Interview with Mansionair

What is going on?! 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 hang out with Locklin and Jack from mansion air over zoom video, both Locklin and Jack are from Sydney, actually like a peninsula within Sydney, not from Sydney city itself, but from a peninsula. I think they said just a little north of there. They both didn't really come from musical households. Jack grew up in the church and started on guitar at a very early age. Locklin has a funny story about how his sister got a guitar when she was younger. And then he found it and broke one of the strings and kind of put it away thinking, you know, that was gonna be the end of the world. 3 (2m 10s): But a couple years later, he ended up taking guitar lessons with that guitar Locklin talked about attending college for jazz guitar. And while there realized that he was absolutely obsessed with producing and writing music on the computer. So he ended up changing his major. Jack played in a couple bands. One of them had some, some success. So outta high school, he spent a year pursuing that band. And when the, the band fizzled out Lockland and Alex had already started writing music together, they asked Jack to sing on it and that song ended up taking off once they put it onto SoundCloud. So we hear that story. The challenge of now we have a song that's doing really well, but it's the only song we have, how they kind of overcame that. 3 (2m 55s): They talked about the success of the song, astronaut, coming to the United States and playing with, with radio play and how that differed from the first few times they had toured here in the United States. They tell us where they were when lockdown happened, how that affected this new record and all about the new record, which is called happiness. Guaranteed. You can watch our interview with Lockland and Jack on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing it backwards. It'd be rad if you subscribe to our channel like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at bringing back pod. And if you're listening to this on Spotify, apple music, Google podcast, it would be awesome if you follow us there as well, and hook us up with a five star review, 4 (3m 40s): We'd appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts, 3 (3m 46s): We're bringing it backwards with mansion air. 5 (3m 49s): Hello? Hello. 3 (3m 50s): Hey, what's going on, man? How are you? 5 (3m 52s): Good, man. How are you? 3 (3m 53s): I'm doing well. I'm doing well. I believe Jack's joining us. He was just on like, he was waiting for his Lyft driver or something. 5 (4m 3s): Yeah. Yeah. He just, he just texted me saying, he's gonna be, yeah, sorry. I'm late. I, I had a, my computer was built in 1985. It seems. I can't just do you know when you just know, you know, you're like, oh, this computer's, it might be time for a new one. 3 (4m 25s): Right? Right. 5 (4m 26s): It's like, 3 (4m 27s): You're at that. You're at that point. 5 (4m 30s): Yeah. Just like plugging you plug back a USB. And I was gonna like set up my interface so you'd have better audio. And then like the whole computer just goes, boo. Like 3 (4m 40s): All good. I appreciate you being here. I wasn't sure if it was just gonna be Jack or if, if everyone's shown up or it's good to be the two of you. 5 (4m 49s): Yeah. The two of us, the Alex, the third, third guy is I think currently on a plane back to Australia, so. 3 (4m 55s): Oh, wow. No worries. I'm excited. Very cool. Yeah. So this is a podcast about you guys and your journey in music I want. And we'll talk about obviously the new record and how you guys got to where you are now. 5 (5m 10s): Hell yeah. That's awesome. How long you been doing it for? 3 (5m 14s): I've been doing the podcast since 2018, but I was on the radio actually. We've met before a while back. I used to be on a radio station in San Diego called 91 X. And you guys did a, 5 (5m 27s): We did the, we did the, the song we did. Was that the wooden studio? 3 (5m 31s): Yeah, exactly. 5 (5m 32s): Yeah. I remember that place. 3 (5m 34s): Yeah. Yeah. And well, you guys were supposed, I don't work there anymore, but yeah, I, I worked between that station and one in San Francisco for like 17 years. And then when the pandemic hit, this started doing there's way more people that were willing to do interviews because I was doing like once a week, just as kind of like a hobby and the pandemic hits and no one's touring and no one's doing anything and the record's coming out. So I was able to just start doing this man full time. So it's been great. 5 (5m 60s): Oh man, you're doing podcasts before they were cool. 3 (6m 3s): Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I know it was random. I actually pitched it to that station. They were like, no, we're good. And I'm like, here's a piece of paper. Do you mind signing this? So I own the whole thing, but yeah, you guys were supposed to play. I'll cut all the shit out because it's not a point of it, but you guys were supposed to play our, our like summer festival X Fest with Beck and death cab and then it got canceled. 5 (6m 31s): I remember that. Yeah. I remember that. 3 (6m 34s): Yeah. I think that was 2018. Maybe. I think it's 2018. I can't remember exactly. 5 (6m 42s): Yeah. It's weird. I've definitely done like a block of all things pre 2020. 3 (6m 47s): Right, right, right. But yeah, man, it's good to see you again. Yeah. You, you guys did like three or four songs in that wooden studio. 5 (6m 56s): Yeah. I remember that. I remember that was, that was showing up and we were exhausted cuz we, I think we were mid tour I think. And, and then I think the day before we'd just done or maybe like two days before, we'd just done something at a different, a different like radio station, acoustic set sort of thing. And it was like, I can't remember the station, but I remember it just being like pretty, pretty like rough and like, or pretty just like, you know, they were like, oh just can you, can you just do vocals and guitar? Like, oh, we don't know any guitar. Like we don't have guitars. And it was all very like, my brain was prepped for just like, oh, we just have to get it done. 5 (7m 40s): And then we get there and it's like this amazing studio with like everyone was super friendly, the engineers sick. And I was like, oh my God, this like world class production sort of thing. 3 (7m 51s): Oh, at ours or at that one 5 (7m 53s): At yours? Yeah. 3 (7m 55s): Yeah. We had a, yeah, they had a, we had a pretty good setup going on there. I think you guys did. Yeah. The wooden studio. Cause we were working with another person in that was like right on the beach. And then he was getting booked up all the time. So we were able to make a deal with that guy. His studio was like called phaser control and yeah. Yeah. That was a cool, like aesthetically, it looked dope too. 5 (8m 17s): Yeah. 3 (8m 18s): So yeah. But yeah man. And then like yeah, the pandemic hits and no one's touring. No one's doing shit. And that radio station we're like driving, I had to get, we had to get like these FEMA cards that basically said that you were like a, like an essential worker to like go to, it was the most bizarre thing. Yeah. People are freaking out. It was like, yeah. Wow. And I'm like, my contract was coming to an end. I'm like, yeah, let's just go ahead and just roll the dice here. So, but yeah, dude, I missed. Yeah. So when you can get us, did you guys play San Diego? I can't remember. 5 (8m 57s): I don't think we've ever played San Diego. No, 3 (8m 59s): I don't think you did. I think 5 (9m 1s): Down for that. And then that was it. 3 (9m 3s): Yeah. I think you guys just came down because we, you were playing our, our, like I said, the festival thing and yeah, that was a bummer. I just think it wasn't selling, not that it was your guys fault, but like even like it was back in death cabin, like 5 (9m 17s): Yeah. I think I remember that being like, that's gonna be amazing and then surprised that like 3 (9m 24s): Sandy Diego's a is a, I I've since moved to Nashville. So I'm in Tennessee now. Cool. Which I absolutely love my family and I, we just moved, like, I've two kids in me and my wife, two kids, we just were like, let's just try something new. And we moved out here, but it, yeah, it was like San. Diego's a weird city when it comes to shows. I think there's just too much shit happening all the time. That, 5 (9m 49s): Yeah. Interesting. 3 (9m 51s): I don't know. 5 (9m 52s): How's how's Nashville been 3 (9m 54s): Absolutely love it here. Absolutely love it. It's just such a different vibe. I mean, I grew up in California, born and raised in Sandy between, like I said, San, San Diego and San Francisco and all I knew was California. And then I came out here and it's just like totally, totally different world here in the south. But 5 (10m 11s): Yeah, but 3 (10m 12s): It's, it's cool, man. It's really cool. Are you in Sydney? Still? 5 (10m 17s): I'm living in Sydney, but I'm in LA at the moment for a couple weeks. 3 (10m 22s): Oh 5 (10m 22s): Cool. Just doing some, like we, we finished our tour finished two days ago. 3 (10m 27s): You guys just finished up, right? 5 (10m 30s): Yeah. Just, just finished up. And then there he is. Yeah. 0 (10m 36s): American corn farmers, a proud and chosen profession, inspired through generations, tested resilient and committed to giving back as much as they're growing, pushing the boundaries of what's possible with every bushel while replenishing every increasingly precious resource, like the reduction of soil loss by 40%, with every acre grown in a world where sustainability matters more than ever, we need all the help we can get. And there's no greater resource than the capable hands of American corn farmers. 