November 25, 2025 • 34 mins
Join Markivus for a raw and insightful conversation with Ian Keller, the multi-instrumentalist behind the electronic-rock project Orphan Prodigy. Hailing from Queens, NY, Ian shares his compelling story of transitioning from two decades in an alternative rock band to a thriving solo career built on authenticity and artistic control.
This episode dives deep into the inspiration behind the unique "Orphan Prodigy" name and how Ian's creative process, driven by overcoming personal struggles with agoraphobia and the complexities of adoption, has evolved with modern digital audio workstations. Discover the cinematic energy and emotional depth behind his critically acclaimed debut album, Medication for a Modern World.
Key Discussion Points:
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/deeper-than-music-with-markivus--2705530/support.
This episode dives deep into the inspiration behind the unique "Orphan Prodigy" name and how Ian's creative process, driven by overcoming personal struggles with agoraphobia and the complexities of adoption, has evolved with modern digital audio workstations. Discover the cinematic energy and emotional depth behind his critically acclaimed debut album, Medication for a Modern World.
Key Discussion Points:
- Band life vs. Solo Freedom: The challenges and liberation of making music on your own terms.
- The Power of Story: How personal narrative and themes of mental health shape the music.
- Sonic Evolution: Blending 90s alt-rock roots with modern electronic dance and trance influences.
- Medication for a Modern World: The creative vision and lyrical themes of the debut album.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/deeper-than-music-with-markivus--2705530/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good morning, get even me wherever you are in the world.
Deeper than Music Radio. Behind every great song, there's an
even greater story. I'd like to say, what's up to
everybody listening to us on Spotify, iHeartRadio, Geo Savin and
all the great streaming platforms streaming deeper than music Radio.
Today we have a very special guest multi instrumentalist from Queens,
(00:22):
orphin Prodigy, here on Deeper than Music Radio. How you
doing doing pretty good? Sorry about that first question, so
multi instrumentalist, and I understand that you were previously you
were in bands and then you discovered the beautiful life
(00:45):
of digital audio workstations. Yes, the name, the name orphaned Prodigy.
What's the story behind that?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
The name? Yeah, yeah, So I've only been in one
other band, my first band, and that lasted for almost
two decades. And wow, the first name of that band
was the Rejects, and I had, you know, for me,
that was a really powerful name because I grew up adopted,
(01:12):
I had gay parents, so I was, you know, off
the bat, I was very different from my peers, and so,
you know, fast forward to twenty twenty five with Orphan Prodigy,
I wanted to kind of have a name that sort
of kept that aspect of, you know, feeling like a reject.
You know, we actually had to change the name and
then we continued on our career because we were going
to get sued by a bunch of other bands. But anyway,
(01:35):
so with Orphan Prodigy, we uh, you know, I wanted
to kind of maintain that level of feeling like an outsider,
but also in a positive way. So I feel like,
you know, Orphan definitely has like a negative connotation sometimes
to it being alone, being being like a singularity or
an anomaly maybe, and then Prodigy kind of makes it
(01:56):
feel like this sort of I guess, like this more
positive you know, kind of spins it in a positive light.
And so yeah, I related to that awesome.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And so before you said you were in a band
for a while quite a long time. Question who are your?
Who are artists that inspire you?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
My top seven is the offspring Nirvana, Weezer readout Chelie
Pepper's Rage Against the Machine, Primus, and Metallica. So that's
my top seven.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Wow, So Metallica is pretty early, but a lot of
them are like yeah Nirvana, man, Yeah, Nirvana. I can
remember when I first heard smells like teen spirit. Matter
of fact, they were the reason why I was so
fascinated with Seattle, like I got to see Seattle. Man.
Those are some definitely some bands, some legacy bands. Did
(02:49):
you know from like a young age that you wanted
to be a musician and be an entertainment field.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, so I was. I was nine years old, sorry,
eight years old, and my parents to taking me up
some German cousins on one of my father's sides, and
so I went to Germany. My my my older cousin.
She played this song at the time, it was the
offspring song. Subsequently became my favorite band. But they had
a single called why Don't You Get a Job? And
the first line opens just like straight up it's like
(03:18):
my friend's got a girlfriend and he hates that, you know, bitch. Yeah,
And that blew my That blew my mind.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Man.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So it was at that moment that I knew at
what I wanted to do with the rest of my
if I wanted to shock people, I wanted to be music.
I wanted to have a guitar, and that was it.
That was the moment.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
So being a multi instrumentalist, was it the guitar first?
That you started learning how to hone your musician skills.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, my dad got me a guitar a year later
for Christmas, and you know, some cheap actually i'm looking
at her right now. I was like this cheap, cheap,
like a catalog guitar, not like a brand name or anything.
And yes, I learned on that took me. Took me
about a year and a half to actually sing, like
I had a microphone and everything. But like I first, yeah,
(04:06):
I was just I was terrified to sing. But then
once I start, my dad just yelled at me one day.
He's like, it's like you're playing guitar, are you writing
these songs? But I'm not hearing you sing, Like you know,
what am I investing in here? So you know something
like that. And I just just like forced me to
sing and I sang and that was that was the
beginning of the end.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
So wow. So he was like, look, I got you this,
I hear you doing stuff. He pushed you to be
a singer as well as a musician and a songwriter.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, he wanted to see it happen.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Well the band that you were in, were you the
lead singer, guitarist or yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, so I did. I was the lead singer, guitar player,
and I did all the songwriting and we were a
three piece, so it was a drummer and a bass player.
And that ended around twenty nineteen, you know, we did
we did a few couple of reunion shows after that
and then post Pandemic, but you know, really it was
clear that that wasn't going to go much further. You know,
(05:02):
I think everybody had kind of, you know, moved, you know,
moved past the idea of making albums and touring because
we'd been touring for like six six days a week
for like years and years and years, so you know,
it was just it was just it was a struggle
really and then I had of course, I don't know
it's well documented at this point, but I had a
gorophobic episode which prevented me from leaving my house for
(05:25):
six months. So that kind of contributed to it as well. Wow,
And that during that time, that's when I really developed,
or from prodigy began. I started live streaming and writing
those songs for this record.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
So was that contributed due to COVID being a go
for because twenty nineteen is like right before like that,
I know, it was around the time when you.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Know, it's interesting because like for me, I had just
met my now wife, I just met my then girlfriend.
So so for me, I was kind of like just
crashing at her place during during COVID and I was
I was actually, you know, after I got past the
agoraphobia and stuff, you know, I met her and I
(06:07):
was attending audio engineering school because I was like kind
of rethinking my position in the in the industry. And
so I met her and came back to New York
from Arizona where the school was, and uh, yeah, we
were just hanging out playing call duty like all day,
you know, just like ordering nachos and stuff like, you know,
and yeah, so like that's kind of how that happened.
(06:28):
And yeah, from there I just kind of started writing again.
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
So what is the difference between being in a band
and now pretty much doing your own thing and pretty
much creating and it's all coming from you.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Well, I think the main difference is that you over
from Prodigy versus being in a band. I think in
nor from Prodigy, it's not a democracy, like like the
songs are you know, all mine. I'm doing all of
the writing, all of the recording, all the engineering, and
my my wife who's also in the band now, she
helps me kind of like you know, when we start
(07:05):
to do like the videos and stuff, She's like there
for the editing process and stuff. I have a drummer
and a bass player who came on board two years
ago to start playing live shows. But as far as
the creative side of things, it's really just like, whereas
my previous band was probably like ninety percent me, this
is one hundred and twenty percent me.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Okay, okay, man, yeah yeah. Now because me and me
and my wife, we were listening to the music and
just jamming out, and I gotta say, man, I love
I love the album title Medication for a Modern World,
Like how did you come up with that?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Man?
