Artist Friendly with Joel Madden - Dylan Schneider

Episode Date: May 8, 2024

On this week's episode of Artist Friendly, Joel Madden is joined by Dylan Schneider. After spending the first part of the year on the road with Nate Smith, Schneider continues to look forward. He recently shared the Bad Decisions EP, which reveals fearless vulnerability in songs like “Daddy Drinks Whiskey” and the title track. Plus, throughout the summer, Schneider has various tour dates with country stars like Scotty McCreery, Kane Brown, and Chris Young, and you can see the full routing here. ------- Listen to their Artist Friendly conversation on ⁠⁠Spotify.⁠ ------- Follow Artist Friendly! IG: @artist.friendly TikTok: @artist.friendly YouTube: youtube.com/@artist.friendly ------- Host: Joel Madden, @joelmadden Executive Producers: Joel Madden, Benji Madden, Jillian King Producers: Josh Madden, Joey Simmrin, Janice Leary Visual Producer/Editor: Ryan Schaefer Audio Producer/Composer: Nick Gray Music/Theme Composer: Nick Gray Cover Art/Design: Ryan Schaefer Additional Contributors: Anna Zanes, Neville Hardman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, what's up everybody? I'm Joel Madden, and this is artist-friendly. On this episode, I'll be talking to singer, songwriter, and country artist, Dylan Snyder. Let's go. I'm smoking on gas. I'm smoking up. If that's my kind. I don't want to bad times.

I don't want to have bad. Where are you from? I'm originally from Indiana. Oh, wow. Yeah. Hoosiers. Yeah, baby. You already know.

We were just up in Bloomington, actually. My brother was going to school there last year, and Kane Brown played the stadium. Oh, cool. Last week. So we went to that show and got to hang out up there for a couple days. That's cool. I used to be my really good friend is a baseball coach and he was the coach there for many years. Oh, really? Tracy Smith. That's sick. And then he went to ASU and now he's at Michigan. He was there for a few years and now he's at Michigan and he's back in the Midwest kind of vibe, which is, I think he's a Midwest guy. That's sick, dude. So it's like Midwest guys need to be in the Midwest. Yeah.

that i mean dude like where i come from you know it just feels like so much like home when you get away it's it's weird you know heartland yeah it's good to be back yeah time to go home for sure how old are you 24 oh wow yeah just a young buck young buck out here man yeah how long are you in la for uh we got in last night and then i think we leave monday morning because we do stage coach um sunday oh cool yeah what time are you playing at stage coach like 12 25 i think it is okay i'm flying out on Sunday like around five. Oh, okay.

And doing a song with Wiz, Califa. Oh, that would be sick. And then flying back. Hell yeah, bro. Yeah, I'm excited to see his set that night. Like, I'll be out here all weekend, just hanging out. Maybe I'll see you. That'd be dope.

That's cool. 100%, bro. First stage coach? Yeah. Yeah, it's my first one. It's one that I've been wanting to check off the bucket list, you know, because I've played some of the bigger ones, like faster horses up in Brooklyn, Michigan, and then watershed.

So dope at the gorge. And we're doing Carolina Country Music Fest again this year, which is sick and Myrtle Beach. And we did that main stage back in like 2019. So the fact that we're finally, you know, getting to do this one, it's pretty surreal. It's exciting. What would you say the pinnacle country festival for you? I'll give you two. Okay.

One is the country festival. Like been around maybe forever. Like that's the one to play if there was a version of that. And then one is like, the biggest most it, most happening, most, like, are there, give me like the two versions. Yeah, I see what you're saying. Oh, man, for the country, I've gotten to do so many of the cool ones, like I said. Stagecoch would be up there, but I want to do Tortuga as well because it's down,

like, on the beach in Florida. Yeah. And I think it's fairly newer, but it just looks so badass and like such a good time. And I love the beach, you know, I love that vibe. So the country music crowd is like my favorite. Yeah, it's sick, dude. And down there, it's like literally, I'm pretty sure the crowd is like you can walk into the ocean. Yeah.

Like, it's crazy. Like people are standing in the ocean. Yeah. And like people like pull their boats up and just hang out. I just want to go hop on somebody's boat and kick it after after we played. But yeah. Me too. Yeah, that'd be sick.

Or just get a boat. And then, yeah, just have a boat for the weekend. Just pull up on a boat. Yeah. Just run up on stage. Yeah. That'd be sick. Festival overall.

Oh, man. Lollapalooza. Yeah. That'd be sick. And all my friends used to go growing up because it's only like two of. and a half hours yeah you can drive yeah yeah so they go up there but i never got to go um that or bonneroo i like bonneroo it's cool too yeah and it's just a cool vibe my cousin goes like every year and i was supposed to go the one time i was finally supposed to go was uh 2021 because they had to move it because of

covid and everything after the pandemic they moved it to september which it's usually the same uh weekend as cma fest they always line up so like it never works out to where i can go and i booked tickets that year i remember i learned like all of jack harlowe's music got really into his stuff because he was playing young thug was headlining taming paula was headlined of one of my favorite bands yeah they're badass dude they're sick Kevin parker's amazing but like I was so hyped up and I was like let's go got rained out yeah oh I remember that yeah all the uh campgrounds got flooded and everything and I haven't been able to go since but they also do that festival really yeah that's what I've heard a C3 does that one oh really they do la la Poulouza too

oh that makes sense and it's like they do it really well so when you go it's well it's well organized. There's something about a really well-run festival that you just have a better time. Yeah. You know, those festivals that are kind of like big shit shows and you can't find your way around and they are a lot harder than the ones that are just set up right. They spend extra money, right? The customer that's buying a ticket is actually getting. Yeah, you get like worth your wow. More money's worth. Yeah. No, but it'd be dope. And those ones too, like, you know, you get the mix of all different genres and there's always usually a few country artists, you know, so to be one of those on that lineup would be badass.

Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I've always secretly wanted to be a country singer. Really? Yeah. Dude, do it this weekend, man. You know what you were getting in earlier. You could come do a song with me.

I know, you know, where I grew up, country music is so big in Maryland. So I'm from Maryland. And I always listened to it my whole life. My dad loved country music too. But somehow I found my way into like rock and especially in the like coming up through the under kind of like the subculture of like, punk related music. Yeah.

It's not very country friendly. Yeah. And I think we like ran away from that side of ourselves. Maybe because also we grew up in it and we had like, I'm just going to have therapy with you. Yeah, come on. I think because we had such a turbulent childhood, we kind of rejected everything that was around us.

