Artist Friendly with Joel Madden - Matt Quinn of Mt. Joy

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

On this week's episode of Artist Friendly, Joel Madden is joined by Matt Quinn of Mt. Joy. Last spring, Mt. Joy returned with Hope We Have Fun, an album that, after nearly a decade of touring, solidifies years of hard work coming to fruition — including selling out Madison Square Garden and Red Rocks. For the frontman, the LP revels in the band’s time together: “We’ve all done ridiculous things in sickness and in health. You just look up, and you’re at Madison Square Garden with these people, and it makes you emotional — it feels like something you never could have dreamed. The album is a realization that we pushed ourselves into this crazy world, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. It’s a lot about sticking together in relationships, living a crazy lifestyle, and just saying, ‘I hope we have fun.’” In a candid and thoughtful conversation with Joel, Quinn details exactly what it’s taken to arrive at this point. ------- 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

Because this is something I think about with trying to grow Mount Joy. Yeah. What's the next thing? And I think sometimes it's just that. It's just like when you're a band coming up, it's like, why do people go to sports games? It's like sports does is genius in the sense that the event itself is about achieving something. It's like, I'm trying to achieve this thing. Will there, won't they?

Reality TV, let's find out. Yeah. In music, when you're coming up, you have that. Will they put on an excellent show tonight? Will they make it? Will this show move them to the next level? Like, will this, you know, can I go tell my friends like, this band's this? So once you make it, you have this problem where it's like, well, now I'm just up here doing it again. Yeah. But what is the achievement? What is happening tonight that is transcending to the crowd that like they're doing it? What is that it? I always have these like long philosophical discussions with my brother in the morning. It's like our little of the morning routine, at least like a couple times a week. Nice.

And it was a good one today. Okay. Well, there's a lot to get on about, I suppose. A lot of things to think about. Yeah. But I was listening to you guys live at Red Rocks. It's really good. Yeah, thanks, man.

Good recording. Thanks, man. Actually, our front of house engineer mixed that, which I think is like a, we've never done that sense. I shouldn't say like that's an amazing thing. But kind of an amazing thing because he knew what he wanted it to sound like, I think. So it worked out. I actually feel like good live recordings. I feel like no one does it enough.

And it's easier now. Like there's more technology. So you can record like more. And maybe more people do it than I'm aware of. But I feel like no one releases it enough. I feel like we're going there. And you guys are a band actually that could do it. Where you record as many shows as you can.

And you release those all the time. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, you know, I grew up like, I grew up. I'm still a huge Grateful Dead fan. And so like there's a little bit of that like in our music, we're just probably from, I don't think we sound like the Grateful Dead per se,

but I'm just sort of like trying to learn from the stuff they did really well. A little Grateful Dead in there. Yeah. Feels a little bit like. It's like if you squint with both eyes. There's some dead stuff in there. If you squint with both eyes. Yeah.

It's not like a one-eyed squint, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, I think, I think just trying to learn from them. And the challenge, I think, us is like, because I think we'd like to do that, is like, we vary our sets. Like, each night is definitely different, but we're not like a full experimental jam band in that way, where it's like, oh, we'll put out Tuesday show. It's going to sound pretty similar probably to other shows. So it's in that way, we kind of feel like we have to pick our spots, but maybe not.

Or at least one, it's horror. Yeah. I mean, I think that's probably right. Yeah. Which is probably more realistic anyways, because if you want to do it right, promote it and make it feel like special, which I think also I learned then when I got older, but like you look back at all everything you put out, everything you release and you don't think about it at the time when you're young, but like it's your body of work. It's your book. It's your legacy. And you should try and no matter how you release things, I think as an older age, I don't know how old you are, but I'm way older than you. I'm 35. Okay, so I'm 11 years older than you. So I thought you were doing good, man. I kind of want to know you thought. You look young.

