, because I was I was. I was DJing for Kid Rock
at the time, and we hadjust put out his album Doubled Out a
(02:38):
Cause and it was like this biglike uh rock rap uh anthemy album and
uh and it was on fire atthe time, and and uh we were
recording my record, my solo record, in between these little tour stops.
I mean, this tour didn't stop, but uh, we put a we
(02:58):
put a studio in the back ofa bus and and I think throughout the
course of like nine months, wesqueezed in like half hour here, twenty
five minutes there to record this albumon the back of a bus. And
this song was one where we wehad like four days home in the middle
of like the Devil, a lotof calls to her probably was almost three
(03:21):
years long. Yeah, And wehad about four days back in Detroit in
the in the in the suburbs outsideof Detroit. We were in my buddy's
basement when we recorded this song,and I was like, man, Bob
is gonna kill me for this songbecause but it was it started out like
an a cappella song and it wasjust kind of paying homage to like the
old motown stuff, and uh,it just had a different thing about it.
(03:45):
And I just remember thinking, Bobis gonna absolutely murder me for this
song because it was so poppy soundingand totally and uh and yeah, he
almost did murder me over this thing. It was. Uh but uh so
that was I remember it well.But you look back and you're like,
thank god I made that decision.Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean
it was I remember, I remember, I remember recording that and then and
(04:11):
then I had to fly back tola for something and we were somewhere in
a hotel with Mark McGrath from Sugaratte Yeah, one of my best friends,
and Bob and I remember McGrath hewas he was he was making fun
of Bobby. He's like, that'sgonna be the first one out of your
camp. You know. The wholething was we were all this tight knit
thing and it was just funny becausehe was making fun of him about it.
(04:32):
Yeah, and of course Bob wasirritated by the whole thing, but
it was it was fun. Iremember every minute of it. That's so
awesome. And Mark McGrath was inwhat music video, the Smile video or
it was in this video okay andfollow Me, Follow Me video. He
played like a mechanic, which wascrazy because I know he was at the
time Fly was out. It waslike the biggest song on earth at the
(04:56):
at the time. Yeah, hecame back to l A just to do
the video for like the afternoon,and he totally didn't have to. That's
awesome. It's cool to like liveout those moments with buddies, I feel
like, and sharing those moments andbeing able to understand what it's like to
make music and be busy but stillmake time for each other. That's really
awesome. Yeah, it was verycool, very cool. He's a good
(05:17):
dude too, but so there's noknowing him now, there's no question he
wouldn't have done that, but yeah, it it is cool to look back
and share all them with your friendstotally. And I got to bring this
up because you posted this picture ofyou and your youngest darted recently while filming
the music video for Smile. Ithink this was like in September or something
that you posted this, and thecaption it said where did all that time
(05:41):
go? And of course I've gotthe little ooh smile. I feel like
all of these songs make me smile, no pun intended. But when you
hear a song like that and youremember those sweet moments of like filming that
music video, does it like doyou get a little nostalgic? Do you
get emotional? Because I mean,I'm a mom. I have to two
year old, so I know it'sgoing by way to day quick. And
(06:01):
when you posted that, I waslike, time is a thief man,
Oh it is? It is?It goes by fast. You know,
it's a It's that thing you knowyou're growing up, everybody always told you
like, don't blink, you know, it goes quick, enjoy it.
It's later than you think, youknow, and you're like, you don't
pay any penny mind. But thenone day. You look back, You're
(06:21):
like, happen you can cuss onHarris? All right, did you see
me? Yeah? You were like, well let me bleep out a second.
But no, you're good. Wecan. We can say what we
want on the podcast. Uh no, you do. You look back,
You're like, well, what thehell did all that? Yeah? It
was just it goes way too fast, especially when you get old. You're
(06:44):
young. Now when you get older, it feels like it goes even faster,
like just the walls start closing inand losing in. And well it
was a Kenny Chestney song, right, don't blink, and it's just like
you hear that song and are like, okay, yeah this is true.
But then, like you said,you become a parent and you're like,
seriously, do not blink. Ohyeah, oh yeah, it's oh my
(07:08):
goodness. You just wait. Youknow, you got a two year old,
and so I have uh I haveI have five kids. Yeah,
I have one kid that just hada baby, which makes me a grandfather.
