Interview with Zachary Ross and The Divine / Man Overboard

What's 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 Zach Ross of Zachary Ross and the divine over zoom video. You may recognize Zach from the band Man Overboard. This is his new project. It's called Zachary Ross and the divine, but we hear a lot about Man Overboard talk about where Zach was born and raised, how he got into music started off on drums and then ended up playing guitar and singing. Cuz he wanted to write songs. We hear about how Man Overboard formed, about how MySpace played a very important role in the success of man overboard. 4 (2m 9s): We hear about them getting signed them, then signing to rise records. The hiatus the band is on and all about his new project, a new EP coming out and the latest song from Zachary Ross and the divine called a light over Massachusetts. You can watch the interview with Zach on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing it backwards. It would be awesome if you subscribe to our channel like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at bringing back pod. And if you're listening to this on Spotify, apple music, Google podcasts, it'd be awesome. If you follow us there as well and hook us up with a five star review, 5 (2m 47s): We'd appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcasts, wherever you listen to podcasts, 4 (2m 53s): We're bringing it backwards with Zachary Ross of Zachary Ross and the divine I'm Adam, by the way, thank you so much for doing this, Zach 6 (3m 2s): Dude. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it, man. I really do. 4 (3m 5s): No, this is, this is awesome. I'm I'm a huge fan of the music you're doing now. And of course man, overboard as well, 6 (3m 12s): Man. I appreciate it. 4 (3m 13s): Yeah, dude. Well, this is about you and your journey in music and how you got to where you are now. I don't know if you mind touching on the man overboard stuff or if you wanna just leave it out all together. 6 (3m 25s): No, if I don't mind. 4 (3m 27s): Okay, cool. 6 (3m 28s): Yeah, whatever. I mean, I definitely wanna get to talk about my new stuff, but I don't. 4 (3m 33s): Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. I definitely wanna talk to you about your new stuff, but since it is a, probably a big portion of your musical journey, I, I would love to just kind of touch on it a bit to 6 (3m 43s): Dude. And I know it's so early on too, with my new stuff, that that's what people are interested in with me and stuff. If that's what people wanna hear about that's okay. 4 (3m 51s): No, we wanna hear about both to be honest. Cool man. Awesome. Well, I guess first off, talk to me about where were you born and raised 6 (4m 0s): Mount Laurel New Jersey is a town. About 15 minutes outside of Philadelphia. I grew up where people love diehard Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, flyers, even though it's technically New Jersey Philadelphia is backed up against water, so oh, okay. So the other side is a river. You know what I mean? One side of Philadelphia is a river on the other side of that river is New Jersey. So we never really we're too far from New York to have ever we're still in that shadow of Philly. And we never like the giants that we never, like the Yankees are really related to like New York culture at all. 6 (4m 41s): It's very the, even though it's New Jersey, it's the Philadelphia suburbs. 4 (4m 44s): Interesting. Okay. So I'm so unfamiliar, especially geologically with, with the east coast because I'm from the west coast. I'm from San Diego originally. So I know California, but that, and I recently moved to Nashville. So I'm trying to learn a lot more about the east coast and proximities and everything. 6 (5m 4s): Yeah. Philadelphia is there's no east Philadelphia. It's west Philadelphia and then center city and then there's a river and then bridge. Interesting. Yeah. So then when you, across that bridge, you that's New Jersey. So I'm from like right. These suburbs right over those bridges. 4 (5m 21s): Interesting. Okay. So yeah, basic you're in Jersey, but essentially you every like yeah. People from your town claim, claim, all the Philly sports, 6 (5m 28s): For sure. And like when you're, when you grow up in my town and you get your license, you can get to Philly in like 15 minutes. 4 (5m 36s): Oh, okay. That's so that's the big go, right? You're not gonna go down to New York city. Cause that's probably a bit that's 6 (5m 42s): Hour and a half. That would be like two hour when you're here. That's way more of a thing to pull off. Like we have Philadelphia like right here. So that was for shows and stuff too, you know, for music and stuff. It was Philly for us. 4 (5m 53s): Okay. What about like how far away is like where Princeton and stuff is, is 6 (5m 58s): Well from where I was born, like an hour I'm more south. 4 (6m 1s): Okay. So it is quite far down. Yeah. So sorry. I'm so just ignorant to it. Cause like when I think of Jersey, I think of like the Jersey, I mean, in the sound of your band, like, like that whole Jersey saves a day scene. Yeah. But that doesn't sound like it's anywhere near where 6 (6m 16s): A little more north than we are too. South Jersey gets a weird it's misunderstood. New south Jersey is misunderstood. I think that in my opinion, and I'm speaking as someone from south Jersey, I think north Jersey is understood. I think north Jersey is what, what you all think when you think New Jersey and south Jersey is a lot of dude. It's a lot of like, it's, like I said, you just Philadelphia and then some suburbs. And then if you keep going west, I mean, if you were to keep going east there, you got Philadelphia, then some suburbs then farms and then the beach. 4 (6m 49s): Okay. 6 (6m 49s): Like it's mostly south Jersey, a lot of farms and a lot of the beach. 4 (6m 54s): Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I think that, yeah, I think he's from yeah. At least say the day was from Princeton area. I believe. Yeah. 6 (6m 60s): There's like a little more north too, but it's still a similar vibe when you look at it on this grand scale of the whole country and you, or you're touring or whatever, you meet other kids from New Jersey, you're still like yeah, 4 (7m 13s): Of course. Of course. Cool man. Well, yeah. Well, so growing up there, you said you would go mainly see shows, you'd go across to, to Jersey then. 6 (7m 22s): Yeah. We would go to Philly. Yeah. 4 (7m 23s): I mean Philly, sorry. Now I'm getting myself confused here. 6 (7m 27s): Yeah. Like anything from, even if like when you're a little kid, when I was a little kid, if it was a band, like I loved, I mean like a child, I loved like an elementary school. I was obsessed with the offspring and I loved oh 11 and I loved sublime and like that stuff. So like if like a big band was coming and I wanted my dad to take me to the concert, I knew that it was like, that was the Philadelphia date 4 (7m 54s): Was the one you'd see. Sure. Yeah. 6 (7m 56s): Or I knew cause my dad's a avid music listener. So I knew that. I knew that I, he was bringing me to his, I knew that we were going to concerts in the same building. We were seeing the Sixers. 4 (8m 7s): Oh, okay. 6 (8m 7s): Like it's like it's Philly. My music is. And then when I got a little older and you get into more like, you know, going to, it shows like you're like a teenager and stuff. It was the same thing. Like I'll go in Philly, I'll see them when they're in Philly. I'm not going for that. Like, you know what I mean? 4 (8m 21s): Right. No, that makes a lot of sense. Well, it's speaking of that, how did you get into music? Your dad was just an avid listener, but was anyone else in your family, music musically inclined at all? 6 (8m 33s): Musically? Yes. My dad's a avid listener. Yes. Everything. My dad's a avid listener. My mother, I get my voice from her. She could sing really good really well. And she's from Canada. She was born and raised in Montreal. She used to sing like on radio shows and stuff and like the sixties and Canada and stuff, when she was like a kid and a teen or whatever, she was, she has a really good singing voice to this day. And my sister has a master's degree in theater and oh 4 (9m 9s): Wow. 6 (9m 10s): For a living. My sister owns a after school program where kids do extracurricular theater. Like maybe they're in the school play, but they want more like travel soccer or something. But like for theater kids, you know what I mean? So that's what she, so she's very musical. She can also sing and play guitar. I mean play piano. But my dad was into like Brock music. He can play, he has a drum kid. He messes around on like, but he's like super avid like knowledgeable like fan who loves music and raised me like that. And he's into like rock music. And you know, I think was probably honestly my first influence as far as like musical taste was my dad. 6 (9m 55s): It had to be For a lot of people. Right. You know? But like he was really, really liked his music. Like he was one of those people. He was like, my dad was a cool guy when, when he was like, not that he is not cool anymore. But like when I was like five or six and my dad had a little boy, he was still like a hip dad. He liked, you know what I mean? He, he liked current bands. He liked like new stuff. He knew what was cool. Like I, in the early nineties, you know, my dad's like, oh, Bush, this BA Bush is gonna be like huge and stuff. Like, he was like, cool. 4 (10m 28s): You know? Right, right. Yeah. He still, he was still yeah. Knew kind of what, what was happening. Exactly. 