6 (11m 6s): What is a Fisher house? It's a place where families can stay close by while our military and veterans are treated for wounds and illnesses seen or unseen@militaryanddahospitalsbecausethefamiliesloveisthebestmedicineofalllearnmoreatfisherhouse.org. 8 (11m 21s): Innovation happens in the blink of an eye and to understand the implications you need a credible source. That helps to make sense of it all. Stay up to date on the most pressing innovation issues, shaping the world today by subscribing to better innovation, a podcast featuring top management strategists, policy makers and leading innovation thought leaders from across the globe, going into its sixth season, better innovation hosted by Jeff. Saviano a global innovation leader with EY delves into how innovative technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, digital currencies, and the promise of web 3.0 are transforming the global landscape featuring elite guests like Jeremy Alair, CEO of circle, financial authors, Whitney Johnson, and Rita McGrath, former us cabinet member Andrew card, and a number of leading MIT scientists subscribe today and hear more from these distinguished guests subscribe to better innovation on your favorite podcast platform. 3 (12m 32s): Cool. 10 (12m 33s): So 3 (12m 35s): You 9 (12m 35s): Guys, 3 (12m 36s): So you're you just wrapped up and now you're in LA or still in LA. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. 9 (12m 41s): In LA for, for a 3 (12m 42s): Couple weeks. What's up Jack? How are you, man? 9 (12m 44s): I'm good, man. Sorry about my tardiness. I still getting a little bit, a little get used to not being on tour and being in charge of my own 3 (12m 53s): Schedule. No dude. No worries. Again. I appreciate you being here. 9 (12m 58s): It's it's nice to see you again. 3 (13m 0s): Yes. I know. I, I was, I was just talking to Locklin and just telling him like, yeah, we met like a, like in 2018, maybe when you, I worked for a radio station in San Diego and you guys did that, like acoustic ish set where we, you had that there was that wood studio and you, we, you did like three or four songs or something like that. 9 (13m 20s): Yeah, I remember it really well. I was actually, I was talking, do you remember Mar I was talking to Molly about it the other day. I was like, cause it was like her first, one of her first like radio trips with us. She 3 (13m 30s): Was like really? 9 (13m 31s): Yeah. She's yeah. We were just, we were just having a good laughing how much fun we had on that little trip and 3 (13m 37s): Yeah, because that was, we, we were talking, you guys were supposed to play our like summer festival thing and then it didn't end up happening with like back in death cab. 9 (13m 47s): But yeah. Cause why, wait, why did it not? I'm trying to remember why it didn't happen. 3 (13m 55s): Do you want the real answer? 9 (13m 57s): Was it, was it bad? Yeah. 3 (13m 60s): Cause Beck and death cab couldn't sell the tickets that they expected him to. So yeah, 9 (14m 5s): But it's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. It's like almost heritage act to just realize that you don't have the ticket pull. We used to, 3 (14m 11s): Yeah. I'm gonna cut all this out, but it just is interesting cuz I was telling lock I'm like, yeah, like San Diego's a weird market when it comes to that stuff. And that station try, we tried to do three other shows. Like we, we had two big shows a year. It was X Fest and Rex the halls, which was the, was the Christmas one. And both of 'em were always big and sold out and the bills were always insane. And just as the years progressed, like they weren't booking the bigger artists that I think would sell and then it just became like we had to cancel so many of 'em. It was sad. It was like to the point where people were like, oh here's your lineup? Like, is it actually gonna happen this year? Like, yeah. So it got bad, but I don't know what they're doing. 3 (14m 54s): They haven't, they haven't even booked one since, but I'm not there anymore. I'm in, I'm in Nashville. I moved and this is my D my gig from here on out. So, but yeah, so this pod, this podcast is about the, both of you, your, I wanna know about your individual kind of journeys and music and then how you met. And we'll talk about the new record, which I love and you know, the success of the band. And obviously we can chat about your tour that you just did and, and everything else. That's cool. 9 (15m 19s): Yeah, absolutely. 3 (15m 21s): Awesome. Awesome. Are you both from Sydney and do you know each other growing up or anything? 5 (15m 27s): Yeah. Yeah. We, we both, all three of us are from Sydney and all from like it's called like the Northern beaches, like a specific just north of the city, maybe like an hour, hour and a bit north and yeah, we all, we all sort of like, it's, it's definitely not like a small town. Like it's still part of Sydney, but it, they called the insular peninsula, cuz it's kind of like, if you don't, if you live there, it's very rare that you actually like go into the city cuz it's because it's beautiful. It's like beaches and there's like one road in and one road out. Oh wow. So like, so it just means that like everyone who's there usually just like stays there. 5 (16m 8s): So everyone kind of knows everybody. And for that reason, it's kind of got a weird small town energy, but not quite. So we all knew each other just through like school and like this was also in 2012 or so when it was like, Hey, have you heard of like this type of electronic music? And there's only like a handful like me and Alex were the only two people that we knew that liked, you know, that sort of style of music. Everyone was into like indie rock and all this sort of stuff and, and other, other genres. And we were like, Hey, we like electronic stuff. And it was like rare to find like another person who like electronic music. 5 (16m 53s): So, and then Jack and I went to school together for a little, same school for a little bit, but couple years difference. And then, yeah, it's one of these things you, we always kind of, everyone knows of each other, but we only really, the band was the glue of like, oh, we all know that we like similar types of music. And we would like to give making music, a go band became the glue that stuck it all together. 3 (17m 17s): Amazing. Jack were, were you grow, did you grow up in a musical household at all? 9 (17m 24s): Yeah, I, not in necessarily a household. I grew up in like a church. Oh cool. So I was like always really around instruments. My parents like ran a church and I'd always like be, I remember like coming home, coming to like to the church after school and like just playing the drum. So it was like always very like surrounded by music. And I think that's kinda like, I guess, yeah, maybe just part in carries that. Sorry, can you hear me? Okay. I just feel like there's been a bit of an escalation in this song. 3 (17m 54s): Yeah. They, I think they started cranking up the, the tune a little bit, but I could hear you. Okay, great. That it's they stopped it. 9 (18m 2s): They heard me. Yeah. So yeah, always around it. I mean, funny like mentions like everyone being into indie music, because that was me. I was on the other side of the camp. I was yeah, just obsessed with like king Leon and the strokes and kinda like focus stuff as well. So when was like, do you wanna sing on my electronic project? I was like, yeah. Okay. 3 (18m 31s): Oh, interesting. So you weren't even, you weren't necessarily into electronic at that time. 9 (18m 36s): I just didn't think I understood it. Okay. But I'm so glad I do now. Cause I, yeah, I'm really grateful for locking Al for just being like, wait, come sing on this thing. Cause yeah, it's awesome, man. 3 (18m 52s): Yeah. That's cool. I I've, I've actually interviewed a handful of musicians that came up through the church cuz I mean, it's you prob did you play in the church like gospel band? Like were you in that and everything? Yeah. It's like, I mean you have what like an audience of probably a couple hundred people every single time you play. Yeah. So you're getting used to not only playing with people, but playing in front of a crowd of people and it it's interesting how, you know, I'm sure that was very helpful to you guys or to you when you started bands and started performing. 9 (19m 25s): Yeah, I think it was, it already came as such a natural thing. Cause I was doing it since I was like six. Like I was wow. You know, I sung like the Christmas carols in the oval every year and you know, with my high really, really high voice. I mean it's still high now you can imagine what it sounded like back then, but yeah. It's yeah, it's funny. I haven't really thought about it in like a really long time. So it's yeah. Nice to, nice to be asked that question. I think 3 (19m 53s): That's cool. And you said drums. Were you a drummer first? Is that your first instrument? 9 (19m 59s): No, I think, I think drums have always been the thing that I could never really play. And I think that's probably why I have such a childish in like in whatever the word is, childish obsession with them. I'll leave that to Alex. 3 (20m 14s): Sure. I didn't know. Cuz you said you'd come home and drum. So I wasn't sure if that was something that you were like doing actively or when you know, or a hobby, but what was the first instrument you learned? 