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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 to see
00:36you good to make your acquaintance how are you man what's going on dude i'm good all right man the
00:41new
00:41record is uh coming out there's a lot to talk about this uh album uh but first of all you
00:46know i just
00:46wanted to go back i never had a chance to interview you before interview anyone in your band so did
00:51you
00:51go to the berkeley school of music i did yes yeah and california no in boston okay now i see
01:00this is
01:00where it gets confusing because on the wikipedia it says of boston and i saw something about southern
01:04california band as well so uh maybe i maybe i misread it well we live in southern california now but
01:10we
01:10started in in boston okay all right well that makes sense then what was your biggest takeaway from
01:15going to school at berkeley um uh don't spend money on stuff that you don't have old men like
01:23to trick kids and just giving them all the money that they ever will make and uh don't get fooled
01:29by it well what about music wise was there anything music watch you took away from that um i found
01:38dead
01:39poet society i would say that that was a big thing um i don't know man i learned a lot
01:45of theory
01:46i know how to do that really well now but that only helps with really telling my other bandmates
01:51what i'm doing and we've all been playing together for so long that we don't really need to tell each
01:55other what we're doing anymore so uh there were a couple professors there that were really cool
02:03and really inspirational like john aldrich uh i think was the biggest inspiration for us
02:07and um that was really my biggest takeaway from berkeley was there's just some professors that
02:15just have some i don't know just untapped wisdom that uh all you need to do is sit down and
02:22ask him
02:22some questions and uh and they'll tell you some some pretty cool stories now i have a couple friends
02:31who went to berkeley um when when did you get like the music bug and and and berkeley is not
02:36just a place you
02:36just go to right don't isn't there a process to get in there there is i don't know how stringent
02:42the
02:42process is because my audition was so awful but you know it was uh my yeah i uh i i
02:51would you go in
02:53you do a little audition i played a song that i had written and uh i i butchered the audition
03:00i don't know
03:01how i did it how i got it i'm like i got to the point where she like literally runs
03:06the piano and
03:07like played a note and she played another note and was like is that higher or is that lower
03:11i was like that's higher and she went okay good and then that was it and i got in so
03:16i could get in there right right so what was the original question okay with the process that was it
03:26that was the process you know it's funny i was just watching um uh woodrow from crows of conformity
03:32and he was like oh somebody wanted me to play some song he was like doing an internet thing on
03:36you
03:36know facebook run on he's like oh this is a standard d i've been in this business for so long
03:40i couldn't
03:41tell you the difference between notes and maybe i'm just a normal guy or a normal person or whatever
03:45the case is but if you said you know hum and e or so i had no idea what you're
03:49talking about
03:50oh i don't i don't have perfect pitch or anything like that i can't do that i but i think
03:55that uh
03:56yeah people who can do that it's cool yeah yeah no we're not one i guess so no we're not
04:03uh but
04:03anyways the uh the record comes out on october 2nd it's your third full-length album first of all
04:09before we get into that i like to ask bands about this what is it like to a drop a
04:13full-length
04:13record what is it like to drop a record uh it is a very very
04:20long process that you don't even realize like you don't you don't feel like you see the end
04:27until it happens and even when it does happen it doesn't feel like it and then um it's a it
04:35is a
04:35deeply fulfilling process that's not always fun certain aspects of it are definitely fun like when
04:43you first find a song like when you first find that riff or something that makes you go oh
04:50uh that part is awesome and then there's a really long arduous sort of uh uh sequence of events
05:01that take it from that initial idea that made you go into a song at the end that still makes
05:09you go oh
05:10so it's like that process in the middle is very painful but on either side that it's very fulfilling
05:17and um that's you just do that for 12 you know 12 times and uh you have an album now
05:28the record comes
05:29out next friday as we record this on october 2nd like i mentioned do you feel like right now like
05:34there's this big secret that you have that nobody else knows and then next friday everybody's gonna know
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
06:05i could i could be like i don't give a shit you know but it's it's like it's cool to
06:08see like how
06:09people receive it and it's always hilarious to see just how like crafted hate comments like how deep
06:17people think about like how much they hate your band is really funny um so those are always entertaining
06:26um you 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
