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00:00the name of the record was actually dylan and will they felt very very passionate about it
00:05something that happens with this band quite often is that we argue about everything like everything
00:10there was several several facetimes and you you learn after 14 years of being around each other
00:16that you got to pick your battles rock metal frog and everything in between welcome to this episode
00:24of talking rock with meltdown don't forget to follow the audio only talking rock podcast on
00:29all podcast platforms and now it's time for today's conversation here's meltdown hey jack good
00:36to see you good to make your acquaintance how are you man what's going on dude i'm good all right
00:40man
00:40the new record is uh coming out there's a lot to talk about this uh album uh but first of
00:46all you
00:46know i just wanted to go back i never had a chance to interview you before interview anyone in your
00:49band so did you go to the berkeley school of music i did yes yeah and california no in boston
00:59okay now i see this is where it gets confusing because on the wikipedia it says a boston and i
01:03saw something about southern california band as well so uh maybe i maybe i misread it well we live in
01:09southern california now but we started in boston okay all right well that makes sense then what was
01:14your biggest takeaway from uh going to school at berkeley um uh don't spend money on stuff that you
01:22don't have old men like to trick kids and just giving them all the money that they ever will make
01:28and uh don't get fooled by it well what about music wise
01:34was there anything music watch you took away from that um i found dead poet society i would say that
01:40that was a big thing um i don't know man i learned a lot of theory i know how to
01:46do that really well now
01:48but that only helps with really telling my other bandmates what i'm doing and we've all been playing
01:53together for so long that we don't really need to tell each other what we're doing anymore so uh
02:00there were a couple professors there that were really cool and really inspirational like john
02:04aldrich uh i think was the biggest inspiration for us and um that was really my biggest takeaway
02:11from berkeley was there's just some professors that just have some i don't know just untapped wisdom
02:19that uh all you need to do is sit down and ask him some questions and uh and they'll tell
02:25you
02:27some some pretty cool stories now i have a couple friends who went to berkeley um when when did you
02:33get
02:33like the music bug and and and berkeley is not just a place you just go to right don't isn't
02:38there a
02:38process to get in there there is i don't know how stringent the process is because my audition was so
02:44awful but you know it was uh my yeah i uh i i would you go in you do a
02:53little audition i played a song
02:55that i had written and uh i i butchered the audition i don't know how i did it how i
03:02got it i'm like
03:04i got to the point where she like literally went to the piano and like played a note and she
03:08played
03:08another note and was like is that higher or is that lower i was like that's higher and she went
03:13okay good and then that was it and i got in so i could get in there right right so
03:22what was the
03:23original question okay with the process that was it that was the process you know it's funny i was
03:31crows of conformity and he was like oh somebody wanted me to play some song he was like doing an
03:35internet thing on you know facebook one on he's like oh this is a standard d i've been in this
03:39business for so long i couldn't tell you the difference between notes and maybe i'm just a
03:43normal guy or a normal person or whatever the case is but if you said you know hum and e
03:48or so i had no
03:49idea what you're talking about oh i don't i don't have perfect pitch or anything like that i can't do
03:53that i but i think that uh yeah people who can do that at school yeah yeah no we're not
04:01one i guess
04:01so no we're not uh but anyways the uh the record comes out on october 2nd it's your third full
04:08-length
04:08album first of all before we get into that i like to ask bands about this what is it like
04:12to a drop
04:12a full-length record what is it like to drop a record uh it is a very very long process
04:21that you
04:22don't even realize like you don't you don't feel like you see the end until it happens and even when
04:29it does happen it doesn't feel like it and then um it's a it is a deeply fulfilling process
04:39that's not always fun certain aspects of it are definitely fun like when you first find a song
04:45like when you first find that riff or something that makes you go oh uh that part is awesome
04:53and then there's a really long arduous sort of uh uh sequence of events that take it from that
05:03initial idea that made you go into a song at the end that still makes you go oh so it's
05:11like
05:11that process in the middle is very painful but on either side that it's very fulfilling and um
05:20that's you just do that for 12 you know 12 times and uh you have an album now the record
05:29comes out
05:29next friday as we record this on october 2nd like i mentioned do you feel like right now like there's
05:34this big secret that you have that nobody else knows and then next friday everybody's gonna know it
05:39and will you be scouring the internet for their opinions or what people like or anything like
05:43that yeah dude yeah for sure uh that's um you get so excited and nervous to show people everything
05:56that you came up with um i think that seeing how the record reacts i think is just a natural
06:05thing i
06:05could i could be like i don't give a shit you know but it's it's like it's cool to see
06:09like how people
06:09receive it and it's always hilarious to see just how like crafted hate comments like how deep people
06:17think about like how much they hate your band it's really funny um so those are always entertaining um
06:26you hope it's received well but like you don't have much influence over that and i think that
06:31this album when we were writing it was the first time for me at least where it was really truly
06:39like
06:39i don't care what people think of this album i'm i'm writing something that i can look back on