Yeah. And we ran away from it. Yeah. And so we went to the opposite. And then I think. artistically, we expressed ourselves in the way we did with Good Charlotte. And I think there was probably some ideas and themes that people that like, and also like people that like country music, like all music. So it's not like they're just locked into liking country. So we have a lot of fans who also

like country music. And maybe there's some stuff in there that feels like it could relate to like similar to country songs. But I think we ran so far away from it that to come back to it in any way would maybe feel to me like we were trying to capitalize on. Yeah, definitely. Something and I always feel conflicted about ever doing that. Because you want to seem honest. Yeah. For sure.

And then some people would, you know, maybe not be as accepting of it or something. You know, or would try to like see through what. It's like that ship has sailed. Yeah, yeah. That's why I think I enjoy country music. And even if it is honest, too, it's just hard to kind of sway people's opinions on stuff like that sometimes anyway. Yeah.

Yeah, it's true. Because you see some people do it, but, but it's too far gone. but we me and my brother we love we we love we love we still write country songs yeah that's somebody sing them you write songs yes sir i've been like all country guys that really write songs are songwriters and performers at the same time yeah got their start like coming up you know getting a hit with somebody who was bigger than them and then touring and you know that whole thing i've been writing since like i was 15 but for the most part majority of like you know the new guys and stuff like that they're all right in their own stuff, which is cool to see, you know, taking a hold of the art.

And do you spend most of your time in Nashville? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. This year we've been all over, but yeah, I live down there. I go back up to Indiana whenever I can because it's only like four hours north. So, I mean, if I need to, you know, if I want to go home, see family. Yeah, you can get home. Yeah, it's very convenient. And I like to drive, you know, give you time to listen to music, take a couple phone calls. Me too. Just think. Yeah. Yeah. I love driving. Same. I drive up the coast a lot. Yeah. Yeah.

That's awesome. Santa Barbara. And past Santa Barbara. What was that? PCH? 101. Once you get out of L.A., the 101 kind of opens up and it's ocean to your left the whole time.

Yeah. And you can go past Santa Barbara. I love going up to like North Cali. Yeah. It's beautiful up there. Beautiful. The redwoods and all that stuff. One of my favorite places I've ever been.

Just chilling out there, the rivers. We had a nice Airbnb up kind of right. on the border of Oregon and Kelly. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, and it was beautiful up there. It was sick, dude. I remember we came around a corner and I saw like one of the first just massive trees and I was like, what the hell?

I was like, I'm a high right now or something? Like, it freaked me out because I felt like just, you know, a little action figure in the world or something. It kind of like humbles you, it kind of reminds you. Yeah. Like you forget that this earth and this thing we live on is like bigger than us. Yeah. It does.

It's this ancient, weird. ancient like when you get out in it like that you really you really do you know see what it's all about and like it's spiritual too yeah for sure because you're like oh god oh you're up there you made this big ash tree that's just the coolest thing about traveling in general too like stuff like that like the bad lands driving to the bad lands i remember the first time seeing that and you can't take pictures of it you know it doesn't do it justice um you look it up online you know you think it's going to look amazing but when you get there it's like those type of things are like really really special Do you like to fish and hunting stuff?

Yeah, cool. Definitely. I just started bird hunting recently with my buddy. He has like a little pond in the back yard of his new property. They just got a farm up there in Indiana. So we started. What, like quail or ducks? And ducks.

Okay. And then always growing up, bass fishing. I love fishing. Same. I fish all. Fishing would be my nature thing that I do. Definitely. I would say I'm like way heavy fishermen.

I killed a bird when I was a kid. I got a BB gun. And I killed a bird. I cried. Did you bury it? I did bury it. Give it a little ceremony. Yeah, I was really sad.

I feel that. My, I think it was my uncle. It was like, you, it's not, you killed it for no reason. Yeah. He's like, if you're killing it to eat it or something like that, you know. Yeah, he was like, if you, if you were going to go hunt, then tell me and we can go hunt. And then I'll teach you how to. I'll teach you how to like, what do you do after you kill the animal?

Yeah, prepare it. Yeah. get it ready and we eat and we can eat it. That's why fishing always made sense because I know how to do that. Yeah, for sure. And we can fish and then eat it. And I never feel bad about it. I just feel like this is like the closest to the primitive us.

For sure. Doing that and preparing your own food from something you got. There's something about that that's like enough. And that's what makes it makes sense to me. You know, at least always has. I feel like you're not just doing it for no reason or just doing it. But duck is delicious. It is.

You kill a duck. I like, I like the, I've had like a couple different. I had a duck case of Dia one time. Have you had it? I've never had goose. My buddy's dad, he always makes like a gumbo or something out of it. That's good. It's good, yeah.

I like duck, though. Like a stew. Yeah. It's good stuff. Yeah. It was my first time having it, but it's good. And whenever it's, you know, season time, we've been getting out there, like, every morning, like, get up at, like, 4.30 in the morning, just go sit out. I like just sitting out there, too, just chilling in the morning, talking.

Yeah, early. Yeah. See your breath. Yeah, you see the sunrise. Something about the coffee's better. It's so cool. That early. Yep.

That's cool. Mm-hmm. You've worked with a ton of people songwriting. Mm-hmm. Do you have any favorites? Oh, man. I saw you work with Florida Georgia Line guys. Yeah.

I like them a lot. That was amazing. I mean, they're like the reason I got in a country in the first place. Yeah. And I grew up like the first album I remember like really like getting into and like we had it like on this like purple CD. Yeah. And it was in our old Dodge Green truck.

And it was just in there every day. It was all the right reasons. Nickelback, which I think they're playing tomorrow night, which is going to be sick. Are you going to go? Yeah. For sure. I feel like they're like style and then FGL coming in, obviously working with like Joy Moy and like the same production and everything like that right out of the gate.

They were the guys that kind of drew me in to that new country sound around the 2010 era. I feel like they really like kick the doors off of where country could live in popular music. music and how it could be seen that was like a for real it was like a transitional period yeah that kind of has started the movement to where it's going now for sure yeah I think people like sam hunt yeah are similar to that too yeah it's all different flavors but I think that's what's cool I always say like people that get mad about the new sounding country or stuff like that I'm just like well dude you got to realize it's not 1990 anymore it's 2020 and like yeah technology evolves the sounds going to evolve and I'm like if you listen to NWA they don't sound like Ray Schremer did

you know five years ago it's it's just different yeah also like what do you want us to do yeah for real it's going to evolve it's going to change you want us to go and try to make the record that you think we should sound like then you'd say we sound like that yeah for real so if we evolve you're not happy that's why I'm careful to even consider the like old style sounding stuff it's great just sounds so crisp and clean now and you're Yeah. It's great, but like, you have to remember the critical people tend to be critical regardless. They'll find something wrong. So if I sound the same as these stuff that you think is real country, you're going to say one thing. If I evolve and I do something different because I'm trying to find my own place in the world and make my own mark, you're going to say something.