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I was very intriguing.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
So I was actually I was actually before, like like
a long time ago, before like the reason I initially
I went to college. I went to attended a Sunny
Purchase in New York and for a studio composition, you know, songwriting,
and we got signed, and so I had to kind
of take a hiatus from school and that's I never
(08:07):
really went back until you know, I got my degree
in audio engineering recently. But so I was just kind
of sitting in my dorm room one day, you know,
doing the thing, you know, hanging out with yeah, just
by myself and not going to class, and you know,
I I don't know how how PG we are here
(08:28):
or you know.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Oh yeah you're fine, man, you can, yeah you can.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yes, I smoked a lot of weed. I was smoking
a time, just like you know, I don't smoke anymore,
but like you know, I was. I was really really
involved in like I've really found my creative space during
those years. This is back in like two thousand and seven,
so this that title goes all the way back to
two thousand and seven. It's crazy because I never really
(08:51):
thought that these kind of like abstract, kind of surrealist
songwriting ideas would ever really make any records as far
as my career. When this was always going to be
like the next album for my my previous band, it
just never kind of came to fruition. And uh so yeah,
that's where the title came from. A dorm room, you know,
smoking a.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Lot of smoking. Hey, the inst of inspiration.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Right, I can't smoke any weed anymore. I get too paranoid,
so you know, I wish I could man, I've tried,
it's just not happening anymore.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
So you go from a band and then like what
made you decide like, hey, I'm gonna go to school
from engineering? And then how did that enhance your skill set?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Also? You know, I I went to I decided, you know,
after the after the agoraphobia thing, it was clear that
I wasn't getting able to tour at the same level
that I was because you know, dealing with huge, huge
crowds and a lot of all the traveling and stuff.
It really just kind of caught up with me, I think,
And you know, so I think it was it was
(09:52):
just about like, you know, like how do I how
do I keep doing this? How do I keep functioning
in music in this the only thing that I really
want to or care to do. How do I keep
doing that without performing on stage and making albums and
all that stuff? And so obviously the logical thing was
to take a back seat and go, you know, go
behind the scenes and become a producer essentially. And so
(10:15):
it wasn't you know, for I was attending the school
for two weeks and then they showed me logic pro
and pro tools and all that stuff, and I was
like I was immediately, especially with Logic, and that's how
I made the record. But I was just hooked because
I've always written. I've always written my song digitally, you know,
just me and a laptop MIDI programming, and so it
(10:36):
was a natural transition to go to from what I
was doing in MIDI to Logic. I would just drag
and drop the files and it's like pick the sounds
and have a blast. You know. It's like, yeah, like
forty eight hours later and there's like, you know, eight songs.
So you know, that's kind of how it happened.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And I don't know about you. MIDI itself was back
in the day was a headache.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Well for me, it wasn't. I just you know, that
was how I learned how to songwrite. It was like
a trial version of a MIDI software, very very basic,
and so you're limited to like twelve bars of music,
and so I learned how to songwrite because you were
forced to use repeats and then you learn like, oh,
there's repetition, so that must be a chorus, that must
be a verse, and like, yeah, I can make a bridge.
(11:16):
And so I was kind of self taught that way,
and you can kind of hear that when you listen
to the record, there's kind of like I don't always
follow like you know, four bars of this, four bars
of that. You know, sometimes it's five, sometimes it's six,
sometimes it's seven. You know, it's like, yeah, it makes
it interesting. It's how I feel.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, it's cool. It's just like what they say, you know,
ear candy and you want to keep adding and then
like I feel like sometimes it could be just cookie cutter,
but it's good to add like elements and different things
here and there and just add that element of surprise.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Man, So you you've seen it, like you've seen like
you talk about logic and it's crazy how like I
like pro tools, but I know logic. I've seen logic
and it's so crazy. How from twenty years how it's
just evolved, Like you said, drag and drop and I'm
sure you could appreciate this, Like I see people like
(12:11):
how you can map out you know, drum probe Dragon
Like it's like no, you know, I'm old school MPC
and it's just it's just crazy. So how's your like
your creative process? Like could you walk that through? It
was like, how do you get inspired? Does it come
to you, like, how do you start? Does it start
off with the words or does it you just like
(12:32):
make a melody in So.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
When I was sixteen, I was in a studio. Metallica's
manager had paid for us to do a reel to
reel recording and we weren't very good at that point
and we were just kind of getting started still. But anyway,
so it made this demo and I remember the second
day I was there, there was a copy of Spin
magazine on the engineer's desk, and so I picked it
(12:54):
up because it had my one of my heroes, the
lead singer Weezer. Okay, so I opened it up and
I read the article and he was talking about how
like he writes three songs a day, and so I
was like, Okay, if I'm going to be any good
at this, but I want to do anything with this,
I have to write three songs a day to be
as good as my hero. And so from that day
fourth I was writing three songs a day. So to
(13:16):
this day, I still I still follow that that, I
still follow that discipline. Yeah, yeah, So I don't really
you know, like when people talk about and you know,
I might sound like an asshole for saying this. But
like when people talk about writer's block, like, I don't.
I can't relate to that. I don't have that. I've
never run into it. I haven't ever experienced it. For me,
(13:36):
A blank canvas like MIDI is like, yeah, that's all.
I'm like a blank page. Like if I start to
read a book, I can't. I can't read a book,
like I've embarrassed to say. I'm I can write pretty well,
but you know, as far as reading, like I get
bored and I have to write my own stuff, like
I can't really get into Yeah, I kind of, I
(13:58):
kind of. I can't hear myself when I sound like
an idiot per sing.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
But to me, it sounds like you're constantly there's like
ideas and stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I just can't settle it. I can't settle my mind
down long enough to concentrate on somebody else's material unless
it's music or it's like a video game or something
something like really truly immersive.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
You know. Yeah, no, I could appreciate that. You know,
writer's block, it is in a selfish nightmare, like man
the creative juices. I likened it to what was Gwenn
Stephani when she first did a solo album. The song
like are the one on where she's like she calls
herself a stupid hole. It's just talking about well, what
(14:37):
you're waiting for? Like, hey, write this, Yeah, write this song?
You know you got the million dollar contract?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yeah, attention to the lyrics.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
It's a it's a it's about writer's block because she's like,
you got you got your million dollar contract and they're
waiting for your hot track. And there's one part like
like don't be stupid. Hell, like make this song you
waiting for.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
That's so funny.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I was about And the only reason why I know
it is because I actually watched the video and she's
in the studio like, man, here I am with my
solo career, and man, you know I gotta do this.
I got the million dollars. We gotta make it happen.
But you brought up Weezer, and man, I love Weezer.
I recently about years years, I want to say, like
(15:23):
five years ago. I didn't know they redid like Toto's Africa. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I was just like, wow, that was that was a trip.
And then Toto redid hash Pipe, which was really cool
to hear. Wow, So Yeah, you should check that out.
It's pretty cool, pretty wild.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
So what what inspires you to create? What is it?
I feel like you just is fluid every every.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, I mean I think it's life. I mean I
think some of the best stuff. You know, obviously that
the best stuff I write is probably the you know,
why I'm going through a really hard time or something.