Amazing, congratulations, so strange,thank you. So yeah, it's
I mean just to think like I'ma grandpa. Yeah, do you go
(07:29):
by grandpa or do you go buysomething else. She just had this baby
a month and some change ago,so it's not even like real yet.
Okay, do you do you wantto go by Grandpa? Are we going
by? Unkie? Like, what'sthe deal? I'll go Grandpa when the
kids ready to talk. Let's doit, you know. Yeah, I'm
gonna do it. I'm gonna doit. But uh no, she's just
so Yeah, I just had onethat just had a baby. I have
two at U of M and thenand then I have a seven year old
(07:51):
and then I have one in diapersinsane, right, Yeah, I mean,
but the best thing ever. Yeah, they are. They are the
best and the worst. I alwaysI always say that to my friends.
I'm like, having kids is thehardest, most amazing thing you'll ever do.
It is it is? Uh theykeep you on your toes. Uh
yeah, they keep you working andthey keep you they keep you. Kids
(08:15):
are great. Yeah, they're great. They really are. Do you have
a moment like obviously doing what youdo, you're on the road, traveling,
you're you know, I feel likeyour your time schedule is a little
bit different than like, say,the typical person who has a nine to
five can drop the kids off atdaycare that kind of thing. Are there
moments of your career that you justyou feel that like inner like turmoil where
(08:35):
you're like, man, I wishI could be home more. I used
to, you know with the uh, with the I say, like my
first round of kids, Yeah Ihad the uh. So I had three
with an X and I have twowith my fiance and uh we just uh
a long time ago, I did. I I didn't struggle with it.
Yeah, you know, it wasmore of a wiggle the struggle totally,
(08:56):
but it was it is on yourbrain. You're like, man, I'm
cheating these kids out of a dad. But when you're home, you you
you you uh, you overcompensate.I think maybe yeah I do. Yeah,
it's definitely on your brain, andI don't. I don't really.
I did have a moment or twowhere I did uh. Like I'm not
(09:16):
gonna say struggle with it, butI always thought about it. But when
you're home, you get more timehome too, so you're not I mean
it depends on like how many showsI guess you're going to. Definitely gone
a lot. But the only goodnews is that they it's all they know.
It's all they knew. You know, my first one was born.
(09:39):
I missed the first one being born. I was gone. And then you
know, from an early age,it's not like you know, when I
was a kid, my my mydad would go like on a snowmobiling trip
for the weekend, and I'd belike, oh the world, Yeah yeah,
really coming right there if you needit, thank you, And then
(10:00):
they're coming back. But I usedto hate when my parents left totally.
But that's all these kids know.And I think that's the only thing,
uh, the other thing that makeswell, the only thing that makes me
feel better about it. Yeah.Is it like they're not being ripped away
from something normal that they knew andthis is normal. This is normal.
Yeah, this is this is whatthey know. I love that. Do
they come to shows and stuff andsing everywhere to your songs? Or are
(10:22):
they too cool for school? They'vethey've gone through stages. The older ones
were too cool for school, andthen they were then they were a little
too attentive. Yeah no, andthen uh, but now they're just uh,
they'll come out when it's when it'sa fun one. Yeah, nobody
comes for the beat ones totally right. You're like, okay, you're gonna
be aware like, yeah, yeah, it's Boughkeepsie. You know. They're
(10:45):
like, oh, never mind,We'll come to New York City. Yeah,
right, come to the if it'sif it's a good spot. Got
it. So they want to cometo the fun, the fun big cities,
got it? Got it? Uh. The youngest one, Miles,
he's my second from youngest, buthe's seven and he's just now figuring out
like, uh, what it is? Like he doesn't get it, Yeah,
(11:07):
but he does get it like hisgrandma's and thinks do a good job
of like explaining it to him.Oh that's sweet. Yeah. I feel
like my daughter kind of does thattoo, like because obviously like hosting a
radio show, Like I have mystudio at home, so I'll be in
the office recording stuff and she'll comein there, Mommy, what are you
doing? And then we'll be inthe car and she'll hear my voice and
she's like mommy, mommy, goodjob, mommy, And I'm like,
(11:28):
dude, that's freaking awesome. SoI always like attribute that to Hi.