Really? Okay. I'm most stressed this morning. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So did I. It didn't, not working. You look back and go, I wish I would have maybe just taken a little more time or put a little more, been a little bit more hyper-focused in the process around releasing that releasing that because then because once it's not that you shouldn't release everything you want but I think like you start to look you look back and it's all stacked up and you can see the moments where you weren't locked in at least I can yeah and so taking the time around every release even if it's like a live record or whatever is worth it's worth the effort yeah I think of that both ways though being kind of in it like right now making where I'm going to head to the studio after this it's like

I kind of find that it's like, and maybe it's easy to look back and think that because it's like in the moment, there's a lot going on. And you have to protect your like mental and not be so like too locked in where it's like you're overthinking everything. Yeah, you're a neurotic obsessive. There's a line there. And I think like, you know, I guess like live album and stuff, it's like, yeah, you do want to put the proper like, I guess like marketing mechanics or whatever. Yeah, yeah. But like the actual music stuff, I think it's hard to be like. I got to lock in more.

Like, for me anyway, because it's like, I think some of the best stuff is just like, the reason you started playing music was it wasn't like you were like the most locked in or something. It was just like you were making stuff and there was a freedom to that. So there is a line there. It's like, you know. Like you're right. Yeah.

I think you just answered my question. I was one of the things I was thinking about today was that I was looking back a little too much. Yeah. And I was criticizing some things. Yeah. I think like the best music is like, and it's sort of impossible to create when you're like trying to lock in in a way

because it's like, it's this freedom that like something that feels free. And you can't really replicate that when, and I think that's what's hard. Like this is our, this will be our fifth album. If it's an album, I don't know, we're just making songs at this point, but like it's like, you're like,

oh, let's do like what we did before because that was really successful, which is like, at that point, you're like chasing your tail a little bit where it's like, I think before we weren't, thinking about any sort of future or anything. It's like we were just making stuff and cracking jokes and you know doing whatever and that was the alchemy there. So it's like to act like we were

super locked in there is like I think we were hungry and that's a factor. Like you wanted to do something great. Yeah but we weren't like man like I definitely think more about like lyrics and stuff like now than I did then. People are like oh these are great lyrics and I'm like I don't I don't think that, whatever. So I think it's always really hard to, like, judge yourself. You did great. You know, that's clearly, like, you did great. Like, you know, so.

Oh, me? Yeah. Oh, thank you, man. That's really nice. You're doing great. Oh, well, thanks, man. I think you're right. So you guys have accomplished a lot in what I would say, it probably has gone by really fast.

I mean, 10 years is, it's a long time, but it's not a lot. long time. So I look at your your your your band and I don't think of you guys as a new band, but you're not an old band. Sure. And you've accomplished a lot in a time when I was thinking about it today. I'm thinking you guys came on my radar probably in like 20, 22 maybe. And then last year was like a real like you guys really emerged to another level of like cultural awareness of music fans and I think also you probably as a band felt like all those years starting to hit like momentum where like on stage you can feel it you can feel the experience I think 10 years is a is a is a good amount of time for a band to become like fully mature as a group in like their craft

you know yeah which is why I think you guys the only way you get to like the big shows right let's say you sell out, you guys sold out, Madison Square Gardens, you sold out, Red Rocks, sold out, the Greek, you sold out, all these big venues. Really hard to do. Especially, the moment you're at now, you're making this record or making this project, making this music that you're making now and whatever it becomes, it'll probably be a record. But you did that against probably like a decade of an environment that wasn't really conducive to your success. And somewhere in the last few years, music's turned a corner and you guys have been here, though, doing what you do. Yeah.

So it's interesting to me that you guys start up. And obviously you probably had made, I don't know if you've been in other bands or what your journey was. But you started in a very unfriendly time for live and bands and all that. And then you had to go through COVID and then you had to all that. So it's interesting that you guys have survived all that as a band and thrived actually in a time where not a ton of bands were it wasn't easy to. Yeah, I mean, I think you nailed like kind of all of it. I think I'll always say like a big portion of its luck because like I know that firsthand. I tried like you said, I tried for like, you know, when this thing started, I was like 25.

but I had been trying for, you know, since I was like a teenager. I was in bands and I felt like I had some good moments, you know, but it just didn't matter. Like, just could never poke through. So Lux's a big part of it. For me, that was like me. I followed my girlfriend at the time out to L.A. She gave me the ultimatum. She was like, we went to school in Boston.

She's like, I'm getting out of here. I know you got some guys, some Boston guys here. Oh, you're from Boston? No, I'm from Philadelphia, but I went to. Oh, you're from Philly. Yeah. Went to school up there. And then I followed her out here.

and I met some people out here, my manager to this day, he was doing like, to your point about like in the box stuff, he was doing like producer, he was managing like EDM and like producer type stuff. And we just lived in the same apartment. So I was like, I'll do anything to break into music at this point. I'm sort of a failed songwriter at that point. And yeah, he kind of like from there I started just meeting people who were like hustling in LA.

