EP #78 - Rock Band - Coridian

I had Mike Raven (guitar) and Kris Raven (drums) from the New Zealand rock band Coridian. It's a bit of a melancholy feel for this one, Coridian is sadly going on hiatus, and I go way back with these guys. We discussed their epic 10-year career, including all the ups and downs. 

They have their final gig scheduled for August 30th at the Tuning Fork in Auckland. I might even make an appearance....

Check out Coridian’s socials

• Website- https://coridian.wixsite.com/coridiannz
• Linktree- https://linktr.ee/coridian
• Instagram profile- https://www.instagram.com/coridian_band
• YouTube profile link- https://www.youtube.com/@CoridianNZ
• Facebook profile link- https://www.facebook.com/Coridianband

Sponsored by Infinity Sleep

Get the sleep you deserve and use the promo code “onlyscott15%” and receive 15% off your first order.

https://www.infinitysleep.co.nz/

My Social Media

• YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@OnlyScott
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theonlyscott01/
• TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@onlyscottspodcast
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Only-Scott-100091616387021/

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:00

And I'm here with the Caridian Bros, two of the Caridium Bros, Chris and Mike. Hello. Damn guys. Why did you have to put up that post? Tears are coming on. Oh I've cracked open the beer, but I just want to say before we get started, for everyone listening, and maybe some who might not know, Caridian, I've known these boys for about 10 years now. Crazy. And uh they've been an integral part of the Only Scott journey. And also with previous band we were in, uh, and my previous band years ago, Anna Moya taught of them and just watching them grow. And um, yeah, pretty special. So cheers, boys. Cheers, man.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Chao chur. Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_06 0:41

Yeah. So the first question I gotta ask how upset was Dad? How was Dad? Dad? Yeah, how was Dad? How was Dad feeling about all this? Oh Donnie. Yeah. Donnie's been alright actually. He hasn't mentioned it.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

No, like I think he's actually No, he's more excited for like a show. He's excited for the tenure. Like, he just keeps asking me every week. He's like, alright, you're like, what, you know, how long's the set? How many songs? And then I'd be like, Well, we're gonna do this much, and blah, blah, blah. And he's like, not long enough. I need more.

SPEAKER_06 1:13

He needs a two-hour, two and a half hour.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

If he had his own way, he'd have a Bruce Springsteen set list. Yeah, or Foo Fighters set list or kind of thing.

SPEAKER_06 1:20

Yeah. Yeah. All the B sides. I don't know how many B sides you got.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

I mean, maybe he'll be um he'll probably be emotional in the Naruk, you know. It could be. He'll be hugging everyone by the end.

SPEAKER_06 1:30

My son. Yeah. And Diddy. But um, I'm sure he's adopted Diddy at this point. He has, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. So I s I I suppose one of the things I I would love to get into is because it's I we talked about this a little bit last time, I actually talked about it at Doug Fest. But one thing I would have been trying to focus on a bit more on this podcast is like kind of like the journey of trying to go after something, like go after a passion. Going after something like trying to be in a band, trying to make it work, trying to, you know, balance four members, opinions, ideas, you know, touring, traveling, rehearsing, you know, and all that like work that goes into it. Was there anything like if you it's quite a long period of time, but if you can look back at the ten years of the time, what was something that maybe you would have liked to have known when you started?

SPEAKER_02 2:22

I don't know, actually. Um I think uh like that's a really good question. Yeah, it is. Um what would we like to have known? Um I don't know. I guess it's kind of I don't have an answer right now. I can't think.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

It's alright, we can come back to it.

SPEAKER_06 2:47

I guess we're like we've learned from the mistakes along the way, like anyone does, but it's hard to know, I guess, but I I suppose for you guys beforehand, you were already in there was Chu Chuck Norris, I still remember that. And then uh I don't know, I can't remember Mike, you were in quite a few bands before Caridian as well, right? Yeah. So I guess you would have had a lot of learnings from those times. And then you can kind of, you know, Caridian's a bit of was a bit what wasn't the first band, to put it like that.

SPEAKER_04 3:13

I guess I guess navigating the the industry side of things because as creatives you control everything in terms of what you're writing, who you're who you're doing it with, who you're uh recording with, who you know who's your producer, whatever. But there's a lot of things you follow and waste time with in the industry. Not necessarily waste time with, but some some of the stuff is kind of like yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

Actually, no, now that you say producer, I know that like because we've obviously yeah, we've all been in bands, like we've all been in bands. I someone asked me the other day, though, like, how long you've been playing drums, and I was like, 25 years, and then I worked it out, and it's like Mike's probably been playing guitar for like 35 years, and then you to add bands on top of that, and like I feel like when we got to Caribbean, we were all at that point when we were like, we want to be in a band that tries to achieve something, whereas before it was like we're just like having fun playing, and like there was probably I can't speak for everyone, but there's probably like varying degrees. Like, I know like Diddy with Mile High, they they did pretty well.

SPEAKER_06 4:21

Yeah, I actually looked at that music video you guys posted up on the group or someone put up on the group of like is Diddy gonna go back and do Mile High? Oh, did someone put I didn't even see it? Yeah, it was like one of the comments, and then I was just like, I I remember Jekyll like listening to that, like I mean when I first got in touch with the city.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Yeah, because they got they they made it on the rock, they took around New Zealand, like they did pretty well, like and I guess like when we finally made the decision to go from Chuck Norris to like let's get a singer, and then we found and then you know worked it out all out with Diddy, but like I'd say like one of the massive things, and I think a lot of people you still hear people talking about it now. I think a producer is well, certainly for us, is a massive deal. And like me and Diddy also like spend a lot of time um learning like how the industry in New Zealand works, um like joining up with um uh music.net. Well, music.net is a big one, but like there's um there's the industry one as well. April like like APR, all that stuff, recorded music, ends it on air like music managers.

SPEAKER_04 5:23

Music managers forum yeah yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

Because we were effectively like you know, independent, so we were managing the band as well. Um so we like definitely did like a lot of like we went to some courses and stuff like that, and you know, I've seen like Doug and Lisa and stuff talk about that um online and that and I think that's really important stuff. Like if you're gonna be independent, um you've definitely got to learn and navigate your way through all that stuff. Like if you do want to get to a certain place or try to, yes. Um, I think unfortunately, like we've kind of touched on it before with New Zealand on air, like you get New Zealand get New Zealand on Air gets a battering like online from like local bands and oh yeah, like but the thing is it's a hard one because it's like yeah, I see where people are coming from, but at the same time, like they can't just throw money at you for the sake of it. Um so I think it's really learning and navigating how the industry works and if you want to be a part of it.

SPEAKER_06 6:22

Yeah, from what I remember, I don't know what it's like right now, but I remember when I when my band we tried to apply for it, and the big thing was it's just like a you just would get rejected or just nothing. And I think what would be amazing is if you get some feedback, or there's someone you can talk to to be like, oh, why didn't we get the funder? There is. Oh, so they might but that's a bit okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

It's not it's it's the thing is it's it's reaching out. They're not gonna they're not gonna come to you and say, Oh, you didn't get it because of this. They want you can reach out to them, you can message you can email them. Did he meet up with the one of the guys that is still involved? Um and you know, like we've talked to them for a long time. Like, you know, I would say like we applied for years and years and years and years, and we ended up getting like three grants, but that wasn't for lack of trust.

SPEAKER_04 7:12

And it wasn't without like asking a million people what uh how they would do it, or yeah, what's the criteria, what are the boxes we needed to get it?

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Because we literally would do that, like we would print out the criteria and be like, alright, we've got this at the moment, let's work on to get into this. And I know bands do that, but like yeah, I think that and also the producer thing to go back to that, like I think that is really important if you do feel like you need to find a sound, because I think finding a sound is really important as well. You can put out an awesome EP, but every song sounds like a different genre, yeah. So like making sure that it like is all cohesive is super important. Um so I think finding a sound, and if you can have a producer there, at least just to run ideas off you and like um and help you along the way, I think it's it's really important, and that will kind of separate you from just the garage band to getting to another level. Yeah, that's what I think anyway.

SPEAKER_06 8:15

Would you say as well, like having like and someone outside of the band, how crucial that is, especially in the beginning? Insanely crucial. Because I think that's what happens in from what I see, especially in like the bedroom recording musicians and the era we're in where everyone records at home and all that stuff. But the thing is you're so deep in the project, it's hard to kind of see past your own bullshit.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

Well, exactly, and like maybe it's a controversial take, but like Yeah, you can think your stuff's real cool, but it's probably not that cool, man. Like get an outside opinion and not just your friends, like get a professional or someone that's been in it for a long time and be like, hey, what do you actually think of this? Give me some feedback.

SPEAKER_06 8:57

For sure. I think the big one that if I were able to think back to when I worked with especially like Zaran and that was just uh him being like, Like, what is happening with the melody of the song here? And I'm just like, that's a good question. Because I used to think to myself, especially with songs, I'd be like, Don't bore us, get to the chorus. That was like, which is not like it's not a great way to think about a song. Your verse should be just as good as the chorus, to be honest. Uh all the elements should be great.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Well I can I can throw out right now if we're gonna do a little bit of history today for Caridian. Blind Faith was our very first song we did buzz around.

SPEAKER_07 9:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

The original recording of that, which I hope I've got somewhere on a Google Drive, was not that song. Everything about the drums was completely rewritten. Because he just went, No, no, I don't like it. And I was like, Oh, okay. And when you first woke up with producer, you're like, you know, you do you like oh, but I wrote that, and it's like, and then he's like, No, you should try like this, and you play it, and then you hear the I remember me and Mike listening to like the instrumental recording of that song, and we were just like, Holy shit, incredible, fucking blown away. Because that was our like very first like Zaran experience, and we were just like, Oh, okay, that's why. So I think like that's that's such a big thing. Like, when you have someone that's like, yeah, a professional, and he's like, Yeah, that's cool, man. I'm not gonna like completely like destroy your soul, yeah, but you should try this instead and see how it works. And that's how we've done it the entire time.

SPEAKER_06 10:31

That's great.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

Since day one.

SPEAKER_06 10:33

I want to hear it. But speaking of blind faith, guess what I found? Hold on, I'm gonna show it up for the camera. Still got it, still got it after all these years with the video.

SPEAKER_04 10:44

Is that Trump?

SPEAKER_06 10:46

Isn't it yeah? Whoa. What yeah, I've still I've held on to it. I've it's been in storage and I just haven't got I'm like, I've I I don't know, I'm gonna hold on to it. That's wild for moments like this, you know. Haven't watched it, obviously, because if I watch it then all the um Sharpie or whatever's gonna come out. I still got it. Super crazy there. Yeah. Yeah, well. Yeah, yeah. Crazy. Yeah, it's funny when I watched that video because I was really hungover when I did it with you guys, and I could just see like this horrible neck bed and like my figure, big old mop on my head, and I'm like, oh man, maybe should have like I think it worked.

SPEAKER_04 11:19

I think it suited the vibe. Oh, it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

Like a lot of people that did that video with us were hung over that though.

SPEAKER_05 11:27

I was so fucking hung up with that day.

SPEAKER_06 11:30

But I it was fun. The finished product looked great, so I was like, sweet, happy that you guys are happy it worked out there. But um, yeah, back to the demo. Yeah, back to going, yeah, having a producer come in. I remember, yeah, I've had those experiences a lot, but it's I think for uh the band now, because going to a producer now, it's um I guess unless they're a friend, it's very costly, but it's just such a worthwhile investment, and that's when it comes like down to the fun garage rock project you make with your friends to then like you guys said, like this is now a band with a goal because you need to invest, like in a business or whatever, right? You need to invest in it.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

So I think it's like that weird balance, it's like I know, like, and you've talked about it a lot on this podcast, and I I guess it is relevant, and I'm probably feeling like an old man, but like you know, like f and I don't know if it's gonna change, hopefully it does, but it's like, yeah, you're a band, but you're kind of a business. Well, if you want to go down that path, you kind of have to become a business. Yep, then you also have to become like uh a content creator, yeah, which is awful for me. Anyway, it's so hard, and it's like you're balancing three things effectively. Um I did four, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:42

Three I think if that's all you were doing, that's great. But then you're also playing in a band, writing, recording music, like it's yeah.

SPEAKER_06 12:51

I think it's easy one of many things easier now to maybe lose focus of music if you're going too far down that path. Because I even found that for myself with my previous project of Nighthawk stuff, I was going way too deep on like branding, and it was cool, but then I was like, and then if things got very expensive and I couldn't keep doing it. But what I learned from that was like, right, I should have learned this years ago, and I should have like been more open to like the idea of like because I used to think it was like a dirty word, like building your brand your band as a brand or a business, but it's really not because if that's what like you said, you want to have a goal, you want to get on the rock, or let's say New Zealand, or you want to get on get some uh some views on YouTube, you want to go touring overseas, even if you want to tour in Australia, like they're not just gonna accept some bullshit. So because the the levels compared to I mean, I'm just gonna be honest with this Australian light bands to New Zealand bands, not all the time, but generally, it's a big difference with stage performing to professionalism.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

But I would see I would say that in the last I don't know, maybe five years, maybe ten, I reckon that we're we're coming up. A lot of bands now are getting to that.