But yeah, I think I'm always going through a hard time.
So it's like, you know, it's like, you know, it's like,
you know, I mean, just going into Walmart for me
is in the ascid and like, you know, I can
have a panic attack and it's really bad, like the
fluorescent lighting. You know. Yeah, you know, riding the train
(16:08):
is an issue. You know, just being surrounded by people
is just is like an issue for me.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
So and you are in New York City, Like New
York City is sensive.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
I actually recently moved out of the city.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Oh okay, okay, So.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I'm actually I'm actually living in Connecticut now, which is like,
you know, very suburban for me. But there's like it's
it's really beautiful. It's really nice town. There's like the
seashore and stuff, which I love. But yeah, we're just
you know, we're surrounded by forest. It's like it's really
like the complete opposite.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
So oh yeah, okay, yeah, because I remember it, but yeah,
go ahead. Oh no, no, I was gonna say. So Carrie,
she's from the Midwest and we I told her. I
was like, New York City is just endless city. It's
like I can't I can't describe it. And we're in
we're like in Times Square and I'm like, this is
what it is. And she's from the Midwest, Like, oh
(16:59):
my god, I'm like, yes, it is massive.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
So somebody from the Midwest, it must be like, you know,
like very like anyway, if you don't live in New York,
like it's really cool to see. But like I imagine,
but like when I was watching, you know, because my
wife and I were watching the New Year's eve ball
drop and and you know, just just looking at Times Square,
I'm like we were both just looking and like, how
(17:25):
do people do that? Like how do people stand next
to each other and just like you know, just like
and like like for like twenty four hours, you know,
because they get there like really early to be in
the in the in the camera's view and stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, that's dedication. I have a like a Sydebar story.
So in my besides being a musician, I work in
aviation industry and I was doing this work with Jet
Blue and their offices like in Queens. Yeah, not too far.
So for two two weeks I had to go to
that building. So real estate is prime in New York,
(17:59):
like it was the Hilton and I want to say
the Hilton Inn. And like my hotel room was small.
But for two weeks I would get out of my
hotel room and walk. And at the time, I was
living in North fort Worth in a new build, so
I was there for two weeks. I get back to
North fort Worth and where it's quiet, and I couldn't
(18:19):
go to sleep because I was used to all that
city noise.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yep, it's bro bro bro. To this day, I sleep
with a fan on because I need the noise. Yeah,
I need that white noise, just like something happening, like
if it's if it's dead still, I'm kinda like I
can't fall asleep. Bro.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Yeah, it's crazy, It is so crazy. I had a
question about the album Medication for a Modern World. So
for people that haven't heard your music, what can you
first tell us about the band? The sound and just
the album.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So I think the sound is pretty cinematic. I think
that there's very there's a very it's very raw, but
it's also and it's very It's interesting because you know,
I'm a pretty raw person, and you know, I don't
know if you can tell this, but like I pretty
much wear my heart on my sleep. I'm an open book.
I don't really have any like qualms about telling the
truth all the time. And I think that's, you know,
(19:17):
to a fault maybe, But so I think there's a
lot of rawness, but there's also a lot of control.
At the same time, there's a because the instruments are
so on grid, you know, musically, there's a lot of
room for me to kind of be not on the
grid with the vocals and the lyrics and stuff, and
(19:37):
they're very kind of abstract. And then you put those
two elements together and you get something that's kind of
that's pretty cinematic, I think, and also raw and emotional
at the same time. So it's pretty cool, you know.
I'm it's the it's the best album I think I've
ever made, so, you know, without without a doubt for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
And now because you can sound like the engineering, the music,
the songwriting, and even like you said, the soundscape is
very cinematic because I could hear atmospherics, you could hear rock,
you can hear electronic. So it's I mean, I'm trying
to think. Sometimes I don't know why Trent Reznor keeps
coming up in my mind, but yeah, yeah, so for me,
(20:20):
yeah yeah, yeah, so I'm like okay, and then with
the cinematic elements because now he composes like very I
like his dark synth.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah stuff, man, I'll take it. I'll take it because
you know, being compared to Trent, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, He's definitely one of those on the on the
top top list. So we talked about so now you
go from performing and now like more when COVID happened.
After COVID, I couldn't create because it's like I gotta
be out, I gotta be out. I've been in like
and you know, we have to be in a quiet space.
Now I'm in a space where I could appreciate that
(20:58):
are there times where you miss being do you misperforming?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So we actually the way that we've made this a
full time job and career, you know, because I you know,
I was I was struggling for you know, fifteen years
in my last band, trying to make ends meet because
we were on an indie deal. We had this thing
with Sony it fell through. But with this, it's it's
crazy because a lot I know, I know a lot
(21:24):
of people struggled through the pandemic, but I, for me,
it was like this, creatively speaking, it was like kind
of an awakening and a bless a blessing in disguise
because I found out what live streaming was. I figured
out how to live stream and how to start writing
digitally and be creative. You know, we started to. Then
it's over the years, you know, it just kept building
(21:46):
and growing and growing. You can't see it right now,
but this is where we perform. We have like four
cameras s facing that way. We have lights and everything.
But essentially what we do is we shoot all the performances,
five to six shows a day down here, and people,
you know, pay for them through our website. And we
also do like we're right now, we're technically on tour.
We do kind of like half in person and half virtual.
(22:08):
So yeah, I mean it, you know, I think it's
really just about I don't know, I mean, like I said,
I think the pandemic was kind of a blessing in
disguise for me.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yeah, because you could you could see how we transitioned.
And I think now you make you got me thinking like, wow,
I want to see how with the pandemic, how technology changed,
because now the shift was like Okay, now we can't
you know, you can't be around people. But digitally, that's it. Virtual,
that's that's it. And you asked my question about the
(22:40):
on air and the yeah. Yeah. I was like, is
that a studio.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
That's a real thing. Yeah, that's a real anytime we
have that sign on people, it's connected wirelessly. There's a
bunch of them around the house, so like when that
one's turned on, they all go on. So everybody knows
not to come downstairs. So it's all.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Gotcha, gotcha man? What would be your dream dream collaborators
in the future, Like, who would you like to collaborate with?
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Oh? Man, So we only I've only ever done one
true collaboration. And we actually just dropped the single. And
we were in Brooklyn last Friday night and we did
a show and it was live streamed and it was great.
But we dropped the single a deep base. I think
it's the third track on the record. Okay, yeah, that's
the we we I. I collaborated with my my rapper
(23:28):
best friend Jeff Jeff Wise from Queen's. He like lived
across the street from me. One day he was like,
he had a rap and I had this idea that
I was working on, and we just kind of came
together and everyone was like, oh, that's a Lincoln Park thing,
Like yeah, okay, sure, all right, rap rock Lincoln Park.