And some of that was like I had a guy who knew a guy who could like, I don't know, like pitch our music for what we're called playlists at the time at Spotify. And I was like, I got a goofy song about Jesus driving an astrovan, like that I would play. Like, I remember time period wise, like, you know, I like sports and stuff is kind of my escape. So I would like, there was a many, uh, Pacquiao fought Floyd Mayweather, which was like the big event. Oh yeah, I remember that. And it took like, you know, we had this party with a bunch of people there and it took like forever for them to fight and it was super boring. So I was like, I got this song about Jesus.

So I remember playing it for people there and they were like a song about Jesus. It makes it sound like a different type of song than it is. But I have this goofy song and I played it for people there and they're like, yo, that's like really good. Started giving me confidence. I was like, all right. So I gave it to this guy who I'd met through people that was out here. And then that was the luck component.

It was just like people at Spotify, I guess, liked it. And then it went whatever. So, you know, that was the first thing in my life musically that had ever broken through at all in any way. And then it was like, all right, let's put a band together. The rest was sort of history. But I think that plus, I think you nailed to what's happening is like, I think about this all the time. Like, you realize that like part of what was awesome about music was that shared experience. It's probably the best part.

So that's where the concert thing comes in. I think that's where the band thing comes in. I think it's like it doesn't just have to be bands, but I think it took us years. Like that's sort of the 10-year story is like a feeling short for me is that like it was chaotic. and like we believed in it a ton, but probably realistically wasn't smart until like a few years ago. Yeah, yeah.

And if you amortize the success of the last few years across 10 years, you still have, that's the thing I always tell people too is I'm like, and a career is like peaks in valleys, right? So it goes up, it goes down a little, it goes up a little higher,

and that's what you hope for. Yeah. The artistic life is playing out in front of everyone. and so the people that are listening to your music, that love your music, are also in their own story arcs. And there is like a through line to success and building a happy life and like getting the most out of life. Yeah.

Like which I think everyone deserves to do. And it's trying to do. And yeah, exactly. Like they all deserve to write their version of a song. Like if it's arts or if it's business or if it's just in their personal life and being happy. Like everyone deserves to. have their art. Yeah. And I feel like most of us, the art thing gets killed when we're little

because it doesn't make sense to do art. Not realistic. Right. And everyone has a medium of some kind if they can find it. Yeah. And it might be their company or it might be their fitness or it might be their life or it might be their kids or it might be whatever, their garden in the backyard or their, or it might actually be art painting or drawing or music. But I think everyone deserves to have some artistic expression of themselves. And like most of us don't, like a lot of people don't. Yeah. Or they don't give it enough credit.

Yeah. And so talking to music artists, we tend to be the most free because we're not in conflict with that. Sure. We just, you want to go write a song. You'll go right now and you'll fucking write a song. You're not conflicted about, is it good, is it bad? Is it this?

Is it that? You just want to do, you just want to get it out. and then you'll decide does this belong on the record should I change it but you're not so conflicted that you couldn't step in the studio and start strumming the guitar or start singing you know

a lot of people can't do that everyone should create something like I always sort of preach that like I don't know what that looks like for everyone because it's different for everyone but like yeah there's something about making stuff I mean some people like to like be handy with a hammer and whatever

like I'm jealous of that. I'm jealous of that too. Because that's rad. Like I think the feeling of people hiking is like just the feeling of conquering something. That's what creating is. It's like you start with nothing and you end up with something. Yeah, it wasn't there and now it's there. And that along with kind of stacking good decisions is the thing that I think no one really teaches

you when you're young is like. Yeah. Discipline. Like having disciplines in different things, right? What's your discipline? in, that's another thing no one taught me, is that everything actually is you get to choose your process and you should have a process, whatever it is for each person. And what are my disciplines in every category of my life? What are my disciplines in my career? I do this every day,

or I do this every week or I do this every month. That is like the antithesis of like what draws me to music, which is like, again, just like whether it's a hammer in your hand or whatever, just make something new, like make something that, and not even make something new, Because we make, like, music that is such a throwback to other music. And constantly... What bands do you love? You know, I really do love, like... What'd you come up on, like, in this band?

