WEBVTT 00:00:08.849 --> 00:00:11.210 Hey guys, I'm Matt Major from Growth Mode Content. 00:00:11.349 --> 00:00:15.990 Welcome to Good News York. It's Tuesday? I think 00:00:15.990 --> 00:00:18.210 so. I think it's Tuesday. I vaguely remember 00:00:18.210 --> 00:00:20.309 coming to work yesterday, so I think that... 00:00:20.309 --> 00:00:24.010 I vaguely remember you being here, honestly. 00:00:24.010 --> 00:00:26.670 It's true. Yesterday was a day's. It was. Dude, 00:00:26.809 --> 00:00:29.370 we're back in the saddle. It's been a while, 00:00:29.489 --> 00:00:32.070 dude. Like, I did a quick thing yesterday. It 00:00:32.070 --> 00:00:34.289 just wasn't the same. It was like a week. Yeah. 00:00:34.509 --> 00:00:37.530 It was like... Danny had vacation. He went out 00:00:37.530 --> 00:00:40.229 and bagged himself a mouse in Florida. Yeah, 00:00:40.429 --> 00:00:42.909 Mickey Mouse. Had fun at the magical kingdom 00:00:42.909 --> 00:00:46.789 or whatever adults do at Disney. I don't totally 00:00:46.789 --> 00:00:51.929 understand. But anyway, dude, Mikey's back. What 00:00:51.929 --> 00:00:54.490 is this shirt we got today? Oh, it's a Bill shirt. 00:00:54.710 --> 00:00:56.229 Of course it's a Bill shirt. No, no, no. Kind 00:00:56.229 --> 00:01:00.329 of. So my favorite sports show on television 00:01:00.329 --> 00:01:02.750 is Good Morning Football. On Tuesdays, they do 00:01:02.750 --> 00:01:05.799 Angry Run segment. Long story short, my favorite 00:01:05.799 --> 00:01:08.920 guy, Kyle Brandt, he plays like four clips from... 00:01:08.920 --> 00:01:11.000 You're wearing a t -shirt? ...for a bit on another 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:12.200 show. No, I'm gonna get there. I'm gonna get 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:15.019 there. Okay. So he picks like four plays from 00:01:15.019 --> 00:01:16.879 the weekend of angry runs, and what he means 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:18.719 by that is like when a running back just fucking 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:20.239 plows someone over, right? Okay. All right, fair 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:22.579 enough. And then they vote who wins the scepter. 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:24.120 They have the scepter, and they send it to the 00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:27.519 football player. And then through homage t -shirts, 00:01:27.659 --> 00:01:30.060 they then release a shirt that week of the player. 00:01:30.329 --> 00:01:32.709 James Cook Morning reruns this past week. What 00:01:32.709 --> 00:01:34.969 a racket, man. Yeah, it's a huge racket. It's 00:01:34.969 --> 00:01:37.090 very brilliant. And so I bought my shirt, because 00:01:37.090 --> 00:01:40.049 I'm a sucker. And here we are. But dude, forget 00:01:40.049 --> 00:01:42.489 it. Well, without further ado, we have a guest. 00:01:42.909 --> 00:01:46.170 We have a great guest. I'm very excited about 00:01:46.170 --> 00:01:48.849 this. Listen, everybody has been telling me about 00:01:48.849 --> 00:01:51.189 this gentleman, and we've been looking at his 00:01:51.189 --> 00:01:54.439 website, and I'm very, very excited. Tell us 00:01:54.439 --> 00:01:56.519 who this fella is. This, ladies and gentlemen, 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:01.920 welcoming Steve Sopcich to the show. Steve, writer, 00:02:02.980 --> 00:02:06.480 musician, songwriter, composer. What am I missing? 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:10.659 The producer? Producer, right. Hello. Engineer. 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:13.979 He does it all. He is the owner and operator 00:02:13.979 --> 00:02:16.240 of the Square Studio right here in Syracuse. 00:02:16.259 --> 00:02:19.139 We can call him ours. Steve Sopcich. Thank you 00:02:19.139 --> 00:02:22.500 for coming, man. Absolutely. You are an impressive... 00:02:22.439 --> 00:02:26.580 guy, quite the resume. Yeah. Yeah. Steve, why 00:02:26.580 --> 00:02:29.240 don't you just give us kind of a little bit of 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:33.240 the rundown? What is your... Sure, it started 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:35.919 in a basement studio. Well, I started as a recording 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:40.780 studio in high school and just was recording 00:02:40.780 --> 00:02:43.719 my band practices, friends' bands' band practices 00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:46.080 and sort of got hooked on the technology and 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:50.110 the process of that. When I graduated college, 00:02:50.229 --> 00:02:52.210 I started doing a full -time out of my mom's 00:02:52.210 --> 00:02:55.689 basement, my parents' basement. Stayed there 00:02:55.689 --> 00:02:58.490 for probably two or three years and then met 00:02:58.490 --> 00:03:01.729 up with a guy named Jason Randall who owns, at 00:03:01.729 --> 00:03:03.530 the time it was called Morsound, now it's Capture 00:03:03.530 --> 00:03:07.229 Studio, right on Bernat Ave in Syracuse. And 00:03:07.229 --> 00:03:08.889 he had been kind of a mentor of mine over the 00:03:08.889 --> 00:03:11.750 years, opened up his space to me and I built 00:03:11.750 --> 00:03:13.469 out the back half of his building, which is where 00:03:13.469 --> 00:03:16.860 I still am today. Oh, wow. and kept recording 00:03:16.860 --> 00:03:20.280 bands, writing with bands. And then probably 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:24.800 around 2014 or 2015, I started doing composition 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:29.000 for TV ads, movie trailers, TV shows, things 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:31.740 of that nature, and have sort of split my time 00:03:31.740 --> 00:03:34.900 between the composition side and the writing 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:37.759 and producing side ever since. Wow. It's wild, 00:03:37.780 --> 00:03:40.400 man. How do you get to that point? Like, how 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:42.759 do you go from a local wooden Syracuse to these 00:03:42.759 --> 00:03:48.030 big opportunities? It's weird. The funniest thing 00:03:48.030 --> 00:03:50.189 is I can actually trace it back to my first client 00:03:50.189 --> 00:03:52.650 ever. Every opportunity I've ever had, I can 00:03:52.650 --> 00:03:54.789 trace back to the first guy that I ever recorded. 