It must be Lincoln Park. But yeah, So that's as
(23:50):
far as to answer your question, a dream collaboration, man,
I don't. I think it would have to be something
just like totally wild, like something like in like something
like that, something like in the Top forty that I'm
like totally unexpecting. Yeah, you know, not not expecting, rather
like I don't know, Like I don't know, Sabrina Carpenter. No,
you know what I'd love to do is because I
(24:10):
don't really listen to rock when I'm at home. I
listen to like really low fi chill kind of like
deep house stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah, like yeah, low five visa. I'm right there with you.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I'm right there with yeah, man. But there's this. There's
this this band that you should check out. They're called
men I Trust, and they're doing like a very similar
they're kind of running a similar model that I run,
but they're out, they're way more on the road. But
they're so independent and they're so their sound is just
so mellow and chill. It's kind of like just a
it's got that same deep house kind of vibe to it,
(24:42):
but it's not deep house. It's like more alternative. You
should check it out.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Man.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
They called I'm plugging another band in my own interview,
but show me how but by men I Trust man
and days go by men I Trust. Okay, Yeah, just
a just an incredible band. If I had a collaboration
opportunity with them, they're just amazing. Songwriter is amazing, just
like ethereal kind of engineers, just great at what they do.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
So yeah, and you brought up something that I stood
out in my mind. So we twenty years ago, we
see now with technology now with distribution, we see like
the middleman's kind of been you know, etched out, and
obviously you built your own niche now, like I like
to say, through chaos cam and you know, now unfortunately,
(25:29):
something bad happened. Now you found the niche and you
mentioned Sony and then you mentioned like being a star
of an artist. We see now though with technology. I
tell people now, it's like, look back in the day,
I had to go go to the library and read
this business of music. But everything is right here in
the palm of your hand. You can figure it out digitally.
(25:51):
Do you think that the Sony situation was that like
a blessing in disguise because it seems like you're doing
your own movement and you're successful.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Absolutely, there was two. There were so many problems with
that deal. It was, you know, it was a development deal,
and we were going to be three sixty. You know,
so for people that we were going to be three sixty,
which means that basically you're getting screwed in every which
way they're taking it. They're taking a pace of your merch,
(26:22):
you're touring, your production, you know, making an album, you
know all that stuff. So you're basically losing money on
every front. And then the studio that wanted to produce
us was also going to take a cut of everything,
So we're going to be three sixty twice. And I
was like, hell no, I was I was you know,
I was twenty twenty three years old, and I was like,
(26:42):
hell no, So yeah, I mean, like you said, now
we've come to a place where you don't need the middleman.
And if you're if you're you know, savvy, you're not
even savvy enough. And there are plenty of people that
you know, make a living on YouTube and stuff and
aren't very great at you know, making great videos. But
yeah they're just loud and obnoxious and people like it.
(27:04):
But like you know, if you're driven enough, you'll figure
it out. I mean, it's really just a microphone, a
camera and a key light, right oh.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yeah, oh yeah, and like you said, with like digital
audio wordstations.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah, Like I.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Am surprised because you remember twenty twenty years ago, even
in the nineties, Oh man, you gotta have a big studio.
You gotta go to that studio.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
You gotta an SSL, you know whatever.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Yeah, you know, now somebody's like, yeah, I had my
little Akai little USB keyboard and blah blah blah, Like damn,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah, yeah, the results speak for themselves. You don't need
like this massive budget anymore. And that's the thing is,
like you can you know. It's like I have like
three different like if you did a pie chart, like
I have three different things. Like one third is the
performing stuff, you know, touring virtually high you know in person,
the touring stuff and making and selling the records obviously,
(27:55):
and the second third is talking about mental health awareness
and sharing my adoption story. That's the second third of
my Orphan Prodigy umbrella. And the third part is gaming
and streaming that. So we start Call of Duty and
Battlefield Hell yeah, actually.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah, that's my I do a podcast for I'm not
have to have you on a forty something it I
will forty something gamers like gen.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
X Let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
But I didn't mean in a rut. But you said that.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
I was, oh, you're good. No. See that's how That's
why I like, I don't you know when I do interviews,
like they're like, you know, so what do you want
to talk about? I'm like, dude, I don't want to
go in with anything. I want it to be a
natural conversation. I'm on here just to plug myself. So yeah,
I know, I appreciate that. So I understand the you know,
the jumping, like let's jump and talk about something interesting.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
You know, it's like, yeah, but you brought it, Like
you have to be versatile, and then you have to
like give people the immersive your experience, and you're allowing
to give yourself give people your experience via this new
technology because right now, like.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
I didn't realize this. We were talking about me and
a couple of friends were talking about music and you know,
being a musical artist, and then like AI came up
and it's like, oh Ai is going to take our job.
But then when I was reading and doing research, it's
like AI is not emotional. It doesn't have emotion, it
doesn't have a story. So it's saying like for musicians,
(29:22):
be your true authentic self and share your experience. And
that's what you're doing, Like your whole thing is being
immersive and your whole experience. And it makes sense too,
you know, when you're doing your own thing and you're creating,
it's your your Like you said before, it was ninety
percent in the band, now it's one hundred and twenty.
It's all you and it's all your experience. And I
(29:43):
definitely appreciate that. And you could tell too. In the
album I'm like this is He's letting it all out
and I could appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Yeah, And you know, you bring up a great point.
I mean there's there's so much, like you know, as
much as AI is like, you know, great and really
cool and stuff. Brought up a really good point, and
that's that people are kind of like also like like
wholeheartedly against it at some at some level. But I
don't think that AI is inherently bad. I think that
it's you know, it's like you said, you need It's
(30:13):
only it's only a mirror. You know, it's only going
to go as far as as the emotions that you
put forth. Yes, and so if you know, like when
when people say AI is going to take my job,
it's like, well, at least from a creative standpoint, that's
not the case. Like I was listening to a song
that was fully AI generated a version of smells like
(30:33):
teen Spirit, and it was like, in this disco, I
should send it to you, And it sounds great, it
sounds fucking amazing, and I'm totally with it's like seven
minutes long.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
It's great.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
But but like you know, it's it's a novelty, like
you're not going to get originality from an as you're
gonna get. You're not gonna get heart and emotion and
rawness and depth. You're going to get something no novelty
like that, like like a disco version of smells like
teen Spirit from the eighties, like or seventies.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
You know, yeah, that's ah. They have a nineteen fifties
version of Rough Riders anthems.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, yeah, I've heard of Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
And then uh, now I see like videos ai videos
of Tupac and Kobe Bryant hanging out, Tupac doing trigger treating.
Like you said, you can use it as a tool,
and it doesn't have the it doesn't emote, it doesn't
connect like great artists they connect like they like, I'm
not we brought up Nirvana like Kurt Cobain. Yeah, well no,
(31:57):
it's shameless promotion, all.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Right, shameless prom motion time. Yeah. You can find us
on Orphan Prodigy dot com. That's kind of the hub.
You can find all the socials there. But we are
on YouTube. No not really, I don't think we're really
on TikTok. But we are on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitch,
and discord. So you if you want to check out
our new single deep Bass off the album Medication from
our world. You can find that on our YouTube channel
(32:20):
at Orphan Prodigy. That's that's pretty much. That's pretty much
the thing, man.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
And then this one, What does music mean to you?
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Everything? It's breathing. Yeah, it's like it's like airform means oxygen. Yes, like.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, yeah, that's all we do, talk retro pop culture.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
So you ladies, before we signed off, I got to
show you this. I got I got a no.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I see it. I see that. That is like that's og. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Now it's like it says Orphan Prodigy, but it's like
super feed up.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Man. That's cool, man, that is cool.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Microsoft sent that to me. That was fun.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Wow send it like with the uh yeah, with the
eedging Man, that's pretty cool. Because in all honesty too,
like with your music, I could see it being in
a video game.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Like man, that's we're trying. We're trying, we're hopeful. We
have a few things work. Can't talk about it, but
uh you know, we'll I get that.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
I'll speak it into existance. I see it.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Please do please do it'll help me.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
So, ladies and gentlemen, it's been a great one. And
this is Mark and Ian. Could I say half a
one third of Orphan Prodigy or.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Just the oh I get, I mean, I am, I am.