Neil Young, like... Yeah, of course. Grateful Dead. But, like, Johnny Mitchell, Bob Dylan, like, that whole zone of, like... What about the newer, the newer stuff? Newer stuff? Like, I love Fleet Foxes. Fleet Fox is incredible.

Vampire Weekend. I was on... Band of Horses. Band of Horses wasn't huge for me. Like, yeah, like... Vampire Weekend, amazing. Amazing. Like all of those things, I think what drew to me in some way was like, there wasn't really

other stuff that was exactly like it. Like it felt like it was original. But old guys would say that Fleetboxes, band of horses were like Neil Young. Like that's the thing is like you play it for an old guy who loves Neil Young and they're like it sounds like Neil Young. I love it. Sure. But every different generation and genre when someone's lived there long enough and they've seen it

enough times or going to see like new stuff. Yeah, I think it's more like, you're totally right. Like, and Mount Joy is like super derivative of like a ton of our influences. But what I'm saying more is like it was, and I don't think they were trying to be bold, but it was when Fleet Foxes, when the year is 2010 or whatever it was, when they popped on, there wasn't other bands like that were like, there wasn't 50 other bands online sounding like Fleet Foxes. Fleet Foxes came in. They had this like four part harmony thing going in the,

crazy reverb and and great songwriting tune. But the way they sounded and the way they felt was fresh. Like it was like, that was their thing. And it was great. Whoa. Do you like my morning jacket? Love my morning jacket.

I feel like there's some of the OG. Totally. Like I feel like he is, I don't know why. I felt like my morning jacket was like a trailblazing band for the whole movement now. If you think back, if you traced it back, I feel like they'd be somewhere in the early, like, yeah, I don't know. But, like, maybe there'd be a beef on reverb between Fleet Foxes and my morning jacket, but, like, to me, I love them both. I love them both.

But I'm saying, like, and I'm saying that's a stretch. Like, I think those are two very different fans. But my point is, is just that they're both fresh. They had their own thing. And, like, I think if I hate anything about music, which I genuinely am not a hater in the sense that everything we've talked about, like, show me a song that I don't care for at all. And I'll be like, and what they've accomplished and done to get, like, I'll be like, they must be really. talented. Like there must be a talent there that like even if you think this guy sucks like trust me everyone would be doing it. Maybe he's just like the hottest guy ever and that's a

talent unto itself or something. But like also though like just you know what they had to do and how many times they had to show up to get to the position to be seen and heard sucks to be that successful in some ways like it's like to and how much it sucks to be that guy sometimes. To wake up at 4 a.m. to be on some like you know today's show or whatever like all that stuff is like it's nice to be rewarded that way but it's like it's not easy to do that stuff and then to go play a show anyways all to say I think if I hate anything it's just like I just want every artist to because I think it's something that I've found trapped to like I think every artist falls in this trap because you see someone having success in a certain way and you're like I'll make a song like that

but it's like that is a trap and it's like just do your thing and do it really really well and I feel like other artists are like sort of, at least speak for myself, I feel like I can really sniff that out because I can do it. There's also value to, let's call it like, if there's, let's say, right, like pop folk. Sure. Like suddenly every pop station's playing the next fokey song and there's tambourines and clapping in it. And there's like, you know what I mean? Like, they've just packed it up, put it out.

Yeah. There's some value to it, though. Sure. Because there's this new audience coming in and then what happens? They start to dig. They start to go back to the roots. Oh, it raises all, whatever they say, raises all boats kind of thing. And it's natural order.

But I think what you're saying is something I've thought about too where like, I think the lesson, though, for me anyway, what I've taken from all this is like, and you were talking about EDM in 2011 or something like that. Oh, yeah. It was around the time, right? Yeah. So I was like making, I've been making this kind of music. You said like Fleet Foxes and stuff like that. And that hit me so hard because I was like a contemporary and band of horses. Like these are like contemporary examples of like, man, what would it sound like if I was able to like achieve the influences that I love? Like this sort of like throwback timeless. I feel like. Yeah, I think so. So tell. Like type of music. And to hear people contextualize that in like when I was like, you know, I guess like early 20s or teenage. or whatever was like, oh my God, like I could do this. But then it's like, it becomes a wave.