06:45when i'm 70 and be like i still think that's an awesome piece of art yeah when you're writing these
06:51songs um do you do you think to yourself oh this song is going to go over great on stage
06:56or this song
06:56might not translate on stage or this song should be really hard uh to or is it just like you
07:01just
07:01put the songs up there and see where they go i try to i try to get as much of
07:06any future or past out
07:08of my head as possible when we're writing i think a lot of us in the band do that or
07:13try to do that
07:16because when you're making something in the moment those exterior thoughts of like can i do this live
07:22though can this translate live although valid questions they're not invalid questions they
07:28don't help make what you're making better what you're making should just be the best it is
07:35and then just figure it out later yeah deal with it you know yeah you might make a very hard
07:41problem
07:42to solve for yourself later but you gotta make the song worse because it's gonna be a hard problem
07:46down the road no just do what do what is required of the song that's it and like i mentioned
07:55the
07:55uh record is monarch i might not even mention that yet uh what what's the deal with the name of
07:59the
07:59record um that was a the name of the record was actually uh monarch was actually uh dylan and will
08:10came up with that name and uh they felt very very passionate about it and uh something that happens
08:20with this band quite often is that we argue about everything like everything and uh so that you know
08:26large argument ensued about the name of this record uh with several several facetimes and
08:33and a list of things and and uh that was the one that ended up sticking um uh it is
08:45i think i think it suits the record i think it suits the record yeah but as far as like
08:50actual meaning goes dylan and will i think would be better to ask that question of as they're very
08:56passionate about it yeah are there some fights where it's just not worth it's just not worth the time
09:02you just kind of let it go after yeah i can say you you learn after 14 years of being
09:09around these
09:09you know each other that you got to pick your battles otherwise everything turns into a blowout
09:15i guess uh pick your battles that's something i learned from parenting too it's like you just gotta
09:19you gotta you know yeah pick them for sure there's no question i'm sure yeah yeah some are some aren't
09:24exactly worth it so i've seen some of the videos out there of course uh cold obviously the latest and
09:29a roach as well um now you directed these videos and um and they both kind of have a little
09:35bit of
09:35a certain vibe uh cold is funny because it reminded me a little bit of back rooms even though i'm
09:39sure
09:39that you know that has nothing to do with anything but um there was some of those like those those
09:43like
09:44kind of like blank walls and stuff and in both those videos it's kind of weird too because um or
09:49it's
09:49kind of unique i suppose where the bands aren't really like the center of the attention in the video
09:55yeah i think that that vibe of that disconnect was is just really powerful and impactful i think it's
10:08when you can take the focus to the music rather than rather than uh you know look at me i'm
10:16playing
10:17music kind of music kind of thing like it you when you when you take the band and make it
10:22a piece a
10:23part of the whole composition rather than the focus especially with you know the the the feeling
10:31behind these songs it just seemed really profound um when we were filming and uh and it just has such
10:42a
10:42good vibe to it i i love it i i think it's it's very representative of of the um feeling
10:48and meaning
10:49behind the album and all the songs and um there's there's almost like this like level of like
10:56disrespect or or resentment and anger that you get when somebody won't look at you
11:06okay i never thought about that but yeah i guess you're right yeah well what is easier making or
11:11uh writing the songs and crafting the songs or or coming up with a video and a plan and maybe
11:15doing
11:15that what's more like enjoyable or what's what's easier what's more enjoyable do you like more
11:21i think that if you were putting your full effort into anything it's never easy i i'm
11:28just for some people it is you know for ed sheeran pumping out a hit might be easy
11:33is not the case for us we are we are very fucking you know break it down as much as
11:40possible kind of
11:41people and so um the process though i've found actually recently a lot of fulfillment and making
11:50videos um there's there's something about it that i don't know you just get this other this new element
11:58to play with to make somebody feel something and uh you pair that with music you get it you know
12:04you
12:04can get a really deep feeling of emotion out of it and once again i guess i'll go back to
12:10the question
12:11i asked you a few minutes ago so uh when you write a song are you writing a song with
12:15a video in mind
12:16perhaps so you think you're thinking yourself as you're writing a song oh this would be kind of cool
12:19if we did this or you know whatever maybe subconsciously it kind of comes through because
12:26you you are striving for a feeling and now you're taking that feeling that you created
12:32using sound and now you're trying to create that feeling using video and getting them to match up
12:38and and direct the viewer and exactly the headspace that you are in and uh with roach that was a
12:47that
12:47was a big one um as far as like the proof of concept of that oh uh went down um
12:56mind reader did a fantastic job of really bringing the initial world to life with their
13:02with their the album artwork that they shot for us we had a lot of meetings leading up to that
13:09of like
13:10we knew what we wanted to feel we knew what we wanted to see we knew the vibe that we
13:15wanted to go
13:15for but none of us are visual artists uh so so really uh you know we can't paint things we
13:23can't draw
13:24things you know it's like none of us are good at graphic design so having them come on board and
13:30be
13:30able to like take that idea and really like bring that vision to life in such a impactful way was
