WEBVTT

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Are you listening? Well, welcome to Hey, Are

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You Listening? This is a podcast exploring the

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past, present and future of Christian music.

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My name is Joel. I'm here with my good friend

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Brandon. We connected over a mutual love of some

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particular artists, but have pretty different

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tastes when it comes to things. And so we get

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to experience new stuff from each other and invite

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some friends along for the ride today. We actually

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have a friend with us today. You may know him

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from his time as a writer at Jesus Freak Hideout.

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He's the author of a series of books called Burlwood

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Forest. He's a husband, dad, all around rad dude,

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and a huge fan of the band Boys Like Girls. It's

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my friend, John Showcats. Hey, John. Oh, thanks.

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I appreciate that. Hey, guys, thanks for having

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me. I thought you were the big fan, but I was

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actually going to mention that, but you kind

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of beat me to it. So I'm glad that we can we

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can bond over that love of Boys Like Girls. I

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still don't think I've ever listened to a Boys

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Like Girls album ever in my life. Oh, well, their

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new one is really different, actually, than some

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of their older stuff. My kids do like it, but

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I have to kind of turn the volume down in a couple

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choice words. It makes sense. You should not

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recommended with this podcast. All right. Well,

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John, we're pumped that you're here. Tell us

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a little bit about how Christian music kind of

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entered into your world. Yes. So, I mean, really

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for the first, I don't know, 18 years is kind

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of all I listen to. you know, some of the classics

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like DC Talk, Audio Journal and Newsboys, and

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then of course, some other classics, you know,

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like Avalon and Point of Grace, slightly different

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direction. But I just grew up in church and that's

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just what we listened to, you know, and just

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really enjoyed that. Lots of really good memories

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of singing and, you know, road trips in the car

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with my family and some of our stuffed animals

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singing along which i guess was just me singing

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in like a weird voice but um yeah just i don't

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know i just i loved it i love music um took piano

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for a really long time and and kind of picked

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up some other instruments like drums and guitar

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along the way and just always wanted to to be

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a part of it and listen to it and it's really

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been a big part of my life so That's cool. How

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did you get into writing for Jesus Free Cutout?

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So I always want to write. I don't know if it

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was just the idea that, you know, with writing,

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you sometimes get to do your own thing. And I

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really like that. Or just just a way to combine

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two things I love to do. So just the writing

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and the music. It's really easy just. Kind of

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reached out and they're like, oh yeah, this guy's

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great. I was like, awesome. Yeah, let's do it.

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And I wrote for them for 10 years. I did, I think

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it was 2006 through 2016. So hate to say how

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long it's been since then, but it was a really,

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really good time. And honestly kind of getting,

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you know, introduced to some music that I maybe

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one of. you know, picked out myself otherwise,

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but also, um, just getting to meet some other

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people through that, that also really love music

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and Christian music specifically. And it's a

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really fun community to be a part of. That's

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really cool that. So you started doing that not

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long, probably after, um, we kind of parted ways.

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So I, Let's see. We met when I moved to North

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Carolina. Emily and I got married, moved to North

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Carolina for me to go to school, to go to seminary.

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And we ended up at the same church and you were

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in high school while I was there. And I kind

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of like volunteered in the student ministry there.

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And that's how we got to know each other. Do

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you have any memories of those days? Oh, I mean,

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I just I don't know. I just remember you were

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you're the coolest. person that I ever met. I'm

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not just. Well, I mean, I am kind of trying to

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butter you up, but like it's just I don't know.

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You just have this and still do this quite kind

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of cool about you. I actually was looking back

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and I'm the president of a Joel Ainsworth Facebook

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club. I don't know if you know this. This may

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be the first time you're hearing about this.

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It's called Joel Ainsworth Enough Said. And I

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started this 19 years ago and. I'm actually and

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this is where our previous conversation ties

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in. This is the tagline and the group I don't

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know if this is like a private group or a public

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group that not everyone could could go join but

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it says from rock star to youth pastor. He's

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the man and he's got a smoking hot wife, which

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is what this actually says and it says he also

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loves boys like girls. So that's that's the actual

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tagline of this this Facebook group and it currently

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has three members. One of them doesn't appear

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to have Facebook anymore. So Maybe you could

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say two, but I think it was a stronger, you know,

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group, maybe 19 years ago. But yeah, just the

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first meeting you like you. I just thought you're

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really cool, you know, and kind of being that

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young, impressionable sort of teenagers like,

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man, this guy's everything I want to be. And

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it just sort of, you know, became this friendship

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and. Um try to go down and see you in charleston

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stuff and haven't seen you in a few years. So

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I don't know if this counts But we definitely

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need to get down and hang out again It definitely

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it definitely counts for something. So, okay

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Because you keep trying to get me to move there

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I was gonna say after all the snow we've had

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up here in north carolina. It's kind of It's

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you're you're working on me. It's getting closer,

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but you told me that you also had snow so that's

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Maybe not as much. It's already gone though.

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So well, okay But I've been working on you guys

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for years and it hasn't happened yet. So I'm

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kind of thinking it's probably not Don't give

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up What kind of message does that send to your

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kids? You can't give up what I mean, you never

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know like we talk about it all the time all the

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time Yeah, so I actually get a lot of Zillow

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notifications from the Charleston area because

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I'm always looking at houses that I can't afford

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and I'm like, oh, that's a nice one. Like it's

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only one point five million. You know, which

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is only only as some of them come through that

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are like 10 million. Yeah, well, there are a

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few of those here. Yeah, just for the record

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that facebook group is still active So anyone

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listening can go join. Yes, please do Is it public

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or private? Uh, I could see everyone's post on

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here And there are there are posts from people

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who for whatever reason have left the group one

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person said I don't One time Joel and Emily came

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to eat at my house on Easter Sunday. So you made

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a huge impact 20 years ago at Catherine's house.

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Catherine's awesome. It bums me out, though,

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that there's only three people left. I wonder.

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Yeah, I feel like the way you said that that

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makes it sound like they all died. But I think,

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you know, Facebook's just been around a while

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and some people just aren't as active as they

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used to be. Maybe that's part of it. I can't

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let's go with that. I can't help but think about

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all the people that actively like chose to leave

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the group. Yeah, but I didn't. I just for the

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record, I didn't. I appreciate that so much.

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And I appreciate it. And I and I put the Boys

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Like Girls thing in there because I know they

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still matter. They still matter. Well, I'm really,

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really excited to have you on. You're one of

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the first people I thought about when we started

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this podcast of John to be a great guest. Obviously,

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you know what you're talking about when it comes

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to Christian music. And and I knew it would just

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be a fun conversation. So that is a lot to live

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up to. So we'll see. Maybe you can edit that

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part out if it doesn't go well. Sounds good.

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Well, you brought us an album today. Hawk Nelson's

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album Letters to the President. And so we're

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going to get into that in just a little bit.

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But before we do that, let's talk about what's

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in the news. All right, so I have a couple of

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things to talk about that are going on the news

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and love for y 'all's input one of the things

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that We just covered in a recent episode Brandon

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was This Christian music fake news stuff that's

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going around on social media. Mm -hmm, and I

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pointed out the Facebook page made to move which

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is a fake news site all about Toby Mac. John,

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if you haven't checked this out, you need to

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go and check it out online. But it's essentially

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a page of all AI written. fake news stories about

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toby mac and there are these pages out there

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about so many other artists to you brandon lake

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i've seen one about now like cc winans chris

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tomlin yeah they're all on my page since we talked

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about it so i appreciate that you're so welcome

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but i just noticed yesterday and you actually

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sent me too like right around the same time that

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um toby mac actually just officially responded

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um to this made to move facebook page and called

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it out as fake news. And so I like to think a

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little bit that we had a part to play in bringing

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this to his attention because I know he's like

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an avid listener of the podcast. Yeah, we brought

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it to Toby's attention and I think we're just

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helping people. We're helping him break through

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the fake news. We're helping Skillet release

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Christmas music. Just helping everyone out. That's

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what we do. John, did you know about these pages

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at all? These fake news pages? No, I feel like

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if you're on one of them, though, you've really

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made it. And I think I would be flattered personally.

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And I hope that all of these people join the

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Joel Ainsworth enough said Facebook group. It

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sounds like you really have made a difference.

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And that's just what it's all about. If we can

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avoid AI news stories about me, though, that

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would be really great. So, yeah, I just thought

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it was interesting to see an artist finally finally

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address this stuff, kind of head on and say,

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hey, this is not good. This is wrong. And don't

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listen to this. And so it's going to be interesting

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to see how all this continues to play out. So

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I don't know. I'd love we'd love to hear your

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thoughts about that to listener So if you want

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to message us and let us know what you think

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about all that But I I think we we need like

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a campaign of people getting on and like reporting

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these pages To get Facebook's attention maybe

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to shut them down. So another news thing that

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popped up for me was I don't know if you guys

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saw this but John James who is the original singer

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for the newsboys So before Michael Tate was Peter

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Ferler and before Peter Ferler was the singer

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He was the drummer and newsboys had a singer

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by the name of John James John James is back.

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He's kind of been out of the spotlight for years

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at this point Not in the newsboys, but he's got

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a new book and autobiography coming out and a

00:12:24.450 --> 00:12:29.049
new album coming out a solo album and so The

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book kind of chronicles like everything that's

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happened in his life. Um, I guess newsboys on,

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um, and I, apparently there's been like some

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dark periods, um, some dark stuff that he's kind

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of walked through some hard things and, uh, the

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solar record that he's got coming out is called

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God of the second chance. Um, and I haven't had

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a chance to listen to any of it yet, but apparently

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if you pre -order the book, And you email in

00:12:53.830 --> 00:12:56.610
a screenshot of like your Amazon pre -order to

00:12:56.610 --> 00:12:59.029
them. They will send you a link to the album

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To download which I thought was pretty interesting.

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So I might might have to dig into that and check

00:13:05.889 --> 00:13:08.769
it out Did you guys ever listen to the newsboys

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and the John James days? I'd say probably because

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I mean that's kind of all I listened to you back

00:13:16.769 --> 00:13:19.429
in the day It was newsboys plus, you know, of

00:13:19.429 --> 00:13:22.070
course point of grace and some of the Carmen

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some of those classics. But I mean, I enjoyed

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Newsboys most eras, I would say. So that does

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sound like a really interesting read. And I might

00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:38.100
check it out. I think his last last album with

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the Newsboys was was it Take Me to Your Leader?

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I think that that was him and Peter sharing,

00:13:44.860 --> 00:13:47.559
if I'm not mistaken. I think it was a good one.

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Yeah. Yeah. And then I think kind of before that,

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it was pretty much just him going public, which

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had shine on it and stuff like all that. All

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that's John James. Yeah, then yes, definitely.

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Yeah, that's good stuff. Interesting. He used

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to be known because he would like in concerts

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wear these like suits that were like metallic

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and shiny and come out on stage. So the lights

00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:14.179
would like shine and stuff shine. I mean, it

00:14:14.179 --> 00:14:16.870
fit the song. I guess that was the point. I would

00:14:16.870 --> 00:14:19.629
totally do that, except I would be wearing shorts,

00:14:19.990 --> 00:14:21.809
because I don't really ever wear actual pants.

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So it'd be like a shorts sort of suit. Well,

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I did wear pants today in the snow. And actually,

00:14:29.490 --> 00:14:32.289
my legs got colder than when I wear shorts. So

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I don't even know why I did it, or when I wear

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pants. I don't know. That's cool, though. When

00:14:39.340 --> 00:14:41.340
you were first saying that he's releasing something,

00:14:41.340 --> 00:14:44.039
I was hoping you were going to say book. I know

00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:47.639
a couple years ago I read Mark Stewart's book,

00:14:48.019 --> 00:14:51.779
and I appreciated that it went into a lot of

00:14:51.779 --> 00:14:57.519
stuff that I'd never heard about. I think that's

00:14:57.519 --> 00:14:59.259
cool because I think a lot of that stuff either

00:14:59.259 --> 00:15:01.200
it's just not popular enough to be picked up

00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:04.779
by a bigger publication or I think that like

00:15:04.779 --> 00:15:08.120
I mean I think even in today's world a lot of

00:15:08.120 --> 00:15:12.320
times if it's not necessarily like the the best

00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:16.080
news it kind of gets buried by this or that like

00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:18.519
for me personally I've appreciated like Jesus

00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:22.379
Freak Hideout I feel like when something Drops

00:15:22.379 --> 00:15:24.860
you're gonna get like, yeah, here's what's happening.

00:15:24.940 --> 00:15:27.759
Whereas with some other news you have other websites

00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:30.840
that sometimes is a How can we not release this

00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:33.639
or how can we kind of ignore that this thing's

00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:36.659
happening or whatever? And um, so I feel like

00:15:36.659 --> 00:15:39.879
yeah i'm pretty excited to get to see what What

00:15:39.879 --> 00:15:42.139
kind of he dives into with stuff? Yeah, it'll

00:15:42.139 --> 00:15:44.779
be interesting too to apparently a lot of the

00:15:44.779 --> 00:15:48.200
record harkens back to some of those early Like

00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:52.509
newsboys days stylistically so it'd be interesting

00:15:52.509 --> 00:15:55.950
to check out all right well let's play a game

00:16:08.679 --> 00:16:12.679
All right. So our game today is going to be a

00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:17.259
game of CCM 20 questions. And so I love doing

00:16:17.259 --> 00:16:18.899
these because I get to sit on the side of the

00:16:18.899 --> 00:16:22.139
microphone where I know what it is that I'm thinking

00:16:22.139 --> 00:16:26.460
of in my head. But you guys get 20 yes or no

00:16:26.460 --> 00:16:29.620
questions to ask me to try and figure out what

00:16:29.620 --> 00:16:36.059
album that I have in my head. And so you get

00:16:36.059 --> 00:16:39.960
to ask those questions. You can ask me when you

00:16:39.960 --> 00:16:41.480
think you have a guess for the artist, what the

00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:44.200
artist is, but you only get one guess on the

00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:49.080
album for the final. So you ready? Yeah, the

00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:51.799
pressure's on. All right, let's do it. I'm actually

00:16:51.799 --> 00:16:54.059
going to pull up some notes on it on here just

00:16:54.059 --> 00:16:57.759
so I don't mess things up when you ask me questions

00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:00.980
and I can answer more correctly. So but I'm ready

00:17:00.980 --> 00:17:07.500
to go when you are. So is the lead singer a female?

00:17:08.259 --> 00:17:10.400
I think that's always my first question. It is.

00:17:10.980 --> 00:17:21.099
And as always, the answer is no. So is it a band

00:17:21.099 --> 00:17:29.099
then? Is it a band? Yes, this is a band. Was

00:17:29.099 --> 00:17:41.000
it released? After 2000. Yes. Okay. Was it released

00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:48.519
after 2010? No. Okay. Nears it down, that's all.

00:17:48.900 --> 00:17:51.480
We're coming for you. It's your favorite decade,

00:17:51.779 --> 00:17:56.880
Brandon. Yeah. Well, I love that decade. I was

00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:01.230
young and yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I enjoyed

00:18:01.230 --> 00:18:04.150
going sidebar. I enjoyed going through i've always

00:18:04.150 --> 00:18:07.890
enjoyed a jesus free hideouts year end like um

00:18:07.890 --> 00:18:10.869
best of So I was enjoying going through your

00:18:10.869 --> 00:18:15.150
um picks for the years. So oh, yeah I should

00:18:15.150 --> 00:18:18.250
go do that and see See what you put see if he's

00:18:18.250 --> 00:18:20.089
still like, yeah, there's a lot of agreement.