00:03:54.949 --> 00:03:59.430 I love that. And it's without going into all 00:03:59.430 --> 00:04:03.009 of the details of how, I think it just, it speaks 00:04:03.009 --> 00:04:06.030 to like, you know, every person you meet is an 00:04:06.030 --> 00:04:07.770 opportunity. You never know where the next job 00:04:07.770 --> 00:04:09.490 is going to come from. You never know who can 00:04:09.490 --> 00:04:11.590 open the next door or what door you can open 00:04:11.590 --> 00:04:14.780 for the next person or however that works. Throughout 00:04:14.780 --> 00:04:18.399 the years, each opportunity that I've gotten 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:21.079 has been a result of somebody that I've worked 00:04:21.079 --> 00:04:23.779 with previously, or some relationship that we've 00:04:23.779 --> 00:04:28.720 formed previously. So the transition from solely 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:31.220 recording punk and hardcore bands and stuff like 00:04:31.220 --> 00:04:33.040 that into doing the custom composition stuff 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:35.759 was I recorded a band called the Venetia Fair 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:38.360 from Boston, and the singer of that band was 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:43.689 a very talented multi -instrumentalist. awesome 00:04:43.689 --> 00:04:46.329 with music. And he went to school with a guy 00:04:46.329 --> 00:04:51.790 whose job out of college was working at a music 00:04:51.790 --> 00:04:54.569 house that sort of, you know, all these brands 00:04:54.569 --> 00:04:56.209 and ad agencies would come and say, we need a 00:04:56.209 --> 00:04:57.810 song like this. We need lyrics like this. We 00:04:57.810 --> 00:05:00.329 need these sorts of things. And then his friend 00:05:00.329 --> 00:05:02.050 was like, hey, you two should try this. You're 00:05:02.050 --> 00:05:03.490 good in the studio together. Like, let's see 00:05:03.490 --> 00:05:05.769 what happens. We tried it and we won the first 00:05:05.769 --> 00:05:08.670 job that we pitched on. It was a national campaign 00:05:08.670 --> 00:05:11.449 for Ashley Furniture. And we were just like, 00:05:11.449 --> 00:05:13.389 we were hooked. It was like, yeah, dude, this 00:05:13.389 --> 00:05:15.490 is way better than what either of us were doing 00:05:15.490 --> 00:05:19.230 at the time in terms of time in and potential 00:05:19.230 --> 00:05:22.009 benefit and stuff like that. So we were hooked. 00:05:22.189 --> 00:05:23.649 And he actually ended up moving to Syracuse for 00:05:23.649 --> 00:05:25.850 a couple of years. We worked together in the 00:05:25.850 --> 00:05:29.329 studio full time doing that. Just every pivot 00:05:29.329 --> 00:05:32.730 has been some result of a relationship formed 00:05:32.730 --> 00:05:35.290 through the process. I love hearing that. I am 00:05:35.290 --> 00:05:39.970 a huge believer, in fact, of 90 % 7 % of my business 00:05:39.970 --> 00:05:42.769 has been built on relationships and networking 00:05:42.769 --> 00:05:44.589 and where it goes from there. I think that's 00:05:44.589 --> 00:05:47.250 incredible. Could you talk about a little bit, 00:05:47.670 --> 00:05:49.350 obviously, you're a creative person, you're an 00:05:49.350 --> 00:05:51.889 artist, first and foremost, right? But you've 00:05:51.889 --> 00:05:54.350 clearly had to become a business person as well. 00:05:54.670 --> 00:05:57.089 And can you tell me how those worlds kind of 00:05:57.089 --> 00:05:59.089 melds, how that's worked out for you? That's 00:05:59.089 --> 00:06:00.689 a great question. Kind of kicking and screaming, 00:06:01.050 --> 00:06:06.500 honestly. Sure. Both my parents are... Business 00:06:06.500 --> 00:06:09.540 minded my mom is a business manager for the Sisters 00:06:09.540 --> 00:06:12.339 of st. Francis and my dad has been a consultant 00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:15.980 for most of my life that I can remember So they've 00:06:15.980 --> 00:06:18.579 always been like sort of really helpful in in 00:06:18.579 --> 00:06:21.199 making sure I don't do stupid things like you 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:24.819 know like You know helping me figure out the 00:06:24.819 --> 00:06:27.439 things that so I went to SUNY Oswego. I graduated 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:31.040 with a marketing degree But I graduated, and 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:32.680 I was like, well, I don't know how to do taxes. 00:06:32.939 --> 00:06:34.500 I don't know how to do it. What am I supposed 00:06:34.500 --> 00:06:35.779 to do? So my parents have been really helpful 00:06:35.779 --> 00:06:40.000 in terms of guiding me through that. But most 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:42.339 of the business side of it has just been kind 00:06:42.339 --> 00:06:47.819 of figuring it out as I go. And yeah, I mean, 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:51.459 I never really did advertisements or anything 00:06:51.459 --> 00:06:53.939 like that. It was always word of mouth and going 00:06:53.939 --> 00:06:55.899 and meeting people and going to shows and shaking 00:06:55.899 --> 00:06:58.800 hands and just kind of trying to beat. part of 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.980 the things I wanted to be a part of. And it's 00:07:01.980 --> 00:07:04.720 led to where it is. I love hearing about that, 00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:09.339 man. That is just the best story. Yeah. So one 00:07:09.339 --> 00:07:12.980 thing I want to ask you is, you've grown. You've 00:07:12.980 --> 00:07:15.720 got this massive success. And you've stayed right 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:17.980 here in Syracuse. Yeah. You're not going to LA 00:07:17.980 --> 00:07:20.779 or Manhattan or anything like that, as many folks 00:07:20.779 --> 00:07:25.339 might. Why? I think a number of reasons. The 00:07:25.339 --> 00:07:28.829 first is I... I've always sort of felt like if 00:07:28.829 --> 00:07:31.649 my work isn't in service to my life outside of 00:07:31.649 --> 00:07:35.490 it, what am I doing? So to go to a place solely 00:07:35.490 --> 00:07:39.930 because work is there, if I don't have to, feels 00:07:39.930 --> 00:07:42.910 like why would I? And I grew up here. I grew 00:07:42.910 --> 00:07:45.990 up in Marcellus. I still live in Marcellus. And 00:07:45.990 --> 00:07:49.930 I do travel a lot for work, but it's always nice 00:07:49.930 --> 00:07:52.269 to come back to the place that feels like home. 00:07:53.509 --> 00:07:57.360 And luckily, through one of the... benefits of 00:07:57.360 --> 00:07:59.740 COVID time was that all this technology was developed 00:07:59.740 --> 00:08:01.939 where it used to feel like you were expected 00:08:01.939 --> 00:08:04.259 to be in a room with people. Now, there's all 00:08:04.259 --> 00:08:06.680 these ways that we can record remote and we can 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:12.100 write remote. You're not expected to be in the 00:08:12.100 --> 00:08:15.060 places like maybe you once were. That has been 00:08:15.060 --> 00:08:19.220 super helpful. It allows me to do a few trips 00:08:19.220 --> 00:08:21.980 a year to LA or a few trips a year around and 00:08:21.980 --> 00:08:24.139 then fill in the gaps with those remote sessions. 00:08:25.110 --> 00:08:27.029 It's been nice. Also, some of the bands that 00:08:27.029 --> 00:08:29.870 I work with actually love coming to Syracuse 00:08:29.870 --> 00:08:34.129 and just experiencing that and having just a 00:08:34.129 --> 00:08:36.350 different place to be and work. We absolutely 00:08:36.350 --> 00:08:38.870 have a lot to offer. I can imagine especially 00:08:38.870 --> 00:08:42.169 for a group, and Mike can speak to this, working 00:08:42.169 --> 00:08:43.950 in the studio and things like that, being able 00:08:43.950 --> 00:08:47.759 to maybe escape. in a little prettier, not necessarily 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:50.019 braced type city might be kind of cool. Yeah, 00:08:50.379 --> 00:08:54.000 man. First of all, for 10 years, I had a band. 00:08:54.259 --> 00:08:57.200 We recorded three albums. We toured. So my life 00:08:57.200 --> 00:08:59.059 has been back and forth between stand -up comedy 00:08:59.059 --> 00:09:03.379 and music. And I, too, I know exactly what you're 00:09:03.379 --> 00:09:06.019 talking about. We had to become our own label. 