WEBVTT 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:03.220 Welcome to Overeducated and Underemployed. I'm 00:00:03.220 --> 00:00:07.040 Fedden. Today we've got part one of my interview 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:10.439 with J. Roddy Walston. He was doing house shows 00:00:10.439 --> 00:00:14.060 and came through my area. So I set one up with 00:00:14.060 --> 00:00:17.460 him. I had people drive from a couple hours away. 00:00:18.219 --> 00:00:21.100 After the show was over, he and I like partied 00:00:21.100 --> 00:00:23.719 and watched a stupid movie and just hung out. 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:27.140 I want to point out that we had a bit of a rapport 00:00:27.140 --> 00:00:29.839 before going into this interview. Even though 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:34.219 I had not known him very well yet. I tried to 00:00:34.219 --> 00:00:37.000 provide context when they brought up something 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:39.600 we had already discussed. But for the most part, 00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:41.659 we avoided what I wanted to talk about on the 00:00:41.659 --> 00:00:44.960 podcast prior to the interview. This first half 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:46.820 of the interview, Roddy talks about his early 00:00:46.820 --> 00:00:51.380 influences, what made him choose to become a 00:00:51.380 --> 00:00:53.920 musician, what else he may have done. And then 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:55.979 tomorrow, we'll have part two where he talks 00:00:55.979 --> 00:01:00.200 more about... being a father, what he's been 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:03.259 doing since COVID, and what he's doing now to 00:01:03.259 --> 00:01:07.159 reinvigorate his fan base. Without further ado, 00:01:07.299 --> 00:01:09.620 I'll give you part one of my interview with J. 00:01:09.620 --> 00:01:12.500 Roddy Walston. Full disclosure, I'm a fan, and 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:14.840 he played in my house last night. Roddy, how 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:16.900 you doing, man? I'm good, man. I'm good. I gotta 00:01:16.900 --> 00:01:20.359 let you know, I'm also a fan of mine. That's 00:01:20.359 --> 00:01:22.500 good. That's good, man. Let's just start. What 00:01:22.500 --> 00:01:27.540 was the first musician that you loved? First 00:01:27.540 --> 00:01:31.400 musician I loved. I remember, very much remember 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:34.739 two moments that I heard something. I was like, 00:01:34.819 --> 00:01:39.480 I wasn't even like, I was a kid, but I, in Ferris 00:01:39.480 --> 00:01:41.780 Bueller's Day Off when he was in the parade and 00:01:41.780 --> 00:01:43.819 they were singing, he was lip syncing to the 00:01:43.819 --> 00:01:48.040 Beatles. And, but it's the Shake It Up Baby or 00:01:48.040 --> 00:01:50.659 whatever. And it's one of those recordings where 00:01:50.659 --> 00:01:53.170 John Lennon's. sick and his voice just sounds 00:01:53.170 --> 00:01:55.269 destroyed. And I was like, I want to sound like 00:01:55.269 --> 00:01:57.629 that. So I didn't even know what I was listening 00:01:57.629 --> 00:02:00.250 to, but it was just like, ooh. And then in the 00:02:00.250 --> 00:02:03.709 same way, seeing Jailhouse Rock and Elvis playing 00:02:03.709 --> 00:02:07.010 it, I was just like, this is, I didn't really 00:02:07.010 --> 00:02:08.870 care about the visuals as much as just like the 00:02:08.870 --> 00:02:10.569 way his voice sounded. I was like, this is so 00:02:10.569 --> 00:02:14.169 cool. In a more like, actually knew what I was 00:02:14.169 --> 00:02:17.430 listening to kind of way. I found a box of records 00:02:17.430 --> 00:02:20.189 in my house, and I have no idea whose records 00:02:20.189 --> 00:02:22.530 they were because it was not my parents. And 00:02:22.530 --> 00:02:29.449 it was the first three U2 records, Aerosmith, 00:02:29.650 --> 00:02:32.909 Toys in the Attic. Aerosmith, Toys in the Attic, 00:02:32.930 --> 00:02:36.889 and that was the box of records. And so that 00:02:36.889 --> 00:02:39.509 kind of like really just flipped my lid because 00:02:39.509 --> 00:02:41.210 at that point all I'd ever really listened to 00:02:41.210 --> 00:02:44.069 was like church stuff or music that was in movies 00:02:44.069 --> 00:02:47.550 or whatever. And then the first CDs I bought 00:02:47.550 --> 00:02:51.330 was DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, like 00:02:51.330 --> 00:02:55.289 that first record. Same day bought that, R .E 00:02:55.289 --> 00:02:58.849 .M. Automatic for the People, and those two records 00:02:58.849 --> 00:03:00.990 were a lot of the early 90s stuff for me. And 00:03:00.990 --> 00:03:03.650 then a year or so after that, my brother brought 00:03:03.650 --> 00:03:05.889 home Nevermind, and it was just like, this is 00:03:05.889 --> 00:03:07.889 so dangerous. We're going to get in trouble. 00:03:08.409 --> 00:03:11.289 Just the way it sounded. And then in that same 00:03:11.289 --> 00:03:14.060 world, like the Wayne's World soundtrack. strangely 00:03:14.060 --> 00:03:16.060 like really it was that movie just was everything 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:18.500 to me and my friends when it came out yeah the 00:03:18.500 --> 00:03:21.199 soundtrack was we were putting it on to feel 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:24.180 something from the movie but then it was like 00:03:24.180 --> 00:03:26.599 oh this kind of really turned me on to a lot 00:03:26.599 --> 00:03:30.699 of different stuff so I don't know. That's interesting. 00:03:30.780 --> 00:03:32.800 The Wayne's World soundtrack is an interesting, 00:03:32.979 --> 00:03:35.319 just, there's a cool story behind that too. They 00:03:35.319 --> 00:03:37.919 were really fighting for Alice Cooper to play 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:40.259 schools out for summer, like in the movie. And 00:03:40.259 --> 00:03:42.120 they had a new album coming out. Yeah. And the 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:45.300 label was like. Frankenstein. Yeah. You got to 00:03:45.300 --> 00:03:47.960 play the new song. Yeah. And the compromise they 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:50.620 reached was like, okay, we're going to play the 00:03:50.620 --> 00:03:52.500 new song in the movie, but the closing credits, 00:03:52.699 --> 00:03:55.460 you get schools out. And Mike Myers said it turned 00:03:55.460 --> 00:03:57.460 out like fine. Cause like, that's all anybody 00:03:57.460 --> 00:04:00.189 remembers anyway. Yeah. I think it's crazy that 00:04:00.189 --> 00:04:01.990 Twist and Shout was one of the first songs that 00:04:01.990 --> 00:04:04.490 ever grabbed you. Because it was for me, too. 00:04:04.610 --> 00:04:06.889 In fact, it might be the very first song. Different 00:04:06.889 --> 00:04:09.509 path, although I do love Ferris Bueller. I remember 00:04:09.509 --> 00:04:12.050 my mom taking me to a mall, to the Sam Goody. 