00:18:20.089 --> 00:18:22.329
I feel like there's some disagreement though.

00:18:22.329 --> 00:18:31.839
So cool um Was this band on goatee records No

00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:37.299
Were they on tooth -and -nail records? Yes Okay

00:18:37.299 --> 00:18:41.599
And I need to go pull up like Wikipedia or something

00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:44.440
That's probably cheating. That's probably cheating.

00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:56.940
And not reliable I think that's six questions.

00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:00.839
Wow, man, you're a stickler. Wow Okay, it's kind

00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:04.559
of like Gerd's it's not like when I tell my kids,

00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:07.759
you know Like it'll be five minutes, but it's

00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:10.279
really 20 because they haven't noticed like the

00:19:10.279 --> 00:19:18.640
actual number Okay, and is it Is this are they

00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:23.880
is this album or is this artist still? Producing

00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:35.400
music. Oh, that's a good question Yes I want

00:19:35.400 --> 00:19:37.220
to ask if it's Hawk Nelson, but that just seems

00:19:37.220 --> 00:19:39.579
like too obvious for this particular... That's

00:19:39.579 --> 00:19:42.059
not a question. That's like the genie in Aladdin

00:19:42.059 --> 00:19:44.640
when you get the free one when they escape the

00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:53.440
cave, you know? Do they have the same lead singer

00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:57.099
that they had back then? Good question. Yes.

00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:05.329
Okay. Is there a number in the... uh artists

00:20:05.329 --> 00:20:09.849
name no i mean i was really hoping you were gonna

00:20:09.849 --> 00:20:19.609
say yes is the artist name one word yes that's

00:20:19.609 --> 00:20:27.069
10 hmm that's a good question um have we reviewed

00:20:27.069 --> 00:20:43.150
this artist on the podcast before no Is the artist

00:20:43.150 --> 00:20:48.130
a heavier sounding band? I mean, that's like

00:20:48.130 --> 00:20:55.869
a really vague question. I don't know. Feel free

00:20:55.869 --> 00:21:00.990
to reveal more about them. I don't like I'm not

00:21:00.990 --> 00:21:03.349
going to count that as a question because I feel

00:21:03.349 --> 00:21:07.609
like it's a little hard to answer. um that's

00:21:07.609 --> 00:21:10.730
why i asked it i will just say i will just remind

00:21:10.730 --> 00:21:12.829
you they're so they're on tooth and nail not

00:21:12.829 --> 00:21:26.430
on solid state i'd say right okay um i forget

00:21:26.430 --> 00:21:28.990
you say that they're did we ask if they're if

00:21:28.990 --> 00:21:32.589
it was one name or we have or he asked if it

00:21:32.589 --> 00:21:39.339
was one word the name was where it is yes Does

00:21:39.339 --> 00:21:53.519
it start with an A? No. Oh. Is it a... Nope,

00:21:53.519 --> 00:22:02.319
that's kind of a... This is hard. This is hard.

00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:12.200
Does the... Band have a piano in it. Oh, that's

00:22:12.200 --> 00:22:29.000
a good question. Yes Does the name start with

00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:34.740
a vowel? I feel like Brandon's really got something

00:22:34.740 --> 00:22:41.039
on him. No. That only nears it down to 21 letters

00:22:41.039 --> 00:23:02.920
now. But that helps. That helps. Think you guys

00:23:02.920 --> 00:23:06.720
can do this How many questions we got left? That's

00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:10.200
I think 14. Mm -hmm Just think through some of

00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:13.599
the things tooth and nail band one word 2000

00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:19.700
2010 one word piano No female vocalist. No lead

00:23:19.700 --> 00:23:27.759
vocalist, right? not a Is is the album name multiple

00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:43.960
words Yes Okay You said they're still releasing

00:23:43.960 --> 00:23:52.039
stuff Yeah, I will they're they're in they're

00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:55.559
an active band Do they know that they're an active

00:23:55.559 --> 00:24:00.000
band? Yes, I'm not I'm not gonna count that y

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:06.480
'all are at 15 now I keep wanting to guess Jones

00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:18.779
Etta, but that they literally there's some So

00:24:18.779 --> 00:24:21.839
can I say yes or no can we do yes or no for the

00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:25.400
band is like As long as we don't do yes or no

00:24:25.400 --> 00:24:28.890
for the album and get that wrong Yeah, you can

00:24:28.890 --> 00:24:36.849
ask about the artist. Is the band May? Yes. Look

00:24:36.849 --> 00:24:47.750
at that. Yes. Wikipedia. Okay. I only know one

00:24:47.750 --> 00:24:51.490
May album, so I'm really going to need John.

00:24:51.490 --> 00:24:56.660
I mean, so there's their first one. Just a little

00:24:56.660 --> 00:24:59.579
more chill. Their second one was the more piano

00:24:59.579 --> 00:25:01.740
heavy one, is the one I'm sort of leaning towards,

00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:05.240
which was right there in 2005. Which is right

00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:11.660
in the zone of the... Does this album come with

00:25:11.660 --> 00:25:28.289
a, like, storybook? No. Oh, I'm out then. Was

00:25:28.289 --> 00:25:30.589
the storybook one was that the everglow that's

00:25:30.589 --> 00:25:37.269
that's for brands when I was thinking oh Did

00:25:37.269 --> 00:25:48.289
Did this album come before the everglow yes Then

00:25:48.289 --> 00:25:52.109
it has to be destination beautiful yes, that's

00:25:52.109 --> 00:25:59.380
19 you guys got there Good Wow, I mean I always

00:25:59.380 --> 00:26:00.980
think of you and I think of that album because

00:26:00.980 --> 00:26:03.140
that I don't know that guy just reminds me of

00:26:03.140 --> 00:26:06.180
you He's just chill but but not a member of the

00:26:06.180 --> 00:26:14.000
Facebook group Yeah, good job guys you did it

00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:16.819
congratulations, yes, I want to go tell my kids

00:26:16.819 --> 00:26:20.799
but I'll tell them after It was a real joint

00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:23.700
effort. Yeah I don't know what that band is,

00:26:23.819 --> 00:26:27.819
but good job, dad. They should. You need to,

00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.920
uh, I mean, they, they would recognize like,

00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:35.359
yeah, I, you know, kids, kids. Yeah, I got it.

00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:50.349
All right. So let's go check the mail. Alright,

00:26:50.369 --> 00:26:53.750
so our mail today comes from a friend of the

00:26:53.750 --> 00:26:57.730
show and past guest Andrew Blalock. He says Brandon

00:26:57.730 --> 00:27:01.230
and Joel I think if I had to pick one CCM artist

00:27:01.230 --> 00:27:04.369
to rescue me from an abandoned island, it would

00:27:04.369 --> 00:27:09.289
be Rebecca st. James All seas are just wired

00:27:09.289 --> 00:27:13.750
differently. She could get the job done Yeah,

00:27:13.789 --> 00:27:16.410
what do you think about Rebecca st. James as

00:27:16.410 --> 00:27:20.640
being an island rescuer we We we did a whole

00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:23.079
segment about being on an island and who we would

00:27:23.079 --> 00:27:25.279
we would want to be stranded on an island with

00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:29.519
Who we would want to rescue us um, so what do

00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:32.019
we think about rebecca st james as a rescuer?

00:27:32.579 --> 00:27:38.220
I feel like I I don't I don't know her that well

00:27:38.220 --> 00:27:40.839
I feel like I know a little bit of her music,

00:27:40.839 --> 00:27:44.519
but if i'm that generation that's like Oh, isn't

00:27:44.519 --> 00:27:47.420
isn't she like the older sister for king of country?

00:27:48.440 --> 00:27:55.940
Shame on you I mean, yeah, Australia is an island.

00:27:56.539 --> 00:27:59.380
So maybe I'm just being rescued off of Australia.

00:27:59.700 --> 00:28:02.920
They have a lot of weird animals there. If I'm

00:28:02.920 --> 00:28:04.759
not like in the city, I'm probably going to want

00:28:04.759 --> 00:28:07.660
to leave because I don't like snakes or spiders

00:28:07.660 --> 00:28:11.259
or anything. Hopefully she can kind of help me

00:28:11.259 --> 00:28:13.240
out. Hopefully she can get the job. Let's do

00:28:13.240 --> 00:28:17.640
it. Yeah, I don't I don't really know. But it's

00:28:17.640 --> 00:28:20.900
an interesting take, Andrew. And so I feel like

00:28:20.900 --> 00:28:22.980
she would have a nice smiling face as she's coming

00:28:22.980 --> 00:28:27.319
to save you, which would be hopeful and good

00:28:27.319 --> 00:28:31.119
in a moment like that. So thanks for the comment.

00:28:31.240 --> 00:28:33.099
And don't forget, you can reach out to us with

00:28:33.099 --> 00:28:35.380
your own questions or comments for the podcast

00:28:35.380 --> 00:28:38.420
at, Hey, are you listening? Pod at gmail .com.

00:28:38.599 --> 00:28:42.180
We would love to hear from you and be great.

00:28:42.359 --> 00:28:44.519
So let's talk for a second about what we've been

00:28:44.519 --> 00:28:46.500
listening to lately. What have you guys been

00:28:46.500 --> 00:28:51.579
listening to? For me, I feel like I always forget

00:28:51.579 --> 00:28:53.400
we're doing this segment, so I never have it

00:28:53.400 --> 00:28:57.900
pulled up. So recently, one of our recent reviews,

00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:01.460
Grace Graber, she released a punk cover of That's

00:29:01.460 --> 00:29:06.420
Who I Praise. And I feel like she's just doing

00:29:06.420 --> 00:29:10.539
a really good job with the covers. I know we

00:29:10.539 --> 00:29:14.680
discussed this in the episode, her cover of Like

00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:19.180
Everything You Ever Wanted. I feel like she just

00:29:19.180 --> 00:29:24.980
does a really good job of kind of like, uh, punkifying

00:29:24.980 --> 00:29:28.519
or whatever stuff. Um, so I'm enjoying that cover

00:29:28.519 --> 00:29:31.599
and, um, I haven't had a chance to really sit

00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:34.619
down and really dive into it, but, uh, a band

00:29:34.619 --> 00:29:37.359
that I really loved, uh, back in high school,

00:29:37.619 --> 00:29:40.700
Voda, which people probably remember Brian Olson.

00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:43.259
He finished I think third on the voice a couple

00:29:43.259 --> 00:29:47.119
of years ago. And used to be a guitarist in Newsboys.

00:29:47.539 --> 00:29:50.400
They're back with a new album. It's called Back

00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:53.400
to the Start. So I'm looking forward to getting

00:29:53.400 --> 00:29:56.900
to sit down and kind of dive into that album

00:29:56.900 --> 00:30:00.640
and seeing kind of what's in that. That's cool.

00:30:00.779 --> 00:30:02.779
Grace Graber, I think, is doing a whole album

00:30:02.779 --> 00:30:06.240
of covers. Oh, really? From what I have noticed

00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:08.839
online, she said there's an album coming later

00:30:08.839 --> 00:30:12.359
this year of just punk versions of like worship

00:30:12.359 --> 00:30:15.150
songs or. Whatever it may be so I thought that

00:30:15.150 --> 00:30:17.009
was kind of interesting John. Have you listen

00:30:17.009 --> 00:30:20.470
any grace graber ever? No, no, she's checking

00:30:20.470 --> 00:30:22.470
out I guess. Yeah, she might be up your alley

00:30:22.470 --> 00:30:25.230
music wise. So you should check out cool. What

00:30:25.230 --> 00:30:28.869
have you been listening to lately? So kind of

00:30:28.869 --> 00:30:32.329
three main things In my car, it's sort of an

00:30:32.329 --> 00:30:37.109
endless sort of rotation of 21 pilot CDs My son

00:30:37.109 --> 00:30:39.329
really likes this and he's just like, oh, let's

00:30:39.329 --> 00:30:41.269
see this one. I'm like we just listen that one

00:30:41.269 --> 00:30:45.269
and then he convinces me anyway, because whatever,

00:30:45.369 --> 00:30:48.710
but they're on actual like CDs because I don't

00:30:48.710 --> 00:30:51.210
know. I just feel like he should appreciate the

00:30:51.210 --> 00:30:53.710
classic way of listening to things and the class.

00:30:53.750 --> 00:30:56.750
I probably had the only like running car that

00:30:56.750 --> 00:30:59.349
still has a CD player. So you and Brandon have

00:30:59.349 --> 00:31:02.410
this in common, this love for these companies.

00:31:02.630 --> 00:31:08.269
I love CDs. I just I miss just going to the store

00:31:08.269 --> 00:31:11.680
and. and buying, you know, flipping through the

00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:14.200
covers. And I don't know. It's just so much more

00:31:14.200 --> 00:31:18.339
fun than digital stuff. But that's probably for

00:31:18.339 --> 00:31:21.140
another day. So a lot of twin -on -plats in the

00:31:21.140 --> 00:31:26.460
car. We got a lot of Legos for Christmas and

00:31:26.460 --> 00:31:29.500
a lot of them are Harry Potter Legos. So we were

00:31:29.500 --> 00:31:31.799
making one the other day and we decided that

00:31:31.799 --> 00:31:34.180
we needed to listen to the Harry Potter soundtrack

00:31:34.180 --> 00:31:36.259
while we did it because it just felt like the

00:31:36.259 --> 00:31:38.480
right thing to do. So just went out and bought

00:31:38.480 --> 00:31:40.839
that which is an impulse purchase that I don't

00:31:40.839 --> 00:31:45.039
regret and have really enjoyed that Did you buy

00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:49.119
it on CD? No, unfortunately, no, it was another

00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:51.759
one of those snow days like we just we keep right

00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:54.720
keep having snow days and which are great Lego

00:31:54.720 --> 00:31:58.740
days for sure because you can only sled so long

00:31:58.740 --> 00:32:01.579
before like you can't get back up the hill and

00:32:01.579 --> 00:32:04.480
You know, you're completely frozen. So a lot

00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:07.170
of Legos on Harry Potter, but probably The one

00:32:07.170 --> 00:32:09.450
thing that actually answers your question is

00:32:09.450 --> 00:32:11.210
I've been listening to a lot of Forrest Frank.

00:32:11.990 --> 00:32:15.410
So my kids really like him and we like to watch

00:32:15.410 --> 00:32:17.869
the YouTube video versions of those. We're like,

00:32:18.150 --> 00:32:20.529
ah, show me the video on your phone and cause

00:32:20.529 --> 00:32:22.529
kids and phones and they're just, I don't know,

00:32:22.529 --> 00:32:25.670
it's weird. I'm doing a lot of those, just really

00:32:25.670 --> 00:32:30.410
getting into him and yeah, it makes pretty good

00:32:30.410 --> 00:32:33.250
stuff. So I didn't know him until like the end

00:32:33.250 --> 00:32:35.869
of last year for some reason. So I've been really

00:32:35.869 --> 00:32:39.140
out of it. Cool. Yeah, he's he's pretty popular

00:32:39.140 --> 00:32:41.819
out there these days. So yeah, yeah, that's cool.