SPEAKER_06 14:04

Yeah, so one thing I wanted to bring up with you guys, can't remember if we talked about on the last podcast, where we did. I've talked about on here so much, but who cares? It's the last few years in the New Zealand scene, the alternative scene specifically, it's been wild. Yeah, I'm still like amazed when I go to like some local, like I'm just gonna be on some local band, hasn't been around long, and then I'll pack out a venue of 50 people, and I'm like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Yeah, like I think it's like almost the days of like playing to like five people and the bartender are like definitely seem to be changing.

SPEAKER_06 14:37

Um yeah, I think also like younger bands understand content game better, so they can promote, they can get the name out, create buzz.

SPEAKER_04 14:45

Yeah, but it's like if there's not if there's not a huge amount of people at your show, or like not many at all, it's generally because you're potentially overplaying or there's those sorts of things. Um the mistake that a lot of those local bands make where they're playing too many shows, and their mates are just like, yeah, that's cool, but we're not gonna come out and see you like once a month or every couple of weeks when you're playing another show, and it's we that's what we one of those things that you want, you want to learn. You want to be excited to watch, right?

SPEAKER_06 15:16

You want to be like, oh the Caribbean I've seen, but they're not when they're gonna play next. Yeah. Is it two months, three months? I went to two.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

That's one thing we probably learnt actually, like, luckily not too late in the game. Overplaying um You guys never did that. We did, we did a little bit at the beginning.

SPEAKER_06 15:31

I feel like that's pretty that's probably not a bad thing though.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

It's probably a like a growing thing. Yeah, but it's probably a good thing. But I'd definitely say, like, yeah, don't overplay a region too much. Like, that is definitely something like I think is good, like valuable information. One other thing, just to go back to the original question, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 15:46

I would say would be like And this episode is sponsored by me. Do you struggle with sleeping and particularly struggle with light and sound while sleeping? I think it's time you get the sleep that you deserve. My business Infinity Sleep specializes in sleep well-being products to enhance your sleep quality. I've been using sleep masks and airplugs for the past three years to help improve my sleep, and I'm so stoked to finally have ones that have been created for my own sleeping needs. If you would like to learn more about my business Infinity Sleep, please visit our website www.infinitysleep.co dot nz. By making a purchase, you are directly not only supporting a local HUE business, but also this podcast. Use the promo code only scot fifteen percent and receive fifteen percent off your first order. Go to w dot infinitysleep.co dot nz to get the sleep that you deserve.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

You make an album, right? Costs you however much, and you're like, yeah, man, this is gonna be awesome. Big album release, tour, blah blah. No promotion. Yep. Yeah, like yeah, yeah. You could only you almost have to spend like half your album budget on promotion these days. Yeah. Because everything gets lost in the algorithm, right?

SPEAKER_06 16:59

It's very, very easy. So you got you gotta do like the uh I was a while ago, I remember this. It was like Taylor Swift's like album budget, which includes marketing, promotion, everything else. I think like 80% was marketing. Yeah, 20% was for the studio and everything else, but the most of that budget is the promo.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

But we learned that. We learned that big time, like, and I think once we got to Havar, like we're told like let's do the billboards, let's that was sick.

SPEAKER_06 17:26

I saw I went back on your Instagram and saw that post again. I'm like, fuck, that's cool.

SPEAKER_04 17:29

And heaps of people saw them, and it was yeah, it was a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

And like we can like we've reshared them a few times and people loved it, and it's like um just little things like that. Like, um yeah, don't be afraid to like act like you're bigger than you are in a way, like don't be cocky about it, but like be like, nah, we're actually really proud of this. Yeah, like why not be like hey, you can see it up there.

SPEAKER_06 17:51

Yeah, especially with all those hours in the studio, because as you boys know, like you're there for days and days. If you're recording even five songs, you know, for four members. I mean, how long's that if you're there every day? A week, maybe a week and a half.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

Bro, we can break that down. Because I would say, like, me and Nick between us, if we did the whole album over like however many years we recorded it, I was probably only in there for like four or five days. Whereas Mike and Diddy were in there for weeks and weeks.

SPEAKER_06 18:18

Yeah, I guess it just it depends on how much you're exploring. Did you do quite a lot of exploring during the time when you're in the studio, Mike? Because we're with with tones, probably not parts more to tones.

SPEAKER_04 18:29

With like setting a tone for a song, yeah. You could be one or two hours, yeah. Like and say say a song maybe would roughly take a day. But you've got um your main your main tracks, but then you've got anywhere from five to fifteen, maybe twenty other things happening at like all over the show. Yeah. But um yeah, so all those have to be written, and then you play something, you're like, ah it doesn't work, and so it's just yeah. But you get you get a get a groove going and yeah, it was just it was just the way that we that we worked in the end. So we actually want to do something with that side of things.

SPEAKER_02 19:21

Yeah, so the post that we did was really like it was true, like we are gonna we're still planning on doing some post live hiatus releases, but like we've got some ideas, and yeah, we'll save that for now.

SPEAKER_04 19:36

Taking it taking it back to the to the roots in a way as well. Reimagining Karidia.

SPEAKER_06 19:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure, yeah. So yeah, I guess the other thing as well, back to still the studio part, because I think this is really interesting to me, is uh like I guess what what is it you want to get out of the studio as a musician? Because it's like how and then I think it's like it's always that tension between the producer and the band and the band members, because how I thought the song went, and the producers got their opinion, and then you're trying to uh I think even as like a guitarist, like you probably found that you could be like, Alright, I gotta not get too lost down here, otherwise we're gonna blow out the budget, and then you know, still vocals to go. Because you've got to kind of keep things in line, and it's also like trying to figure out when is the song done. How have you guys found that for yourselves? Because if you guys progressive rock, a lot of layers, there's a lot going on sometimes, and you know, vocal layers, guitar layers, uh samples, synths. Like, how long it how long does it do you guys have that like I don't know discrepancy? I don't know what the word is, like, or like you think like, oh man, is this done yet? Like the song is done when when the run's like, well, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:45

That's what you paid up to. Yeah, when the It's when the it's like invoice is clear, like another one.

SPEAKER_04 20:53

When the when the bros says he's happy with it, that's when you know sometimes you're like, Oh, I think that'll be okay, and he's still looking for more out of you or out of the you know, more tones, and you're like, What are you doing? Oh, we're just gonna put another track in here, and you're like, We're not done. It is what it is what it is, like you just yeah, just roll with it. It's it's a trust thing, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_06 21:16

Yeah, and also having someone I think well like someone like Zaran or another producer with someone who you like, no, I I trust their opinion, you know, and we should explore all the ideas uh of what could could be done.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Like that's the thing though, like is ultimate trust recording like three the two albums in the EP with him was like he's like okay, so like we do drums first, bass, rah-rah, and he's like, got ideas for us too. And then once he gets the guitars and vocals, like we're just kind of like sitting there being like, Oh, what's gonna happen? But it's super exciting because you're like, oh whoa, I did not see that little bit or the way it was going. And there's like parts that I've heard in Mike's crazy brainwash. was Iran at the same time in the studio that you can't even hear in the mix once it's all mastered and everything like you can hear like little subtle things but when you hear like I guess a a a a less stacked track you're like oh my god that riff though and then Mike's like you're never gonna hear it and I'm like oh but it's so good yeah yeah you you would have it was taken out yeah but yeah because this is the layers right of like yeah I remember when I did recording Zerani you'd have like like ten guitar tracks for like one verse and then it's like it's like these little little like uh sprinkles of even when we got like because we only started doing backing tracks like five years ago and when we got those and we just listened to them without and I was like oh my god this is insane yeah it's having a whole orchestra though it's like a whole new frickin' song yeah having all that backing um it's a careful balance I guess I guess like for you guys it makes a lot of sense and because you're a tight progressive rock band and it's not like crazy progressive you know like seven eight to like nine four or crazy things but like you gotta I I guess it's like uh you don't you don't get too we got some 7-8 bro I got some 7-8?

SPEAKER_04 23:13

Yeah we do sorry about it progressive see we're like I could potentially be that petty that then we could just write something just to prove them wrong. Yeah you can prove me wrong if we're not quite progressive. Let's count out Nidon right now then. Yeah yeah five times it could have changes in one song. I think Nidon's at least three is that it yeah that's goes from seven eight to three four to four four yeah and still four four in that song hell yeah baby the the maybe it's six eight we do a lot of six eight the last song on the on the first EP don't ask me what the name of it is but oh oceanic yeah the first song oh frogs and crossbones oh yeah that's something to record so there Yeah it's it's actually no that's not timing changes so much as the tempo changes three times in the song. Yes yeah that's weird tempo change like is is because I wasn't really like click like all the bands I played in prior to that I wasn't really used to clicks and then so when we went into Roundhead with Paul um this is prior to Zaron to do Oceanic and he was like you gotta play to a click and I was like oh cool but see there's there's people that there's people that don't like backing tracks there's people that don't like clicks but if you use them as tools if you use them as part of we like we use a uh a a click and it allows us to do things we wouldn't have been able to do before and each to their own but yeah it's but we're also weird in the fact that like That's me I have a click in my head in my ears and then I just play the backing tracks on stage.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

Yep. And then Diddy's got in ears and then Mike and Nick have just normal he uses an air monitoring he's not hearing anything so I'm like literally commanding at the back. You're the conductor. Whereas you know like most bands I guess well a lot of modern bands are just all in air clicks plus everything else which is cool.

SPEAKER_06 25:27

I don't know it just worked for us right yeah I think yeah like you said looking as a tool something to enhance or to experiment with and to try and for like a rock band a modern rock band metal band having a click track elevates the music whether people like to admit it or not I I I it does.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

I've seen videos of Chuck Norris like on YouTube and I'm like what the fuck is wrong with you?

SPEAKER_04 25:52

It's fucking taking off I'm like it's like yeah it's like the horse of the racetrack it's it's so bad for somewhere to be like at the time it it just feels right but when you watch it back you're like holy shit he's um he's fucking off yeah this can't was he would be on tangents yeah you know like it just yeah but so like when we when people people loved it right yeah so when we started doing like the metronome and the click tray it was like even for me like learning it and being like whoa this actually like holds you back this like gives you control.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

I mean Zoran probably won't agree because he's probably like you're always ahead or behind but I love you Zoran so don't you know um but yeah it's the best thing I ever did and even when I practice at home or along to like um you know covers and stuff I'll just do clip track because it feels weird not having that annoying beeping in my ear. I'm like oh can you just annoy me some more I love it like let's really ruin your groove bro.

SPEAKER_04 26:50

That's really nice it's really nice for um for us one of the first things I'll do is I'll say let's let's chuck up a that sort of click for this because then um it's really difficult when you're trying to set delay.

SPEAKER_07 27:06

Yeah that's hard.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

And then when you've got like two delays you got reverb all that sort of stuff and it especially if it's you know seven seconds or something ridiculous and then it just doesn't stop if it's slightly wrong and so you know it's this crazy like effect you know yeah or like if we don't do it like as soon as possible when writing a song and then we like kind of get closer to that studio time and everyone's like oh we need a click track you put it in there and everyone's like what this isn't the song you spend half a day trying to figure out because everyone's like it's too slow, it's too fast, it doesn't work why is it so slow? If anyone would like some Caribbean trivia when we recorded Oceanic a lot of those songs were written prior to Daddy joining and we had another guy named Brent singing and when we went into the studio to record with Paul because we had just started clicks for the first time we actually did slow everything quite significantly down just for me particularly to like be able to do it. So yeah again those songs sounded way different you know a year before we recorded them.

SPEAKER_06 28:19

Yeah sure they got reined in they got reined in I was gonna ask Mike um for your get your guitar tone that you use because you've got that very like delayed reverb y guitar sound which is kind of like iconic Caridian tone. What like really was there a guitarist or a a band or an artist who kind of influenced that sound for you?

SPEAKER_04 28:38

Or did you just kind of stumble into finding that it was in part um I guess being a bit old school not not intentionally but um and like I love I love gear love all the new stuff um whatever but I just never really grasped the concept of an effects loop and so I just ran everything through the front of my amp and that's where you get that um that's where you get that sound from um and I actually on the the last tour that we did I actually changed it up and put everything through through the effects loop and I was like wow this is like this is something else and everyone sort of looked for better or worse it was better but but then I had to readjust because you don't get the same sound. Sure. So then I had to like I had to just bring all those effects right up again because they just didn't do the same thing. So I would very carefully but it allowed me to do things that I was always frustrated with is these sounds that I couldn't get because they would just um you go to play say like a a melody or a lead break um and it would just be it'd just be too crazy and then running it and pulling it back through the effects loop you're like oh I can get this massive sound but still um hear each note and yeah so um after playing guitar for 35 years um I was like you're a fucking idiot but you know shit happens but um yeah I was just like oh cool like yeah so that but that's that's how that's how that sound came about um which apparently isn't as um sort of widely is not widely used like you know um and that's why yeah that was press pretty cool yeah so who was uh back to oh sorry the yeah yeah was there an artist no it went deep down like guitar nerd like the effect loop or the front of the amp um but I get it but yeah so I guess then a lot of a lot of um a lot of my playing and that sort of um lot of sounds would be influenced by Adam Jones oh yeah um I knew where he was going I think yeah even as far back as um Tone doesn't use that sort of tone though like I'm not I'm talking that clean reverb that you did yeah yeah but this is just I guess like I couldn't pin necessarily pinpoint it to one of the small as bendy things and is like brown yeah I couldn't I couldn't pinpoint it to to any artist in particular I don't think um just what you like that you kind of fuse those effects together and was like yeah yeah I love it.

