Interview with Bestfriend

Hello! It is Adam. Welcome back to bringing it backwards. A podcast where both legendary and rising artists tell their own personal stories of how they achieved stardom. On this episode, we had a chance to hang out with Stacy and Kaylyn of the band. Best friend over zoom video, Stacy and Kaitlin are both from Canada, but live completely across the country from each other. Stacy born and raised in Vancouver. Kaylin was born and raised in Toronto and they met via a mutual friend online. Stacy knew the person, IRL Kaylin meets the person on the internet, and then they all met up via the internet. It's kind of a cool story, but thanks to the friend and the internet, Stacy and Kaylin started working on music together and eventually formed best friend and kind of a postal service fashion. 2 (2m 50s): They started their band pre pandemic. So when the pandemic hit while everyone else has tried to adapt to this new way of writing music and sharing files, they were kind of ahead the game at that. They talked to us about releasing their first songs. The success of does it matter. Stacy telling her family, Hey, I'm going to pursue music full time. And I'm also on the radio, which is an amazing story. We learn about the evolution of the song. You want everyone to love you, how it started off as like an instrumental one minute song. And it progressed into a four minute song, and it's now their most streamed song on Spotify. And we also hear about their new song and the sister EAP that will be coming up. 2 (3m 30s): This history P two places I've lived, which is called places I've left. You can watch our interview with Stacy and Kaitlyn on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing it backwards. It would be awesome if you subscribe to our channel like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik TOK at bringing back pod. And if you're listening to this on Spotify or apple music, it would be so awesome. If you follow us there as well, and hook us up with a five star review, 3 (3m 59s): We'd appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcasts, wherever you listen to podcasts, 2 (4m 5s): We're bringing it backwards with best friend, good stuff. I appreciate you all being here. Thank you. 4 (4m 12s): Nice to meet you. 2 (4m 13s): Nice to meet you as well. My name is Adam, by the way. And this is a podcast about you and your journey in music. And we'll talk about the new EPA you have coming up. 4 (4m 23s): Yeah, it sounds great to me. 2 (4m 25s): Cool state. Say's what kind of mic is that? Is that an no Iman? 5 (4m 30s): Yeah, we have the exact same Mick Kayla and I one, the three TLM. 4 (4m 36s): We convinced ourselves that this was the one specific thing we, for some reason needed to move forward as a band. 2 (4m 43s): I think that's a solid choice 4 (4m 44s): Is that, you know, if you're going to, 2 (4m 46s): I heard is that the, they, they make like a con a dynamic mic too. Now I think, 4 (4m 51s): Yeah. They make a whole bunch. They're pretty well. They're pretty well stocked up for sure. 2 (4m 56s): Right. Very cool. Yeah. That's a, that, that I was wondering why you guys audio sounds so great. And then it's like, oh, now 4 (5m 4s): Catch it 2 (5m 6s): Rad. Awesome. Well, okay, so we'll, we'll talk about, let's start with you, Stacy, where were you born and raised? 5 (5m 12s): Born in Korea. Raised in Vancouver. So, I mean, I came here when I was like three, so I'm not actually sure. I can never say I was raised in Korea, even though that would be cool, but raised in Vancouver, 2 (5m 26s): Vancouver, 5 (5m 29s): I don't know a bunch of things. Just, I think Canada has, I dunno. I think that there was a bit of like a Canadian dream thing happening there for them when, when we moved here, but I haven't actually gotten into the specifics of it with them. Funnily enough. 4 (5m 44s): Yeah. 2 (5m 45s): You lived there until you're three moved to move to Vancouver. Is that your second Vancouver? Yep. Yep. Very cool. And what was it like growing up there? 5 (5m 55s): Growing up in Vancouver? I mean, it was, it was kind of like up anywhere else. I have zero memory of the transition from Korea to Vancouver. So I can't even really say with any certainty of any kind of difficulties I had growing up with with that. But yeah. Good growing up here. I I'm actually grew up mostly in north Vancouver, so more of the suburban area. So not too much of the city life until I was a bit later in high school. 2 (6m 22s): Okay. Very cool. Caitlin, where did you grow? Where were you born and raised? 4 (6m 26s): Yeah, I was born, I was born in Toronto and then moved just like outside the suburbs a little bit to do the growing up bit of it. So I grew up in Burlington, which is the least interesting part of the GTA of the general Toronto area. I it's the number one thing people know about Burlington is that when you bring it up is either, oh, my grandparents lived there or it's, that's where the Ikea is. 2 (6m 52s): Oh, you have an Ikea. That's solid though. 4 (6m 56s): Exactly. So we do have an Ikea, if nothing else, I did get to grow up with an Ikea, which is great. So yeah, that's, that's pretty much, that's pretty much, there's not much to share about Burlington, 5 (7m 8s): The Burlington economy. Yeah. 4 (7m 10s): Yeah. You grow up, you're raised to eventually work in the Burlington Ikea. 2 (7m 18s): I mean, you guys are so far apart, right? I mean you're nearly east coast, right. In Toronto and Vancouver is away west coast. 5 (7m 27s): West coast. 2 (7m 28s): Yeah. Well, it's interesting because I interviewed somebody earlier today that was in Edmonton or Calgary area and cause I, and I, and so I learned quite a bit about the geography and in the one question I was like, well, how long would it take you to get to Toronto? He's like 40 hours driving. I'm like, oh my gosh. So you, You two are nearly 4 (7m 50s): Bigger than 2 (7m 51s): 40 hours drive apart. So I'm curious to know how you've met, but we'll get into your real quick backstories of each of you. So Caitlin, how did you get into music? Is your family musical at all? 4 (8m 5s): Not at all. Actually me maybe. And maybe that's not cutting them enough. Slack, they're casual and musical, but like not the story. My dad always likes to tell is that he, he tried to take music. He tried to get into it and his, he tried to play trumpet and his teacher, his music teacher in ninth grade told him he'd give him a 51 if he promised to never come back. So that's how I came from a 2 (8m 28s): 51%. That's still 4 (8m 30s): 51%. It's still, it's still a it's Hey, it's one PA I don't know what the, what the grading system is in America, but Hey, 50, 51 50 Is a failure. 51 2 (8m 40s): Solid 51 4 (8m 42s): Is a D minus and a that's. Don't ask a question. 2 (8m 46s): I like that though. Yeah, you have to have at least a 60, I believe to not be failing anymore. 