6 (10m 34s): So I wow with like a dude who kind of knew what was up and would buy me. He hung out at a record store on Sundays, back in like the late nineties and midnight, mid and late nineties. And I would go to the record store with my dad. The owner was his friend and they would like just, you know, bullshit for a couple hours or whatever. And I'd be walking around the store. And I, while my dad's talking to the guy, I'd be picking out, grab the offspring. I grab Bush, anything, ICP, something that looks like, you know what I mean? Bad, anything bad. And my dad wouldn't like, check it out. Not that I think he would've cared, but so every Sunday I'd bring it up to the counter while my dad's done talking to his friend and he'd be, oh yeah, we'll take these two. 4 (11m 19s): Oh, cool. 6 (11m 20s): So I got like five new. I remember my babysitters think being like, you have more CDs than I do the guy, like it was, he really made, made music available for me. 4 (11m 31s): That's incredible. What was the first instrument you learned how to play 6 (11m 35s): The drums? 4 (11m 35s): The drums. Okay. How old are you and started playing drums? 6 (11m 39s): Like technically really young. Like before kindergarten I would sit in it. We had it in the house. 4 (11m 44s): Oh, you have a drum kit? 6 (11m 46s): Yeah. Really nice drum kit in, in our house my whole life. So 4 (11m 49s): Who, who played it 6 (11m 51s): In? My dad's friend had a baby and was like, I can't have these in my, and that's the story? Have the story I've been told. And then my dad was like, oh, we'll take them like that. 4 (12m 0s): Sure. 6 (12m 1s): Like, that's sick. So then we just had them in the garage. My dad, I think, had them with the intention of, he would mess around on them sometimes. But it turned into something that I did every day. 4 (12m 10s): That's so cool. 6 (12m 11s): And they bought me a, then they were like, then I got drum lessons and stuff. By the time I was like seven or eight, I was like going to lessons for drums. And they had bought me like a new kid. I wasn't playing like the old garage ones that my dad more. And they were really like supportive of me fighting drums and yeah, it all started with drum. 4 (12m 31s): How long did you play drums? Did you play drums up? Like, were you actually in like the school, like marching band or anything like that? Yeah. 6 (12m 38s): Well it's not marching band, but like the con the orchestra, like the okay band where everyone's on stage, you know, the like concert band or whatever. And what happened, dude, like honestly was like, I still enjoy playing drums. I still love, I love that I can play drums and I do it to like demo my own stuff and 4 (12m 58s): Whatever I was gonna say, it's probably pretty useful. 6 (13m 2s): I picked up guitar out of being like I knew I wanted to, I was only like 12 years old or something. And I knew I wanted to like write songs and I knew you didn't do that on drums. And that's like, it was the, the that's what made me be like, oh God, I'm a guitar player. And it was weird though. Cause I was only like 11 or 12 making this decision. And I had all this support of being a drummer in my life from adults, teachers. I played drums in the talent show, all the older kids in my street like, oh, that little kid is really good at drums. Like it was like a really big sense of like self-worth as a child and why I felt like, okay about myself, but 4 (13m 41s): Probably a big identity for you. It sounds like. Yeah. 6 (13m 44s): Identity. So it's funny. I didn't think of it then now as an adult, when I think back it's crazy to me that I was just like, yeah, no, I got a big guitar. 4 (13m 52s): Right. Well, what, what I think is interesting and I'm what I'm wondering if you had this similar experience, like when you, as the drummer, you know, a lot of people go right to guitar, right? I'm gonna play the guitar. I wanna be the singer. I'm gonna play guitar. And the drummer always has like the pick of the litter when it comes to PE. Cuz not a lot of people play drums. So if you kids are starting fans around town, I'm sure you could decide if you're, it sounds like you're good. Like who you wanna play with. Right. You can be like, oh, those guys are trash. So I'm not gonna play with them. But I wanna play with these kids and you can kind of pick in, choose more so than if you're just another guitar player or a singer. 6 (14m 28s): I agree with that 100% drummers have the you're a good drummer. You have the power. They're the hardest person to get because it can't as an instrument. It can be taught but not quiet. Like the other there's a degree of it. Can't be taught. 4 (14m 44s): Right. 6 (14m 45s): That the other instruments don't have, you can say you can't be taught to play guitar like that, but I can teach you to play guitar. There's some people that we just can't teach them to play drums. 4 (14m 57s): Right? No, I completely agree with you. That's 6 (14m 60s): Who it's, you know what I mean? You can give your friend a, a, a base and you can give your friend a guitar. You can be like, this is a power cord and play it really simple. You know what I mean? 4 (15m 9s): But you can't say here's the drum kit. Like just start beating on it. Cause you it'll sound atrocious if you just try to make a beat. Like it's, that's, what's so interesting to me is my it's cool. Like I love talking to people that start off in drums because I'm not a drummer and it's the one thing I wish I would've done that in piano. Not that I'm a great guitar player by any means or anything like that. But my son is six and we got him a drum kit when he was five, four and a half, almost five. We, we got it right when COVID was going on, cuz he's got like a bunch of energy and I'm like, well, here you go beat on this. And we got the electric kit. So the whole neighborhood wasn't pissed off at me. Yeah. But he loves it. 4 (15m 49s): I mean he, he, we moved to Nashville. He's got lessons now and 6 (15m 53s): In the perfect area for him to have, have a little musical childhood. 4 (15m 58s): Right. So I just kind of threw him on it and, and I'm stoked that he enjoys it cuz he really does like it. And like he, when we saw like a school orchestra or band doing something, he was like mesmerized by like, you know, the snare drum player and all this. So I was like, cool. Like he actually likes it. It's not just like me being like, well, if you wanna play music someday, at least you'll be able to play with anyone you want. Cuz you'll be the guy that everybody desires. 6 (16m 21s): I'm sure that if, and it's, it could be like me where, you know, drums got me playing with other musicians. It got me, you know, in front of an audience drums got me thinking about the structure of songs it's and, and, and ultimately, you know, it, my point is if your son could have a, a musical journey in life where he plays the xylophone, but it still starts with or where he plays the violin, but it still starts with this drum, 4 (16m 51s): The drums now, 6 (16m 53s): You know what I mean? 4 (16m 54s): Yeah. That's what I mean. Yeah. Like, cuz if you want to play guitar later in life, at least like you did. Right. Okay. I wanna write songs. I'm gonna play guitar. I'm gonna sing, but it's well you still know how to play drums and I'm sure I know that that's obviously been so helpful for you throughout, you know, your career then too. Cause you can 6 (17m 11s): Degree of trust. I feel like too, that I might not have had like another 11 year old might not have happened. And like mom, like I, I need like an actual guitar. I need a good guitar. Like I know I don't play guitar, but just like, trust me. Like I like, I need like a guitar. I'm gonna get good at it. It's like, they've been listening to me, play a drum kid every day for the last six years. It's plus they're like, I believe him. You 4 (17m 37s): Know what I mean? Right. They know that you're gonna, yeah. That you're gonna take the time to continue to. My dad told me, enjoy it. 6 (17m 43s): Cause I like, you know, at some point I've thanked him for supporting me at somewhere. And my dad has told me as an adult, we knew, we never worried about like, if we had to show out money, well, not that I'm from a super rich family or anything or a super very middle. And he said, if we ever had to show out money or something for your music, we did not worry about it. We knew that that was clearly like money. Well spent. 4 (18m 9s): Sure. That's that's so cool to have such supportive parents too and not be like, yeah, that's cool. Like you're not gonna do anything with that. We're not gonna support that. Or you need to be playing footballers. You know what I mean? 6 (18m 21s): I mean, I didn't get, I wasn't good at, I was like a little antisocial sometimes and had, I mean I had friends and stuff, but like I got kicked outta my high school. Like I was, I did not, it was like a blessing for my grand, my grandfather. I probably the only reason he could not worry about me at night was that I was like good at instruments at times. Like my teenage years. You know what I mean? I think that was like a thing too. They were like, that's your that's gonna be your way out. That's how you're gonna be like, okay. I, I realize now that's how they like looked at me a little bit. 4 (18m 55s): Sure. Yeah. 6 (18m 56s): Nothing wrong with that. 4 (18m 58s): No, no. But they knew that you had obviously talent in that aspect like that this, this is gonna be something that you, you can do. Like long-term. 6 (19m 7s): And even like I had lunch with, I mean I had dinner with a neighbor of a childhood neighbor of my, this lady was like used to babysit me and stuff. She's like, oh, we always knew you were gonna music. Everybody knew you were gonna do music. 8 (19m 31s): McDonald's crispy chicken sandwich or quarter pounder with cheese solo. McDonald's McDonald's 0 (19m 51s): Now at Mickey D's when you buy any crispy chicken sandwich or quarter pounder with cheese, you'll get a free medium fry and free medium drink when you order on the app. So do you have the app? How you wanna get this deal? If you don't have the app, I know you have a phone. Anyhow. If you have the app, enjoy your free fries and drink. If you don't, you can't see me, but know that I'm shaking my head. BA BA B bye. Limited time only I participate in McDonald's follow one time per day, visit McDonald's for details. Download registration required, 9 (20m 21s): Babe. There's something different about my mango pineapple smoothie. Really? My grandma 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. It explains what, how things seem to taste so much better when you're getting a sweet deal. Okay. 0 (20m 39s): Right now at Mickey D's get 50% off. Any size MCCA 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. 