SPEAKER_06 31:46

It's a clean sound it's very like definitive like when I hear that I'm like oh that's Mike on the cards.

SPEAKER_04 31:50

I was just like the you know a leader of my generation I guess yeah so there's the inspiration for a generation there's the edge from you too and there's the ledge from Caribbean. The ledge fuck inspired a generation Mike Raven everyone did you compare me to the edge because that's insulting to be honest like as far as effects go that's me 802 is a pretty dope you just need a huge like uh cabinet of effects pedals to replicate what he does I mean let's be honest we're just like we're gonna hate on a band that forces their music on everyone never forget never forget the iTunes album never forget yeah no one wanted that so after that fuck it's up why have you done this to us yeah um but you know big band and yeah you know lots of yeah well hey we've had a few comparisons to you two in like terms of theme kind of motifs I guess you're still talking about you two Micah wants to move on we're moving on from you we're moving on from you too oh that's well I mean it's I mean having comparisons yeah but no there there have you listened to um to Mantra Yeah it's uh it's it's it was never intended to be but that is like a pretty massive like you two huge delay riff right that's and it's like it's fucking mean ass. Yeah yeah it's like uh one of my favourite so I dig it yeah alright if we can get between the two of you five or just how many you can remember five pinnacle mom pinnacle highlights of the band oh exciting over the last ten years here you go power station playing power station that was our that was our sort of combined like bucketless venue um we could play at a venue five times that size skiller and devil skin yeah thank you devil skin we love you all yeah but that's yeah that was it that was it that was just a was that twice in one year yeah it was sick I remember was it you who told me like Doug Vestia I we peaked in 2018 or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

Yeah it just like made me laugh but it was I did the post yesterday of 2018 because of going through memory lane on on social media and I was like looking at all the gigs and I was like did did is did the most amount of gigs we've ever done did a whole bunch of internationals and played like massive shows and tours of the big New Zealand elite yeah 2018 2018 seven years ago so alright power station yeah what's another one power station what's another pinnacle another pinnacle highlight so you're doing your flight first it could be joined or just whatever it doesn't have just trying to I'm trying to put too much pressure I don't know like I feel like um me getting to record drums around here twice pretty sick. Math meaning um yeah that was cool no that was yeah um what else oh meat stop meat stop in terms of like this playing a festival and feeling like you're an actual like rock god in terms of how you're treated um and like being able to watch bands from side of stage and catering and drinks and all that thing mental that was sock royalty I guess can I probably blind faith in terms of like so working with Z.

SPEAKER_04 35:50

Yeah um I would say I was gonna say just working with Z but like because he has helped us to produce all that that music as well um but I think blind faith is like I think we were talking about it before that's what um that's what kicked it off that's what and and we we wrote differently I wrote differently after that um it it elevated the band to a to a different place.

SPEAKER_02 36:24

Yeah that's the song where we found our sound. Yeah and that was was E. Yeah and having yeah that whole relationship started then and that's where the band really kind of kicked yeah exactly like Pivotal Moment is literally that song. That song Blame Faith and and those next however many years after that were just incredible.

SPEAKER_06 36:44

Speaking of guess what I found it was a bit fucking scratch I still got it that split but yeah that's sick.

SPEAKER_04 36:54

That's cool that we got to do that was crazy. What what did you call this what did you call these?

SPEAKER_06 36:59

Splits a split yeah it was cool that we got to do a split um you guys did a few splits though or just that one no just that one I'll take it I'll take it I'll take it yeah um the only two completely different songs but super dub.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

I guess like probably a self-indulgent pivotal moment was self-indulgent for me but yeah I mean that's awesome um was just like and you know we probably regret it now because we're sitting on a few copies so people please buy them um it's just cool having a help on vinyl yeah that's true like vinyl sick I don't like I was kind of like should we do this should we not do this it's expensive but like having a vinyl is pretty cool and um I was even like talking to my workmates the other day and I was like sending a vinyl to someone and they're like what's that and I'm like it's my band and they're like what so that's really awesome.

SPEAKER_06 37:47

I think that's a cool little thing like you know I want to get mine framed up and put on the wall yeah you should you should you should so alright we got PowerStation twice uh roundhead recording their drums uh finding your sound with Zaran vinyl and then vinyl and then one more one more um I don't know man like there's been some cool stuff yeah there's there's so much any international gig in particular or is there pinnacle moments I mean I mean what about Doug First pretty good if you're if you're gonna Dougfest was dog Doug Fest was fun as fuck.

SPEAKER_04 38:30

Yeah I mean so many cool shows like that um if only we've only got five I mean I'd say can I compress everyone that we've met through the last 10 years into like one conglomeration and say that like a pinnacle moment has been meeting all these people like yourself and like everyone that we've played with.

SPEAKER_06 38:54

I'll take it man you know it's been the bands and the people were like yeah so I mean you just met so many people from all over the space even after the band's done done you guys can still do so many other things because you've got all these connections and a big network because of all the hard work and the grind you did.

SPEAKER_04 39:10

Yeah I mean you could say the same thing about you know like um our fans or people that listen to our music but I guess in terms of um it's something that you you look forward to when you're when you're touring and and having those relations the relationships that you build with with those people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:30

So it's kind of like yeah it's pretty important really it's uh I don't know still words me out it's like and I think we kind of have to keep telling ourselves like because we're always like take the piss out of our own band I think it's probably like that classic yeah Kiwi like Australia thing where you're like oh we're like oh I just played a show last night and we sold it out or like oh we just got some funding or like we just did this really cool thing with our band and then you're just like still a loser but like I think the fact that like I don't know I've been reflecting a bit recently especially doing these posts I'm like holy crap like that's awesome like we got to do some really cool shit that yeah and that's amazing and like you know like you know we're pretty stoked. Um but I think yeah like uh what Mike's saying with bands and stuff like that and crew and uh venue owners and people and then like actually having that's weird for me to say like having fans it's still kind of kind of weird at this point.

SPEAKER_09 40:34

No but no but it like it weirds me out because I'm like I st I guess I can't handle it.

SPEAKER_02 40:39

Like I'm like wow people like genuinely like the music you made um and they want to listen to it repeatedly yeah and then some of them have actually become like acquaintances and friends like they'll message and we'll have a chat like Matthew from um you know why uh Matthew Motram from oh yeah yes yes yes yes yes mockers rock yep yeah like it's cool just people like that I don't know it's really cool and um yeah I don't know it's still weird to me out fans that's why I always say fans slash friends fans and friends yeah yeah and so I guess in New Zealand as well because um when you guys play shows and there you get to see a lot of familiar faces when you go play.

SPEAKER_06 41:18

So it's almost like you're meeting up with yeah it's like meeting up with friends right it's not like uh you probably don't feel that disconnected but because it is small but tight you know which is what you actually want I think I think having a tight community means more than you know just having a lot of people but then most of it don't care it has been a like I don't know I feel like the community's getting bigger it is um I had something on top of my tongue ah it was um oh Spotify streaming since you've got with all your guys' numbers and stuff what's been a country that surprised you with like a lot of streams outside of New Zealand well don't say I haven't looked recently but um the weirdest one ever was years and years ago it wasn't on Spotify it was on Apple we chartered in Mexico Chartered in Mexico how they understand I was like that's buzzy um I don't know like our Okay here's something funny Spotify C2 is our most popular song on Spotify it's I don't know it's like nearly 6500 streams now.

SPEAKER_02 42:32

Is it still on the same playlist? It's been on the same prog rock playlist since 2020. Wow which is five years or so it's just been the thing is it will slowly go down the playlist and then it goes up to the top again.

SPEAKER_06 42:47

What what's it called the playlist?

SPEAKER_02 42:49

I think it's just called like progressive rock or prog rock right it's like a decent and it's a Spotify playlist proper Spotify playlist prog rock I think it is it's it's insane um yeah that's cool. Mexican Mexico and a little small um maybe for me because I kind of did a lot of the behind the scenes fan stuff when Spotify gave us our own playlist this is Caridian I was like uh sick even though Spotify awful awful company and people um yeah the shout out yeah shout out you everyone should get off um but I don't know that was a little cool highlight I was like have we made it in Spotify now because this is Caribbean this is Caridian yeah yeah well well speaking of that what streaming servers should people what what what should they use or should they just not everyone should just go Bandcamp. I don't know man I guess Bandcamp um I I mean I haven't heard of Bandcamp anyone doing that shit in a long time. I would personally think it would be cool if we'd also had CDs and vinyl again. Well we've got vinyl, but I've still got CDs. Yeah. Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_06 44:08

I got my car C D player, but having a lot of CDs in the car now it's like a chore.

SPEAKER_04 44:13

I mean it it's that's the problem, though, with the technology is it's just like oh and then you ever wondered how you know we used to carry that stuff around and maybe they need to do like uh I don't even know.

SPEAKER_02 44:29

I don't know, because I feel like all the main streaming platformers are all pretty like you know, big tech kind of companies, right? They're not exactly like yeah, hey, we should support them because they you know they care about you.

SPEAKER_06 44:44

Now the CEO of Spotify said that uh making music is making music like it doesn't cost anything. Quoted.

SPEAKER_02 44:51

Yeah, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_06 44:52

Amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:53

Oh he's a he's he's a cool guy. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 44:55

For sure. Um but like that's the thing, right? Is like that, but everyone talks about oh, it's so seedy and stuff, and it's like, well, hasn't the music industry always been seedy? Yeah. Because it has. I mean, look at Montley Crew. It's never no well, not not just them in particular, but record labels, publicists, the whole works. It's never been clean. I'm not saying that like it we shouldn't change it, but it's like, I know people, oh, it's so bad now. I'm like, it's kind of always was clean.

SPEAKER_02 45:20

It's kind of funny because everyone's like, oh, at least it took it away from the big evil giant labels and corporations. I'm like, yes, but now we've just created more evil corporations.

SPEAKER_06 45:30

It recorded tech ones and then the playlists and and the big artists owned by the evil labels.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 45:35

Universal Music, I think I did like a video on this like a like a year ago. Their profits in like you like Universal Music themselves up to like ten billion dollars a year. They're not losing any money.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

And like the thing is, and I respect I respect like the bands that are like, oh, we're pulling our music off Spotify because the CEO is an asshole and supports killing children. Um but I missed that part. Fuck SNT. No offence to them. Um it's great, but like until Taylor Swift and the Foo Fighters and Bruce Springsteen, to keep it relevant because we talked about those three, um, until they pull their music, it's not gonna hit Spotify.

SPEAKER_05 46:18

Yeah, it's become a household name Spotify. Spotify is Netflix for music, you know. Yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 46:26

And uh even to eventually got on Spotify. So what does that say? Which was that was a shock to the system. That was a shock to the system. I was like, wow, Maynard finally or if it was Maynard on the band or whatever, but I felt like it would be more him being like alright, so well the the wine didn't do well last year, I needed some money. We could have put this on Spotify. Yeah, he's still going hard and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 46:54

Speaking of wine.

SPEAKER_06 46:57

Oh, okay. Yep. Oh wait, what do you mean? Wine. Oh, right, right. Okay. Sorry. No, we'll go, bro. We can cut this bit. I don't know what's going on.

SPEAKER_04 47:12

Sorry, I just yeah, I didn't want to interrupt the conversation.

SPEAKER_06 47:14

No, no, no, you're cool, you're cool. That's fine. That's so we're just cutting here? Yeah, well, I mean we can. I don't I don't know. I can always just chop some bits for that. I thought I thought he was like getting out a bottle of wine. I'm like, oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 47:24

Yeah, I was like, he doesn't drink wine.

SPEAKER_06 47:25

I was like, what's going on? Oh, he's taking a piss.

SPEAKER_02 47:27

Oh but slow.

SPEAKER_06 47:29

That's a slang I haven't heard. I'm gonna take a wine.

SPEAKER_02 47:32

Like, I'm going to the toilet, bro.

SPEAKER_06 47:34

Yeah, I haven't heard that slang before. I've missed out on that. Well, I'm gonna take a wine. Oh, okay, sweet. Alright. Alright, Mike. No, that's cool. Yeah, holy shit. Damn. That's crazy to me, eh? Like, with you guys, because I'm like, I feel like I'm kind of like embedded with you guys a little bit. You know, that's what I feel. It's like, oh man, like we have had like uh yeah, I mean, we've yeah, I mean, even Nightbook. I opened, yeah, like playing you guys, like it's kind of like crazy to me on that as well. I'm like, wow, shit. Um and then watching your bet you the guys you guys grow has been like pretty wild. Because I saw you obviously, yeah, the low like the very beginning with no one at the shows, but we you know, I I've you know did that as well, and then just like slowly, like, but surely you know.