I'm like artists when they hear theirkids like sing a song back or stuff
like that. I was like,it's got to be the coolest feeling ever
because her like recognizing that and belike mommy, mommy. I was like,
I can only imagine how that feelsfor y'all. Oh my goodness,
I can imagine how it feels forthem. Yeah, true, just to
hear your hear mommy's voice amplified andlike, yeah, it's a whole different.
(11:52):
You know, it's not just bluesClues. You know too, you
know it's right or whatever. They'rewatching it time. Yeah, man,
I love it. I'm still athing. Blue is the new one.
You know what I should have wentto Blue. My little one was watching
that before I left today. Reallyit's bluey or he's got this, the
little one. He just turned three, but he's on like this spidy Okay,
(12:16):
yeah, the little kid spider man. Yes, I know exactly what
we're talking about. I don't knowthe name of it, but in his
amazing friends, you have all ofthe amazing friends. His name's like Lucas
or something maybe I can't remember,but yeah, a little spidy man.
Yeah. You so we mentioned thisa little bit ago. I was like,
let's let's pivot a little bit.You were talking about, how,
(12:37):
you know, being friends with MarkMcGrath and like having like that friendship with
him. You posted on your Instagramrecently too, a picture with Gary Levox
and you said, don't have manyof them, but this is one of
them. Yeah, And I wouldassume that means like your close knit friends
that are this there for you,like ride or dies, having those people
in the industry, and I meanespecially people that are that influential, like
(12:58):
I mean Gary Levox is a legendwith rock flats. Like what's it like
having those mentors and kind of friendshipsthat will not only champion you, but
you can also like get advice fromif you're struggling with something. It was
everything, It was everything. Uh. You know, I was young in
the business and uh you know peoplelike McGrath and the Vox and uh Steve
(13:20):
Harwell yeah, uh these people werethey were. It was very important to
have people like that around, youknow, kid Rock, all of them,
everybody. Uh uh. And thereain't a ton of friends, you
know, there's I met a lotof scumbags in this business, right,
There's a lot of ego and alot of but a lot of these cats
(13:41):
that I'm friends with don't have Imean, they could have it here and
there, but not with me,you know, uh, but important,
you know, when when things aregoing on that you don't understand, or
like, you know, money seemsfunny, or hey man, the label's
trying to get me to do this, what would you do if you know
what I mean? Just the advicewas, you know, some of them
had either have been through it andknew how to navigate around or it was
(14:05):
just like like any I guess anyother business. You know, if I
was if I was doing something elseand I had something that I needed to
know, I would have called somebodyelse in that business, like networking type
stuff. So it was, uh, it was very Uh it means the
world to have just friends in general, I guess, but uh yeah,
but especially like friends that knew howto help you not get bent over.
(14:28):
And yeah, no, kiddy,I was just gonna say, we talking
on the podcast backstage like kind ofsome of the ugly stuff about the music
business and a lot of people whoare just fans of music don't realize the
grind and the things that happened behindbehind the scenes when it comes to putting
out a song or releasing what youwant to release and things like that,
and it does it gets it getsuncomfortable sometimes very uncomfortable, and uh,
(14:52):
you'll never hear me complain about anyof it. But it is just like
any other it's unlike any other business. But it's just like anything, yeah,
business something. You know, it'slike there's a motive, but also
it's like it's business, but you'relike, but it's mine, it's me.
I want to do what I wantto do. But then the label
says you got to do something else, and then this isn't testing well,
(15:15):
and it's just like there's so muchbehind it, you know, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, butit's so data driven and totally and I
mean nowadays it's completely uh it's lightyears away from where it was. You
know when I started, yeah,podcasts things like that, it just didn't
exist, you know, Artificial intelligence. Like I know, I'm gonna i'll
(15:39):
sound like a grandpa if I keeptalking about this, but no, but
it's true though, Like we weretalking on the podcast with the guests before
about AI and how it just likescares the ever loving crap out of me.
I'm like, you're telling me arobot who there's nothing there can do
my job? No, thank you? Somebody shoot that computer and like delete
it right now. I mean,it's it's gonna be interesting to see where
(16:00):
that stuff ends up. Yeah,because isn't that so supposed to keep learning
as well? I get smarter asthe days goes on. And I'm just
we as people supposed to keep learningand we don't and we don't know.