4 (20m 51s): That's so cool. 6 (20m 53s): Like since you were little, little, little, little, and I'm like, that is nuts. 4 (20m 59s): That is so red though. So you were playing drums and then you, how you said 11, you started one learn guitar. 6 (21m 4s): Yeah, because I really started to idolize front men. To be honest with you. I like, it's not totally a, it's a, like, I have a artistic urge to like sing my songs and my feelings and stuff. But I also have this like Patrick Bateman, like psychopath. Like I was a little kid mesmerized by like MTV. And I was like, I want that. Like I want that. Not like the being a drummer will be cool too, but I want that. I want, I wanna be axle rose or I wanna be Kurt co I wanna be that's like, this is me thinking at like, as like a child, you know what I mean? 6 (21m 45s): I wanna be the guy in the front of the stage of the guitar singing. And then my, then I have a music video, then we're on MTV and then I'll play concerts and stuff and I'll do guitar solos and I'll get to walk around. I, this is how I used to think about it too. When I was 11 weird. I, when I'm the drummer, I can't walk around the stage. And if I play guitar, I can walk around the stage. And also I just knew which isn't true at all. Like if you were listening to this and you're the drummer of a band and you write the songs, there's a million great bands like that. Or you're the singer or something. There's a million great bands like that. But I was 11 years old. I did not. 4 (22m 19s): Right. 6 (22m 20s): So I was like, I have to be the singer of a band. I have to learn guitar and I have to write songs. 4 (22m 24s): And in the, in most cases, the, during those times too on television stuff, the, the singer was the guy in the interviews was the guy getting the most attention. And yeah, that's just kind of what it was. 6 (22m 36s): It was like the mid nineties. That's my that's when I was like a little kid, you know, probably around your son's age, watching everybody on TV and huge rock bands and stuff, you know what I mean? And, and then before that, it was like, if, if I was born into a world of like, and like I said, I remember everything. I remember cuz of my dad it's because of my dad, I remember Def Lepard and guns and roses in that era of music and stuff. Even though I was like infantile or like my first memories are like hearing Def Leber, like my dad listening to it. So it's like, I just had this rock and roll like thing in my head as a kid that like you can't, you're not gonna be you. 6 (23m 22s): You've gotta, you gotta shoot for the stars and you can't do that behind the drums for some reason. 4 (23m 27s): Right? No, I, I completely see where you're coming from, especially when you're that young, you know what I mean? Like that's 6 (23m 33s): I was a child. Yeah. 4 (23m 34s): I was sure, sure. 6 (23m 35s): Child was like pre-pubescent child. 4 (23m 38s): Right? Cuz now I look at a guy like Travis Barker and he's like the biggest single planet. He's the drummer. 6 (23m 45s): It's like it's I really think, and I understood that there were, there were drummers. I idolized, I understood you could be a famous rockstar drummer, but I wanted to be a singer. I wanted to write songs that was like the other, that was the other half of it. Sure. I wanted to write, I wanted to be the singer, you know? And I felt funny. I even had a local band when I was in like fifth grade where I sang some of the songs and I was the drummer. 4 (24m 11s): Oh really? That's cool. 6 (24m 13s): And people were like, that's so cool. The band with the singing drummer. And I was always like embarrassed by it. 4 (24m 18s): That is cool. There's not many bands that do that. Right. Yeah. 6 (24m 22s): But you're like in fifth grade or something and you just wanna be like, cool. You wanna show all the kids on TV that, I mean, you wanna show all the kids at school that like, you know about cooler stuff than them. You wanna go up there and look like blink or offspring or something. Not likes singing drummer, 4 (24m 39s): Not the Eagles, 6 (24m 42s): Like Davey havoc or something like I don't, you know? 4 (24m 47s): Yeah, no, I get it for sure. Like did you, were you ever, oh nevermind. You just answered that question. If you played drums in a band, you just, yeah. Literally just said that two seconds ago, but when do you, when do you start writing songs and then form a band that is you singing and, and playing guitar or when do you start showing people the songs that you're writing? 6 (25m 6s): Pretty good question. I was showing, I started showing people stuff. I was writing in like middle school. 4 (25m 12s): Okay. 6 (25m 13s): And yeah, I was pretty UN bashful about it. I think I was like, yo, I have an original let's play. I had a band, me, Justin, who went on to being man overboard and I'm talking seventh grade right now. And this kid, Tyler, we had a three piece pop punk band called star 69. 4 (25m 37s): That's funny. 6 (25m 38s): Yeah. We were in seventh grade. I was the drummer of star 69 I think. And but yeah, I was, but, but the kid, it was supposed to be Justin, this kid, Tyler singing. And I remember being like, thinking like, I don't know, like you guys wanna hear a song I wrote. And then it was like turned like gimme the guitar because like this boom and then that like fell apart or whatever. And then I think like when high school started me and Justin, again, me and Justin have been in a band together from fifth grade all the way to man overboard. 4 (26m 7s): Wow. 6 (26m 8s): We, so then we started a new band in high school where me and him together. Like he agreed with me. Like you are just gonna sing and play nothing. Cause now we were like 14. No, well, yeah, we were 14 or 15 and we are discovering like saves today. Can't slow down and stuff. We were like, do like, we gotta just be like, cool, like 4 (26m 30s): Let's get, it's gotta be Chris a day. 6 (26m 33s): We're done doing anything. That's like lame. 4 (26m 37s): Right. 6 (26m 37s): Starting now we like, so it was like we wanted, we understood that. Like we played with hardcore bands and stuff. That band was called the front page. There's we did pretty good for like what we were there's footage on YouTube, like five of kids, like going off in like Massachusetts, like 50 kids or whatever. But like we were from New Jersey and we were high school kids. It was pretty six. 4 (27m 1s): That's cool. I mean to play up there. Right. I mean to actually do 6 (27m 6s): It tour during winter break or summer break or whatever, like a lot of bands do I think at that age we were gone tour, but yeah, to answer your question, it was that it was a band called the front page. We started it pretty much in high school and Wayne from man overboard also ended up joining the front page before the front page broke up and front page breaking up kind of was the same thing as man overboard forming like melded. It was like one kind of thing. Joe, our drummer man, overboard drummer, Joe and Nick from man overboard. They had one band that me and Justin and Wayne had front page, their band was called a sense of belonging, a sense of belonging and front page just kind of fizzled out each and then the remaining guys were man overboard. 4 (27m 55s): Oh, okay. So 6 (27m 56s): I'm really oversimplifying it, but like that's not 4 (27m 59s): No, but yeah, no that makes sense. Was it because the four of you like essentially, or five was five of you essentially like, were you knew like this is it like we're, we're only gonna pursue music because I know like around that adolescent age or like when you're getting outta high school into college, people are like, oh, you know, I I'd, I'd rather just go to blah, blah, blah school and get a degree and this and that. And whereas maybe you guys were like, no, we're gonna do this music thing. Or did you go to school? 6 (28m 29s): I think it it's mostly. Yeah. That what you just said. We did. We all, not all we like started school. None of us finished. Okay. The band got in the light of any of us finishing college, but we like had our foot in the door to classes. Part-time Justin was a full-time student at Drexel, but he went, his major was music industry and he was getting credits for all this stuff we were doing. 4 (28m 54s): Oh, that's rad. 6 (28m 55s): It was rad for him. And then some of us were like part-time in school and stuff, but yeah, it was really what you said. Like we knew, I mean, there's like a question of talent slightly. Not like if it was like, you know, the eighties and you're putting together a hair metal band and you're like, we need a guy who shreds, like no one needs to be that like good. But like you needed to be able to play. So you take that into account. And then after that, like, yeah, who's serious. Who's trying to like do this. Like you fit in, in this band. Yeah. That was a hundred percent our mindset you fit in. If you understand that we are not playing games, 4 (29m 34s): Right? Yeah. We, this is like, we're actively going to pursue this as like, we're gonna do it. 6 (29m 40s): We're gonna go broke, pursuing this. We are fully intend to financially drive ourselves into the wall doing this because I'm 20 I'm 19, you're 21. Like whatever. Let's just do it now let's ruin our lives. Now we're fully prepared to ruin our lives over this. Like that's pretty much what it was. 4 (30m 3s): Sure. No, I, 6 (30m 5s): And if you're scared of that then yeah. You're not, you can't do it. 4 (30m 9s): You're not man overboard material. 