It's yeah, one fourth I guess technically orphan Prodigy.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
So ladies and gentlemen, thank you your socials.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Insta, Instagram, Facebook. Uh act, if you use that, we
don't really use it too much. Did I say YouTube? Yeah? YouTube, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
That's the main under Orphan Prodigy, Orphan Prodigy. Okay and
there we go. So another great episode Orphan Prodigy and
MARKI has signed off for Deeper than Music. Thank you,
Thanks anig problem man. Thanks. Yes, I'm going ahead to
see
Good morning, get even me wherever you are in the world.
Deeper than Music Radio. Behind every great song, there's an
even greater story. I'd like to say, what's up to
everybody listening to us on Spotify, iHeartRadio, Geo Savin and
all the great streaming platforms streaming deeper than music Radio.
Today we have a very special guest multi instrumentalist from Queens,
(00:22):
orphin Prodigy, here on Deeper than Music Radio. How you
doing doing pretty good? Sorry about that first question, so
multi instrumentalist, and I understand that you were previously you
were in bands and then you discovered the beautiful life
(00:45):
of digital audio workstations. Yes, the name, the name orphaned Prodigy.
What's the story behind that?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
The name? Yeah, yeah, So I've only been in one
other band, my first band, and that lasted for almost
two decades. And wow, the first name of that band
was the Rejects, and I had, you know, for me,
that was a really powerful name because I grew up adopted,
(01:12):
I had gay parents, so I was, you know, off
the bat, I was very different from my peers, and so,
you know, fast forward to twenty twenty five with Orphan Prodigy,
I wanted to kind of have a name that sort
of kept that aspect of, you know, feeling like a reject.
You know, we actually had to change the name and
then we continued on our career because we were going
to get sued by a bunch of other bands. But anyway,
(01:35):
so with Orphan Prodigy, we uh, you know, I wanted
to kind of maintain that level of feeling like an outsider,
but also in a positive way. So I feel like,
you know, Orphan definitely has like a negative connotation sometimes
to it being alone, being being like a singularity or
an anomaly maybe, and then Prodigy kind of makes it
(01:56):
feel like this sort of I guess, like this more
positive you know, kind of spins it in a positive light.
And so yeah, I related to that awesome.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And so before you said you were in a band
for a while quite a long time. Question who are your?
Who are artists that inspire you?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
My top seven is the offspring Nirvana, Weezer readout Chelie
Pepper's Rage Against the Machine, Primus, and Metallica. So that's
my top seven.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Wow, So Metallica is pretty early, but a lot of
them are like yeah Nirvana, man, Yeah, Nirvana. I can
remember when I first heard smells like teen spirit. Matter
of fact, they were the reason why I was so
fascinated with Seattle, like I got to see Seattle. Man.
Those are some definitely some bands, some legacy bands. Did
(02:49):
you know from like a young age that you wanted
to be a musician and be an entertainment field.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, so I was. I was nine years old, sorry,
eight years old, and my parents to taking me up
some German cousins on one of my father's sides, and
so I went to Germany. My my my older cousin.
She played this song at the time, it was the
offspring song. Subsequently became my favorite band. But they had
a single called why Don't You Get a Job? And
the first line opens just like straight up it's like
(03:18):
my friend's got a girlfriend and he hates that, you know, bitch. Yeah,
And that blew my That blew my mind.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Man.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So it was at that moment that I knew at
what I wanted to do with the rest of my
if I wanted to shock people, I wanted to be music.
I wanted to have a guitar, and that was it.
That was the moment.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
So being a multi instrumentalist, was it the guitar first?
That you started learning how to hone your musician skills.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, my dad got me a guitar a year later
for Christmas, and you know, some cheap actually i'm looking
at her right now. I was like this cheap, cheap,
like a catalog guitar, not like a brand name or anything.
And yes, I learned on that took me. Took me
about a year and a half to actually sing, like
I had a microphone and everything. But like I first, yeah,
(04:06):
I was just I was terrified to sing. But then
once I start, my dad just yelled at me one day.
He's like, it's like you're playing guitar, are you writing
these songs? But I'm not hearing you sing, Like you know,
what am I investing in here? So you know something
like that. And I just just like forced me to
sing and I sang and that was that was the
beginning of the end.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
So wow. So he was like, look, I got you this,
I hear you doing stuff. He pushed you to be
a singer as well as a musician and a songwriter.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, he wanted to see it happen.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Well the band that you were in, were you the
lead singer, guitarist or yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, so I did. I was the lead singer, guitar player,
and I did all the songwriting and we were a
three piece, so it was a drummer and a bass player.
And that ended around twenty nineteen, you know, we did
we did a few couple of reunion shows after that
and then post Pandemic, but you know, really it was
clear that that wasn't going to go much further. You know,
(05:02):
I think everybody had kind of, you know, moved, you know,
moved past the idea of making albums and touring because
we'd been touring for like six six days a week
for like years and years and years, so you know,
it was just it was just it was a struggle
really and then I had of course, I don't know
it's well documented at this point, but I had a
gorophobic episode which prevented me from leaving my house for
(05:25):
six months. So that kind of contributed to it as well. Wow,
And that during that time, that's when I really developed,
or from prodigy began. I started live streaming and writing
those songs for this record.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
So was that contributed due to COVID being a go
for because twenty nineteen is like right before like that,
I know, it was around the time when you.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Know, it's interesting because like for me, I had just
met my now wife, I just met my then girlfriend.
So so for me, I was kind of like just
crashing at her place during during COVID and I was
I was actually, you know, after I got past the
agoraphobia and stuff, you know, I met her and I
(06:07):
was attending audio engineering school because I was like kind
of rethinking my position in the in the industry. And
so I met her and came back to New York
from Arizona where the school was, and uh, yeah, we
were just hanging out playing call duty like all day,
you know, just like ordering nachos and stuff like, you know,
and yeah, so like that's kind of how that happened.
(06:28):
And yeah, from there I just kind of started writing again.
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
So what is the difference between being in a band
and now pretty much doing your own thing and pretty
much creating and it's all coming from you.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Well, I think the main difference is that you over
from Prodigy versus being in a band. I think in
nor from Prodigy, it's not a democracy, like like the
songs are you know, all mine. I'm doing all of
the writing, all of the recording, all the engineering, and
my my wife who's also in the band now, she
helps me kind of like you know, when we start
(07:05):
to do like the videos and stuff, She's like there
for the editing process and stuff. I have a drummer
and a bass player who came on board two years
ago to start playing live shows. But as far as
the creative side of things, it's really just like, whereas
my previous band was probably like ninety percent me, this
is one hundred and twenty percent me.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Okay, okay, man, yeah yeah. Now because me and me
and my wife, we were listening to the music and
just jamming out, and I gotta say, man, I love
I love the album title Medication for a Modern World,
Like how did you come up with that?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Man?