4 (8m 51s): Gotcha, gotcha. Gotcha. But you got 2 (8m 54s): A 51 never to come back and then, 4 (8m 57s): And then, and then I came into the field somewhere. I, I think I just liked music. I just liked music a lot. I started playing guitar lessons when I was, I started taking a tire lessons around 13, had the most casual, wonderful laid back guitar teacher. I stopped taking lessons because he moved across the world and then moved across the world again. So that's the kind of duty was, he was really cool. And he just basically for like three years was like, here, you can learn some, learn some basics and some theory, but you want to just jam. I was like, yeah, for sure. And yeah, that's sort of how I fell in love with it. 2 (9m 34s): What drew you to guitar originally? 4 (9m 36s): What drew me to guitar? It was the first one that I looked at and went, I think I could figure out how to play that. 2 (9m 42s): Okay. 4 (9m 44s): On those strings. And then you do something with the other hand. I bet you that's how that makes a noise. Yeah, I bet. And I was right. So 2 (9m 53s): There you go. Well, let's get over to you then. Stacy, how did you get the music? Was your family musical at all? 5 (9m 59s): Yeah, actually my dad was in a rock band in Korea growing up really, really cool. Unfortunately like we haven't been able to find any recordings of it. I have a few pictures, really, really cool pictures of him playing like how shows and stuff. So I think that's probably where I got it from. And my mom is it's funny. Cause I feel like my dad was very much like the, the in-practice musician. Whereas my mom was very much the theory musician. She is like a Wiz at piano and I am not, but my sister is so it's kind of, it's kind of become a bit of a funny split where I'm kind of leaning more towards my dad where I, I, I played a play basically. 5 (10m 42s): And my younger sister, she is like a piano prodigy, just insanely good. Could sight read anything, but it put it in front of her and she would be able to sight read it, which I don't think I'll ever be able to do. So that's kind of where that came from. And then in terms of actually making music that I think that just kind of started naturally happening as you grow up, you kind of realize you listened to songs that you really like, and you say, oh wait a minute. People made this. Which means that I can also make this. So maybe I should try it. And then I think, you know, in grade 12 wrote an EAP with a high school friend, Josh, and that's kind of where it all started. 2 (11m 27s): Really. And what was the first instrument you learned? Would you try to play piano? 5 (11m 32s): Violin actually 2 (11m 33s): Violin. 5 (11m 35s): Yeah. Yeah. I play a lot of instruments. None of them with any like mastery, but a bit of a Jack of all trades with that. 2 (11m 43s): Okay. And w what were you doing in the band that you released? The EAP? 5 (11m 48s): I was just, I was just singing mostly. I had just figured out, I just learned that I could sing and two in 2012, I learned I could sing because I never tried before. Like never bothered. The only time I'd ever song was karaoke and no one likes being the person who tries to sing in karaoke. Right. Yeah. And then just kind of went from there. 2 (12m 7s): And what decided, what made you decide to start writing music with this person and then eventually putting an EPL? Was it kind of a, was it a project that you took seriously? Oh, okay. 5 (12m 16s): Yeah, we know we made it, we made it in his, in his basement studio. He's a super talented producer, just needed vocals for some of his stuff. And then basically what ended up happening was after I learned I could sing, I played an open mic at the coffee shop near our place. And he was like, oh, Hey, you can sing. Can you do vocals for the CP that I'm producing just for fun. And then that's kind of how it went. 2 (12m 42s): Wow. But what gave you the courage to decide to like, okay, I realized I can sing now. I'm going to go get in front of people at a coffee shop and do this. That's a 5 (12m 51s): Great 4 (12m 51s): Question. I would love to know. Oh, a girl. 5 (12m 58s): Yeah. 2 (12m 60s): Okay. You were trying to impress her, but 5 (13m 1s): That's all I'll say about that. Yeah. 2 (13m 6s): Did you have your own songs or was it just a, 5 (13m 8s): Yeah, no, it just covers at that point, I had no idea how to write a song to save my life. I just knew basic courts and basic chords and, and I knew lyrics and that, that was it. And for some reason in my head, I had it in my head. I was like, oh yeah, this'll this'll work. 2 (13m 27s): So obviously you invite her to the show. 5 (13m 28s): Yeah. Yeah. She actually worked there. I hope she never, I hope she never listens to this or comes across this cause this is I'm admitting my deepest, darkest secrets here, but yeah. 2 (13m 40s): Okay. Well now I'm curious. So do you know what song she liked? And were you choosing songs based off that? 5 (13m 46s): No, no, no, no, no, no. None of that. No. None of that. That's a little too high school musical for me. 2 (13m 51s): I didn't know. I didn't know how far we could kick this. Okay. So then this person finds the person doing the EAP with realized that you can sing. Why don't you to sing on the project and then what comes of that? And if anything, 5 (14m 4s): Not, not a lot, honestly, it was just, it was a lot of fun. Most of all. I mean, I had no idea of the mechanisms of recording EPS or anything like that. And he was the one at the computer, just doing all of his like Ableton stuff. We put it out and, you know, it was just mostly our friends listened to it. It wasn't anything that we were like, you know, this is going to be widespread commercial, you know, official release. But yeah, that was sort of the purpose of it. 2 (14m 34s): And then did you go to then what college or anything for music? Or like how did, what, what happened next from, from putting that record out? 5 (14m 42s): I went to college, but not for music. I went to college for a communications. 2 (14m 47s): Oh, just like me. Very cool. 5 (14m 51s): It makes sense for you because now look at you, you're in this profession. That makes perfect sense. I'm just like, I didn't music what's up with that. 2 (14m 58s): Yeah. I don't know. I guess this is, well, communications is so broad. It was like, what are you doing? I'm in communications. Like, and that could just mean like 10 million things. And to me it meant I don't have to take math or science sign me up. 5 (15m 13s): Exactly. Yeah, no, I, I finished my degree and by the end of it, I still didn't know what to tell people when they were like, what, what do you do in communications? What is, what is that? But I just kind of be like, I don't know, honestly, we just kind of pick apart pop culture. And a lot of the professors at SFU were very, like, they were super left-leaning. And so a lot, like a lot of our critical theory was based off of like marks Marshall McLuhan, like medium is the message. Oh man. It was good stuff. Like it definitely, it's definitely shaped the way I look at the world in a major way. And I, I still haven't decided if, if it's a good thing or not. 2 (15m 54s): Okay. Yeah. A lot of my professors were either at one point were like film producers, or, you know, they did something like sound engineers and it's like, and now you teach college, But anyway, that's cool. So communications. And then were you still doing music while getting your degree? 