00:09:06.500 --> 00:09:09.440 So I was the same way. I'm like, wait, we have 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:11.600 to do business as what? And then I have to do 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:13.570 sales tax? And it's like... Oh, and then I got 00:09:13.570 --> 00:09:16.370 to register with ASCAP. And you really do just 00:09:16.370 --> 00:09:21.389 learn as you go. And again, I relate to the city 00:09:21.389 --> 00:09:23.029 thing. I never had the means to be able to live 00:09:23.029 --> 00:09:25.649 in New York or LA. I didn't have the money. And 00:09:25.649 --> 00:09:29.610 we were in a time, like you, where things were 00:09:29.610 --> 00:09:32.049 happening to where you could do everything from 00:09:32.049 --> 00:09:35.009 where you are. And I think you and I made out 00:09:35.009 --> 00:09:38.690 OK, because with the way things are going, I 00:09:38.690 --> 00:09:42.539 don't know if I want to be there. The reason 00:09:42.539 --> 00:09:44.600 I'm telling you all this is because at one point 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:47.460 in my music career, we've got approached to do 00:09:47.460 --> 00:09:49.700 some composing, and you've done a lot of composing. 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:52.659 And I remember thinking, you know, songwriting 00:09:52.659 --> 00:09:55.059 is, I don't want to say easy, but you know, songwriting 00:09:55.059 --> 00:09:57.580 is natural to me. Composing was a whole different 00:09:57.580 --> 00:10:01.179 story. And so I didn't know what the process 00:10:01.179 --> 00:10:04.320 was, right? Like there's no hand written. So 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:06.340 I kind of just had the guy send me some footage 00:10:06.340 --> 00:10:08.419 and I watched it and sat there with my guitar 00:10:08.419 --> 00:10:11.879 and just kind of. just wrote to what I was seeing, 00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:14.340 and I was just curious what your process is in 00:10:14.340 --> 00:10:16.440 composing, if there is one. Yeah, I mean, every 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:20.460 project is different. Some of the projects, you 00:10:20.460 --> 00:10:23.740 know, I never see picture, which is the craziest 00:10:23.740 --> 00:10:27.600 thing in the world. You know, I'll get a creative 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:30.200 brief that, you know, in words describes what's 00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:32.919 supposed to happen and gives me sort of general 00:10:32.919 --> 00:10:34.779 time stamps or things I'm supposed to hit, because 00:10:34.779 --> 00:10:36.700 a lot of times that footage is like, they're 00:10:36.700 --> 00:10:38.379 trying to keep it real secret, so they don't 00:10:38.379 --> 00:10:41.230 want it distributed. And that's that's always 00:10:41.230 --> 00:10:43.570 weird because the natural thing would be I would 00:10:43.570 --> 00:10:45.850 love to watch this and make the thing that looks 00:10:45.850 --> 00:10:50.629 good against this So yeah, I would say you know 00:10:50.629 --> 00:10:53.289 many of the projects are things that I never 00:10:53.289 --> 00:10:56.110 see against picture until it's released interest 00:10:56.110 --> 00:10:59.529 But there are certainly a fair share of like 00:10:59.529 --> 00:11:03.389 lower stakes projects that you know I'll everybody 00:11:03.389 --> 00:11:06.190 will send video and I'll be able to do whatever 00:11:06.190 --> 00:11:10.080 I need to to the video and And that's nice. But 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:12.259 process -wise, it's different every time. I get 00:11:12.259 --> 00:11:14.679 asked to make a lot of different styles of music. 00:11:15.779 --> 00:11:19.899 I'm one of the few composers in the companies 00:11:19.899 --> 00:11:22.600 that I work with that still record things in 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:25.440 open air. So I'm mostly playing everything. I 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:29.460 do use samples. And if I need to use synthetic 00:11:29.460 --> 00:11:33.340 things, I do. But that is, I think, a lot of 00:11:33.340 --> 00:11:37.250 the reason. the process looks different every 00:11:37.250 --> 00:11:38.730 time. It's like I'm grabbing a different instrument 00:11:38.730 --> 00:11:41.289 or I'm in a different space. Every project has 00:11:41.289 --> 00:11:43.789 its own DNA. Totally. Yeah. And I think that's 00:11:43.789 --> 00:11:47.610 the fun of it is just to try to chase that. There's 00:11:47.610 --> 00:11:50.169 times I'm like, I don't know why this reminds 00:11:50.169 --> 00:11:52.149 me of it, but I think it's a funny story. There 00:11:52.149 --> 00:11:54.429 was a time where this huge thing of chicken wire 00:11:54.429 --> 00:11:56.889 blew up against the back of our building on Burnett 00:11:56.889 --> 00:12:00.879 Ave. And it was just this ball of weird. wire 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:03.419 and, you know, so I went out to my car to leave 00:12:03.419 --> 00:12:05.159 for the night and I, it was against my car and 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:07.539 I picked it up and it sounded weird and like 00:12:07.539 --> 00:12:09.919 I was shaking it and it was strange. And so I 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:11.100 brought it into the studio. I was like, we'll 00:12:11.100 --> 00:12:13.679 mess with this tomorrow. And so we did, um, and 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:15.440 we were, you know, we took like violin bows down 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:17.779 it and did all these crazy things. And it became, 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:21.720 uh, like major backbone of, of sound effects 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:24.259 for this Netflix show that we scored. Fearless. 00:12:24.679 --> 00:12:27.389 Yeah. But that was literally just happenstance, 00:12:27.509 --> 00:12:29.250 that that blew against the car. That's the greatest. 00:12:29.269 --> 00:12:32.269 We shook it. It was weird. But that's kind of 00:12:32.269 --> 00:12:34.490 like the things we were chasing. In my experience, 00:12:34.590 --> 00:12:36.570 I've had times in the studio, we had this one 00:12:36.570 --> 00:12:39.269 thing where I was doing a guitar track, but I 00:12:39.269 --> 00:12:42.309 was in the live room. I forget why. And all of 00:12:42.309 --> 00:12:44.750 a sudden, I just got this weird feedback. And 00:12:44.750 --> 00:12:46.450 I remember looking at the producer and he's like, 00:12:47.149 --> 00:12:49.830 keep going. So I just kind of got closer. And 00:12:49.830 --> 00:12:53.450 we ended up using it as kind of like a... Like 00:12:53.450 --> 00:12:55.750 those moments of those beautiful mistakes are 00:12:55.750 --> 00:12:57.809 the best. Chicken wire is next level though. 