And there's always going to be those people. You can't even leave. You just need to worry about the people that love what you do and keep doing it. Yeah. Kind of like the old saying, like there's no bad press. Yeah. I get what the old, like a lot of like old timey like entertainment guys will say, there's no bad press, you just weigh it, you know? And like, I get what you're saying. You're not wrong about that in the sense.

But nowadays, it's like there's no bad comments. Yeah. If they're commenting, it means that they're, that they, it's caught their attention. They're engaging. And now they're spewing out whatever energy. That's all you want to, yeah. It's going to get in front of more people and people are going to, you know, they're going to love it or hate it regardless. Yeah, and love, hate, it's all like thin line.

Yeah. For sure. But yeah, with the FGL guys, they were amazing, working with them. I got to tour with them. I like them a lot. Summer 2019. Yeah, they're sick, dude. Tyler and BK have been, like, champions of me ever since I went to Nashville, like,

the first time in 2016. And they've always looked out. They've always, you know, been open to, you know, reach out. If you need advice, you ever need to talk about anything? And I really value that. And it's cool because they're, like, my idols, you know? I've had people be like, you know, if you could go on tour with one person or one artist, who would it be?

And I'm like, well, I already got to do it because I got to do it back in 2019 with those dudes. But Amazing Writers, Jaron Johnston from the Cadillac 3 is another that, you know, he was actually my first songwriting deal. I got with him and Sony ATV back in 2016. And, you know, he took a shot on me and it was really cool. We wrote a couple great songs. I had a radio single that we wrote, and he's just so talented. And then I got a couple other new friends that I've been working a lot with a buddy of my mind. named Gabe Faust. We grew up together back in Indiana. Oh, cool. Start writing together since we were 15.

And he just had his first number one with Kane Brown's, I Can Feel it. Amazing. Yeah, a couple weeks ago. That's a good feeling. Yeah, it's a great feeling for sure. It's cool, man. Trophy. Yeah, to, like, see, like, his, like, growth and, like, his journey. And he's been, like, right alongside me. He used to sell my merch and tour with me right out of high school. And to see him having that success now, and, you know, it all paying off his badass. Jacob Hackworth is another one. He's had some success recently. I know he's getting a lot of cuts.

He wrote that Rocking a Hard Play song for Bailey Zimmerman. And they wrote a couple of the new ones that are coming out on this new project that were about to release. So those are some of the guys I love. You guys all share that success. Yeah. If they win, if you win, they win. And that's the best way to do it with your boys, you know, and just get the best product and, you know, work with the best people and have the best time. You know, why you're doing what you love.

Yeah, because you kind of all dreamed it up together. Exactly. You were in the van or whatever. Exactly. One day. Dude, yeah, we've been through like thick and thin, you know, ups and downs, everything. The smallest little show where no one cared. The happiest times, the call you got with the first tour. Exactly. You know, all the calls you guys get, you know, you're there.

There's autonomy. Yeah. Right? They have their own life. They deserve to have their own success. But the together, you guys all root for each other. And you're there on the lows. You're there on the highs.

You're the ones that can. Yeah, keep trying, keep going. And then when you score a big goal, you do what you all do a touchdown dance. That's right. It's cool. Absolutely, man. There's no better feeling than that. It's important to have that.

Yeah, 100%. I think a lot of artists, maybe not by their own fault, because it's a tough business and you don't know. A lot of times we go in and we're like, can I do this? Am I even really real? Yeah. You know, and then what constitutes that? Yeah. And you become a little bit isolated.

and you start competing with everyone. It's good to compete. Yeah, definitely. But you're not competing with each other. You're kind of competing against yourself. Can I outdo my last thing? But a lot of artists, they'll see someone else's success. And the jealousy thing is a natural thing.

It's not that we all haven't felt it. It's to stop a minute and go, why do I feel jealous? I always do this. If ever I feel jealous, at this age, I don't really say that that's a normal occurrence. But when I was younger, I used to feel the jealousy thing. I'd see someone else similar to me or whatever, winning. And what I learned was to stop and go, like, why do I feel jealous? Well, because I want that.

Yeah. So that's okay. That's a good thing. Yeah, of course. But you have to separate out, I'm not jealous of them. I should be happy for them. Yeah. Because that door's open.

100%. And learning how to be that way is a real thing. Like some people never learn how to do that. And they end up being isolated artists on their own on an island. And you're beating yourself up at the end of the day. They're bitter. And you should be a part of that and you should encourage everyone to, you know, be successful. And it's like you said, the jealousy thing is going to happen regardless.

When it creeps in, that first gut thing because you just have to go, no, no, it's okay. I'm not going to beat myself up either. But it's only because I want that. I actually want that guy to win. It should give you the motivation to just work harder, put your head down and be happy for the other people, you know, in the meantime. But just tell you if you're going to get there. Yeah. Because it is not just.

just in music. I mean, people listening, certainly everyone listening are not in music. They're music fans or they're, you know, in and around music or entertainment. We all have that version in our life. Someone out there listening that's maybe working in an office and someone got a promotion or it's okay to have that first tinge of like, oh, I want that. Yeah. But you have to be aware of it and accept it and not let it drive you towards negative. Words, thoughts, actions. Like you said, some people never get there, but it's a very noble characteristic to master for sure. Got to try. You got to try, at least.

That's why we're here, I think. Yeah. So eight years in Nashville is a long time. Yeah, it is, man. It's a slog sometimes, huh? Yeah, I mean, sometimes it feels like it's been the blink of an eye, and then sometimes you look back and you're like, damn, I can't believe that, you know, I was doing that at this time or I was here at this time. So you know. Yeah.

It's just been a ride, man. It's been a damn roller coaster. Did you care about school much? I did. I was good in school. But the second that I started getting recognition down in Nashville and having success through like social media, because it was like an early time when even like Kane Brown was just starting with like Instagram and Facebook.