06:56song might not translate on stage or this song should be really hard uh to or is it just like
07:01you just put the songs up there and see where they go i try to i try to get as
07:05much of any future or
07:08past out of my head as possible when we're writing i think a lot of us in the band do
07:12that or try to do
07:14that because when you're making something in the moment those exterior thoughts of like can i do
07:22this live though 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're gonna make the song worse because it's gonna be a hard
07:46problem down the road no just do what do what is required of the song that's it and like i
07:55mentioned
07:55the 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
08:19happens with this band quite often is that we argue about everything like everything and uh so that
08:26you know a large 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
08:57passionate about it yeah are there some fights where it's just not worth it's just not worth the
09:01time you just kind of let it go after yeah i can say you you learn after 14 years of
09:09being around
09:09these you 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 i'm sure yeah yeah some are some aren't exactly
09:25worth it so i've seen some of the videos out there of course uh cold obviously the latest and a
09:29roach
09:30as well um now you directed these videos and um and they both kind of have a little bit of
09:35a certain
09:35vibe uh cold is funny because it reminded me a little bit of back rooms even though i'm sure that
09:40you know that has nothing to do with anything but um there was some of those like those those like
09:44kind of like blank walls and stuff and in both those videos it's kind of weird too because um
09:48or it's kind of unique i suppose where the bands aren't really like the center of the attention
09:54in the video yeah i think that that vibe of that disconnect was is just really powerful and
10:06impactful i think it's when you can take the focus to the music rather than rather than uh you know
10:16look at me i'm playing music kind of thing like you when you when you take the band and make
10:22it a
10:22part 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
10:40and it just has such a good vibe to it i i love it i i think it's it's very
10:46representative of of the um
10:48feeling and meaning behind the album and all the songs and um there's there's almost like this like
10:55level of like disrespect 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 it's not
11:34the case for
11:34us we are we are very fucking you know break it down as much as possible kind of people and
11:41so um
11:44the process though i've found actually recently a lot of fulfillment and making videos um
11:53there's there's something about it that i don't know you just get this other
11:57this new element to play with to make somebody feel something and uh you pair that with music
12:03you get it you know you can get a really deep feeling of emotion out of it and once again
12:10i
12:10guess i'll go back to the question i asked you a few minutes ago so uh when you write a
12:13song are
12:14you writing a song with a video in mind perhaps so you think you're thinking yourself as you're
12:18writing a song oh this would be kind of cool if we did this or you know whatever
12:22maybe subconsciously it kind of comes through because you you are striving for a feeling and
12:29now you're taking that feeling that you created using sound and now you're trying to create that
12:35feeling using video and getting them to match up and and direct the viewer and exactly what the head
12:41space that you are in and uh with roach that was a that was a big one um as far
12:49as like the proof of
12:50concept of that oh uh went down um mind reader did a fantastic job of really bringing the initial
13:00world to life with their with their the album artwork that they shot for us we had a lot of
13:07meetings
13:07leading up to that of like we knew what we wanted to feel we knew what we wanted to see
13:13we knew the vibe that we wanted to go for but none of us are visual artists uh so so
13:19really uh
13:21you know we can't paint things we can't draw things you know it's like none of us are good at
13:27graphic
13:27design so having them come on board and be able to like take that idea and really like bring that
13:34vision to life in such a impactful way was the spawn point of like how these videos were going to
13:40go
13:41and uh when roach came around i had a really specific idea of like what if we could personify
13:48resentment through through visuals and uh i wrote a treatment i brought it to the band and we all refined
13:58it
13:58and uh ended up shooting it with black wolf imaging and alex is so unbelievably talented and
14:05everybody that hires on his crew are awesome and it felt like this one mind sort of thing to get
14:10this
14:10particular vibe going and and uh it it turned out you know exactly how it wanted it to well i
14:19was gonna
14:19say you seem like a real hands-on kind of guy so it's like if if it wasn't going the
14:23way he wanted to
14:24i mean is there is there a moment you go whoa we're gonna stop you know or this isn't really
14:28what i had in mind or i mean how does that yeah everybody in the band is very good at
14:33doing that
