Interview with ERRA

3 (1m 11s): 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 achieve stardom. On this episode, we had a chance to chat with JT of the band era. Over zoom video, JT was born and raised just outside Baltimore and Maryland. And he talks about how he got into music. He really didn't start his musical journey musical career until he was in his twenties. He was putting up videos of himself doing covers up on YouTube, but just vocal covers learning how to scream and learning how to yell. He said he would practice in his car and then he got really into how to mix the song and film and stuff, doing it. 3 (1m 52s): And he's really into texts. It was cool to kind of pick his brain on tech stuff as well. But he talked to us about being in a band around his hometown. He only had played six shows. The band broke up and he got a call from Texas in July who needed a singer. He knew someone in the band. He ends up joining that band in his seventh show ever was on the warp tour. So definitely a big step up for him. He played in that band for a while. And when Texas in July kind of fizzled out, literally weeks later era needed a singer. So he tried out for era and has been in that band since 2014. 3 (2m 32s): He talked about recording on drift, the creative differences that came about during the recording of the neon record. Talk about the self-titled album and the rerelease that they're doing with four cover songs and three new songs. You can watch our interview with JT on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing it backwards. It'd be awesome if you subscribe to our channel like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TOK at bringing back pod. And if you're listening to this on either Spotify or apple music, if you could follow us there as well, that'd be awesome. And if you have time, hook us up with a five star review, 4 (3m 11s): We'd appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcasts, wherever you listen to podcasts, 3 (3m 18s): We're bringing it backwards with era. Yeah. And this is about you, your journey in music. And of course, we'll talk about the record and the three new songs and the covers and all that cool stuff. 5 (3m 29s): Excuse my, my unawareness is this an interview or a podcast? I'm just to get how long it's going to take. I just woke up and I would love to make coffee. 3 (3m 42s): Let me see. I mean, I usually 5 (3m 43s): Takes an hour or two. Like it's fine. I just want to, 3 (3m 46s): It usually goes about between 30 and an hour. You can make coffee, dude. 5 (3m 51s): No, I'm a snob. It's going to be like a 20 minute ordeal. 3 (3m 56s): Okay. I just have another in and out of that in an hour and a half. I've 5 (4m 0s): Already made you reschedule. I'm not doing that to you. 3 (4m 4s): It's all good, man. Well, again, I appreciate it. So first off, where were, where are you right now? Are you in LA or 5 (4m 11s): Maryland? 3 (4m 12s): Okay. Baltimore, Maryland. But were you born in, I just going off the research I've done and the band you're in prior was Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Are you from Pennsylvania now? 5 (4m 24s): No, weirdly enough. I did go to school in Pennsylvania for a year. I went to Franklin and Marshall, which is right in Lancaster in 2008 only, but I was born and raised in Maryland, grew up in Anne Arundel county, which is right on the, on the water. I moved down to Birmingham in 2016 and that was the band. I got an opportunity to try something different. I was like, fuck it. 3 (4m 52s): Yeah. 5 (4m 53s): I've never moved out. You know? 3 (4m 55s): So, so you were in grub in Baltimore, then you're on the water there. 5 (4m 60s): I went to school and I went to school in Baltimore. I didn't, I grew up like just out of the city. I live in the city. Now. What's kind of a big change for me 3 (5m 7s): Is where you grew up with smaller town. 5 (5m 9s): Yeah, it was a, it's a place called Severna park, which is regarded as like the snobby town. 3 (5m 16s): It was a cause you're on the water. 5 (5m 19s): It's just like upper middle-class families and yeah, a lot of the stuff's on the water. Like, like most of my friends had like waterfront properties. 3 (5m 28s): That's dope though. Did I grew up in San Diego? So I can't really talk that's 5 (5m 34s): That's cool though. I love San Diego, 3 (5m 37s): Like I guess in the east coast. So it's a bit different. There was there surfing and stuff where you grew up or not really surfing. 5 (5m 42s): Yeah. 3 (5m 43s): I mean, if you're on the water, you're in the water of the Atlantic ocean. Yeah. 5 (5m 46s): You're not getting swells 3 (5m 47s): Though. Like non 5 (5m 49s): You're you're you're you're getting like kitty pool shit. 3 (5m 53s): Okay. 5 (5m 54s): If you go to North Carolina, 3 (5m 56s): It kind of goes down. I mean like, yeah. North Carolina has 5 (5m 59s): South Carolina. 3 (5m 60s): Doesn't really have waves. 5 (6m 1s): Anybody that lives in Maryland says they're a surfer. I just look at them with weird eyes. 3 (6m 8s): What's funny is like, I don't surf, but I was just curious because you have the beach there, but I have family in Cleveland, Ohio, and apparently there will be enough wind at some point where the, the lake will have waves and there's people that will like surf in lake Erie. I'm like, yeah, that's pushing it. Yeah. I know. I thought that was so crazy. But anyway, back to you, so grew up in Baltimore. When did you get into music? How old are you? 5 (6m 38s): I get into music. Ah, damn. I mean, my parents spun records when I grew up. So there was always music in the house. I feel like I showed an interest in like singing and like theatrical things, a little bit of a theater, like elements when I was young. I recall, I recall at some point I want to say like when I was like 10, maybe I was in middle school, I was involved in some sort of play. That was like a one-time thing where I played like a spider. I don't remember. I've always this like one part of my memory. I've always tried to like find out what the hell that was 3 (7m 15s): Video footage of it. 5 (7m 19s): But yeah, I mean, I didn't get into like the touring stuff until my twenties, but I was always involved in music. The student athlete growing up, I didn't do like band or anything, but I played guitar in high school. I did gospel choir for my, for my all boys Catholic high school. So I was always around it. It wasn't until like 23 or it's about 21 when I started to like do kind of what I do now. 3 (7m 46s): Oh, interesting. So like you were just playing guitar as a hobby. I mean, it was mainly for singing and playing guitar and that must've been, 5 (7m 53s): But yeah, you can never, could I raged quit guitar when I was like 20 or 21? And then Yeah, I like, I, I got to the point where I was like doing once or like fun medical rifts, and I try to learn like sweeps, arpeggios and solos. And I was like, I can't 6 (8m 9s): Do this. Fuck this shit. 5 (8m 12s): Okay. Hold everything. 