5 (16m 16s): Yeah. On and off, I'm not, not with any seriousness, same thing where I was just plucking around at home and covering songs more than anything. I, I wrote a lot, but I, it was never for the purpose of writing music. And I had no idea where to put it basically where I had all of this writing and it's not like I was gonna, you know, do like a chat book or do like spoken word or anything. So it just, it was just kind of sitting there for awhile and then eventually the stars aligned and I met Kaylin and now here we are. And I think, I think that's actually kind of all there is that that's the, those are the gaps to be filled. I didn't do anything really significant with music until 4 (16m 59s): Between like, 5 (17m 0s): Between that and now in the resume. Yeah. No, That's personal. Yeah. 4 (17m 6s): I was in high school 5 (17m 10s): And not to read. 2 (17m 11s): What are you Katelyn and how did you, so you were in band or anything aside from playing guitar? 4 (17m 18s): Yeah. I, so I picked, I picked a guitar up in, I dunno, 13, 14. And from there, I couldn't tell you how I met them. I have no idea, but I just of started playing with some, some guys that I knew. I think I met them through like various music camps and suctioned. At one point the guy was like, Hey, I know this singer, except he's like kind of weird, is that okay? And I was like, yeah, for sure. And he was like, weird. Like, he's one of my friends now. And like he's doing music like crazy and it's like it. Yeah. But basically he brought that guy to the practice and then brought a couple of other friends and we're like, Hey, we kind of sound like a band. 4 (18m 2s): So we did our, yeah, we did the little high school show kind of tour thing, played a little bit after high school. But once, mostly once he graduated, it was like, all right, we'll split off and go our separate ways to learn all of our separate things. But yeah, that was kind of how I jumped now. That was, that was my jump off point. Learned a lot from playing in that basement. Ordering a lot of pizza. 2 (18m 23s): There you go. And then did you go to school for music also or not? Or at all? 4 (18m 28s): I went to school for, I did go to school. I went to school for computer science. Yeah. So I, yeah, I did. I did music all through that a lot, but I mostly just had no idea what I wanted to do. I've never like had a dream job. I don't know about you guys, but like, I mean, maybe like other than, but like, I simply do not dream of labor, But like I never knew what I wanted to do. I think I always just kind of figured that I didn't really want to do much of anything for anyone else. And so it was like, why don't I just go learn to code then just like, know how to do that and do that sometimes. Yeah. It's that we got to where we are. 2 (19m 9s): Okay. So you, did you went to school for computers. What were you like working on your own music or like just by yourself or were you in any sort of bands through college or? No, 4 (19m 19s): Not through college. Through college. I was mostly just Doing college things a lot of the time until I took a little bit of a roundabout, your college, I did two years of one degree at one place and then went, this is no fun. And I transferred out and went somewhere else. So once I got to that other place, that's when I kinda sorta met Stacy and I had been making music and stuff, but mostly just for myself, you know, mostly just like, as an exploratory kind of thing, because I don't know, you kind of, you get garage band around 13, but getting logic as a totally different thing. So at once I just sort of picked that up and started, started teaching myself it and yeah, we went from there. 2 (20m 1s): Well, how did, how did you, to me, have you ever met like in person or did you guys meet in person and then go your separate ways? Don't know 4 (20m 10s): What's that? Oh, I know what that is. That's me. That's I have to answer this question. How did we meet? We met through the internet. We met through sort of, we met through a mutual friend on the internet, so 2 (20m 25s): I'm neutral. Okay. Hold on. Yeah. So you both have a mutual friend 4 (20m 31s): And I met that. Yeah. Yes. 2 (20m 33s): Mutual friend. Have you either met the mutual friend in person? 4 (20m 37s): Yes. So Stacy actually Stacy knew her in person and she met her and she is funny. She actually met her in person at the same week that I met online and I didn't meet her in some weird, I just keep saying I met online. I'm pretty sure we were on like tumbler.com or something. This would have been in like 20 hours. 2 (20m 55s): Craigslist. Backpage is 4 (20m 57s): Not just like searching for friends. 2 (20m 60s): Okay. 4 (21m 3s): But yeah. And then it was one of those things where when you have a good friend and you just sort of ended up over time following their friends and over about 10 years of maybe accidentally interacting with each other, once every six months online, it was like, oh, what's up. You make music. 2 (21m 21s): Oh, wow. So you, you got the mutual friend that knew of each other for 10 years. 4 (21m 24s): Maybe not a 10. I think I just picked the number that was bigger than time, because 5 (21m 29s): A long time though, for sure. 2 (21m 31s): Yeah. And not like a year. Right. Okay. Wow. Yeah. So you knew this person that w was this somebody that you knew, like a friends, like growing up Stacey or no. 5 (21m 41s): Yeah. So she was actually my very first friend that I made in university. Her name is Megan and yeah, I actually met her very funny. I met her outside of like a gender studies midterm, which is so classic that I think there was like a fire. There was like a fire alarm that went off. So we got to leave mid midterm, which was just fantastic. And then her and I shot the shit and eventually just became very, very close friends and just, it just kinda went from there. So very, very what's the word serendipitous almost. 2 (22m 11s): Okay. Yeah. And then you find out, well, she's obviously online quite a bit and then meet Kaylin and then there have a friendship forums and eventually you guys start talking and yeah. 4 (22m 24s): Yeah. So that like vague sense of confusion that you have, that's really normal. I think we kind of just like, sort of knew of each other and were maybe tangential sort of somewhat friends for like five, six years. And then Stacy posted like an Instagram story of a little like MPK keyboard or whatnot. And I was like, oh yeah, this seen keyboard. We should make music please. 5 (22m 47s): Oh, we just lost you for a second. 2 (22m 48s): We lost you there for a second. 4 (22m 50s): Oh, weird bummer. 2 (22m 55s): Yeah. Same keyboard. And then, 4 (22m 57s): And then I just said that we had the same keyboard and we should make music and then we did, so, okay. Yeah. Pretty simple. 2 (23m 4s): So, so then how does the groups are, did he start sending each other, like pieces of music that you've written or songs that you've written? 5 (23m 12s): Yeah, we said we started with covers because it just kind of seemed like a natural way to go. And it was funny because we found ourselves sort of making the exact same choices when it came to certain sounds and it worked really well basically. And we kind of said to ourselves, you know, this is, this is actually really good. And neither of us have really done anything music wise since, since high school. And we both clearly love it and miss it. And for me personally, I was like, I, I have written so many things and I'm like, I like writing and I have, I've never had anywhere to put in. This feels like it's just so right. 