00:04:12.229 --> 00:04:14.949 Yeah. And I bought, it was the collection Beatles 00:04:14.949 --> 00:04:17.810 rock and roll music. Oh, yeah. And it was one 00:04:17.810 --> 00:04:19.569 of the volumes. I can't remember which one. Whichever 00:04:19.569 --> 00:04:21.410 one had Twist and Shout on it. Yeah. And that 00:04:21.410 --> 00:04:23.529 was the first cassette I ever had. Yeah. And 00:04:23.529 --> 00:04:25.110 it's not the first time I've heard somebody say, 00:04:25.329 --> 00:04:28.230 not just the Beatles, but that song in particular. 00:04:28.810 --> 00:04:32.209 is yeah it's a great if you're in the like a 00:04:32.209 --> 00:04:35.250 rock vocal kind of performance like that's got 00:04:35.250 --> 00:04:38.189 to be an all -time like i think you can play 00:04:38.189 --> 00:04:40.050 that for anyone at any given moment it's just 00:04:40.050 --> 00:04:42.250 what the hell is going on here do you think there's 00:04:42.250 --> 00:04:44.529 like a common thread between what you liked about 00:04:44.529 --> 00:04:47.370 that and then what you heard and never mind where 00:04:47.370 --> 00:04:49.189 like that's the kind of dangerous because i mean 00:04:49.189 --> 00:04:51.529 obviously like twist and shout's not as edgy 00:04:51.529 --> 00:04:55.660 of a song but maybe at that age yeah and Especially 00:04:55.660 --> 00:04:57.339 the way you talked about John's vocals on that 00:04:57.339 --> 00:04:58.860 track. I mean, I think, yeah, somewhere in there 00:04:58.860 --> 00:05:02.660 is, yeah, Kurt's vocals are very blown out and 00:05:02.660 --> 00:05:06.319 wild and different than, say, now it's just like 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:10.759 everything is so processed and it's not. Most 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:12.720 people, you're not hearing like a singular performance 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:16.680 or even maybe the best of two takes put together 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:19.399 or something like that. Yeah, yeah, I'm definitely 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:22.319 like drawn to vocals and the wildness in those 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:25.310 vocals. or someone being able to like really 00:05:25.310 --> 00:05:27.769 bring it down and suck you in in a different 00:05:27.769 --> 00:05:30.850 way but yeah also when you're young you're just 00:05:30.850 --> 00:05:33.829 like you're still open to everything usually 00:05:33.829 --> 00:05:36.930 yeah yeah everybody's an artist when they're 00:05:36.930 --> 00:05:39.509 a toddler right yeah there's no rules and you 00:05:39.509 --> 00:05:42.990 just kind of like what you like and yeah so it 00:05:42.990 --> 00:05:46.209 was as wild to me to get the fresh prince record 00:05:46.209 --> 00:05:50.069 and you know i was terrified of nightmare on 00:05:50.069 --> 00:05:53.360 my street would you do you feel like do you feel 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:55.540 like that's like pretty representative of the 00:05:55.540 --> 00:05:57.519 diversity in the music that you still listen 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:01.100 to or because those are kind of other ends of 00:06:01.100 --> 00:06:02.819 the spectrum yeah it's kind of odd and weird 00:06:02.819 --> 00:06:06.319 i mean you know like some people i think that 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:09.399 do like rock and roll influence stuff they kind 00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:12.759 of get sucked into some romance with the idea 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:15.360 of what if i pretend i'm from 71 or i pretend 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:17.600 i'm from 55 or whatever and they're dressing 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:20.680 that way and they sing that way and record that 00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:22.790 and it's like i gotta find a studio that only 00:06:22.790 --> 00:06:26.250 has technology that stops you know whatever that 00:06:26.250 --> 00:06:28.689 kind of thing where you're just like cosplaying 00:06:28.689 --> 00:06:32.269 a decade or whatever and yeah yeah and i'm not 00:06:32.269 --> 00:06:36.089 saying i haven't participated in some of that 00:06:36.089 --> 00:06:38.569 kind of stuff in the sense of like being really 00:06:38.569 --> 00:06:40.449 interested in like what's a real what would it 00:06:40.449 --> 00:06:43.029 be like to record a record on tape or whatever 00:06:43.029 --> 00:06:46.149 because computers were involved i had four track 00:06:46.149 --> 00:06:49.569 cassette recorders but pretty quickly after that 00:06:49.569 --> 00:06:53.250 a friend of mine a very early like the first 00:06:53.250 --> 00:06:55.149 affordable version of being able to record on 00:06:55.149 --> 00:06:57.810 a computer at home. I've been dealing with that 00:06:57.810 --> 00:07:02.689 kind of technology since Julio. But the thing 00:07:02.689 --> 00:07:05.449 for me, generally speaking, is I like all the 00:07:05.449 --> 00:07:08.389 stuff that I've heard as far as past things, 00:07:08.550 --> 00:07:11.850 but I still am recognizing that I live right 00:07:11.850 --> 00:07:14.490 now. So I don't necessarily want to make a record 00:07:14.490 --> 00:07:15.910 where someone says, oh, this guy's a contemporary 00:07:15.910 --> 00:07:18.430 of the Beatles or something. It's like I did... 00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:20.860 listen to whitney houston when my sister was 00:07:20.860 --> 00:07:23.439 jim you know that influenced me i thought michael 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:26.699 jackson was a rock and roll singer i didn't necessarily 00:07:26.699 --> 00:07:29.220 i was like you know because i was growing up 00:07:29.220 --> 00:07:31.240 when he was doing like bad and thriller and that 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:34.279 stuff was yeah i was like that's crazy that he 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:36.540 and alvin the chipmunk sing a lot it's van halen 00:07:36.540 --> 00:07:40.040 playing guitar yeah right yeah and again great 00:07:40.040 --> 00:07:43.660 i mean michael jackson when he's singing aggressively 00:07:43.660 --> 00:07:47.220 is like it's amazing it's insane yeah so i generally 00:07:47.220 --> 00:07:50.040 try to I'm not like trying to jam every genre 00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:52.060 and every decade and everything that's ever happened 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:53.819 in the same song, but I don't, I don't go, Oh, 00:07:53.819 --> 00:07:58.639 I can't do that. That's too 97 or 2025 or what? 