3 (8m 14s): Wow. 5 (8m 15s): And then my, like my come up was actually YouTube covers. I did YouTube covers for a long time. I like learned to scream my car and like watching a couple of YouTube videos and I just like stuck with it. And long story short, I did like hundreds of YouTube covers 3 (8m 33s): Covers. Yeah. Oh wow. Just acapella or where, you know. 5 (8m 38s): Oh, okay. It was legit. It was like, camera's set up like this. 3 (8m 42s): Wow. 5 (8m 42s): With studio mic tracked in a Reaper, which is a doll and then edited like kind of the best you can have it sit over top of somebody else already singing. I, you know, it's like you're through the process. You're learning how to like edit videos, mix music, how to make a vocal chain. When you record. I see that you got the, the DX 2 66 compressor. That's fantastic. Compressor. 3 (9m 10s): Oh yeah. It's the, well, I went with it to 86 as I used to have a Cardell mic and it has a gate and then I just ended up not, I got this mic and said, cause it was less of a hassle. Exactly. Sorry. 5 (9m 27s): Yeah. Like TJ, like, I didn't know any of this shit. Like I had to learn and I'm like a YouTube lurker. So I'm like, like hacking in the mainframe learning and all this shit at once. Like how do I improve my quality? 3 (9m 38s): Well, if you're interested instead of just like, I'm going to wing it, I'm going to buy this cheap USB mic off of, you know, best buy and go with it that way. 5 (9m 46s): Dude. I, I recorded my first YouTube covers. I recorded with an a hundred dollar Toshiba pocket camera. Like, like a, like a rugged one. It was the, I know the model. It was like BW 10. 3 (9m 59s): Okay. 5 (9m 60s): And it was like, I got it. Like our equivalent of Costco, which is called BJ's wholesale. And yeah, I started like, I, I have some I did in my closet to not disturb people and then just kind of upgraded and snowballed from there. And yeah. 3 (10m 19s): Is that how you kind of got into gear was just from starting with those YouTube cover. 5 (10m 23s): I mean, I was always technically inclined. Like I'm a big computer guy. That's why I got into cameras and cameras are really easy to get into because there's so much stuff for it. And you can really Dive in deep And microphones have lots of cool things you can play with too. 3 (10m 38s): Yeah. I just, I only know about this. I did radio for, for 15 years. So I was like, okay. I'm like going through like, what do we use here? Okay. That's nice. And I was like, we used to use <em></em> like one station. Yeah. Had this, but the <em></em> was like the one and 5 (10m 55s): Look how long it is though. It's 3 (10m 56s): Huge. It's like, yeah. It's like this long, it's all phallic. And like, it just doesn't and it doesn't even sound as good as the share. I think sure. Just knocked him out of the park when they did this one. But yeah, so that was kinda my whole thing, but I'm like, this looks better. Sounds better anyway, back to you. So you got into gear doing the YouTube covers and then at 20 you said you didn't get into touring 5 (11m 19s): Waste. If you said you were in radio. When I was in high, when I was at Franklin Marshall on Thursdays, I did a one o'clock lunchtime, nineties dance block for the campus radio. You 3 (11m 30s): Did that's 5 (11m 31s): Rad. And I had my friends texted me and I was getting texts on my flip phone. And they were like, play, play Hadaway. What's what is love. It's like 0 (11m 43s): They had a big scratcher from the Virginia lottery could be a big hit for you. The game gives you the chance to win up to $1 million. Virginia lottery scratchers everyday wins visit a lottery retail and near you for rods and more information. Visit VA lottery.com. 1 (11m 58s): Facebook leads the industry in stopping bad actors online that's because they've invested $13 billion in teams and technology to enhance safety over the last five years, it's working over the last few months, they've taken down 1.7 billion fake accounts to stop bad actors from doing harm, but working to reduce harmful and elicit content on their platforms is never done. Learn more about how they're helping people connect and share safely at about.fb.com/safety 7 (12m 27s): Career builder is made for people who have that thing. You know, those superpowers that make you good at your job. The skills you bring to work and career builder knows those skills make you write for other jobs to higher paying jobs with benefits jobs. You never thought of trying, are you a people person work from home as a customer service rep? Are you organized? And like driving become a delivery driver. You have the skills it takes and career builder.com has the jobs to get you hired fast, visit careerbuilder.com. 5 (12m 58s): It's like lunchtime. And my friends are in the cafeteria hearing me. My, I was like 17 or 18 at the time. 3 (13m 5s): So you're doing like breaks. And so you'd come in and be like, all right, Hey, 5 (13m 9s): I don't know how I got involved with the campus radio. I think just being a music guy, I was like, what can I, what can I do at my school? That's not school in sports. I got into the, 3 (13m 20s): The, 5 (13m 21s): Like the sports casting, like the video broadcasting team. I worked work with the basketball