6 (30m 11s): I just don't think you're material for 4 (30m 13s): Any band. I'm just kidding. No, I, I completely agree. I've done over a thousand interviews for this podcast and that's one of the biggest thing is just like that I've heard, you know, it's keep going. Yeah. It's gonna, you're gonna struggle if this isn't exactly what you know, you wanna do forever, then you just get out now. 6 (30m 30s): Yeah. And then you trust that, you know, your songs or your band or your project or your podcast or your television show, whatever you have, you trust that it's good enough that if you don't give up, it will, it's only your only, the only thing that can stop you is you, if you don't give up, you'll it will work itself out. It will work if you up, it will work. The only, when you have the mindset that the only thing that can stop you is you giving up. Then I think you're in the right mindset for like any job bands. It's like I said, for like what you do for anything like where not even creative for anything where you wanna go out for you. Even if I wanted to start my own accounted accounting firm, something, or like you're going out for you. 6 (31m 15s): And you think that you can do it. The, I, you just gotta get in the mindset where it's like the, the only thing stopping me is me. 4 (31m 22s): Right? No, I, I totally agree with that. And so once this band starts or once man overboard starts, how quickly are, I mean, with the fact that you had two other bands that kind of came together, like, were you guys pulling a decent amount of people and then, you know, combining the two bands, did you kind of have a fan base or was it like, okay, we're gonna start some, we're starting here from scratch. And how quickly were people latching onto the new band? 6 (31m 49s): It was kind of like, we're starting from scratch in our MI in our eyes, but people remembered our bands and it was a tight knit little scene, but what really helped us was mindspace 4 (32m 4s): Oh, okay. 6 (32m 5s): It's incredible. Like my, we were, we had fans and we had, we were pretty fortunate. Our early shows people sang along and I don't, you know, I just remember being really stoked to like a good amount of people were coming out pretty quickly for man overboard. But it was just, I credit that with my space. And I credit my space with that. And also us, because not like saying our music was so good, but me and Nick and Wayne used to, and this isn't the days where people would burn, like towards the end of being able to burn a CD, we would burn copies of our own songs. 6 (32m 45s): And then I remember doing it like at census fail, saves the day we would burn like 300 diss. Me, Nick and Wayne go to our boy Jim's house smoke like five blunts and burn, like 300 man overboard, CDs. Don't sit there, write all a man overboard demo, 2008, throw 'em in a book bag, go waiting outside, saves the day we know they got like two songs left. We didn't go to the show. We don't care. We don't, we love, saves the day, but was two life ain't about going to concert right now. Right? 4 (33m 17s): Right. 6 (33m 17s): Know what I mean? We're 4 (33m 18s): At that's $13. You needed to burn those CDs. 6 (33m 22s): Yeah. It's not, we're not, we're not doing that. Right. That's not what life's about right now. So we wait outside with the book bags full of CDs and we gave them out. We never asked for a dollar. 4 (33m 33s): Wow. 6 (33m 34s): We yo, we were crazy. BA we had attitude too. I would talk to you like this. You want a copy of my band CD. It's free. Most people would take it. And if you said go, I'm good. I go, I fuck you. Nobody. We didn't. I'm sorry. I know. Can I like curse or whatever? 4 (33m 50s): Oh yeah. Do you can do whatever you want. That's 6 (33m 53s): Fuck you ha, because we, I was nobody we didn't, we were who cared. You know what I mean? Suck it. Oh, you don't wanna free CD. Suck. Fuck you. You 4 (34m 4s): Know what I mean? Right, right. Wow. Now people are probably so like how many people you told, like that didn't want the record that are fans now. Right? And then there you're like, oh my God. I wish I would've just got that once. You know, I have 6 (34m 16s): Had people come up to me and say, you gave me a free man, overboard CD, like in a parking lot somewhere. And I've been a fan since. And I'm like, that is so cool. You know what I 4 (34m 26s): Mean? That is rad. That's like what? Remind. Yeah, exactly. I think that's, that's something that's kind of getting lost. Is the, you know, people coming up to you. I mean, like, here's my CD, like, please, please check it out. 6 (34m 39s): Yeah. And that's what I mean, like the only reason I bring up that we would, I would like tell people to screw themselves and shit is because, well, sometimes when people ask me, I've told people to do things like that. People don't want it. People don't want it. I'm like just force them to take it. Like what, what, you're not representing a church or your school right now. Like it, you, you throw it at, but literally w it at their head who cares? What are they gonna put it on? Kick TikTok. It'll be funny, like, 4 (35m 9s): Right, right. 6 (35m 10s): Intention, yell at people. Most people are gonna, if you don't do it at like the supermarket, go to a saves the day show, go to a census fail show. That's what we did go to where you think people are gonna want. 4 (35m 22s): Right. People in your demographic or, yeah. 6 (35m 25s): Like we went to, it's not like we went to like, you know, Republican conventions and tried to give it out. It was like, we were at shows and like, 4 (35m 34s): Yeah. 6 (35m 35s): Hey, do you, I'm in a pop punk band. You want, would you like our demo? It's free nine outta 10. People are like, yeah. Thank you. 4 (35m 42s): That's awesome. Yeah. And with that, you said MySpace also played a big part. Was that just off adding people as friends and then your songs started getting streamed a lot? Like how did you start seeing success on MySpace? 6 (35m 52s): We had a lot of friends and we had a lot MySpace friends, so that, and we had MySpace, you know, remember had the songs, you could upload songs. Yeah. A lot of people had love your friends, die, laughing on their page. And that really helped. I really, that really helped set that song up, I think for us and for me, I just remember that, like when I was, if I was playing a show back then and thinking, wow, you know, there's really, there's a lot of people here I'm like impressed by us, but I would think, well, you know, we have however many, I don't remember 20,030 thou. I don't remember. I would think about all of MySpace friends we have now. 6 (36m 34s): Maybe it's not that crazy that this many people came here tonight. Like, you know what I mean? So I think I always looked at it like, yeah, that's, that's where they hear us. That was cuz there was no like Twitter or Instagram or anything quite yet. Or there was like, there was, there was Twitter, but it wasn't like good, you 4 (36m 53s): Know? Yeah. The early, early yeah. 2008 was. Yeah, I remember. Yeah. That was probably right around the time that Twitter started, to be honest. 6 (36m 60s): Yeah. Yeah. And so that was EV that was important to me. And people could, you could, everyone could listen to your band. We gave them the CD, but it said on the, we would sometimes put a little label on the CD if we didn't feel like writing on them. That just said, myspace.com/man overboard, NJ. That was all you needed to tell people back in those days it was so cool. And then they could, that's why I missed my space, like straight up, because you could, people could listen to your band. You could remember people used to just sit on my space, like in the afternoon and be listening to music on my space. That's cool. That's really cool. 8 (37m 39s): See McDonald's crispy chicken sandwich or quarter pounder with cheese in lab solo participant. 9 (38m 7s): 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. 0 (38m 26s): Right now at Mickey D's get 50% off any size MCCA beverage. When you order through the McDonald's app, limited time only at participating, McDonald's followed one time per day. This McDonald's offer details, download and registration required. 10 (38m 38s): Not running your business on NetSuite is like trying to sync a putt with a cap, pull over your eyes. NetSuite by Oracle is the number one cloud financial system, giving you visibility and control of your financials, inventory, budgeting, and more all in one place. 93% of survey businesses increase their visibility and control after upgrading to NetSuite over 31,000 businesses already used NetSuite. This summer NetSuite has a special financing program for those ready to upgrade at netsuite.com/go netsuite.com/go. 4 (39m 8s): Right? I mean, even when Facebook came around and kind of took over in that space, MySpace still stuck around as more of the music platform. I mean, a lot of bands stayed there because it was like the, the, the, it became more of MySpace was for music and Facebook was for like, you know, your friends are, you know, what became now everybody on the planet, 6 (39m 30s): But it helped us out a lot for sure. I think it roped and there the top eight things that you could see, like the other bands that were like friends with and stuff, and then like, you know, yeah. It just helped it, it made my space was the first thing that made you look big before you were necessarily, you know what I mean? And I think we're one of the first we're part of the first generation of bands that got the benefit from that. 4 (39m 58s): Sure. Did you, do you feel like you got, and because nowadays I'm just curious, you know, nowadays like labels and, and record reps, that's what they are going to, right. Like, okay. How many streams do you have? Yeah. How many TikTok followers do you have? What's your engagement like on Instagram? Like that's like the go-to now instead of, okay, this band is, is rad. They have potential. I mean, there's not a whole lot of money being invested in development of bands. Do you think you saw that at all with the MySpace success, like were labels and people reaching out to you based off of your numbers on MySpace at all? Or? No? Yeah. 6 (40m 34s): Like people like the first person from like a bigger band ever, like tried to be, my friend was buddy from census fail. 4 (40m 43s): Oh, wow. That's cool. Especially since you're out in front of his show. 6 (40m 47s): Yeah. It was totally cuz of my space though, like one day it was just like, buddy Nielson wants to be your friend. And I was like, really? And, and he was just like, yeah, dude, like man overboard is sick and we should show some time and cuz he's from New Jersey. 