14:34you know i'm i'm just one of four guys that have deep opinions and and uh and if something isn't
14:42right
14:43it's hard for us to let it go and uh and in the past we have let things go and
14:48we always end up
14:49being disappointed so uh with this record we were like don't let anything go like as hard as much
14:56work as it takes get it to you know it's right because you're gonna regret in a couple years if
15:01you
15:01don't yeah has there been stuff in the past that you've regretted not getting perfect or not getting
15:06in your vision yeah yeah i think so yeah um it's yeah and and it sucks to look back on
15:15it and be like
15:16god if i just spent you know another day on it it would have been where i wanted it and
15:22so
15:23try not to do that with this one yeah i got you well before we got on here um there
15:28were some big
15:29breaking tour plans which you can't talk about right now but some big stuff coming up huh
15:34yes that's awesome yes yeah man do you know what it is i don't i don't you don't oh geez
15:41why how would
15:42now how would i know you just announced it like an hour ago here on your social i don't i
15:46don't
15:46know i've done a few interviews now one one of the teams knew about it and i was like you
15:50knew about
15:50it oh so i can tell you off air okay well we'll do that we'll do that when we stop
15:55here because now
15:56i'm excited but i'll keep it i'll keep it under my hand i'll keep it under my lid so yeah
16:01so we had
16:02to cancel some shows which sucks um nobody unless you're a psycho nobody likes doing that you know it's
16:09it's it's it sucks to let people down um because you know the so you know people have kids people
16:18have work people have plans and stuff like that it does it takes a certain a certified effort to
16:22step out and go see a band um that you want to see play live and we don't take that
16:29lightly you know
16:29but we had to sit down and really and really kind of make the hard decision that we have an
16:40opportunity to come back to these places that we had to cancel for and uh we will we will come
16:47back
16:47yeah i saw this opportunity yeah yeah right well there you go you gotta take what you can take right
16:52yeah yeah this opportunity is not something we can pass up and it's not something that we can reschedule
16:57or anything it's just we have to do this so yeah hey a couple more things here real fast and
17:04we'll
17:04cut you loose but uh it's funny because just talking to you you know i know bands from boston
17:09you don't sound like you're from boston you get that a lot yeah well it's because we're kind of from
17:15all over the place i was born in boston i lived there till i was about seven but i was
17:20raised in virginia
17:21okay and we all kind of moved back when we were 18 uh but we formed in boston and uh
17:26i you know
17:28i'm lifelong identity crisis why am i from boston or from virginia you know because i don't really
17:33feel like i'm from either of them truly and uh but i would say boston is my favorite place
17:39on earth so i'll pick that one yeah and you know i don't know if you've ever thought about this
17:44or if
17:45anyone's even ever brought this up to you but there's a huge music scene obviously in boston
17:49and it and in some degree it kind of parallels detroit where i am with you know you got the
17:53classic rockers with the aerosmiths and the cars and the bostons and here is bob seeger and new
17:58and then it's like there's all these newer bands too eminem and kid rock and jack white and god smack
18:03and rob's i mean it just goes on and on and on there's like this parallel you know and then
18:07in the
18:07two cities it gets it's kind of like it's kind of wild how how they're both kind of similar it's
18:12cool
18:12it's yeah actually you know like to speak along that i have a little story like
18:18this one time uh my friend hit me up and was like hey uh aerosmith's playing tomorrow morning at 9
18:25a.m
18:25in alston do you want to go i was like what uh yeah sure a little secret show go down
18:33there and
18:34it ends up being the place that like that was like half a block away from where i ended up
18:38living
18:38but it was like they played a show in front of the apartment that they formed that
18:43and it was across the street from a liquor store that i had been to many times i was like
18:48this that's where you guys started like right there that is like it was crazy it was great
18:53such a cool experience especially it's weird seeing rock at 9 a.m in the morning it's very weird
18:59i'm sure and by the way i went to boston last year i went to salem and i wanted to
19:04go check that
19:04out you know and it wasn't bunghole liquor was it it was not bunghole liquor what is that that's that's
19:12that's a liquor store outside of boston i actually drove right by it and i almost turned around just
19:16take a picture in front of it wow that's marketing right there well jack i'll tell you what we'll cut
19:22you lose don't go anywhere i want to hear this news but i'll listen uh uh the new record monarch
19:26comes out on uh the uh 2nd of october next friday as we record this and a good luck with
19:31everything
19:32and we'll see you next time you're here in motor in the motor city thank you very much dude
19:35check out talking rock with meltdown on all podcast platforms and wrif.com