00:12:58.110 --> 00:13:00.470 That is fucking next level dude. That's Foley 00:13:00.470 --> 00:13:02.190 sound shit. That's why he stays in Syracuse. 00:13:03.450 --> 00:13:06.009 The random sounds that appear. You're gonna get 00:13:06.009 --> 00:13:08.470 in your car in LA and find chicken wire. You 00:13:08.470 --> 00:13:11.049 know what I'm saying? That's fantastic dude. 00:13:11.470 --> 00:13:14.909 I love it, I love it. Let me ask you, so out 00:13:14.909 --> 00:13:16.529 of all these different things that you're doing, 00:13:16.789 --> 00:13:18.789 is there one that's really predominant? Are you 00:13:18.789 --> 00:13:20.929 doing composing more than anything else, or where 00:13:20.929 --> 00:13:24.409 do you find yourself? I feel like it's kind of 00:13:24.409 --> 00:13:27.590 switched over time. Initially, it was almost 00:13:27.590 --> 00:13:30.669 all recording, and then it very quickly switched 00:13:30.669 --> 00:13:33.789 over to almost all composing. And then in the 00:13:33.789 --> 00:13:38.230 last couple of years, as I think just honestly 00:13:38.230 --> 00:13:42.360 like the... The production music and sync music 00:13:42.360 --> 00:13:44.220 market has just become like so sad. Yeah, there's 00:13:44.220 --> 00:13:47.460 so many people doing it You know, I've just I've 00:13:47.460 --> 00:13:49.200 gone back to songwriting and I've been doing 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:52.019 a lot a few of the bigger metal bands that I 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:54.299 work with they're on the same Cadence with their 00:13:54.299 --> 00:13:56.379 album cycle. So the last two years I've been 00:13:56.379 --> 00:13:58.419 like heavily focused on the songwriting side 00:13:58.419 --> 00:14:00.899 of that and I'm still doing the composition stuff 00:14:00.899 --> 00:14:03.360 But it's kind of it's it's been a nice like kind 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:07.519 of fortunate blend that as the composition opportunities 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:10.779 have sort of The low -hanging fruit in that is 00:14:10.779 --> 00:14:13.419 essentially gone now. The things that would keep 00:14:13.419 --> 00:14:17.340 me busy every day. But I've, in a weird way, 00:14:17.559 --> 00:14:20.179 just replaced that with the songwriting for some 00:14:20.179 --> 00:14:23.519 of these albums and been able to stick with the 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:26.120 bigger composition projects. Yeah, and see, you're 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:29.419 lucky too in that when these music projects, 00:14:29.559 --> 00:14:32.159 when there's a lull between the actual songwriting 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:34.679 and recording of bands or artists or playing 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:38.080 yourself, You know, we're in a time now where 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:41.559 there is so much work out there for scoring and 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:44.340 composing that, you know, it's funny that back 00:14:44.340 --> 00:14:45.899 in the day, it would be like, we got to get more 00:14:45.899 --> 00:14:47.620 bands in here. We got to, you know, it was harder 00:14:47.620 --> 00:14:50.279 to get those kind of those those licensing gigs 00:14:50.279 --> 00:14:52.539 to do music for movies and film and video games. 00:14:52.539 --> 00:14:54.759 And now, you know, that could almost be your 00:14:54.759 --> 00:14:56.259 bread and butter more than the music, I would 00:14:56.259 --> 00:14:58.100 say. Yeah. And it was for many years. I think 00:14:58.100 --> 00:15:00.379 I think unfortunately, A .I. is kind of shaking 00:15:00.379 --> 00:15:04.580 that up a little bit. But yeah, I mean, I think. 00:15:04.779 --> 00:15:07.220 Everything everything changes over time and sure 00:15:07.220 --> 00:15:09.659 there was a time where that was scary like, you 00:15:09.659 --> 00:15:11.480 know Not knowing what you're gonna be doing in 00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:14.019 five years, but now I kind of feel like that's 00:15:14.019 --> 00:15:16.519 exciting Are you are your projects just kind 00:15:16.519 --> 00:15:18.299 of like falling into your lap? Like you always 00:15:18.299 --> 00:15:21.039 got like an oar in the water or do you find in 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:22.639 between projects? Sometimes you're kind of out 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:25.860 there looking. Um, I feel like I I feel like 00:15:25.860 --> 00:15:31.720 I say yes to everything I know I I do feel like 00:15:31.720 --> 00:15:36.980 there's not often a lull but I do also, like 00:15:36.980 --> 00:15:39.840 in the past, I would say five or six years, since 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:44.600 having a kid where time became this much more 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:48.539 precious commodity, I've been trying to set up 00:15:48.539 --> 00:15:51.580 the long -term things. What am I trying to build? 00:15:51.620 --> 00:15:54.639 What am I trying to do? When a project or an 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:56.639 opportunity comes along or I'm out there trying 00:15:56.639 --> 00:15:59.080 to secure those things, it's easier to assess, 00:15:59.639 --> 00:16:01.080 does this meet my goal? Does this help me get 00:16:01.080 --> 00:16:03.460 closer to the thing I'm trying to do rather than 00:16:03.460 --> 00:16:06.679 just Yes to everything. You said something really 00:16:06.679 --> 00:16:09.080 key there, because I experienced it too, where 00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:12.399 you hear about artists, bands, people in general, 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:14.600 they have kids, and then, you know, all of a 00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:16.799 sudden the career kind of takes a back seat. 00:16:16.820 --> 00:16:18.700 And when I was younger, I would think, that's 00:16:18.700 --> 00:16:21.700 never going to happen. Like, I thought that it's 00:16:21.700 --> 00:16:23.820 like the kid makes it so that you can't go do 00:16:23.820 --> 00:16:25.259 what you love. It turns out it's the other way 00:16:25.259 --> 00:16:27.340 around. You're like, like you just said, you're 00:16:27.340 --> 00:16:30.299 like, time is precious. And I found in my adult 00:16:30.299 --> 00:16:34.090 life now that I care more about time than anything, 00:16:34.250 --> 00:16:37.809 who I'm with and where and when. Yeah. And it's 00:16:37.809 --> 00:16:39.309 because where else would I rather be than with 00:16:39.309 --> 00:16:42.149 my kid, you know? So I love that you said that, 00:16:42.250 --> 00:16:44.909 man. It's wild how that happened. Yeah. And you 00:16:44.909 --> 00:16:46.590 still love it. Like, you still have the same 00:16:46.590 --> 00:16:49.210 passion for your art, but it's like now you have 00:16:49.210 --> 00:16:51.230 something that you've never loved more than anything, 00:16:51.309 --> 00:16:54.289 and trying to balance that can be tough. Definitely. 