4 (41m 1s): Okay. 6 (41m 1s): And he still lived in New Jersey then, but so it helped in that regard. So then next to then I hang out with buddy. So then he's like, oh, you know, adding now man overboard has census fail in their top eight. 4 (41m 16s): Sure. 6 (41m 17s): Senses fail has man overboard in their top eight. Like things like that, like worked to everyone's advantage. It was just like cool. But I don't think I saw any kind, like writing on the wall or anything. I was just like, I never paid attention to any. I 4 (41m 31s): Was just, well, cuz it wasn't as commercialized. Right. As it is now, now it's like, everyone's got, I remember being weirded out when I'd see commercials and it'd be like, target would be like follow us on Facebook. I'm like who the hell would, you know? Like you would never add target on my space. It was just like, you know what I mean? Like it just be because it wasn't, it was cool. And it wasn't commercialized then. So the fact that, you know, census fail were on your top eight, like that's a huge like flex and everything else, but it was also so cool. Yeah. To have that. 6 (42m 2s): And we were young, like we were, we were the age of census fails fans, literally. Right. Literally we were the age of the kids in their show, in their craft. We were like, it wasn't flex. It was absolute flex and everything should, I think when your band is doing good, feel like there's new, there's new flexes as life goes on. But like the first one that was like the, that was just not like a flex, but like I remember being like, I'm really proud of us that this guy, cause I loved census fail and listened to them a lot. It was not just like, I was like, oh cool. He's in a big band. Like I loved that band. They, I loved that band and yeah. 6 (42m 42s): So it was like a huge deal to me. I would, I walked around at night. I remember like the summer before buddy like wanted to like know or we were a band, I guess I remember walking around in my neighborhood that I grew up in listening to census fail on an iPod. And then like the next summer I was like in his car and like, not that he's like, you know, tiger woods or whatever, but like it was CRA at that age, you know, 4 (43m 7s): He's tiger woods to you at that age. I mean there's, 6 (43m 11s): You know, but like it, and I have, there's a million people that I could tell you the same thing with where it's like, I'm really fortunate that I've made a lot of friends where it started off as like a mind blowing relationship to me where a lot of, a lot of people like that are just my boys now. But I guess I'm getting to, is that he was answer your question. He was the first one of those ever stuff like that came from my space. 4 (43m 36s): Yeah. Well he obviously validated your band too. Yeah. 6 (43m 39s): Richard and Stephanie who used to do drive through records would like talk to me, never tried to sign us, but like 4 (43m 46s): Wow. And they were like, the deal man drive through was like, you know, they were the cool, they were indie, but they were like beyond indie. Cause they were like endorsed by major. 6 (43m 58s): Exactly. It's how I got my little 19 year old, like ego about man. It was, was like my space or like swag or whatever. Just like a little pep in my step. It made me know we were, we were good. I could it's super nerdy. Right. It's like the corniest thing to say, I'd like good in my room and go on the computer and be like, huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Look at everybody loves us. Yeah. But like, yeah 4 (44m 21s): I have right 6 (44m 22s): Year before I was a senior in high school. What do you want 4 (44m 24s): From me? No, exactly, exactly. 6 (44m 27s): Like that's so it was sick. 4 (44m 29s): No. And yeah, especially you're at that age and you're being, like I said, validated by bands that you looked up to like, whoa, like, could you imagine, I mean, it's the same thing to this day. If you were a talker and one of the bigger TikTok people was like followed you you'd be like, oh my God, like, duh, you know the day, you know, boom or whatever. But like, like that's, that's, that's insane how that kind of relationship formed VMI space. But like what would you say then? I mean, you guys got signed to a deal. Like, were you just kind of was the, the band just progressing and progressing and progressing, like tell me like the next, I know, maybe rise records or, or signing that first record deal. What was like the next kind of, or what was a big milestone that you remember that was kind of another turning point for the band? 6 (45m 12s): They they're like we meet Jesse Cannon and he's a producer and he tells us he wants to record real talk. And then we also get tight with Jeff Zaza who does run for cover records at the same time, just sit at the band. Then that came together, Jesse produced the album, real talk and run for cover, put it out. And then that did really good. And we tore on that for a while. And then rise records actually like tried recording us like three times and we were like, not interested. 4 (45m 46s): Really? 6 (45m 47s): Yeah. It wasn't me. I was interested. I'm giving them credit. That's why I'm not throwing anyone under the bus. It was 4 (45m 52s): No sure 6 (45m 52s): Was Justin and Wayne and they were being like extremely business savvy. In retrospect, I was like, very like what, 4 (46m 1s): What do we do? You're like, where do I sign 6 (46m 6s): With them? You know what I mean? Right. I'm like, okay, okay. Okay. But eventually we did and we got like a really good deal because of how Justin and Wayne were. They weren't like rude, but they were just, you know, they playing 4 (46m 19s): Hard to get 6 (46m 20s): Yeah. They didn't whoa rise records. Oh my God. Which is like, what? I probably would've done, you know? 4 (46m 26s): Sure. Right. As most would. Right. Yes. 6 (46m 29s): Especially in that era and they, so they played it kind of cool. And we got the deal we wanted from rise and then they put out our self-titled and they put out everything after that. 4 (46m 39s): Yeah. That's so cool. That's amazing. Yeah. And then obviously you guys, did you, you were gonna do the 10 year reunion tour did. Yeah. 6 (46m 48s): That was just like COVID stuff. 4 (46m 50s): Yeah. Right. 6 (46m 51s): As far as it not happening. 4 (46m 54s): And was it, when do you start this new project? Cause obviously I wanna talk to you about the new project. I know I told you I wouldn't spend too much time on that, but I, I, I love hearing kind of how you've ended up getting now to here and, and you've got your, your new, it's a solo project, but it's, it's exactly Ross in the divine, correct? 6 (47m 10s): Sure. Yeah. I can be a pretty gave you like a concise, put a little bow on it. So it's like everybody in Manoverboard at the moment. And so they started having babies and stuff and they people have other business opportunities and things they wanna do with their life. Most importantly is the best thing. Sure. Like it's fucking like all sick shit across the board. There's no one from Joe to Nick Wayne, Justin, there's nobody. Who's not doing like cool stuff. People got stuff they wanna do. And we only have so many years on this earth for me personally, I want to be a guy in a band. That's my thing. So it turned in, it was just kinda like a thing of necessity. Like when, when man overboard wants to do stuff, I'll always be there and man overboard will wanna do stuff. 6 (47m 56s): And it's like I said, everybody's got other projects and things in life they're focused on right now. But when that's that's there though, and when we'll nurture it and when there's something we wanna do, we'll do it. And, but in the meantime it leaves me with a lot of free time and a huge urge to do a lot of things creatively. So I basically had to change my mindset where it's like, nothing. Everything is cool with man overboard, but that was like this time in my life. And I need to make, I need to make like a new main band. Right. My whole life. It's been like my whole adult life man over worked my main band. And then I got side projects. 6 (48m 38s): It's got, I needed a, I need a now band. It's kind of how I started feeling. And I don't. So I made one, 4 (48m 46s): No, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, obviously life happens, like you said, people get married, they have kids. And then it's like the touring, the country or touring the world, you know, not for everyone 11 out. Yeah. 9, 10, 11 months out of the year. It, it can get to a point. It took 6 (49m 2s): Me, it took me time to realize too that it was that it was for me, it's like not, it was, it was a thing going on in, you know, I think a lot partially my reaction when they all wanted to do other things was like, oh yeah, maybe I should too. Like, right. Because I always, there's a degree where I always looked up to everyone and Justin's the only one younger than me and man overboard. And everybody else is older than me. And like, I'm like, maybe I should be, maybe I should get like a real job. Maybe I should try to produce bands. Maybe I should open some sort of business or work at a label or maybe I should, you know, do something cool. And that took me a few years, honestly, to be like, nah, that's not me because it's like to be real with you, man. 6 (49m 44s): There is a thing in your head too. Like I want, I want stability. I wanna be able to have, you know, a family and stuff. So like you trick yourself. Or I tricked myself for a few years into being like, you know, I'm just gonna do what I have to do. I worked for Ford and I was painting cars, like a union job for Ford automotive, Ford and BMW. Wow. And it was really good money and it was a really good job. And I was like, this is it, this like, I, I was for like a good year. I was like, I'm gonna have a house, a really nice house with a pool and stuff. And I'm gonna work a nine to five and I'll always have my side projects and I'll rest comfortably and sleep sound knowing that I, a man overboard was banging. 