5 (23m 52s): And it felt like a good avenue to put everything, put everything down basically, and then best friend was born. 2 (23m 59s): Okay. And then do you, once you start making music together, what is next? You put a song out online and then have you guys ever met in real life? I used to ask my first question, 4 (24m 9s): Kicking the phone. 2 (24m 13s): Okay. So you haven't met in real life. So this isn't like some postal service type group where you're just like, well, you were, 4 (24m 20s): It was at first. I think we had, we had one, one meetup under our belt in a less like maybe, maybe one when we put our first few songs out and it wasn't music related. I want to say 5 (24m 33s): Half an hour at a bar, I think with Megan. Yeah. 4 (24m 37s): And we kinda just both bonded over like making fun of our mutual friend. And we're, that's kinda all we had under our belts at the start, but eventually we organized some flights here and there and I think we've done maybe like five or six sessions or not sessions like five or six sorta trips in one of the two places at this point. Okay. 2 (24m 55s): What year did you guys start putting music out? 4 (24m 60s): 2018. 2 (25m 2s): Okay. 5 (25m 2s): Sounds right now. 4 (25m 4s): So 2014 operation from the 60, I think, I think 2018, late, late 2018, probably. 2 (25m 11s): And then when do you get your first kind of like, you know, success or validation to keep going, doing this? 4 (25m 19s): Well, I'd be interested to know what your answer to that is. Stacy. 5 (25m 25s): Very slick. You think you're so slick? 4 (25m 29s): I have an answer already if you'd like me to, but mentally I 5 (25m 32s): Am legitimately answers. All right. 4 (25m 34s): Let's hear yours. 5 (25m 35s): Yeah. So I think my, I mean, my whole thing with this was I never started. I never personally, I didn't start this with the intention of being like, oh yeah, we're going to do this. Full-time like forever. At first, it very much started. It was like, oh yeah, this is a cool guy. Makes cool music likes the same music that I do. Let's let's keep going with it. And then when we had our first release, I believe it was, yeah, it was definitely 2018. It was television 99 and 24. We were, and we put it out and I was like, oh, we actually have music out. This is amazing. Like, this is, this is cool. I think actually want to do this. That was so much fun. And I want to keep doing this and I want to build on this as much as I can. And so honestly it was kind of right from the off that I kind of knew that I wanted to, you know, quote unquote, do this. 2 (26m 23s): Okay. What about you Stacy? Sorry. What about you, Katelyn? What would you say? 4 (26m 29s): Yeah, I, so for me, that, that band that I played in a couple of the dudes from that era or that that's sort of part of my life ended up going on to be pretty wildly successful. Like Robin, Alex and valley are two friends of mine who I grew up playing with and seeing them have such cool success and like enjoy their lives so much. Even like before I started making music, it was like, I'd like to get back to that someday. And there was always sort of a bit of an understanding that it's like someday I would like to get back to making music and hopefully playing it for people and maybe even releasing it or something. And just sort of watching my friends, like live that life and really enjoy. It was really motivating. 2 (27m 9s): Cool. And with like, w what'd you say, like the song that like the biggest first kind of big milestone for you guys together would be 4 (27m 18s): Probably doesn't matter. Yeah, I would imagine. Yeah. We went to LA, we wrote a song in LA. That was a fun one. So we've been in Vancouver a couple of times and try it on a couple of times and once in LA, just for fun, because fans are supposed to go to LA, we thought and yeah, so we wrote it, we kind of started writing a couple of songs there. We wrote our first, our first single of the EAP. We just put out places I've lived there and started writing this other one called does it matter when we, we eventually got home and wrapped that one up and put it out. And I don't remember even remember what happened when we dropped it, but there was something, something shifted. 4 (27m 58s): I don't know if you know, Stacy. I don't remember really, but all I know is that, that was the first one we sort of got a little bit of editorial support for people started to kind of notice a bit. And it was kind of like the beginning of us feeling like we actually figured it out. Right? Like you start making music with a stranger online, across the fricking country. You've met twice. You're probably not going to be making something that you like want to write home about right away. You're going to take awhile to kind of get each other's kind of get, try and try and figure out what the other's doing and like how you can best sort of build and reach a sort of collective final, cool product or whatever. So that was like the final time or the first time we sort of really felt like we were doing that appropriately. 4 (28m 42s): And it was also, I guess the first time that, yeah, we got ahead a little bit of success, which was nice. 2 (28m 46s): That's cool. And did you see it, like, you know, build it, like, did you know Atlanta on a playlist or like, how did that work? 5 (28m 53s): Yeah, we, we landed on, well, the first single that we put out last bus ended up being put on a fresh finds on Spotify, which was a big deal for us. And then yeah. And then, yeah, it was last bus. Yeah. Yeah. And then Caitlin just has a tendency to forget anything we've ever put out. I'll be like, what are the courts? It doesn't matter. And he'll be like, and does it matter? We'll we'll I think it doesn't matter. We ended up yeah. On like a S like soda. So that was one of their other editorial playlists and a bunch of other, like, you know, discover weekly. The algorithm picked us up the capital, a algorithm. And that was sort of around the time that we really started to make friends and connections and like really meet a lot of very cool people in the industry, whether they were, you know, like DSPs or other artists, we kind of started making those connections and then really kind of hit the ground running with making friends more than anything and built building a community. 5 (29m 54s): So yeah, I would, I would, I would definitely agree that doesn't matter. It was sort of the, the catalyst for us in a way, 2 (30m 1s): And seeing like, you know, hundreds of thousands of streams on songs, is that something you went to your dad and we're like, yeah, look at this. Like, you know, we cause he was a musician, right. He was in a, in a band and then to come back and say, Hey, look, I I'm doing this similar thing. And people are carrying. 