And that's like right when I'm like first trying to like break through as well. So maybe that's why I hate it in a way. It's like I was once that guy or still am. And so, but what I learned from it is like I think the lesson is like we basically start doing our thing and we start hammering away and have whatever, not as much success. But by the time like everything comes back around. So like rather than trying to force yourself into the next thing, just. stay where you are and just get really good at what you do and it will come back around.

Like there's almost this cycle of like EDM, which is like four on the floor. And then it's like we want to hear this stomp folk thing because that's also four on the floor. It's like once our ears get tired of that, it's like, wait, we should break this beat up a little bit. Like I just feel like there is this movement like, I don't know if I could actually draw it out like that like a cycle. But there's something there's something there. And it's like it does cycle for a sort of natural reason where it's like if he, listen to this a bunch, you're going to tire and want this. If you listen to that a bunch, and you kind of move around in a circle eventually. So it's like, there's not really much point in

my, and that's part of the don't quit. It's like, just get so good at what you do that it becomes undeniable. And then you might get lucky because the wave might come and you'll be the best surfer for that wave or a really good one at least. And you can profit off of that as a band, And you know, I'm Anna Mena. And, like my music, my my hair changes with me and has to be able to

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the But I also think though that what you guys have done really well is live. I think if you build live and you put that as one of your priorities, a live experience that people like and that they get something out of that they feel is worth their time and money. At the end of the day, that's always, you want to feel like at the, you know, when you go to a Mount Joy show, you want people to walk away and go, I was glad I went, that was worth every bit of my time, my money, and I want to go back. And that's a, that is a handcrafted thing. And timeless. Forever. And it takes a lot of effort and time to build that. You don't,

you don't start at the top. You start at the very bottom with life. That is the truest form in our business. That is the truest form of building it brick by brick. That is the truest. You start in a bar. You go to a small, uh, shitty club. Then you go to a little bit bigger of a club. By the time you're in 1,500 cap rooms, you feel like you're getting somewhere. You're like, oh, my God, this is amazing. But it takes real diligence and real cooperation.

You have to learn how to behave with other bands. You have to learn how to build positive in relationships with people so that they want to invite you and they want to come to your show. And so that takes, that to me, is the most physical. form aside from making a record right and actually crafting a record the most physical form of our building of our career is live and the people that miss that as not a priority i feel like they also miss the point of why we do all this is if the song doesn't sound good in the room when you're actually singing it that proves it that proves the song out because it also like takes on a life of

its own and live is the thing. Yeah. To me, the record is the commercial and live is the show. That's right. Like, so if you get it backwards, then you're in big trouble. And I think there's great contemporary examples of that. Like, we played Bonnero again and, you know, had an amazing set and then walked over, you know, with all these people who had just seen, whether it's hip hop or whatever. So there's a huge, you know, over to the main stage, a bunch of different types of music fans.

Billy Strings walks on and you can feel it. nobody, not nobody, but a vast majority of these fans do not engage with bluegrass whatsoever. Myself sort of like kind of because of the Grateful Dead thing, but I'm not like a huge bluegrass guy. And he had people in the palm of his hand for whatever it was, an hour, 90 minutes. And it was like in that moment, you didn't have to question what was going to happen to that guy or what was already happening because he's playing a big Bonner set. But like, it was like music, genre and everything melts away when you reach a level. which is like a work thing.

Like that's like a thing you can become at music. He's obviously like entered a conversation of like, is he the best ever at that? I don't know. Like those conversations start to happen when you reach that level. But it's been built over a long time. And he does over a long time. But I guess that's what my point is is like you can play whatever kind of music, polka music.

But if you're like God tear at it and it's like in you and that's what comes out of you and that's your expression, people are going to, they're not going to look away. Like they might not like go home and bang the rest. record, like, but they're going to be like the next time that bands through it, their buddy is like, yo, I'm going to see whatever. They'll be like, that's on a great show. And I also think that it goes back to your kind of longevity for live is wrapped up in authenticity. It's unsustainable if you're out there being someone you're not. I believe it wears on people. And so I think that like that goes back to where the art you create that you're going to go and do every night. It has to be

authentic to you. Otherwise, you're not going to be able to do it every night. You're going to start feeling that at some point. You hit a wall. Yeah, exactly. So I think that that does what you're saying, people finding, finding themselves and making music that's true to that. To me, that's one ingredient for a big live career. It's got to be something that you truly are. Otherwise, you won't be able to do it until, like what I, another thing I love about bands, especially like you guys, you could You could play this music when you're 45, you could play it when you're 55, you could play it when you're 65, you'll decide when you don't want to play it. It's not a age-specific.