That was the beginning of all of it. Exactly. And now it's, you know, it's what everyone's doing. And it's great. And I think it gives a lot of people that would not have opportunity otherwise that opportunity. But no, as soon as all that kind of caught fire and I got, you know, that songwriting deal, summer after my sophomore year in high school, I went and did my GED, the high school equivalency exam, and just was in Nashville pretty much every week, right? And, you know, started touring in October that

year when all my friends were going back to the junior year, I was just starting, you know, playing shows and running around. I was more focused on that. And I knew that this is what I wanted to do. So I was like, if I'm going to do this, yeah, I'm not going to waste any time on it, you know. I agree with that. And my parents were both very, very supportive and, you know, drove me all around. encourage me to go after it and believe to me, you know. It's cool because now I'm here and I thought I wouldn't be getting to Nashville, you know, until like four years ago. And now I got four years on that. That's how I think. So I think that who knows what have happened if you had stayed in that extra two years of high school. Yeah. Because it's like you say you're going to go do something too,

but you could have went on a totally different tangent of a path as well. Yeah, I never would have even went to Nashville. Yeah, you never know. You could have fallen in love and then gone to college because your friends are going to college or this or that. Like there's a lot of things that like that understandably happen, you know, when you're, when you're growing up. But to get after what you want, as quickly as possible,

start going towards what you want. That's what I always think that's the best plan. Yeah. Whether or not you have the master plan yet, so we usually don't know the master plan. If we know what we want in our gut, no zero doubt, just start moving towards it and it'll unfold. You just have to go after it.

Exactly. You just got to lay the foundation. I feel like I've built maybe like the first floor. And then it's just like, you know, you're building a house and you just want to keep going up and up. So I'd rather be on the first floor than, you know, not even have the foundation laid down yet. Yeah. I think you have a platinum record. I have a gold record.

I have two gold records. Okay, two gold records. Yeah. It's sick, dude. Well on your way to your first platinum. Yes, sir. That's great. I know, man.

I'm excited. I have a... You can taste it. I know I can taste it. Yeah. Dude, and I think some of these new songs and stuff might be. this song on the way bad decisions bad decisions yeah that's that's gonna get out of here bro dude thanks bro i appreciate it man i think uh that has a lot of potential i think this whole ep that we're

about to drop has a lot of potential it actually comes out this weekend congrats thanks dude it's gonna be sick the next step yeah yeah it's gonna be badass but yeah i got um both my uh gold records i got uh last year and uh it was surreal man i got one as a songwriter for a song called mama's house for Dustin Lynch. And then I got my first one as an artist in the summer at CMA Fest. And it was funny, we were playing at this spot called Spotify House at Old Red. And great show, great venue in there. And we started off the day and played through the set list.

And I was getting to my song, How Does It Sound, that I usually finish with? And I started to go introduce it. And I heard somebody come on in the in-ears. And I was like, oh, shit, did I, like, go over time? Like, am I not even going to get to play it now? No, it was the complete opposite. They came up, presented the plaque to me on stage in front of everybody. Sick.

Dude, yeah, it was emotional. It was really cool. Yeah. And it was a milestone. Huge milestone. Yeah. Just need to get a couple of platinum's and a couple more golds on these new songs. You'll get it.

Hell yeah. Thank you, man. You're hitting that stride. Yeah. Eight years is about right. That's right. Eight years from start. It's like usually like somewhere between seven and ten years.

It's like a 10 year town. It's what they call. It's real hard work. You start to hit that, that momentum. To lock in for sure again. And, you know, when you've had a little bit, like I said, my roller coaster of life has been, you know, up here, down here. Sometimes you, you know, are trying to put the team back together. Sometimes you're questioning if you even want to do it anymore.

And I think right now it's getting back to that point where, you know, through it all, I realize I have the best team that I've ever had yet. I have, you know, the best songwriting. I feel like, you know, the most mature I've been and things are just on the up and up and up. You just got to keep them on the up and up. What I think people don't realize, especially people that want to be in the creative, especially in the music game, but it could apply to filmmaking or acting or any creative painting. I think they don't realize how 95% of it is work. Yeah. And looking and trying and figuring out.

And the 5% of it is the fun stuff that you see. Yeah. The like the fantasy of like, oh, on stage, people singing yourself. song. A hundred percent, man. It's a very small part of it. People don't get that, but I mean.

How could they? Exactly. They can't. You got to live it. Yeah, you got to live it. And it's, it's like funny.

And people always want to go backstage and all this and that. It's like, dude, backstage isn't even always that fun. Yeah. It's not, it's everybody's locked in, getting ready to work,

you know, putting in the time. And it's just funny. People like that have that misconception, but it's understandable. Yeah, you're like, what's going on back there?

Yeah. You want to know. But I find myself, not wanting to go backstage because I don't want to get in the way of all the guys working. Yeah, it's so busy. Yeah, it's so busy. And there's just a lot of people trying to, you know, lock in to make your show as the artist the best it can be, you know. And even, like you said, just with the work and the time you've got to put in to really get to where you want to be and have the success you want. A lot of people think it's just fun in games, but no,

it takes a lot of dedication and effort and you sacrifice a lot. And backstage etiquette is a thing. Yeah, for sure. You know, like I always tell my, I don't want to bring your like crazy wild cousin or something. No, there's always like that kind of element. It pops up here and there. They're like, you have to manage that cousin or you have to manage that like person. Put it on a leash.

And they want to be that stage, but they think it's a party. And you're like, it's not a party. They find booze or something. They drink a little too much and everybody's judging them. That definitely happens a lot more than people would probably think, you know. Of course.

You don't want to be that guy. No, you don't want to be that guy. I always tell my wife and kids, my wife grew up around. music and tours and her whole life and um and she has good good etiquette but say her dad's playing or her friends playing you know we're friends with all these different musicians and in every people are always touring and like every now and then it'll be like hey all y'all come out and so the kids will come

or they'll have their friends and i'll always give people the pre-game etiquette speech before we go backstage because you have all the friends and you have all the little so-and-so and so-and-so you don't even fucking know these kids that's like a hometown show showed it's just like wild right and i'm like guys listen when you walk by everyone back there say say hello you know if someone helps opens a door for you you say thank you all the normal stuff that you my kids know better they will get their asses chewed out and you want everyone to feel appreciated you know you want everyone there this is their actual workplace yeah they're going there every day working and it's like if you were working at an office and every day you had a different group of

people oh my just walking through the office Looking through the cubicles. So we have this whole like pregame speech that happens every time that I go. That's good to have. My kids are like, okay, my dad's going to tell us about how we got to act back here. And then all the little friends are like, you know, little punks are hanging. God bless them, you know, good kids. But, you know, they're just wanting to have a good time.