6 (50m 30s): And like, it took me a couple years to be like, Nope, right. Just as much, just as much as this is not them. This is not me. You know what I mean? Like this is not my beautiful house. This is not my beautiful life. Like straight up, you know? Yeah. I, I have a great job. This is me. Like a couple years ago I have a really good job, sweet brand new car, enough money. And I'm like depressed. I can't, I can't bear the thought of going the rest of my life like this. And it's like, we gotta, we need, we need to make a new band boys. So I kind of just got like my tightest musician, friends from like right now in life and we are the band they're the band. 4 (51m 15s): Wow. And were these songs that you had been writing over the course of the years or they were they songs that you might would've, you know, maybe pitched to a man overboard if you guys were so active or 6 (51m 28s): It's, it's a good question at the, we have an EP that comes out at the end of this summer, half of it, three of the five songs were written for man overboard. 4 (51m 38s): Oh, interesting. 6 (51m 40s): Two of them were written after I knew this was, this is how it was gonna go. So three of them were written over the course, like the last three years, two of them were written in the last three months. Once I had like this fire lit under me. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah. Wow. This is really happening. And it's it's. Yeah. So partially I'm like weaning you you're, you're getting the tail end of like this kind of batch of man overboard songs I didn't get to put out or keep working on and you probably will for our next couple releases, they'll be sprinkled in there, but like, it's really about like, I still, I still write songs. I still think I write songs that are like there's in some ways I still think I'm getting better at writing songs. 6 (52m 24s): Like I don't, I don't wanna be done. I don't see myself. I'm not knocking anyone again, but I don't see myself as one of those dudes who's in his thirties and still always playing my whole set list that I wrote when I was 19. Like, fuck that. 4 (52m 38s): Right. 6 (52m 39s): I know that's not, that's never gonna be me. Like, you know what I mean? And like, I, I, I just have too much of it in me still. I don't feel any kind of less, I don't feel any less like piss and vinegar than I felt as far as being like a songwriter than I felt when I was 18. Like at all. So I can imagine like slowing down. So it's gotta be it's eventually this is, this is like a new band and new songs, but yeah, there's gonna be that initial wave, which I think is gonna be cool. 4 (53m 11s): Yeah. No. And I was, and I was gonna say, it's still you writing the songs, right? You're not gonna just, it's not, it's not, it's not gonna change drastically unless you were like, okay, I'm gonna go in this whole different genre, you know, whatever. But like, even then you would still probably hear a lot of the SIM of similar similarities, obviously, because it's still you're you behind the, the songs. 6 (53m 33s): And I sense you're absolutely right. And I sense, so sometimes apprehension like everyone trust me or whatever, but sometimes people like are different, like our label and my producer. Sometimes everybody's got my back the, of the day, but it'll be a little like scratching their heads at my ideas at first. And I'm telling people like, it's me, it's not gonna sound that different. Like it's the end of the day. So it's my voice. It's a song. I wrote a lot of the man overboard songs I wrote. So it's still the same guy I'm still using that. Say part of my brain. I'm just a little older. I think it's gonna sound like I'm a little older, 4 (54m 9s): Right? Which it should. I mean, if you, you wouldn't obviously, even if, even if man overboard, if you wrote the same record, if you put out the same record four times, it would probably work too. You know what I mean? 6 (54m 23s): Some of these new mixes we have that are like the stuff that we're gonna be able to release later this summer, that's more of like the newer kind of sound. It's still a part of me is like, this is what I would be pitching to man overboard in 2022. 4 (54m 39s): Right. 6 (54m 40s): Is this would be, I wouldn't wanna go. It's, like I said before, I don't wanna be up there. I, I, I don't wanna spend an hour playing songs. I wrote when I was 19 while I'm still banging, 'em out all through my twenties and thirties. I don't like, I want play the songs you love, but I wanna keep making music is what I'm saying. And then also on the same token, I don't wanna go up there pretending I'm not, I'm not co playing. Like I'm a 22 year old pop punk kid forever. I'm not doing that. I'm not hiking up my socks and putting on vans and stuff. And like, pretending that I still look, I'm not it's, it was never a costume. So I'm not gonna like put it on now. 6 (55m 21s): I need to be me is my point. You know? And I think that people like people better when they're then artists, friends, whatever. 4 (55m 29s): Yeah. There's something about, yeah. Obviously, if, if, if you were faking it, it's probably pretty transparent. I mean a lot for most people 6 (55m 37s): Thinking it then. So I, I would, I know that I would be now to a degree. It's just like, my songs sound the same. I'm just not trying to be like this, like go out there and be everybody's pop punk guy. I just don't think that's what everyone should totally expect, but it's still like melodic poppy, catchy rock stick with punk influences, like, you know 4 (56m 1s): Sure. I mean, it is interesting to see kind of like this resurgence of pop punk and like that emo style kind of coming back. Like I, would've never guessed that a million years and what's weird to me is like, I grew up on, you know, bands like yours in, in the ear, even earlier gen earlier bands. Yeah. Than, you know, I'm 37. I remember going to see taking back Sunday before they even had their first record out. Like, it's like, you know, seeing those bands play for $5 and then they do a reunion show and sell out two, two nights in like a, you know, 1500 cap room where it, it like stuff like that. And like this, when we were young festival, like being announced, it's like, like, yeah, that's all cool. 4 (56m 43s): But I, I remember seeing every one of these bands when there was like seven people there, like it's I, for me not, I just sound like an old geezer, you know, like all disgruntled man, but it's just interesting to see that style of music kind of just do this whole new like wave, especially, you know, with the newer, newer artists who are a lot of 'em are even on that festival, which is funny. 6 (57m 4s): Yeah. I agree. I, to be honest with you, it's kind of like this, I don't know how this makes me sound, but it's kind of like my gripe with this style of music too, or like this scene and this whole world of, of emo and pop punk and everything. I love it. And I'm thankful for all it's given me and I'm a really big fan of the music, but my, I do, I don't, I, it's not ideal to me the way something comes in waves and you could be like, oh, everything comes in waves and stuff. But then I'm like, well, I don't know about that really? Like what about look at like the, a band, like the killers? Are they concerned about a wave of any nature or, or you don't even have to be that big, but like, I can only think of big bands because I'm thinking of like real the strokes, the killers Kings of Leon bands who make contemporary music and are not concerned about a sub genre of any nature. 4 (58m 1s): Right. 6 (58m 3s): Don't worry about the waves. That's how it's always been in my head. I look at its kind of bad. 4 (58m 11s): No, it makes total sense. Right? 6 (58m 13s): My life feels like mad at people when it's not popular. 4 (58m 18s): Yeah. Well, what's weird to me. I mean, 6 (58m 22s): Make fun of yourself. Have you noticed this? You like it's, you're supposed to be like all self-deprecating and make fun of yourself for when you liked pot pump. Like why is that the thing? 4 (58m 32s): Yeah. And because now it's cool, which that's, what's funny to me, like the, I was gonna say is like, to me looking like, just again, I'll sound like a disgruntled old man, but like I get off, get off my lawn. But like, I mean, I remember growing up and being in high school in, in bands, like, you know, that we just discussed taking back Sunday dashboard would come through saves the day or, you know, and I remember going to these shows and, and my friends maybe that were, I had friends obviously that were into that. And it was like this thing that wasn't that cool. Like, you know, it wasn't the mainstream thing. And now to see it become like this festival that sells out in 10 minutes and people think like, I like, yeah, again, like, like their pop pop, like the, the, their emo playlist consists of like every song that came out when it was already like on the radio, like make damn sure from taking back Sunday is not something that should be on your pop punk, your email playlist. 4 (59m 32s): I'm sorry. 