And by the way, we made it at a very young age. So I wasn't thinking about 45, you know, 30 years ago. Probably good, though. In some ways, very good. And I thought for some reason I was like, I'm not going to be touring when I'm like, I thought my 40s sounded really old and I was like, but now when we tour

some things we've left back there. And the things that we like that we want to bring here, we've had to reimagine it to like where we are now because I don't want to walk on stage and be a different age than I am. I'm not hiding my age. I'm not hiding like,

I want to walk on stage as a grown man in my life today and be there and really be there and do my best. And I think that's a better show. Because also I think we've all seen like when it feels like someone just phoning it in, it's weird. It's not fun to watch.

It's when you see someone that looks like they're tired and they don't want to be up there. And it's like, that's not a good live experience. So we had to, when we came back to touring after like seven years, we were like, we'll get back to it when we feel it. And then when that came, we were like, the only way we can do this is if we re-immed. imagine the whole show and we go out and we're excited to be there because we want to do this. I think that's huge. I think because this is something I think about with trying to grow Mount Joy. What's the next thing? And I think sometimes it's just that. It's just like when

you're a band coming up, it's like why do people go to sports games? It's like sports does is genius in the sense that the event itself is about achieving something. It's like I'm trying to achieve this thing. Will there, won't they? Reality TV. Let's find out. Yeah. In music, when you're coming up, you have that. Will they put on an excellent show tonight? Will they make it? Will this show move them to the next level? Like, will this?

You know, can I go tell my friends like, this band's this? So once you make it, you have this problem where it's like, well, now I'm just up here doing it again. Yeah. But what is the achievement? What is happening tonight that is transcending to the crowd that like, they're doing it? What is that it? What is the thing you're doing that's raising the ceiling for Mount Joy or Good Charlotte or whatever it is? And that can be as simple as just like, man, it looks like they're starting to do that song differently or like looks like they're whatever, like, which then feels like you're taking a turn and now you're going this way in real time. And I think for us at least, and for me, it's like, I just think that, you know, and like the Billy Strings is kind of a good example. There's a few amazing clairs out there now where it's like, well, I can become a way better musician. And then I can put that into the show. That's how we feel.

Exactly. We didn't think that was possible for us. And then somewhere in our like 30s actually and then to now when we tour, now there's no rules. So we have other musicians. We've added like three musicians to the band when we play live and anything's possible. So when we want, when we have an idea, we all get together and we have, we have firepower. Sure. Because we have all these musicians.

So there's no, there's as many vocals as we want because there's now, there's like four guys on stage singing instead of two. Yeah. And if we need something, we just get it. We're like, let's get another musician. And there's no rules that we used to weirdly set rules. Like we don't, we're this band. We can't do that. And now there's no rules.

I could confidently say this. We're better live today like by miles than we ever were in when we thought. You were really good. Yeah, yeah. Always feels that we're looking back especially. But yeah, I think that's it. That makes me want to see a good Charlotte show. Because it's like, that's the internal challenge, I think is like, it actually is kind of easy in a way to be like, all right, this is the show.

This is our first time in this place. Like, hands in, like, let's go conquer this. And the conquering itself is the achievement. But it's like once you've achieved the thing, it's like I think there's a freedom to it like you said. Where it's just like, all right, well, now we just have to keep pushing this in a way that feels and try to match that energy, I guess. Yeah. So what are you guys working on now? Yeah, I'm about to go down the street here in Burbank and...

What studio? Heavy duty. Okay, cool. Yeah, which actually, I think, is where Vampire Weekend, at least there's Vampire Weekend, Grammys in there, so either someone robbed Vampire Weekend and your Grammys are at the studio. What do you say? Do they own it? I think it's the producer's space.

Ariel Rekstad. I don't want to say his name wrong, but incredible producer. And some of those records are awesome. Are you working with him? No, we're working with a friend of ours, Joe P. Who's incredible. And engineer there is Gray's name's Kyle. Yeah, everything's been really cool, man.