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:01.980 So it doesn't really, you don't make it be the 00:08:01.980 --> 00:08:04.860 reason you do or don't do something. Right. Right. 00:08:05.259 --> 00:08:07.139 I mean, there's certain things that, I mean, 00:08:07.180 --> 00:08:08.839 unless I can find a really artistic, you know, 00:08:08.839 --> 00:08:10.600 songs about like cell phones or something. I'm 00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:14.800 like, there's certain words or very time specific 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:18.339 things that. I tend to avoid for a reason, like 00:08:18.339 --> 00:08:20.699 lyrically, you know? It's interesting though. 00:08:20.740 --> 00:08:23.319 The converse of that is so many like movie plots 00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:27.920 are now obsolete. Yeah. Right. It's like, this 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:29.639 would have been, if they just had, you know, 00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:32.539 a beeper. Yeah. And this would have been, the 00:08:32.539 --> 00:08:37.379 movie would be over. Yeah. But, okay. So what 00:08:37.379 --> 00:08:41.740 made you realize that music is what you were 00:08:41.740 --> 00:08:43.840 going to do with your life? Or at least that 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:46.980 you were going to try it? Yeah. What was the 00:08:46.980 --> 00:08:49.840 transition from consumer to producer? Pretty 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:53.379 much from early on, I was like, one of my earliest, 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:55.940 earliest memories was like writing a little, 00:08:56.100 --> 00:08:59.460 you know, as like a seven -year -old, like being 00:08:59.460 --> 00:09:02.980 like, you know, like a little rhyme. I know that 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:05.799 the rhyme was strife in life. And I like walked 00:09:05.799 --> 00:09:07.440 up to my mom and like sang it to her. And she 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:10.340 was just kind of like, why are you saying strife? 00:09:10.460 --> 00:09:12.759 Like, do you even know what that means? But so 00:09:12.759 --> 00:09:16.500 pretty early on was like writing. Like, didn't 00:09:16.500 --> 00:09:20.639 know how songs worked at all. I just would write 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:23.980 words down. But in my head, it was like, and 00:09:23.980 --> 00:09:25.899 then when I start writing songs, I'll already 00:09:25.899 --> 00:09:28.320 have all these words or something, at least know 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:30.700 how to put them together. Honestly, the year 00:09:30.700 --> 00:09:33.139 that Kurt Cobain died, the talent show at our 00:09:33.139 --> 00:09:36.059 school, they were like, because it was like days 00:09:36.059 --> 00:09:38.480 later, they were like, no bands, whatever, can 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:40.200 play Nirvana songs. But none of the teachers 00:09:40.200 --> 00:09:42.100 knew Nirvana songs, so everybody played Nirvana 00:09:42.100 --> 00:09:44.500 songs and just said that they wrote them. And 00:09:44.500 --> 00:09:47.059 then every band got up and smashed their gear 00:09:47.059 --> 00:09:50.120 and stuff. And I didn't sound great. No, it was 00:09:50.120 --> 00:09:52.460 an injury. Whatever the case, I looked at my, 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:53.840 I looked over at my best friend. I was like, 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:56.120 dude, we have to start a band right now. Like 00:09:56.120 --> 00:09:58.620 the coach was like crying. Cause like high hats 00:09:58.620 --> 00:10:01.200 were going like into the wood of the gym floor 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:04.179 and stuff. One kid smashed a brand new guitar. 00:10:04.379 --> 00:10:05.980 And he was, as soon as he did, he was like, my 00:10:05.980 --> 00:10:07.539 dad's going to kill me. And he like ran away 00:10:07.539 --> 00:10:10.419 for a week. Like, and I was just like, this is 00:10:10.419 --> 00:10:13.980 the best thing I have ever seen. That was probably 00:10:13.980 --> 00:10:15.039 the moment that it was like, all right. He really 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:17.419 spread like wildfire. Yeah, it was just like, 00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:19.799 let's go. Like, this is happening. I mean, also 00:10:19.799 --> 00:10:23.940 it was wild to observe that moment where even 00:10:23.940 --> 00:10:27.379 the cool kids were weird for like one or two 00:10:27.379 --> 00:10:31.179 years. Like, oh, longer hair, tie dyes. They're 00:10:31.179 --> 00:10:33.879 telling teachers, you know, suck it. But then 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:36.419 all of a sudden, like, the thing flipped and 00:10:36.419 --> 00:10:39.960 they were like, actually, you know, I'm a quarterback. 