9 (20m 25s): My friend gave me like an nylon acoustic string guitar, like seven I, that was the best. Yeah. I had like a little, little tape player and one of those like old beatbox drum machines. And that was my introduction into, into making my own music 3 (20m 41s): That early. Like at, you said at seven you got the guitar and then was it just a couple years later you kind of progressed with, 9 (20m 47s): With, yeah, I think the, I think the first memory I ever have of like actively creating a song would've been seven and it was with like the, the, one of the guys in the church band who like brought over this like tape thing and we wrote a song together and I was like, this is a really amazing feeling. I mean, like, I don't feel like I've ever told you any of this. 3 (21m 10s): I love that. That's cool. Then you guys are learning something about each other. And did you continue on, I mean, did you play in a band or anything? I mean prior to you guys meeting? 9 (21m 21s): Yeah, I was in a little indie rock band. We like had some goals in, we like I spent a year after school, like trying to break into the Sydney music scene and I think I reached some goals that I had wanted and then I was like, cool, I'm gonna pack it up. And in between me wanting to pack it up and finishing it came into the equation, come sing on this. And yeah, it's just one of those weird really serendipitous moments. 3 (21m 51s): Yeah. Did you go to college for music or to university for school or? No? No, just the band. You finished high school and you're like, okay, I'm gonna do the band thing. And then yeah, after that kind of dissolved, you met Locklin and then the band starts. 9 (22m 5s): Yeah. My resume looks terrible. 3 (22m 10s): I dunno if it came to music, you could be like, you know, we've done all this. We have an Grammy nomination. We've you know, millions of streams, I guess if you were trying to go into apply for some like accounting job or something like that, maybe. 9 (22m 23s): Yeah. I mean, you'd be surprised though. You learned some pretty interesting accounting skills being in a band watching. 3 (22m 28s): Oh sure. I mean, yeah, exactly. You could use a lot of this stuff that, you know, business management, travel, travel agents, you had a lot of stuff. Yeah. Well LA what about you man? Like how did, did you grow up in a musical household at all? 5 (22m 44s): No, my, my family's not particularly musical, like immediate family. I know I started playing music because I think they, my parents are got an older sister and they tried to get her to play some sort of instrument and they gave her an nylon acoustic guitar as well. 3 (23m 4s): That's cool. 5 (23m 4s): And she didn't take to it at all. She was just like, don't care, put it. And she said, she put it in a cupboard and I found it. I can't remember. I was probably like five or six and I found it in the cupboard one day and was like, Ooh, what's this? And like, tried to like, you know, turn. I was like, okay, that does that. If you tighten that, that turns the strings up and makes it go higher and whatnot. And then I broke a string and I panicked and I was like, oh, I'm in so much trouble. I've just snapped the string on this guitar. So I like hit it in the back of the cupboard again. And like essentially like put my introduction to music on hold for like another year. 5 (23m 46s): And I always think about like what would've happened if I've just been like, oh, I broke a string, but like, you know, I, 3 (23m 53s): I that's so funny how that is, cuz it's like a string cause for like a buck and like you just assume that it's gotta be so expensive. You're like, oh shit. Like I just broke a string on this guitar. Like what am I gonna do? I can't tell anybody about it. 5 (24m 7s): Yeah. I am in so much trouble. Oh my God. But yeah. And then so did that. I like just sort of taught myself that for a little bit. And then eventually yeah, mom and dad were like, oh, let's like get him some lessons and whatnot. And then it's pretty. It was, it was good. It was like kind of pretty clear from that point on that. I think I knew pretty early that I was like, oh, this is what I wanna do. And this is what I love. And, and yeah. And so did 3 (24m 37s): Sort of like, did you have to confess to the broken string? Was it like years later you were like, okay, like here's the guitar and here's the broken string. Like I actually really wanna learn this. Like how did, how did it come around? 5 (24m 47s): Just crazy. I still have this guitar. Like I still have it somewhere. And now it's just like been completely decimated. Like I it's, it's had cuz now it's like, I, I see it for what it is. It's probably like a $50, $30 like guitar from. And so I've like, I've tried to like, I've drilled holes in it to like try and change the sound. And I've like, I've completely like dismantled this thing to try and like experiment with a little bit. And I don't think I've ever like fessed up to of it. No, 3 (25m 24s): Even the string, like, so wouldn't, you're when you came around, your parents came to you and said, Hey, do you wanna learn guitar? Is that what happened? Is that what you said? 5 (25m 31s): Yeah. 3 (25m 32s): Yeah. And were they like, we're gonna buy you a new one or were they like where's that guitar that we, your sister had? 5 (25m 37s): Or they were probably just like, oh, guitars have five strings and so 3 (25m 41s): Big. Oh, so that was it. Okay. So you just grabbed the one and you just rolled with the, with that same. Oh, that's so funny. 5 (25m 49s): The guitar teacher eventually was like, Hey, you're missing a string. Let me quickly fix that for you. 3 (25m 53s): Yeah. Let me pull one out of my bag for free yeah. 5 (25m 58s): 3 cents. 3 (25m 59s): Sure. Oh, wow. So with that, like were you writing music early on? Like Jack was? 5 (26m 6s): Yeah. Yeah. I think I had a, I had like a, an auntie who was very astute to like, could see that I was really, really into music and she gave me like a little handheld recorder. Like almost like one of those like voice memo, recorders before iPhones were around. Yeah. And yeah, I, I used that. Like I remember we went on like a holiday with, with my auntie and cousins and whatnot. And she gave me that for the holiday and was like, go record some stuff. And I just remember being like, oh my God, you can record things. Like you can just, I can just sit here and like have an audio record. It was like pretty good audio recording at the, for the time as well. 5 (26m 50s): And that was, that was probably like 10 or 11. And that was my first like, oh cool. You can record things and you can write songs and then record the songs and then have a thing. Yeah. Have a thing that exists. 3 (27m 7s): Do you have any of those recordings or are they just gone? 5 (27m 11s): Oh, I reckon if I dug really hard, I could probably find them they're somewhere. 3 (27m 14s): You should look them. I mean, how cool would that be? Like, like some, you know, like artifact of you at 10. I remember 5 (27m 20s): The songs. I remember the songs that I 3 (27m 22s): Do. You really that's cool. 5 (27m 23s): Yeah. But yeah, no. And then I think, and then from there it was just like, like hooked completely. And then remember we did like had a computer that had audacity, which like the recording stuff, where the recording stuff, where you could do multiple multitrack stuff. And that was like my introduction into like writing on a, on a computer. And 3 (27m 50s): Is that when you started to get into electronic music, like when did that kind of happen? And prior to the, like that recording with the guitar, were you in a, like a band, any band or, or 5 (27m 60s): I never really did the band thing. Like I recorded some songs with some friends in high school that Jack and I actually found recently and it's terribly cringe. It's it's me singing. And like, I am not a singer. I, I very much know my place in that respect. And it's me singing. I don't know why I'm singing. I never, never had any ambition to be a singer. 3 (28m 26s): Jack. Did you, would you sing those like, like when you heard the songs, was it something like you, we should, let me, let me get it go at these. No, not so much. 9 (28m 39s): Look I'm sure if we were on the other side of the equation, I could say the exact same thing about 3 (28m 45s): Your previous project. 9 (28m 48s): Oh man. It was just, I think the sound of those songs are just they're the time where we right. It was the limitations of recording. It was the, the cringiness of some of the music that we listened to. Like, 3 (29m 4s): Well, there's gotta be something special there, like hearing it. You're probably like, oh, like I remember why like just even listening back, even for you lock, you probably can think like, oh, I remember what I was listening to. Or I remember what influenced me to write these, these songs. 5 (29m 18s): Hmm. Yeah, for sure. Like, yeah. The little time capsules. 