SPEAKER_02 48:21

I was like that, um yeah, because 2016 we did that tour with animeware, and that was our second ever tour.

SPEAKER_06 48:29

Um I thought I was a rock star on that tour.

SPEAKER_02 48:31

I was like, that was actually like that was a fun tour, man.

SPEAKER_06 48:34

Like that we actually like You know my memory of that though is that fucking that Hamilton gig we did? I remember you guys played and I and then uh and then we played and then neverone left, and I was like, I mean that was so funny.

SPEAKER_02 48:46

So we put oh so we put you on after.

SPEAKER_06 48:48

Yeah, I was like it was just funny to me because I was just like, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:52

I think my memory of that is we did the all ages at that giant hall the night before. Oh yeah. And that was the most expensive show of the tour. Yeah, and it bombed.

SPEAKER_07 49:03

Yeah, it did.

SPEAKER_02 49:04

And then we played Ding Dong the next night and it was like pretty much sold out and it was awesome. And I was like, I'm so glad it wasn't the other way around. Because God, that would have been depressing to like Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we've always had that, like every tour we've done, there's been like that one show that like if you put it at the end of the tour, you'd be just crying, but then you somehow end on a high.

SPEAKER_06 49:26

Yeah, the old ages scene is uh really come back. It's big now. Like, I went and checked out um Sprawl, I've had them on here as well, the young new metal band. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like blown away. Not just also the band's great, got a great vibe, but it was more the the the crowd and interaction with them and how many people really like them. They're all good, mate. Did you have a good wine, bro?

SPEAKER_02 49:55

Can I go for a wine as well?

SPEAKER_06 49:57

Yeah, I was literally gonna pass my pants.

SPEAKER_00 49:59

I was like, holy five spent.

SPEAKER_06 50:04

I would actually like to keep this up because I'm just about like you I've never heard the slang of going for a wine and you need a piss.

SPEAKER_04 50:10

I just that was just a really bad thing.

SPEAKER_06 50:12

Did you just make it up? Because that could be, hey, you could be a pioneer for this. It was really bad. It could be a viral moment.

SPEAKER_03 50:17

Uh yeah. I was just like, fucking need to get out of here.

SPEAKER_06 50:23

I don't have piss bottles beside the by the chairs. Maybe that's moving. Let's get some more beers and maybe. There we go. And then have another wine after that. That's true. I was just saying to Chris before um just about the uh the all ages scene. Because we we talked a bit about that, we did that tour. Oh, yeah, that's that was that on the Anamoya tour with you guys. Well, sorry, the the Green Tour with Anamoya, and then the second to last show we did that all ages show got the big venue, and it kind of flopped.

SPEAKER_04 50:50

And that's the That was it like the Hall, that Ponsonby that with that that's the show we lost the most money on. Yeah. I mean it was like that yeah, but we were like, oh well, we we we wanted to do it, but uh yeah, we lost quite a bit of money.

SPEAKER_06 51:05

But it was I was just saying to Chris before, like uh like how now the all ages scenes like absolutely going off. It's real weird. It was it's just like uh like I was talking about the band Sprawl and like yeah, how like they've like done really well and how these all ages shows now are just like sold out every time it began.

SPEAKER_04 51:24

Yeah, there was uh there's another one uh Tuning Fork, the ones that we've done at the Tuning Fork that have been all ages, like fantastic shows. Crazy. You know, yeah, like um in terms of like attendance and like just yeah, people are really into it, you know. So and that's I guess a good thing about having uh you know a bunch of different bands, young some younger bands, you know different age groups. Different age groups and stuff, it it and it everyone just sweet. It all becomes like the the same in the end, right? Yeah, well exactly. It's just good good music's good music and yeah.

SPEAKER_06 52:07

So you guys have always been very like supportive of like up-and-coming bands and having all kinds of different genres. I mean like even like with I remember back with like Adam Oyla, we were like a metal band, and then it was like you guys, and then you guys would be on like heavy gigs, alternative gigs, indie gigs, you know, kind of did them all acoustic, uh all sorts of stuff. Hey, so no, it's it's it's like um it's I guess New Zealand what's one of the things I really liked about like with what you guys do, because I feel like there was a period of time I remember when I first got into the scene and there was still like quite a split of like rock, the rock bands, and then the metal bands, and then I feel like it's just that's that's gone now, which is great. Yeah, but like there was still a bit of that going on, maybe like 2000s, early 2010s.

SPEAKER_02 52:53

I think one of my favorite one of my favourite gigs we did I think was when we first kind of started playing with Poor Down the Sun quite a lot. Yeah. And they had a gig and it was like them, us, maybe Crooked, and there was a death metal band from Christchurch, and sorry for forgetting the name.

SPEAKER_04 53:13

Did that come up the other day? I saw it somewhere, and it it was a really good lineup.

SPEAKER_02 53:20

And it was like it started with the death metal band, and then I think us and then crooked and then pull down, and it was like obviously different varieties of metal and then a rock band, kind of progressive rock band. And like just everyone was just like, This is a this is a vibe, man. And like, and all the bands are like saying to each other, like, Oh, I love you, I love your music.

SPEAKER_04 53:39

Because that's the thing, is like we love death metal, yeah, we love hardcore, we love all the genres, like we'd been good music's good music, we'd been we'd been kind of messing around with the concept of um with Chuck Norris of just like being like, Hey, we like this artist or this band or whatever, because we'd have quite often just solo artists coming on our on our bill. And um we were kind of just like they it it'll it'll work, but it's completely like left field sort of um and we just continue that and we were like, yeah, they're heavier than us. But then that would um sort of inspire us to put on a really good show so that no one could argue that you guys aren't heavy enough to be here or whatever. We'll we'll just make people think oh they were really, really good, even though they're not as heavy, whatever. Like we just kind of get away with it, and we and so we yeah, we slowly from Chuck Norris into Caribbean, we introduced like this concept of um just playing with bands that we liked, not necessarily bands that worked with us. I mean a lot of people do that, we'll you know, but it wasn't necessarily to do with the music, it was more about I felt like that wasn't as the people.

SPEAKER_06 55:03

I felt like that wasn't as acceptable for a while, but but now it's just like yeah, you you'll go to unless it's like a throw down night, which obviously it's like hardcore bands or whatever, but if it's just like a gig of a band, it's like yeah, you'll get a bit of a big thing.

SPEAKER_04 55:14

Yeah, I mean there's nothing wrong with like obviously, you know, of course, like hardcore gigs, hardcore bands, but and and the same with anything, but yeah, it was just kind of a way to um give people a different experience too when they come to our shows and then they'll be like, Oh, I wouldn't normally listen to that, but or they come to our shows and goes, I didn't like that. And it's that's always that's always the thing with like Fuck is this.

SPEAKER_06 55:37

That's always the thing also of like if I I reckon with most people like heavier music and that is like I'm like, go watch it live, go watch it live, like or even like rock music, like your guys' recordings are amazing and great to listen to, but live it's like you know, it's a whole different thing. It's bigger and yeah, like with rock music in general, it's made for the stage. More of it I mean, yeah, recording's great, but it's made for the stage. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:01

I agree with that. Like but at the same time, like I've been lucky to like getting into like the side thing of like reviewing albums in musical net. And like I think a big thing that I've found is like you'll listen to the album and you're like all the EP and you're like, whoa, like these guys are actually like when you can capture some of that live energy, but it's like beautifully produced. Like perfect.

SPEAKER_06 56:31

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 56:31

Like, and I think a lot of bands are doing that, and it's like I think you've even brought up before, like, with the younger bands now, like they're going back to probably what we were doing when we were younger, where they're like not necessarily recording to sound perfect. We probably did it because we couldn't afford it. But they're like, hey no, you know what this sounds cool, like it's more authentic and like there's like a live raw feel, and we were just doing it because we couldn't afford all the bells and whistles, but um when you can pick the you can get that perfect balance between like the live energy and it's well produced, I think it's perfect.

SPEAKER_06 57:10

Yeah, and I think the other thing as well was like talking about trends and stuff is like that overproduced, too clean, too perfected, like that's just not cool anymore, you know? Because that was I think the music industry was trying so hard to get there and then it did, and then it was like and then people were like I'm over this now. I don't I want emotion, you know? And now that we're in the we're in a really digital tech era, fucking AI, fucking all that stuff, and I think now it's like with music, it's like I don't want too much tech in my music, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 57:39

I don't know how to put it, but well we were lucky because I think the way we've done it is that you know like we can still play without anything. Um and sometimes, depending on who's mixing us, um you might not even hear that many backing tracks at all.

SPEAKER_04 57:55

Um there's been times where But it doesn't take it away, right?

SPEAKER_05 57:58

No, it doesn't.

SPEAKER_06 57:58

It doesn't. Your guy's sound is big enough, like yeah, the the everything together is big enough to to to to make do. It's just like a bit of icing on the cake, I guess, you know.

SPEAKER_02 58:07

But I think that's really important. It's like if you can confidently play your music without any extras, um you know, it's gonna shine through. And that's again, that's not like taking away from bands that do, like, because they do that because they want to. Um, but I think that was always a nice little yeah, icing on the cake for us is like if the laptop blew up and I couldn't hear anything, we can still play the songs.

SPEAKER_06 58:31

You don't need to do the Ronnie Radke being like, ah, is the tour's open. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that was funny. Exactly. That was funny.

SPEAKER_04 58:37

That happens all the time, right? Something happens, you just turn it off and keep going. You gotta adapt. And no one's any no one's any wiser, like what what happened?

SPEAKER_02 58:46

What we normally end most of our sets with seed or blind faith, and I'm like been warming to the songs all night, and I just get way too excited, and then I'm like, I'm so out. Stop.

SPEAKER_03 58:58

Yeah, so it still happens, like that's yeah, that's funny.

SPEAKER_06 59:02

I've experienced that in bands as well, where I've been like, fuck it, like but they're like, but they don't even know until I tell them at the end.

SPEAKER_02 59:08

They're like, I was like, sorry guys, I I I stopped the song halfway through, and they're like, Didn't what? Okay.

SPEAKER_04 59:16

But it's like raw, like raw emotion or whatever. Fuck it's it's all good.

SPEAKER_02 59:20

It's quite funny that when we do seed though, and it's like that little guitar bit at the end with my drum bed, it's just no guitar anymore.

SPEAKER_04 59:27

Oh yeah, when I when I stopped playing and just because I got lazy and just started using the the backing track for that bit, and I was like, Ah, it gives me a bit of a break or whatever. Yeah, um, and then yeah, if it's out with him though, it's it's just me, I'm so I'm on smoker now. Mike's on smoker, back in track.

SPEAKER_06 59:46

Yeah, uh it's funny. One band I remember I watched live who did the backing tracks really well, they did it in between their songs was um Silverstein. I I saw them play at Whammy ages ago now, but they did like have like these little bits in between their songs and just added a bit extra, like it's not empty, but it was nice, but then they you know they go into their you know hardcore, melodic hardcore, pop, you know, what's it post-hardcore, whatever it is. And I'm like, oh, that's cool, you know. But then like you'll see, yeah. I've said this on the podcast before, but I'll just say it for the millionth time. And the worst one I saw was probably 21 Pilots. It was just ridiculous. I'm like, you guys may as well just not play. Yeah, you know, it was just at a point where I'm just like, you guys can afford a band. Yeah, come on, like get some musicians, like guys, you can do it, you can afford it, you know. I saw and then like because it with those big pop artists, it's interesting. Like, you can tell who I don't know, like who are the ones who really care about those sorts of things. Like Kendrick Lamar is one, he really cares. He has like a whole band play. Have you seen like I've seen videos like Mad City, and though those sound fucking sick, even if you don't like hip-hop, like it's just really cool. Or like I saw Bruno Mars, like again.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:52

I was Bruno Mars is like I know, like he's kind of a bit he's got that prince vibe.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:58

But that's sweet, but but the but but he's amazing, yeah. Like whether you like the music or not, like that does it. That's what I mean.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:04

Like he but he's got that he's got that vibe of like Prince where like he's a he's not just a singer, he's everything. He's a absolute music.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:13

That's the point where you were saying before about like when we're live, it's bigger, it's how it's how it's meant to be. When you hear artists like that, if they're good, that's what happens. And you hear something and you're like, oh yeah, this is not what I what I normally listen to. But when you hear them live with a band and you're like, Holy shit, this is amazing. Yeah, you know, and and it's like I don't even know who this dude is, but it sounds really, really good, and then you can go and listen to their music and you think, oh, pretty sure you know better live, yeah, yeah. Or you might like it, but it's um it's definitely I've been challenged by that sort of thing before. And um I mean, even like I mean, like Ed Sharon. Ed Sharon's it was like I mean that's you gotta respect it. Yeah, I mean he's a good performer, that's you know he's a great songwriter.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:07

But I reckon he's a better songwriter than a performer.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:10

But when I've heard his stuff, when I've heard his music, like and I'm like, eh, whatever. And then I saw him live and I was like, this is this is good. This is awesome, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:17

It's the same with my ripped him off of the loot pedals. It's the same with T Swift, though. Like, yeah, my missus got me onto T Swift, and like I'm converted, bro.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:25

Yeah, like but you watch what are the fans called? What are their names?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:29

Swifties. Swifties, that's it. But you watch I'm probably not a I I I okay, I'll miss Swifty. Okay, but you you watch her. Like, I think she did like a three hour frickin' live show that she released, Errors or whatever it's called. You her band is insane. Yeah, like every member of that band is not only ridiculous at their instrument.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:52

I mean, that's it's like where that's what happens when you got money. Like, if we had money, I'd get a new drummer that stays in time.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:58

We don't need a click track. But no, T Swiss drummer.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:04

Well, I mean, that's what you'd hope for, I guess. It's like it's always like happens with hip hop as well, like it's a different genre entirely. But for me, as soon as the like the band, like homebrew, like bring out a band, I'm like, this is already the best hip-hop group I've ever seen. Already. Rather than just a like, obviously, there's like different types of DJing, but when it's obviously like they're pushing play on the track, and then you know, whatever. You know, I think yeah, so I think one of the most disappointing ones I watched was Eminem.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:32

Again, you've seen him live.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:34

Yeah, ages ago. Wasn't good. Like, he just chopped like Eminem show, in my view, I thought it would be like a Foo Fighters show, like two hours. He's got so many hits. That's a lot of words. That's a lot of words, but it was 40 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:50

Yeah, but he's doing like I know, but then 40 minutes of words is like ten hours of actual words. That's true.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:57

You can say what you want, Mr. Words, it's not the way it works. That's true. He's he's shortchanged. He should play an hour and a half at least.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:04

But the other thing was uh the amount of backing tracks. But what also weirded me out about that gig was like there was a girl who was singing, was at Weston Springs, by the way, and uh she was just there to like put pretend to be like Rihanna, I think. Or Dido. Nah, it was Rah was Rihanna. Was that um what's it? That's a great song. Love the Way You Lie. That's right. But then she it was it was like Rihanna Oh no, that's not Rihanna. Oh anyway.