So I give them all the speech and my kids are like their faces are red. They're just stern with them. Yeah, you have to. Otherwise. That's right. You won't be coming back again. If, you know, you blow it one time. who are we exactly and then it's the guy from good charlie brought up 10 kids back there and they all

reeked have it and then every crew guy in the world hates me exactly they all talk exactly you know yep and then even these festivals it's like you bring people out to these you don't want to you don't want to piss off promoters no you know you want to make friends and you want to leave a good a good you know uh impression on everybody that's how you build a touring career yeah you have to tour put it on a good show. All that is base level. It's how you treat all the venues. It's how you interact with the promoters. It's how you

interact with the other people touring with you. That's how you build a long great. Because it's not a one-man show ever. Yeah. Do you know Luke comes? Yeah, I do. I love Luke. I met Luke originally. It was crazy. It was before Hurricane came out. I think I had my song Two Black X's out. It was September of like 2016

and we were seeing Eric Church in Lexington, Kentucky, and it was at a baseball field called the Red White and Boom Festival. And me and him were just chilling, chopping it up back there. And that was the first time we met, and we were shooting Jack Daniels shooters

out of the fridge back there. He had, like, all the little mini-fridge with the regular Jack, the Jack Fire, the Jack Honey, and then even the little gentleman jack bottles. We were just hanging out, chopping it up, and then he's been great to me ever since. I love it.

We've done some shows together. That's cool. Always run into him at the award show after parties and talk to him a little bit. He's always been good to me. Yeah, I love him. We're friends. I love him. Do you know Jellyroll? I do. I don't know him, but I like him a lot. Dude, he's sick, bro. Yeah, and we're at the same label with BMG. So I met him. I think it was right around the time he signed his deal with them over there. And then I was getting over there right around the same time. So we were always in the office running into each other. And that's cool.

He keeps up with all my stuff on social media. I mean, he's just over, overly complimentive and you know it gives me props and he's always like dude you're grinding your ass out fun you know yeah he seems like all the platforms seems like such a positive guy he is man and it's cool he's a good person to be around yeah you know kid rock dude no but i want to meet him so bad i know his son i actually i actually met his son he has a bar there right last year yeah yeah in nesville we were at a spot i think it was after one of the uh it was a cma fest after party or something like dad and he works with a company called happy dad so i met his son and told him uh my dad growing up was a huge kid rock fan so in turn i i love kidd rock and yeah i know like he lives in

i've seen his big old like white house replica driving out of town that he lives in but i haven't got to meet him yet oh he's got a house that looks like dude yeah it's literally redca of the white house oh my god that's so crazy i was staying at an Airbnb with my buddy uh uh like two weeks ago. It was actually the day of the eclipse. And like I pull up to this Airbnb and I turn around like right in the front yard across the street. It's kid rocks house.

That's funny. And I was like, he's so funny. I'll have to show you a picture. I think I took a picture of it. That's funny. It's cool, man. I remember when we first were signing a record deal, we were like there was all these

labels. This is then late 90s. Yeah. Um, so he, you know, he was, his songs were just banging at the time.

And, um, the guy who signed him, uh, this guy, Jason Flom. I'm just a great guy, still know him to this day. He was like, somebody wants to talk to you.

And we got on the phone and was Kid Rock, and he was like, we ended up not signing with the guy, but we became friends with the guy. I certainly don't know Kid Rock, but I remember that call. He was really nice. You know, there's another guy in Nashville. My brother lives in Nashville. Oh, really? My brother Josh.

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Brentwood. Okay, cool, right, right, so not far at all. I like

Printwood. If I moved to Nashville, that's where I would live, Brentwood.

We could be neighbors. Yeah. It's very nice. Pull up. Yeah, I love it, man. It's beautiful. I had my first apartment there back in 2017. And it's convenient to the city.

Yep. Yeah. It's very quick. We've been working with this guy, Ryan Waters. You know, Ryan? I don't think I do. Oh, he's good. Is he really good?

He's got a real deep voice. Oh, yeah? Yeah. What kind of stuff does he do? Is it like folkie or country? It's like country with a rock edge to it. Oh, hell yeah. I feel like I might have heard the name.

He definitely does some like slow country songs. And those are probably in my favorite. of his but he does some like rock stuff too and he's he's good at it yeah says he really plays guitar he's a good guitar player he's a good songwriter in waters you said right yeah Ryan waters you said right yeah Ryan Waters band I'll have to check him out for sure yeah he's cool hell yeah you guys would get along too you said you like this slower country stuff I'm like that man I'm like a I'm a B-side like ballad yeah yeah like ballad yeah heartbreak yeah dude man I listen there's a song he has called he he actually did a amazing cover of still the

one and it is so good but he but he has a song called fireplace that I listen to all the time it's like real real sad one like if I was looking at a track list of an album that's one I would click on fireplace yeah 100% same with me I'm like that with a lot of my love when a title just looks good on paper and I when I like a song I'll listen to it 50 times in a row same I'll drive down the road and just keep listening to it I had this conversation dude I do that too it's just like I'm getting a headphones in it yeah I'm in the on an airplane little to these people now I'm listening

to one song for the entire four hour flight but no I was having this conversation the other day I asked someone like how do they listen to music like where

make your own playlist yeah do you listen to you know specific genres at a time or do you put a bunch of things together like I'm the type of person

I listen to like if I'm on an artist I'll just listen to their albums you know all the way through like I don't really me too but yeah I don't do like

playlists a whole lot or anything like that I will if we're going to a party or something I'm hanging out. But then one or two songs on the album will grab me. Yeah. Or I'll rotate through.

So like with Luke's last album, I was listening to like going, going gone at first because that was like the big song. And then where the wild things are jumped out at me. And I found my. And I know that song now is getting played, but this is when it first came out. That song grabbed me. And I listened to that song so much. He was in my top five.

Oh, shoot. I mean, I listen to a lot of his songs, but that one just, I don't know, it hit me. Like, it just made me think about California. Oh, yeah. You know? Yeah. Going, going gone, though, was one of those for me a couple months ago

that it was just on repeat every time. Yeah. I'll be listening to music, get in the car. That song's playing at least five, six times. What other song do I really love when it rains a porous? Great song. So good. Yep.

Makes me want to, like, hang out with him. I know, right? Yeah. Makes you want to drink a beer with him. Yeah. I got to go get after it, man. I wish he was out here this weekend. That'd be sick.

Yeah. It'd be really cool. We did, just one do we do together. We did a, it's like a chili cookoff or something down in like Fort Lauderdale area. And it was him and Brooks and Donne headline too. So it was cool. I never got to see them play yet. So I got to see them and go up on stage and say hello.

Or like OG classic. I know. I know. That was like someone like Farrell I got to see. I went to a festival. Do you like Farrell? I do. He's awesome.

I just love his like production and everything too on all the other stuff he's worked on because he did just like a mashup of all the, you know, different things he's done over the years. And this was like 2019. It was an Astro World Fest, but it was before like it got all the bad publicity and stuff a couple years later. But I went the year the album came out and Farrell was there. Did you meet him? No, I didn't. He's cool.

Really? I got to work with him a lot. That's sick. He's a great guy. Hell yeah. Yeah. And he's from. I think he would be.