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I was very intriguing.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
So I was actually I was actually before, like like
a long time ago, before like the reason I initially
I went to college. I went to attended a Sunny
Purchase in New York and for a studio composition, you know, songwriting,
and we got signed, and so I had to kind
of take a hiatus from school and that's I never
(08:07):
really went back until you know, I got my degree
in audio engineering recently. But so I was just kind
of sitting in my dorm room one day, you know,
doing the thing, you know, hanging out with yeah, just
by myself and not going to class, and you know,
I I don't know how how PG we are here
(08:28):
or you know.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Oh yeah you're fine, man, you can, yeah you can.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yes, I smoked a lot of weed. I was smoking
a time, just like you know, I don't smoke anymore,
but like you know, I was. I was really really
involved in like I've really found my creative space during
those years. This is back in like two thousand and seven,
so this that title goes all the way back to
two thousand and seven. It's crazy because I never really
(08:51):
thought that these kind of like abstract, kind of surrealist
songwriting ideas would ever really make any records as far
as my career. When this was always going to be
like the next album for my my previous band, it
just never kind of came to fruition. And uh so yeah,
that's where the title came from. A dorm room, you know,
smoking a.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Lot of smoking. Hey, the inst of inspiration.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Right, I can't smoke any weed anymore. I get too paranoid,
so you know, I wish I could man, I've tried,
it's just not happening anymore.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
So you go from a band and then like what
made you decide like, hey, I'm gonna go to school
from engineering? And then how did that enhance your skill set?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Also? You know, I I went to I decided, you know,
after the after the agoraphobia thing, it was clear that
I wasn't getting able to tour at the same level
that I was because you know, dealing with huge, huge
crowds and a lot of all the traveling and stuff.
It really just kind of caught up with me, I think,
And you know, so I think it was it was
(09:52):
just about like, you know, like how do I how
do I keep doing this? How do I keep functioning
in music in this the only thing that I really
want to or care to do. How do I keep
doing that without performing on stage and making albums and
all that stuff? And so obviously the logical thing was
to take a back seat and go, you know, go
behind the scenes and become a producer essentially. And so
(10:15):
it wasn't you know, for I was attending the school
for two weeks and then they showed me logic pro
and pro tools and all that stuff, and I was
like I was immediately, especially with Logic, and that's how
I made the record. But I was just hooked because
I've always written. I've always written my song digitally, you know,
just me and a laptop MIDI programming, and so it
(10:36):
was a natural transition to go to from what I
was doing in MIDI to Logic. I would just drag
and drop the files and it's like pick the sounds
and have a blast. You know. It's like, yeah, like
forty eight hours later and there's like, you know, eight songs.
So you know, that's kind of how it happened.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And I don't know about you. MIDI itself was back
in the day was a headache.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Well for me, it wasn't. I just you know, that
was how I learned how to songwrite. It was like
a trial version of a MIDI software, very very basic,
and so you're limited to like twelve bars of music,
and so I learned how to songwrite because you were
forced to use repeats and then you learn like, oh,
there's repetition, so that must be a chorus, that must
be a verse, and like, yeah, I can make a bridge.
(11:16):
And so I was kind of self taught that way,
and you can kind of hear that when you listen
to the record, there's kind of like I don't always
follow like you know, four bars of this, four bars
of that. You know, sometimes it's five, sometimes it's six,
sometimes it's seven. You know, it's like, yeah, it makes
it interesting. It's how I feel.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, it's cool. It's just like what they say, you know,
ear candy and you want to keep adding and then
like I feel like sometimes it could be just cookie cutter,
but it's good to add like elements and different things
here and there and just add that element of surprise.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Man, So you you've seen it, like you've seen like
you talk about logic and it's crazy how like I
like pro tools, but I know logic. I've seen logic
and it's so crazy. How from twenty years how it's
just evolved, Like you said, drag and drop and I'm
sure you could appreciate this, Like I see people like
(12:11):
how you can map out you know, drum probe Dragon
Like it's like no, you know, I'm old school MPC
and it's just it's just crazy. So how's your like
your creative process? Like could you walk that through? It
was like, how do you get inspired? Does it come
to you, like, how do you start? Does it start
off with the words or does it you just like
(12:32):
make a melody in So.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
When I was sixteen, I was in a studio. Metallica's
manager had paid for us to do a reel to
reel recording and we weren't very good at that point
and we were just kind of getting started still. But anyway,
so it made this demo and I remember the second
day I was there, there was a copy of Spin
magazine on the engineer's desk, and so I picked it
(12:54):
up because it had my one of my heroes, the
lead singer Weezer. Okay, so I opened it up and
I read the article and he was talking about how
like he writes three songs a day, and so I
was like, Okay, if I'm going to be any good
at this, but I want to do anything with this,
I have to write three songs a day to be
as good as my hero. And so from that day
fourth I was writing three songs a day. So to
(13:16):
this day, I still I still follow that that, I
still follow that discipline. Yeah, yeah, So I don't really
you know, like when people talk about and you know,
I might sound like an asshole for saying this. But
like when people talk about writer's block, like, I don't.
I can't relate to that. I don't have that. I've
never run into it. I haven't ever experienced it. For me,
(13:36):
A blank canvas like MIDI is like, yeah, that's all.
I'm like a blank page. Like if I start to
read a book, I can't. I can't read a book,
like I've embarrassed to say. I'm I can write pretty well,
but you know, as far as reading, like I get
bored and I have to write my own stuff, like
I can't really get into Yeah, I kind of, I
(13:58):
kind of. I can't hear myself when I sound like
an idiot per sing.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
But to me, it sounds like you're constantly there's like
ideas and stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I just can't settle it. I can't settle my mind
down long enough to concentrate on somebody else's material unless
it's music or it's like a video game or something
something like really truly immersive.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
You know. Yeah, no, I could appreciate that. You know,
writer's block, it is in a selfish nightmare, like man
the creative juices. I likened it to what was Gwenn
Stephani when she first did a solo album. The song
like are the one on where she's like she calls
herself a stupid hole. It's just talking about well, what
(14:37):
you're waiting for? Like, hey, write this, Yeah, write this song?
You know you got the million dollar contract?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yeah, attention to the lyrics.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
It's a it's a it's about writer's block because she's like,
you got you got your million dollar contract and they're
waiting for your hot track. And there's one part like
like don't be stupid. Hell, like make this song you
waiting for.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
That's so funny.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I was about And the only reason why I know
it is because I actually watched the video and she's
in the studio like, man, here I am with my
solo career, and man, you know I gotta do this.
I got the million dollars. We gotta make it happen.
But you brought up Weezer, and man, I love Weezer.
I recently about years years, I want to say, like
(15:23):
five years ago. I didn't know they redid like Toto's Africa. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I was just like, wow, that was that was a trip.
And then Toto redid hash Pipe, which was really cool
to hear. Wow, So Yeah, you should check that out.
It's pretty cool, pretty wild.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
So what what inspires you to create? What is it?
I feel like you just is fluid every every.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, I mean I think it's life. I mean I
think some of the best stuff. You know, obviously that
the best stuff I write is probably the you know,
why I'm going through a really hard time or something.
But yeah, I think I'm always going through a hard time.