00:32:42.039 --> 00:32:44.039
Like again, I've been out of it. I don't know.

00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:47.460
I feel like there's been a band that showed up

00:32:47.460 --> 00:32:49.900
a couple of times in my like social media feed.

00:32:50.579 --> 00:32:55.619
And so I finally I liked what I was hearing there.

00:32:55.640 --> 00:32:58.279
And so I went and added their record on Apple

00:32:58.279 --> 00:33:00.740
Music and it's the band Strings and Heart. Have

00:33:00.740 --> 00:33:03.799
you heard of them? So they have an album out

00:33:03.799 --> 00:33:07.240
called plastic wine and it's it's super good.

00:33:07.359 --> 00:33:12.799
It's like like modern like a modern indie band

00:33:12.799 --> 00:33:18.559
but like super super christian lyrics I really

00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:21.400
like what they're doing a lot musically. I think

00:33:21.400 --> 00:33:23.160
they're like a three or four piece So there's

00:33:23.160 --> 00:33:25.759
not like a lot of members of the band, but they

00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:28.700
do a lot of cool and creative kind of things

00:33:28.700 --> 00:33:31.759
and so I've just enjoyed listening to that a

00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:34.240
lot and would recommend it if you're into like

00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:38.460
kind of like the modern indie sound they're they're

00:33:38.460 --> 00:33:41.440
capturing it really well and doing some really

00:33:41.440 --> 00:33:43.740
cool things and so that's an album that came

00:33:43.740 --> 00:33:47.980
out in 2025 so it's not like a 2026 release but

00:33:47.980 --> 00:33:50.740
but it's something that I've been listening to

00:33:50.740 --> 00:33:53.599
a decent amount this year already and so I definitely

00:33:53.599 --> 00:33:56.450
recommend that one It's kind of made me sad.

00:33:57.089 --> 00:33:59.609
You know, we did our year -end best of, and there's

00:33:59.609 --> 00:34:01.509
already been a few artists that I've discovered

00:34:01.509 --> 00:34:03.890
their release stuff last year. And I'm like,

00:34:03.990 --> 00:34:05.990
oh man, I wish I would have discovered this,

00:34:06.009 --> 00:34:09.150
but I feel like there's just so much, you know,

00:34:09.789 --> 00:34:12.789
it's like the, the G's freak hideout, like the

00:34:12.789 --> 00:34:14.989
release things. Sometimes you go on there and

00:34:14.989 --> 00:34:18.130
you realize there's some weeks 10 or 15 stuff

00:34:18.130 --> 00:34:20.489
that's dropping and you're like, you can't, you

00:34:20.489 --> 00:34:22.590
know, you can't get around to all of it, but.

00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:24.860
It's funny the stuff that slips through the crack

00:34:24.860 --> 00:34:27.760
sometimes. Yeah, I I can't afford to buy that

00:34:27.760 --> 00:34:30.880
many cds You know going that round gotta get

00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:34.400
that Actual cds, you know john they have this

00:34:34.400 --> 00:34:37.300
thing called streaming now. Whoa where you can

00:34:37.300 --> 00:34:39.619
you can pay for a subscription? You can pay for

00:34:39.619 --> 00:34:41.340
a subscription and listen to anything that you

00:34:41.340 --> 00:34:44.059
want. Yes, but why would I do that when I could

00:34:44.059 --> 00:34:47.239
get a cd? Because if you try and buy all the

00:34:47.239 --> 00:34:51.659
cds, it's really expensive. Well, it is but you

00:34:51.659 --> 00:34:58.610
know Yeah, you're right The streaming thing that's

00:34:58.610 --> 00:35:01.090
like a constant purchase here the CDs only a

00:35:01.090 --> 00:35:04.869
one -time purchase so it feels like less Even

00:35:04.869 --> 00:35:08.289
though it's definitely not and it's impractical

00:35:08.289 --> 00:35:11.650
and I love it so much So I will say I I don't

00:35:11.650 --> 00:35:14.250
think we've been we brought it up yet, but the

00:35:14.250 --> 00:35:17.090
artists we're reviewing today Hawk Nelson I felt

00:35:17.090 --> 00:35:20.150
like One thing growing up that meant a lot to

00:35:20.150 --> 00:35:23.070
me was they spent so much time on their packaging

00:35:23.070 --> 00:35:26.650
so like the friend like that one was the disk

00:35:26.650 --> 00:35:31.610
was like a Spin like for the board game and the

00:35:31.610 --> 00:35:35.349
lyric like booklet was a board game. So like

00:35:35.349 --> 00:35:39.090
one was like a paper airplane That one was a

00:35:39.090 --> 00:35:44.210
game I'm trying to think the one with like zero

00:35:44.210 --> 00:35:47.690
on it that Hawk Nelson one it was like a giant

00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:50.739
Fold out poster. So it was like whenever you

00:35:50.739 --> 00:35:53.780
bought one of their CDs you knew you were getting

00:35:53.780 --> 00:35:55.840
something that you would not get if you bought

00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:59.239
it off of like Apple or if you stole it from

00:35:59.239 --> 00:36:02.920
like Napster or whatever who whoever was back

00:36:02.920 --> 00:36:06.340
in the day. Yeah. Yeah, see Joel you put That

00:36:06.340 --> 00:36:08.760
guy had a business, the guy who made the board

00:36:08.760 --> 00:36:12.280
game CD. And now he's probably living on the

00:36:12.280 --> 00:36:15.599
street. And he can't afford a subscription to

00:36:15.599 --> 00:36:19.460
Apple Music and all that. Hey, I have you specifically.

00:36:19.559 --> 00:36:22.659
And only I'm just older than you guys. I buy

00:36:22.659 --> 00:36:26.019
everything on vinyl that I love. So it's fine.

00:36:26.219 --> 00:36:29.260
And I'm waiting for CDs to become cool again.

00:36:29.420 --> 00:36:34.449
And I will be first line. I bought letters to

00:36:34.449 --> 00:36:38.510
the president on CD when it came out. Okay, so

00:36:38.510 --> 00:36:42.429
like that's But if it had been like that was

00:36:42.429 --> 00:36:49.090
the only option My mom probably bought it for

00:36:49.090 --> 00:36:54.469
me because I was in high school You might have

00:36:54.469 --> 00:36:57.289
told me to go listen to it. I don't know probably

00:36:57.289 --> 00:37:03.070
and I also said that about boys like girls Yeah,

00:37:03.590 --> 00:37:05.670
I think I bought it at Lifeway for like five

00:37:05.670 --> 00:37:08.409
bucks when it was on sale but the five dollar

00:37:08.409 --> 00:37:11.789
CDs I grew up it was such a treat. Yeah to like

00:37:11.789 --> 00:37:15.110
get those or you would get like a pre -order

00:37:15.110 --> 00:37:18.469
this one and get like a five dollar coupon and

00:37:18.650 --> 00:37:20.789
I remember as a kid, there's so many artists

00:37:20.789 --> 00:37:23.409
I discovered like from the five dollar sales.

00:37:23.909 --> 00:37:26.989
Yeah, those were a real bargain How much are

00:37:26.989 --> 00:37:31.349
CDs these days? a lot Yeah, the harry potter

00:37:31.349 --> 00:37:35.750
soundtrack was a little more than I Bought uh,

00:37:35.750 --> 00:37:38.309
but kind of already had in my head. I was like,

00:37:38.409 --> 00:37:41.190
you know Got this whole lego. It's 500 pieces.

00:37:41.190 --> 00:37:45.349
I need the whole soundtrack I'm not going to

00:37:45.349 --> 00:37:49.289
say how much it was, but it was worth it. And

00:37:49.289 --> 00:37:51.829
I would recommend that you make the same choice.

00:37:51.929 --> 00:37:53.789
So I'm not the only one. Also, though, could

00:37:53.789 --> 00:37:56.690
you not just pull up YouTube and play the soundtrack

00:37:56.690 --> 00:37:58.750
on YouTube? Yeah, but it really gets you out

00:37:58.750 --> 00:38:01.610
of the mood when you feel like you're in the

00:38:01.610 --> 00:38:03.489
Gryffindor common room and then it does this

00:38:03.489 --> 00:38:08.530
commercial for some sort of drug. You know, it's

00:38:08.530 --> 00:38:11.110
talking about death and all the side effects.

00:38:11.110 --> 00:38:13.769
You're like, yeah Yeah, I get it. I don't I don't

00:38:13.769 --> 00:38:17.110
pay for you to be there. So I understand All

00:38:17.110 --> 00:38:20.150
right. Well on that let's transition and talk

00:38:20.150 --> 00:38:24.389
through This album that we're covering today

00:38:24.389 --> 00:38:31.510
So today we're talking about the album letters

00:38:31.510 --> 00:38:34.309
to the president by the band Hawk Nelson, so

00:38:34.309 --> 00:38:37.769
this is the debut studio album I'm released by

00:38:37.769 --> 00:38:40.929
Christian pop punk band Hawk Nelson. The album

00:38:40.929 --> 00:38:45.570
was released on July 13th, 2004 on tooth and

00:38:45.570 --> 00:38:48.769
nail records. It was later re -released on October

00:38:48.769 --> 00:38:52.730
4th, 2005, which I think is actually the release

00:38:52.730 --> 00:38:55.989
that I bought with six additional tracks and

00:38:55.989 --> 00:39:00.030
three exclusive tracks as a deluxe edition. Jesus

00:39:00.030 --> 00:39:03.849
Freak Hideout, but not John gave this album.

00:39:05.150 --> 00:39:07.349
Two or three next CDs after that. Yeah. Gave

00:39:07.349 --> 00:39:11.190
this album four and a half stars. Um, so let's

00:39:11.190 --> 00:39:13.849
kind of talk about our opening thoughts. Um,

00:39:13.849 --> 00:39:19.289
maybe like how we, this came across, um, our,

00:39:19.289 --> 00:39:22.349
our ears, how we started listening to Hawk Nelson,

00:39:22.449 --> 00:39:24.050
where we heard him for the first time. I don't

00:39:24.050 --> 00:39:26.349
know. What do you, what do you guys have to say?

00:39:28.050 --> 00:39:33.710
Um, so I first heard Hawk Nelson. I don't know.

00:39:33.710 --> 00:39:36.289
It was. I didn't know I was hearing Hagenhausen.

00:39:36.429 --> 00:39:39.489
I just, I heard, uh, every little thing somewhere

00:39:39.489 --> 00:39:42.909
online, probably somewhere illegal, not like

00:39:42.909 --> 00:39:45.869
Napster or any of those. I don't know what the

00:39:45.869 --> 00:39:48.769
statute of limitations is for illegal downloading,

00:39:49.090 --> 00:39:51.610
but, um, I heard that song and I was like, I

00:39:51.610 --> 00:39:54.409
didn't know who it was. Uh, it was just a random

00:39:54.409 --> 00:39:56.650
file that I came across that I liked. I was like,

00:39:56.730 --> 00:40:00.269
this is a great song, it's catchy. Um, and so

00:40:00.269 --> 00:40:03.309
I actually had to do a lot of 2004 research.

00:40:03.579 --> 00:40:05.880
to figure out who it was. You know, like Googling

00:40:05.880 --> 00:40:08.000
the lyrics. I think it was Google back then.

00:40:08.039 --> 00:40:10.539
It was like Ask Jeeves or something. I don't

00:40:10.539 --> 00:40:14.099
know. And just like search every old school way

00:40:14.099 --> 00:40:16.519
there was. And finally figured out it was Hawk

00:40:16.519 --> 00:40:18.460
Nelson. I was like, oh, this band's pretty cool.

00:40:18.780 --> 00:40:22.500
And just really just jumped into it from there.

00:40:22.539 --> 00:40:26.559
You know, got the CD. Didn't know there was a

00:40:26.559 --> 00:40:30.269
2005. One that had more songs. So I'm going to

00:40:30.269 --> 00:40:35.469
have to look for more CDs today. I'll sell you

00:40:35.469 --> 00:40:41.809
my copy. OK. OK. Yeah, we'll do that. We'll do

00:40:41.809 --> 00:40:47.590
that. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know. Really just

00:40:47.590 --> 00:40:49.250
started listening to him from there once I figured

00:40:49.250 --> 00:40:52.050
out who it was and just really, really enjoyed,

00:40:52.050 --> 00:40:56.150
you know, this this particular album, just some

00:40:56.150 --> 00:41:01.469
of their other ones, too. For me, I found them

00:41:01.469 --> 00:41:05.570
on Winter Jam. I feel like, growing up, that

00:41:05.570 --> 00:41:08.969
was like, before you had like the Spotify's and

00:41:08.969 --> 00:41:12.809
all, like, even for us, the nearest like, like,

00:41:13.010 --> 00:41:16.090
life way was an hour from us. So, growing up,

00:41:16.090 --> 00:41:20.369
there wasn't this like, easy access to find like,

00:41:20.489 --> 00:41:22.909
new Christian music. And I remember even at this

00:41:22.909 --> 00:41:26.889
time, like, my mom was like, hey, beware of like,

00:41:26.889 --> 00:41:29.670
YouTube. but she let me go on Facebook, so it

00:41:29.670 --> 00:41:32.389
was just weird. Like, hey, we can't trust someone

00:41:32.389 --> 00:41:35.230
on YouTube, but Facebook, that's safe over there.

00:41:35.730 --> 00:41:39.469
And so, like, even finding music videos was like,

00:41:39.590 --> 00:41:41.630
you'd wake up Saturday morning and hope you found

00:41:41.630 --> 00:41:45.489
something on, like, first it was like MTV, and

00:41:45.489 --> 00:41:47.090
then they had, I don't know if you guys remember

00:41:47.090 --> 00:41:50.070
the Gospel Music Channel? Like, there was this

00:41:50.070 --> 00:41:52.449
like 24 -7 Christian music channel that ran for

00:41:52.449 --> 00:41:57.050
like five years, and they would have different

00:41:57.050 --> 00:41:59.710
ones. So one was just random music videos. One

00:41:59.710 --> 00:42:03.690
was dedicated to like rock. One was dedicated

00:42:03.690 --> 00:42:06.969
to like, you know, rap or whatever. So I remember

00:42:06.969 --> 00:42:10.769
finding them at Winter Jam and I was like, oh,

00:42:10.809 --> 00:42:13.070
this is cool. This is different. Like I've never

00:42:13.070 --> 00:42:16.489
really experienced like pop punk. And then I

00:42:16.489 --> 00:42:19.530
think it was being at home and just randomly

00:42:19.530 --> 00:42:22.349
seeing their friend like that music video and

00:42:22.349 --> 00:42:26.130
just like I said, thinking This is different.

00:42:26.130 --> 00:42:30.590
I haven't seen a band like this before and So

00:42:30.590 --> 00:42:32.929
that kind of just jump -started like jump again

00:42:32.929 --> 00:42:35.730
and kind of discovering not only them but also

00:42:35.730 --> 00:42:39.349
other people in the pop punk genre That's cool.