on the, in wrestling a little bit. And then somehow I got involved with doing the radio and I had that one block. Every Thursday. I have so much fun. I miss doing that. 3 (13m 34s): See, I went that route because I'm not musically inclined. Like I can play guitar poorly. And that was about it. Like I would learn power chords and songs and I'm like, I want to be in this industry, but I have no idea. Like, oh, here we go. I can play the, I cannot push play and I can play records and, and talk about them, 5 (13m 52s): Dude. There's a lot of back. There's a lot of space for really nice people and personalities that love music to be involved with music. Cause it's definitely saturated with a bunch of weirdos who like don't get music or like, I don't know, they have like a good presentation, but like, they don't really have the personality to do this. But like, I mean 10 minutes in I've already liked. I like you. 3 (14m 14s): I would 5 (14m 14s): Thank you. You know, like you've already made a good impression. It's like, oh, this guy's, this guy's cool, but there's not a lot. Like you out there, like 10 minutes in, like what, what happened to this guy and his in his youth? He's weird. 3 (14m 28s): Well, dude, I, that means a lot. I appreciate it. 5 (14m 30s): You know, but we're nice. Nice. Regardless. Everybody's trying. 3 (14m 34s): Yeah. Sure. Well, that's awesome that you did the radio show. I always had fun and it's funny. Cause like when I got into radio, it was the peak of an era where there was a lot of money and it was like a big deal. And then like I kinda caught the, the decline of the whole thing. And then when I got out of it was when COVID started and that was, it was basically like, that was the time for they, they could kind of capitalize, I felt like in a local level, but it just, I don't know. It's, it's not there anymore in my opinion. And then, I mean the numbers show on Tik TOK and Spotify. So 5 (15m 9s): Media is changing big and fast. 3 (15m 11s): Oh yeah. Oh yeah. For sure. 5 (15m 13s): Media consumption too. I keep, I keep talking about with my friends, how I'd love to read the case, study on us about how media consumption has changed and how it's, how it's affected us and like, you know, fast digestive media, like, like click farming and clip, clip baiting and stuff like that. 3 (15m 34s): Yeah. It's interesting. The guy that was 5 (15m 37s): Psychology behind it, into everything, you know? Yeah. 3 (15m 40s): Cause it, it will, it evolve. I listened to a podcast the other day and it was the guy that used to be, I think he was a CEO or CFO of Google for awhile. And he was talking about how like social media will come in ten-year phases. So I 5 (15m 54s): See 3 (15m 55s): That. It's interesting how like it'll be 10 years and then you'll have the bulk of the people that are really successful. And then the kids coming up can't quite achieve that because it's just too far out there. Like their content is being hidden and then they'll start creating their own platform to get boom up there. And then like, it just kind of evolves as, as that goes. So it's interesting that like Tik TOK is now obviously the biggest one, but it started off as musically avid. My younger son was doing, or my son, not my younger one, but my older one was doing the musically thing. And I'm like, what is that? A 5 (16m 27s): Seven minute musically. And 3 (16m 28s): Then it became tick-tock and I was like the biggest thing ever. So people are like verified on Tik TOK that he knows because of musically, you know, 7, 5, 6 years ago, which just blows my mind. 5 (16m 42s): I remember when people, I used to like have friends on MySpace and I would get messages like the first year or two into Facebook be like, are you the guy from my space? Like, I mean, I wasn't like, I wasn't like famous on my space or anything, but it was like my friends from my space, like 3 (16m 60s): Yeah, they 5 (17m 1s): Adapt. 3 (17m 2s): Yeah. I remember when that transition happened too. It was like, oh, everyone wants on Facebook. I'm like, eh, I don't really want to leave my space. Like this is such a cool, I'll get to build the whole fan. Like I got not a fan, but I got to find all my friends on here now, are they on here yet? And it's just funny how it all kind of evolves, but that's interesting, but real quick, I'm curious. So you did the radio thing, but were you going to college for it? Doesn't sound like you're going from music at all. 5 (17m 24s): I went to Franklin and Marshall pre-med. Wow. I was interested in medicine. That that whole story is a long story. Why I left that school. 3 (17m 35s): Okay. 5 (17m 36s): I don't really want to talk about, 3 (17m 38s): Okay, well we can pass over it, but 5 (17m 40s): Dark times, no, just like there was a huge growth period from 17 to 21 in my life and it involved a wasting tuition money, my Berets, but Franklin Marshall, I came home. I did a couple of years at a community college. I switched to a comp sigh because I realized the only real reason that was first in a pre-med because I wanted to make money. I didn't have, I didn't have the discipline for med school. I had the smart side, I feel like, but I only got through a year. So who, who fucking knows? So yeah, I think during that time, I was just like, I was a swimmer for a long time and I swam at Franklin and Marshall, I think once I 3 (18m 28s): Lost them too. That's really, 5 (18m 30s): That was a butterflier 3 (18m 31s): Really? I did. I played water polo and swam and through high school, 5 (18m 35s): Dude, I dislocated my shoulder playing water polo after this season and I had to pop it back in place by slamming my shoulder into the wall. 3 (18m 43s): Oh my gosh. That was brutal, man. That's 5 (18m 46s): Brutal. I got surgery for it. 3 (18m 49s): How it shocked you only did freestyle. And then I tried to, they would sometimes throw me in like breaststroke, but I wasn't very fast. So I was just like the guy they're like, yeah, you can just whatever, go three. Sounds better. But I couldn't do, I mean, butterfly could go 50 yards and B 5 (19m 6s): I was a sprinter. I didn't want to be in there Anyway. 