5 (30m 18s): I always, I always, I always make the joke that I had to come out to. My parents is like twice. And the second time was me coming out as someone who is in a band full time Having like immigrant parents. I know it's my favorite one. So I actually, they actually like, I actually didn't tell them, like, I didn't really indicate that I was working on anything music related seriously, until 7 (30m 47s): At Sandy spring bank, we care about people not transactions. So we concentrate on creating personalized solutions to start or grow a business that provides for your family to purchase a home that will house the memories you make there to save. So you can enjoy today and then pass on your legacy to future generations. We believe real banking is a conversation. Let's talk visit Sandy spring bank.com/real mortgage home equity. And other credit products offered by Sandy spring bank 5 (31m 17s): Until I think what we, we ended up on the radio hand in the city, ended up on the radio and I was like, okay, yeah, I got to tell them about this. And they're like, what are you like, you've been doing this this entire time. And you just haven't told us. And I was like, well, I mean, I, you know, I would, I think it was good to, to, you know, no pun intended come out of the gate with like a really strong first, you know, like, Hey, we're on the radio. So this is, this is serious. This isn't just like, yeah. 2 (31m 46s): Is that like, Hey, you know, I met this guy and he's on the other side of the 5 (31m 49s): Country 2 (31m 50s): Online and we're going to write songs together. 5 (31m 53s): Yeah. And I want to, I want to eventually quit my quit, my career in, in marketing. 2 (31m 58s): I've already given up the career. I'm just doing this. 5 (32m 3s): That's what I mean. Yeah. 2 (32m 4s): Wow. Okay. So did you, was the song like actively on the radio and they could hear it or damages here on the radio? That's amazing. 5 (32m 12s): I think it still is to this day, like plays on the radio every now and then at least in Vancouver, then a few, I think Toronto like college stations from what I understand and like New York, a few other places like that, I'm not really sure exactly where it is because I feel like radio is like, I don't know. Yeah. It's Also that your words, not mine. 2 (32m 33s): I came from radio. I did it for 17 years. I watched the ship sink firsthand, but I'm sorry. I 5 (32m 39s): Could tell, I could tell immediately from the way that you, you spoke into your mic, I was like, oh yeah, this guy, this guy knows what he's doing here. Like the way that he talks, like this is a radio voice, 4 (32m 48s): The exact same thought, the consistency in the tenor of your voice. I was like, this guy has done this professionally for ages. Oh 2 (32m 58s): Yeah. Unfortunately, but that's so awesome that I have your song played on the radio. I love hearing those stories because to me like doing radio for so long and just watching it kind of fizzled to the, to the ground, I mean, it's still a powerful thing. I mean it's free and, and everyone has access to it, but like, like hearing people say like, you know, and then my song was on the radio and it's just like, wow, like, that's so cool. And like, to me, that's awesome because I remember playing songs from bands and like, just when you're sitting in the booth and like, you're not seeing anyone or hearing anyone it's like kind of hard to like really, and you just get jaded to it, like, yeah. Okay. Your songs. But it's like, it's such a big thing. If I got a song on the radio, just freaking out, like it's just crazy. 5 (33m 40s): And a really, really cool moment for us also was we were played on CVC and I was on Twitter one day. And this guy from CBC had mentioned us in tweet and was like, oh yeah, that was his best friend. And then I looked to see at the thread and some totally random person that we had never heard of before. It was like, Hey, you guys just played a song. I missed the name. I missed the name of the song and the band name. I think you said something about, what did he say? She was like, she was like, 4 (34m 5s): It was something 5 (34m 7s): Kate Jeffrey or something like that. She said your name only funny. And it was like something about like a city. And the guy was like, oh, that was Hannah in the city by my best friend. And I was like, oh my God, someone actually like, this is like the most tangible evidence that you could possibly get that someone heard you on the radio and liked you. Like, it's like a Shizam, you know? 2 (34m 27s): Yeah. It's huge. 5 (34m 29s): It's bigger than a stream, right. Every day for us. Yeah. 2 (34m 33s): Yeah. It's bigger than, than the streaming. It's bigger than Shizam. Cause that person's actually has to actively go onto their phone to send a message out and say, what was that song? That just 5 (34m 42s): Huge. Yeah. 2 (34m 43s): Yeah. And I remember getting calls like, who was that? Like? And I just thought that was so cool. And I'm like, whoa, somebody who's actually listening and cares. They want to know what song I just played, what a concept like it, instead of me going all right, caller nine is going to get tickets to see blah, blah, blah. And then the whole phone line lights up. And you're like, okay, none of you care. You just want tickets. So like, yeah, that's cool that to get that validation, especially like seeing it that way and with the internet and everything. That's awesome. Well, tell me, I mean that record came out. Places I've lived last year. Is that right? 4 (35m 18s): Last October. 2 (35m 19s): Okay. And were these songs, I mean, writing virtually, like how you guys have been working, is that like, how does the pandemic come into play or did it even affect you as far as like the way your workflow went? 4 (35m 35s): It affected us, 2 (35m 36s): But I mean, aside from being stuck inside, but not that affected your life, but like affected your music and you're working on your, on your stuff. 5 (35m 46s): I love this question because the answer is literally that it didn't affect us at all in terms of our workflow. And it was actually a bit of a moment of like, oh, okay. So this is, it's no longer interesting that we're making music remotely because literally every band ever was like, here's our zoom cover of us in different rooms. And like, like zooming my, my band mate, who was living in another city and isolating right now. And we were like, okay, so that's the unique factor gone basically. And that was fine because, you know, clearly I think, you know, for me personally, I was like, I think I still think we're neat minus the cross country thing, but otherwise yeah. I mean, like our workflow remained the same and then once travel sort of became a thing that made sense, like, you know, we kept doing our, you know, flights here and there and yeah. 5 (36m 39s): Kind of kept it the same. 2 (36m 41s): Okay. So didn't, as far as like the, what about like the writing of the song as far as kind of the, I don't know, the emotion, maybe behind some of the songs that it changed because of what you were going through as far as being, you know, isolated and all that was happening around the world. Like, were you feeling that and putting it out through your music at all? 5 (36m 60s): Yeah, I would say that, I would say that doesn't matter. It was a big reflection of that. I had started writing it pre pandemic and then we finished it post, like everything basically just go into, you know, am I let swearing on this car going to shit? Yeah. Cool. All right. Going to shit. And we definitely wrote that sort of from a perspective of like, oh wow. It feels like the world is legitimately ending right now. And like, we don't know what to do about it. So there was definitely that aspect of it and it a lot in a lot of like that song in particular. And I think, I don't think we have a lot more songs like that are super, you know, pandemic centered because 2 (37m 40s): We already, 5 (37m 41s): We all know, we all know there's a global pandemic. We were aware you don't need another like band telling you about, you know, 2 (37m 50s): Social distancing or something. 