00:42:39.630 --> 00:42:44.269
I can't remember for me what it was that That

00:42:44.269 --> 00:42:48.610
made me when I saw this record Outlife way pick

00:42:48.610 --> 00:42:52.150
it up. I probably had heard some of it before

00:42:52.849 --> 00:42:55.269
Some of their stuff before but I think I was

00:42:55.269 --> 00:42:58.889
just intrigued probably won by the $5 price tag

00:42:58.889 --> 00:43:04.019
on it but always helps yeah but it looked like

00:43:04.019 --> 00:43:06.400
a good deal because it was like 20 songs for

00:43:06.400 --> 00:43:09.079
like five bucks and i'm like well i might as

00:43:09.079 --> 00:43:12.239
well uh just pick this thing up and see how it

00:43:12.239 --> 00:43:16.519
goes because i liked pop punk um and so um and

00:43:16.519 --> 00:43:19.260
and yeah it was it was a it was a fun album to

00:43:19.260 --> 00:43:21.420
kind of dig into and listen to i think something

00:43:21.420 --> 00:43:25.400
about the name too just kind of like caught me

00:43:25.400 --> 00:43:28.500
like oh there's this christian punk band that's

00:43:28.519 --> 00:43:32.300
talking about like letters to the president that

00:43:32.300 --> 00:43:33.800
they would write. And I'm like, that's gotta

00:43:33.800 --> 00:43:35.900
be interesting to see what it is that they're

00:43:35.900 --> 00:43:39.900
gonna say. So something about that. I was a little

00:43:39.900 --> 00:43:42.000
taken back by that's pretty much the theme of

00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:44.059
like one song on the album and the rest of it's

00:43:44.059 --> 00:43:47.840
about girls, but you know, boys like girls. They

00:43:47.840 --> 00:43:51.920
do, yeah. So relevant in every conversation.

00:43:53.750 --> 00:43:57.630
So cool. Well, let's kind of walk by this track

00:43:57.630 --> 00:43:59.789
by track and kind of dig into it. First track

00:43:59.789 --> 00:44:03.730
on the record is California. So what do we think

00:44:03.730 --> 00:44:07.210
about California? I feel like this is probably

00:44:07.210 --> 00:44:11.090
Hawk Nelson's most famous track, maybe, which

00:44:11.090 --> 00:44:13.889
I feel like it's really weird when you kind of

00:44:13.889 --> 00:44:16.429
like look at this song and you compare it to

00:44:16.429 --> 00:44:19.949
anything after Jason left because like this is

00:44:19.949 --> 00:44:22.630
just such a good comparison of there was like

00:44:23.019 --> 00:44:25.340
You know, like we brought John James earlier

00:44:25.340 --> 00:44:27.460
and I feel like Newsboys, there's a huge shift

00:44:27.460 --> 00:44:30.960
from like Peter to when Michael took over. And

00:44:30.960 --> 00:44:33.579
I feel like with Hawk Nelson it's the same way.

00:44:34.760 --> 00:44:39.340
But I feel like it's super catchy. And I think

00:44:39.340 --> 00:44:41.079
that, you know, as someone who knew the band,

00:44:41.550 --> 00:44:44.429
It got me excited kind of like nostalgia going

00:44:44.429 --> 00:44:47.250
but I think from a perspective of someone who

00:44:47.250 --> 00:44:49.550
wouldn't know the band I think that you would

00:44:49.550 --> 00:44:54.090
go into okay if nothing else, I'm gonna get Just

00:44:54.090 --> 00:44:57.869
like some fun songs on there. Yeah. Yeah John,

00:44:57.969 --> 00:45:01.409
what'd you think? I I really like this song I

00:45:01.409 --> 00:45:04.250
had been on, you know, Mr. Trip to California

00:45:04.250 --> 00:45:09.269
like fairly Kind of around that time, you know

00:45:09.269 --> 00:45:11.460
when I picked up the album And so I was like,

00:45:11.460 --> 00:45:14.980
oh yeah, California, I've been there and I had

00:45:14.980 --> 00:45:17.059
a really good time out there. And I was like,

00:45:17.059 --> 00:45:19.760
yeah, let's pack up and move to California. I've

00:45:19.760 --> 00:45:23.380
got some friends out there now, too. And it just

00:45:23.380 --> 00:45:26.699
really got me excited. And since then, I'm like,

00:45:26.940 --> 00:45:28.820
oh, the cost of living and the politics and all

00:45:28.820 --> 00:45:32.360
that. But back then, when I was younger and naive,

00:45:33.119 --> 00:45:36.219
and it's still just a great song. It's just like

00:45:36.219 --> 00:45:38.760
Brandon said, it's just fun. It's a fun song.

00:45:41.190 --> 00:45:44.250
Like when I discovered Hawk Nelson, I mean I

00:45:44.250 --> 00:45:46.230
was a big fan of Reliant K. I was kind of like,

00:45:46.289 --> 00:45:49.070
oh, it's like a second Reliant K that I can listen

00:45:49.070 --> 00:45:53.349
to now I have two bands. So yeah, I loved it.

00:45:53.369 --> 00:45:55.610
I thought it was great. Yeah, that's cool. It

00:45:55.610 --> 00:46:00.489
is just a fun opener song. Yeah, I never thought

00:46:00.489 --> 00:46:02.449
about it in the context of that Bakersfield trip,

00:46:03.150 --> 00:46:06.659
but yeah, that was a fun trip. Yeah, I like this

00:46:06.659 --> 00:46:09.579
one. It's super catchy. I like the guitar at

00:46:09.579 --> 00:46:13.460
the beginning I feel like it kind of is a great

00:46:13.460 --> 00:46:16.619
setup to the album like the theme of the song

00:46:16.619 --> 00:46:18.960
California fits the vibe of the song. There's

00:46:18.960 --> 00:46:23.559
even like surf guitar that like Happens in there.

00:46:23.579 --> 00:46:26.340
And so yeah, I think this is a great a great

00:46:26.340 --> 00:46:29.980
way to kick off the record Next we move to things

00:46:29.980 --> 00:46:33.460
we go through John, how'd you feel about that

00:46:33.460 --> 00:46:37.159
track? It's another good track. I thought you

00:46:37.159 --> 00:46:40.860
know the the actual sound of the the song It's

00:46:40.860 --> 00:46:42.800
sort of in contrast just kind of some of the

00:46:42.800 --> 00:46:45.579
bummer things that they talk about. Mm -hmm You

00:46:45.579 --> 00:46:50.039
know, it's a really Just jumpy, you know energetic

00:46:50.039 --> 00:46:54.400
song, but then they're just talking about you

00:46:54.400 --> 00:46:59.079
know things we go through and it's just Life's

00:46:59.079 --> 00:47:02.739
hard sometimes and and that's why you need God

00:47:02.739 --> 00:47:05.500
you need him on your, he's always on your side,

00:47:05.500 --> 00:47:08.480
but you need to, you know, just trust him. Cause

00:47:08.480 --> 00:47:14.460
there's been just divorce and, and, you know,

00:47:14.719 --> 00:47:21.219
it's hard grown up, but just pressures of life

00:47:21.219 --> 00:47:24.760
and all that. So it's just, yeah, it's, it's

00:47:24.760 --> 00:47:27.420
after the first song's really fun. It's, it's

00:47:27.420 --> 00:47:31.699
kind of maybe a more serious and content song,

00:47:31.699 --> 00:47:35.000
but It still sounds fun. So it's really relatable

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:38.599
and and easy to get into. Yeah. My favorite thing

00:47:38.599 --> 00:47:42.219
about this song is when they start the verses,

00:47:42.800 --> 00:47:47.079
there's like this like softer guitar that plays

00:47:47.079 --> 00:47:50.039
under it. That's not just like the like pop punk

00:47:50.039 --> 00:47:54.320
rhythm guitar. And I love that guitar tone and

00:47:54.320 --> 00:47:56.679
that guitar part. I think it works really well.

00:47:57.050 --> 00:47:59.630
Um, that's my big standout thing. I also wrote

00:47:59.630 --> 00:48:03.590
down for this. They love gang vocals. Um, because

00:48:03.590 --> 00:48:06.469
they do them on almost every song on this record.

00:48:06.550 --> 00:48:09.050
Um, but, um, but yeah, it's good. I love that

00:48:09.050 --> 00:48:12.670
guitar. Um, I think I could definitely see where

00:48:12.670 --> 00:48:15.570
someone could think that it's too much of a shift,

00:48:15.570 --> 00:48:19.989
but for me, I enjoyed that it showed a more serious

00:48:19.989 --> 00:48:22.309
side right off the bat. Cause I think a lot of

00:48:22.309 --> 00:48:25.599
times bands like a Hawk Nelson, if you have like

00:48:25.599 --> 00:48:28.460
10 tracks, you'll have eight of them are this

00:48:28.460 --> 00:48:32.039
fun fun fun and then you have two that it's almost

00:48:32.039 --> 00:48:35.679
like it just comes to such a halt or it's so

00:48:35.679 --> 00:48:39.360
different that it just feels very out of place

00:48:39.360 --> 00:48:41.099
that it's like all you've been singing about

00:48:41.099 --> 00:48:43.380
is girls but then you have a track where they're

00:48:43.380 --> 00:48:45.679
like oh man let's talk about this thing that

00:48:45.679 --> 00:48:47.840
happened to a friend or let's talk about this

00:48:47.840 --> 00:48:50.679
you know this um this big thing that's going

00:48:50.679 --> 00:48:54.380
on in the world or whatever um like social issue.

00:48:54.760 --> 00:48:57.880
So I enjoyed that kind of right off the bat.

00:48:58.320 --> 00:49:01.079
You knew that you weren't just going to get a

00:49:01.079 --> 00:49:05.599
full track of California. But also it was you

00:49:05.599 --> 00:49:09.159
can talk about more stuff without it being this

00:49:09.159 --> 00:49:12.000
huge shift. Like there's a balance between the

00:49:12.000 --> 00:49:15.219
two worlds. Right. Yeah, that's cool. All right.

00:49:15.219 --> 00:49:19.280
What about track three? Every little thing. So

00:49:19.280 --> 00:49:21.679
again, this was the first one that I heard and

00:49:21.679 --> 00:49:25.039
didn't know was them so I spent a lot of time

00:49:25.039 --> 00:49:28.699
Researching this song and you know being a teen

00:49:28.699 --> 00:49:31.239
guy. I was like, man, you know girl that here

00:49:31.239 --> 00:49:35.239
another song about girls, but It was totally

00:49:35.239 --> 00:49:37.099
relevant for me. I was like this is exactly what

00:49:37.099 --> 00:49:39.300
I'm looking for. This is fantastic You know girl

00:49:39.300 --> 00:49:43.159
loves Jesus and I mean, yes sign me up and if

00:49:43.159 --> 00:49:44.739
it didn't work out between them, you know, it's

00:49:44.739 --> 00:49:51.219
like Maybe he can introduce me. It was an awesome

00:49:51.219 --> 00:49:53.539
introduction to Hawk Nelson. I loved it. I thought

00:49:53.539 --> 00:50:01.699
it was totally relevant to my life and I just

00:50:01.699 --> 00:50:05.780
really enjoyed it. It was great. That's cool.

00:50:05.940 --> 00:50:08.340
Yeah, I think this one works really well. The

00:50:08.340 --> 00:50:13.000
melodies are good. I like the... Like there's

00:50:13.000 --> 00:50:15.619
a solo in there. I like the hand claps. It's

00:50:15.619 --> 00:50:17.820
like the traditional thing that you do on like

00:50:17.820 --> 00:50:21.980
a Super pop pop punk song like this. Yeah, you

00:50:21.980 --> 00:50:27.280
got a key change that happens lots of good good

00:50:27.280 --> 00:50:30.440
Things that are happening and it's also it's

00:50:30.440 --> 00:50:33.360
just like if you have a Christian pop punk album

00:50:33.360 --> 00:50:35.519
I feel like you're required to have a song like

00:50:35.519 --> 00:50:38.079
this on it. Just like the stereotypical. Can

00:50:38.079 --> 00:50:42.739
I just find like the girl that loves Jesus? You

00:50:42.739 --> 00:50:45.280
have to write songs like this. There's so many

00:50:45.280 --> 00:50:49.880
MXPX songs like this. It's Reliant K. It's just

00:50:49.880 --> 00:50:52.960
required. It's got to be there and it's there.

00:50:52.960 --> 00:50:55.840
There it is. Yeah, I feel like it's just your

00:50:55.840 --> 00:51:01.219
classic fun song about a girl. I feel like it's

00:51:01.219 --> 00:51:04.460
not trying to change the world or change music

00:51:04.460 --> 00:51:06.420
or whatever. I feel like it's there just to be

00:51:06.420 --> 00:51:10.159
this fun little song singing about a girl. So

00:51:10.159 --> 00:51:12.940
I feel like it like it does what it's supposed

00:51:12.940 --> 00:51:18.280
to do on there. Next, we move to From Underneath.

00:51:18.760 --> 00:51:20.599
Joel, how do you feel about this track? Yeah,

00:51:20.599 --> 00:51:23.280
so this is a different this moves in like a different

00:51:23.280 --> 00:51:25.780
direction, right? Because it's an acoustic song.

00:51:26.800 --> 00:51:29.340
Even though you still got the same. This is the

00:51:29.340 --> 00:51:32.059
good thing about pop punk. Like you can you can

00:51:32.059 --> 00:51:34.639
strip everything away and just have an acoustic

00:51:34.639 --> 00:51:37.769
guitar and accomplish the same thing. As I was

00:51:37.769 --> 00:51:39.269
listening to this, I'm like, they could have

00:51:39.269 --> 00:51:43.210
done this full band like this. It's the same

00:51:43.210 --> 00:51:45.750
kind of songwriting. It's just stripped down

00:51:45.750 --> 00:51:50.590
to an acoustic guitar. But like, I think that

00:51:50.590 --> 00:51:53.750
that that drop fits because they're dealing with

00:51:53.750 --> 00:51:58.489
some like much heavier stuff in this song. And

00:51:58.489 --> 00:52:03.489
so the pulling back helps carry that. I. I was

00:52:03.489 --> 00:52:06.289
trying to do a little research on this, but I

00:52:06.289 --> 00:52:10.389
felt like, um, I felt like maybe this, this is

00:52:10.389 --> 00:52:13.829
something to do with like his dad or something.

00:52:13.969 --> 00:52:17.150
Um, I'm not, not super sure. You guys may have

00:52:17.150 --> 00:52:19.809
more insight on that, but, um, just musically

00:52:19.809 --> 00:52:22.250
and the vibe of the song, I felt like worked

00:52:22.250 --> 00:52:26.010
really well and, um, and fits well with the fact

00:52:26.010 --> 00:52:27.750
that they're dealing with some heavier stuff.