3 (19m 12s): Okay. So you did swimming. That's what you did in college too. That's cool. 5 (19m 15s): Yeah. I went, I went originally for swimming and like, I didn't, they didn't give 'em. They gave like augmented academic scholarships. Cause they didn't have the money for school or for sports. It's like one of those. 3 (19m 29s): Okay. 5 (19m 31s): I don't know how it worked. I was 17. Yeah. And I came home. I was, I lost swimming and I didn't want to come home. I was kind of forced to come home and I was just trying to like rebrand myself. So I fell into music and I think basically one day I was in the car participating to the song I was listening to at the time and it had screaming. So I was like, I want to like learn how to do this. And it just kind of snowballed into a whole thing and a hobby and I like kind of dove in and the rest of the rest is kind of history. 3 (20m 5s): Did you like, were you in a band after the YouTube thing started? Or how did you end up? 5 (20m 10s): I joined a local band, like two, two years in. We did a couple shows and I got a call from Chris Davis in Texas, in July, who I knew at the time. And I tried out for that band joined Texas in July. So like my seventh show ever was my first show on work tour in 2013. 3 (20m 30s): Wow. 5 (20m 31s): I was thrown to the Wolf real fast. What 3 (20m 34s): Was that like? Where does that terrifying? 5 (20m 36s): Terrifying. Because at that point I had like plenty of screaming, training, not a lot of like touring screaming training, but it actually ended up being okay anyways, it worked itself out, but like learning how to be a front man. And I wish somebody would've told me never to wear jorts onstage 3 (20m 53s): Lesson learned that a 5 (20m 55s): Lot. I know. I didn't learn. I just kept 3 (20m 57s): Doing it, 5 (20m 59s): Looking back at old photos. And I 3 (21m 0s): Was like, who, who, 5 (21m 2s): Who let 3 (21m 2s): Me do this? Well, well you must have, well, how did you even know the guys from Texas in July? Like how did that? 5 (21m 9s): I, I just, I just knew Chris he's from Maryland. He was from the same area. I was like, they were from they're from Lancaster. Okay. That's 3 (21m 17s): Where that's curious. That's 5 (21m 18s): Where it gets weird. 3 (21m 19s): Okay. 5 (21m 21s): I went to school in Lancaster, which is an hour north of where I live now. I get two hours from where I grew up. Then I left Lancaster and then years later, five years later, I was back there trying out for a band from there. And then that band broke up in 2015. And then I'm back there two more times for era in a different circumstances, recording in a studio there. So it's like, I can never leave Lancaster. I don't know what it is. And I love that city and I'll be back there, back there soon, actually. 3 (21m 49s): Wow. So, well, when you get the call to join or do you call the judge, try out for Texas in July and you go to the audition that must've been w what was that like? I mean, just showing up and being okay. Now I get to sing what all the backlog songs that somebody else was singing prior or look like? 5 (22m 9s): It was weird because I was 23. I was the oldest person there too. I got, I've been, always been the older person in my band. It's not by much, but like, it's just funny because both bands I've joined. Most of them were like lifetime, like the whole live touring musicians, mostly where I joined very late. And in the end, I'm actually kind of grateful for that. But I remember getting there and we'd practice at the champ in Lamon, PA, which is like a hole in the wall, like venue bar and seeing all them in person was so weird. Cause it's like, it's like speed dating per friendship too. 3 (22m 47s): Yeah. 5 (22m 48s): So like, because you assume that you're gonna be stuck with them for a while and hopefully they're fun and cool. You're not just playing music with them. You're like forming relationships. So yeah, like all that happened really fast, but they're all in nothing like very normal and fun dudes and they're all great friends of mine still now. So yeah. You just kind of like make it work 3 (23m 7s): Well, you've kind of done. You've had a kind of fill the role of the singer in an era also now like two times, like, was it, I mean the first time you do it, obviously you guys are on a war. You're on work towards the band, had some success. They're doing things they're touring. Is that hard to jump into that position where these people are, these fans, maybe you're seeing for the first time they've known the band for a while and like, do they, do you get any weird vibe that way? Like, I don't know how that would work. Well, 5 (23m 39s): I don't know you, I didn't really have a choice. 3 (23m 44s): Right? 5 (23m 45s): Yeah. At the beginning, at the beginning there was, I mean, even for both bands, there was a differently, but definitely more for era. It was a lot of like, we miss the old guy. 3 (23m 55s): I'm sure that's hard to hear. Well, 5 (23m 58s): Yeah, of course. But like at the same time, what the fuck am I going to do about it? He's not coming 3 (24m 2s): Back and it's 5 (24m 3s): Going to be like, just kidding. This literally never happened zero times. 8 (24m 8s): Just kidding. 