I was like, we all justget dumbered by the second because of technology,
we get dumbered by the second.I feel like it's just man,
(16:21):
it's crazy. Well you mentioned somethinghere a second ago about you know,
touring and being on the road andthings like that, and you have this
insane announcement that just came out aboutthis tour that you're going to be a
part of. Tell us all ofthe details. Kenny Chesney, Zach Brown
Band, Megan Maroney, Uncle Cracker. Yeah, I mean, uh fuck,
(16:41):
I don't even know what to say. Just uh, I'm happy to
be on it. Uh, It'sit's I don't even know what to say.
Yeah, speechless. That's fine onlybecause it's such a huge tour.
It's fine, and I just knowwhat it'll entail, you know obviously,
Uh Chesney, I know very well. Zach. I never met Megan Maroney
(17:07):
she's sweet. Okay, Yeah,she's gonna she's gonna be a good time.
You'll love her good, yeah,good, good good. I just
know that. I just uh,well, I'm excited to see uh won't
come April anyway, but yeah,should I mean, listen, a Kenny
Chesney show is always a party.So I feel like there's one there's always
one show a year that I willget out and tailgate for, and that's
(17:29):
a Kenny Chesney show. It's alwaysa good time. Like, give me
a couple, I'll give me asolid amount of drinks before the show and
I'm there. So, I mean, I have toured with them in the
past, and it is always aparty, and it's always a tailgate situation.
It looks like, I mean,every Chesney show looks like you're like
at an Alabama game in the parking. It's honestly like, people go bonkers.
(17:53):
Man, It's very uh it's funto see, I would imagine.
And there's other artists, you know, who get the tailgating thing happening and
stuff like that. But I don'tknow if it's as insane as his.
His stuff just has always been likethat. For oh my god, I'm
not even gonna go far that farback, but just years ago, it
was always nuts. I mean Iremember being a kid and it was like
(18:17):
whenever it's that song, big orangeball floating in the water and there's I
remember being out a Kenny Chesney concertand there's these big orange balls going on.
It's always been a crazy party withhim. The beach balls are nuts
every time. I mean it's upthere trying to sing and people are like
hitting the ball at you. Youknow, it's uh, it is fun
(18:37):
though, it is fun. It'sa it's a it's a different vibe.
And I've been on a lot ofdifferent tours, different genres, different,
but it's it's one of the I'dsay it was it's the most fun touring
can get totally artist. Well,let's talk about that because you said different
genres, different things. So you'regoing to be on tour next year with
Kenny Chesney. You just got offtour was He's Top and Leonard skinnerd I
(19:00):
have to imagine that was just amazing. Oh man. Yeah, just being
able to watch zz Top play everynight, it's like, uh, like
a dream anyway, just being asa so when when I was even though
I'm old, you're not old kid. They were zz Top was uh.
(19:23):
They made great records and legendary records, but just so so when it came
time up, like do you wantto tour with Eazy Top and Leonard Skinner?
And I'm like, man, uh, I can't believe, like that's
even a question right now. Iwas worried about like the fit, you
know, but I was I wasn'tgonna let anybody else know that I was
(19:44):
worried about either. Yeah, Iwant to yes, well, and I
was just talking with a friend aboutlike that whole imposter syndrome where you start
just to like overthink things and you'relike, maybe I'm not for that,
but it's just like, no,that's a lie. Like let's do this
dang thing, you know what Imean. Oh yeah, fake it till
you make it. That's right.How weird I feel. I'm gonna walk
(20:07):
myself off a cliff exactly, andthen see how it goes. You know,
I'll either stand up or we're justgonna crash. That's all right,
We'll figure it out when we getthere. Yeah, this is a little
weird, but I'm gonna have fundoing it totally. Well, I want
to talk to you about this newsong that you just released. Let me
put a little clip on it forI want to back and drew the this
(20:32):
is dolled cruising Altitude. Tell meabout this song and how it came to
So that was just well, ohwell, I think I was about two
years ago. No, Uh soI sat down with JT and the Warm
Brothers and we wrote that, andI remember us talking about the Warm brother's
(20:53):
dad was a pilot. We hadgot talking about how where they had grown
up in Florida, and I waslike, oh, man, I think
I want to say it was Tampaor something, but but their dad was
a pilot. So I was like, well that had to be weird,
Like my dad owned a gas stationwhen the kid, you know, JT's
(21:14):
well, it depends on which dadwe're talking about. It his, but
it's a he had u he wasJT was adopted, so he had a
guy that the man that adopted himand raised him. But then it turned
out his real father was famous.Uh so he had this whole o the
thing. And then the Warner brothersdad was a pilot, and I was
like, planes weren't exactly like mything. But I thought, wow,
(21:37):
that'd be interesting, like if yourdad was a pilot. Like so,
so, I don't know. Wejust started talking about it and then Cruising
Altitude popped up as a title andthen uh, I forget if which one,
if it was Bred or Brad thatjust started riffing on it right away,
and then just one of them funyou know, happened quick songs.