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:43.700 Let's get rapey or whatever. yeah yeah yeah yeah 00:10:43.700 --> 00:10:46.519 but just right back into their old yeah yeah 00:10:46.519 --> 00:10:50.460 but it was a cool little the girls like the window 00:10:50.460 --> 00:10:54.440 of like you know like what if the world was completely 00:10:54.440 --> 00:10:56.500 like wild and weird you know and then it's like 00:10:56.500 --> 00:10:59.480 no dog i'm trying to make money or whatever my 00:10:59.480 --> 00:11:02.620 dad's a lawyer let's get real but yeah it was 00:11:02.620 --> 00:11:04.580 a weird cool little moment to live through for 00:11:04.580 --> 00:11:07.240 sure and then when when was when did you realize 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:10.009 like you could make this your like your living 00:11:10.009 --> 00:11:12.690 or your life or at least something that you continue 00:11:12.690 --> 00:11:15.029 to do and i know that hasn't always been the 00:11:15.029 --> 00:11:18.230 case but yeah when did you realize i'm gonna 00:11:18.230 --> 00:11:21.070 i'm gonna try and make this my thing and not 00:11:21.070 --> 00:11:24.370 whatever else so i was in so after that point 00:11:24.370 --> 00:11:26.710 started all like high school junior high whatever 00:11:26.710 --> 00:11:29.889 kind of bands and like i think to whatever level 00:11:29.889 --> 00:11:32.769 i was in a lot of ways the driving force in those 00:11:32.769 --> 00:11:36.269 bands but it was also very young we're all in 00:11:36.269 --> 00:11:39.320 it together you know thing and but within that 00:11:39.320 --> 00:11:44.100 we were like the writing was really sort of democratic 00:11:44.100 --> 00:11:47.659 you know kind of anybody that brought anything 00:11:47.659 --> 00:11:50.220 it got to go in and then but inevitably some 00:11:50.220 --> 00:11:51.659 version of the band would break up or something 00:11:51.659 --> 00:11:53.639 quit and then you're like left with this like 00:11:53.639 --> 00:11:56.879 oh we have this like 18 minute long song but 00:11:56.879 --> 00:11:59.039 the third section blah blah wrote and they quit 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:01.220 do we get rid of their section can we play i 00:12:01.220 --> 00:12:03.620 don't know so i had some moment where i was like 00:12:03.620 --> 00:12:06.379 i'm gonna start writing just a song from the 00:12:06.379 --> 00:12:08.120 front to the end. Because I'd basically never 00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:10.399 been in bands that, like, unless the whole band 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:12.879 was in the room, you couldn't play through the 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:14.960 whole song. Or you were like, blah, blah, blah, 00:12:14.980 --> 00:12:16.980 blah. But then hear this, like, explaining people, 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:18.840 like, that it would be better if you could hear 00:12:18.840 --> 00:12:20.600 the whole thing or we can't play this section 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:22.899 because it's on the theremin or something. And 00:12:22.899 --> 00:12:24.700 so I was like, I'm going to sit down and start 00:12:24.700 --> 00:12:27.320 writing a song from, like, front to back that 00:12:27.320 --> 00:12:29.779 potentially either on a piano or a guitar I could 00:12:29.779 --> 00:12:33.129 just play for you. that's like gone way out into 00:12:33.129 --> 00:12:35.129 the wildness of weirdness before i ever really 00:12:35.129 --> 00:12:37.230 learned how to write a song but then i don't 00:12:37.230 --> 00:12:39.210 know so yeah all of a sudden i had the ability 00:12:39.210 --> 00:12:41.009 to play a song all the way through and people 00:12:41.009 --> 00:12:43.950 are like i'm into that and then it's pretty powerful 00:12:43.950 --> 00:12:46.210 to get positive reinforcement towards the front 00:12:46.210 --> 00:12:48.649 end of something because you're like is this 00:12:48.649 --> 00:12:52.269 just for me is this i like it but to have some 00:12:52.269 --> 00:12:55.370 people that you respect like it enough to tell 00:12:55.370 --> 00:12:57.919 you and also go Like right now, like if someone 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:00.000 brought me a song and it was just terrible, I'd 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:02.860 just be like, oh, cool. But I'm not going to 00:13:02.860 --> 00:13:05.259 spend time trying to fix something that's unfixable. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:07.919 So if someone sees something in you that's good 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:10.120 enough for them to actually give you a critique. 00:13:10.840 --> 00:13:12.799 And I grew up, my dad was a basketball coach 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:15.039 and whatever. So I think a lot of artists, it's 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:16.860 like they don't have the ability to hear. You're 00:13:16.860 --> 00:13:19.279 never going to be. a power forward or something. 00:13:19.299 --> 00:13:20.440 My dad would be like, do you want me to tell 00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:21.759 you the truth or you want me to help you get 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:23.120 better? I'm like, okay. And he's like, you're 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:25.340 short, you're slow, you're whatever. Like, but 00:13:25.340 --> 00:13:27.059 here's what you can do. You get better at that. 00:13:27.139 --> 00:13:29.080 And of course do the other stuff as much as you 00:13:29.080 --> 00:13:31.919 can, but. And that's the downside of everybody 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:34.779 getting a trophy. Right. Yeah. Because everybody 00:13:34.779 --> 00:13:37.039 is told that they're good at something they might 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:39.500 not be good at. Yeah. And they know how to hear 00:13:39.500 --> 00:13:41.139 that when they do hear it. And then they just 00:13:41.139 --> 00:13:42.960 like crumble. It's like, oh, what? And you're 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:45.200 like, yeah. And not only that, they're then they're 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:47.649 not. diverting their efforts into something they 00:13:47.649 --> 00:13:50.330 might be able to excel at. They're like trying 00:13:50.330 --> 00:13:52.389 to like flounder in this thing that they've been 00:13:52.389 --> 00:13:55.730 told they can do. Yeah. So do you think you've, 00:13:55.730 --> 00:13:57.590 you're playing solo shows for the first time 00:13:57.590 --> 00:14:00.409 in this band's history. So do you feel like you're 00:14:00.409 --> 00:14:02.289 going through that same experience again? Yeah. 00:14:02.289 --> 00:14:05.389 Yeah. On the road? Yeah. In fact, as we were 00:14:05.389 --> 00:14:06.809 cleaning up the house the other day, you know, 00:14:06.809 --> 00:14:09.490 you end up with like Tupperware bins of like 00:14:09.490 --> 00:14:12.169 memorabilia or whatever, like articles, whatever. 