SPEAKER_10 1:04:27

That is Rihanna. Love the Way You Lie? Love the Way You Lie. That is That's Rihanna.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:31

Anyway. What was the other one I'm thinking of? Well, Doctor. What was that on the Dr. Dre that they like did together like later, like later on? I've forgotten the name of it. My point is, is that they didn't need to like bring these extra people on and then make them try and convince the audience that they're singing when there's a back and track going on.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:47

Uh yeah, but that's when you that's when you gotta look at your mixing guy, right? Your sound guy.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:52

Let's try and make it look a bit realistic. Let's not Ashley Simpson this.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:56

Yeah. But that's just things like that. Like when you got that much, I don't mean whatever. If Eminem's just like, hey, there's just another day on the job, but you don't come to a deal by the way.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:05

As we as musicians will pull the shit apart forever. I know, but as the general populace kind of do they care? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:13

That's then that's the ultimate question because as Eminem's production team can be like, oh fuck this, who cares?

SPEAKER_06 1:05:20

Who cares? You're 100% right.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:21

But that's the grand thing though, is that like back in the day, because we're old, Ashley Simpson and Jessica Simpson, whoever came out and they did the lip sync for Saturday Night Live. And they got destroyed, right? Yeah, they did. Like everyone that happens now, and everyone's like, oh, don't be so mean to them. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. Do you not have a talent?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:42

Should you not be like I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:44

I feel like we're a little bit like, oh no, you don't have to be good anymore.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:48

I I've I've heard the argument that But everyone just pretends to be nice.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:52

That's the thing. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:53

People But potentially if the if the I don't know about Ashley Simpson or whoever you're talking about. But if their dancing is on point, then you're like, okay, you can't do both these things. No. So if they're lip syncing but their dance is like crazy, crazy, crazy good, then I guess it's one of the two. Storming entertainment. But like lip syncing. Yeah, it's not it's like music.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:19

It's like when you look at like K-pop K-pop groups are like this. It's like the image and the the fashion, the costumes, the set, the videos, and then the music. Like the music is like that's at the back. Like that's not the focus of and that's a lot of pop music, right? But like that's it depends on it really depends on like the yeah, if it's the artist, the musician, like what is, you know, is this like a you know, is this a band, is it an artist with like, you know, a lot of musicality, a lot of that going on, or is it like this is a commercial pop gig, and the vibe is more about the story and like the members, and it's not it's almost like wrestling. Like it's it's like it's not really about the wrestling. So WWDE what I'm talking about, so it's more like the performance rather than the actual skill of the wrestling bit. So I feel like with pop shows it's kind of like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:10

Okay, that's it. At times, it's not an interesting way to look at it though.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:13

But that's but that's kind of not all the time, obviously. Love it says at Bruno Mars, that's not that. No, but then you watch someone maybe like yes, like with an Eminem show like that. Eminem is insanely talented and incredible at you know, the goat, but for that live show, I was like, yeah, yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:28

No, fair enough. Yeah, you guess it's your expectation, eh? Like, that's yeah. Um person who didn't lip sync was Ozzy Osborne, who yeah, arrested.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:41

Badly passed away. Actual goat. That was sad. But I was like, you made it to 76. I was like, wow. And Hulk Hogan died. That's crazy. Yeah, that's also crazy. 71. I'm like, I I saw a great meme of this. It's like do lots of drugs and play rock and roll. 76, go to the gym, 71. Yeah, but let's be honest, Hulk Hogan did heaps of coke poker in the 80s. So tit for tat, you know what I mean? Yeah, maybe he did more drugs than Aussie, we don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:08

He picked the wrong week to go though.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:09

Yeah, he did. Steroids. Aussie's just made out of something different, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:15

Oh, and uh but yeah, what legacy and move from um fat freddy's as well. So that's pretty pretty close to home, pretty uh pretty big loss there.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:25

But I didn't know that one. Was that just the last week? Yeah, yeah. Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:29

Yeah, he was saying he was, I guess, like he was the the rhythm of Fat Freddy's. Yeah. Uh founded kind of Fat Freddy's.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:36

Yeah. I always forget how old that band is. They've been around they've been around for a for a mid-90s. Mid-90s?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:45

Oh, late 90s, I think. But I mean, you know, like they're huge. Like you forget how huge that bands are.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:51

I think yeah, I I I I do forget. I've got a funny story about Fat Freddy's, I just remembered they played at Northern Bass one year, and I and I like just called it like Fat Freddy's drop the bass because all the sound mixing is done for DJs, yeah. So just fuck the kick drum and like the bass is just turned up to shit. So forget about the guitars, the horns, even the vocals are in there, it's like and I'm just like that's Freddy's going dubstep while it's going on.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:18

Oh, that was also a bucketless moment. Um playing well, that meatstock show. We it was Devil Skin, Cora, and Shapeshifter. And we're all massive fans of all those bands, and that was mental. So Cora's sick.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:34

Yeah, I saw them live and I was like, no expectation, and I remember I saw them. I was Rim and Vines once, and I was like, oh, that was way more like grit than I imagined. I think the guitar is what's that band called? Heavy metal ninjas.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:47

We saw them um they opened for animals as leaders at King's Arms. That's mean. That was sick, and they actually had masks on.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:54

That's cool. Yeah, but I remember like the guy from that was in them and I saw that like the eight string. I saw the eight string come up before. I'm like, what the fuck is I thought it was gonna be some reggae or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:03

And so cool, like their band's just got like this crazy like little revolving door, like they just have people coming in and out. Oh it seems. I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:11

That's cool, yeah. Well, yeah, thing, especially like Shapeshifter. I mean, that's a awesome stage production, and then also Tiketane doing the sound. I watched a good awesome video what quite a while back about how he does the sound mixing for them because all analog gear that he uses, which is real buzzy when you think about it for an electronic rock band. But Shapeshifter's completely analogue. It's all analog, it's so sick. That's crazy that it's all analogue.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:35

Like real drums, real actual like moog synthesizers and stuff.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:40

That's another band that I was surprised with how long they've been around, late 90s as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:45

I mean, that's another just a pointless point or a or a good point. I don't know. Um the fact that we still use analog gear, um but and Nick's one of the only bands uh the only bass player. Like we went on this tour. There was no other bass players.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:06

We were like, fuck, what a loser.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:09

Um and so he had to he was hauling around like all this gear just for him, and no one else, you know, like he kind of often share everything. And so there's I think I was the only one that actually that had a guitar amp, though, to be fair. We were the only ones that had actual amps.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:23

So there's there's this great photo that people can find online. Claimus, uh Elodie, and pull down. They did a tour, and none of them have a bass player. And they're all incredible, and we're good mates with all of them. And Nick Raven decided at their Auckland gig that he would get up on stage when they did their group photo at the end of the tour to celebrate their four shows around New Zealand. Nick Raven decided that he would be in there as the bass player for all. Just like on the bass player because I'm the fellow and bass player. Yeah, so good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:01

Classic Nick Raven.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:02

But yeah, that has been interesting. Like, I think when we played at um uh that North Lane Rock Monsters show.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:10

Oh yeah, I remember when you played on that. That was so good.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:14

We were literally the only band that had a bass player and the only band that played through CAPS.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:20

Um Well, no, there's CAPS, but oh sorry, like using like an analog AMP head, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:26

Analog AMP heads, and um yeah, not everything was completely to the disc either.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:31

So like that was like yeah, that was interesting. I think it's back to Mike's point before about like even digital analog, like using the as tools, like which because when you get the experience, you can find out which one suits you more, like for different applications, right? Like, for example, like even in the studio, obviously we're recording onto a computer, and but then it's like, oh, we record onto tape, but it's way more natural and this, that, but maybe the sound on tape, maybe it's just not as great as the digital one, or vice versa. It depends on the band or the application that you're doing all together, but it's I think it's just knowing what it sounds like. Because even like um who's one of the is it Max? What's his name? Max? Who's the who's the one who does all like the big pop artist, like the big recording engineer? I want to say it's Max Martin, but I might have made that up. Is it Max Martin? He's done like Britney Spears, Katie Perry, like all the biggest artists, some of the biggest songs under the last 20 years. But he did like a video, I think it was him, and then he just showed like how all of the songs still have heaps of like tape plugins on them. And it's like, oh, interesting. So people still use a lot of even like hip hop or pop, like regardless, it's still using tape uh emulation of some sort.

SPEAKER_10 1:13:38

So it's like interesting.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:39

So we're not completely past that. Um, but yeah, I think yeah, just down to doubt it.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:45

If you can afford analog, people are still gonna do it.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:48

I think so. I I I I I still enjoy yeah, I still really enjoy like yeah, being at like even I get my pedals out, I'm like, oh this is fun, like this is cool. But then and even like an a good amped. But I did try I was trying to sell my Housing Kit in an amp-head, but I haven't had much luck. I'm like, you want to buy one for two grand? It was like fuck that, let's get a Kemper. Or just use my computer.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:08

But and and then on the flip side, like I like using we like using um you know, like Kempers and all that stuff when we're recording. And yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:20

And like hybrid drum kits, hybrid drum kits and the real symbols, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:24

Why not? And we use that to our advantage so that we didn't have to um spend a huge amount on another studio to record drums and so we hybrid kits and um yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:38

So is there much of that bias anymore? Of like, I don't think people care enough anymore about oh, are you actually playing? Don't think so. I I feel like that's gone.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:45

It's all just a personal preference. Now everyone's like, oh yeah, cool, but no, I prefer to do it like this.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:50

And then it's with like lots of bands that like I'll be like, Your EP was awesome, bro. And he's like, Yeah, we just program the drums. I'm like, well, I couldn't really notice.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:59

Yeah, couldn't tell.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:00

And like you play it live, it's fucking awesome. Yeah, still nailing it, still sounds great, but like, and again, because we know that like you know, certain bands, you know, like you've got a budget and that's it, and like unless someone's giving a whole bunch of money, it's I mean, yeah, if you can back yourself up, because when people can't back themselves up, you're like, Yeah, maybe you shouldn't have, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:20

Yeah, but yeah, too much fake it.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:22

Maybe you should have done that triple double kick the way you did it, because you know I'm gonna play that live.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:26

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, but speaking of that, like budgeting in that, because you guys have obvious you know been working as well while doing the band, hasn't just been the band.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:37

So um, yeah, tell me about balancing that. What's that been like?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:42

Well, it's been a lot easier lately because we only do a few gigs. A few gigs a year.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:47

I mean it's it's it's hectic, right? Really, like oh and you got kids as well, so yeah, it's nervous like that as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:52

Well, we do get to a point though, like we I think pre-COVID we took us years, but we got to a point where our band was self-sufficient. So all the money coming in just paid for everything, except probably the last album. And then same with you, like we had to build it back up again, but like most of the time the band is paying for accommodation, flights, travel, food, drinks, etc. Uh that took a long time to get. And when we got it, we were like, cool, let's make the most of that, but you know, it's hard.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:25

I mean it's mainly the it's mainly just time. You know, that would be the biggest increase. You know, what you sort of struggle to Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:37

Um especially the older you get, more possibilities. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:40

I mean happy to give the time to the band or vice versa, but struggling it is like but it's um yeah, just do it, eh?