You know, fun ones are alwaysfast. I think, you know,
(22:00):
when you can get it done anda half hour totally nice. Well,
and it's funny. I always say, like songs are funny to me because
it's like you said, what twoyears ago this happened, and then now
it's like, you know, twoyears later, this song actually comes out.
Yeah. Well, well for meit was COVID messed up a lot
of plans, you know, totallyratewell, it derailed a lot of people's
(22:22):
plans, but yeah, some worsethan others. But yeah, it's just
been uh, just been sitting arounddoing nothing and you're like, let's do
it. Now's the time. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, It's been a
while since I had released anything,and we were waiting on all kinds of
different things. But I was justlike, man, nowadays people are peeling
off songs like every other day bythemselves. You know that isn't that like
(22:47):
supposed to be the cool part aboutsocial media and internet and you know things
like that. I remember twenty yearsago, I would beg my record label
to go back in and do anew record like oh, no one every
three pretty much every two years orthree almost. It was you had to
go through your cycle and get allthe songs out, all the singles out,
like yeah, like still sitting aroundlike, no, that didn't work.
(23:11):
I gotta wait six months and youknow, and just to put another
one. It was such a uh, it was such an old school way
of doing things, you know,and they just wouldn't budge. Yeah.
But you know it's when you're youngand you're you're being creative and you're trying
to you're trying to. Uh.They were the gatekeepers totally. You just
(23:32):
uh, you know, you gottacrack some eggs and make some mom lets.
Yeah, but you you know,you just bag them the uh man.
Now, these kids don't know howgood they haven't. Nowadays, everything's
just instantaneous, right, They recorda little voice memo on their phone,
they release it, and then thefans go nuts about it and they're like
they like it, so let's putit out. It's just like, man,
(23:52):
social media is like it's crazy.Yeah, it's nuts. It is.
It's definitely weird how it's kind oflike evolved into, like you said,
such a different industry than when youfirst started. Yeah, Like there's
no uh, there's no like mystique, there's no uh, there's no building.
Uh. It's all like instant gratification. Right, you can't there's no
(24:14):
like you know, everybody's coming soon, coming soon, coming, There's no
none of that waiting period anymore.It's just like, well, it's gonna
happen, right people want now,Like we used to have to record shows
to watch them if we couldn't seethem. Yep, you had to wait
the entire year to get to thefinal episode. Now they just dropped the
whole thing like boom to watch it. Yeah, there's a whole season,
you know. Like there's something aboutthe waiting though that I don't know.
(24:37):
Maybe it's just like the nostalgia inme where I'm like I like to know,
like, Okay, this episode's comingout, and it's like you wait
for the next season of a newlike a new series or whatever. You're
watching. Waiting was healthy? Yes, you know, like even like I
don't know when they started doing likethe uh you know, like and this
is no pack on the Voice ornothing. I remember seeing something They're like
(24:59):
we're on nineteenth season of The Voice, and I'm thinking, like the thing
hasn't been out nineteen years or whateverit was. But like they just do
like multiple seasons in the year.Yeah, yeah, we didn't have that
week, you know what I mean, if you were if you had nineteen
seasons like the Simpsons, you hadnineteen years. Yep. I don't know
how many seasons they got now,but you know what I'm saying, totally
(25:21):
yeah, Like wait a minute,why are we uh fast forward? And
everything's just it's two months. It'sso But he needs to calm down a
little bit, man, Just there'sbeauty in the Waiting too. Wright.
Just calm down a little bit,y'all and just wait be patient. Okay,
don't let me sound like a grandpahere teaching people patients on the podcast
today. I love that healthy.It's healthy. We're waiting it's healthy.