5 (24m 10s): Yeah. So it's like deal with it. You know, I'll do my best to like, not shit on what you loved about the old singer, but like we have to move on and that's, you know, just how it went. Yeah. But as far as like covering other people's songs, I've never really, I've always liked covers in general, which is ironic. Cause we just put out one. Yeah. 9 (24m 31s): It's time to get your checking account to zero with free checking from PenFed that's zero ATM fees, zero balance requirements. And zero time spent waiting for your paycheck to direct deposit because you can receive up to one day early, open your account with just $25 and see how big zero can be apply online today at penfed.org/free checking early direct deposit eligibility may vary between pay periods and timing of payers, funding to receive any advertised product. You must become a member of PenFed insured by NCUA. 1 (25m 1s): Facebook leads the industry in stopping bad actors online. That's because they've invested $13 billion in teams and technology to enhance safety over the last five years, it's working over the last few months, they've taken down 1.7 billion fake accounts to stop bad actors from doing harm, but working to reduce harmful and elicit content on their platforms is never done. Learn more about how they're helping people connect and share safely at about.fb.com/safety. Facebook leads the industry in stopping bad actors online that's because they've invested $13 billion in teams and technology to enhance safety over the last five years, it's working over the last few months, they've taken down 1.7 billion fake accounts to stop bad actors from doing harm, but working to reduce harmful and elicit content on their platforms is never done. 1 (25m 54s): Learn more about how they're helping people connect and share safely at about.fb.com/safety. 5 (26m 0s): But yeah, I've always liked covers. So I've never, I've always found a way to like hear anything and like, you know, I make it relevant for me somehow. And then if I'm singing it, you can always put your, your own inflection and spin on something. Yeah. You just gotta do what you gotta do and make it your own 3 (26m 21s): With. So did Texas in July just dishpan or you, you just kind of within 5 (26m 26s): Two years it ran its course really. 3 (26m 28s): Okay. And then when that band ended, how did you get involved with era? 5 (26m 33s): We took era out in 2014. It was in July era. Maybe structure's actually era actually is texting utilize structures era. I have to look at the flyer, Micah relocate and a band called elitist. So they did like a couple of days. And that was Garrison's last tour of their previous, Previous original singer. The long time there was like a long time singer and Garrison and then Ian was in the middle for an EAP. And then I joined, but I met Garrison in 2014. So I knew all those era guys them. And then at the end of 2013, when the band is about to be done for good, I get a call from Jesse and literally in the same format, they're about to go the studio. 5 (27m 23s): And he already, you know, tour with me. He knew I had the skill set. He knew I had touring experience and it was basically like, Hey, if you want in, you're in, but you have to come immediately to the studio. 3 (27m 33s): Wow. 5 (27m 34s): Yeah. And that was in October. And then the farewell tour for Texas in July was like a month later. So there was literally no transition. It was immediately to the next band. 3 (27m 43s): That's 5 (27m 43s): Crazy. Like the farewell tour ended like December, 2015. And in February I was touring, I think the beginning of February I was touring with era. So there was no downtime. 3 (27m 54s): Oh my gosh. Was there? 5 (27m 55s): I got lucky for sure. 3 (27m 57s): Yeah. I was going to say not a lot of people would have that experience where if the ban ends, it's like, okay, now what do I do? I got to go figure this out for a year or so, or start a new boiler. That's amazing. Right. Well, when you get this call to come, you know, we got a record we're in the studio that, that ends up being what? Drift. 5 (28m 16s): Yeah. Drift like October, 2015 and in Michigan. 3 (28m 20s): Did you have, did you help write that record at all? Like, were you writing the lyrics or was it all kind of, 5 (28m 27s): Kind of the record was fully tracked instrumentally. It was 10 songs. Six of the songs had lyrics written for both vocalists, me and Jesse and then four didn't have anything for me. I think they had, I think Jessica had stuff for him. So I came in and he actually let me write and I ended up writing for those songs. 3 (28m 49s): Wow. 5 (28m 50s): Yeah. I was actually, I'm actually surprised they let me do that. You know, I've had 3 (28m 55s): Some cred with the other band. True. 5 (28m 57s): But yeah, but like that's now, now knowing that Jesse was the primary songwriter, I'm surprised he let an outsider immediately have creative control. 3 (29m 7s): Yeah. Well 5 (29m 8s): They upgraded. 3 (29m 10s): Yeah. Was it different riding with them as opposed to riding with the other van? 5 (29m 16s): Yes. Only because, I mean, it's still metal core. It's 3 (29m 20s): Still like, 5 (29m 22s): It feels very, it was very easy for me to transition. What was nice was it now I had Jesse to kind of like split the split, the work with, you know, split the difference with, and then because 3 (29m 33s): You were writing all what, the lyrics and the melodies for 5 (29m 37s): TJ. Yeah. 3 (29m 37s): Okay. 5 (29m 39s): So having that and, and he's, he's like the goat in the studio with me. So he, I, I, especially now, so like, I, we work so well together, but back then, you know, we're kind of just figuring it out and I'm still like new to writing too. That was only the second time I'd ever written like professional Level metal. Like I've, I've made songs in the past, like when I was doing my covers, but there were nothing like at the level of the songs. 3 (30m 7s): Sure. Well, they had, at that point, there was arrows doing really well. Right. Then they have like a number one record, like a billboard record or song or something, or did that come out <em></em> but it's like you come in and you follow it up. That must've been a hard, like 5 (30m 24s): Following up Garrison was the real tough part. Garrison was a beast and he had a very huge range, like very deathcore oriented vocalists. Cause he had a great low rent and great high-end. And I come in with a lot of like, mid-range influence, like a lot of like, like Jonathan vigil from the ghost inside influence. And I loved bands like, like hundredth and counterparts and bury your dead. And like any Vinny vocalists had like a mid range, like a really loud sounding voice. That's what I sounded like. And that's what I was training. Like. So going from Garrison who had a very different tonality to me was like a, kind of a shock for the band band sound and their fan base. 5 (31m 6s): So it took them a second to get used to me, I think. But no, I th I think it worked itself out. I also think the music changed enough where it catered more toward my style than Ben Garrison. So I I'm a little biased, I guess, but that's just me. Yeah. 3 (31m 20s): Well, after you joined the band and he played with him for awhile and then w neons the first record that you got to sit and write the whole album with the band, what was that? What was that like? 5 (31m 28s): Awful. That was terrible. Writing process means just to talk about that all the time. We were really, we were both at each other's throats, The recording environment wasn't ideal. We like the, the record got passed around to three different people. Like it was dark times. 