3 (29m 24s): Sure. So like, 5 (29m 25s): It don't make sense, but yeah, I wouldn't wanna, I wouldn't want to have them. 3 (29m 32s): I mean, 9 (29m 33s): I mean, there's, there's songs that we wrote six months ago that I would die if they came out. So like 3 (29m 40s): Really 9 (29m 41s): How much that compounds into, you know, each year you go back into your life, 3 (29m 47s): Right? Yeah. It's, it's funny how that is. And it's like this recorded thing that at any moment, like, you know, it could, somebody could find it. What 11 (29m 57s): Is a Fisher 6 (29m 57s): House? It's a place where families can stay close by while our military and veterans are treated for wounds and illnesses seen or unseen at military and da 7 (30m 7s): Hospitals, because the families love is the best medicine of 3 (30m 9s): All 6 (30m 9s): Learn more@fisherhouse.org 12 (30m 12s): On Florida's space coast. We think you can have the best of both worlds, kinda like right now, driving at your desk, maybe at the gym, but you're also grooving to some music visit us and you'll go to the beach and see a rocket launch or go kayaking and Manatee spotting. It's all waiting for you on the only beach that doubles as a launch pad, plan your adventure today@visitspacecoast.com. 11 (30m 43s): I'm inside Kings dominion at the brand new area, jungle expedition, the local species can't get enough of Tobi Virginia's first 4d spin coaster. They're also going wild for the spectacular new live show after which they replenished their strength at the new outpost cafe. Oh my I've never heard a mat call like that before. Discover a thrilling new coaster and live show inside jungle expedition. 13 (31m 8s): Right now get tickets as low as 39 99 only@kingsdominion.com. 3 (31m 13s): If you don't log it away. 9 (31m 15s): There's yeah. I mean, look, I'm not gonna say this, but I'm also gonna say it. There are some things on YouTube that could, you know, that could ruin Manez at least taste making music. 3 (31m 27s): I doubt it. I get it. Everyone has everyone starts somewhere. 9 (31m 34s): Everyone starts actually somewhere. There's a really good video of me singing above Dylan song at a pub in Sydney, getting heckled on YouTube. If, if you ever felt like having a lot, 3 (31m 46s): I'm digging for that thing after this 9 (31m 48s): I've left it there. 3 (31m 49s): That's awesome. 9 (31m 50s): Just cuz I think it's a really awesome memory. 3 (31m 54s): Yeah. It's like it's how did you handle the heckling? Did you just keep going? 9 (31m 59s): Yeah. Yeah. It was fine. He was drunk. Like it's pretty, that's funny. If anything, it made this set more interesting for the audience. 3 (32m 11s): Oh, that's funny. Well luck. Okay. So you got, you have these songs that came out in high school or you, you you're recording with some friends and then how does it go to, you know, do is, is, does that project kind of end and then you continue working on music. Like what what's kind of the next step there in your journey. 5 (32m 29s): Yeah. I mean, everything I've said so far, like I was 10 or 11 when all this was happening. So like I was never, I think I had always kind of, of resigned myself to being, I was like, I really liked writing. I went to uni to do jazz guitar. Oh wow. A little bit. And then, 3 (32m 50s): So you're a really good guitar player then if you can play jazz guitar and then get into school for it. 5 (32m 55s): I think I was a really good jazz guitarist, but I remember like throughout that time I was like the, I mean, you know the movie whiplash. 3 (33m 6s): Yeah. 5 (33m 7s): Yeah. It's just like, everyone's just obsessed. Like I uni music for uni is like, not that intense, but it's like a little bit of that energy where it's just like, everyone's just like so hungry. And I remember being like in a, in a jazz ensemble class where you all sit around and you, you like take turns playing over jazz standards and looking at the, like all the guitarists would sit next to each other and you would sort of like all the guitarists would have a go and then it would move on to the Trump players and sax and sort of stuff. And I remember just looking at the other guitarists, being like, God damn, you guys really love guitar. 5 (33m 48s): And I, I love guitar, but you guys really, really love guitar. And they were practicing eight hours a day and I was struggling to like practice for one hour a day. I was like, wow, if I've done an hour a day, it's like going to the gym. That's that's, you know, good work. And then, but what I realized is that I was also writing and making like beats on reason, the software I had at the time. Yeah. For eight hours a day. And not even really realizing that I was doing that. So I was like writing all this sort of stuff and going, oh, I gotta find time to like practice guitar and I'll just do that for an hour so I can get back to like making, writing and composing stuff. 5 (34m 33s): And then at one point I had a teacher who kind of clocked on and was like, Hey, maybe you should be doing composition rather than jazz guitar performance. And then that was like a switch. And I was like, oh yeah, duh, of course that makes so much sense. So switched over. And then, and then yeah. Did the rest of the degrees started interning at a studio, getting coffees and cleaning up dishes and got to use the studio when, when the people I was interning for weren't weren't using it. And then that was kind of, that was the studio that, that me and Alex had started hanging out. That was probably like 21 at this point. 5 (35m 14s): And that was the studio where I was like, okay, cool. Let's let's like make some, some stuff together. And then that was the studio that I was like, Hey Jack, do you wanna come record vocals on this thing that we've made together? And, and then man, it kind of happened from there. 3 (35m 29s): So, well I'm curious cuz in the band you don't play guitar at all. Right? There's no real guitar. I mean there's guitars in the, the recordings, but you don't like live, you don't play guitar. 5 (35m 41s): I used to, I think, but then we just realized that we were writing all this music where there was three there's, three of us. And so much of the music has like 10 layers. So I was like, oh man, Jack kind of needs to play guitar. And then I need to play like bass and since and all the other stuff going on. So yeah. It's and then sometimes I play guitar in some songs where we can make it work, but 3 (36m 7s): I was yeah. Cause I haven't, unfortunately I haven't had a chance to see you guys live. Other than that, that one, that one kind of stripped down set. And at that, during that set, you were playing keys or, and then, and Jack was just singing like there, there was no one was playing guitar. So I found that interesting that you went to college for jazz guitar and yeah, at least in the set that I saw. So live, I feel dumb asking this question, but live, you do you'll play guitar still Jack like through the whole set. 9 (36m 35s): Yeah, I, yeah, I probably play like 65, 70% of this current set. 3 (36m 42s): Okay. 9 (36m 43s): And then lock plays guitar and two songs. It's funny. Lock's such a better guitarist than I am. So it's like one I've had to get so much better in order to play the lines he writes. And two, sometimes I'm just like, can you just play it as well? But I, yeah, I enjoy like being a part of the band, I think singing first few years during I just sang and I was just, I found it. I liked it, but I wanted to be in, you know, in it as well in the, you know, the basis of the music. So yeah. But yeah. I don't know. I definitely still think like guitar is like a real main part of our band. 9 (37m 25s): I think it's just always like trickled along the top at the end. 3 (37m 29s): Okay. Yeah. Cuz when I listened to the song, I mean you can hear guitars, but I may. But when I, like I said, when I saw you guys, it was, you know, I think Alex is just playing like a floor, like a floor drum and, or like a, I don't even know what it's called. I'm so bad. But, and then you were just singing and, and log was playing keys and all the songs sounded awesome obviously. But it was, I didn't like to hear that you're playing guitar just for me. It was like, oh, okay. Like, I mean, it's cool. 9 (37m 58s): That's, I'd love for you to come. I'd love for you to come see our live show. Cause it's worlds away from what you've already. What? 3 (38m 5s): But like you guys hadn't played San Diego. Like you were gonna play that show and then you didn't do it. And then I moved to Nashville. And did you guys just play here on this last tour? No, 9 (38m 14s): We, we couldn't find a venue. We, when we rescheduled our tour, we had to knock off the last few dates in Texas and Nashville. 3 (38m 23s): That's what I thought. Cause I think you were supposed to come through here before that tour got canceled, right? 9 (38m 30s): Yeah. 3 (38m 30s): Yeah. So I'm not losing my mind. I'm like, did I miss this? Like what, what happened? But we have a let you, so you should, you should come play it. We're we're working with a company right now to kind of get it off the ground. So that'd be killer if you did that. But anyway, back to you all, so you already had the tracks then written then locking for what? The few first few songs. And then you eventually run into to Jack again and say, Hey, do you wanna come sing these, sing on these? 5 (39m 1s): Yeah, me and me and Alex were just making stuff. Like we weren't really thinking too hard about it. And we we'd literally just made like one song. And that was the one that I sent to Jack and Jack song on it. And, and then, and then we just, we were like, oh, we'll just put it on SoundCloud. Cuz that's what you do. Like and all our friends will listen to it and that'll be, that'll be awesome. And then we, we watched like, we put it on SoundCloud, I think on like new year's Eve, which it's like a weird time to put our music, but we didn't care. Cause we were like, we put our music, like we're just for our friends and family listen to, and I remember watching the play count. 