00:16:54.370 --> 00:16:56.350 But you're in a fortunate situation, because 00:16:56.350 --> 00:16:59.429 speaking of the work you're doing, dude, you're 00:16:59.429 --> 00:17:02.909 going out on tour with... Yeah, I'm filling in 00:17:02.909 --> 00:17:06.369 on guitar for Ice Nine Kills in Europe. So that 00:17:06.369 --> 00:17:10.269 will be fun. One of the biggest metal bands in 00:17:10.269 --> 00:17:13.809 the world. And I kind of cheated. I already know 00:17:13.809 --> 00:17:16.410 how this happened. But for the viewers and listeners, 00:17:16.490 --> 00:17:18.170 how did this come about? I know you worked with 00:17:18.170 --> 00:17:21.089 Ice Nine Kills. Yeah. So again, this is one of 00:17:21.089 --> 00:17:23.170 those things I can trace back to almost the first 00:17:23.170 --> 00:17:25.869 client I ever recorded. But I've been working 00:17:25.869 --> 00:17:28.470 with some version of people who have been affiliated 00:17:28.470 --> 00:17:31.119 with Ice Nine Kills back to. You know, probably, 00:17:31.400 --> 00:17:34.420 honestly, 2004 would be the earliest time, but 00:17:34.420 --> 00:17:36.500 actually with the band, Ice Night Kills, since 00:17:36.500 --> 00:17:39.759 2008 or 2009. And we've been friends forever. 00:17:40.039 --> 00:17:43.380 I've produced their first three or four records. 00:17:44.180 --> 00:17:48.019 And then, you know, when they moved to LA, because 00:17:48.019 --> 00:17:49.460 they used to be Boston -based, but they moved 00:17:49.460 --> 00:17:54.200 to LA in 2016 or 17, and we just kept writing 00:17:54.200 --> 00:17:58.759 together remotely. We've done that ever since. 00:18:00.380 --> 00:18:04.039 And so, yeah, so when their guitar player, you 00:18:04.039 --> 00:18:06.140 know, couldn't do this one, they just reached 00:18:06.140 --> 00:18:09.380 out and were like, hey, you know, would you be 00:18:09.380 --> 00:18:11.640 down to do this? And I sort of instinctually 00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:13.559 said no, because, you know, thinking about, like, 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:16.519 do I want to be away from my kid that long? I 00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:18.460 went home that night and I told my wife, like, 00:18:18.539 --> 00:18:19.759 kind of half -jokingly, like, can you believe 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:21.680 they asked me to do this? And she was like, why 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:23.519 wouldn't you? Yeah, that's awesome. He married 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:26.579 the right one. Yeah, yeah, definitely. You make 00:18:26.579 --> 00:18:29.000 it work. Yeah. You make it work. Yeah. So I sat 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:30.859 with Why Wouldn't I for like 20 minutes and I 00:18:30.859 --> 00:18:34.279 was like, Oh my God, I have to. Yeah. And then 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:36.000 a piece of chicken wire hit him in the face. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:38.380 Exactly. And he was like, we got to do this. 00:18:39.059 --> 00:18:43.119 Yeah. Man, that is amazing. During that time 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:45.099 with Ice Nine Kills, because things have changed 00:18:45.099 --> 00:18:48.640 in the business, how much is it just you and 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:52.599 the band? Is the label involved at all during 00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:57.579 the recording process? Not. Not in a creative 00:18:57.579 --> 00:19:00.420 sense, really, anyway, that I'm aware of. I mean, 00:19:00.619 --> 00:19:02.500 we've definitely, like, I've been in the studio 00:19:02.500 --> 00:19:05.180 where somebody from the label will drop by and 00:19:05.180 --> 00:19:06.940 say what's up and check it out or whatever, but 00:19:06.940 --> 00:19:09.240 never in, like, a you gotta do this or make this 00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:11.579 kind of way. Like, they, you know... Those days 00:19:11.579 --> 00:19:14.119 are kind of over, I think, right? I mean, I can 00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:16.480 only speak for, like, the camps that I work with, 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:19.980 but, like, the creative, like, the driving creative 00:19:19.980 --> 00:19:22.690 force of... more successful bands that I work 00:19:22.690 --> 00:19:26.089 with are such visionaries that I can't imagine 00:19:26.089 --> 00:19:27.569 a scenario where somebody's ever telling them, 00:19:27.809 --> 00:19:28.970 hey, this is what you're supposed to be doing. 00:19:29.089 --> 00:19:30.950 Especially when they have a resume like they 00:19:30.950 --> 00:19:34.690 do. It's like you've earned the right to, we'll 00:19:34.690 --> 00:19:36.930 trust you. Go ahead, use chicken wire, that's 00:19:36.930 --> 00:19:42.430 fine. Steve, tell me a little bit about the modern 00:19:42.430 --> 00:19:47.269 state of music. Are we making traditional full 00:19:47.269 --> 00:19:52.109 albums? Are you thinking about track order and 00:19:52.109 --> 00:19:54.509 things like that, like you may have 20, 30 years 00:19:54.509 --> 00:19:57.210 ago? That's a great question. I think it's hard 00:19:57.210 --> 00:20:00.690 because people tend to consume things in these 00:20:00.690 --> 00:20:08.170 bite -sized snippets now. I have not necessarily 00:20:08.170 --> 00:20:11.509 thought much or gotten into a situation in a 00:20:11.509 --> 00:20:13.349 studio where anyone's thinking about, how will 00:20:13.349 --> 00:20:16.170 this work on TikTok? Nobody's asking those questions. 00:20:16.589 --> 00:20:18.769 because I think, first and foremost, the bands 00:20:18.769 --> 00:20:21.750 are interested in making the thing that they 00:20:21.750 --> 00:20:24.769 want to make. And if it works across those other 00:20:24.769 --> 00:20:27.589 platforms, then great, but that's not been a 00:20:27.589 --> 00:20:33.829 chief goal. But I do think that the album is, 00:20:33.990 --> 00:20:37.170 sadly, a dying thing. And it's because a lot 00:20:37.170 --> 00:20:42.329 of the reason, I think, is because the digital 00:20:42.329 --> 00:20:44.809 aggregators like Spotify and all those things 00:20:44.809 --> 00:20:48.099 that are putting content out, reward frequency 00:20:48.099 --> 00:20:52.720 of release over, so you're better off releasing 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:56.740 one single every three weeks or six weeks or 00:20:56.740 --> 00:21:00.160 three months than you are, especially as an up 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:02.220 -and -coming artist, you're rewarded the more 00:21:02.220 --> 00:21:07.119 you put out. Dropping an album all at once, you 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:10.200 rarely will see. Even the bigger bands will do 00:21:10.200 --> 00:21:12.859 three and four singles now before the record 00:21:12.859 --> 00:21:16.900 is actually out. So it's definitely more single 00:21:16.900 --> 00:21:19.319 focused or more single piece focused. Are you 00:21:19.319 --> 00:21:21.519 recording the same way? Recording more individual 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:23.880 songs? Are you still doing a bunch together? 