00:14:12.409 --> 00:14:14.559 And it was kind of like, what is this? I was 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:15.980 sorting through it, and there was, like, a pop 00:14:15.980 --> 00:14:18.679 -up quote in some art interview I did. And I 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:22.000 was like, you know, the name G .R .I. and the 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:25.460 business, when I named that band, or, you know, 00:14:25.460 --> 00:14:27.980 I started playing as that, there weren't a lot 00:14:27.980 --> 00:14:29.639 of blah -biddy -blah and the blah -biddy -blah 00:14:29.639 --> 00:14:32.580 at that time. It was, like, one word, just, like, 00:14:32.620 --> 00:14:35.980 bush. Yeah, but it was, like, the strokes. Yeah, 00:14:35.980 --> 00:14:39.500 that was a few years later. But, yeah, a singular 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:43.710 word, a singular kind of er. And the... Premise 00:14:43.710 --> 00:14:45.950 was really in reference to that thing where I 00:14:45.950 --> 00:14:47.669 kept being in bands that broke up and I was like, 00:14:47.730 --> 00:14:50.309 okay, I'm gonna be able to play and whoever's 00:14:50.309 --> 00:14:53.309 in the band or not, I can keep playing these 00:14:53.309 --> 00:14:55.289 songs because I had just gone through here in 00:14:55.289 --> 00:14:56.990 high school. So I'm just, I don't like this anymore. 00:14:57.149 --> 00:15:00.769 I'm going to college or whatever. And so when 00:15:00.769 --> 00:15:02.870 I read that, I was like, dang, dude, I'm just 00:15:02.870 --> 00:15:05.710 like learning the same lessons over and over. 00:15:06.190 --> 00:15:09.330 Not, you know, I do love being in a band and 00:15:09.330 --> 00:15:12.639 I do love. working with people and whatever but 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:16.000 like at this point in my life i'm at least ready 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:18.519 to have a chunk of time where i'm starting over 00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:23.360 for a while and with that i'm trying to make 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:25.820 people feel appreciated while not making them 00:15:25.820 --> 00:15:28.139 have allowing them to have the ability to be 00:15:28.139 --> 00:15:30.899 like oh we can't do that show or that tour because 00:15:30.899 --> 00:15:33.500 my family's vacation or something like that but 00:15:33.500 --> 00:15:37.299 they should be able to i missed so much of the 00:15:37.299 --> 00:15:40.429 important family stuff in my 20s through early 00:15:40.429 --> 00:15:43.950 40s just being like band music whatever has to 00:15:43.950 --> 00:15:46.950 come first and so like also when you're in a 00:15:46.950 --> 00:15:49.710 band like that then being like can you play this 00:15:49.710 --> 00:15:52.169 show and you're like why niece is graduating 00:15:52.169 --> 00:15:54.230 like yeah it's gonna cost everybody else in the 00:15:54.230 --> 00:15:56.629 band like four thousand dollars each or something 00:15:56.629 --> 00:15:59.610 you're like sorry i can't go anyways so yeah 00:15:59.610 --> 00:16:02.389 yeah i think coming back and being able to play 00:16:02.389 --> 00:16:05.710 the songs by myself i was just in a band for 00:16:05.710 --> 00:16:07.809 so long that like when it came time to finally 00:16:07.809 --> 00:16:10.460 do a solo show again For the first time in 15, 00:16:10.659 --> 00:16:13.639 20 years, I was like, oh man, I don't really 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:15.860 know how to play my songs front to back without 00:16:15.860 --> 00:16:18.639 this. I'd normally stand up during the bridge 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:20.679 and run around or whatever. Or like, how do I 00:16:20.679 --> 00:16:24.860 make this engaging to play by myself? And so 00:16:24.860 --> 00:16:27.120 like learning that again. And then it's also 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:29.460 given me the ability to try out new stuff in 00:16:29.460 --> 00:16:32.000 front of people versus like with the band. A 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:34.919 lot of times you're like, someone has, everyone 00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:36.799 has varying degrees of comfort of what if we 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:39.659 fall flat in front of people. Which I also have 00:16:39.659 --> 00:16:43.100 learned that I, while scared about it, really 00:16:43.100 --> 00:16:46.860 thrive on. Yeah. Like this tour I went on last 00:16:46.860 --> 00:16:49.240 summer, I basically just, it was both like as 00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:51.320 I was traveling and on stage, it's like, if I 00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:53.720 think about it, I have to do it. So I didn't 00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:55.740 become careful about it. I was just like living 00:16:55.740 --> 00:16:58.200 my life. But like at Soundcheck, if I did a weird 00:16:58.200 --> 00:17:00.139 version of a song, it was like, okay, tonight 00:17:00.139 --> 00:17:02.179 on stage, I'm just going to figure out how to 00:17:02.179 --> 00:17:04.359 play it all the way through like that. Like that 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:05.980 version of Sweatshark that I did last night. 00:17:06.460 --> 00:17:09.299 Yeah. That was just a... idea I had one night 00:17:09.299 --> 00:17:11.319 and then I was like, all right, here we go. And 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:13.099 that keeps, I think that keeps people that know 00:17:13.099 --> 00:17:16.519 your songs interested too. That's part of why 00:17:16.519 --> 00:17:18.619 people, some people want to go see a band and 00:17:18.619 --> 00:17:20.299 they just want to hear the way it sounds on the 00:17:20.299 --> 00:17:23.579 record. But I think real music fans typically 00:17:23.579 --> 00:17:27.400 want to hear the most organic version of that 00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:30.460 song they can. Yeah. And I think like you've 00:17:30.460 --> 00:17:33.779 gotten to the root of making these songs new 00:17:33.779 --> 00:17:36.480 and organic again when you do that. Yeah. I think 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:40.089 we. like jay riding the business where we were 00:17:40.089 --> 00:17:43.730 touring for at least 15 years at least 200 days 00:17:43.730 --> 00:17:47.250 a year and it's exhausting and sometimes way 00:17:47.250 --> 00:17:50.750 more than that and so that idea of hey guys how 00:17:50.750 --> 00:17:52.450 do we keep this fresh it was more like how do 00:17:52.450 --> 00:17:57.109 we stay alive yeah or like we were never on a 00:17:57.109 --> 00:18:01.109 bus we were very much into even like at a point 00:18:01.109 --> 00:18:02.569 when maybe people were like don't know these 00:18:02.569 --> 00:18:04.769 guys are blowing up or successful we were driving 00:18:04.769 --> 00:18:07.910 ourselves like no tour manager no we