He's from Virginia Beach. Yeah. And I'm from Maryland. And it's, those are very subtly, it's funny that they're very like country towns. But then they also have this like hip hop culture and they have all these different, you know,

so it's not just country music there, but it's interesting because we're from like the same little part of the country. Yeah. And so we had a lot in common. But he's, he's one of a kind. I mean, he's insanely versatile.

Yeah. He doesn't see boundaries with music. That's why his music He pulls from everything He's just, he is like a physical He's like music Yeah In the physical form

Someone was telling me One of my buddies We have an artist friend And he was saying that he was working with him I can't remember who it was Whichever one of our friends it was He was writing with Farrell And like they were doing one song

In one room And then like Ferrell was just bouncing out To like another room With another artist He has like three rooms Go in all times Yeah that's sick And he just bounces between all of them

I think he's probably like It's how I was out. He's probably like ADD out the roof. He said they're at his crib and he just has like a bunch of like studios and stuff like set up in there. I think he's just always thinking music. Yeah. I just think he's, he has that brain.

Yeah, I think he like likely I could imagine in his head it's just music all the time. Yeah. That's what I imagine probably feels like to be him. A hundred percent. Blessing and a curse. Probably pretty cool. Yeah.

But you could also be like, damn. I'd like to take a second off or something. Yeah. Yeah. Some quiet. Yeah, for sure. After the EP, is there an album or do you not really... So I have this theory that modern music now, it doesn't matter.

I love an album. Yeah. Definitely, like, love to put on an album. Yeah. But I also don't care if someone just releases five songs. I feel. Yeah, I feel that. Because it's just, there's so much consumption to do already.

Yeah. You know, with music coming out all the time. But no, with this EP, so it kind of wasn't even really planned. It all stemmed from, um, my single before this last one ain't missing you. I kind of just started teasing it on social media and it caught fire. And I wasn't even like taking advantage of like the TikTok platform or anything like that before. But I met some other, excuse me, met some other content creators shortly before I first teased that song.

And it just caught fire like 200,000 views first video. And like I kept posting it and was seeing people, you know, use the sound, repost the sound. And it was so cool. So then we started writing more and getting some of these songs put together. I put out one of like the most personal ones I've ever released. It was called Daddy Drinks Whiskey back in November last year. And then at the start of, uh, this year. Why was this year?

It's just a story like that I kind of was telling from my point of view in my life a couple of years ago that I hadn't shared yet. Right. And it's just, you know, struggles with family and, you know, like alcohol addiction and things like that. And I finally got to the place where I was ready to just talk about it and address it. Sharing a personal thing that hurts is hard to do because it's so complex. Because it's especially, I'm guessing it's about your dad. Yeah. And he drank. Yeah. So my dad was an alcoholic, big time. This isn't new. I've shared this here that, that, but it took

me a long time actually to even say it here. Yeah. It did for me too. I mean, the, the, years that went by without even saying and people wouldn't even know what happened you know it's kind of crazy so when i was younger i wrote a lot of songs about my dad just unconsciously just threw it up onto the song right and then as i got older and i had my own kids i started to realize that one this is this man uh was doing the best he could uh and he certainly had his problems but they were complicated and then throw marriage into that that's complicated yeah and then raising kids complicated and then paying the rent and like complicated yeah all of it's complicated you don't really consider that when you're 19 and you're writing the song and you're just pissed off because you know my dad

left when I was young and we we were estranged for a long time but then I got older and I actually cared about how people judged him because people are mean in the world and they'll just say whatever and you're like wait a minute you can't say that about my dad yeah even if we're not talking you can't talk about my dad that way yeah for sure family something about family you feel protective of like yeah definitely like i'll talk shit about him you can't talk shit about him yeah right yeah i'm sure which is fair i feel that man you don't want yeah you don't want people just talking down your name at all no in any way um but yeah like with this song like it was just finally time like i wanted to say something and i want it to be a part of a bigger project you know

it's a story that I needed to tell. So, yeah, I put it out there. People probably liked it. It's cool. Yeah, and people that go through the similar things, you know, they really feel the emotion. And I want people that, you know, go through that and don't talk about it to listen to it and know, there's other people going through it. There's people to talk to.

There's, you know, just something to relate to for people like that, you know, and let them know they're not alone in those difficult situations. Yeah, so I put that out. And then we went, this is back to your question about, like, the, album or like what's coming on with the new project and EP. But then we put out bad decisions at the start of this year. I was on tour with the artist named Nate Smith, if you know him, which he's playing on Sunday, too. It's going to be sick. I love him to death. I've known him for like four years. So you're going to be there with a bunch of people you know or that you like.

Yeah, I mean, I know Morgan. I know Hardy. I know Bailey. I know Nate. Oh, I didn't know they were all going to be there. It's all the same day, dude. We're stacked line up. That's dope. Yeah. And it's all like homies that, you know, I've got. I've toured with and hung out with and, you know, over the years, gotten to know. So it's going to be a really fun day. But we put bad decisions out with that tour kind of in tandem with everything to get some hype going. And we didn't even have the EP really planned yet, but I wrote like a bunch of new songs and we just sat down and listened and decided what we wanted.

And we got three that are already out, three new ones that will be on the EP. And then it's kind of a precursor to a larger project. And I've never put out an album yet. you know in eight years i've put out several eps and singles and i just wanted the right time you know to be the right time for the album and for it to be the first one i definitely want to do at least one you yeah yeah yeah i think would be cool because there's so much music over the last few years that i've written that's just sitting around that you know we're excited to finally put out for people to hear but that's kind of the way i've been thinking about it you know it's kind of just stem from that one

song and the you know others followed and everything's just aligning so hopefully the end of this year we'll have a project or something ready. Do you feel like when you put out daddy drinks whiskey that you felt a little bit like liberated? There's a way of connecting with people when you get vulnerable when you let when you let them in on something. Yeah. That you're taking a risk because they could also use it against you and you know, like that's the nature of the world. I had written it for like two years. It was just sitting around. Yeah. And before I even did it, I didn't play it for my mom or my sisters for two years. I played it for my brother right after I wrote it. And then none of my other family had heard it until it until it came out. What about your dad? No, he didn't hear it until I came out.