5 (37m 51s): Exactly. Yeah. Write a song about social distancing. 2 (37m 55s): I know who knew it was going to be pretty much a fairly similar to two years in, but unfortunately here we are. I'm 4 (38m 4s): Sorry. I continue. 2 (38m 5s): No, no, you go ahead. 4 (38m 6s): I will just say it's funny going back and seeing stuff from like the first week and being like day five of quarantine day six of quarantine, it's like, oh, you 2 (38m 18s): 600. <inaudible> well, I want to hear about, you want everyone to love you. And I mean, that song is massive, especially on Spotify and in with that was that another playlist situation, was that a radio play situation? Tell me about that one. 5 (38m 35s): It, do you want to take this? 4 (38m 37s): I don't need to, 2 (38m 38s): I didn't see anyone doing this. 4 (38m 39s): You're right. Doing that. I think we're both comfortable taking. Yeah, I'll go. I'll go. We, we usually just sort of like stare daggers at each other. This is a new thing. I think that space is trying and I think I like it. So yeah. 2 (38m 52s): Is this new for this podcast or it's a start earlier. 4 (38m 57s): I don't think this started earlier. I think we usually just sort of like, 5 (39m 0s): I've tried it. I've tried it before, but no one understood what I was trying to do. So I just kind of awkwardly pass it off as a no scratch. 4 (39m 7s): This is the first time I've noticed. 5 (39m 9s): Yeah, exactly. 2 (39m 11s): When I see, when I was talking last time, I thought you were being like, you hit a red on the nose, but then I realized that he picked it. Yeah. He picked it up was like, oh, you want me to go? Yeah. Now I'm now I'm watching the sunlight. I like, I'm glad that we workshop this out. Okay. 4 (39m 29s): Yeah. That song. So that song was funny because we started that song off. It was never even supposed to exist. We liked the idea of writing an intro track to the EAP, just to kind of, I don't know. We liked the idea of six better than five for, for any PA. And we're like, let's do something like pretty low key. There's definitely a lot of stress, low brain power. Let's just like something ambient to kind of like, I dunno, that was sort of the only direction we had. And then we started and we tried a couple of things here and there and there weren't originally going to be a lot of lyrics and I don't know what happened along the way, but there were a couple of accidental discoveries of like, sounds that went really well. 4 (40m 14s): Or I think, I don't even remember exactly how it happened. I just know that it wasn't supposed to exist. And then a week later we were like, oh, okay. So this is our favorite song we had to, like, we weren't even gonna, we weren't gonna use it as a single, it wasn't going to be anything. And then we got it to a point where it was about like a minute and a half, two minutes long. And it was like, all right, this is, this is interesting. And then Stacy was like, all right, but what if you just made the ending go insane? And it was like, oh, okay. Like that sounds awesome. Tell me more. And she was like, I can't, you should just, you should just do a lot of stuff. And so I kinda just went crazy. 4 (40m 54s): I listened to a lot of, a lot of artists that I like that I, that I've picked up on their propensity for like big buildups and stuff. Over the years, I went and studied them like crazy and then sat down one day and I was like, all right, I'm writing a big, I'm running a big end to this song and no one can stop me, but Stacy, she liked it a lot. I think she kind of had the idea to layer some of the vocals in there and a way to the racers. We ended up having to pitch it because we realized we had to pitch something with the EFE. And we hadn't thought about that yet. We we're like, well, we have three songs left. We should definitely do this one. That was supposed to be a minute long. And then two minutes longer than three minutes long. 4 (41m 35s): And now it's four minutes long. And we had, we asked a couple of people and we're like, what do you think is this? This is too much. And they're like, nah, give it a go. People will love it. I'm not so sure. It's kind of like Taylor swift doubting not to compare ourselves to Taylor swift, my goodness. But like how, how people were like, oh, you can't tell us what's the past. I love Taylor swift. I that's a different conference. 2 (41m 57s): I want to start a whole podcast just interviewing musicians about Taylor swift. Because like I have had this conversation so many times and it's like, okay, we can't go into this 50 minute tangent Taylor swift. 5 (42m 7s): We can, we can definitely, we can definitely do that. Will volunteer, will volunteer as your first guest. 4 (42m 14s): But like other people were like, oh, you can't put out all too well. Like people won't like that. It's a little different. It's not ended up being your most popular song. 2 (42m 22s): Oh yeah. 4 (42m 24s): Yeah. Oh my God. 2 (42m 26s): Real quick. I just, because I have to say it, her performance of that song on Saturday night live is The best thing I've ever seen in my entire life is car. When it comes to like television and artist playing on TV. Yes. 5 (42m 40s): Yeah. For me, it's, it's thought and may Rogers falling water and those are those two, I think just like they are ingrained in my head forever as like two of the greatest ethanol performances of all time. Right? 2 (42m 56s): Yeah. I mean, I never watched it and I was like, oh, I had to rewatch it like three more times. I'm like, this is insane. And then I, I texted it to my friend. Who's not even a Taylor swift fan. He's a music fan, but he's in totally different stuff than that. And I'm like, dude, you need to watch this. And he's like, he's like, it's good. Like, that's all I got out of it. But I was like, it was so good. I needed to let somebody else know about it. Like right when I was watching it, I was like, oh my God, but sorry. Okay. We're going to go back to your song in your band. So that one just, you, you wanted to pitch it with the record where you're trying to get the album, like on a label. Like, what do you mean by that? 5 (43m 35s): Just w we're just pitching it everywhere. Because generally, especially with DSPs, the way that it works is you pitch one single from the EAP to be kind of the, the, the, the hero single of the EAP. And then, you know, if they like it they'll use that or they'll, you know, sometimes they'll pick another song from the EAP and be like, actually we like this one instead. And then for Spotify in particular, what, what ended up happening was we pitched, we pitched you on everyone's, we'll love you. And we then were like, okay, EPS out. And we were only really thinking about it in the context of, you know, EAP is out. And then you want everyone to love you with suddenly just like everywhere. 