SPEAKER_06 1:16:51

How much do you want it? That's something I talk about, but a lot of people on here is like how much do you want it? How much are you willing to invest in the time, money with but depends on your expectation of return because everyone got I feel like I don't know, just there's sometimes romanticized uh thinking of like what the return's gonna be when you are. I made like five TikToks and uh they've all got like a few hundred views. Why the fuck am I not famous now? Or like I made one song, why has it not gotten onto Spotify playlists? Uh I put out a video like this, that, and the other, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:23

2018, post-COVID, last couple of years, it was literally like we did not think about anything else in our lives. Yes, we went to work, but we were barely like, you know, we're just doing it to hold it together. Yeah, hold the band together. It was like, Do you want to do a show? Yes. Do you want to do that tour? Yes. Do you want to do a video? Yes. Do you want to try and get this money? Yes. We just did it wasn't even a question. No one, no one even was like allowed to although obviously they'd have to say no, but no one said no. Yeah. It was just like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Let's keep going, let's keep going, let's keep going. Momentum. And we didn't stop for like several years, and then we got stopped. And then we tried to build it back up again. Got to a certain point, and then that's when we kind of after like, I don't know, eight, nine years went, maybe we should look at life a different way. And it just naturally fell that way. People had kids, people were like, Oh, I should just probably like put some more thought into my job, you know. Not that they didn't, you know, you know what I mean. But it was just things changed, the mindset changed. But we really spent five, six, seven years just being like the band, the band, the band. Yeah. And I think you have to do that. Like you just it's your relationship, it's your yeah. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:37

Yeah, I guess it's a lot to I think for like like the work of it as well. Because even like it it's the way that you guys go about the band and how much effort you put in. I mean, that's the same with anybody who tries to start anything, whether it's in business or whatever. It's the same thinking in a way. And uh, even like for me, I've when I've worked with some some people and oh, I want to start this, I'm gonna build this community, like uh, like I work in marketing, so I meet people that I want to start this sort of thing, and they're like, Oh, but I'm a bit nervous about it. And then um they'll be like, 'cause I do my business, and they're like, oh, like, well, what is it? And I'm like, like how like what why what should I think about? And I'm like, to be honest, be prepared for no one to care, no one to really support. I mean, you some people will support you, but you're gonna have to do everything every day. It's always on.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:21

And like, yeah, be prepared for your wife or your partner to be like, dude, I'm so talking about your band.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:27

That is well, but it's but it's but it's always on. Like, there's not a day off, really. No, it's every day. Yeah, and uh I think that's the part where people like can't I'll not if there's there's people who can, but I just feel like the majority like struggle with that. It's like the discipline of like it's not it's every day, it's every day.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:45

Yeah, I mean like for Mike, like he's obviously one of a you know, he's the main songwriter, like that's that's a lot of pressure. For me, I'm doing like the behind the scenes stuff, yeah. You're doing all the like the manager, band manager, yeah. That's a lot of things. Like everyone's got their role.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:01

That's like a it's a massive job. And like everyone's yeah in 2018 you would have been spending like hours and hours and hours comparative like almost to like your full-time job. Yeah, like managing, organizing shows 40 hour work weeking mental 40 hours on the band.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:19

Yeah, yeah. That's the kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:21

And you can't go repair to do that, you know, like and that's even just prior to being a content creator in terms of like Yeah, that's before that.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:28

Yeah, that's just all the emails and trying to network and going and putting in the effort to be able to do it.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:33

And we we were lucky we could do stuff in house like Diddy's artist, but yeah, did he was making he was making um all those videos, he's done merch, he's done uh you know, he's done our albums, he's done like you know, all that stuff. So that was like a massive amount of work on top of whatever he was, you know, wherever he was working, and then yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:54

So yeah, it was a lot of yeah, like everyone was committed for years. Um and didn't, you know, and it was like, oh, do you want to go on holiday? No, I can't, I've got a gig.

SPEAKER_07 1:21:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:06

You know. All those things. Like we talk about it now, and we're like, oh, I can actually go away this year.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:12

Yeah, yeah. You actually have some person some personal time.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:15

Like Mike's like, hey guys, I actually want to do this whole other thing. Can we take a break? Yes. Two years ago, absolutely not. No, not happening. You're committed to this, yeah. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:28

Yeah, uh I I don't know, I just think it's like uh I try and bring that subject up more on this podcast, or just we're talking to other people because I just think like I don't know, it's always the end result that people will see. But no one wants to talk about the actual middle grind of like every day you're doing this, I'm working on I don't know, networking and social media and that, Mike working on songs every day. Like it's not just you know, and that's we're balancing life and responsibilities as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:58

So Yeah, and even we're old school in the fact that like we're not a band that necessarily sends like wave files or refs to each other. We literally get in a practice room once a week and write and play and jam for like two, three, four hours a week, and we've done that for 10 years nearly. So it's like you know, that's a that's the extra thing as well. It's like you know.

SPEAKER_06 1:22:23

Yeah. How long did it take uh cause when did 'cause you started playing guitar, how old were you when you first picked up the guitar? Like eleven. Eleven or eleven? So how long did it take for you guys to actually jam together?

SPEAKER_02 1:22:37

Uh literally like not that long after I put it out of drums. He he was like because I'll I'll wait no, you showed me a Sepulchura song. I remember in the garage and you were like, play this tomphil, and you started playing a rock.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:54

So Hugh uh if Chris was 13, I was seven years older, eight years older, seven years. So when I started playing, I wasn't jamming with these guys because they're eight and nine years younger, or seven and nine years younger, whatever. Um but then yeah, well I would have been yeah, like eighteen, nineteen, something like that, and then yeah, just coming and being like, oh, you guys should be able to have a jam then. And we always there was always a kit set up, there was always guitars and amps and stuff, so we just I I'd go around to their place and just like sweet, you could just jam anytime. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:37

Because like um me and Nick were in a band together, like a punk band, we did a rock quest together, and then I went away and then came back and I joined Mike's band.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:49

We've been in a while. So we played in Battle of the Bands at Lincoln Green.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:54

Oh, yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:55

And we were in different bands. Yeah. So like, yeah, that was that was pretty funny because um the Ravens were split. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:06

But we have, we've always like, for years and years, we're always like, I was either in one of the band with Mike or I was in a band with Nick. And at one point I was in a band with both. Um and then the Chuck Norris thing happened and like probably I think me, Mike, and Nick put together a covers band for like a one-off show. And we just were like, oh, this is cool. And then we just started jamming originals, and like Chuck Norris was yeah, like 2010, so like 15 years ago. And then we just jammed a whole bunch, and then we started playing like at Mike's mate's house on like Friday nights. And then all these people just started turning up. It was sick.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:46

We just play at these parties in uh and in one of those old sunken lounges, but it had the floor over the someone put a floor over the top of it. So this old sunken lounge, and it was in like this massive octagon-shaped house with a banister going all up above us, so there's people like watching from the top. Oh, that's cool, lads. Yeah, it was it was and we used to have some pretty play some pretty big shows, and there'd be like shows slash parties, but like like really um like high high-end kind of parties, not not just not just a shitty party, it was like good new, like well set up, like yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:25:30

There was propaganda, yeah, yeah, yeah. And professional party.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:33

Yeah, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know how to yeah. That was also mean shows. Didn't we mean shows?

SPEAKER_02 1:25:38

I'm pretty sure we did like a we made an EP and we did an EP release party at that house. Like, and you know, yeah, hundred people in this this house.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:46

That's sick.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:47

Um it was awesome, and then that's yeah, and then Chuck Norris was like, Oh I think one day we're like, oh, should we get a singer? And then um that's pretty much where it went from.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:59

Yeah, that's that's that's buzzy though, like eventually come in together to like jam bird then to make a band all together.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:05

So I think it'll be me like a NECA band in one band for 15 years. And then Diddy did some guest vocals on Alder States Um and we wanted him to join the band when I was in all of States and NECA just left all the states. And then Diddy was like, yeah, I like older states, but I like Chuck Norris more. And then he was like, We're like, oh come on.

SPEAKER_07 1:26:35

Rest is history and it just worked.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:39

It just yeah, jailed real quick. Uh that was cool.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:44

Being chemistry, like, has that how's like yeah, I mean, being in a band's like being in a marriage. But you guys are brothers, so that's a bit ancestral better. But it's more it's more like um like managing like I don't know, I've never I never I don't know what it's like making music with a sibling. Do you think like you're more connected, more in line with each other?

SPEAKER_02 1:27:07

Musically, 100%.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:08

Yeah. I feel like there'd be something in that. We I I there must be a study on this somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:12

We get a lot of like people will say to us like um more in tune with each other, as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:18

You guys like just yeah, they say there's definitely like this like telepathy sort of stuff, like um we can just play like pick a genre and we'll just start playing, and someone will just start playing along and be like, oh yeah, sweet. I know, kind of know where you're going with us. It's like not necessarily like amazing at doing it, but it's just the way that everyone picks up on it and goes, Oh yeah, cool, we'll do this, but makes it sound good. So it's not not like we're fucking amazing at doing anything necessarily, but it's the way that we do it that everyone's like, What the fuck? Yeah. How are these guys just kind of are yeah, just in tune with each other? In it's yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:01

Um I can see why Hansen got so famous.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:04

Don't even fucking no, he's right though.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:08

That's right, I ruined that. Yeah, you did, but he's right.

SPEAKER_06 1:28:15

Oh, it's all Chris's fault. No, I'm sorry. Damn guys, tell me your feelings now. No, don't um bottle it down, we're in New Zealand. Um so um, yeah, far out. Like it's it's a it's that's a that's a long time to play together. Regardless of Caribbean, like just before that as well. I just can't even know if I've I played with like Scotty, like we we played for on each other's projects for quite a while, but that's probably like five years-ish, on and off. But like, yeah, but that was a funny one because I played with him and I was I remember I first jammed and I was like, oh, this dude's like ten years older than me. Like, how we go, and then I was like, oh, turns out we're pretty similar. So it was and then you just gel, you know. I haven't been able to find someone like that since. I don't know if you guys probably like that as well. Like if you jam other people, it's like oh it's not the don't don't feel like it's as in tune or connected, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:13

Oh, we'll find out.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:14

Find out.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:15

I mean Nooks got his band.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:17

Yeah, new band.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:18

Nooks got crywolf. Shout out crywolf. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:21

Uh bit of nepotism, I heard got them on the on the deck.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:26

Um and then it sounds like Diddy's Diddy's potentially got some stuff that he's working on.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:31

Um it's good that you guys are still gonna keep doing music though. I think it's good.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:35

I don't think we could not do music. I don't think it's yeah, a life about it. It's not like possible. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:44

We'll be back at at some point in some form or another.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:49

Yeah. Like I've said, like in the socials, it's it's it's um hiatus, it's not forever, so um we will do something eventually.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:01

Daddy and the Ravens, I'm gonna rename it. I've still got that bad name in my head. After all these games.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:07

I I did you come up with that? I can't I can't remember. I don't know who came up with that, but I can't remember who came up with that.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:12

It was like um But that was always Alex Alex from Skinny Hobos, maybe? Sounds like something he said.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:22

Diddy and the Ravens. Yeah, yeah. A really terrible 1980s tribute band or something.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:29

Tribute your own stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:32

Tribute panty or single, but change the name. No, we only do like ever, but like pre like the singles. Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:39

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the stuff no one knows. Yeah, like that. Lacrosse knows it because shit music.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:48

Pre-singles ever. Damn, that's some niche, bro. Yeah, that's a niche. That's real niche.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:54

He completely knows what he's talking about right now. Red bands, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:58

That just reminded me of something that blew my mind. So when I had that band um sprawl on here, and they're talking about new metal music, they're they're only like teenagers, so I'm like interested, like, why they they vibe with it so much. And then we were talking about different bands, and they mentioned Snot, and I was like, You guys know Snot. I remember that conversation. I was like, I I my mind was blown. I was like, How the fuck do you know this niche band? Crazy.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:24

From that what end of any. We know he yeah, he'd never heard Snot before, and he was like, maybe eight or nine or something. I was like, you need to check this band out. So yeah, and he's like, Who's this? He's like, who's this? And I said it's it's that's me. And he's like, What? And I was like, Yeah, no, this is my band. And he's like, Oh my god, this is amazing. And I was like classic a little brother. And then while I was like, nah, this is not bro.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:51

Fucking stick ass. Yeah, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:54

It's crazy that yeah, that people know that band.

SPEAKER_06 1:31:57

But it's like it the the TikTok effect of what uh gets like, I don't know, what was it, rebirthed or like re revitalized back in circulation. But they've been playing though as well. Yeah, well they've gotten it. They've gotten viral, and I'm like, yeah, out of all the bands, Snot got viral playing. But I think it's good on them, it's awesome, but I'm like, it just trips me up.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:16

Snot was one of those bands that like they were on the cusp of success. Yeah, and then the middle. Like that album was like effectively like that was gonna take them to Lumbiscus status effectively. Yeah, hypothetically, but and then it got taken away. So I can kind of see that. Like, if they were just a band that played one show opening for Limbiscuit in 1995, that would be weird. But they were like that close.

unknown 1:32:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:32:40

To getting like that big, yeah. It's just so buzzy to me. Like the bands that stand the test of time or artisan what people like remember now, like what's carried through. Well, I still feel like Limbiscuit's cool, which is also funny to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:51

But the thing is, I I mean I love it. I thought Limbiscuit was cool since you know, $3 boy, or when Mike showed me the CD. And then I started playing drums in 2000 when John Otto said take it to the Matthews Bridge. Oh man. And I said, Yes, John, I'll take it to the Matthews Bridge. Can you feel it though? And then I could feel it, and it was my generation.