00:21:24.190 --> 00:21:27.509 A lot of the smaller or mid -tier bands are just 00:21:27.509 --> 00:21:29.630 coming in and doing, either they'll do one song 00:21:29.630 --> 00:21:31.329 at a time or they'll come in and they'll do three, 00:21:31.390 --> 00:21:33.109 but it'll be three songs that will be released 00:21:33.109 --> 00:21:36.589 three months apart from each other. The bigger 00:21:36.589 --> 00:21:39.349 bands, we're still making albums, but the way 00:21:39.349 --> 00:21:41.990 that that rolls out is, and I don't have a say 00:21:41.990 --> 00:21:44.529 in that really or whatever, but it will still 00:21:44.529 --> 00:21:48.150 roll out in pieces usually. Then on that same 00:21:48.150 --> 00:21:51.869 track, You know, the last album I recorded with 00:21:51.869 --> 00:21:54.029 my band was in 2015, and things have changed 00:21:54.029 --> 00:21:56.869 drastically since then. We were only pressing, 00:21:57.470 --> 00:22:00.009 we would press like 100 CDs just to have physical 00:22:00.009 --> 00:22:01.849 stuff. Yeah. And then we'd have download cards. 00:22:02.140 --> 00:22:05.859 Are you mixing and mastering for multiple formats 00:22:05.859 --> 00:22:09.619 now? And what's kind of the go -to format for 00:22:09.619 --> 00:22:12.619 an album? Yeah, I mean, so typically I'll give 00:22:12.619 --> 00:22:15.960 a digital master and a vinyl master because vinyl 00:22:15.960 --> 00:22:18.079 is such a different medium and the dynamic range 00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:22.980 is so much smaller. Well, actually the content 00:22:22.980 --> 00:22:25.779 can have a much greater dynamic range. But in 00:22:25.779 --> 00:22:28.490 any case, the... I'll deliver those two masters. 00:22:28.569 --> 00:22:30.710 Sometimes I still will deliver what's called 00:22:30.710 --> 00:22:34.910 a DDP, which is for CDs. But not a ton of people 00:22:34.910 --> 00:22:37.930 are doing CDs anymore. I think the novelty of 00:22:37.930 --> 00:22:41.009 vinyl is that's the physical sale now, and then 00:22:41.009 --> 00:22:43.990 the digital stuff is just, it is what it is. 00:22:44.170 --> 00:22:45.869 And the target for that is always changing, it 00:22:45.869 --> 00:22:48.589 seems, depending on what platform it is and how 00:22:48.589 --> 00:22:50.569 it's coming out. I feel like the biggest loss 00:22:50.569 --> 00:22:54.069 here is the loss of the hidden track. Dude, dude. 00:22:54.349 --> 00:22:57.349 Corn? Korn, every album I would wait because 00:22:57.349 --> 00:23:00.009 I knew there would be some sick, twisted, dark 00:23:00.009 --> 00:23:02.150 thing about Jonathan Davis and his father and 00:23:02.150 --> 00:23:04.210 sure enough, he would deliver. You know, that's 00:23:04.210 --> 00:23:08.170 the thing about the CDs. I mean, I guess vinyl's 00:23:08.170 --> 00:23:12.450 kind of helping supplement or whatever. But I 00:23:12.450 --> 00:23:14.509 don't feel bad that I don't get to listen to 00:23:14.509 --> 00:23:16.990 CDs anymore. I feel bad. You know, we're the 00:23:16.990 --> 00:23:22.250 same. I remember the day Green Day's Dookie and 00:23:22.250 --> 00:23:24.369 I think Blues Travelers 4 came out on the same 00:23:24.369 --> 00:23:26.700 day. And, like, we made an appointment after 00:23:26.700 --> 00:23:28.920 school, my friends and I, to get in the car. 00:23:29.240 --> 00:23:30.700 We drive around smoking cigarettes, whatever 00:23:30.700 --> 00:23:32.660 we're doing, and passing around the liner notes. 00:23:32.839 --> 00:23:34.700 And that, I'm getting goose bumps. Like, that 00:23:34.700 --> 00:23:37.319 was... Am I old for that? Sure, I don't give 00:23:37.319 --> 00:23:39.880 a shit. But I'm just saying, the younger generations, 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:42.279 it's not about us not getting to do that. I'm 00:23:42.279 --> 00:23:44.440 sad that they don't get to experience it. Maybe 00:23:44.440 --> 00:23:47.160 the vinyl brings that back a little, but... I 00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:50.180 think they're... I mean, it's hard to... It's 00:23:50.180 --> 00:23:52.339 such a different world. Like, we didn't have... 00:23:52.359 --> 00:23:55.000 these sort of like parasocial relationships with 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:57.779 our, you know, the band we love. Like, we didn't 00:23:57.779 --> 00:24:00.039 have access to like Billy Joe Armstrong. We got 00:24:00.039 --> 00:24:03.359 him through Rolling Stone or whatever. But like 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:05.079 now... Now you can tweet him. Yeah, it's like, 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:08.079 and now the engagement between the artist and 00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:11.900 their fan base is so much more direct. So I think 00:24:11.900 --> 00:24:14.299 like on the one hand, you lose... That's a great 00:24:14.299 --> 00:24:16.500 point. On the one hand, you lose this sort of 00:24:16.500 --> 00:24:20.319 like, you know, mishap tile nature of... you 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:22.559 know, music is a pastime. We're devoting time 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:26.240 to that. But like, the entire thing that is the 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:28.500 artist, you have a little bit more, it's more 00:24:28.500 --> 00:24:31.400 of a two -way thing. You just blew my mind open. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:34.339 No, no, no, I see what you're saying. Like, the 00:24:34.339 --> 00:24:36.359 whole thing about passing around the liner notes 00:24:36.359 --> 00:24:39.480 was the equivalent of, like, getting to see behind 00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:41.539 -the -scenes footage or seeing them on Twitter. 00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:43.940 Right. And now they don't have that, but they 00:24:43.940 --> 00:24:46.180 get to fucking see them like, hey, get ready 00:24:46.180 --> 00:24:50.339 with me. Here's my new shoes. That's a... That's 00:24:50.339 --> 00:24:52.220 a great observation, man. Yeah, and I don't know 00:24:52.220 --> 00:24:53.500 that one is better than the other. I don't either. 00:24:53.500 --> 00:24:55.400 I think if I could pick one, I'd love to go back 00:24:55.400 --> 00:24:57.619 to the time where I would sit and listen to something 00:24:57.619 --> 00:25:00.759 and be consumed by the liner notes of the music 00:25:00.759 --> 00:25:05.559 that's happening. But yeah, I do think that it's 00:25:05.559 --> 00:25:08.579 just different. It is very different. All right, 00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:11.400 Steve, I got a couple of quick... Yeah, me too. 00:25:11.579 --> 00:25:13.680 It's a wrong answer question. Good, good, because 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:17.839 that's where I was going. All right. And don't 00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:20.910 think about this too much. Yeah. It's your favorite 00:25:20.910 --> 00:25:23.849 metal band. Oh, man, favorite metal band. That's 00:25:23.849 --> 00:25:26.369 impossible. It's tough. I would honestly probably 00:25:26.369 --> 00:25:31.930 X -Tol. OK. Would you say that the godfathers 00:25:31.930 --> 00:25:35.089 of metal are Black Sabbath? That seems to be 00:25:35.089 --> 00:25:37.589 the consensus. In my world, it's Metallica, but 00:25:37.589 --> 00:25:43.170 I know that I don't have an opinion. I'm not 00:25:43.170 --> 00:25:44.309 an authority on that. I lied to him. I said, 00:25:44.390 --> 00:25:46.470 no hard -hitting questions. We're like, what's 00:25:46.470 --> 00:25:47.769 the best? All right, I've got more. I've got 00:25:47.769 --> 00:25:53.890 more. Favorite country artist? Ooh, Rustin Kelly. 