I don't speak to him. Okay. Yeah, we haven't talked in a few years. So we have a similar. Yeah, very similar from what you were saying. We have a similar story. Yeah. Because when I was your age, I wasn't talking to my dad either. Yeah. I didn't talk to him until I was probably 30. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Did you say you were 19? I was, uh, when he, when he left, I was probably like, he came and went for a few years so it was like it all started around 12 13 yeah I was like 19 he was gone for good when I was probably like 15 yeah and then um very similar and then I was pretty pissed off all the way until I had my own kids yeah and then I had my kids and I was like up your eyes a little bit a little bit I was like fuck it I'm just gonna go find him see the man yeah and then I was really

terrified. I actually talked to a young guy randomly. A friend of mine, it's actually the baseball coach who told you about. Oh, really? Young guy he knew, estranged from his father, and he knew that I had the experience. He's like, would you talk to him? So I got on the phone with him and we talked about the same thing. But he's much younger. He's 21. So without giving his personal information away, the most inspiring thing about the story was that he wanted to meet his dad and he was ready for whatever it was going to be but it was for him yeah and i was like you should do it when you're ready when you feel like you're ready to face that um i don't know what's going to come of it i don't know that you're going to have the same story as me yeah me and my dad ended up being

really good friends uh i wouldn't say that he would ever be in the position to say maybe give me fatherly advice that i would that i had otherwise found other men in my life that would that kind of serve that yeah but he was a very encouraging guy he was proud of me and he died from from from from drinking so that was tough yeah and i i actually talked about this a a few weeks ago on on this show for the first time which was crazy because i never thought i ever would because i'm super protective of at this age i'm super protective of people's opinion of my dad yeah uh because at the core of him he was a he was a decent guy he was a good guy had a lot of problems he had a lot of things hadn't worked out.

And unfortunately, he didn't get to. But I respected him because at the end of the day, I had found my way there. But it's so personal, you can't. There's no book for it. No, there's not. And it's all different. Yeah. It's all very, very specific to one person as well.

And you've got to write the songs. Yeah, you do. That's your. It's your, like, escape. And that's your therapy. That's how you're going to make, that's how you're going to unpack the whole thing. Yep. Right?

From zero to 24. You've got 24 years of feelings and experiences that you have to process. You have to make sense of it. Not just for you, but out there somewhere as a guy listening to your songs with the same story, but he doesn't have a guitar. He doesn't have the ability to write song. He needs your song. That's the craziest thing about it.

Yeah, that's why I say, like, Daddy drinks whiskey. That's the beginning of a whole vertical of you that puts out these stories that people need so that they can process their own pain, their own complicated family relationships, because we all have them. Doesn't matter who you are. You've got some complicated relationship with it. For someone, it might be their siblings

or their brother or their sister, someone it might be their grandparents, someone it might be their mom and dad, both of them or one of them. And most people don't have the pin in the pad and the guitar to sit down and start just feeling something. You know, when you write those songs, it just starts to start to,

coming out. Oh yeah. And you're like, and then you get a little red in the face when you play it for someone for the first time. Yep. Because it's real. It's real. And it's not a party song because I love a party song too. I need those. Yeah. But man, those songs that maybe they're not going to be a number one, but they're more important in a way. Those besides sad songs. Because it's someone's favorite song because it helped them get through the death of their one of their parents or their estrangement from their own dad or that's why I think these songs are the most important ones we write yeah because it's somebody else's story you know in your cuts yeah 100% and it's like I said the power of music because it's it really does have a real real strong effect on everybody especially with stuff like that yeah man I mean

it was a it was a good time to finally put that out and and I'm glad you did yeah and I'm glad it's part of the project you know and and I want it to be on the full album at some point and I want me know as many people to hear it as possible the reconciliation with our dads doesn't happen for all of us. Right? I'm not saying that that's the path for you. I don't know. Yeah.

But the songwriting and the talking about it with other people, because likely I'm sure other people have come to and said, hey, that song, man, my dad. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? That's part of the process of you finding, like, the peace with it. Because, yes.

Growing up without a dad in those formative years is really hard. it's really hard because you're confusing. When you're a teenager and you don't have that like older guy to go like, yeah, what do I do here? Yeah. You know, even if I see it with my son, he's a teenager, he's, we're best friends. Whether he asked me or not, he's getting the information. Yeah.

Because he's hearing me talk about this or he's watching these other men around that my friends, all my friends are devoted fathers. You know, most of them are devoted husbands and fathers. some of them even if it didn't work out with the with their kids moms they're still devoted to the family 100% a different way that's good and um he sees all that and he makes sense of things and i think it's it's healthy but we didn't have that yeah we were just kind of alone yeah you're going and you get some job you're working with grown-ups and you're getting information but like it's it's it's just the wild yeah yeah it doesn't hit it doesn't hit the same that's for sure

Yeah. And you don't really know because, I mean, with people like that, there's like nobody you trust more. And then you kind of, it can create like almost like a sense of trust issues with anybody else around you, you know. It's funny, man. I didn't even put that when I heard daddy drinks whiskey, I was like his dad probably drinks, but maybe they like talked about it or something. Like it gives me a deeper look into you. Because your perception on socials and your music is really. fun it's really like good time yeah but that layer of like oh but also that's a layer that was never peeled back yeah it's like that's that was like what i thought about it you know going into releasing it it was a it was an interesting like week in time and like conversations to have with people but you know i mean i think at the end it was for the best because it is it's peeling back those things and it's you being honest it's depth man it's therapeutic as well yeah yeah i'm glad you did it Well, thank you, man.

I'm glad I did. And I hope you keep unpacking that thing, because that's a lot, lots of lifelong thing. Yeah. Thing, you know, you're making sense of that is a lifelong thing. Definitely, man.

You know, one day at a time. Yeah. Do you drink a lot? On the road, yeah. Yeah. I party. Yeah. Yeah, I'll be honest.

I drink a lot on the road, too. Yeah, I mean, it's fun. It's nothing else to do. There's nothing else to do. Everybody, you know, comes out to the shows. Everybody's having fun. You want to have fun. Yeah.

Yeah. I like, I like to party. and have a good time out on the road. It's easy to do. As much when there's nothing else to do. Back at home and kind of like lock in and find the balance. Exactly. And I think that's a big thing with life and everything is balance, whether, you know,

it's like eating good, being healthy, going to the gym, the weekends, you know you're going to go out and have your fun, you know. But that perfect balance is something that I feel like everybody's striving to find. That's our job. Yeah. It is to figure out the thing our dads couldn't figure out. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Yeah, for sure. Like how do we do this? How do we find balance? Yep. You know? How do we stay in real life? And then we can get away sometimes. That's another thing, dude.

I feel like it's just one day at a time as well. Yeah. You know, and you keep moving on and making progress as best you can. That's all you can do. Yeah, 100%. But I think the upside of like coming up with a complicated relationship with people in our so anyone listening that maybe it isn't their dad, but maybe it's their mom or maybe it's their grandparents

or maybe it's their sibling. Anyone that's been around, anyone that has a complicated relationship with alcohol and drugs, it informs us a lot. Yeah. So there is an upside because I think we also don't judge anyone. Yeah.