We just like, like I said, I feel like we're in this cool spot where, and you kind of described it all today. It's like we're pretty free. That's cool. Freed up a little bit. And, you know, like there's not really any, in my mind, expectation of like what we need to achieve with a song. So we can just like try to make the best thing we.

ever made, you know? Like, yeah, exactly. Like, it doesn't have to be like a song that, you know, maybe our management who some of whom are here won't like this, but like it doesn't have to be a song that like goes on the radio. It could just be a song that like, we think it's going to be badass live or something like that. They'll survive if you survive. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, and that's, you know, in some ways I think that's the best way to make a song for the radio. Absolutely. It's to be like, this song's not for the radio. And then you put your mindset into just making something really great. And then it's like people like it because it's like, that's the whole freaking point.

Yeah, the rule I got to kind of in a zigzag way, but I think I was doing it all along, but there were a moment where I wonder if I was or not, was getting back to just like, if you love it and you think it's cool and you like, are excited to listen to it in the car when you get the mix and then that's the feeling. 100% of us. And then everyone else will be okay. They'll probably like it. Yeah, I heard Kevin Parker say that like for him to put.

put out a song, it has to be his favorite song for like 10 days or something. Yeah, yeah. Like driving around in your car, like, I don't put that back on. Yeah, you fucking like it. But if you're like, if you're like, which happens too, is like, if you hear it and you're like, it's kind of dead on arrival at that point, you know. And it's like if you're excited to play it for someone. Yeah, totally.

Which is the whole, people have said that too. Like, I think the whole point of music, if you're like trying to A&R your own music is like the same as it would have been in the beginning, which is like, yeah, do you want to show your friends this music or do you think that they would crush you for this song? You know, like, as the importance of having, we talk about in the band, like, I think bullying is bad, but I think bullying is also good. Yeah. Like, I think, like, loving bullying from people who care about you and are your friends and, like, ribbing and stuff like that, like, actually kind of builds a sense of, like, what you value. Yeah. And I think that, yeah, like, having people like that in your life that will genuinely be like,

nah, this is not it or something like that. Yeah. It's actually, like, super helpful. You can disagree, you know, whatever. But I think like having people you trust to like show music to or even the best case scenario is like that's the power of a band. I feel bad sometimes for like solo artists because that's a challenge. Who's going to tell you that like this sounds a little Disney bro? Like are you sure about this? Like this is going to take you down a certain path or like, you know, like that could be your guitar player who's like, I'm not, we're not doing all that. Or whatever.

Like that's super important. It is. So are you guys at the beginning of the process, the middle, the end? Where are you at? This is like the beginning, yeah, that we just got here. And is there any pressure on like any kind of timeline? Is there like a tour coming and that you have like X number of months to get some shit done before you have to go back out? Yes and no. Like I think for us it's like we feel like we have some really cool songs that just kind of popped up from a break that we have and we're like, made it be cool. We're going to play them this summer because that's like,

when we have new songs, we want to play them. And we're like, all right. Oh, so you're going to like play them live. I mean, we're going to Australia. My intention is to play one of these songs like in a couple weeks. So I think like- Well, that's cool. That's like for us to be a holiday.

I leave here in like four days, yeah. Oh, well, what's the dates? I think we start like February 4th in New Zealand. And then it's like a festival, Laneway Festival goes through Australia for like 10 days. or something like that's cool. And then you tour this summer, U.S.? Yep, yep.

Yeah, like U.S. I think we play in London. We have a show and some Canada. Yeah. Yeah, North America, I guess. That's cool. We're touring this summer too. Hell yeah.

Maybe we'll whine on the old dusty trail. You guys played that alter ego show at the forum. I saw you walking on as we were walking off. Yeah, I almost came in. in your dressing room, but you know, that place. I was, I saw, I walked by and there was, there was like a lot of people and I was like, I'm not going to bother him because I knew you're coming on the show, but I was like going to pop in, but I was like, ah, oh, I got a little shot.