(25:41):
That is so true. Well,let's kind of go there. Do you
have a favorite show that you liketo watch. Are you anything that you
like you can't wait for the nextseason or something that has just been your
favorite recently? I mean I gotstuck watching Yellowstone and we're still waiting on
this thing. Man. They needto figure it out. Like okay,
listen, Kevin Costner love you,but like let's figure this out, sir,
(26:03):
right, yeah, like you're gonnalet that divorced derail your biggest thing
you've done in how many years?Well, and like you're it's like,
okay, I want you to beyour whole relationship thing, like figure it
out, but also like we're importanttoo. Okay. That being said,
though I got last night I poppedon that law man the mass reeves like,
(26:23):
uh, so far, so good. Okay, see where that thing
goes. But no, I don'thave any Like Yellowstone was one I looked
forward to, and they make youwait, see it smart guys, They
make you wait. Is it isit because of all that mass or is
it just like is that where they'regoing back to that? Like maybe I
(26:45):
don't know because they gave us likeit was Yellowstone and then they had the
nineteen eighty nine and then like allthe or whatever was it nineteen eighty nine.
I can't remember eighteen eighty nine,seventeen some yeah, one of the
one of those numbers. But it'sjust like, gave us these little crumbs
and we're like, I think Idon't know. They were good though,
too. I thought, right,it's so good. The one with Tim
(27:06):
and Faith knocked it out of thepark. Come on, he uh they
shocked me, like, I waslike, oh, what's this gonna be?
Same? But I loved it.Well, they're both awesome in it,
and yeah, and who was thedaughter? She was great. The
narrating part, m hm. Ican't figure out is that her still narrating.
(27:26):
It's still her. It's not evenshe's not even in it. Yep,
it's still her. So I thinkit's kind of like her telling the
story. Is that she's watching itfrom heaven. Maybe I don't know,
should be. But Tim with hiswhole like acting thing, would you ever
even dabble in that? No?Keep me away from it? Okay?
(27:48):
Uh yeah, no, I can't. I can't. I don't have the
I don't want to say nerve.I just don't have the I don't have
well, you see me, I'mkind of a little uh, I'm not
that talkative. I'm not that.Uh, yes, you are reading scripts
and stuff. Then you'd have torememorize stuff. Yeah. True, I
don't have that in me. That'sa lot of pressure. I feel like,
(28:10):
yeah, I'm just not There's nothere's so many people that are more
qualified for those things. Gotcha.I mean, I'm with you. I
keep me away from it, likeI'm good. I'm good just sitting here
behind a microphone where nobody can seeme. You know, I love it?
Yeah, I love it. Okay, So I want to kind of
go back to the beginning of yourcareer and sort of we were talking about,
(28:30):
you know, some of the nostalgiathings with Smile and follow me.
What about the very very beginning,When did you fall in love with music
and decide like, you know,I think this is what I want to
do. So I fell in lovewith rap music. Growing up in Detroit,
they had like you know, thepublic access stations you at like Friday
(28:52):
at midnight, these things would comelike you'd get the cool programs like after
midnight, so you'd have to stayup pretty late if you were younger to
watch these things. And I justremember the Fat Boys video came on this
had to be nineteen eighty three.I was probably nine or ten four,
(29:15):
but they had a there was avideo for jail House Rap, and I
just remember watching this like whole andrap had been like brewing and and I
just remember going, that's the bestthing I've ever seen in my life.
And I had fallen in love withrap music then and then and then I
just from there, I just startedwell, I bought a drum machine,
(29:37):
turntables. I just remember starting writemy own songs, you know that.
Uh, probably eleven, okay,twelve, Yeah, and then by the
time I was like fifteen, Ihad a record deal. I was fifteen
because we had a we had hadto go to see an attorney to that
because I was under age to signa contract. Know what they did.
(30:00):
They did something legal though for meto do it, to be able to
do it, okay, uh andthen uh and then yeah, that was
the first time i'd ever like,uh felt like the sting of a sign
on a contractor oh gosh, yep, the sting. That's a whole other
conversation for another day. Yeah,man, But uh so that was like
(30:22):
a and I was fit, likeI said, fifteen at the time.