SPEAKER_06 1:33:10

And then when DJ Lethal bring it on, it was like I'm sold.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:14

Say less. Yeah, and more people should be upset that there was a brief moment in time when DJ Lethal wasn't in Limbiscuit. Because how can you have Lumbiscuit without DJ Lethal? I didn't even know that. Yeah, so I'm not upset.

unknown 1:33:25

Like a little bit.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:26

Just a little bit. That was sad.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:28

I where do you know Where's Bournemouth's quit Lumbiscu like three or four times?

SPEAKER_05 1:33:32

Yeah, he has. It's crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:33:34

It's yeah, I watched a performance of them doing break stuff. Was it in Brazil this year? It's like 100,000 people.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:33:42

I was like, wow. That's awesome, but it just like buzzes me out that I'm like, wow, people still vibe with that so much.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:48

Yeah, well, I think like you can't take away oh, I guess nostalgia's in, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:33:53

Nostalgia's cool. Yeah. Well, the was uh what's that recent back to Spotify? But back of the Spotify stats come out that the like music pre-2010 is like still more popular than like the last 15 years on Spotify. So older music gets more streams than um than new music in general.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:11

Well, I mean you just gotta look at New Zealand radio. They play Guns N' Roses, that's like a thousand years old, and they Eric and the Rock are like, oh, let's let's play it more.

SPEAKER_06 1:34:20

Let's keep playing it. Love Gunners, Matt. Yeah, we'll play Welcome to the Jungle three times in one day. It's like sick.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:34:27

I haven't touched the radio in a while.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:28

No, neither.

SPEAKER_06 1:34:29

But um it's interesting to like But yeah, it's still held, like I think out of Auckland people still listen to it a lot, from what I heard. I talked about the Boondock boys about it because they're on it, and then they'll they'll they'll say like yeah, they like people outside of Auckland still but the rock is one of the it still gets quite a lot of uh listenership. So I'm not asking. Well that's I'm like interesting.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:47

Yeah, people need to also like think like, okay, do I want to go down the radio route or the streaming route or both? But be prepared to work for that.

SPEAKER_06 1:34:55

Yeah. Um you gotta apply different thinking for both.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:58

Yes, you do. And you can see that a lot of bands, like if they're doing really well on the radio, mm-hmm that doesn't necessarily translate to streaming, and vice versa. Like I don't think like we made it on the rock, maybe not as much as other bands, but that never translated to our streaming.

SPEAKER_06 1:35:14

Interesting. What about community? Does it help build the community for Kredian?

SPEAKER_02 1:35:21

I think so. Uh in terms of uh in terms of more people coming to shows, more than radio?

SPEAKER_06 1:35:27

Uh like what I mean is like more people coming to shows, more people interacting with you guys.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:30

Yeah, it's it's hard to know. It's really hard to know. Yeah. Yeah, I just I couldn't.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:35

I think definitely shows like Opening for Devil Skin and you know like skeleton stuff. Certain bands definitely helped. Like that would have been more of a draw than a radio, I guess. But again, it's hard to gauge. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:35:53

Yeah, because I've heard some bands tell me that like, yeah, being on the radio has helped them more than their streaming. But I'm like, that's interesting to me that people still value it that much. But I don't know, I'm not um I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:05

Because then it's like then you gotta look at your community and you go, well, what are they listening to? How are they listening to music? Are they still on the radio or are they on streaming?

SPEAKER_06 1:36:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:15

I don't know. It's a hard one, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:36:17

Yeah, it's gotta be everywhere. Yeah, and then uh whatever works will work for you. Yeah, it's the same with like the platforms as well, like is it Spotify, Apple Music, Title? People listen to that, or like uh Deezer. Deezer is the other one, yeah. Or on the iHeartRadio, not iHeartRadio, but all those, and then also like social media, like i is your band or art are you better on TikTok? Are you better on Instagram? Are you better on Facebook? Um Facebook's not I mean community groups on Facebook do well. How's your oh by the way, how's your guys' Facebook page going?

SPEAKER_02 1:36:46

It's not the worst, it's not the best. Because in the last few years, it's just I find Facebook just like oh Facebook's definitely like a certain age group group age group.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:55

You guys still use Facebook?

SPEAKER_02 1:36:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:58

I just use Messenger. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:00

I use Messenger, yeah. No, but we still have our Facebook going, and I think our Facebook doesn't do too badly, but I think it's an age group thing. Yeah. I think our demographic is definitely like maybe 30s plus, and that's probably more of the age group for Facebook, whereas Instagram's kind of in the middle between younger and older, and then everyone else younger is on TikTok or whatever. Um we tried TikTok, we didn't want to do dancing videos and perform like anime you know, monkeys. Not our thing.

SPEAKER_06 1:37:27

You didn't want to be at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:28

We did do some quite sort of weird shit at one point on tour which people seem to like.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:34

Yeah. I don't know, our Facebook and our Instagram do okay. Like, you know. Um I'd say out of all the medias, like when we made our announcement, oh Facebook and yeah, Instagram were the main two anyway, but they were pretty they gave a lot back.

SPEAKER_06 1:37:51

Yeah, because Instagram I find like uh that that was funny because like for Facebook was like grow the Facebook page. Like people love Facebook so much that you buy likes and all that bullshit. But now people just do that with like Insta like Instagram is like I don't know. Pe some people just live on their own. Like it's just such a like I find with like the podcast and stuff, like most of it's Instagram. I feel like YouTube like stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:12

A whole band is probably just Instagram, really, isn't it?

SPEAKER_06 1:38:15

That's what people really look for. Instagram now is like like if your business is not there, then your business or brand or band doesn't exist. So if you're not on Instagram, but yeah, TikTok's like just crazy taken off. And the short form video, how fun.

SPEAKER_04 1:38:30

You gotta keep up with that that short attention span.

SPEAKER_06 1:38:33

Yeah, the short form. But then again, like yeah, it's like how you advertise yourself. It's just funny to me now that I I laugh like when you put out like a song or a podcast or whatever, you need to make like five, six clips to like try and like get people's attention. Like, hey, like you should watch it. Like it's like putting out like five trailers for like one thing. Yeah, yeah. It's so buzzy. You can't just have one trailer anymore.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:55

You've got to have like five or six of like little bits. I always found though with TikTok, like if we try to do like promotional music videos, no one cared, but us adding like complete buffones, everyone loved it. I don't think I don't know. I feel like maybe it's TikTok not but I don't know, maybe it just depends on the audience.

SPEAKER_04 1:39:17

Like if you I just don't think we're not as funny as we think we are. We think we are. Yeah, it's probably better.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:24

But then I think you guys are funny. Like a bunch of middle-aged.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:31

That's that's that's where it's at. So yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:39:33

Yeah. Parkour. Parkour. So yeah. It's mainly Chris, and I feel like with Nick it's just more like he just his l overall looseness is makes me laugh.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:44

I feel like if we filmed Nick post-gay work at Bourbons, it'd be like a really good treat.

SPEAKER_06 1:39:51

But you probably might get in trouble. Oh, we would. Oh, it could be fun trouble. Yeah. I've I've been with Nick Bar for a few of those. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. He says some pretty funny outlandish shit, but it's good.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:05

The amount of like illegal shit that he's done and involving involving taking things onto certain um premises and stuff like that is mind-blowing.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:16

Oh yeah, yeah, he has that.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:18

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:19

Like if you need tips on how to yeah, yeah, go to NitRate.

SPEAKER_07 1:40:23

Yeah, we'll let's just pretty on to it, I yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:28

So and he can play four strings.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:31

Not five? Has he tried a five? He did. He does a five string. He does have a five string. Didn't like it? Um one string too many.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:39

It was it was something that we we have been working on. Yeah, playing in like different tunings and stuff like that. But we tried. Yeah, we tried. We tried. No, it's something that we were sort of looking into, but yeah. Just one of those experimentation things, I suppose. But yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:57

Yeah. For sure. But yeah. Alright, boys. Well, on that note, I think we can come to the best segment of the podcast, which is it's called Quick Fires, but they're not that quick, they're pretty slow. It's called some slow fires. So it's sort of a snappy question. Uh, out of the last uh I don't know, yeah, ten years. What's been uh what's what what's been the worst gig you guys played? We can't be positive the whole time.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:28

Uh we need to have some negative. There's one in Fakotane. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:41:37

You already say who's with, I just want to know the experience. And I know.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:40

Summer Underground Tour 2018. There we go. It was like I think our third or fourth. Then 2018 was really the worst. No, it started January. Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:48

It wasn't necessarily the worst show. It was just we just it was weird. One of those weird things was Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:57

It was just weird.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:41:58

Um yeah, we'll go with that one. Alright. We'll go with that one. We'll leave it there. Alright. Strange, uh, what's the strangest fan encounter, you know? Or friend. Fan or friend encounter of the band.

SPEAKER_05 1:42:09

Oh. Can we say that?

SPEAKER_04 1:42:11

Oh no, I'll the strangest. I I don't know. I don't know what you're gonna say.

SPEAKER_05 1:42:17

When you when we played at Dang Dong, we open for wolves.

SPEAKER_04 1:42:23

Oh yeah. I I don't know. Is it strange? It was strange.

SPEAKER_06 1:42:29

Well trying to find the right way to win the same thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:42:34

Okay, so yeah, uh yeah, uh I um hit someone with my guitar. That was an interesting encounter. Um was it an accident or on purpose? It was an accident. Okay. Full accident, hit the colour. It was an accident.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:50

Got it. But it was awkward afterwards. Okay, I see.

SPEAKER_04 1:42:52

Yeah, that was that was that was an awkward situation. It got awkward on on social media. It did. Um, to the point where they're which it was um it was pretty funny.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:04

Um, it was a little bit of crude and controversy all the time.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:08

Oh man, yeah, that no one gave a fuck about. I found it extremely amusing. Um yeah, so that was just one of those one of those awkward moments that um yeah, it couldn't be helped, but yeah, but weird. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:43:26

That one we'll go with that one. We'll go with that one. Yeah, has anyone ever vomited on stage or before going on? Not me. Could be nerves or just drunkenness? No, no, no one's vomited.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:38

Ravens aren't big vomiters. No. Like I could certainly say like early, early on, I Oh no, Nick Cas.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:47

When he was ri he was he was so unwell before the show uh with Wolves and No, it was Wolves Secrets album release show. It was a big show, it was a massive show. And I he turned up half an hour before he played because he was and he was not he was not in good condition.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:04

He did like one of those 48-hour bugs with like both ends of games, he was absolutely fucking awful. He felt like a ghost and he could barely stand, and he did the whole show. He almost passed out, he almost passed out scared before he played, and then he left straight afterwards. And the problem with that is that because he did that, no one had an excuse afterwards.

SPEAKER_06 1:44:25

So, like, even getting no, no one can take sick leave.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:28

No, no, because when we toured with Hobos in like 2019, we went to the South Island for the first time. Diddy had just had his um appendix out six days earlier, and they were like, You you shouldn't be performing, you shouldn't be jumping, you shouldn't be doing anything physical. He was jumping by the time.

SPEAKER_04 1:44:48

Yeah, he did some he did some jumps, and we were like, Whoa.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:51

So basically, we set I think that's the other thing with us is that we were just like, no one's allowed to get sick. And if you are, you're gonna play the gig.

SPEAKER_06 1:45:03

We never can sort of giggle.

SPEAKER_04 1:45:04

Yeah, I've played some shows where I've felt like pretty rough, yeah. But just yeah, just had to just do it, muscle through it.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:13

Okay, so no one like yeah, so it's yeah, the no one's thrown up from alcohol-related things. No, no, we're not that exciting. No.

SPEAKER_06 1:45:21

Way to sell you something. Yeah, you guys are really excited. Um who um who would you say outside of the band? And maybe, yeah, maybe apart I I I kind of think I know the answer, but who would you say is the most influential like person outside of the band for you guys, like helping guide you? I was gonna say Zaram, but maybe apart from Zaran. Who else has been like really influential in your journey for recruiting?

SPEAKER_02 1:45:46

Yeah, it's a Zaran for sure. Um Yeah. Musically. Zaran.

SPEAKER_06 1:45:56

Maybe helping you guys like navigate the industry. Lisa Jones. Lisa Jones, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:46:03

Um Yeah, I couldn't I couldn't pinpoint one person. I think it's like a lot. Yeah, like would be a lot of musicians that we've met, like that had a lot of experience or people that came before us, or yeah, you know, that that helped us along the way, but it would be hard to pinpoint.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:21

Yeah, there's a lot of bands that like when we first started out, like kind of showed us the ropes too.

SPEAKER_04 1:46:26

Nice. But it only takes one person to say one thing to you, and you're like, holy shit.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:30

Like, oh no, that's huge. We have to shout him out, Alex Smolton. So Alex used to work for Musical.net as a reviewer, and he came to all our early shows. Hmm, true. And he would review us, and he was like he was fair. Wait, he would be like his honest review.