5 (44m 18s): And we have no idea. Like, we still don't really, like, we don't know how exactly, like, what did you just remember? 4 (44m 26s): I just remembered that we did the EPA. So again, this is our first DP. We're just making it up as we go. And, and no, we weren't, we weren't necessarily looking for a label at that point because we were still so like fresh faced and it was like, yeah, let's screw up a bunch first. Why not? Cause it's like the most fun way to do it. Anyways, the thing that I remembered was that we released the CP, I think like less than a month after we released Hannah and the city before it. And we were so stoked about Hannah and the city. And we were like, we think this is a great song. We think people are gonna like this song and we released it as a single, and then that's kind of when we went, oh wait, we already released it as a single, we can't push it again for the EPE, like with the EPA. 4 (45m 10s): So shortly after it's like, we need to kind of have a different story to tell. And so like the EAP draft and we're like, oh man, I really hope like Hannah and the city gets get some love. I really hope maybe like, I really hope, I don't know if you know it's to get, it'd be nice to get some streams on that. And then like, by the end of the week, we're like not thinking about that at all. It's like, oh, okay. So no one, we just ignored that one and we're doing this other thing and that's fine. This is super fun. I'm loving it. So it was kind of just a big accident. 5 (45m 38s): Yeah. We like, we woke up and we were like, okay, so you want everyone to love you as currently like new music Friday, like Laura indie pop and chill, like just, was just being sprinkled all over Spotify, editorial place. And we're like, what, what is happening? Like this is 4 (45m 52s): Supposed to happen. 5 (45m 53s): Yeah. Which is really funny. Yeah. No complaints. 2 (45m 57s): Yeah. That's amazing. That's amazing. And do you have a new song? Is someplace else coming out in work few days getting infused 5 (46m 7s): Five days, 2 (46m 8s): Five days comes out on a Wednesday, right? 5 (46m 10s): March 30th. Yeah. 4 (46m 11s): Wednesday, March 30th. 2 (46m 12s): Okay. Tell me about that song. And is that just a single or is that going to be on a new EAP coming out? 5 (46m 19s): Yes, I did. You okay. Fine. It's a single off of VEP EBT. So this is going to be on the places I have left places I've left. Sorry. But someplace else is I would say our sunniest song yet Kaylin started writing it and he sent it to me and I was like, oh my God, this is so happy. And we're so used to writing lyrics that are like, oh, my name is Stacy. And I'm sad about this. And you know, like unrequited love and growing up and blah, blah, blah. But then this one was like, oh, you know what I am in, I'm in love. 5 (46m 60s): And this feels great. And I am so happy and ended up just expanding on that. And then the chorus, like, yeah, the chorus was really funny. Like I ended up, like we have half wrote the chorus. So he wrote the first bit of the chorus, like the melody and stuff. And then I was like, what if we added like the, I dunno why I'm doing that as if you're going to know exactly what I'm talking about. But the second half I was like, what if we added this part? And then we did, and now the song is coming out and we're really excited for it. 2 (47m 29s): Amazing. I mean, in this, is the EAP done or is it no. Is just your EAP has this vibe of more of an upbeat sound and it's going to be the second half of That I'm like, oh 4 (47m 50s): Yeah, We have it all, all written out and all sorts of basically we started looking at the two EPS. Yeah. As history piece, we kind of just wanted to make a collection of all of, all of our, it's almost just like brain dumping before we made a big album. You know, it was like, let's just talk about all these things that we have in common or these experiences that we want to write about. Like, let's, let's, let's all the things that we've been building up for, like our whole life, you know, how there's that thing about like, oh, the first thing an artist puts out is everything they've worked on. And then their second thing is everything they worked on after that, 2 (48m 24s): The first record is you, you have your whole life to write your first album in like a year or something. 4 (48m 30s): But I think that we're both kind of just like, oh, I don't know if I've actually written anything very good yet. So let's just like go through all of those ideas and like, just tell a bunch of stories. So we have all of those stories. You've had them kind of set out for awhile. It was just about kind of planning the cadence of releasing them and getting them sounding better, like mixing mastered and what, but yeah, the stories are written. They just need to be told. 2 (48m 54s): And with the second half, is that more the, is the whole record I'm getting me more upbeat. Is that kind of the purpose of it or this theme of it or? No. 4 (49m 1s): So if the first one, I think we were a little bit more pretentious than that with how we want to look at themes. I think we looked at the first theme a little bit, like, okay. So that honestly, a lot of that record is written probably about being not sober and a university and really sad. And a lot of this EAP, the second half of it is almost like, kind of looking. So th th if that one's looking back, this one's like looking forward and it's less, it's more of a daytime EPE. There are definitely a few more sunny songs. It's yeah. I would call it pre disposition generally brighter than, than it's than it's sister. 2 (49m 44s): Okay. Little happier. 4 (49m 46s): Yeah. Just a little as much as you can afford. 2 (49m 49s): Yeah. There you go. 5 (49m 50s): There's one song though. There's there's one song that is just absolutely like, to me is like devastating. Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about there, but I, I want to say, I feel like, I feel like I wouldn't, I wouldn't horn the EAP into like happy versus sad, but it's, it's certainly, it's certainly, you know, like a lot less retrospective. Is that the looking backward? 4 (50m 13s): Yeah. 5 (50m 14s): Yeah. Retrospective. Yeah. It's like a lot less reflecting and more, oh shit. What next? Like, what am I supposed to do? That kind of thing. 2 (50m 22s): Okay. Well now I'm curious to ask about this song. That's really sad. This is something you can share. I mean, 4 (50m 31s): Yeah. It's a song. Yeah. I can share about it. It's I don't, I don't know when it's going to be out. I think it's called. I know exactly what it's called, so it's not, it's going to be, it's a song called Matador. I wrote two years ago while I had two broken feet. So That was like the Headspace I was in. 2 (50m 49s): How do you break both feet? 4 (50m 54s): Separate incidents a week apart. 2 (50m 56s): Consistency. 4 (50m 57s): Yeah. The first one was a skateboarding while not knowing how to skateboard. And the second one was lugging around a boot and being bad at taking stairs. Yeah. 2 (51m 14s): So you ended up with two broken feet and then how do you get around? Do you have to get a wheelchair? 