3 (31m 49s): You still had another one, another number one record though on the heat secrets drive. 5 (31m 53s): So I wish Jessie was here to hear me say that because he'd fight shy, man. But that was a nice growth period between me, him and I too. Cause like, we, we ha we, we butt heads like that whole time. And like, there was a moment where I so funny actually it was like, it was, it was a time where I was trying to write stuff and like create an, I like hated everything I was liking. And Jesse didn't like it. And he didn't really know how to like, say it without like crushing my soul and it just didn't go well. And then I remember he could tell, He could tell that he was crushing my soul. 5 (32m 37s): So he went out to this bakery nearby and he brought me back a donut. He's like a guy, you something, 3 (32m 44s): Here you go, man. I'm sorry. 5 (32m 48s): Cause he knew. And he, and he knows like food is always the way to my heart. So 3 (32m 53s): That's amazing. Well, I'm wondering too, cause at this point you guys have known each other for a couple of years. You've been touring a bit and like there might be a little bit more familiarity. Like you, you, you feel a little bit more comfortable with each other to where you can almost like say what you really really mean. Like, I don't know if you felt like that. Like, okay, now I'm going to be brutally honest because we know each other. Well, now one of those situations where, when you first meet somebody, you're not, you probably aren't going to just start being like criticizing them, like right out the gate or voicing a lot opinion. But I guess he lets you write on that, that record. So that's pretty amazing. 5 (33m 32s): Well, if you're Jessie cash, there is no filter what he says, what he's thinking it's coming. I'll just 3 (33m 38s): Say it 5 (33m 40s): It's like a, definitely a Jessie ism. But I, I, we, you know, we appreciate the honesty and people like that, always. We'd rather, you just, he's actually really good at if there's like inner band beef he's instead of somebody like me, he will just sit on it until one of us murders each other. 3 (33m 57s): That's me, man. He squashes. 5 (33m 58s): Yeah. I just don't wanna, I don't like confrontation, so I don't want to talk about it all. Like, I'll be the one to suffer at your expense. Like even if it's your fault, I'll just like make it my fault somehow. So I don't have to deal with it. Right. 3 (34m 10s): Just to let it pass. Yeah. 5 (34m 12s): But with him, it's like, hell no, like we're Erin, if there's like an inkling, he's like, we're airing this shit out now. And 3 (34m 19s): He actually no. Right. I mean, 5 (34m 20s): He taught me that. And then I did that to him when him and I had a problem recently and we aired it out, like in 24 hours and we hugged it out and it was perfect. 3 (34m 30s): That's awesome. Then you move forward. Right. Instead of sitting on it for months or whatever it has to be. 5 (34m 35s): I hope most bands can do that because if they, if they're not, God, I don't know how they do this. 3 (34m 40s): Right. I mean, you gotta be with these people all the time. Yeah. And you're living in a bad 5 (34m 47s): House. 3 (34m 48s): <em></em> Well being on the road for so long and doing this for a long time that must've been a shocker to have like 20, 20 hit. And then it's like, now what do we do? Like where were you guys at? 5 (35m 2s): Oh, we were miserable. I thought it was I dude. I thought it was over. I thought I was telling him, tell Jesse like couple months ago I was like, dude, I thought I was quitting. The era like 20, 20. I thought I was like, switching careers, Go back. I didn't know what was going to happen. No, I was probably gonna go get some. Yeah. I mean maybe, but honestly I would've probably gone and got some texts, Hertz like comp PSI stuff. Who knows? I probably will eventually one day. 3 (35m 30s): Where you guys? Yeah. Where are you guys on the road? When, when COVID happened or are you at home? This pilot 5 (35m 35s): You'll like this. 3 (35m 36s): Okay. The 5 (35m 37s): Last day of the studio of the self-titled was the, was the last day that studio was open 3 (35m 43s): Really? 5 (35m 44s): Literally the next day was the global, like everything's closed. Oh, it was March. It was like March 15th. No, no, I think we let this, I'm going back home for like a week at work and everybody's like, I think there's a virus and then next week has like the whole world's closed now. 3 (36m 7s): Wow. So, but you've finished the sell side of record. Did you finish it? That 5 (36m 13s): We finished track day. We didn't miss anything. We tracked everything. Editing got pushed back a bunch, but like everything got done on time. 3 (36m 20s): Wow. And then 5 (36m 22s): Come out September. 3 (36m 23s): Okay. 5 (36m 24s): You got pushed back six months. 3 (36m 27s): Well, yeah, cause no one was doing anything, right? Yeah. I'm sure you had a tour ready and everything else just kind of gets, 0 (36m 32s): They had a big scratcher from the Virginia lottery could be a big hit for you. The game gives you the chance to win up to $1 million. Virginia lottery, scratchers everyday wins. Visit a lottery retailer near you for rods and more information. Visit VA lottery.com. 1 (36m 46s): Facebook leads the industry in stopping bad actors online that's because they've invested $13 billion in teams and technology to enhance safety. Over the last five years, it's working over the last few months, they've taken down 1.7 billion fake accounts to stop bad actors from doing harm, but working to reduce harmful and elicit content on their platforms is never done. Learn more about how they're helping people connect and share safely at about.fb.com/safety. 