And then by the time I wassixteen, I was like showing up at
these studios to record and I couldn'tbecause the labelhood owed the money for other
things. And you're like, waita minute, this doesn't make any sense
to me, Like yeah, uhso it was really bad. And then
I remember the this label had owedkid Rock a bunch of money, so
(30:44):
he uh he had them wash itand let me out of the contracts.
So shout out to kid Rock that'sawesome. Yeah yeah, and then uh
but but but yeah, So Iwas young when when I fell in love
with rap, I love that.I mean, who doesn't, right,
I mean you have to. Ifeel like growing up, I mean rap
music now I feel like is sodifferent than different. You know this the
(31:10):
like original. I mean like nowadays, I feel like it all just sounds
the same. Back then, youknew who was singing, right, you
know what I mean? Their identitythere was, people had identities, identities,
different styles, different. It isdifferent, and I you know,
I couldn't tell you one thing thatI really dig rap wise. Yeah,
(31:33):
not that there isn't any totally,just that it had You know, when
you're thumbing through for so long,you don't find anything you quit looking,
right, that's so true. Butso yeah so rap. But but then
DJing when I was younger too,you you, you, I started appreciating
a lot of other types of thingstotally different. You know, you find
(31:55):
out really quick if you're a DJthat you're not really playing all the things
like to play you just and stufffor the other people want, you know,
yeah, something better than others.Right. You're like, you're not
allowed to request this one song Irefuse to play. Yeah. Oh man.
When you're when you're eleven writing songsin your probably bedroom or like at
(32:17):
your home somewhere, do you what, like, do you remember that first
process of like pretending to write,not pretending, but like pretending like you
know what you're doing, you know, like you're doing it by yourself.
You're like, I don't know ifthis is right. Yeah, well,
yeah you don't know anything. Istill don't know if it's right, you
know, right, But that's thethat's the best part of you know,
(32:39):
creating, I guess is h onlyyou know like what the process is.
And if you know what the processis, yeah, and it's never really
it's only done when you're happy withit, to be honest, you know
it's ah, so people like me, I'm never happy. So it's so
(33:01):
it's you almost have to like,uh so it took a while, Like
when you let like somebody in onproduction and somebody in there produce to help
you know when it's done, yeah, me, because I'll just I'll go
back and like, well, Ineed to rewrite this or I need to
I like to rewrite until like Ihate schlap. You know, I just
(33:22):
have to. But yeah, you'realways like you always feel like you can
do better totally, but you needsomebody to help tell you cut it out
sometimes. I mean, we needwe need one of those people in our
lives period, those people that arejust like, listen. I have a
friend who one time I got ina fight with my husband and I was
like venting to her about it.She was like, you're being kind of
a petty wife right now, andI was just like, thank you for
(33:43):
telling me that and being honest withme, but also like you know,
like she's like, you're being naggy, and I was like, am I,
okay, thanks for reeling me backin. But it's so it's so
true, like you need those inevery aspect of your life. I feel
like you do. You do almostlike life coaches. Yes, shout out
to all the life coaches in ourlife. Well, to end the podcast,
I always do a fun little thing. There's a little gumball machine right
(34:05):
next to you on the bottom.Right there you see the little green grab
that. There's a final question inthere for you for the podcast, which
I think kind of goes along withwhat we've been talking about. So I
think this is going to be perfect. M little gumball question machine. Let's
see what song do you have onrepeat? Any good? Any good ones
(34:32):
right now? It can also beyour own music. That's fine too,
it's not at the moment though.If you went to my truck, it
would be a patche Rose Okay,it would be a right chili Pepper song
right now. I'm not sure why, Like, I don't even want to
tell you that that that's but I'mbeing honest. It's on repeat right now.
(34:54):
I love it the groove I keep. Sometimes you just go with what
feels good. You know it does, it does. But yeah, that
was a no. You didn't letme down at all? Are you kidding?
Read out chili Peppers? Who doesn'tlike the red hot chili per?
(35:15):
Well, we love you, andI'm so excited for you and the new
song. I'm excited for this tournext year. You know that I'll be
there screaming every single song on thetop of my lungs, and I can't
wait to see you again. Whatdo you what's on? You want to
go out with new song? Followme or smile? Let's go out with
new song. Let's do it.I want to thank you for being here,
(35:36):
Matt. It was so good tomeet you. Yeah. Yeah,
here too, Yeah, very cool, spot perfect. Thank you so much.
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