I don't judge anyone. No, me neither. If someone is addicted to drugs. Now, I might stay away when they're in their craziness. Yeah. Because I understand what that entails. But I don't judge. them because I've seen so many people go through it. I mean, you'd be surprised. I mean,

how many people go through shit like that that they don't even talk about. You know what I mean? Or you don't even know about. Yeah. I was listening to the O'on podcast the other day. I like Theo. Yeah, man. He's great. He's a good dude. A dude. Cool, cool guy, funny-ass dude. And I love his pod, but he had a, like, a trauma expert, like therapist on the other day. And it was just like very insightful podcast to listen to. It was like an hour and a half long, too. and you like learn a lot about it. Just human behavior and like why people do things the way they do. Or, you know, it was really weird how like they dove into it scientifically.

But it's a good listen. Because I imagine he has probably. Tim Fletcher, I think was his name. He probably has some of the like remnants of a tumultuous childhood. Yeah. The things that come along with an anxiety, depression, PTSD. I just did this thing. It's really interesting.

I did a brain scan from a guy. who specializes in like this stuff. Oh, yeah? Dr. Aiman. He's actually really well known in the like brain space. Yeah. And we were going through,

there's a whole process. So you get a brain scan and then they ask you all these questions. They do this like pre a scan. Like they upload all your information that you can possibly give them about your childhood and experiences you have. And I was telling him from a,

in early age. So my household was a really like rage filled household. My dad was a bit of a rageaholic when I was younger. And so there's a lot of trauma in and around like that kind of stuff that you don't really actually account for. So as a kid growing up in it, you just are like, yeah, that's just your dad gets bad and then destroys the living room or tears your bedroom up. That's actually not normal.

No. No, it's not. So, but if you grow up in it, you're like, yeah, that's. Yeah, that's what happens. You know, your dad gets mad. You didn't clean your dirty clothes off the floor. Yeah, what your surroundings are. And your dad got mad and he destroyed your whole room.

And then to clean it up for him and spank you. Yeah. And then you got spanked. So you're like, oh, that's what the parents do, right? Now, I don't. My parenting style is do the opposite. Yeah. So I'm very like, okay, guys.

That's a better approach, probably. Maybe we could clean our rooms up, everybody? Yeah. And everyone's like, okay, dad. You later. And I'm a little hard on them in some ways, but probably not at all. I was like the type of kid, like, my mom had to tell me like four times. Yeah.

She tried to be chill about it. And then the last time we all knew, like, oh, the voice went out. We're not going to get in trouble now. So that's pretty normal. Yeah. And they were saying, like, no, that's like, because I had this experience that would always happen to me, especially when I was younger, but into my older age. It doesn't happen a lot now, but it still does sometimes where, you know, in a movie

when a bomb goes off? Yeah. And it's like, doof. doof dof and it's like everything's slow motion oh yeah you hear like a ring i would have that experience in a way it wasn't exactly like like like what you see in the movie but it was like it was like that it was like you'd go in your head everything was slow motion you'd hear a high pitch ring it was like it's like a something triggered like PTSD and that's what he said yeah he was like that's PTSD like classic yeah PTSD symptom um and it's likely from some childhood like

It's crazy, dude. The way your brain works with stuff like that too. But what it made me think about was and I'm a guy with resources. So I got the therapist, the brain doctor. I'm like,

I want to figure out how all this works. Yeah, let me see what's going on. I don't care how it's it costs. I'm like, but that's like, I've got resources. But like I understand that's a special case. Like most people don't have the time, the money to go and figure out.

Like, what's this thing that keeps happening to me? I feel like I'm dying. We're like, that's a panic attack. Yeah. And this is why probably did this happen? And it's important to understand those types of things.

But think about how many people are rolling around having PTSD, anxiety, and don't know it. And then they're acting out in like a road rage incident. And we see it. All we see on TikTok is the guy or the woman losing their shit. Yeah. Which isn't cool. No. And it's sad for people like that to have those type of things happen.

You know what I mean? We're praying for everybody. I guess my point is, is like, the more you learn about your own. pain and suffering. And certainly you're going to make great art with it because country music is so great for pain and suffering. But like I said, we're lucky because we have a guitar. That's right.

Some people don't have that. We could write a song for the sake of it, never release it, always love it. I've got songs that have never been released that I love to death that I still go back to sometimes, just jamming the demos and stuff like that. Listen to it. You go, man, I'm glad I wrote that song. Yep. But I always have empathy and sympathy.

for the people out there. That's why I'm very, look, an asshole is an asshole. I get that. But I always have a little bit of grace and empathy for when I see people acting out emotionally because they can't even understand why they're so upset.

Something out of their control. Yeah. And then they do some crazy shit. That's also why I don't judge artists when I see someone gets arrested because they, like I say, Morgan Wallen got in trouble because he threw a chair or something.

And I'm like, kind of understand the guy. Yeah. Right? You have one of those nights. Mm-hmm. Except for no one's watching when everyone else does it. And they happen, man. And I mean, just like we said, all the work and time that goes into this, it can string

people out. It's for damn sure. But I also feel like Morgan's pretty honest about who he is. That's why everyone's just like, no one's mad at him. Yeah. Because he's not presenting like, oh, I'm this perfect guy who's going to, you know, he's like, sorry. Yeah.

Didn't mean to do it. Honesty is his best policy, especially with that type of stuff, you know. Right. Like, I'm going to apologize to anyone that I've. offended or hurt because I really don't want to offend you or hurt you. Yeah. But I also didn't like, wasn't thinking when I did it. Exactly.

Like I said, just being honest about stuff like that, it's definitely relatable because everybody goes through tough shit and has tough days, you know. What are you the most excited about right now? Yeah, coming up. Oh man. I mean, obviously the new music. I think, like I said, it's just the best trajectory I've had so far as well as I think we're going to be doing finally some headlining shows that people have been.

grew about later this year it's all getting put together so that'll be getting announced soon and it's been a few years since I've even done a headlining tour so that'll just be fun to you know kind of get to weigh on way in on like how the new music has been performing and who's going to be coming out just to see me and you know playing some of the older songs and the the full set list that we haven't had to play for years I just think that's going to be fun it's going to be a good experience I'm excited for you man I can't wait to see to hear the EP yeah and uh I hope Hopefully I can come to a show. Dude, that'd be great whenever you want to.

I love that. Thanks for coming on and doing this. It means a lot. For sure, dude. I hope to see you out there Sunday at some point. Good to meet you, man. Good to meet you too, bro. Thanks for coming.

Yeah, thanks for having me, man. Awesome is fun. Sick. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of Artist Friendly. If you really liked it, you can follow, like, subscribe to the show anywhere you listen to podcasts, Spotify, Apple, Amazon. We appreciate your support, and we'll see you next time.