5 (39m 46s): Like the SoundCloud gives you like a daily thing and it's like, yeah. Today three people listen to your song. We're like, cool. It's like today, next day, 10 people listen to your song. The next day 30 people listened to your song. The next day a hundred people listened to your song. The next day 300 people listened to your song. We were like, holy shit, like 300 people in one day, listen to our song. And then it started going back down and it was like today, 10 people today, two people, we were like, cool, wow, what a, what? A, a success. And then out of the blue, it jumped to like today 500 people listened to your song today. 2000 people listened to your song today 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 hundred thousand people were like, what is going on? 5 (40m 36s): People were getting emails from like people in the music industry being like, Hey I'm blah, blah, blah from blah, blah, blah. And sure. We'd love to, we'd love for you to sit down with our team. And can you send us any more demos that you have? And, and we were like, we, we don't have anything. Like, this is the only thing we have that we've made the guy like Jack and Alex hadn't actually properly met. Hadn't been in the same room together yet. 3 (41m 1s): Oh wow. It was like, so this is just like, you guys made a song and it was just like, oh Hey, do you mind coming to sing on this? And then that was it. And then there was no like real thought to having a full band or was Manion error the thing yet? Or was it just like, oh, let's just see what let's just throw this up to see what happens, 5 (41m 21s): Alex. And I, we were like, we need a name for the band. What do we call it? And then we called it mansions because we liked the way that it looked was like very like phonetically, sorry, not for like design wise, like all caps. It looks very like 3 (41m 37s): Slick, 5 (41m 38s): Slick. And then, and then we put out the song and the song started getting some traction. And then we were like, oh crap. Like there's a band already called mansions. I think they're an American band. And they already had mansions music at SoundCloud. They already had all the things. And we were like, oh damn, like, but we already had a song out. So we were like, how do we, we have to change it to something similar cuz we can't just change it to like a totally different band name and confuse all these people. It needs to be like within the realm. So, but yeah, if you go to our SoundCloud, our SoundCloud like URL is still mansions, you know? 5 (42m 20s): And we sat around for ages being like, what do we call? So is it like the mans, the mansion nights, the mansion like just coming up with and we were like mansion air. Yeah. 3 (42m 33s): Yeah. Okay. 5 (42m 34s): That's close enough. That doesn't, that doesn't feel too out of the realm. That feels okay. 3 (42m 40s): I was just looking on to see if this band still exists and they have been releasing music, not near to the capacity or to the success you guys have achieved. So, but I was like, is this even a band? Cause I'll see that sometimes people like take a name and then somebody comes after 'em and it's like, they have like 30 followers and no, you know, haven't done anything for eight years, but that, so was that seasons, is that the song you're talking about? Or was it before that, 5 (43m 8s): That song called, hold me down. 3 (43m 11s): Oh, hold me down. So that was the first one you put out. 5 (43m 13s): Yeah, this is very, 3 (43m 15s): I didn't realize that. Okay. And does that go to triple J like how, or was that the next step? Like, so what happens when it starts doing well? Like doing well and sound called? People are like, Hey let's, you know? Yeah. Let's chat at that point. What do you guys do? 5 (43m 30s): Panic a lot for a long time. Let's panic. And then we met with, we almost signed the rights to the song away stupidly accidentally. Like someone was like, we're gonna pay you like $5,000. We were like, oh my God, $5,000. They were like, here's a contract, just sign this. And we will give you $5,000 for that song. And I, yeah, almost did. And then went well, that's really dumb. Well, 3 (44m 3s): What do you, I mean, how would you know? Right. 5 (44m 4s): It's a horrible thing. It's like, yeah. It was just like, people come, you know, sharks in the water sort of thing. 3 (44m 10s): Right. But $5,000, you're like, oh, we just wrote this one song and it's $5,000. Like yeah. You know, that, that, that sounds pretty good. I mean, I would imagine that's a really difficult decision to make. I mean, obviously you made the, the, the right one, but like at some point you could think like, oh, well five grand, like, will we be able to do this, this again? Or like, what's the, the plan moving, moving forward. 5 (44m 34s): Yeah. Is this the top? Is this the peak? And you don't know, but yeah. And then I think we just, we were like, okay. We, it sounds like we need to go write some more songs. So we just spent ages trying. And we, we teamed up, we had met managers and sort of started getting our like music industry education at that point. A lot of trial by fire and yeah. And then, then we were like, all right, let's, let's just keep writing. We wrote for ages, we wrote for like years properly and like sort of peppered songs out as we went. But like, what was really nice is that our managers who we were still with now, they were like, don't rush it. 5 (45m 17s): Like go, go away, learn how to be a band. Like Jack wasn't formally in the band at that point. And we thought we were gonna be like a production duo that had singers come in. 3 (45m 30s): Oh yeah. Like feature different vocalists. 5 (45m 32s): Yeah. And then we were like, oh actually, no, like let's, let's be a, let's be a band. Let's be like the three of us. And, and then yeah. And then that was sort of the, the way yeah. We, we, we had to go back I think and do the thing that lots of bands do, which is like cut their teeth, playing shows and making mistakes and all sort of stuff. And we, we had to kind of do that whilst we had like people going, Hey, where's the next song coming out? We have got like, you know, record labels being like, Hey, you've gone quiet for a year. Like we want to keep the, you know, momentum, all that sort of stuff moving, but we needed to go back and, and do, do all that. 5 (46m 16s): Like make all those mistakes. I think that you, that any, any band kind of goes through where they're just like playing in the garage and like, 3 (46m 24s): Yeah, that's difficult to have that success. And then have people be like, okay, now it's next? And you're like, oh, I didn't realize this was gonna do what it's gonna do. 9 (46m 32s): Yeah. I mean, I, yeah. I mean, for the record, like it luck makes it sound like it was a little, you know, it was fine. We just went back and wrote like, it was fucking hard. 3 (46m 44s): Oh, I'd imagine that 9 (46m 45s): It was, I, I mean, yeah. And I, to be honest, I kind of, I'm kind of seeing it now with the whole tick, not to go into it, but like with this whole viral thing, that's like emerged again on to like, I, like, I feel like I almost I'm quite young, but I like, I still, I feel like, oh, you guys like that have these viral moments. Like, I hope you guys handle it better than we did. Like, cuz it's like, when you're and like, man, we're still writing about it. Like having this guaranteed is about is like, is about us. Like trying to like put this whole idea of chasing success aside. And it's because I feel like, you know, there's been a strain. I mean, deeply personally to me, I know boys probably feel this too, but I'll speak to myself here is like chasing this idea, like of arrival and like, oh, then I'll be happy. 9 (47m 35s): And like, oh I just need this song to do this and this and that. And then I, yeah, I like the year between releasing, hold me down officially, like the labels released, we signed it record deal and they put it out officially. And then, and until we released the next song, it was fucking weird. It was just like, it was like, we were trying to figure out how to like hang out with each other and be friends and like make music and like be honest. And like I personally don't think it was until the song easier when we were like, okay, here we are. This is us. And that song, you know, like I felt like did like a really, like it made, you know, it did well. 9 (48m 19s): And like, I think that was like a really like nice moment for us to be like, whoa, if we're like honest and open and personal with each other and our audience, like that is the, that's the peak, that's the moment that we wanna like keep hitting. And yeah, it's funny, man. I feel like I have to remind myself that every day, like still like having albums out and stuff, it's a, it's such a weird, we really, we did it all backwards. We could go back and do it again. I I'd like to do all the pre-work before having a song that puts you into spotlight. Cuz it's yeah, shit got weird. 