So it's like, you know, it's like, you know, it's like,
you know, I mean, just going into Walmart for me
is in the ascid and like, you know, I can
have a panic attack and it's really bad, like the
fluorescent lighting. You know. Yeah, you know, riding the train
(16:08):
is an issue. You know, just being surrounded by people
is just is like an issue for me.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
So and you are in New York City, Like New
York City is sensive.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
I actually recently moved out of the city.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Oh okay, okay, So.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I'm actually I'm actually living in Connecticut now, which is like,
you know, very suburban for me. But there's like it's
it's really beautiful. It's really nice town. There's like the
seashore and stuff, which I love. But yeah, we're just
you know, we're surrounded by forest. It's like it's really
like the complete opposite.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
So oh yeah, okay, yeah, because I remember it, but yeah,
go ahead. Oh no, no, I was gonna say. So Carrie,
she's from the Midwest and we I told her. I
was like, New York City is just endless city. It's
like I can't I can't describe it. And we're in
we're like in Times Square and I'm like, this is
what it is. And she's from the Midwest, Like, oh
(16:59):
my god, I'm like, yes, it is massive.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
So somebody from the Midwest, it must be like, you know,
like very like anyway, if you don't live in New York,
like it's really cool to see. But like I imagine,
but like when I was watching, you know, because my
wife and I were watching the New Year's eve ball
drop and and you know, just just looking at Times Square,
I'm like we were both just looking and like, how
(17:25):
do people do that? Like how do people stand next
to each other and just like you know, just like
and like like for like twenty four hours, you know,
because they get there like really early to be in
the in the in the camera's view and stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, that's dedication. I have a like a Sydebar story.
So in my besides being a musician, I work in
aviation industry and I was doing this work with Jet
Blue and their offices like in Queens. Yeah, not too far.
So for two two weeks I had to go to
that building. So real estate is prime in New York,
(17:59):
like it was the Hilton and I want to say
the Hilton Inn. And like my hotel room was small.
But for two weeks I would get out of my
hotel room and walk. And at the time, I was
living in North fort Worth in a new build, so
I was there for two weeks. I get back to
North fort Worth and where it's quiet, and I couldn't
(18:19):
go to sleep because I was used to all that
city noise.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yep, it's bro bro bro. To this day, I sleep
with a fan on because I need the noise. Yeah,
I need that white noise, just like something happening, like
if it's if it's dead still, I'm kinda like I
can't fall asleep. Bro.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Yeah, it's crazy, It is so crazy. I had a
question about the album Medication for a Modern World. So
for people that haven't heard your music, what can you
first tell us about the band? The sound and just
the album.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So I think the sound is pretty cinematic. I think
that there's very there's a very it's very raw, but
it's also and it's very It's interesting because you know,
I'm a pretty raw person, and you know, I don't
know if you can tell this, but like I pretty
much wear my heart on my sleep. I'm an open book.
I don't really have any like qualms about telling the
truth all the time. And I think that's, you know,
(19:17):
to a fault maybe, But so I think there's a
lot of rawness, but there's also a lot of control.
At the same time, there's a because the instruments are
so on grid, you know, musically, there's a lot of
room for me to kind of be not on the
grid with the vocals and the lyrics and stuff, and
(19:37):
they're very kind of abstract. And then you put those
two elements together and you get something that's kind of
that's pretty cinematic, I think, and also raw and emotional
at the same time. So it's pretty cool, you know.
I'm it's the it's the best album I think I've
ever made, so, you know, without without a doubt for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
And now because you can sound like the engineering, the music,
the songwriting, and even like you said, the soundscape is
very cinematic because I could hear atmospherics, you could hear rock,
you can hear electronic. So it's I mean, I'm trying
to think. Sometimes I don't know why Trent Reznor keeps
coming up in my mind, but yeah, yeah, so for me,
(20:20):
yeah yeah, yeah, so I'm like okay, and then with
the cinematic elements because now he composes like very I
like his dark synth.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah stuff, man, I'll take it. I'll take it because
you know, being compared to Trent, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, He's definitely one of those on the on the
top top list. So we talked about so now you
go from performing and now like more when COVID happened.
After COVID, I couldn't create because it's like I gotta
be out, I gotta be out. I've been in like
and you know, we have to be in a quiet space.
Now I'm in a space where I could appreciate that
(20:58):
are there times where you miss being do you misperforming?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So we actually the way that we've made this a
full time job and career, you know, because I you know,
I was I was struggling for you know, fifteen years
in my last band, trying to make ends meet because
we were on an indie deal. We had this thing
with Sony it fell through. But with this, it's it's
crazy because a lot I know, I know a lot
(21:24):
of people struggled through the pandemic, but I, for me,
it was like this, creatively speaking, it was like kind
of an awakening and a bless a blessing in disguise
because I found out what live streaming was. I figured
out how to live stream and how to start writing
digitally and be creative. You know, we started to. Then
it's over the years, you know, it just kept building
(21:46):
and growing and growing. You can't see it right now,
but this is where we perform. We have like four
cameras s facing that way. We have lights and everything.
But essentially what we do is we shoot all the performances,
five to six shows a day down here, and people,
you know, pay for them through our website. And we
also do like we're right now, we're technically on tour.
We do kind of like half in person and half virtual.
(22:08):
So yeah, I mean it, you know, I think it's
really just about I don't know, I mean, like I said,
I think the pandemic was kind of a blessing in
disguise for me.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yeah, because you could you could see how we transitioned.
And I think now you make you got me thinking like, wow,
I want to see how with the pandemic, how technology changed,
because now the shift was like Okay, now we can't
you know, you can't be around people. But digitally, that's it. Virtual,
that's that's it. And you asked my question about the
(22:40):
on air and the yeah. Yeah. I was like, is
that a studio.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
That's a real thing. Yeah, that's a real anytime we
have that sign on people, it's connected wirelessly. There's a
bunch of them around the house, so like when that
one's turned on, they all go on. So everybody knows
not to come downstairs. So it's all.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Gotcha, gotcha man? What would be your dream dream collaborators
in the future, Like, who would you like to collaborate with?
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Oh? Man, So we only I've only ever done one
true collaboration. And we actually just dropped the single. And
we were in Brooklyn last Friday night and we did
a show and it was live streamed and it was great.
But we dropped the single a deep base. I think
it's the third track on the record. Okay, yeah, that's
the we we I. I collaborated with my my rapper
(23:28):
best friend Jeff Jeff Wise from Queen's. He like lived
across the street from me. One day he was like,
he had a rap and I had this idea that
I was working on, and we just kind of came
together and everyone was like, oh, that's a Lincoln Park thing,
Like yeah, okay, sure, all right, rap rock Lincoln Park.
It must be Lincoln Park. But yeah, So that's as
(23:50):
far as to answer your question, a dream collaboration, man,
I don't. I think it would have to be something
just like totally wild, like something like in like something
like that, something like in the Top forty that I'm
like totally unexpecting. Yeah, you know, not not expecting, rather
like I don't know, Like I don't know, Sabrina Carpenter. No,
you know what I'd love to do is because I
(24:10):
don't really listen to rock when I'm at home. I
listen to like really low fi chill kind of like
deep house stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah, like yeah, low five visa. I'm right there with you.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I'm right there with yeah, man. But there's this. There's
this this band that you should check out. They're called
men I Trust, and they're doing like a very similar
they're kind of running a similar model that I run,
but they're out, they're way more on the road. But
they're so independent and they're so their sound is just
so mellow and chill. It's kind of like just a
it's got that same deep house kind of vibe to it,
(24:42):
but it's not deep house. It's like more alternative. You
should check it out.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Man.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
They called I'm plugging another band in my own interview,
but show me how but by men I Trust man
and days go by men I Trust. Okay, Yeah, just
a just an incredible band. If I had a collaboration
opportunity with them, they're just amazing. Songwriter is amazing, just
like ethereal kind of engineers, just great at what they do.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
So yeah, and you brought up something that I stood
out in my mind. So we twenty years ago, we
see now with technology now with distribution, we see like
the middleman's kind of been you know, etched out, and
obviously you built your own niche now, like I like
to say, through chaos cam and you know, now unfortunately,
(25:29):
something bad happened. Now you found the niche and you
mentioned Sony and then you mentioned like being a star
of an artist. We see now though with technology. I
tell people now, it's like, look back in the day,
I had to go go to the library and read
this business of music. But everything is right here in
the palm of your hand. You can figure it out digitally.