00:52:29.710 --> 00:52:32.150
Yeah, the standout part to me in the song was

00:52:32.150 --> 00:52:34.909
the I guess kind of bell sort of sound at the

00:52:34.909 --> 00:52:38.610
start. Mm -hmm Like I don't know something about

00:52:38.610 --> 00:52:42.329
that I you know, I was in band growing up and

00:52:42.329 --> 00:52:44.510
I had this like massive bell kit that I had to

00:52:44.510 --> 00:52:47.829
lug to school on the bus and For some reason

00:52:47.829 --> 00:52:51.429
in high school No one else could read music in

00:52:51.429 --> 00:52:53.389
the percussion section So like anytime there

00:52:53.389 --> 00:52:56.250
was a song that included bells like that was

00:52:56.250 --> 00:52:57.889
that was always my song. They were like, oh,

00:52:57.929 --> 00:53:02.280
yeah you go over there do that and so you know

00:53:02.280 --> 00:53:04.820
not just kind of the heavier content but just

00:53:04.820 --> 00:53:06.559
that it immediately started with something that

00:53:06.559 --> 00:53:08.659
was really relatable and that way to me i was

00:53:08.659 --> 00:53:13.219
like oh this is fun you know bells and uh it

00:53:13.219 --> 00:53:15.119
just stood out still stands out like when i was

00:53:15.119 --> 00:53:18.380
re -listening to it um for this i was like oh

00:53:18.380 --> 00:53:22.760
it's the it's the bell song this is great um

00:53:22.760 --> 00:53:26.599
i i feel like hawk nelson just does acoustic

00:53:26.599 --> 00:53:31.760
so well Like I think that maybe, maybe my favorite

00:53:31.760 --> 00:53:35.900
Hawk Nelson release was they're like, I think

00:53:35.900 --> 00:53:38.460
it was like the lighter sides one that they released

00:53:38.460 --> 00:53:42.780
with a crazy love, but it was just like all just

00:53:42.780 --> 00:53:47.000
acoustic stuff. And I just, I feel like they

00:53:47.000 --> 00:53:51.059
do it so well and it's cool when you can have

00:53:51.059 --> 00:53:53.800
these like full band stuff, but then you can

00:53:53.800 --> 00:53:58.010
also do acoustic and do that well. So it just

00:53:58.010 --> 00:54:02.889
stood out because even just like live like I've

00:54:02.889 --> 00:54:05.610
seen I saw Huck Nelson when they were touring

00:54:05.610 --> 00:54:09.210
and then I've gotten to see Jason Dunn twice

00:54:09.210 --> 00:54:12.510
solo and I feel like honestly like I would put

00:54:12.510 --> 00:54:17.329
both shows like kind of the same and I feel like

00:54:17.329 --> 00:54:21.170
that's such a testament when you can have something

00:54:21.170 --> 00:54:24.300
that is just a lot of like production and all

00:54:24.300 --> 00:54:27.000
this stuff and then you just have a guy with

00:54:27.000 --> 00:54:30.940
a Guitar and a harmonica, you know and you're

00:54:30.940 --> 00:54:33.599
still being like I'm I'm loving this or I feel

00:54:33.599 --> 00:54:36.679
like I'm still getting this that same song Even

00:54:36.679 --> 00:54:39.900
though it's without all of the electronics and

00:54:39.900 --> 00:54:42.659
backing stuff and all. Yeah. Yeah, it's cool.

00:54:42.880 --> 00:54:46.420
Yeah, it's a good one All right track five is

00:54:46.420 --> 00:54:49.820
the um title track of the record letters to the

00:54:49.820 --> 00:54:52.400
president What do we think about letters to the

00:54:52.400 --> 00:54:56.239
president? I had a question for y 'all. Um Whenever

00:54:56.239 --> 00:54:58.679
like I guess as someone that like I said, I got

00:54:58.679 --> 00:55:02.159
into their like friend like that So I probably

00:55:02.159 --> 00:55:07.159
listened to this album Maybe like 2013 or 2014.

00:55:07.159 --> 00:55:10.920
Yeah, so when this first came out like was this

00:55:10.920 --> 00:55:13.320
controversial at all like the stuff that they

00:55:13.320 --> 00:55:16.739
were Talking about or they were like, oh you

00:55:16.739 --> 00:55:20.559
can't say, you know like crackhead like or something

00:55:20.559 --> 00:55:23.380
on because I mean like I know for me there was

00:55:23.380 --> 00:55:26.639
like I Remember like neon horse was pulled from

00:55:26.639 --> 00:55:29.840
stores. I remember like I tried to go by John

00:55:29.840 --> 00:55:33.300
Rubin's Sex drugs and self -control and I was

00:55:33.300 --> 00:55:36.119
told by Lifeway we do not sell that kind of stuff

00:55:36.119 --> 00:55:38.260
But then I went and found it and I was like actually

00:55:38.260 --> 00:55:41.539
you do it's right here. But so I was wondering

00:55:41.539 --> 00:55:45.690
like was that something that it all was wow this

00:55:45.690 --> 00:55:48.670
is pushing the envelope or was it like no they're

00:55:48.670 --> 00:55:53.269
just singing like that's there's nothing i don't

00:55:53.269 --> 00:55:56.050
yeah i mean as someone who ran the music department

00:55:56.050 --> 00:56:01.309
out of life uh -huh um i feel like um certain

00:56:01.309 --> 00:56:04.010
edgy stuff is allowed as long as it's disparaging

00:56:04.010 --> 00:56:07.429
of like Sinful stuff and sinful people. Mm -hmm

00:56:07.429 --> 00:56:11.010
But like if it's like edgy for any other reason

00:56:11.010 --> 00:56:13.650
then it's not allowed and so I don't think that

00:56:13.650 --> 00:56:16.010
there were any issues with this just because

00:56:16.010 --> 00:56:19.250
I feel like it's like It's like talking down

00:56:19.250 --> 00:56:21.670
to all the right stuff that it's okay for Christians

00:56:21.670 --> 00:56:25.230
to talk down to you. Okay. Yeah, I don't know

00:56:25.230 --> 00:56:28.690
Yeah, I mean I I really liked I thought it was

00:56:28.690 --> 00:56:32.730
a bold song the first You know, I kind of had

00:56:32.730 --> 00:56:34.489
to figure out. I was like, wait, you know, the

00:56:34.489 --> 00:56:36.170
president and they're talking about the parliament

00:56:36.170 --> 00:56:38.670
and I was like, wait, what? Well, as they were

00:56:38.670 --> 00:56:42.309
Canadian, I was like, OK. But that Tommy is a

00:56:42.309 --> 00:56:45.250
crackhead is probably my favorite line on the

00:56:45.250 --> 00:56:48.489
whole album. It's because it was it was just

00:56:48.489 --> 00:56:50.269
really like, wait, what? You know, it catches

00:56:50.269 --> 00:56:53.170
your attention and it really makes you think

00:56:53.170 --> 00:56:55.530
just kind of like the rest of the song. So I'm

00:56:55.530 --> 00:56:58.750
glad it was in there because it was memorable

00:56:58.750 --> 00:57:01.900
to this day for me just. Just thinking about

00:57:01.900 --> 00:57:05.639
this album and that song specifically. Mm hmm.

00:57:06.500 --> 00:57:11.179
Yeah, I like this one a lot. I'm I'm still a

00:57:11.179 --> 00:57:16.199
little confused by the. The whole like, I'm like,

00:57:16.480 --> 00:57:18.960
why, why doesn't he just write a letter to the

00:57:18.960 --> 00:57:21.179
president? You know what I mean? It's like, which

00:57:21.179 --> 00:57:23.619
I guess the song like sort of is. And because

00:57:23.619 --> 00:57:27.519
he's like, but for now. I'll start with something.

00:57:27.619 --> 00:57:29.880
Yeah, I think like is the song the starting with

00:57:29.880 --> 00:57:34.380
something like um I'm just a little like unclear

00:57:34.380 --> 00:57:39.460
on all of those kinds of ideas I I think and

00:57:39.460 --> 00:57:41.000
I don't know if that's what they're going for

00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:44.400
but I think that my interpretation would maybe

00:57:44.400 --> 00:57:48.820
be a Like I need to write this they need to change

00:57:48.820 --> 00:57:51.039
this but then it's like maybe like, you know

00:57:51.039 --> 00:57:54.960
the change starts like with you, like type of

00:57:54.960 --> 00:57:57.099
thing. Maybe it's like, you know, I think about

00:57:57.099 --> 00:58:00.320
like today, or I think about stuff that I'm like,

00:58:00.599 --> 00:58:03.119
this is wrong, or this needs to be changed. And

00:58:03.119 --> 00:58:05.340
I think like, well, I could, you know, I could

00:58:05.340 --> 00:58:08.119
go outside and go stand outside the White House

00:58:08.119 --> 00:58:11.320
and yell, I'm probably gonna get tackled. But,

00:58:11.500 --> 00:58:13.960
you know, but you know, like, you start thinking

00:58:13.960 --> 00:58:16.480
about like, the little things where it's like,

00:58:16.480 --> 00:58:18.619
you have a problem with that, where can I step

00:58:18.619 --> 00:58:22.380
in and say, you know, I, you know, instead of

00:58:22.840 --> 00:58:25.960
Shouting or writing letters. I could step in

00:58:25.960 --> 00:58:28.820
but I don't if Jason was here He might be like

00:58:28.820 --> 00:58:33.760
that's not at all what I mean and be quiet I

00:58:33.760 --> 00:58:35.699
Get the feeling that he probably would agree

00:58:35.699 --> 00:58:37.960
with you on that. I just don't know how like

00:58:37.960 --> 00:58:41.500
I Don't know. It doesn't like come across super

00:58:41.500 --> 00:58:43.739
strong in the song. Uh -huh It feels more just

00:58:43.739 --> 00:58:45.980
like a we're just gonna kind of question everything

00:58:45.980 --> 00:58:49.000
which is yeah, it's very punk rock to like question

00:58:49.000 --> 00:58:53.469
everything Just hope that Tommy has gotten clean

00:58:53.469 --> 00:58:57.590
and that he's no longer a crackhead It's been

00:58:57.590 --> 00:59:01.130
a long time. I hope he's doing okay We need a

00:59:01.130 --> 00:59:05.429
few Yeah, yeah, I can do Tommy. That would be

00:59:05.429 --> 00:59:08.429
a good song. Actually. I haven't That's what

00:59:08.429 --> 00:59:11.909
I would ask more than anything else until John

00:59:11.909 --> 00:59:14.389
mentioned it I even think about like oh what

00:59:14.389 --> 00:59:16.710
if that was a real person like that completely

00:59:16.710 --> 00:59:19.869
changes the song if This is like, yeah, we just

00:59:19.869 --> 00:59:22.449
were thinking about stuff Versus if they were

00:59:22.449 --> 00:59:26.289
like no, these are real people that we know and

00:59:26.289 --> 00:59:30.130
i'm like, oh this song Gets way more serious

00:59:30.130 --> 00:59:36.489
than no doubt So next we move to right here So

00:59:36.489 --> 00:59:38.449
what were your thoughts on right here? Yeah,

00:59:38.449 --> 00:59:44.190
I this this is a song that fits here It reminds

00:59:44.190 --> 00:59:46.329
me of the kind of songs that I wrote when I was

00:59:46.329 --> 00:59:53.260
young It's like when you're young and you are

00:59:53.260 --> 00:59:55.599
Trying to find the girl or whatever then you

00:59:55.599 --> 00:59:57.679
want to write songs that are gonna try and make

00:59:57.679 --> 01:00:01.639
the girls Swoon and this just felt like that

01:00:01.639 --> 01:00:05.559
kind of song Yeah, yeah, it's just really fun

01:00:05.559 --> 01:00:09.460
to sing to especially in the car especially from

01:00:09.460 --> 01:00:15.300
a CD specifically and I I still love to sing

01:00:15.300 --> 01:00:19.639
this song I had Well, this is more of an excuse.

01:00:19.639 --> 01:00:21.699
I had sinus surgery a few years back and I don't

01:00:21.699 --> 01:00:24.599
feel like I can sing as well as I used to. And

01:00:24.599 --> 01:00:26.599
so that's like personally disappointing, but

01:00:26.599 --> 01:00:29.719
I still sing just as loudly to it. And this is,

01:00:29.719 --> 01:00:34.119
yeah, just one of those kind of simple fun songs

01:00:34.119 --> 01:00:37.019
that just has to be on here. Yeah. And it is,

01:00:37.019 --> 01:00:38.840
it does a great job. You sing this one to Anna

01:00:38.840 --> 01:00:42.989
pretty frequently. All the time. I will probably

01:00:42.989 --> 01:00:46.090
do that after we get off of this because it's

01:00:46.090 --> 01:00:50.849
been long enough that she may be upset. Happy

01:00:50.849 --> 01:00:54.510
wife, happy life. I feel like for me, this was

01:00:54.510 --> 01:00:57.809
the first one that like missed a little. And

01:00:57.809 --> 01:00:59.889
I think like there was nothing wrong with it.

01:00:59.889 --> 01:01:02.349
I think it was just the first one that I felt

01:01:02.349 --> 01:01:05.010
like, oh, I'd already been here. Whereas I feel

01:01:05.010 --> 01:01:07.670
like leading up to it, the tracks were all like

01:01:07.670 --> 01:01:10.610
a little bit different. Um, so it just felt like

01:01:10.610 --> 01:01:12.769
I was getting more of a variety. And when this

01:01:12.769 --> 01:01:17.369
one hit, um, and I, I think with pop punk, like

01:01:17.369 --> 01:01:19.369
I think on the Grace Graber one, I mentioned

01:01:19.369 --> 01:01:22.929
that there's, there's a lot of bands in that

01:01:22.929 --> 01:01:26.510
genre that, you know, you could hear a song and

01:01:26.510 --> 01:01:29.510
I'm going to think this could be one of 15 artists,

01:01:29.690 --> 01:01:33.429
you know, like it can lens itself. Um, so I feel

01:01:33.429 --> 01:01:35.050
like this was the first one that was kind of

01:01:35.050 --> 01:01:37.730
like, okay, there's nothing wrong with it, but

01:01:37.730 --> 01:01:40.829
like, This kind of falls into a okay. I feel

01:01:40.829 --> 01:01:42.989
like i've already experienced this a little bit

01:01:42.989 --> 01:01:45.190
if that makes sense Yeah, there's an inevitability

01:01:45.190 --> 01:01:49.909
to that. Yeah a pop punk record that has um 14

01:01:49.909 --> 01:01:52.789
songs on it. Yeah, yeah, it's just gonna start

01:01:52.789 --> 01:01:55.190
to run together. Yeah a little bit at some point

01:01:55.190 --> 01:01:58.550
um, and so but that's what I like about it and

01:01:58.550 --> 01:02:02.750
I I think it really is like I and joel probably

01:02:02.750 --> 01:02:04.590
strongly disagrees with this like when bands

01:02:04.590 --> 01:02:08.590
just Get so different from the sound that I expect

01:02:08.590 --> 01:02:11.429
it's like but I listen to you because of that

01:02:11.429 --> 01:02:14.030
sound What are you doing over here? Like like

01:02:14.030 --> 01:02:18.250
I want you know Classic Reliant K not air for

01:02:18.250 --> 01:02:20.030
free or whatever Yeah, like that kind of stuff

01:02:20.030 --> 01:02:22.670
like I would listen to someone else if I wanted

01:02:22.670 --> 01:02:25.710
that so I Definitely see your point, but for

01:02:25.710 --> 01:02:28.489
me it was like yeah, this is this is exactly

01:02:28.489 --> 01:02:32.429
why I'm right here You know for this Speaking

01:02:32.429 --> 01:02:35.670
of changing things up though track seven recess

01:02:35.670 --> 01:02:39.590
does that in a pretty significant way? I'm I'm

01:02:39.590 --> 01:02:41.829
gonna go ahead and just say I have been feeling

01:02:41.829 --> 01:02:44.889
very nostalgic for like interludes recently.