3 (48m 51s): Yeah. I I've I've and I've interviewed people that have had those recent viral TikTok moments and it's like, and I've, and I've asked them, I'm like, what do you do? Do you try to chase what you just did? Do you try to regurgitate the same song to try to make it happen again? And it's like, a lot of people are like, I don't, I'm just trying to figure that out. Like, I don't know, because you don't wanna write the same song. You don't wanna write, hold me down again and see and hope that oh, it worked the first time. Let's see if it'll work again. But then it's also like I have all these eyes on me. Are we gonna be able to land the same way that you know we did prior? 5 (49m 30s): Yeah. Do you know, what's interesting on the, the guys who manage us also manage Gaia. 3 (49m 41s): Oh really? 5 (49m 42s): And like he's a great example. I think he's like a, you know what happens when you, oh, when you have like the biggest song in the world, like a generation, the decade defining song. 3 (49m 56s): Yeah. It's like, what do a nostalgic hit for even like 14 year old kids? 5 (50m 2s): It's so weird. Like that's he got to the like, quote unquote, like top of the mountain and like, what do you do when that happens? And that was happening to him while we were like sorting our early days of our music journey and his response was just like, I'm not gonna go chase that. I'm not gonna go try and make somebody that I used to know. Part two. I'm gonna go find what I'm curious about in music and use the success of that song to like fund it basically. And like I'm gonna go off hunting for, you know, the something that I'm like really excited about because that somebody that I used to know came from him going off and finding something that he was really excited about. 5 (50m 51s): So he is like, I could either try and like do part two of that song or I could just run the formula again of like going and finding something that I'm interested in and genuinely excited about. And if it works, it works and if it doesn't, it doesn't, but like that, that seems to be like the ethos now for us, it's like, just keep chasing, chasing the thing that makes you curious rather than chasing the thing that you think other people are gonna like. 3 (51m 20s): Right. 5 (51m 21s): Yeah. Which is such like a, I mean even no brainer at the same time. Yeah. 9 (51m 27s): Even to expand on that, like, I feel like one thing that I've been really trying to realize lately is like, when you, when you like are writing something or creating something and you're being like, I think people will like this, it's all guesswork. It's like, it's all just like going, like people have liked this in the past and maybe this will work. But if you're like making something that you intangibly love and adore and think is awesome, then you are like, that's a knowing that's like, that's like inside you. And like that same thing that makes you tick. And like you love then there's like this human core inside everyone that like there's bound to be other people that appreciate that. 9 (52m 8s): And I think that like that is like always like the guiding force. And I think something that we learned over a number of years is like, just do what we love. And we get lost along the way that it's, it's, it's exciting now. And it's like, it's a really what a beautiful thing to be reminded of. It's like, just do what you know, and like grow within that rather than try and guess to what other people, I don't know, again, like I'm seeing it on TikTok where people like make hundreds of like really poppy videos and they all just like fall by the wayside. And like, it's like, it's, it's so much harder to guess. It's so much harder to guess. And yeah, I mean, right, 3 (52m 43s): Right. No it's and it's, and it's interesting cuz the like when those things start popping off, like the, you know, on TikTok, like a challenge or whatever, it's like, somebody's gonna do something and it's gonna take off and then 500 million people are gonna try to emulate it and it's not gonna happen. And it's like, well, yeah, because you're not being authentic about it. This first person was, and that's why it worked out. And then everyone else that's trying to copy it. Isn't gonna be able to achieve what, what that one person did in the beginning 12 (53m 12s): On Florida's space coast. We think you can have the best of both worlds, kinda like right now, driving at your desk, maybe at the gym, but you're also grooving to some music visit us and you'll go to the beach and see a rocket launch or go kayaking and Manatee spotting. It's all waiting for you on the only beach that doubles as a launchpad plan, your adventure today@visitspacecoast.com. 14 (53m 43s): Hey, there's something different about my mango pineapple smoothie. Really? My caramel frappe tastes fine. Nah, something's definitely different. No difference. Other than I got them for half off because I ordered on the app. Well that explains it explains what, how things seem to taste so much better when you're getting a sweet deal. Okay. 15 (54m 1s): Right now at Mickey D's get 50% off any seismic McCafe beverage. When you order through the McDonald's app, limited time only at participating, McDonald's followed one time per day. This McDonald's for details. Download and registration required. 16 (54m 14s): This podcast is sponsored by office Depot office max office Depot office. Max knows that having the right school supplies helps students feel ready and excited to start the new school year strong parents and teachers can find everything they need to help their students go back, stocked and ready for success. And right now you can save up to 60% on their best selling school supplies like notebooks, binders, calculators, and more, get it all@anyofficedepotorofficemacstoreandatofficedepot.com. Success is in session for back to school at office Depot office max. 5 (54m 51s): Yeah. Yeah. 3 (54m 52s): I thought it was interesting. Sorry, go 5 (54m 54s): Ahead. Oh, I was gonna say there's also this trap though, that I feel like people fall into where they say they go off and they be authentic, quote unquote, and then it doesn't work. Like everyone thinks it's just like, oh, if I'm just authentic, then the, the millions of followers and blah, blah, blah will come. And it's like, no, that doesn't, that's not it's that's inauthentic. Yeah. Right, 3 (55m 17s): Right. I guess. Yeah. 5 (55m 19s): That's like throw out all that stuff. And if you're being authentic, it means you don't mind if the millions of fans come or you don't mind. If it's like, I was talking to a guy yesterday who was like, who he was, he used to do music and he doesn't anymore. And we were just talking about like getting off tour and being, I was like, I'm tired. Like I had fun, but I'm really tired and really run down, play the same songs every night, which is really grateful for that. But at the same time, like, there's a reality of where you're like, I'm just, I'm tired. This is a slog. And he was like, oh yeah. I used to play music a lot, but now I don't anymore. And, and now I he's, he is like a practicing doctor. 5 (56m 4s): And I was like, yeah, I bet you, you probably, you probably love music way more now than you did when you were like slogging to try and like, get just like, cuz you just removed the, like the, the feeling of like, oh, I've gotta like climb the ladder of music. And he is like, now I just play music cuz I love it. And I was like, I bet you're enjoying it more now than you ever did when you were like trying to 3 (56m 30s): Right. Cause now it's not a job. It's not like something that you have to do. You're like, Ugh, like I gotta go do this now it's like to have something. I mean, not that you guys feel that way, but I'm just saying like maybe it's because this person at one point no, no, no that, that was what they, yeah like they're, you're trying to invest all everything into it and, and try to do whatever you can to kind of jump through hoops to make it happen. And then it doesn't and you kind of, I would imagine you kind of get defeated at that point and like to, to you guys, because you, not that you didn't put the ever in, like you obviously did and you're amazing musicians, songwriters, but that's something that's landing with everybody else. And the work continues and you continue to bring what people want to the table, but if it's not working at what point you just say, you know, I gotta try, I should try something else. 3 (57m 19s): And I'll just take this on as a hobby. 5 (57m 21s): Yeah. Yeah. We have like a really just between the three of us, like we had a really Frank conversation, I think at the start of 2020, where we were like, do we want to do this? Like, we don't have to do this. Do we want like, are we here because we want to be here or because we feel like we have to be here because of some like obligatory, you know, contract or like, because we feel like we have, we should or whatever. And we had that real chat where we were like, let's like go and work this out. And everyone come back and be honest. And we were like, no, no, no. Like we want to be here. And I think that switched for us, a lot of our like dynamic, because then we were like, we wanna do this. 5 (58m 4s): We just wanna work out a way of like having, like, being able to like keep the lights on while we do this. But then, then everyone kind of like, we all like, felt like we were kind of like relaxed a little bit. Cause we were like, oh, we're actually here because yeah. Cause we want to not because we feel like we have to. And then I think the music, everything just got more fun from that point onwards. 