6 (59m 33s): I agree with you. I think all the, the times I've been booked to DJ and email night in the past few years has warped my reality a bit. But I know that what you're saying is correct. And it's like, 4 (59m 45s): It hurts my heart 6 (59m 47s): At the same time though. It's like, I don't wanna be a crochety old guy. I don't believe, like, I don't believe in like hanging on to shit. There's a part of me. That's also like, yeah, you know what? Adults are wrong. And kids are right about music, no matter what, but right. But then I'm just like, I wish that I, I wish that I just wish that people weren't so fickle in, in certain, and it's not, I, this is not, I don't mean to sound bitter cuz man overboard fans are fucking awesome. Right. I'm talking about on a broader scale, like, you know, pop punks, cool for a couple years, then everybody wants to make fun of it. Then it's cool for a couple years, then everybody wants to make fun of it. 6 (1h 0m 27s): And I feel like that's the cycle. And then I look at people participating in that cycle and I'm like, you're the dork? You're the dork here. Not the guy in that band. 4 (1h 0m 35s): No. Sure. For sure. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, cuz I thought again I was on the radio for a long time. I don't know if I mentioned it for like 17 years. And about eight years ago I pitched to my program director at the time doing a emo show, like playing emo stuff. And then this is kind of when the emo nights and all that started, like they weren't pop, they weren't yet happening. And first of all, he's like, you're stupid. No one would care. And then it started happening. I'm like, see it's happening. We should do this. And he is like, he still wouldn't wouldn't budge. But then I had a buddy of mine that would go to those things and, and I'm like, and I would just be like, this would be my list. Like here's my hour of music. And he was, and he even said was like, dude, like these aren't the songs. 4 (1h 1m 17s): Yeah, you can't, these are two, these are two deep cut for the, for the crowd. I'm like, what do you mean? They're like, he's like, no man, 8 (1h 1m 35s): McDonald's crispy chicken sandwich or quarter pounder with cheese in lab solo solo 11 (1h 1m 54s): Money is the number one cause of stress. And the number two cause of divorce, make your money go further and work harder with a certified financial planner from facet wealth, financial planning used to focus on retirement, but facet helps you with today. You get a dedicated financial planner that guides you through every financial decision inflation interest rates, stock market changes, home prices. How do you figure it all out? Well, every advisor at facet is a certified financial planner and fiduciary. That's just a fancy way to say they have the best training and they're legally bound to do what's in your best interest. This isn't just about investments. It's about taking care of your money so you can start living a better life. Today. Facet has a simple flat fee, no hidden charges and with nothing to sell, there are no commissions visit. 11 (1h 2m 40s): Try facet, wealth.com for two months free off your first year of financial planning. That's T Y F a C E T wealth.com. Facet wealth is an S E C registered investment advisor. This is not an offer to buy or sell securities nor is it investment legal or tax advice. We 12 (1h 2m 54s): Can't see tomorrow, but we can hear it. And it sounds like a wind farm powering homes across the country. We're bridging to a sustainable energy future. Working today to ensure tomorrow is on Enbridge. Life takes energy. 6 (1h 3m 9s): I might have deleted it, but let's see if I can pull up for you right now. A few days ago, I deleted a bunch of my playlists off Spotify, but I have, I should have. Here you go. This is an emo night playlist of mine. I'm the DJ. So I can't, this does not represent my tastes really at all. I can throw in my taste a little bit saves the day at your funeral, timber, Wilson, New Jersey, take back Sunday bites to break skin. This is like getting like as best as I can like listen. 4 (1h 3m 38s): Yeah, I'm listening. Cause I wanted, see if I could find mine while you're 6 (1h 3m 42s): But then I have to throw in dear Maria, count me in. I have to throw in swing swing even though I mean that song's really good. I have to throw in blink Anthem part two because I'm like, I wanna, 4 (1h 3m 51s): That's a great one. 6 (1h 3m 52s): I wanna listen to Anthem part two and it's blink. So you guys will deal with it. Then I try to, this is, this is I'm trying to get away with murder by playing Thursday, understanding in a car crash. 4 (1h 4m 1s): Oh dude. 6 (1h 4m 2s): Only we're in New Jersey. I can maybe do that. Then I apologize for playing Thursday by playing the middle by Jimmy eat world. After that, then to keep apologizing, I play fat lip. Then I play hand count. But my thing is, I like to play the acoustic version. 4 (1h 4m 18s): Thank you. Thank you. Because that, that there was what dude, I love, I love dashboard, but when I heard hands down with the, with the cow, I'm like this that just gave, I just turned it off couldn't couldn't 6 (1h 4m 31s): So then it's like, I can throw in Thursday again, down the line I throw in Thursday again, but afterwards I, where is it? I have to do cute without the eight or they like express yourself again. But then I have to do I write sins, not tragedies by panic. The disco go like it's like this chug of war for me, but I get it too. Cuz I don't fucking care. It's not about me proving to these kids what pop punk or emo is. And it's really not about us listening to what I wanna listen to. It's about selling drinks, dancing, singing loud, everybody getting drunk and having like a good night. And I totally like you've given everything we're talking about aside. I do operate on that level and like I, under that, I understand our mindset a lot. 6 (1h 5m 12s): Like it's very easy for me to go. It ain't about that right now though. Baby, watch me blast all time low and all these people go nuts. It's crazy. And 4 (1h 5m 20s): No sure. No, I, I completely agree with you cuz then I'm I'm looking at my list and to see the one that I actually, the one that I set up to be like actually played on the radio and even then I had like my like I'm not okay. Ocean avenue, crush, crush. But I also had the promise ring. Yeah. Why did we ever meet and like take it away and best of me. But I also had understanding a car crash. 6 (1h 5m 44s): You get, when you play promise ring, you get like one bro. Who's like, 4 (1h 5m 50s): Dude. Oh my God. I wish that's so funny that you just said to your list. Cuz I wish I could show you. I'm gonna try to just share my screen for you for one second. I know this. Interview's kind of going off course. I hope I'm not. I hope I'm not taking too much of your time. 6 (1h 6m 5s): No, you're good. I just hope I don't sound like a jerk. Like I'm crapping on. Everybody's fun. I get it. 4 (1h 6m 10s): No, it is fun. But it's, it's also fun to speak to somebody that that was also on that same. 6 (1h 6m 17s): Well, it's like some people 4 (1h 6m 18s): Space. How do I do this? 6 (1h 6m 20s): I also think it's corny. When I hear someone closer to our age, who's like, oh I'm not going to that emo night thing. That's not real emo. You're like, yeah dude. Yeah. Well you know what? It's not, it's not your scene point contest. That's not like what this is about. 4 (1h 6m 33s): Right? Okay. So here was my, this was the one I made for the radio station. 6 (1h 6m 38s): Oh my God, 4 (1h 6m 40s): Dude. We had the same one. I even wrote hands down off the so impossible EP. And then I had understanding a car crash, but then I also put in the, but I guess that, you know I had, cause I did an interview here. So I had this whole thing already. But like, I mean some of these, my buddies, like there's like four songs on here that would go over. Well, nothing else would really work. 6 (1h 7m 3s): Yeah. You have to kind of, 4 (1h 7m 7s): You gotta play the game gotta, but anyway, 6 (1h 7m 10s): Kids, they're not, they're not some of those kids wouldn't wanna go to a show. It doesn't make 'em bad people, but they, they wanna go to that. They wanna go to the casino and drink. And like a lot of those dudes you have in that crowd might not be super familiar with, you know, the current bands or the, but they were really into it when they were younger and they're there cuz there's a lot of ladies there or ladies are there cuz there's a lot of ladies there guys there. Cause there's a lot of guys there, whatever it is, you know, saying people like meeting people, I think at those events and it's fun. It's social it's it's it's it's party. 