01:02:44.889 --> 01:02:49.690
Yeah, and so when this hit I was so excited because

01:02:49.690 --> 01:02:54.929
I I feel like I miss the days of You know like

01:02:54.929 --> 01:02:57.849
like something I used to not appreciate as much

01:02:57.849 --> 01:03:01.199
but on me without you brother sister the spider

01:03:01.199 --> 01:03:03.480
songs. I used to be like, why are these here?

01:03:03.619 --> 01:03:06.599
And now I'm like, this is so cool, because it

01:03:06.599 --> 01:03:09.880
feels like I'm just getting this bonus. And I

01:03:09.880 --> 01:03:12.239
feel like there's a lot of stuff that's been

01:03:12.239 --> 01:03:15.460
kind of that 2000s that I've been revisiting.

01:03:15.480 --> 01:03:18.760
And I'm like, man, I miss this where they used

01:03:18.760 --> 01:03:21.519
to be these little fun, same with like bonus

01:03:21.519 --> 01:03:24.840
tracks. I miss there when there was this year

01:03:24.840 --> 01:03:28.650
listening to a CD. and being like okay are we

01:03:28.650 --> 01:03:31.289
gonna get like a hidden track on here or something

01:03:31.289 --> 01:03:36.510
and um so when i i heard it i was like i i as

01:03:36.510 --> 01:03:37.929
soon as i just saw it i was like i don't even

01:03:37.929 --> 01:03:39.610
have to hear this i'm already gonna give it a

01:03:39.610 --> 01:03:42.130
thumbs up yeah i wrote down next to this one

01:03:42.130 --> 01:03:46.230
can i have more of this um yeah i just like i

01:03:46.230 --> 01:03:49.449
like they went full punk rock right and uh it's

01:03:49.449 --> 01:03:51.690
fun you've got the fast drums you've got the

01:03:51.690 --> 01:03:55.150
heaviness Cool lead guitar. I'm like now it kind

01:03:55.150 --> 01:03:57.610
of wish this was an actual song. Uh -huh flushing

01:03:57.610 --> 01:03:59.469
it out, but I I really enjoyed it for what it

01:03:59.469 --> 01:04:03.429
was, too Yeah, I like kind of hiding it here

01:04:03.429 --> 01:04:05.309
as opposed to a secret song even though that

01:04:05.309 --> 01:04:07.170
was the thing for a while because when you listen

01:04:07.170 --> 01:04:10.550
to something on CD There's all this silence and

01:04:10.550 --> 01:04:13.070
you can't really zoom ahead as well. Yeah, and

01:04:13.070 --> 01:04:15.849
so this was just a nice it's like, you know,

01:04:16.110 --> 01:04:19.429
it's like There's not necessarily a reason that's

01:04:19.429 --> 01:04:22.170
here except for just fun and I mean calling it

01:04:22.170 --> 01:04:25.429
recess like who doesn't love recess? Last year

01:04:25.429 --> 01:04:28.070
my daughter had recess three times on Fridays,

01:04:28.130 --> 01:04:30.570
and I was like that's exactly how life should

01:04:30.570 --> 01:04:34.670
be this is Everybody needs recess. Yeah, it's

01:04:34.670 --> 01:04:38.050
good to take a break from the pump. Yeah All

01:04:38.050 --> 01:04:42.409
right. What about track eight take me? Mmm, I

01:04:42.409 --> 01:04:45.610
like it slowing down a little bit. I feel like

01:04:45.610 --> 01:04:50.550
it was nice So yeah, I just I felt like it was

01:04:50.550 --> 01:04:55.289
a little nice slowdown moment Yeah, I felt like

01:04:55.289 --> 01:04:59.030
this was my first like kind of to the record.

01:04:59.050 --> 01:05:04.630
Mm -hmm It's it's one of those like Songs that's

01:05:04.630 --> 01:05:06.650
like alright, we're gonna write like a love song

01:05:06.650 --> 01:05:08.670
to God but make it vague enough to where you're

01:05:08.670 --> 01:05:11.349
not into God Then like you won't know that it's

01:05:11.349 --> 01:05:14.670
about God. Mm -hmm, which sounds like super vague,

01:05:14.750 --> 01:05:17.719
but You could totally as an outsider be like,

01:05:17.719 --> 01:05:23.019
oh yeah, this was for a girl or whatever There

01:05:23.019 --> 01:05:25.400
parts of it that I really loved they do this

01:05:25.400 --> 01:05:27.159
weird thing at the end though where the melody

01:05:27.159 --> 01:05:30.320
gets off of the rhythm of the song Mm -hmm, and

01:05:30.320 --> 01:05:32.739
I feel like it's like we're gonna try and do

01:05:32.739 --> 01:05:35.179
something creative, but I don't I don't feel

01:05:35.179 --> 01:05:38.900
like it really Super worked and so I don't know

01:05:38.900 --> 01:05:41.320
not not my favorite track on the record, but

01:05:41.320 --> 01:05:45.349
Yeah, it's not Probably not one of the standout

01:05:45.349 --> 01:05:50.250
ones, but it's fun. It's easy to sing to Back

01:05:50.250 --> 01:05:55.250
when I could sing and it just Yeah, I feel like

01:05:55.250 --> 01:05:57.429
they kind of perfected especially on this album

01:05:57.429 --> 01:06:00.570
like the you know They're not really quite like

01:06:00.570 --> 01:06:02.489
power ballad type things, but they're a little

01:06:02.489 --> 01:06:05.469
a little bit slower Maybe then especially after

01:06:05.469 --> 01:06:07.710
recess, you know, you got to slow it down. Yeah

01:06:07.710 --> 01:06:12.320
sure. Everybody's tired run around so it you

01:06:12.320 --> 01:06:18.659
know it it works fine it's fine it's yeah uh

01:06:18.659 --> 01:06:21.920
next up we have someone else before john how

01:06:21.920 --> 01:06:27.179
do you feel about this track i i thought it was

01:06:27.179 --> 01:06:29.219
so i i felt like some of the layers were kind

01:06:29.219 --> 01:06:31.360
of random like they take the sip of my water

01:06:31.360 --> 01:06:33.960
part you know it's like it just felt really random

01:06:33.960 --> 01:06:36.460
but not in a bad way it was just like oh It's

01:06:36.460 --> 01:06:38.760
a weird lyric. Um, then I had the phone call

01:06:38.760 --> 01:06:43.519
in the middle, which was Also unique I guess

01:06:43.519 --> 01:06:47.579
to this song on this album. So, you know, I appreciate

01:06:47.579 --> 01:06:53.500
it for trying some different stuff and You know,

01:06:53.659 --> 01:06:55.820
i'm easy to please I liked it. I thought it was

01:06:55.820 --> 01:07:00.119
great Dude like so I was wondering because the

01:07:00.119 --> 01:07:02.480
phone call didn't sound like jason. So I was

01:07:02.480 --> 01:07:05.320
wondering like Is it another member of the band

01:07:05.320 --> 01:07:11.219
or like a friend or like their manager or No

01:07:11.219 --> 01:07:15.559
idea Yeah, yeah, I don't know I wish I could

01:07:15.559 --> 01:07:17.840
say it was me and that like you guys are just

01:07:17.840 --> 01:07:21.719
learning some really cool trivia Uh right now,

01:07:22.019 --> 01:07:24.159
but but now so I guess we'll just say yes john.

01:07:24.320 --> 01:07:26.400
We'll just say this. Yeah. Yeah learning it now.

01:07:26.679 --> 01:07:32.099
Yes Yeah breaking news right here Um, and I'm

01:07:32.099 --> 01:07:34.699
learning it now too. So this is a significant

01:07:34.699 --> 01:07:38.480
moment in my life. I think for me, this, this,

01:07:38.480 --> 01:07:41.440
uh, this might be my least favorite song on the

01:07:41.440 --> 01:07:46.780
record. Um, I don't know. It's breakup song.

01:07:47.599 --> 01:07:50.980
Kind of par for the course. Um, I feel like the

01:07:50.980 --> 01:07:52.219
second verse is kind of weird. I don't know.

01:07:52.280 --> 01:07:55.599
It's just not my favorite track on the album.

01:07:56.219 --> 01:07:58.820
Currently taking a sip of my water. Just like

01:07:58.820 --> 01:08:04.719
in honor of the song now I I like the bass. I

01:08:04.719 --> 01:08:07.780
think that it I really like jason's voice in

01:08:07.780 --> 01:08:11.119
it. Um, I like the I don't know if you would

01:08:11.119 --> 01:08:13.500
call them like screams or just yells or whatever.

01:08:13.679 --> 01:08:17.539
Yeah, um I I really like when jason does that

01:08:17.539 --> 01:08:20.560
um The phone call in the middle. I like just

01:08:20.560 --> 01:08:23.899
because I feel like it was random like I enjoy

01:08:23.899 --> 01:08:27.460
just the Feel like you get away with it because

01:08:27.460 --> 01:08:29.960
they have presented themselves as we're a band

01:08:29.960 --> 01:08:33.119
that likes to have fun Like we want to go California

01:08:33.119 --> 01:08:36.659
or whatever. And so I feel like you You're able

01:08:36.659 --> 01:08:40.840
to get away with it Like because of who you've

01:08:40.840 --> 01:08:43.319
presented yourself like I think like if this

01:08:43.319 --> 01:08:45.560
was on a Family Force 5 album I would be like,

01:08:45.560 --> 01:08:47.560
yeah that makes sense because there's this like

01:08:47.560 --> 01:08:52.760
kind of chaotic energy happening so Moving on

01:08:52.760 --> 01:08:55.710
to first time Joel, how'd you feel about that

01:08:55.710 --> 01:08:58.409
track? Yeah, I like this one. I feel like the

01:08:58.409 --> 01:09:02.130
record picks up a little bit for me again here

01:09:02.130 --> 01:09:06.189
I like the guitar work. There's like breaks and

01:09:06.189 --> 01:09:10.670
pauses that are happening in it Just feels like

01:09:10.670 --> 01:09:13.189
it kind of moves shifts a little back in gear

01:09:13.189 --> 01:09:18.829
for me on this one. Mm -hmm Yeah, it's um, I

01:09:20.380 --> 01:09:22.560
It's a good song. I was still like four times

01:09:22.560 --> 01:09:24.840
this morning trying to think of more to say,

01:09:25.220 --> 01:09:27.880
but it's just I don't know. It's just an enjoyable

01:09:27.880 --> 01:09:32.060
song and I nothing stood out one way or another,

01:09:32.100 --> 01:09:39.199
but it's a solid part of the CD. Yeah. I felt

01:09:39.199 --> 01:09:41.619
like it was it kind of felt a little repetitive,

01:09:41.899 --> 01:09:45.579
like the track a few tracks ago, but I still

01:09:45.579 --> 01:09:49.829
liked it. And I think that's. I think that's

01:09:49.829 --> 01:09:52.930
nice is that it wasn't like, uh, I'm skipping

01:09:52.930 --> 01:09:55.329
this. Like I don't like it. I'm skipping it.

01:09:55.550 --> 01:09:58.270
It's more of like, uh, okay, you know, like I,

01:09:58.270 --> 01:10:01.430
I get it. Cause you know, to John's point, it's

01:10:01.430 --> 01:10:05.850
that's what you are like expecting. So it's like

01:10:05.850 --> 01:10:10.850
the track is doing its job. Um, and so like,

01:10:10.850 --> 01:10:12.689
you know, I might think it's a little repetitive,

01:10:12.689 --> 01:10:15.380
but I think, you know, there's there's artists

01:10:15.380 --> 01:10:17.399
I love that I could see someone being like they're

01:10:17.399 --> 01:10:19.520
doing the same thing and I'd be like no no he

01:10:19.520 --> 01:10:21.739
screamed differently a couple of tracks ago this

01:10:21.739 --> 01:10:26.159
one is he's yelling or he's speaking like Arabic

01:10:26.159 --> 01:10:28.500
or something like something like different with

01:10:28.500 --> 01:10:35.159
it um next up we're moving to like a race car

01:10:35.159 --> 01:10:39.520
um well what's funny is as a huge NASCAR fan.

01:10:39.779 --> 01:10:42.239
I had people that assumed that like this was

01:10:42.239 --> 01:10:45.640
my favorite track or that had heard it. I never

01:10:45.640 --> 01:10:49.579
even listened to this track until last year.

01:10:50.560 --> 01:10:54.939
Jason Dunn was doing this like acoustic tour

01:10:54.939 --> 01:10:59.140
and he came to Columbia and we went saw him and

01:10:59.140 --> 01:11:02.140
I heard like the story behind the song and like

01:11:02.140 --> 01:11:05.319
him perform it and I was like this is Really

01:11:05.319 --> 01:11:07.159
cool and this just been sitting here for the

01:11:07.159 --> 01:11:12.640
longest like okay But I really liked it. I feel

01:11:12.640 --> 01:11:17.100
like it's like super catchy and I think just

01:11:17.100 --> 01:11:20.920
like the visuals I found myself thinking of like

01:11:20.920 --> 01:11:23.819
NASCAR races while he's singing stuff and I'm

01:11:23.819 --> 01:11:26.939
like, oh I'm sure on YouTube. There's someone

01:11:26.939 --> 01:11:29.659
who has put together like footage from like a

01:11:30.429 --> 01:11:32.970
NASCAR I don't know like a Fast and the Furious

01:11:32.970 --> 01:11:36.210
movie or something like to this song So I'm sure

01:11:36.210 --> 01:11:42.090
that's out there, but I enjoyed it Yeah, I don't

01:11:42.090 --> 01:11:45.109
know for some reason this was the one song on

01:11:45.109 --> 01:11:47.250
here that just like didn't connect with me maybe

01:11:47.250 --> 01:11:50.170
it's because I'm not a NASCAR fan which really

01:11:50.170 --> 01:11:54.869
came ahead when I First started dating Anna because

01:11:54.869 --> 01:11:57.750
her dad gave me one of those, you know, contract

01:11:57.750 --> 01:11:59.770
to date my daughter or something that had all

01:11:59.770 --> 01:12:02.390
these in depth questions, you know, including

01:12:02.390 --> 01:12:04.289
my social security number and all these things.

01:12:04.449 --> 01:12:05.829
Apparently it wasn't actually supposed to fill

01:12:05.829 --> 01:12:09.329
it out. But I, you know, and her dad's super

01:12:09.329 --> 01:12:13.670
nice and not at all intimidating now, you know,

01:12:13.710 --> 01:12:16.550
almost 20 years later. But I, you know, one of

01:12:16.550 --> 01:12:18.770
the questions was, is NASCAR sport? And I was

01:12:18.770 --> 01:12:21.489
like, I don't, you know, like Because they're

01:12:21.489 --> 01:12:23.890
in Boone, which is right outside of Wilkesboro,

01:12:24.229 --> 01:12:25.770
which is in North Carolina, just kind of like

01:12:25.770 --> 01:12:27.630
the birthplace of NASCAR. I was like, I don't

01:12:27.630 --> 01:12:29.970
know how to answer this. And so maybe that's

01:12:29.970 --> 01:12:32.609
like, even now, just sort of coloring this song.