(25:51):
Do you think that the Sony situation was that like
a blessing in disguise because it seems like you're doing
your own movement and you're successful.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Absolutely, there was two. There were so many problems with
that deal. It was, you know, it was a development deal,
and we were going to be three sixty. You know,
so for people that we were going to be three sixty,
which means that basically you're getting screwed in every which
way they're taking it. They're taking a pace of your merch,
(26:22):
you're touring, your production, you know, making an album, you
know all that stuff. So you're basically losing money on
every front. And then the studio that wanted to produce
us was also going to take a cut of everything,
So we're going to be three sixty twice. And I
was like, hell no, I was I was you know,
I was twenty twenty three years old, and I was like,
(26:42):
hell no, So yeah, I mean, like you said, now
we've come to a place where you don't need the middleman.
And if you're if you're you know, savvy, you're not
even savvy enough. And there are plenty of people that
you know, make a living on YouTube and stuff and
aren't very great at you know, making great videos. But
yeah they're just loud and obnoxious and people like it.
(27:04):
But like you know, if you're driven enough, you'll figure
it out. I mean, it's really just a microphone, a
camera and a key light, right oh.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yeah, oh yeah, and like you said, with like digital
audio wordstations.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah, Like I.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Am surprised because you remember twenty twenty years ago, even
in the nineties, Oh man, you gotta have a big studio.
You gotta go to that studio.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
You gotta an SSL, you know whatever.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Yeah, you know, now somebody's like, yeah, I had my
little Akai little USB keyboard and blah blah blah, Like damn,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah, yeah, the results speak for themselves. You don't need
like this massive budget anymore. And that's the thing is,
like you can you know. It's like I have like
three different like if you did a pie chart, like
I have three different things. Like one third is the
performing stuff, you know, touring virtually high you know in person,
the touring stuff and making and selling the records obviously,
(27:55):
and the second third is talking about mental health awareness
and sharing my adoption story. That's the second third of
my Orphan Prodigy umbrella. And the third part is gaming
and streaming that. So we start Call of Duty and
Battlefield Hell yeah, actually.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah, that's my I do a podcast for I'm not
have to have you on a forty something it I
will forty something gamers like gen.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
X Let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
But I didn't mean in a rut. But you said that.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
I was, oh, you're good. No. See that's how That's
why I like, I don't you know when I do interviews,
like they're like, you know, so what do you want
to talk about? I'm like, dude, I don't want to
go in with anything. I want it to be a
natural conversation. I'm on here just to plug myself. So yeah,
I know, I appreciate that. So I understand the you know,
the jumping, like let's jump and talk about something interesting.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
You know, it's like, yeah, but you brought it, Like
you have to be versatile, and then you have to
like give people the immersive your experience, and you're allowing
to give yourself give people your experience via this new
technology because right now, like.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
I didn't realize this. We were talking about me and
a couple of friends were talking about music and you know,
being a musical artist, and then like AI came up
and it's like, oh Ai is going to take our job.
But then when I was reading and doing research, it's
like AI is not emotional. It doesn't have emotion, it
doesn't have a story. So it's saying like for musicians,
(29:22):
be your true authentic self and share your experience. And
that's what you're doing, Like your whole thing is being
immersive and your whole experience. And it makes sense too,
you know, when you're doing your own thing and you're creating,
it's your your Like you said before, it was ninety
percent in the band, now it's one hundred and twenty.
It's all you and it's all your experience. And I
(29:43):
definitely appreciate that. And you could tell too. In the
album I'm like this is He's letting it all out
and I could appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Yeah, And you know, you bring up a great point.
I mean there's there's so much, like you know, as
much as AI is like, you know, great and really
cool and stuff. Brought up a really good point, and
that's that people are kind of like also like like
wholeheartedly against it at some at some level. But I
don't think that AI is inherently bad. I think that
it's you know, it's like you said, you need It's
(30:13):
only it's only a mirror. You know, it's only going
to go as far as as the emotions that you
put forth. Yes, and so if you know, like when
when people say AI is going to take my job,
it's like, well, at least from a creative standpoint, that's
not the case. Like I was listening to a song
that was fully AI generated a version of smells like
(30:33):
teen Spirit, and it was like, in this disco, I
should send it to you, And it sounds great, it
sounds fucking amazing, and I'm totally with it's like seven
minutes long.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
It's great.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
But but like you know, it's it's a novelty, like
you're not going to get originality from an as you're
gonna get. You're not gonna get heart and emotion and
rawness and depth. You're going to get something no novelty
like that, like like a disco version of smells like
teen Spirit from the eighties, like or seventies.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
You know, yeah, that's ah. They have a nineteen fifties
version of Rough Riders anthems.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, yeah, I've heard of Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
And then uh, now I see like videos ai videos
of Tupac and Kobe Bryant hanging out, Tupac doing trigger treating.
Like you said, you can use it as a tool,
and it doesn't have the it doesn't emote, it doesn't
connect like great artists they connect like they like, I'm
not we brought up Nirvana like Kurt Cobain. Yeah, well no,
(31:57):
it's shameless promotion, all.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Right, shameless prom motion time. Yeah. You can find us
on Orphan Prodigy dot com. That's kind of the hub.
You can find all the socials there. But we are
on YouTube. No not really, I don't think we're really
on TikTok. But we are on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitch,
and discord. So you if you want to check out
our new single deep Bass off the album Medication from
our world. You can find that on our YouTube channel
(32:20):
at Orphan Prodigy. That's that's pretty much. That's pretty much
the thing, man.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
And then this one, What does music mean to you?
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Everything? It's breathing. Yeah, it's like it's like airform means oxygen. Yes, like.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, yeah, that's all we do, talk retro pop culture.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
So you ladies, before we signed off, I got to
show you this. I got I got a no.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I see it. I see that. That is like that's og. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Now it's like it says Orphan Prodigy, but it's like
super feed up.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Man. That's cool, man, that is cool.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Microsoft sent that to me. That was fun.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Wow send it like with the uh yeah, with the
eedging Man, that's pretty cool. Because in all honesty too,
like with your music, I could see it being in
a video game.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Like man, that's we're trying. We're trying, we're hopeful. We
have a few things work. Can't talk about it, but
uh you know, we'll I get that.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
I'll speak it into existance. I see it.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Please do please do it'll help me.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
So, ladies and gentlemen, it's been a great one. And
this is Mark and Ian. Could I say half a
one third of Orphan Prodigy or.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Just the oh I get, I mean, I am, I am.
It's yeah, one fourth I guess technically orphan Prodigy.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
So ladies and gentlemen, thank you your socials.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Insta, Instagram, Facebook. Uh act, if you use that, we
don't really use it too much. Did I say YouTube? Yeah? YouTube, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
That's the main under Orphan Prodigy, Orphan Prodigy. Okay and
there we go. So another great episode Orphan Prodigy and
MARKI has signed off for Deeper than Music. Thank you,
Thanks anig problem man. Thanks. Yes, I'm going ahead to
see
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