4 (1h 7m 43s): Right? Exactly. I don't wanna say, like I said, I don't wanna say like grandpa, but like just it's to watch this thing kind of unfold them like, oh my God, like how crazy is that? This is happening. But I love that we're on the same page with some of this stuff. It's really cool to hear. Especially somebody that came you in the scene and being like have such a successful band within it too. It's so it's rad. And I love that. You're I know we'll back. I wanna back up to your band now the new stuff that you have coming out. So you said three of the five songs were older ish and the one a light over Massachusetts. That's the one that I've heard is that from the that's an old one. 6 (1h 8m 24s): Yeah. So that's about Tim, from transit who passed away. That was in 2018. I wanna say in February or may have been 19, but whatever year it was, it was, I didn't know that I was gonna do Zachary Ross in the divine yet. So I just wrote that song, thinking it was naturally, I was like, man, overboard will pay a tribute to Tim and wrote this song, but I don't know, points just kind of changed. Me and Tim were really close. I think that, like I said, I don't think Manoverboard has plans to put stuff out right now, which is totally cool. Cuz we can't get together as a unit. 6 (1h 9m 4s): Everybody's too busy, but I can do something on my own or with some other guys. So I wrote that song. It's like, I'm not, it's not like it didn't get to the point yet where other people would've collaborated or anything on it. So it just became, I was like, this is gonna be, Tim would want me to, Tim would want me to, if, if he could, if he could lend a hand in the new band, he would want to, you know what I mean? So it's like, there you go, baby. He got me. The, this would be the first single, 4 (1h 9m 36s): You know, I love that. Oh and are the other songs in the record? Similar to, to that one? 6 (1h 9m 43s): Yeah. Okay. That song represents a lot of, I mean it goes different ways on the record, but that song's a nice middle ground because that song has some like pop punk style. But it also has like electronic drums, which we, which we go and sense and stuff, which we go to on the record a lot and we will probably forever and like yeah, all these extra kind of things that you probably wouldn't hear in a man overboard song are there. But then also the elements that you would hear in man overboard song are there in, in a light over Massachusetts. So I think it's like right in the middle, it's like not any, it doesn't go in any extremes that the album goes in. 6 (1h 10m 24s): Okay. You know, also it's like what the song's about. Right? Like some of the songs are about girls and just like man of award, some of them are about the rest of them are about like me or a girl. So like they're a lot, not this one's way. This is the Mo by far the most serious song on the record by far. Okay. I mean, my friend who passed away obviously sure. But like, it, it is it's the heaviest, like the heaviest emotionally, you know what I mean? Figure we'd just get that out of the way. 4 (1h 10m 55s): Yeah. Is, is that kind why you wanted to lead with it? 6 (1h 10m 58s): Yeah, I think so. I think music, I wanted to lead with it because it sounds like a nice blend of my new style and, and man overboard. And that's really it. I mean, because I know that the next single I have picked up is like way more feel good. So I was left with kind of a choice is like, do you wanna release a really feel good song and then kind of bring it down? Or would you rather start with kind of a somber message, but then be able to lift the mood after, you know what I mean? So I'd, I'd rather, you know what I mean, sad stuff first 4 (1h 11m 38s): That 6 (1h 11m 38s): Stuff outta way. 4 (1h 11m 39s): And then yeah. Then bring people up 6 (1h 11m 42s): Next singles. The next single that comes out after a lighter, over messages is a lot happier. We actually, as much as I can say is we shot the music video for it last night. I'm I'm like, oh cool. Yeah. Like we got home at five in the morning. 4 (1h 11m 54s): Oh my gosh. 6 (1h 11m 56s): Really upbeat song with like a video that has people smiling and stuff and it, so the mood will, so that's kind of my mode of thought. Let's start, let's, you know, pay homage to my friend and then move on. You want, 4 (1h 12m 10s): I love it, man. Are you gonna play? Are you doing live shows for the, the record? 6 (1h 12m 15s): We don't have anything booked yet, but we have we're working. I'm working very blessed to be working with my agent that Manover Ford had. So I know that he's excited about getting us out into different cities and putting us on tour with bands that he probably already listened to. If you're listening to this and we are really just focusing on recording right now, but we intend to hit the road at the end of this year. And you know, it's like I said, this is my main band now. So people have been asking me like, are you gonna come to Cincinnati? And I'm like, yeah. Are you gonna come to San Jose? 6 (1h 12m 56s): I'm gonna come everywhere. Like, 4 (1h 12m 58s): Are you gonna, are you coming to Nashville? 6 (1h 13m 0s): Yes, we will go to Nashville. 4 (1h 13m 2s): Okay, cool. Cause that's where I moved to. 6 (1h 13m 5s): Yeah. We will go to Nashville. We will go to everywhere that we can go because I want this to be what I do again all the time. You know, I don't really wanna be home. That's not, I wanna be home sometimes, but like I'm happy as a guy who's home a little bit and on tour a little bit. That's all fine with me. So we're gonna we're we're gonna go everywhere. We're gonna play every city and we're gonna go to every country we can go to. And we're, I swear to you, we plan on doing this band as long as we can and making as many albums as possible. 4 (1h 13m 40s): I love it. I cannot wait. Cuz I love this song I've heard so far. So I'm, I'm really curious to hear the upbeat one. And, and like I said, man, I've been a fan of man overboard obviously for a, a long time. And it's cool to, to see that you're back out releasing music, man. Super excited. 6 (1h 13m 57s): Appreciate it, dude. I'm excited too. 4 (1h 14m 0s): I have one more question, actually two, cuz I'm just curious. What, what's your, what's your favorite pop that you have behind you? 6 (1h 14m 7s): Oh my favorite. My best fun pop man. So you can't even see all of them. Believe it or not. There's some over here and there's some over right now. I'll break it down for you right now. I'm pointing at Disney. Okay. Anime. Now I'm pointing at rock stars and rappers. 4 (1h 14m 22s): Okay. 6 (1h 14m 23s): Now I'm pointing at ninja turtles. That's all ninja turtles. 4 (1h 14m 25s): Oh sick. 6 (1h 14m 26s): That's all WWE and Marvel. DC. 4 (1h 14m 31s): I love that. It's funny. You haven't broken down like that. My family, like my wife and I and our kids like love those things, dude. But they're we have so many 6 (1h 14m 40s): Obsess with them. I think I have about 350. 4 (1h 14m 42s): Oh wow. We have probably about that. You probably, you might have more than me. I got like two gigantic. Like when we moved from San Diego was like, we had three huge tubs that we had just dedicated to fitting 'em 6 (1h 14m 56s): All which kind do you guys collect? 4 (1h 14m 59s): We have the Mar my son likes the Marvel ones and the star wars ones. And we have a lot of Disney ones. I like the television show. Like the nostalgic TV show ones like the married with children and friends we have. And then the music ones too. I've we have a, and some of the sports stuff. 6 (1h 15m 20s): My favorite Funko has be, I have an original, no, my favorite Funko pop. It's not that like, it's not my most expensive Funko pop, but it's Sid vicious. 4 (1h 15m 36s): Oh, that's rad. Okay. 6 (1h 15m 38s): So like insane to have. It's like 4 (1h 15m 40s): Right. 6 (1h 15m 41s): It's it's an insane Funko pop to have. They're like really rare, but 4 (1h 15m 45s): I don't think I, yeah, I don't have Sid vicious. I don't the music ones. I, I have blink 6 (1h 15m 51s): Or outta the box at your house. 4 (1h 15m 53s): In the box. In the box I have for music. I'm trying to think. I have the couple biggie smalls ones I have Morrisy I have Brittany Spears with the snake. I'm 6 (1h 16m 8s): I'm only missing one Brittany. And have 4 (1h 16m 12s): You have snake one? 6 (1h 16m 14s): I do snake one. That was the first one I got I'm looking at her right now. I got Jimmy Hendricks biggie, Nia Twain, Billy idol blink 180 2. 4 (1h 16m 22s): I got blink 180 2. 6 (1h 16m 24s): Travis, Billy Armstrong. 4 (1h 16m 27s): I have, do you have, do you have the rest of green day? I have all green day. 6 (1h 16m 30s): I, no, I just have I don't. 4 (1h 16m 35s): Oh, I got D and trick. Cool. I think I bought him as a collection. 6 (1h 16m 39s): Yeah. Lemy from your head. I got Brett Michaels. 4 (1h 16m 43s): I have Lemy. 6 (1h 16m 44s): I got little Wayne. 4 (1h 16m 47s): Yeah. Oh the little Wayne one's tight. Is it the, the big one with that record? The Carter or, or is the 6 (1h 16m 53s): He's like, I can show it to you. He's it's actually pretty new. This is one of the newest, he only came out on the he's a Funko exclusive. That only came out like a few. Lemme see if I can 4 (1h 17m 5s): Get, oh yeah, 6 (1h 17m 6s): He's in. He's got a Mike stand and a suit on 4 (1h 17m 9s): That's sick. Oh yeah. You have the has the crown. Yeah. That's cool, man. Yeah. I have the, my chem one with the black parade, like album. It's the big one. It's big. And it's like, got the guy on it. Do you have, oh, you probably have it too. You're grabbing it. 6 (1h 17m 22s): Oh no, I'm not. But I oh that this is actually what I should have told you. This is my favorite phone. GoPro going to Rose's appetite for, 4 (1h 17m 31s): Oh, that's sick. 6 (1h 17m 32s): It's one of my records ever. And then these are exclusives. These pops, their faces are painted. Like they are on the, on the record. Cover. Yeah. Makeup. So I keep that, that sits above my computer. That I write music on that, on music on. 4 (1h 17m 48s): I love that 6 (1h 17m 49s): Inspiration. 4 (1h 17m 51s): I have a Tony Hawk, one that he signed for my son. So that's a cool one too. That 6 (1h 17m 55s): It's 4 (1h 17m 55s): Sick, but yeah, that's awesome that you have so many and those are good ones. My last question for you, cuz I know I've taken way too much of your time up brother 6 (1h 18m 6s): To have fun. 4 (1h 18m 7s): Do you have any advice for aspiring artists? 6 (1h 18m 11s): Yeah man, just like everything I said, like go to whatever the equivalent of whatever that when I was talking about just shoving those CDs in people's hands and not really taking no for an answer, whatever that equivalent is now, spam your pay, your followers, shamelessly, plug your shit. Like what do you got? 56 followers or something I'm shooting really low. So maybe a lot of people listen and have way more than that. You know what I mean? Like say you got fucking 20 followers on Twitter, spam them with your shit. There's only 20 of them. What are you gonna do? Ruin your life? Like what are you gonna ruin? Your, your reputation. You go go ham, annoy people and, and shamelessly promote yourself.