4 (51m 18s): Oh, it was bad. I was mostly just like, I don't know if the one happened like a week after. So it was like, at least the one started to heal. Like I tiny bit. And it was also the, like the dead middle of winter too. And I was in university, so I didn't really have to go anywhere because computer science, right. You don't to go to class, you just need to sit there being on 2 (51m 36s): The computer 4 (51m 38s): All day on the computer. So it was like, yeah, I didn't know. You have to get around too much at all, to be honest. And when I did, it was a double crutched and homily. 2 (51m 47s): Oh man. So you broke both your feet here in a space and then you, so you write the song. Yeah. I mean, it's, it sounds like a pretty dark space. 4 (51m 58s): That was a great, that was that's no, I'm laughing. Cause it was just a great way to put it. Yeah. And then we just wrote this song that we sat on for awhile and we're like, this is going to go on a, the first DP or like, I don't think so. It's too dark, which is funny that we're going to put it on the second one, but it'll work. So we'll see. 2 (52m 13s): Very cool. 4 (52m 14s): Yeah. 2 (52m 15s): Well, awesome. I can't wait to, I mean, here, the rest of it, I've had a chance to listen to some someplace else. And it's a great song. So like I said, I can't wait to hear the rest of it. 4 (52m 25s): Appreciate it. 2 (52m 26s): Yeah. And w what about playing like live shows? Is that a thing that you guys are able to do? Or is that not something you've thought about? Or 4 (52m 33s): That's the dream? Yeah, so that's, we'll get there. We kinda, we didn't want to start pushing live shows until it felt like the world was ready for it. Like really ready. We're both like, we love live shows. I think that's, 5 (52m 52s): He, he means in the sense of the global pandemic, he's not saying until the world is right for best friend. I feel, I feel the need to clarify that 2 (53m 2s): I was almost going to make a joke, but I'm like, I know exactly what he's saying. Like, you're not going to even put that out there. 4 (53m 10s): Oh my God. Having a piece of spinach in your teeth, 2 (53m 14s): When will the world be ready? 4 (53m 19s): My God. Basically, we just, we just didn't want to like, make any concessions with what we thought the experience would and stuff. And we're like, ah, we're we, we are in no rush right now. So let's just wait until we're allowed to do it. Right. And then we'll, we're allowed to do it. Right. We can go full force into it. So if you follow that logic sometime this year, 2 (53m 40s): Very cool. And are you still living in too? I mean, 40 hours driving apart. 4 (53m 46s): Yeah. I'm in downtown Toronto right now. I'm in Sri. I was away from the mic there, but I'm in downtown Toronto right now. Stacy's in Vancouver. But at the end of the summer, I'm actually going to be moving out west. So not to Vancouver, but to Vancouver island, to Victoria, which 2 (54m 3s): Is just, 4 (54m 5s): I dunno, 5 (54m 6s): He threw a ball and like missed. It's like, okay. I guess. Yeah, no. 4 (54m 10s): Yeah. It was close enough. Yeah. One shot throw a ball across Canada apparently, but yeah. So I think that's sort of, we're thinking, all right, well, under the summer I'm going to be coming out west. We're going to be a lot closer. I bet the world will be a bit safer. I bet we'll have a couple of singles out by that point, that shirt, it sounded like maybe possibly touring time. So fingers crossed 2 (54m 36s): Very, very cool. And I appreciate both of your time today. Thank you so much for doing this. 5 (54m 41s): This is so much fun. Thanks for having us. Of 2 (54m 43s): Course. Real quick, actually, Stacy, I want to know is your, you said your sister is like a piano prodigy. Does she play piano still? I mean, professionally, is that her gig? And has she ever helped you on the records or anything or just not help, but like collaborating with you at all? 5 (54m 59s): She is in, I want to say molecular biochemistry or something ridiculous like that, but yeah. So the answer is no, but, but I have, I have said to her a few times, I'm like, oh man, you should just be a touring pianist. And she was like, oh, okay. I'll do it. So, you know, who knows maybe, maybe we'll have two to two Kim's on tour. 2 (55m 20s): Well, that's my sisters in science field too. And she is a really good piano player and just something, I, I think that her sounds like your sister and my sister have the same sort of like brain ish. 5 (55m 33s): Maybe they know each other. 2 (55m 34s): Probably not, but I'm just saying like, my mind could not do that. Like science has no dyes. I can't do like sight read piano and yeah, 5 (55m 43s): Yeah, no, she is. Yeah. She is like just scary, smart and very good at like logic, which I think makes so much sense when it comes to piano and theory and being able to memorize notes and like accidentals and all of that. And she just gets like, yeah, she's a whiz put anything in front of her. She'll be like, oh yeah. Okay. No problem. Yeah. 2 (56m 2s): Okay. Well maybe we'll see her on the road with you anyway, 5 (56m 7s): Jessica two K two K to two. 2 (56m 10s): Nice. Well again, I appreciate you both doing this. I have one more quick question. If I can get an answer from each of you, I don't know who's going to go first, but do you have any advice for aspiring artists? 6 (56m 24s): Oh God. 4 (56m 26s): That's all right. I'm always ready to give advice. Even if you don't want it is the advice for inspiring artists. Honestly, my big thing is like, just go for whatever makes you happy in whatever capacity. Like you don't have to make something that's like, you don't, you don't have to be immediately productive, super productive right away. I kinda just think as long as you're saying yes to the opportunities and the things that you are like curious about and interested in often enough, you'll kind of eventually just accidentally build a cool little world for yourself. So that's what I would say, 6 (57m 1s): Love that. 5 (57m 3s): I would say, make friends be nice, build a community, right? Because that's what all of this is about really is it's kind of about building it's about building community and making friends and kind of saying, okay, yeah, you know, this is a tough, this is a tough industry. This is tough as hell. And life is tough to live. So we should all kind of be supporting each other where we can and then making friends where we can. So don't be afraid to reach out to people. I think, you know, a lot of the times people tend to be pretty precious about, you know, like resources and, and connections that they may have because it's one of those things where it's like, oh, if this person is more successful than I am, then maybe it means I won't be as successful. 5 (57m 44s): But that is just simply not the case. There's always, always, always going to be space for, for you to succeed no matter who you are and no matter who else succeeds before you think about all the new artists that are out there right now, that you've never heard of like three years ago and how much they've been blowing up. Right. So it's never going to be the same people who are successful and it's never going to be, it's not a, there's no cap basically if there's no cap to success.