SPEAKER_04 1:46:51

I don't know he was fair, he was honest, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:53

But he wasn't like he didn't like destroy our souls, no, but and he made us a he he and guided us to be a better performing band. Because he was basically like when we first played our first two shows, he was like, Diddy goes nuts, the other boys are statues. Um they needed to work on it, and then we did. That's true, and that was we took a lot of advice from from just stuff that he had seen. Yeah, I think that's like the thing, the thing is like a lot of people. A lot of like review reviewers like should be like you know, there's a thing between honest and being nasty, but like if you're honest but it's truthful, then like take that on the take it on board, man.

SPEAKER_06 1:47:32

What's it called? The compliment sandwich? Yeah, definitely. I could have been like I like the idea of this, but then this wasn't great, this needs to be worked on. But I mean that's good.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:41

But yeah, and and I always liked him for that because I I could have said, Oh well look, you come up here and play what I'm trying to play and think about doing anything else. But it was just like, no, no, no, no, sweet. Like just keep going, keep working on it, take his advice and or not, you know.

SPEAKER_05 1:47:59

Yeah, take it or not.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:00

But yeah, it's like yeah, it was cool.

SPEAKER_06 1:48:03

It was helpful. Yeah, a secret talent within the band. Has anybody got a secret talent? Hmm.

SPEAKER_10 1:48:14

Um I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:19

Again, fucking interesting.

SPEAKER_05 1:48:22

This is not that interesting.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:24

Uh damn.

SPEAKER_05 1:48:26

Alright, guys, that's been the show. How talent to do it? How talent?

SPEAKER_09 1:48:31

Like, how much talent?

SPEAKER_06 1:48:33

Something quirky, I don't know. Quirky. Quirky, a quirky secret talent, or something you're like, you wouldn't expect. Okay. Like for some reason Nick Raven's really good at doing his taxes or something, which I don't believe he would be.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:43

Um secret talent again for um he's got this bag. Oh and he has to travel like if he's in the front of the truck or the van, the tour van or whatever. And it has to be in the front with him. Like we're like, just put all your shit in the fucking back, like everyone else. But he or you're in the back seat, he has to have it in the middle. And we're like, why do you need this in there? And it's always got bourbon in it. That's one thing. But we're like, what else does it have in there? And one night's coming. One night um we had to try and find something in there. Um, it has about he could do silver service for a frickin' for a dinner party with the amount of cutlery that he had in there. Um knives, forks, spoons, all that sort of thing. He had batteries. Um, like a lot. A lot of batteries. We're talking like AA batteries. Well, we're talking about like you could start fucking shop with the amount of batteries that he had. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:41

But his real true talent, minus the bag of what's the bigger one.

SPEAKER_04 1:49:45

You've got to start with the bag though.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:47

But yeah, that's a that's a talent, but also it's the fact that I think Mike alluded to this earlier. For ten years, Nick Raven has got in Woodstock bourbons into every single show we've played. Without detection.

SPEAKER_04 1:50:02

Every venue, every show. He just he will never buy a drink unless he has to. He steals all my armbands because I I don't drink that much. And I don't drink really drink alcohol anymore. So he'll take the armband if it's got you know a couple of re-drinks on it or whatever.

SPEAKER_10 1:50:19

You would never know.

SPEAKER_04 1:50:20

Um and yeah. So that's his that's his secret talent. Yeah. They're just giving it away. So he's probably fucked, but there we go. Too bad. Um love you.

SPEAKER_06 1:50:32

Love you. Speaking in Biffin. Um I love it. That's good. Yeah, I'd say that's yeah, I'd say that's good. So bringing a full cutlery set as well, just in case you need to have a sit-down dinner. Yep. Have you guys had sit-down dinners after the gig and like a green room? We normally did them before. Oh, beforehand.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:51

So we'd like especially we like we became You don't need to worry about cutlery chatting.

SPEAKER_06 1:50:56

You need to need a I don't know, need some batteries for your own.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:58

We played the Mount, we played Mount Monganui like all the time back in the day. As much as all and we would always have the pre-band dinner. Always. We we we like food. We uh like yeah, we yeah, like we all variously drink to our certain levels sometimes back in the day a little bit more than me. Um but we all know the level, but we are big we are like big fans of like you gotta eat to be right for the show. So a lot of bandits for sure.

SPEAKER_06 1:51:32

What would be the what would be on the menu? What's like the main what's something you guys would eat?

SPEAKER_02 1:51:37

The poor thing is it can't be too greasy. No, we've all figured that out.

SPEAKER_10 1:51:41

Um What's the normal go-to?

SPEAKER_04 1:51:46

It depends where you are. So if you were in um at the mount, it might be that little Chinese place with the smallest board. But then after that there was a kebab place around the corner. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:58

Um This is sounding a little bit heavy though on the summer.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:02

Yeah, but you but it's it's all about timing. Oh, we have to be able to get a lot of people. So if you're if you're if you're yeah, so you have to has to be that timing there, right? Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:10

Um we are a massive McDonald's band after the show though. Can't go wrong.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:16

Can't go wrong. That's because the only thing that's open. Yeah, that capitalized on it. Like generally, I would not eat enough on purpose and then just be like, okay, now I need to eat after the show.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:27

Do you remember we spent half an hour waiting in the the queue at the power at Pyro of McDonald's? Potidoa. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um But it wasn't worth it, but it was worth it.

SPEAKER_03 1:52:38

We spent half an hour, and then Nick had to go inside because I got I got annoyed and drove off, and it was like, Oh, I'm a cheeseburger short. Yeah, it was real pissed off.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:50

Yeah, they wrecked it. Oh, we stayed in the um what was that place called?

SPEAKER_02 1:52:54

The Velvet Gypsy.

SPEAKER_03 1:52:56

No, it's like the Velvet Gypsy.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:59

Oh, it's the Amethyst. Amethyst. The Amethyst Motel. Um, absolutely stunning. Um stunning motel. Shout out Amethyst Mother. Shout out Amethyst. Actually, that yeah. Um it was quite wild.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:13

Oh, actually, speaking of, like you're saying, like, um yeah, like the like accommodation has always been fun too for a band that doesn't have a lot of money. Always played in some absolute like institute. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:53:29

If you're not using soap and your um smoke alarms instead of a battery, you're doing it wrong. You're not saving money.

SPEAKER_06 1:53:38

Using so wait, what? Using soap?

SPEAKER_04 1:53:40

So for some reason, I think it's because we were someone was smoking inside or vaping or whatever they were doing. So I assume they were like figuring out, well, let's let's disable the smoke alarm. So they went to do it, realised someone had shoved a bar of soap into the smoke alarm. And then we decided no not to touch anything in that motel.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:02

And like the sheets when they're like they're like bloodstains.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:06

Oh they were a they were a bad crispy.

SPEAKER_05 1:54:09

Yeah. Oh no, you're not the right.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:11

You know, there's good hotel crispy, and that was bad crispy.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:14

We did stay in that really nice hotel weirdly in Hamilton that had like this spa bath in it. We were that was pretty sweet.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:23

That was massive.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:24

Yeah, that was like a like you It was like a four-bedroom house.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:28

So it was it was yeah. We did.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:31

We did. Hostels aren't fun either.

SPEAKER_07 1:54:33

Are you guys done hostels as long as you stay in the room of other people?

SPEAKER_05 1:54:37

I don't know, like a bunk on top of a bunk on top of a bunk. Yeah. Someone's just having a good old trying to, you know, jerk the bottom.

SPEAKER_06 1:54:44

Well, we're all related, so we're not doing that. No, we can't do that. We can't do that. Oh, that reminds me of when I was in Europe and I was in a hostel, and some dude brought a girl back and it was the bed right next to me, and I was like, mean. Like, oh bro, we got this. I get I get a front row seat. Sick. Sake. I'm in the I'm in the cuck bug, but I was like, this is fucked. So that's hostile though. Yeah, it was. Wasn't it? I it's I can't forget it, unfortunately. It's one of those things that just stays in there. It's like I had a nightmare. Yeah. Um right, well, holy crap guys. Last show's coming up. Yep. Tell us all about it.

SPEAKER_05 1:55:26

Okay, so we're playing Tuning Fork, which will be our fourth?

SPEAKER_02 1:55:32

Fourth show at Tuning Fort. Um, love that venue. Uh August the 30th. August 30th. It's gonna be our actual bigger set list to date. We've got we're gonna play all the songs that you want to hear. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:55:48

I mean, there's there's two hours of solid hits.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:52

It's the greatest hits.

SPEAKER_04 1:55:53

It's the greatest hits.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:54

The greatest hits. And then there's actually a couple of songs that probably people haven't heard for like a long time. Yeah. Um, and not only that, so yeah, it's our tenure show, plus it's our last show for however long. And we've got the debut show for Nick's new band, Crywolf, featuring other people that were in bands that you probably know. Featuring Nick Raven. Featuring Nick Raven as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:56:21

Um I would say he's like the main attraction in that band.

SPEAKER_06 1:56:28

Like he's the most attractive person. I mean, like, that's what you should call it. Kev's pretty hot, Kev's.

SPEAKER_04 1:56:34

But like he's got a yeah, he's got a challenge on his hands. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:39

So yeah, so it's Jamie from Sun Gods on Drums. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:56:42

And then I know I know who you know. I know who's in it.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:45

Yeah, no, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:56:46

Shut up, Chris.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:46

Okay, and then we got Outside In, Outside Inns players.

SPEAKER_06 1:56:50

That's crazy that they're back.

SPEAKER_04 1:56:51

They're back. Yeah. I love that Ben. Mental. And we played a few, quite a few shows with them. We back in the day.

SPEAKER_06 1:56:58

I can't watch you guys a backbeat battle of them. I remember I watched them and I was just like, what the fuck? Why is why why are they so good?

SPEAKER_02 1:57:03

They did uh we did a dual album release show, 2020 with them.

SPEAKER_06 1:57:09

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 1:57:09

Um, yeah, so we are very and uh Ben and Ben and from Channeled and Hugh from Mothra are playing guitar. Cool. So stupidly good lineup. And then obviously Pull Down the Sun, uh their main support. Nice. Because we've played about a million shows with them at this point.

SPEAKER_01 1:57:29

No best band in the world. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:57:31

Can you release your album? No, we got taken over, man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:57:36

Damn.

SPEAKER_02 1:57:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:57:37

Really selling this game. Well yeah. We're not the highlight of the night.

SPEAKER_02 1:57:42

But that's why we got pulled down the side of like. No, it it will be it'll be awesome. So uh you our early bird tickets actually sold out, so you need to get your general admission tickets. You get your mid-birds.

SPEAKER_06 1:57:54

Is it VIP?

SPEAKER_02 1:57:55

Mid ticks. Uh there's no VIP because I can't meet the band. Everyone's a VIP at our gig, baby.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:01

Potentially we have a special guest on uh on guitar. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. He's quite a big deal. Um people know that. It depends how he edits things. Yeah, that's and actually because he's the only guest of the night, actually.

SPEAKER_06 1:58:18

I thought I can keep it quiet.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:20

Well, I think we're I but there's potential for that to change. To change. Maybe, maybe not. Who can tell? Who will know?

SPEAKER_02 1:58:28

Uh but anyway, yeah, you should definitely come along because uh it's gonna be a really, really, really good time.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:35

You're you're selling this like no one else has before.

SPEAKER_06 1:58:39

The level of excitement. I don't even know if I'm gonna turn up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:58:42

Well I don't like every time Scott's like, you sound excited, I'm like, I am, but I have the monotone, I can't help it.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:49

Honestly, like, we're not like this normally. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:58:52

On stage as a You should really come to up here. That's what I want. Is that what you want?

SPEAKER_06 1:58:57

Passion.

SPEAKER_05 1:58:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 1:58:58

Passion. Redo the tape.

SPEAKER_06 1:59:00

The passion that quick. I need the passion.

SPEAKER_09 1:59:03

Guys, here we go. We've got a massive show coming up. Where is August 30th, tuning for Auckland? And it's our 10 year anniversary and last show for ages, and it's gonna be so cool and so fun, and it's gonna be the best.

SPEAKER_06 1:59:18

Hell yeah! I'm so gonna come. Tick on your brother! I'm getting VIP ticks.

SPEAKER_02 1:59:24

Hey. Hey, VIP baby, you just come and say hello and we'll shake your hand. Damn. That's it. That's a hell of a well, because you know, you don't want to be like, oh no, we're too cool for school. Oh, and we might also we might have um we're working on some other special little things, aren't we? Yeah, we are there's a lot, there's a lot going on.

SPEAKER_04 1:59:46

It's no, it will be it will be um red as fuck. So yeah, come and see us. Yeah, one last time. For a time. For a time.

SPEAKER_06 2:00:00

Come for a time. Yeah, so uh well boys. I'm looking forward to it, and you know, I wish you the best of whatever you guys do. Always be supportive and thankful for our time together and more time to give in the future. We'll have a thing. So, hell yeah. Can't wait. It's been crude, everyone. We'll leave it there. Thank you. Bye.