3 (58m 30s): Yeah. I, I thought it was interesting. What you said Ja earlier was that you, you know, you're trying to, to like arrive, like chase something, then finally get there. And it's like, I've heard other musicians say like you never arrive. Right? You, you never get there. Like you, you get to a certain point and then it's like, okay, well now I need to get to this point or I need to get to this point. It's like, if you sign a major label deal, I've also heard like now you're at the table. You, you move from the kids table to now you're at the, the table, but what are you gonna do with it now? Like you're, you're not like, okay, now I get to hang up the cleats, you know, we did it. It's like, you always have to keep moving and moving and moving to keep it, you know, stay relevant and active in what you're doing. 9 (59m 9s): Yeah. I mean, yeah, I've really wrestled with that big time. Just like even, I don't know, even coming off tour, like had a day off yesterday without traveling, without doing anything. And I was like resisting the urge all day to like go sit at my computer and start writing, start working on the next thing. And I'm like, can you just stop one day? I always texted block without it. I was like, do you feel the same? It's it's hard. It's like, it's so hard. It's hard to stop because I think naturally as humans we grow, we're changing every single day. And you know, you put that in like a, I don't know, the bloody capitalistic framework off you go kind of vibe. 9 (59m 52s): And it's like, it's hard to kind of just sit, sit back and go like, wow, I'm really grateful what I have. And I think that's something that I don't know, really hat to kind of reflect on. Sure. And reorganize, you know, what kind of terms and conditions you offer your life on like 3 (1h 0m 8s): Right, right. You know, 9 (1h 0m 10s): It's it's yeah. I don't know. I've been reading this book by bell hooks called all about love and it kind of talks all about like how like the foundation of life is love and all, you know, with stuff we all know and, and whatnot. But yeah, it's, it's been a really nice reminder to just like kind of, I feel like it's, it's injected a lot more kindness in the way I approach things in the way I like wanna work and the way I speak to people. And I think it's moving a bit more away from this desire to like make this career something. Cause it already is something that already is, you know, this beautiful thing that we can talk about with you and we can share with fans. And it was one of the really nice things about being back on the road is like this tangible connection with like couple hundred people every night. 9 (1h 0m 50s): It's like, this is beautiful. This is, this is enough. This is fantastic. And yeah, it's funny, man. I think my biggest frustration with this industry so much is that like, it just needs to constantly be more and more. And I think we kind of made a tongue and cheek comment about that on this record and you know, it like, wasn't like a massive commercial success, but I think it would be ironic if it was like, I'd probably what I'm trying bird's eye at the moment. Like yeah. Just not be trying, just not be a dickhead. 3 (1h 1m 27s): Yeah, I would. Yeah, no you aren't. I mean, like I said, it's not like, but even to go home and write and wanna write every day, that's just because it's something that you need to do. Right. I mean, that's, that's you and that's what you've been doing. And of course that wouldn't be like a dickhead move. It's just like, I'm gonna go home and write because that's what I, I need to write every day that to keep me sane or whatever. And not that you're writing, you're not, I feel like you wouldn't be, you're not like going to write just to be like, okay, we gotta work on the next thing to put out the next record. It's like, that's probably just what, you know, some, you have to write cuz that's what you have to do. 9 (1h 2m 2s): Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, it needs, it needs to be a, have to rather than should or you know, expanded reason or whatever. 3 (1h 2m 11s): Totally. Yeah. Well, would you say like, like obviously easier was a massive, massive record for you guys? When does it, when do you guys leave Australia and land here in the us? Was that with astronaut? 9 (1h 2m 27s): I feel like 3 (1h 2m 28s): Like when did your success start to be to become like, you know, world, you know, like a big like, like outside of, you know, what you guys were doing in, in Australia and then it kind of blows up to this bigger picture, like, oh wow. Like this is something that's really going. 9 (1h 2m 46s): I think. Yeah. I think we noticed that with astronaut when astronaut started getting like some solid radio play, we're like, whoa, like, let's go to, we've been there before and we tried to make waves and stuff, but like once astronaut connected on the radio, we were like, whoa, here's like, here's like a tour here's and, and you know, every night on that tour, I remember it was two 18. Like I wouldn't even need to sing the words astronaut and just hold out the microphone. And, and you like, whoa, like, you know, this is amazing. This of is the, of you a song that people are connected to. So yeah, I feel like that was probably the key switch and I think that odea collaboration 3 (1h 3m 27s): For sure. 9 (1h 3m 30s): I, I just like here's man honor to of, and yeah. And you know, we've just been cheap in a way, like it's so nice to be in Australia. We'd had like a really awesome tour there just before we came here. And so yeah. It's like it's yeah, it's nice. It's, it's like, it's fun to tour America. And I think it's like, it's nice to, there's so many people and there's, you know, there's so many people to play with and, 3 (1h 4m 3s): But to like land that, I mean to, to yeah. You get the radio thing and it's, I'm sure that was probably the next, I mean, like a milestone for you guys, like, oh wow. Like this is connecting as far as radio goes and now we're showing up and people are knowing the words to our songs and just kicking the mic out into the crowd and not having to do that. Like that. Like what was that feeling like? 9 (1h 4m 22s): It was insane. I mean, you know, we just, some of the, you know, some of the crowds we played even on like a shadow box or tour in 2019 playing to like 200 people in salt lake city, like, you know, we're just said like of this, like we're from this like quiet little peninsula in Sydney, like we're in playing a show, you know, at these people in Utah were like, what the hell? This is amazing. Like it's yeah. It's so easy to like, you know, we we've wrapped the country like seven, eight times now. And it's like, it's still amazing. Like it's, it's I shadow this whole tour just being like, wow, there's people here that like our music that are here to see us like it's yeah. It's, it's, it's been, it's been a real ride. 9 (1h 5m 6s): And I think that again, the tangible crowd and audience has been so rewarding versus the internet versus just being on the internet. Cause we were like early days, internet band height machine. So yeah, it's fun to try and turn it into a bit more of a like physical community over just like a numbers game. 3 (1h 5m 26s): Right. Cause that can get deceiving. I mean, you could look at your Spotify and be like, oh wow, like easier has 60 million plays. Like this is like below. If you think about like the amount of 60 million is like such a massive number, but you see it on probably a computer screen and it's like, but are people gonna be at the show? Is that gonna turn into ticket sales or everything else? But obviously numbers it's 9 (1h 5m 56s): To double the population of Australia. 3 (1h 5m 58s): Right, right. Isn't I mean like that's what I've, I've talked to people it's like when an influencer, somebody like shares your song versus like getting a radio spin nowadays. It's like if somebody that has 12 million followers talks about your song versus a radio station playing at once. Like if you get played in say San Diego, that's only 4 million people in the whole county of San Diego. And if they even hear it right, and now you have one person that's reaching 12 million just like, oh yeah, here, which you know, it's just bizarre how the reach of the internet. But to see it translate into ticket sales and everything else is a different, different beast. We, 5 (1h 6m 36s): We had that happen one time where we truly understood the power of the internet when one of the guys from BTS listened to our song on like, wasn't even, wasn't even listening to it properly. Like it was like on a live stream and he goes, he goes, oh, I like this song. And it was like, like I got a, I got a notification on my phone from Twitter just being like, Hey, something's happening on your Twitter right now? Like just like being like, you're getting lots of notifications about something like what is happening. 5 (1h 7m 17s): We didn't even clock on it. And then we were like, oh, V from BTS has said that he not even that he liked our song, just that he was like, oh, what songs? This and that was enough. We were like, 3 (1h 7m 30s): That's so wild. I mean, it's, that's so crazy. Like the power of just one voice saying something about you guys about your band, but, well, so the pandemic hits, obviously you had a tour scheduled where, where was this record in this whole thing? Were you, were you already writing happiness guaranteed or was this some project that began post pandemic? 9 (1h 7m 59s): It had mostly been written between August, 2019 and November, 2019. 