00:25:53.990 --> 00:25:56.049 Love that. I just saw him in Philly, too, for 00:25:56.049 --> 00:25:58.170 like the third time, and he was awesome. Awesome. 00:25:58.170 --> 00:26:02.670 Yeah. Favorite rap artist? Hip -hop, I guess. 00:26:02.809 --> 00:26:04.109 We'll go any of those. Whatever the kids are 00:26:04.109 --> 00:26:05.970 calling it, these days. Yeah, so tough. I mean, 00:26:06.170 --> 00:26:08.309 near and dear to my heart, I think, over the 00:26:08.309 --> 00:26:13.309 long haul, is Lil Boosie. It's nice. But throw 00:26:13.309 --> 00:26:14.970 a Lil in front of it, you know it's gonna be 00:26:14.970 --> 00:26:19.599 good. But John, a lazy badass now. But I, yeah, 00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:24.319 I have not been super current on my... That's 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:25.940 fair. I've been busy. I'm busy getting ready 00:26:25.940 --> 00:26:28.579 to tour with Ice Tank. Last one of these. Any 00:26:28.579 --> 00:26:32.180 genre, any time in history, who would be your 00:26:32.180 --> 00:26:35.720 top musical artist? Oh, man. Like, who would 00:26:35.720 --> 00:26:38.480 I want to see or who do I think is the most, 00:26:39.160 --> 00:26:41.420 you know... The first one that comes to mind. 00:26:43.120 --> 00:26:45.700 By far, I think the most influential band on 00:26:45.700 --> 00:26:48.660 me out of all time in history is a band called 00:26:48.660 --> 00:26:50.900 Lifetime. They're a punk band from New Jersey, 00:26:51.140 --> 00:26:53.819 but they were the first band that I heard that 00:26:53.819 --> 00:26:58.039 was super fast, super aggressive, not manicured 00:26:58.039 --> 00:27:01.460 in any way, but also somehow melodic. It was 00:27:01.460 --> 00:27:03.900 outside of what I had heard ever in punk and 00:27:03.900 --> 00:27:07.339 hardcore, meaning the chords had interesting 00:27:07.339 --> 00:27:10.910 extensions and the rhythms were different. First 00:27:10.910 --> 00:27:16.190 hearing that record, that changed probably the 00:27:16.190 --> 00:27:17.910 course of my life. It was the first time I was 00:27:17.910 --> 00:27:20.250 ever like, this music is me. It speaks to me. 00:27:21.190 --> 00:27:23.690 So yeah, I think it would be that band. That's 00:27:23.690 --> 00:27:25.849 awesome, man. All right. I've got a couple. Go 00:27:25.849 --> 00:27:28.430 for it, buddy. All right. He's here. I got to 00:27:28.430 --> 00:27:31.190 do it. Greatest concert you've ever been to. 00:27:31.289 --> 00:27:33.470 Oh, good question. Oh, man. I know it's tough. 00:27:34.269 --> 00:27:36.490 Greatest concert I've ever been to. Where you 00:27:36.490 --> 00:27:39.970 left like holy fuck. I've been to a couple of 00:27:39.970 --> 00:27:42.549 those, but if you had to... I honestly think 00:27:42.549 --> 00:27:46.470 one of them would be seeing Rust and Kelly at 00:27:46.470 --> 00:27:50.349 the... What is the studio? The studio on Woodstock, 00:27:50.470 --> 00:27:54.630 the guy... Oh! Yeah, a bunch of people have recorded 00:27:54.630 --> 00:27:56.269 there. The Barnes studio. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But 00:27:56.269 --> 00:28:00.210 it was a very small show, probably 150 people, 00:28:00.529 --> 00:28:01.970 and he came and he played it acoustic, and I 00:28:01.970 --> 00:28:03.170 went with my wife. That was the first time we 00:28:03.170 --> 00:28:05.460 saw him live, and... He was awesome. Dude, that's 00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:07.140 rad that you even went there. That's a pretty 00:28:07.140 --> 00:28:09.819 famous studio. It was so cool. It was so cool 00:28:09.819 --> 00:28:11.460 to be in that space and, you know, the whole 00:28:11.460 --> 00:28:15.140 time just thinking, like, to be here. But yeah, 00:28:15.180 --> 00:28:17.720 that was one where it was on a small scale, but 00:28:17.720 --> 00:28:20.140 it was, I definitely left being like, wow, I've 00:28:20.140 --> 00:28:25.220 never seen, like, that was awesome. I think, 00:28:25.380 --> 00:28:26.799 well, I mean, one that sticks out, I hate to 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:28.839 say it about a band that I've worked with, but 00:28:28.839 --> 00:28:31.819 when Ice Nine Kills played the amphitheater here, 00:28:32.940 --> 00:28:35.500 You know, I had not seen him in forever. The 00:28:35.500 --> 00:28:37.259 last time I saw him, it was like, you know, in 00:28:37.259 --> 00:28:39.220 Syracuse. They were like playing The Lost Horizon 00:28:39.220 --> 00:28:41.859 and it wasn't full. So a couple of years ago 00:28:41.859 --> 00:28:44.539 when they came here and, you know, they were 00:28:44.539 --> 00:28:46.339 playing, I think it was like there was 11 ,000 00:28:46.339 --> 00:28:49.619 people or so. It was some crazy number, you know, 00:28:49.640 --> 00:28:51.299 and to hear everybody singing along and all that. 00:28:51.339 --> 00:28:54.200 And I texted my parents and was like, hey, you 00:28:54.200 --> 00:28:56.819 know, like seven miles away, we made like the 00:28:56.819 --> 00:28:59.460 first record for this, you know, in your basement. 00:28:59.539 --> 00:29:01.720 And now look what it is, like this many years 00:29:01.720 --> 00:29:03.900 later. but that was one where it really actually 00:29:03.900 --> 00:29:07.400 hit me that what I've contributed to has actually 00:29:07.400 --> 00:29:10.240 grown in this way, and that was an experience 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:12.819 that I feel like I wouldn't trade. That's incredible. 00:29:12.920 --> 00:29:15.079 Last one for me, and I just, by the way, I almost 00:29:15.079 --> 00:29:17.160 just shit my pants. I thought we'd been interviewing 00:29:17.160 --> 00:29:19.519 him for an hour and a half. I realized we hadn't 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:21.920 set our clock back. I was like, boy, I knew I 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:23.059 was enjoying this, but I didn't know we'd been 00:29:23.059 --> 00:29:26.279 here for a fucking hour and a half. Now, this 00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:27.779 one we might have to edit out, because you might 00:29:27.779 --> 00:29:29.000 have to get back to me in a day on this, but 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:31.019 this is my all -time favorite question to ask 00:29:31.019 --> 00:29:33.779 other... Musicians and songwriters if you could 00:29:33.779 --> 00:29:37.720 pick a live or dead your ultimate band to be 00:29:37.720 --> 00:29:39.640 on stage I'll give you an example like for me. 00:29:39.640 --> 00:29:42.440 It would be Steven Tyler as the front man it 00:29:42.440 --> 00:29:45.920 would be Carter Buford on the drums Victor Wooten 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:49.240 on the bass, and then I would probably go Eddie 00:29:49.240 --> 00:29:52.099 Van Halen on guitar I'll just say that for now 00:29:52.099 --> 00:29:54.420 damn. I mean that is a very difficult question. 