01:12:32.810 --> 01:12:35.210
But it definitely, stylistically, is way different

01:12:35.210 --> 01:12:39.659
than, I think, some of the other songs. Maybe

01:12:39.659 --> 01:12:41.619
I was just hoping for more of the same. I don't

01:12:41.619 --> 01:12:43.800
know Maybe that makes me a bad person but I was

01:12:43.800 --> 01:12:45.680
like this is this song's just a little different

01:12:45.680 --> 01:12:48.659
than the other ones and and it just Stands out

01:12:48.659 --> 01:12:51.460
but maybe not in the right way for me. I'm curious.

01:12:51.560 --> 01:12:54.460
What was his correct answer for that that question?

01:12:54.800 --> 01:12:59.800
He does not like nascar. So I yeah, so but not

01:12:59.800 --> 01:13:04.659
to offend you specifically. I just I I I went

01:13:04.659 --> 01:13:07.090
for it and I was like, well, I don't personally

01:13:07.090 --> 01:13:10.449
like NASCAR. It's just not something that I've

01:13:10.449 --> 01:13:15.470
been around a lot. I'm a big basketball fan,

01:13:15.609 --> 01:13:17.409
so I was like, maybe he likes basketball. I don't

01:13:17.409 --> 01:13:20.350
know. And so I was like, yeah, we'll go with

01:13:20.350 --> 01:13:23.369
no. And then he's going to put me and send me

01:13:23.369 --> 01:13:26.869
home. I don't have to drive. three hours back

01:13:26.869 --> 01:13:30.810
to Raleigh and shame. But I got that answer right.

01:13:30.989 --> 01:13:33.210
I mean, yeah, we're still still going strong,

01:13:33.210 --> 01:13:35.989
even though and this is so Joel didn't believe

01:13:35.989 --> 01:13:37.710
that I had a girlfriend for like the longest

01:13:37.710 --> 01:13:40.170
time. He thought that Anna was completely made

01:13:40.170 --> 01:13:42.670
up. And I'm hoping it's not slipping back into

01:13:42.670 --> 01:13:44.289
that because we haven't come down to see you

01:13:44.289 --> 01:13:49.130
guys. And again, she helped me set up all the

01:13:49.130 --> 01:13:51.270
technology here because she's she's smarter than

01:13:51.270 --> 01:13:54.909
I am. So she's very much real. And still wonderful.

01:13:55.510 --> 01:13:57.590
And maybe she likes NASCAR now. I don't know.

01:13:57.770 --> 01:14:04.210
But she is pretty great. Yeah. So I appreciated

01:14:04.210 --> 01:14:07.869
that the song was different stylistically, but

01:14:07.869 --> 01:14:10.310
a little bit like John, I don't like the style

01:14:10.310 --> 01:14:14.210
that it was. And so it reminded me of like a

01:14:14.210 --> 01:14:16.810
Linkin Park song or something from back in that

01:14:16.810 --> 01:14:19.750
day, which just wasn't really my thing. This

01:14:19.750 --> 01:14:24.310
like a little more angsty, like hard. Rock, I

01:14:24.310 --> 01:14:27.210
don't even know what you call that. New metal,

01:14:27.369 --> 01:14:31.329
post -scrunch, who knows? Anyways, so it's just

01:14:31.329 --> 01:14:34.210
not my favorite genre, but I appreciate the fact

01:14:34.210 --> 01:14:35.609
that they went for something different. I would

01:14:35.609 --> 01:14:38.430
be really interested though to hear it acoustically,

01:14:38.430 --> 01:14:41.710
just to get a different feel for it. I really

01:14:41.710 --> 01:14:46.489
like, I'm honestly, I can't really think of a

01:14:46.489 --> 01:14:49.010
song off the top of my head that I feel like

01:14:49.010 --> 01:14:55.390
is not as good or is like, Or is better like

01:14:55.390 --> 01:14:57.689
I don't know how I'm trying to work this like

01:14:57.689 --> 01:15:00.890
I don't think anything Acoustic is not worse

01:15:00.890 --> 01:15:03.529
than what like it's either as good if not better

01:15:03.529 --> 01:15:08.229
than the original So and we get Jason to swing

01:15:08.229 --> 01:15:12.029
by here. They're on tour now doing a I think

01:15:12.029 --> 01:15:15.770
it's like a couple of two thousands seventh day

01:15:15.770 --> 01:15:18.569
slumber There's someone else. They're doing like

01:15:18.569 --> 01:15:23.359
a tour around so Yeah, interesting. All right,

01:15:23.359 --> 01:15:26.760
it's track 12 is late show. What do we think

01:15:26.760 --> 01:15:32.100
about late show? I kind of it's cool. Nope. Go

01:15:32.100 --> 01:15:37.920
ahead. I was gonna say I thought going into it.

01:15:37.920 --> 01:15:41.039
I expected it to be like just another little

01:15:41.039 --> 01:15:43.640
interlude or something. So that's kind of surprised

01:15:43.640 --> 01:15:46.079
that I was like, well, I guess it falls into

01:15:46.079 --> 01:15:48.600
like song because it checks all the boxes off

01:15:48.600 --> 01:15:54.329
of it. I felt like it it felt like just something

01:15:54.329 --> 01:15:57.630
you would hear at a concert like randomly Yeah,

01:15:57.630 --> 01:15:59.869
like kind of just in between songs the bands

01:15:59.869 --> 01:16:03.689
messing around or just hey Here's a song we wrote,

01:16:03.930 --> 01:16:05.689
you know the first song we wrote or whatever

01:16:05.689 --> 01:16:13.090
So I feel like it it fits the Like the theme

01:16:13.090 --> 01:16:16.350
of the album or like the other songs and I feel

01:16:16.350 --> 01:16:19.229
like it's just different enough that it doesn't

01:16:19.229 --> 01:16:22.409
If for me it wasn't repetitive like some of the

01:16:22.409 --> 01:16:26.010
other tracks I felt like were so but were your

01:16:26.010 --> 01:16:30.590
thoughts Yeah, well, I mean definitely one word

01:16:30.590 --> 01:16:34.449
like energy is just very Energetic of a song.

01:16:34.489 --> 01:16:36.729
It does sort of feel like an interlude. It's

01:16:36.729 --> 01:16:38.810
I mean, it's a short track I think it's less

01:16:38.810 --> 01:16:41.710
than two minutes. So it's maybe it's a long interlude,

01:16:41.710 --> 01:16:48.340
but it is also a song I It's funny looking back

01:16:48.340 --> 01:16:50.539
at it's because it's like I feel like I probably

01:16:50.539 --> 01:16:52.359
had that level of energy then and now I'm like,

01:16:52.359 --> 01:16:56.479
oh wow, you know, like over 20 years. I'm like,

01:16:56.479 --> 01:16:59.340
I don't have that anymore. And I just remember,

01:16:59.340 --> 01:17:02.399
uh, you know, when I first met Joel, it was like,

01:17:02.739 --> 01:17:06.340
he's like the coolest person, but he's, you know,

01:17:06.380 --> 01:17:10.220
I wouldn't use energy to describe and I feel

01:17:10.220 --> 01:17:13.359
like now in my, my old age, you know, I'm still

01:17:13.359 --> 01:17:17.500
trying to get that quiet cool of Joel, but also

01:17:17.500 --> 01:17:20.739
reclaim that, the energy of late shows. Maybe

01:17:20.739 --> 01:17:26.420
I can land somewhere in between, but it's inspiring.

01:17:26.619 --> 01:17:29.420
Recapture the good old days, I guess. You gotta

01:17:29.420 --> 01:17:32.319
be you, man. You are your own version of Joel.

01:17:32.319 --> 01:17:34.920
Unless I can be Joel, and then I should be Joel.

01:17:34.939 --> 01:17:37.159
No, you shouldn't. Joel, would you describe yourself

01:17:37.159 --> 01:17:40.039
with energy? Do you think energy or late show

01:17:40.039 --> 01:17:45.260
are ways you would describe yourself? No. but

01:17:45.260 --> 01:17:50.180
I do like Late Show and the fact that it's it

01:17:50.180 --> 01:17:52.899
it can I feel like we're they're going back to

01:17:52.899 --> 01:17:56.180
their like punk rock roots here this is a little

01:17:56.180 --> 01:17:58.840
bit more of a punk song versus a pop punk song

01:17:58.840 --> 01:18:02.300
and so it it feels a little bit more like we're

01:18:02.300 --> 01:18:05.399
gonna try to do like an mxpx song get a little

01:18:05.399 --> 01:18:07.359
a little more punk on this one you've got the

01:18:07.359 --> 01:18:09.439
fast drum beats which is the only time they do

01:18:09.439 --> 01:18:12.920
that on the record where they actually sing And

01:18:12.920 --> 01:18:17.739
so I appreciated that about it Yeah, this is

01:18:17.739 --> 01:18:24.659
fun Moving on we move to 36 days Joel, what were

01:18:24.659 --> 01:18:28.359
your thoughts on that one? Yeah, I like this

01:18:28.359 --> 01:18:32.979
We're like we're slowing things down. Mm -hmm.

01:18:34.020 --> 01:18:38.079
I Like the piano um it's fun to have piano show

01:18:38.079 --> 01:18:40.880
up here like that's that's a cool change up um

01:18:40.880 --> 01:18:43.859
it's like the song about being on tour and how

01:18:43.859 --> 01:18:48.279
how hard tour is um if you're a band in this

01:18:48.279 --> 01:18:50.600
period of time you have to write one of these

01:18:50.600 --> 01:18:55.199
about how hard the road is um and it just made

01:18:55.199 --> 01:18:56.920
me think like i wish there would have been a

01:18:56.920 --> 01:19:00.220
little bit more of this kind of influence like

01:19:00.220 --> 01:19:02.060
throughout the record maybe not like slow down

01:19:02.060 --> 01:19:04.760
to this point but like It'd be cool to have the

01:19:04.760 --> 01:19:07.640
piano show up some other places or or whatever.

01:19:07.840 --> 01:19:12.100
But, yeah, I really like this one. Yeah, I'd

01:19:12.100 --> 01:19:14.840
say this song kind of made me reconsider my whole

01:19:14.840 --> 01:19:17.479
life, you know, because I was I was like a teenager

01:19:17.479 --> 01:19:19.800
and I was like, man, I want to be a rock star.

01:19:19.960 --> 01:19:22.079
I'm going to be so cool. And then, you know,

01:19:22.079 --> 01:19:23.739
like the more I thought about it, just listen

01:19:23.739 --> 01:19:27.500
to songs like I just I hate being in a car, you

01:19:27.500 --> 01:19:31.340
know, like I walk my son to school now and my

01:19:31.340 --> 01:19:33.699
daughter schools. Like a quarter mile up the

01:19:33.699 --> 01:19:35.659
road. And anytime I have to go further than that,

01:19:35.680 --> 01:19:38.079
it's like, oh my goodness. Like, did I pack all

01:19:38.079 --> 01:19:41.380
the suitcases? I just feel like I'm going on

01:19:41.380 --> 01:19:45.859
a trip. And just to think that, you know, being

01:19:45.859 --> 01:19:48.279
away from my mom that long, like he was talking

01:19:48.279 --> 01:19:51.199
about, it's like, I still live like, you know,

01:19:51.460 --> 01:19:54.520
12 minutes away from my mom, which, you know,

01:19:54.619 --> 01:19:58.779
is a lot of fun, but also a thing, maybe. But

01:19:58.779 --> 01:20:01.989
yeah, it was like, Maybe I don't want to be a

01:20:01.989 --> 01:20:04.550
rock star. Maybe I just maybe I could still be

01:20:04.550 --> 01:20:06.770
a rock star but not have to do the touring part

01:20:06.770 --> 01:20:09.489
I don't know. It just it gave me more questions

01:20:09.489 --> 01:20:13.510
and answers. I think which Which was like mind

01:20:13.510 --> 01:20:17.949
-blowing at that time in my life. So Yeah, I

01:20:17.949 --> 01:20:22.310
I think for me this is Probably on my Mount Rushmore

01:20:22.310 --> 01:20:26.569
of favorite Hawk Nelson songs It's another one

01:20:26.569 --> 01:20:29.010
that I highly recommend listening to the acoustic

01:20:29.010 --> 01:20:32.899
version Then you lose the piano. That's true,

01:20:32.920 --> 01:20:35.880
but you get the harmonica in it. I think too

01:20:35.880 --> 01:20:39.159
the first time I ever heard this was another

01:20:39.159 --> 01:20:43.159
one I heard live and he had the like guitar and

01:20:43.159 --> 01:20:47.479
he had like the harmonica like necklace or neck

01:20:47.479 --> 01:20:50.380
brace thing or whatever you wear and I was just

01:20:50.380 --> 01:20:53.029
like that's cool that he's playing that and the

01:20:53.029 --> 01:20:54.829
guitar because at that point i was like i can't

01:20:54.829 --> 01:20:57.189
play either one of those i was like he's doing

01:20:57.189 --> 01:20:59.930
both those at the same time and singing that's

01:20:59.930 --> 01:21:06.170
pretty cool um but yeah i i loved it and i think

01:21:06.170 --> 01:21:09.149
it reminded me kind of of the second track that

01:21:09.149 --> 01:21:13.090
you could have this like um this like deepness

01:21:13.090 --> 01:21:16.149
and it just showed that it wasn't just this band

01:21:16.149 --> 01:21:19.890
that's just singing about Girls and then occasionally

01:21:19.890 --> 01:21:24.430
throwing in like a song about Jesus or whatever

01:21:24.430 --> 01:21:28.550
I feel like it just and I know Jason's talked

01:21:28.550 --> 01:21:32.310
to about kind of how the last years of Hawk Nelson

01:21:32.310 --> 01:21:34.949
there was kind of this like not being the most

01:21:34.949 --> 01:21:40.829
like authentic and I felt like this album Like

01:21:40.829 --> 01:21:44.149
I can you can feel this like often authenticity.

01:21:44.510 --> 01:21:49.439
Yeah So I appreciated that with this track Yeah,

01:21:49.479 --> 01:21:51.600
I think it's a really strong one on the record.

01:21:51.960 --> 01:21:54.659
That's good All right. Last track of the record

01:21:54.659 --> 01:21:59.659
long and lonely road Brandon what did you think

01:21:59.659 --> 01:22:02.180
about this as a closer? I think it was a great

01:22:02.180 --> 01:22:04.079
ending track. I knew you were gonna love it.

01:22:04.680 --> 01:22:08.460
I We we just had this discussion about uh last

01:22:08.460 --> 01:22:13.359
week's review um that I I guess like thinking

01:22:13.359 --> 01:22:17.359
of it as a concert I think, yeah, you gotta end

01:22:17.359 --> 01:22:20.800
with a, you know, there's this excitement and

01:22:20.800 --> 01:22:23.819
all. You can't just end with like a, we're really

01:22:23.819 --> 01:22:26.579
like quiet and then we just walk off stage. You

01:22:26.579 --> 01:22:29.680
gotta end with like this, everything's going

01:22:29.680 --> 01:22:35.220
on and I feel like this is, like I love 36 Days,

01:22:35.220 --> 01:22:39.180
but I think that if they did like a 25th anniversary

01:22:39.180 --> 01:22:41.579
tour of this album or something, I think I'm

01:22:41.579 --> 01:22:43.659
not gonna enjoy it as much if they end with 36

01:22:43.659 --> 01:22:47.489
Days. unless there was like a encore or something.