12 (37m 16s): When so much of life is about the big moments, it's the details in the all new 2022 grand wagon air that makes the small moments truly special. Take joy in American premium design with available Walnut trips and technology like the available 23 speaker Macintosh reference entertainment system. And with seating for up to eight, no detail is overlooked because it's the details that make every journey grand, the grand Wagoner grand adventures return Ragen air is a registered trademark of FCA us LLC. 3 (37m 46s): Yeah. Wow. So what do you guys do during that time? It's like, okay, we got this record. We don't know when we're going to be able to put it out. We don't know if we're going to or ever be able to play live. I mean, at this point when nobody knew what was going on, everyone thought the world is going to be done for like, like what? Like at that moment, what do you guys do? 13 (38m 8s): Well, 5 (38m 9s): We didn't have any, we didn't have anything. It was just kind of like proceed as plan and kind of like wait from the word of management. And I was working in a bar in Birmingham. So I just kind of kept doing that as much as I could. I remember I was unemployed on unemployment for like a couple months. 3 (38m 29s): Have you been to a bar? Nobody could go to a bar right 5 (38m 32s): In Alabama. Nobody got, I guess 3 (38m 34s): Right. I'm in Tennessee. I moved from, I moved from California about a year ago. I moved here. I'm like, wait, no one's doing no mask or anything. All right. Welcome to the south. Okay. So you were able to still bartend a bit. 5 (38m 50s): Yeah. So actually Alex and I worked for the same bar, actually the previous vocalists from era Ian was our manager. At one point at that bar, he had been there for like nine years. That's how I got the job. 3 (39m 1s): Wow. 5 (39m 3s): Actually I remember I was like, look, I know you and I have some weirdness, cause I kind of took your job, but I would love to work at the bar you work at. The man. I miss him A lot, a lot of good memories down there working with the boys, the metal core bar. 3 (39m 23s): That's the way I know what a cool bar to go to. 5 (39m 26s): We played metal and had like a it's actually I'll totally give them a shout out. It's black market on two 80 highway, two 80 in Birmingham. It's awesome place. 3 (39m 34s): It's still there can imagine. Oh yeah. 5 (39m 37s): Oh yeah. It's never going away. 3 (39m 38s): Well, I want to take a trip down Alabama. Anyway. I might have to stop there 5 (39m 43s): If you that's like, right. Like it's got the Alabama is basically like a square pretty by those two main highways and then two at the top one going toward Atlanta and then 83 or 83. I'm 65 going all the way up to Tennessee. 3 (39m 59s): Yeah. 65 goes through 5 (40m 1s): Where I live and then two 80 goes the opposite direction. Then one goes towards Florida. It's on the two 80 side. 3 (40m 7s): Okay. Yeah. That's cool. Cool, 5 (40m 9s): Cool spot. 3 (40m 10s): Yeah. So you were doing that and then you have the record and just kind of trying to wait it out. Like literally 5 (40m 16s): Nothing That I did, nothing during that time I played video games and I thought about my life. 3 (40m 23s): Okay. 5 (40m 25s): A little bit of music stuff. Yeah. I really have no idea what I did in there. Getting a quarantine other than a weighted out happened. 3 (40m 34s): And then we'll you guys ended up putting the record out in March. So a year goes by and then it's like, okay, let's put the record out. And where you able to play? I know you have a tour coming up, but have you guys had any chance to do that in the past year or so? 5 (40m 50s): Yeah, we did a tour with, we did one tour. We just did a tour with August burns red. It was a 3 (40m 55s): Okay. 5 (40m 58s): Why am I blanking on this tour? August burns red. Oh my God. Who did I just go on the road with? You gotta be kidding me. Sorry. I'm still on the early morning brain. 3 (41m 11s): All good man. It's all good. 5 (41m 13s): Making me do my own research shit. Where is this flyer? Oh yeah. Fit for a king. 3 (41m 22s): Okay. 5 (41m 23s): It was like most of lames era fit for a king. August burns red. It was 3 (41m 27s): I'm looking at the flyer now. All I had to do 5 (41m 29s): September 9th to Colleen. Yeah. And then, 3 (41m 34s): And then I clicked on the, yeah, 5 (41m 36s): You're fine. Got 3 (41m 40s): I thought you did detour. I remember seeing that. Yeah. Okay. In San Diego we're seeing Selma. I'm like, okay, cool. Yeah. 5 (41m 47s): Yeah. That was allocated. That was added. So in the middle of the tour, we had to postpone 10 days and those shows got moved in tact to December and then actually San Diego wasn't even on the tour and San Diego got added. That was the last show. That was a sick show. Actually. 3 (42m 6s): That's a cool, it's a cool spot. I mean that's where all the, the metal bands they're hardcore bands play. Is that Soma for the most part. Tim 5 (42m 15s): Showed up that day. Actually. 3 (42m 16s): Did he really? 5 (42m 17s): Yeah. He's from there. 3 (42m 19s): Yeah. I know him. I don't know 5 (42m 21s): Guys. Well, 3 (42m 22s): Yeah, I know. I know the story there, so that's cool. Yeah. Yeah. I had an interesting conversation with the guys, from what I can't what bam. They're on solid state. I just interviewed them Wolf. 5 (42m 39s): Oh, what was it? The gate 3 (42m 40s): Or the gate and about him, but yeah. Anyway, so that's rats. We did that tour got back 5 (42m 48s): December. It went well other than the postponing. Yeah. 3 (42m 53s): And so then you guys start putting out, well you have three new songs on this coming, like rerelease right there. It's like a rerelease of the record. And then you did some covers. When did that, like 5 (43m 6s): When did you guys, 3 (43m 7s): When did you guys record that? And how'd you decide on the covers that you did? 5 (43m 10s): So first year quarantine goes through, like we have. Okay. So we're, we're going to backtrack to like March 20, 20. 