would have 00:18:07.910 --> 00:18:09.789 merch guys but the merch guys were like buds 00:18:09.789 --> 00:18:12.369 and we were like and they were also probably 00:18:12.369 --> 00:18:14.769 doing two or three other things for you too yeah 00:18:14.769 --> 00:18:17.490 yeah whatever you can come along we don't know 00:18:17.490 --> 00:18:20.509 when or how much we can pay you if there's money 00:18:20.509 --> 00:18:23.150 left over you'll get some and but it's going 00:18:23.150 --> 00:18:26.230 to be a party and you know free booze and yeah 00:18:26.230 --> 00:18:28.029 find a place to stay like you're enjoying it 00:18:28.029 --> 00:18:30.670 yeah you can stay here and like work to buy beer 00:18:30.670 --> 00:18:33.049 or you can go with us in the van and sling some 00:18:33.049 --> 00:18:35.430 t -shirts in night and it's okay we'll share 00:18:35.430 --> 00:18:38.509 wall share pizza or whatever it is yeah so yeah 00:18:38.509 --> 00:18:41.009 with that it was just hard maybe to constant 00:18:41.009 --> 00:18:45.869 to stay constantly motivated to reinvent things 00:18:45.869 --> 00:18:49.690 and but at a certain point when you become almost 00:18:49.690 --> 00:18:52.470 like ubiquitous as far as i think where we and 00:18:52.470 --> 00:18:54.329 a lot of the people that kind of got shoved into 00:18:54.329 --> 00:18:56.170 the just stay on tour and that's how you can 00:18:56.170 --> 00:18:58.130 make money kind of version of being a musician 00:18:58.130 --> 00:19:01.470 you do hit a point where then suddenly everyone's 00:19:01.470 --> 00:19:02.730 i'll just catch them next time Because they're 00:19:02.730 --> 00:19:05.190 going to be here another two or three times this 00:19:05.190 --> 00:19:07.730 year, or definitely once a year if not. Their 00:19:07.730 --> 00:19:10.150 show, plus they're out opening for someone, plus 00:19:10.150 --> 00:19:13.549 a festival, plus whatever. And then if you're 00:19:13.549 --> 00:19:16.549 doing generally the same set. Do I need to see 00:19:16.549 --> 00:19:19.130 that for the tents? And so, yeah, that's definitely 00:19:19.130 --> 00:19:22.430 a situation. Like house shows are changing up. 00:19:22.450 --> 00:19:25.369 The whole process is where I'm at. Not necessarily 00:19:25.369 --> 00:19:28.589 as a sales pitch, but just like it makes me more 00:19:28.589 --> 00:19:31.049 excited. And I think it makes sense. If you want 00:19:31.049 --> 00:19:33.720 to see. what i'm doing better see it right now 00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:36.420 because in six months i'll change it all you 00:19:36.420 --> 00:19:38.680 know or next time i come through which might 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:41.000 only be the time that only time that i come through 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:42.720 i mean it's the only time you've been here so 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:45.400 yeah i've never been here yeah yeah is there 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:47.920 anything else you could have done like looking 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:50.880 back like like some people i feel like they they 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:52.740 have a choice well okay i thought you meant like 00:19:52.740 --> 00:19:55.099 to be more successful no i know i don't mean 00:19:55.099 --> 00:19:57.140 it like no i just mean could you have done anything 00:19:57.140 --> 00:20:02.609 else with your life and been happy or successful? 00:20:02.849 --> 00:20:04.910 And I don't know that anybody's happy, especially 00:20:04.910 --> 00:20:07.309 if they're an artist, but is there something 00:20:07.309 --> 00:20:09.210 that, like, if you weren't a musician, what would 00:20:09.210 --> 00:20:13.529 you do? Yeah, that's the point where you constantly 00:20:13.529 --> 00:20:16.309 are, where I'm constantly, like, going, is this 00:20:16.309 --> 00:20:18.150 it? Probably some weird world where I was, like, 00:20:18.170 --> 00:20:20.910 a lawyer or something. I was really fascinated 00:20:20.910 --> 00:20:23.829 with law and had a whole different concept on 00:20:23.829 --> 00:20:25.650 it now than I did at a point where I maybe would 00:20:25.650 --> 00:20:29.190 have considered it. But I'm handy at, like, doing, 00:20:29.269 --> 00:20:31.440 building stuff. I can build things. I can do 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:33.680 stuff. I can, I got like the hyper -focus superpower. 00:20:34.019 --> 00:20:36.660 So it's like for six months, I'm pretty good 00:20:36.660 --> 00:20:39.859 electrician. Like lose all that knowledge or 00:20:39.859 --> 00:20:42.779 whatever, you know, as I'm just like processing 00:20:42.779 --> 00:20:44.819 things to learn how to do it. But it's like the 00:20:44.819 --> 00:20:48.539 slowest version of the matrix or something. It's 00:20:48.539 --> 00:20:51.460 like, I know electrician. Yeah. Yeah. And then 00:20:51.460 --> 00:20:53.400 it goes away. Yeah. You know, I think most people 00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:55.900 that really, every once in a while you meet like 00:20:55.900 --> 00:20:58.160 someone who's like, you're just like an animal. 00:20:58.680 --> 00:21:02.240 But, like, a lot of times, the people that really 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:06.200 are good at anything, I don't think there's that 00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:09.319 many people that are actually good at anything. 00:21:09.700 --> 00:21:11.980 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those people could be good 00:21:11.980 --> 00:21:14.839 at anything. And so I'm not saying I could be 00:21:14.839 --> 00:21:17.319 a brain surgeon or something like that, but I 00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:21.700 think had I become a lawyer and had I worked 00:21:21.700 --> 00:21:25.240 as much and as hard as I did and have and still 00:21:25.240 --> 00:21:30.069 do at music, partner you know i mean this is 00:21:30.069 --> 00:21:32.170 the real question would you have could you have 00:21:32.170 --> 00:21:36.109 worked as hard at that as you do something that 00:21:36.109 --> 00:21:40.170 is i'm generally unemployable you know like so 00:21:40.170 --> 00:21:43.029 i guess the answer probably is no but because 00:21:43.029 --> 00:21:45.349 i was always the guy that had my regular job 00:21:45.349 --> 00:21:48.390 i was never like trying to become the boss i 00:21:48.390 --> 00:21:49.970 don't know i never really jumped in and said 00:21:49.970 --> 00:21:53.269 let me just blow these guys away i can't i as 00:21:53.269 --> 00:21:56.029 a teenager like first of all you're an idiot 00:21:56.519 --> 00:21:59.779 The regional manager of Schlotzky's Deli is not 00:21:59.779 --> 00:22:03.819 the sharp knife in the drawer. And then also 00:22:03.819 --> 00:22:06.579 your parents own the business, so we all know 00:22:06.579 --> 00:22:09.220 why. And then, but I was definitely just the 00:22:09.220 --> 00:22:11.279 guy, I'm just going to keep my head down. I'm 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:14.380 not trying, like, I don't want to make this the 00:22:14.380 --> 00:22:17.119 most profitable McDonald's in the country. I 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:20.599 don't care. This place sucks. Most of the people 00:22:20.599 --> 00:22:23.559 in here suck. I almost never told people that 00:22:23.559 --> 00:22:26.160 I go by Rod or Roddy when I had a job. Almost 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:28.519 all my bosses call me Jonathan because I did 00:22:28.519 --> 00:22:31.000 not care to even pretend like this was going 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:33.380 to be a place I cared about. It was like, this 00:22:33.380 --> 00:22:35.539 is to get some money to go over here and actually 00:22:35.539 --> 00:22:38.779 do the thing that I do. I was never the, I love 00:22:38.779 --> 00:22:42.319 you, corporate America. Probably the answer is 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:44.460 no. I would have sucked and generally have sucked 00:22:44.460 --> 00:22:47.039 at being an employee. Money's not real. This 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:49.950 place isn't real. I don't care about it. yeah 00:22:49.950 --> 00:22:53.130 i think what you said is interesting like the 00:22:53.130 --> 00:22:55.170 people that are good at something could probably 00:22:55.170 --> 00:22:59.549 be good at a lot of things but i think the motivation 00:22:59.549 --> 00:23:05.710 to do that is really the difference between like 00:23:05.710 --> 00:23:08.430 you have a different perspective on the law now 00:23:08.430 --> 00:23:11.930 like you might if you become a lawyer and you 00:23:11.930 --> 00:23:14.309 still gain that new perspective and i don't necessarily 00:23:14.309 --> 00:23:17.829 know what that is but you might end up regret 00:23:17.829 --> 00:23:21.009 regretting being a lawyer yeah whereas i feel 00:23:21.009 --> 00:23:24.890 like if i regret being a musician no no that 00:23:24.890 --> 00:23:27.230 actually that leads me to something i wanted 00:23:27.230 --> 00:23:28.950 to talk about there was a time where you wanted 00:23:28.950 --> 00:23:32.170 to call it quits right um well a few times yeah 00:23:32.170 --> 00:23:35.049 yeah but it was a pretty recent time yeah and 00:23:35.049 --> 00:23:39.269 about a year ago yeah and what i guess two things 00:23:39.269 --> 00:23:41.789 like one is like the realization that you probably 00:23:42.089 --> 00:23:43.509 Can't do anything else. Is that part of what 00:23:43.509 --> 00:23:45.750 brought you back to it? Yeah, probably a little 00:23:45.750 --> 00:23:50.049 bit. And also, what kind of caused that to begin 00:23:50.049 --> 00:23:52.130 with? Is it the same kind of things that you've 00:23:52.130 --> 00:23:54.269 always dealt with or was there something new? 00:23:54.710 --> 00:23:58.390 I think it was the culmination of whatever led 00:23:58.390 --> 00:24:02.049 to J .R .R. and the business ending straight 00:24:02.049 --> 00:24:05.650 into COVID. Because like the last business show 00:24:05.650 --> 00:24:10.009 was Thanksgiving 2019. Yeah. So straight into 00:24:10.009 --> 00:24:14.230 COVID. which was wild. And then like inside of 00:24:14.230 --> 00:24:16.990 that. Especially with the landscape of the way 00:24:16.990 --> 00:24:20.809 musicians make their money. Yeah. And even that 00:24:20.809 --> 00:24:23.750 sort of thing that the music industry really 00:24:23.750 --> 00:24:27.029 pushed on probably my crew of people for the 00:24:27.029 --> 00:24:29.109 first time. Don't worry if everyone's stealing 00:24:29.109 --> 00:24:31.509 your music, they'll become your fans and you 00:24:31.509 --> 00:24:34.089 can sell them tickets and whatever. And all of 00:24:34.089 --> 00:24:35.509 a sudden it was like, oh, what happens when we 00:24:35.509 --> 00:24:37.690 can't sell them tickets? Yeah. Mike Cooley once 00:24:37.690 --> 00:24:39.869 said, we're traveling t -shirt salesmen. Yeah. 00:24:40.220 --> 00:24:43.200 And it's hard to do that if you can't travel. 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:45.880 That sentiment actually was one of the final 00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:49.299 straws for me of all the way to the end of 2024, 00:24:49.740 --> 00:24:56.240 where, I'm sorry, 2023, going into 2024, just 00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:58.099 this, everyone, all these guys, like, here's 00:24:58.099 --> 00:24:59.640 how to make your career, blah, blah, blah. You 00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:01.299 just need to accept that if you're a musician, 00:25:01.500 --> 00:25:03.460 you're a traveling t -shirt salesman or whatever. 00:25:03.500 --> 00:25:05.339 You're in the t -shirt business. And I was like, 00:25:05.460 --> 00:25:09.319 dude, that is not what I want. that's not how 00:25:09.319 --> 00:25:12.000 I want to go about this or that, you know, but 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:14.440 it kind of was one of those things where I think 00:25:14.440 --> 00:25:17.359 I, you have to just kind of keep at it. And the 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:20.220 sort of, I heard some point it was like, you 00:25:20.220 --> 00:25:21.500 know, do you want to make it in the music industry? 