01:22:48.590 --> 01:22:52.050
But I think that this kind of sums up and you

01:22:52.050 --> 01:22:55.510
get to bookend it with two kind of these happy

01:22:55.510 --> 01:23:00.729
and just, you know, like more upbeat or excited

01:23:00.729 --> 01:23:06.909
songs. That's cool. John? Yeah, my son really

01:23:06.909 --> 01:23:09.550
loves to shout and he loves songs where people

01:23:09.550 --> 01:23:11.869
shout and he only has one volume. You know, when

01:23:11.869 --> 01:23:16.500
he talks, when he whispers, it's loud. When it's,

01:23:16.520 --> 01:23:19.279
you know, someone's asleep, he's loud. And so

01:23:19.279 --> 01:23:22.359
just a song where people are shouting and it's

01:23:22.359 --> 01:23:25.800
awesome, you know, just to kind of end in that

01:23:25.800 --> 01:23:27.560
way. I think it's the perfect way to end. And

01:23:27.560 --> 01:23:30.060
I think it's even stronger just because 36 days

01:23:30.060 --> 01:23:32.739
is like before it. You know, it's just the contrast

01:23:32.739 --> 01:23:34.560
between those two. And then you just get to end

01:23:34.560 --> 01:23:38.460
with a bang. Yeah, I agree. I love that these

01:23:38.460 --> 01:23:41.380
are the two. Last songs on the record and I actually

01:23:41.380 --> 01:23:43.239
think the way they handled it is right. I love

01:23:43.239 --> 01:23:48.140
that there was a drop It felt like let's contemplate

01:23:48.140 --> 01:23:51.699
the journey a little bit Before we end this thing,

01:23:51.800 --> 01:23:54.399
but then let's end with a bang Yeah, and I thought

01:23:54.399 --> 01:23:57.000
that that worked really well. And so I enjoyed

01:23:57.000 --> 01:23:59.300
that loved the gang vocals. I love the energy

01:23:59.300 --> 01:24:01.560
Yeah, I think it was a really strong close to

01:24:01.560 --> 01:24:06.479
the record. So a Lot of fun. All right, we did

01:24:06.479 --> 01:24:09.609
it So that's kind of the track by track. Let's

01:24:09.609 --> 01:24:11.930
talk about kind of our closing thoughts and maybe

01:24:11.930 --> 01:24:18.369
ratings of the record. Um, I can start. Okay.

01:24:18.369 --> 01:24:22.550
So yeah, I, so it's fun because I obviously knew

01:24:22.550 --> 01:24:24.850
this record bought it a long time ago and had

01:24:24.850 --> 01:24:27.090
listened to it. It had been though, a long time

01:24:27.090 --> 01:24:29.609
since I had listened to it. Um, I hadn't pulled

01:24:29.609 --> 01:24:32.489
this one up in a while. And so it was fun to

01:24:32.489 --> 01:24:36.449
go back and listen to you. I do think though.

01:24:36.890 --> 01:24:40.689
that since when I bought this album and spent

01:24:40.689 --> 01:24:47.289
time with it, I long for a little more musical

01:24:47.289 --> 01:24:50.729
depth in what I listen to. And though I think

01:24:50.729 --> 01:24:54.550
that there are some really good melodies and

01:24:54.550 --> 01:25:00.289
songwriting here, I just wanted a little more

01:25:00.289 --> 01:25:05.770
texture to the album. But all that to say, I

01:25:05.770 --> 01:25:09.289
think I enjoyed it from start to finish. And

01:25:09.289 --> 01:25:12.149
so I'm going to give Letters to the President

01:25:12.149 --> 01:25:18.750
by Hawk Nelson a 3 .25 out of 5. Okay. I think,

01:25:18.970 --> 01:25:21.689
and I'd love to get your thoughts on this, John,

01:25:22.869 --> 01:25:26.149
since, like, you have a history of reviewing

01:25:26.149 --> 01:25:29.310
the albums and having to look at them. Because

01:25:29.310 --> 01:25:32.470
me and Joel, we talk a lot about, like, You know

01:25:32.470 --> 01:25:35.470
reviewing an album on like on its own without

01:25:35.470 --> 01:25:38.090
having any other information about it. Whereas

01:25:38.090 --> 01:25:41.890
I feel like for me sometimes I fall into a I

01:25:41.890 --> 01:25:44.310
start comparing it with all the other Hawk Nelson

01:25:44.310 --> 01:25:46.869
albums. So it's like sometimes it gets swayed

01:25:46.869 --> 01:25:49.569
by Well, if there's other ones I five this one

01:25:49.569 --> 01:25:52.869
is not you know close to that So I'd love to

01:25:52.869 --> 01:25:55.029
kind of get your thoughts on you know, whenever

01:25:55.029 --> 01:25:58.449
you go into an album, you know, what outside

01:25:59.089 --> 01:26:02.090
influences or information you either pull in

01:26:02.090 --> 01:26:07.369
or like exclude. But with that said, I feel like

01:26:07.369 --> 01:26:11.489
for me, it was cool going back and getting to

01:26:11.489 --> 01:26:15.689
see what their first thing was and kind of knowing

01:26:15.689 --> 01:26:19.189
what they would become. It was cool kind of seeing

01:26:19.189 --> 01:26:21.329
the stuff that followed them everywhere, whereas

01:26:21.329 --> 01:26:23.250
the other stuff that's like, oh, I feel like

01:26:23.250 --> 01:26:26.489
they played into that less, you know, later ones.

01:26:27.310 --> 01:26:30.090
Um, but I I think that it checked the boxes of

01:26:30.090 --> 01:26:34.029
it was a really fun album. Um You also had your

01:26:34.029 --> 01:26:37.229
moments where like there was authentic We're

01:26:37.229 --> 01:26:39.390
going through this or we're talking about our

01:26:39.390 --> 01:26:42.729
faith. Not just uh, let's check that box Uh,

01:26:42.750 --> 01:26:45.010
so I feel like for me I've got like a probably

01:26:45.010 --> 01:26:47.989
a 3 .7. That's where i'm sitting at for it. That's

01:26:47.989 --> 01:26:52.109
cool Yeah, so it is interesting talking about

01:26:52.109 --> 01:26:56.460
how you review things, um Especially with with

01:26:56.460 --> 01:26:57.939
bands like this, you know where there's a lead

01:26:57.939 --> 01:27:02.720
singer change, you know Jason left I think I

01:27:02.720 --> 01:27:06.899
Definitely like the Jason Dunn era of Hawk Nelson

01:27:06.899 --> 01:27:11.060
more than the you know more CCM sort of friendly

01:27:11.060 --> 01:27:15.859
Johnson Steingard era, but yeah, I think you

01:27:15.859 --> 01:27:21.250
do I Think you do have to try to take it as it

01:27:21.250 --> 01:27:23.710
is and I think looking back at something's a

01:27:23.710 --> 01:27:25.529
little different than you know if I had been

01:27:25.529 --> 01:27:27.529
the one to review this for Jesus Freak Hideout

01:27:27.529 --> 01:27:30.489
in 2004 you know maybe I'd review it differently

01:27:30.489 --> 01:27:34.010
than now but for me just kind of coming back

01:27:34.010 --> 01:27:36.369
and listen to this album like you know I'm 16

01:27:36.369 --> 01:27:39.350
again it's just I'm trying to move out to California

01:27:39.350 --> 01:27:42.270
like it's I it's just it's just really good memories

01:27:42.270 --> 01:27:44.489
just remembering like a time of Christian music

01:27:44.489 --> 01:27:48.180
where like Christian music was cool, you know,

01:27:48.180 --> 01:27:49.979
and it's still cool, but maybe not as many people

01:27:49.979 --> 01:27:53.619
know that now, but just like it was, you know,

01:27:53.720 --> 01:27:55.899
kind of around that arrow with like Anne Berlin's,

01:27:55.920 --> 01:27:58.260
you know, Never Take Friendship Personal, like

01:27:58.260 --> 01:28:00.779
Emory the Week's End was coming out. Like it

01:28:00.779 --> 01:28:02.579
was just, especially for me, just discovering

01:28:02.579 --> 01:28:04.600
all this new music and just sort of growing up

01:28:04.600 --> 01:28:07.560
and becoming, you know, my own person. It just

01:28:07.560 --> 01:28:09.939
conjures up those memories again of just that

01:28:09.939 --> 01:28:15.170
time of my life. So I think For me, I would probably

01:28:15.170 --> 01:28:21.310
give it. I don't want to get well, I'm just going

01:28:21.310 --> 01:28:23.989
to go five out of five. It's just a time of life

01:28:23.989 --> 01:28:29.689
thing for me. I don't know. I just. Such good

01:28:29.689 --> 01:28:33.210
memories, I don't know, just and just kind of

01:28:33.210 --> 01:28:37.789
how that shaped me into, you know, maybe not

01:28:37.789 --> 01:28:40.289
wanting to be the rock star. Then I sort of went

01:28:40.289 --> 01:28:43.369
to college and wanted to. you know, work in the

01:28:43.369 --> 01:28:46.829
music industry and ended up like, you know, interning

01:28:46.829 --> 01:28:48.890
at a record label. It just ended up me being

01:28:48.890 --> 01:28:52.989
mostly uploading her CDs to digital because that

01:28:52.989 --> 01:28:57.770
was that time of life. And then I, you know,

01:28:58.029 --> 01:29:01.609
interned for this other record label and they

01:29:01.609 --> 01:29:04.210
tried to get me to sign autographs for one of

01:29:04.210 --> 01:29:05.970
their bands, even though I wasn't in the band.

01:29:06.489 --> 01:29:09.390
And just, just it's albums like this that just

01:29:09.390 --> 01:29:13.500
led to so many like Experiences that that I was

01:29:13.500 --> 01:29:15.939
able to have and I'm thankful for that just kind

01:29:15.939 --> 01:29:20.279
of made me who I am so I I'd love this album

01:29:20.279 --> 01:29:22.760
for what it was then and and I still love coming

01:29:22.760 --> 01:29:26.079
back to it now That's awesome. I love that. So

01:29:26.079 --> 01:29:29.420
this rivals for you like the best of boys like

01:29:29.420 --> 01:29:32.880
girls up there Yeah, I mean probably probably

01:29:32.880 --> 01:29:36.739
I hate well, hopefully boys like girls not listening

01:29:36.739 --> 01:29:41.729
to this But it's probably better You know, because

01:29:41.729 --> 01:29:46.170
I can, I can play it straight off the CD for

01:29:46.170 --> 01:29:49.710
my kids and there's no words that I have to like

01:29:49.710 --> 01:29:53.310
talk over or, you know, bleep out in my own creative

01:29:53.310 --> 01:29:57.590
way. And yeah, there's a little bit more content,

01:29:58.770 --> 01:30:03.810
you know, approved content to it. And I really

01:30:03.810 --> 01:30:06.109
like that about it. So that's cool. Yeah. And

01:30:06.109 --> 01:30:08.210
I think, I think even for me, like it's important

01:30:08.210 --> 01:30:11.529
to remember We'd have to take this as what it

01:30:11.529 --> 01:30:13.989
is. And it's the first, it's a first record by

01:30:13.989 --> 01:30:18.170
this band. And I wish that the first record that

01:30:18.170 --> 01:30:20.550
I put out was anywhere close to being this good.

01:30:21.670 --> 01:30:25.229
And I do think, man, this is such a strong like

01:30:25.229 --> 01:30:28.210
first album from them. And obviously they continue

01:30:28.210 --> 01:30:31.989
to go on to do really great stuff for a period

01:30:31.989 --> 01:30:35.270
of time. And so that's pretty awesome. Pretty

01:30:35.270 --> 01:30:37.590
awesome. Well, this has been super fun. For us

01:30:37.590 --> 01:30:40.329
to dig into and listen to, let's kind of finish

01:30:40.329 --> 01:30:45.229
our talk of this by looking at the lyric of the

01:30:45.229 --> 01:30:59.069
week. Um, so I picked the lyric of the week this

01:30:59.069 --> 01:31:02.470
week from the song from underneath, um, from

01:31:02.470 --> 01:31:04.710
underneath, I promised to erase the past and

01:31:04.710 --> 01:31:07.109
let my heart forgive the former you. Replace

01:31:07.109 --> 01:31:09.970
the dark of old and start brand new. I never

01:31:09.970 --> 01:31:12.750
thought I'd see the day I walk toward the end

01:31:12.750 --> 01:31:15.250
of life and turn the other way. I'm reaching

01:31:15.250 --> 01:31:18.729
out to take my father's hand. Yeah, I just love

01:31:18.729 --> 01:31:22.550
the message of that song and that song altogether.

01:31:22.770 --> 01:31:25.449
I thought it was really cool. So, well, John,

01:31:25.550 --> 01:31:28.789
man, we're super grateful that you chose to come

01:31:28.789 --> 01:31:31.689
and hang out with us and join us this week. And

01:31:31.689 --> 01:31:34.789
I'd love to have you back on sometime. Um, where

01:31:34.789 --> 01:31:39.029
can people find you, um, interact with you? You've

01:31:39.029 --> 01:31:40.989
got books, you got all kinds of stuff. What do

01:31:40.989 --> 01:31:45.170
you want people to know? Um, gosh, that's a really

01:31:45.170 --> 01:31:47.210
great question. So I've been working on a new

01:31:47.210 --> 01:31:49.890
book for like 10 years now. I was trying to get

01:31:49.890 --> 01:31:53.029
it, uh, get it out before, you know, our daughter

01:31:53.029 --> 01:31:55.069
was born and, you know, she's like seven and

01:31:55.069 --> 01:32:00.210
a half now. So, uh, I think you could still find

01:32:00.210 --> 01:32:04.289
my other books, Burrowed Forest on Amazon. Possibly

01:32:04.289 --> 01:32:06.289
but probably more importantly is joining that

01:32:06.289 --> 01:32:09.350
Joel Ainsworth enough said get that get those

01:32:09.350 --> 01:32:12.489
numbers back up, you know Get get the numbers

01:32:12.489 --> 01:32:15.789
back up and the participation in there, you know

01:32:15.789 --> 01:32:18.850
pop and again after 19 really good years That

01:32:18.850 --> 01:32:21.069
sounds like a terrible idea, but I guess people

01:32:21.069 --> 01:32:26.489
can't find you there. So they can I'm there I

01:32:26.489 --> 01:32:30.029
Maybe yeah, I'm not frequently there, but I could

01:32:30.029 --> 01:32:34.409
be there more I'm going to go join it right after

01:32:34.409 --> 01:32:38.390
this call on this podcast. Yes, we're multiplying.

01:32:38.689 --> 01:32:40.170
But thanks for having me, guys. It's been a lot

01:32:40.170 --> 01:32:42.569
of fun. Yeah. And of course, you guys, please

01:32:42.569 --> 01:32:45.609
don't feel like you need to go and do that. But

01:32:45.609 --> 01:32:49.109
you can follow us. Hey, are you listening on

01:32:49.109 --> 01:32:52.550
Facebook? You can subscribe to the podcast, leave

01:32:52.550 --> 01:32:55.590
us a review. And we're just thankful that you

01:32:55.590 --> 01:32:58.090
keep showing up and keep listening. And the more

01:32:58.090 --> 01:32:59.609
that you do that, the more encouraged we are

01:32:59.609 --> 01:33:02.170
to keep going. And it's been fun and we're looking

01:33:02.170 --> 01:33:04.689
forward to hanging out with you again next week.