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:55.940 It's a very that's why I say we probably have 00:29:55.940 --> 00:29:58.450 to edit it out, but You know, you might just 00:29:58.450 --> 00:30:01.509 have it top of mind. I don't. I feel like this 00:30:01.509 --> 00:30:03.750 actually makes me feel guilty if we're not, like, 00:30:03.890 --> 00:30:05.730 when I think about bands, I think about them 00:30:05.730 --> 00:30:07.849 as a unit. I know what you mean. You know, and 00:30:07.849 --> 00:30:09.349 I'll listen to it. Technically, it's got to be 00:30:09.349 --> 00:30:11.410 what's good for this genre and what's good for 00:30:11.410 --> 00:30:13.710 this song. You can't just pick. But even for 00:30:13.710 --> 00:30:15.289 me, it's like, I don't know if I could identify, 00:30:15.829 --> 00:30:19.650 like, you know. It's hard. Yeah, it is. We'll 00:30:19.650 --> 00:30:23.720 edit it out. We'll edit it out. But man. You 00:30:23.720 --> 00:30:29.460 are what? Steve, you have done so much. Dozens 00:30:29.460 --> 00:30:31.759 of film and game trailers. You've co -wrote and 00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:36.319 produced 200 albums and top 10 singles. And the 00:30:36.319 --> 00:30:38.099 Square Studio, which is not square, it's actually 00:30:38.099 --> 00:30:39.920 rectangular, we found out. But we won't hold 00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:42.140 it against you. And you're right here in Syracuse, 00:30:42.200 --> 00:30:43.480 and we're so happy. I mean, that's what Good 00:30:43.480 --> 00:30:45.420 New York is about, is shedding light on awesome 00:30:45.420 --> 00:30:47.359 shit going on in New York state. And when it's 00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:48.900 right in our backyard, it's even better. Yeah. 00:30:48.990 --> 00:30:52.109 It's so cool. Love having you on. Steve, is there 00:30:52.109 --> 00:30:55.009 any plugs, websites, stuff where people can check 00:30:55.009 --> 00:30:58.150 out all of it? My website is just stevesoftjack 00:30:58.150 --> 00:31:05.890 .com. I also should plug Capture Studio. That's 00:31:05.890 --> 00:31:08.789 the building that I'm in that my buddy Jaco owns. 00:31:09.079 --> 00:31:11.740 You know Jaco? Yeah. Oh, no shit. Yeah, yeah, 00:31:11.740 --> 00:31:13.839 yeah. He's like, see, he's the guy. He's been 00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:16.980 a mentor forever. I've recorded and either played 00:31:16.980 --> 00:31:19.299 with everybody surrounding him, but have never, 00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:21.880 like, we all know him, but I've never worked 00:31:21.880 --> 00:31:23.799 with him, but I know Jaco. Yeah. That's a big 00:31:23.799 --> 00:31:26.000 name around here. Well, so his building, you 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:27.839 know, which is the building that I'm in, there's 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:31.119 three studios, a bunch of engineers, but he just 00:31:31.119 --> 00:31:34.039 did a really cool project where he remodeled 00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:36.750 the whole thing and essentially, like, If you're 00:31:36.750 --> 00:31:39.390 used to recording on your laptop in your bedroom, 00:31:39.569 --> 00:31:41.650 now you can go in and in like five minutes with 00:31:41.650 --> 00:31:44.890 a USB drive, you can put drivers on your computer 00:31:44.890 --> 00:31:47.869 and have access to his entire studio and run 00:31:47.869 --> 00:31:49.369 it from a front end that you're comfortable with. 00:31:49.650 --> 00:31:53.089 So it's super cool and the building is super 00:31:53.089 --> 00:31:56.789 cool and all my friends work there. Definitely 00:31:56.789 --> 00:31:59.710 check that out. I think that's capture .studio 00:31:59.710 --> 00:32:02.180 is the web address for that. Awesome. And catch 00:32:02.180 --> 00:32:05.039 Steve on tour with Ice Nine Kills. Yeah. No, 00:32:05.140 --> 00:32:06.859 he's not just hanging out. He's playing fucking 00:32:06.859 --> 00:32:09.450 guitar, man. I'm excited for you. Thank you. 00:32:09.549 --> 00:32:13.829 How long is that tour? I think it's like 21 shows, 00:32:13.849 --> 00:32:16.750 maybe. I leave over like four months, three months. 00:32:16.789 --> 00:32:19.789 No, it's short. I leave the 10th of this month, 00:32:19.789 --> 00:32:22.329 and I come back the 17th of December. Oh, OK. 00:32:22.470 --> 00:32:25.029 We're in time for Christmas to celebrate. Not 00:32:25.029 --> 00:32:26.710 super crazy. That's awesome, man. But yeah, it 00:32:26.710 --> 00:32:28.690 should be fun. I'm excited for you. Enjoy your 00:32:28.690 --> 00:32:31.569 travels, and I hope you have some fantastic shows. 00:32:31.609 --> 00:32:33.410 This has been really awesome, man. I really appreciate 00:32:33.410 --> 00:32:35.710 you coming into the show. Yeah, definitely. These 00:32:35.710 --> 00:32:38.470 guys will attest. I say it off the air. I'm going 00:32:38.470 --> 00:32:39.769 to say it on the air. This has been one of my 00:32:39.769 --> 00:32:41.630 favorite interviews that we've ever done. Cheers, 00:32:41.710 --> 00:32:43.730 man. Thank you. I really appreciate it. I don't 00:32:43.730 --> 00:32:45.509 get the opportunity to do stuff like this very 00:32:45.509 --> 00:32:47.089 often, so I appreciate it. You can come back 00:32:47.089 --> 00:32:50.470 any time, man. Any time, my friend. All right. 00:32:50.509 --> 00:32:51.630 I think we got it, my friend. I think we did 00:32:51.630 --> 00:32:53.710 it, buddy. I don't know what else there is to 00:32:53.710 --> 00:32:55.809 say. I mean, I could think of a million things, 00:32:55.829 --> 00:32:58.250 but we've been here for four hours according 00:32:58.250 --> 00:33:01.230 to that clock. According to that clock. This 00:33:01.230 --> 00:33:03.109 is Good News York, sponsored by ads on the go. 00:33:03.130 --> 00:33:05.210 Get it on the go .com. What do we got later this 00:33:05.210 --> 00:33:09.839 week? Well, Amanda. Everson Museum. Everson Museum. 00:33:10.079 --> 00:33:12.359 We're going there, right? Samaritan Center. We're 00:33:12.359 --> 00:33:14.299 going there. We're going to get very cultured 00:33:14.299 --> 00:33:16.420 this week. Samaritan Center. Yeah, I feel like... 00:33:16.420 --> 00:33:19.480 And talking to SOS about their trip to Ghana. 00:33:19.900 --> 00:33:23.680 Nice. We're getting worldly. We're getting culture. 00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:26.200 We're getting... Wow. We're going to blow your 00:33:26.200 --> 00:33:28.200 mind again. Dude, we're going to be smart by 00:33:28.200 --> 00:33:30.420 Friday. We're going to be, like, really smart. 00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:34.700 I totally hope. Yeah, well... I'm mad that's 00:33:34.700 --> 00:33:38.160 Mike. Danny behind the board Steve's object the 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:40.160 square studio check them out peace out