3 (1h 8m 8s): Oh, wow. 9 (1h 8m 10s): Yeah. I mean, we, we, you know, we added songs and changed them, but like the core theme of the record to a degree and the music at least was, was kind of there. Yeah. Which was kind of frustrating, cuz like we had written the song more before the pandemic and I was like, this is really like tugging on my heartstrings and then the pandemic happened and I think everyone was like, oh it's about the pandemic. I don't wanna listen to it. Like, But yeah. And then, then we did the collaborations in 2021 just cause we were like, we had all this time and the record, like we'd written a bunch of songs together and we were still in like lockdown in and out lockdowns and we're like, let's like mix the formula up. 9 (1h 8m 54s): Let's shake it up. And yeah, I mean, that's kind of how it started. Like we kind of just jumped off tour her at the end of two 19, took off and then dug straight into it, went and jammed in a cabin for a while. And then, you know, started producing the record. We worked with a guy called John Gilmore who like big bands of the way he like engineered like a lot of this 1975 records and oh, so we were like send sending, like he produced up this produced a couple of songs and he mixed the record and yeah, I mean, it was funny. We had big bands, like I really wanted to go to the UK and we obviously didn't do that. But yeah, it was weird. It was like, it was also like uninterrupted. 9 (1h 9m 36s): Like it was very like focused work, which I think is why we finished the record really quickly. But then we just waited each long to like be able to release it. Cause everyone was like, don't release music right now. 3 (1h 9m 46s): Right, 9 (1h 9m 46s): Right. Mayhem out there. 3 (1h 9m 49s): Cause it's like, well, yeah, you guys waited up until what couple months or last month was it April or two months ago that you put the record out. So you probably have been sitting on for a while. Was it difficult not to go back and tweak things or was it like, okay, it's done. Let's just put it over here and we're not gonna look at it or talk, you know, have anything to do with it until it comes out. 9 (1h 10m 9s): I think it informed like side big. I think we were like, here's like, here's the early happiness guaranteed. Like the stuff we're working on, like right after shadow boxer. And then the collaborations was like, and here's the stuff that we did when we thought the pandemic was gonna be over. But it wasn't. And like that way, you know, it kind of like 3 (1h 10m 29s): Felt 9 (1h 10m 29s): Like we had this like really full circle roundness of, you know, of the music that we had been working on. And with man, we worked on so much music. Like we, you know, lock and I started writing with other people and like locks like produced heaps of records and stuff. Like we spent so much time and it was so fun just to make music because, because we could and like, you know, there was no touring. And so you were trying to fill this like hole of like time that we had. So yeah, it was, I mean, I think it's an explanation to why there's so many like solo projects out right now is cuz like everyone's bands have like finished their records and they're like, well now what do we do? 3 (1h 11m 6s): Right, right. Exactly. And a lot of people, yeah, we're sitting around, I wrote this whole album, not even knowing that it was gonna be an, an album or whatever. And it's like, well I'll just put it up because it doesn't sound anything like my band or this. So you so were the, so the collaborations that came like strangers and empty promise, those were all like pandemic, but pre were more the, those first that batch of music or no. Am I wrong? 9 (1h 11m 37s): I'm trying to think strangers was written in 2019. 3 (1h 11m 42s): Okay. So not all the ones that have a feature on it are all are all new newer. Yeah. 9 (1h 11m 47s): I think we just like, we were just digging into our hard drives. It's trying to find ways to like stay entertained and keep music. So, but like the van, the Kim T what else? Yeah. Couple of those were like were, were like locked down projects via 3 (1h 12m 7s): That's crazy. Was a weird writing over zoom. 9 (1h 12m 10s): Oh man. We got so used to it. I mean, always fans, always flat bands, always written over the internet. Like there's, you know, I didn't meet Alex when we released our first song, you know, like it was, it's like, it's so easy. Like technology's amazing right now to just like write a song to work on something, do some ad fraud, you know, like it's, it's, it's, it's nice being in a room, but sometimes it's also nice just like working on your own then, you know, or elevating someone else's idea without them interrupting you. 3 (1h 12m 39s): Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. Well, congratulations on the record. I mean, it's awesome. I love the song mirror me that I, I listen to that like 30 times it's it, it, it like it's, you know, getting bigger and bigger and bigger, then it kind of drops out and is more mellow than it kind of builds up again. And then like, I just love the feel to the, to that record. 9 (1h 13m 2s): I mean, that's one of the oldest very, very oldest man air songs that we had like never recorded. Is that right? Finally. Yeah. We like wrote it in like 2015 or something and we toured it. Like we was like the opener to our show for like two years. 3 (1h 13m 15s): But you never wow. How wild? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I think that, song's amazing. 9 (1h 13m 22s): Yeah. Thank you. 5 (1h 13m 23s): You can find like a, I think we played it at, so by Southwest, as like a video online of us playing it in like 2015, maybe. 3 (1h 13m 35s): Really? I gotta go find that. Yeah. It's like, I'm sure it sounds quite a bit different than the recording or no, 5 (1h 13m 42s): I think we were just, we were really hungover that day. We did that show. So, 3 (1h 13m 46s): But like the stylistic, like musically, everything, you guys just kept it as it was when you recorded it. 5 (1h 13m 52s): I think when we, when we made it, we, when we wrote it back then we were like, oh, this is a bit too bandy. And we thought we were a bit more of like an electronic sort of act. And then when we made this record, when we made happiness, guaranteed, we were like, oh, there's quite a lot of like band live drums. Like this song actually really, really fits in well with this, the songs around it. So it was really, and, and maybe we knew how to make it. We could never record it the way that we heard it live weirdly enough. So like now on this track, we, we finally got it to place. We're like, ah, that actually the recording does the, the live version justice, which is something that we, yeah. 5 (1h 14m 35s): We just could never, never quite get up to this point. 3 (1h 14m 39s): Well, I love that song, man. I love the record, but yeah, that one, so really stuck out to me. I'm like, gosh, this is such a good one. I kept going back to it. How interesting that it was on one of your oldest ones. That's crazy. 5 (1h 14m 49s): Yeah. 3 (1h 14m 51s): Well, I appreciate I I've taken up way too much of your time and I appreciate you doing this today. Thank you both so much for, for hanging out. I've had so much fun. 9 (1h 14m 59s): Thanks. It's a blast. Thanks for the time. 3 (1h 15m 2s): Yeah. Yeah. I do have one more quick question before I let you both go. I wanna know if you have any advice for aspiring artists. 9 (1h 15m 17s): I feel like I've through this interview, but you have 3 (1h 15m 20s): You definitely. 9 (1h 15m 23s): Yeah, man. Do it. You have no other desire to do anything else with your time. Like if you love it and you wanna do it because it like makes you feel complete or makes you feel like you're like shining a light onto something that you can't ever talk to anyone about, or, you know, just actually just makes you feel better than you did without doing it. That's why you should do it. That's my advice it's make, make and make and make and make because yeah, because you love it and nothing else, because at the end of the day, you can, you can be as successful as you ever thought you'd be. 9 (1h 16m 4s): And you're still gonna be sitting back in that room on your own writing song. That's that's the point. That's always the point. 3 (1h 16m 12s): I love it. What about you? Like, do you have any advice 5 (1h 16m 17s): Maybe more just for like, it's like a thing. I talk the thing I really struggled with for a long time and a thing that I talked to like a lot of people about, and it seems to be a really common thing. Is that like maybe more so in the producer electronic world is that finishing a song is its own skill. Like its own. It's really, really, you know, it's, it's one set. It's one skill to like start a song and write and like blank canvas and throw tons of stuff at it. But it's another, it's, it's a separate skill to go. All right. Now I'm gonna like sit with this song and do the meticulous, like clicking and, and finish this thing and like be okay, working on music once that like maybe that initial little like flicker of passion has gone, that you get, when you start a new idea and you're like, oh wow. 5 (1h 17m 13s): Like this is the potential of this idea. Like that's ultimately gonna fade and that's okay. And like going and finishing that one little bit of, of a song is like a hard thing to do. It's okay. That it's hard to do. And like yeah. Practice finishing things.