00:25:21.619 --> 00:25:23.359 Don't quit before you make it music industry 00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:26.740 or don't have a plan B because if you have a 00:25:26.740 --> 00:25:28.720 plan B, you're absolutely going to take it, which 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:31.339 I never really had a viable plan B. And there 00:25:31.339 --> 00:25:32.880 were a lot of times where it was literally like. 00:25:33.450 --> 00:25:35.690 you know if I had a college degree and I could 00:25:35.690 --> 00:25:37.930 pivot in one year have a specialized something 00:25:37.930 --> 00:25:42.589 like to like move to or to be like probably would 00:25:42.589 --> 00:25:44.029 have done it don't know that I was stuck with 00:25:44.029 --> 00:25:46.910 it or been happy to do it but I probably would 00:25:46.910 --> 00:25:48.509 have taken it a few times and it was just like 00:25:48.509 --> 00:25:50.650 I got no option this is what I got it doesn't 00:25:50.650 --> 00:25:52.990 seem like you would ever stop writing songs yeah 00:25:52.990 --> 00:25:55.250 no there's moments where I had fantasies about 00:25:55.250 --> 00:25:58.849 screw it I'm gonna sell everything I don't touch 00:25:58.849 --> 00:26:02.240 instruments anymore and people being like how 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:04.440 do you do this? Will they sing the song or something 00:26:04.440 --> 00:26:06.220 or do it for yourself? And just being like, no, 00:26:06.339 --> 00:26:10.019 done with music. So we've talked off of the podcast 00:26:10.019 --> 00:26:13.140 a little bit about this creative drive or the 00:26:13.140 --> 00:26:17.299 curiosity that I think plagues a lot of artists 00:26:17.299 --> 00:26:20.599 from visual artists to musicians to comedians 00:26:20.599 --> 00:26:24.240 to how would you get that expression out if you 00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:27.240 weren't doing music? I don't know. I used to 00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:32.390 write something like short stories and then never 00:26:32.390 --> 00:26:35.150 really thought I would put them out. And so take 00:26:35.150 --> 00:26:37.069 a short story and go like, how do I condense 00:26:37.069 --> 00:26:40.950 this down? That's the folly of the nature of 00:26:40.950 --> 00:26:44.230 probably like my makeup is like other times when 00:26:44.230 --> 00:26:45.470 I've been like, maybe I don't want to do music 00:26:45.470 --> 00:26:47.450 anymore. Maybe I'll become a screenwriter, you 00:26:47.450 --> 00:26:50.410 know, or start writing novels or something. But 00:26:50.410 --> 00:26:54.349 instead of I have some practical, normal, let 00:26:54.349 --> 00:26:56.529 me trade my time for a dollar bill kind of skill 00:26:56.529 --> 00:27:01.299 set or something like that. So I think. I've 00:27:01.299 --> 00:27:03.940 come back down also to when I was saying like 00:27:03.940 --> 00:27:06.019 I don't want to be a t -shirt salesman part of 00:27:06.019 --> 00:27:08.680 that was selling t -shirts that I didn't like 00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:12.700 and have a lot of skin even more than that reading 00:27:12.700 --> 00:27:14.440 that the majority of people that buy records 00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:17.460 don't have a record player and like also majority 00:27:17.460 --> 00:27:19.000 of people that buy band shirts don't necessarily 00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:21.819 wear the band shirts and appreciate the sentiment 00:27:21.819 --> 00:27:24.740 that it's like they're doing it to support art 00:27:24.740 --> 00:27:28.520 and artists that they like but I was like really 00:27:28.520 --> 00:27:30.279 turned off by the idea. I was like, so I'm just 00:27:30.279 --> 00:27:32.859 making junk that, like, eventually someone goes, 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:35.299 we cleaned the house five times. Is it time to 00:27:35.299 --> 00:27:37.299 get rid of this thing? My stuff's just more stuff 00:27:37.299 --> 00:27:39.480 for the storage unit or something until it finally 00:27:39.480 --> 00:27:41.619 goes in the landfill. I see what you mean. And 00:27:41.619 --> 00:27:44.259 then, like, on top of that, though, as an artist, 00:27:44.500 --> 00:27:48.720 to make enough to take on tour, you're putting 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:51.859 a lot of skin in the game up front. And at any 00:27:51.859 --> 00:27:53.599 given point, people are going to be like, yeah, 00:27:53.619 --> 00:27:55.039 I don't want to buy that or whatever. You're, 00:27:55.059 --> 00:27:58.609 like, stuck with this stuff. Yeah. So I was going 00:27:58.609 --> 00:28:00.730 through all these different things in these slow, 00:28:00.869 --> 00:28:05.069 just train wrecks of just life in general, my 00:28:05.069 --> 00:28:07.369 individual and the general experience, like I 00:28:07.369 --> 00:28:11.490 said, COVID, whatever. And basically I'd get 00:28:11.490 --> 00:28:15.009 hit, go down one knee and just that drive, you 00:28:15.009 --> 00:28:18.630 can't stop. Get, you know, drag myself back up, 00:28:18.690 --> 00:28:22.490 keep going. And finally, end of 2023, going into 00:28:22.490 --> 00:28:25.150 2024, it was just like, I was like, you know 00:28:25.150 --> 00:28:27.940 what? I'm just going to stay down. and sort of 00:28:27.940 --> 00:28:32.180 sit in my annihilation and observe it the best 00:28:32.180 --> 00:28:35.460 I can and be fine with it if that's where I land. 00:28:35.579 --> 00:28:36.920 Your priorities are a lot different than they 00:28:36.920 --> 00:28:38.940 were a decade ago too, right? You're a father. 00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:42.119 Yeah. You've got other people that rely on you 00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:45.700 to do things that, whereas like for a long time, 00:28:45.740 --> 00:28:48.400 you were just doing it for you and that's all 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.539 you had to take care of. As somebody who was 00:28:50.539 --> 00:28:52.839 also a parent, like it changes things a lot. 00:28:53.180 --> 00:28:54.920 Well, there you go. There was my interview with 00:28:54.920 --> 00:28:56.799 J. Roddy Walston, the first half of it anyway. 00:28:57.380 --> 00:28:59.420 You'll be back tomorrow with the second half. 00:29:00.140 --> 00:29:02.480 I really enjoyed talking to him. Make sure you 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:05.619 go catch him on tour right now. Check out his 00:29:05.619 --> 00:29:10.940 website, jroddywalston .com. Check out his social 00:29:10.940 --> 00:29:14.279 medias. And make sure you check my website out 00:29:14.279 --> 00:29:17.220 as well, fedden .net. I'll be starting to stream 00:29:17.220 --> 00:29:19.839 on Twitch again here soon. Changing platforms, 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:23.349 so I'll be starting fresh there. And yeah, come 00:29:23.349 --> 00:29:25.029 back tomorrow. We'll have part two. Make sure 00:29:25.029 --> 00:29:27.210 you hit that subscribe button. Thanks for checking 00:29:27.210 --> 00:29:30.250 out overeducated and underemployed. Once again, 00:29:30.369 --> 00:29:33.890 I am Fedden. And remember, if you want me to 00:29:33.890 --> 00:29:37.470 answer a question on the podcast, go ahead and 00:29:37.470 --> 00:29:41.630 send it over to FeddenXR at gmail .com. That's 00:29:41.630 --> 00:29:46.769 F -E -D -D -U -N -X -R at gmail .com.