3 (43m 17s): Okay. 5 (43m 18s): We are regionally planning that release for September, 2020, then it got pushed to March 22nd, 2021. And then 3 (43m 27s): The record, it's 5 (43m 28s): A record. And weirdly enough, the self-titled was March 20.2. So once we got to the end of 20, 20, we're like, we still have nothing going on and we have all this free time. Let's just go back to the studio. And so we went back with atrium, audio grand Carson in January of 2021. So these are pretty recent. 3 (43m 54s): Okay. And 5 (43m 55s): We just had, we just all this free time where like, we don't know what else to do with it. So we sat on those for a while and then like, we'll just do a deluxe. We've always wanted to do a deluxe and he's like, I want to do cover it. So I was like, I wanted to do covers. 3 (44m 7s): And then you had three new ones too. Right. Okay. And were those new ones written within that time period or were they all six prior. Okay. Interesting. And then how'd you decide on the covers? 5 (44m 19s): We've always been a band that loves nineties rock. We love, I mean, we, we play all types of non-metal when we're traveling, we're pretty eclectic. Like musical tastes collectively, but Jesse being the primary songwriter, I also know his music tastes. So when like the, the cover like lists of selection came up, I, I definitely pushed for the songs that I knew I would be okay with. And he would be totally stoked on. So it was pretty, it was pretty easy unanimous. Cause there wasn't a lot of back and forth. I was like, I'm gonna go with the song that I can definitely be happy with, but I held him know I'll know that there won't be any discussion for 3 (44m 58s): Okay. 5 (44m 59s): Cause if I had control, it would be like seven Dustin disturbed covers. 3 (45m 4s): Okay. So you went more his route, audio slave and muse and nine-ish and I think you did a nine inch nails to cover on there. 5 (45m 11s): I think it definitely fits our emo though. 3 (45m 13s): Yeah. I mean, I love that. The one I've I've heard the muse cover Reese. I just listened to that one a few minutes ago, the Stockholm syndrome and what a rad cover. 5 (45m 22s): Thank you. 3 (45m 22s): Yeah. And what a song to try to take on, I mean, hit his vocal is insane and to be able to, you know, put your own spin on that sign. That's I think you guys did a killer job on that. 5 (45m 34s): Yeah. I'm really happy how they came out. I, like I said, I love covers and I've always liked to, you know, I don't mind doing other people's music honestly. Yeah. Clearly. 3 (45m 50s): Sure. Well, yeah. I'm curious to hear the other ones. Cause I think that one's the only one you put out. Right. 5 (45m 55s): I'm really proud of the audio. So cover, I sing, there's no screaming on that song. 3 (45m 60s): Interesting. And I 5 (46m 1s): Do half and half with him. 3 (46m 3s): Okay. So 5 (46m 4s): It's like kind of a big debut cause I sing the chorus of that song. 3 (46m 7s): Wow. Yeah. Chris Cornell to take on something like that. I mean 5 (46m 12s): We almost didn't do it. It was like the last thing we did, we were like, do we, are we really about to try to cover a Chris Cornell song and he's dead. Right. So it's like, we really can't fuck this up. Like I said, God, I mean, I hope people are happy with that. We were happy enough with it that we were like, this is good. We're we, we don't feel like we're going to get shit on for this, so okay. 3 (46m 36s): And then 5 (46m 37s): We'll leave it 3 (46m 38s): As you put out vantage canvas and the muse. Right. And then so the 5 (46m 43s): Body of, and not as silence as well. 3 (46m 45s): Okay. And then, and then you have the nine inch nails cover as well. Coming at Hershey, 5 (46m 49s): Heresy, 3 (46m 50s): Heresy. I can't spell or read 5 (46m 53s): Hershey. Hershey Park. Yeah, baby. 3 (46m 57s): Well, it's funny because I just interviewed somebody that's lived in Hershey park really? Yeah. Grew up there and he said he could throw a stone into the park. Wow. Yeah. I didn't know the guy for that guy that created Reeses is also from Hershey, Pennsylvania, dude. 5 (47m 11s): It smells amazing. There 3 (47m 14s): Does it. 5 (47m 15s): Yeah. It smells amazing. Amazing. It's the best smell. 3 (47m 19s): That's amazing. Well dude, thank you so much for doing this interview. I know you have another big tour coming up. Also a devil wears Prada. That'll be awesome. That what kicks off next month. 5 (47m 28s): Bear tooth Silverstein. That'll be good. Yeah. We've done a lot of support slots, but like it's given us awesome opportunity to, especially on like a bear to tour. Like that's not very, like, we'll probably be the heavier band on that tour. So it be nice to get our music in front of their audiences in those rooms. So we're definitely due for a headliner and it's coming. But as you know, it's been tough to schedule anything for sure. Yeah. Especially when it's an interview with me. 3 (47m 58s): Well, I appreciate you being here today. I'll let you get your copy, but I have one more quick question for you. I want to know. Do you have any advice for aspiring artists 5 (48m 8s): Used, okay, this is my favorite one. Use the resources you have available. Especially if they're free. I got my start by pushing all my content through social media, YouTube and Facebook, Twitter. Like if you're a creator and you feel like, or like you're a bad guy and you're like, oh, I can't play with people in my town. Or like I'm not, I'm not happy with my local environment. You gotta think on bigger audiences. So you gotta get your shit out there. The best means you can. So use the resources you have the algorithm for these things is really good. Especially Tik TOK. There's ways to like learn all this stuff for free there's tutorials. If you can't figure it out again, it's still on the same platform and it's free. 5 (48m 51s): So use the stuff you have available first. Then you can think about like 15 (48m 56s): Putting money into it.