13:37the
13:37spawn point of like how these videos were gonna go and uh when roach came around i had a really
13:44specific idea of like what if we could personify resentment through through visuals and uh i wrote
13:55a treatment i brought it to the band and we all refined it and uh ended up shooting it with
14:00black
14:01wolf imaging and alex is so unbelievably talented and everybody that he hires on his crew are awesome
14:06and it felt like this one mind sort of thing to get this particular vibe going and and uh
14:14it it turned out you know exactly how i wanted it to well i was gonna say you seem like
14:20a real hands-on
14:20kind of guy so it's like if if it wasn't going the way he wanted to i mean is there
14:25is there a moment
14:25where you go whoa we gotta stop you know or this isn't really what i had in mind or i
14:30mean how does
14:30that yeah everybody in the band is very good at doing that you know i'm i'm just one of four
14:36guys
14:36that have deep opinions and and uh and if something isn't right it's hard for us to let it go
14:44and uh
14:46and in the past we have let things go and we always end up being disappointed so uh with this
14:52record we
14:53like don't let anything go like as hard as much work as it takes get it to you know it's
14:58right
14:59because you're gonna regret in a couple years if you don't yeah has there been stuff in the past
15:03that you've regretted not getting perfect or not getting in your vision yeah yeah i think so yeah um
15:13it's yeah and and it sucks to look back on it and be like god if i just spent you
15:18know
15:19another day on it it would have been where i wanted it and so try not to do that with
15:24this one
15:25yeah i got you well before we got on here um there were some big breaking tour plans which you
15:31can't
15:31talk about right now but some big stuff coming up huh yes that's all yes yeah man do you know
15:38what it
15:38is i don't i don't you don't oh geez why how would i know how would i know you just
15:43announced it like an
15:44hour ago here on the social i don't i don't know i've done a few interviews now one one of
15:48the teams
15:49knew about it and i was like you knew about it oh so i can tell you off air okay
15:54well we'll do that
15:54we'll do that when we stop here because now i'm excited but i'll keep it i'll keep it under my
15:59hand
15:59i'll keep it under my lid so yeah so we had to cancel some shows which sucks um nobody unless
16:06you're
16:06psycho nobody likes doing that right you know it's it's it sucks to let people down um
16:14because you know that so you know people have kids people have work people have plans and stuff
16:19like that it does it takes a certain a certified effort to step out and go see a band um
16:25that you
16:26want to see play live and we don't take that lightly you know but
16:32we had to sit down and really and really kind of make the hard decision that
16:39we have an opportunity to come back to these places that we had to cancel for
16:45and uh we will we will come back yeah i saw this opportunity yeah yeah right well there you go
16:51you
16:51got to take what you can take right yeah yeah this opportunity is not something we can pass up and
16:56it's not something that we can reschedule or anything it's just we have to do this so yeah
17:02hey a couple more things here real fast and we'll cut you loose but uh it's funny because
17:06just talking to you you know i know bands from boston you don't sound like you're from boston you get
17:10that a lot yeah well it's because we're kind of from all over the place i was born in boston
17:18i lived
17:18there until i was about seven but i was raised in virginia okay and we all kind of moved back
17:23and we
17:23were 18 uh but we formed in boston and uh i you know a lifelong identity crisis like am i
17:31from boston
17:31or from virginia you know because i don't really feel like i'm from either of them truly and uh
17:36but i would say boston is my favorite place on earth so i picked that one yeah and and you
17:43know
17:43i don't know if you've ever thought about this or if anyone's even ever brought this up to you but
17:46there's a huge music scene obviously in boston and it and in some degree it kind of parallels
17:51detroit where i am with you know you got the classic rockers with the aerosmiths and the cars
17:56and the bostons and here is bob seger and new janelle school and then it's like there's all these newer
18:00bands to eminem and kid rock and jack white and god smack and rob's i mean it just goes on
18:04and on and
18:04on there's like this parallel you know and then in the two cities it gets it's kind of like it's
18:09kind
18:09of wild how how they're both kind of similar it's cool it's yeah actually you know like to speak
18:16along that i have a little story like this one time uh my friend hit me up and was like
18:22hey uh
18:23aerosmith's playing tomorrow morning at 9 a.m in alston do you want to go i was like what uh
18:30yeah
18:30sure a little secret show go down there and it ends up being the place that like that was like
18:36half
18:36a block away from where i ended up living but it was like they played a show in front of
18:41the apartment
18:41that they formed that and it was across the street from a liquor store that i had been to
18:46many times i was like this that's where you guys started like right there that is like it was crazy
18:53it was great such a cool experience especially it's weird seeing rock at 9 a.m in the morning it's
18:58very
18:59weird i'm sure and by the way i went to boston last year i went to salem and i i
19:03want to go check
19:04that out you know and it wasn't bunghole liquor was it it was not bunghole liquor what is that that's
19:11that's that's a liquor store outside of boston i actually drove right by it and i i almost turned
19:15around just to take a picture in front of it wow that's marketing right there
19:21well jack i'll tell you what will cut you loose don't go anywhere i want to hear this news but
19:24uh
19:24listen uh uh the new record monarch comes out on uh the uh second of october next friday as we
19:30record
19:30this and a good luck with everything and we'll see you next time you're here in motor in the motor
19:33city thank you very much dude check out talking rock with milk on all podcast platforms and wrif.com