No, we had just walked off and that show is like they literally spin you around for anyone that wasn't there. It's pretty hilarious. Well, we messed up because we don't really do stuff like that. I think you guys are like, you know what to do. So our dumb asses stood on the stage like a friggin' Like a friggin' hot dog at 7-11 And like it just like turned us around very slowly

And we were just standing there and then like we revealed ourselves to the crowd But like it's such a slow reveal that you go from like side profile to like slowly like we were out there And then it's even worse than that Then like we were like all right let's hit and they like it's an announcer so like Then a dude comes out and he's like, hey, I think it was actually not just a dude. It was like, Stryker is like a legend. Like he comes out and does his whole bit. They're like, Stryker, Stryker.

We're just standing there like, Stryker. It was an all-time bad. So then we saw, we walk off. We see Good Charlotte like mobbing the stage. Like they look super cool. And they just like walk straight on. Crowder robs. We're like, damn, we blew that.

No, you didn't. No, no, no, no, we did. Sadly, we just have done so many. of those shows. You guys are just in mid swing. I think this thing becomes, if you want it to, I think it becomes, it's this living, breathing thing. So I think it, it's going to continue to take shape if you feed it. I hope so. We intend to feed it. Yeah. If we don't, we don't let us know, like, or bring food, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So how many more weeks do you have in the studio? Yeah, just like we're leaving. It was kind of a thing where it was like,

Just these two, like last two weeks? Yeah, I've like a few days and then we're off to Australia so it was like we've been here for like, been in the studio for like a week and... Do you bang out like a song a day? It depends.

Like the first, like the first couple days was actually like we hadn't been together in like three months and it was like let's pour a bunch of ideas in and sort of like put together some songs. And then yeah, I think it just totally depends. We do a lot of live tracking so it can go really fast.

Oh, right. Or it can be like, one thing we talked about this session actually was like, because we do it. it that way. Sometimes I feel like being in the studio is super fun, at least for me. And you can get lost in this thing where you're like, all right, now let's start adding shit. Yeah, which is the actual fun part when you're like, all right, I've got a good performance down.

Like, let's like, what if we put a didger redo on this? Like you're on Amazon or like. Do you play guitar? I do, yeah. What kind of guitars do you play? Uh, I play mostly acoustic guitar in this band, but I can play like electric guitar. You mean like what, like actual kind of guitar or? Yeah, what kind. I play like a Gibson advanced jumbo, but I love like, it's become like an expensive thing, but I love like older acoustic guitars just sort of like the lib, even if it's not a nice one. My brother just bought a crazy one. Really? Like a, what are we talking?

1942 J45. Yeah, see, that's awesome. First off the line. That's incredible. But like to me, what's cool about that is like obviously J45, like a legendary guitar, workhorse guitar for like Gibson forever. Like that's the like Ford F150 of Gibson if you will. But like, yeah, yeah.

But it's like to me what's cool is that like I genuinely think you can buy as long as it's like especially that era like pick a company. And it's the like story of the guitar. Not to be woo-woo. It's like what makes a 1940 something guitar is obviously has to be somewhat well taken care of. But even if it's like pretty well taken care of, the wood takes a beating, it sounds different than when you just put a lacquer on a guitar, it's like brand new. That's how he feels.

He won't buy a guitar unless it like sings to him. It's a thing. And he said right when you pick it up. He's like you can almost see it though. Like you see a guitar and for some reason it grabs your eye. It speaks to you. And he's like four out of five times he'll pick it up and it'll be like this song, this sounds beautiful.

Yeah. And it just sings to you. It just speaks to you. Helps you write a song or something. Right. You're like, man, there's like there's stories in this. And I always think about that, like, I think I used to think about it more, but because now we're all addicted to our phones. But, like, you know, you drive by a house or you, like, wherever you go.

Why do I like that place so much? Yeah, we're like, do you think about how everything has a story? Yeah. And, like, how crazy that is. They're like, everyone, we're having this conversation, but, like, everyone in this room has, like, conversations in them and all the things that happened to them. And then, like, to buy a guitar from that long ago, maybe it's been through multiple owners. maybe like someone lived and died trying to be a songwriter on that guitar. And you now get a chance to take it to Madison Square Garden or like that you're continuing

it. Kind of like saving, not saving is for the wrong term, but like that you're continuing this, giving this guitar a great story. That's part of it. And I think that from a physics standpoint, there is something there. Like the thing vibrates for so long that it eventually has an impact on the wood that, you know, now they actually like, they relics some of these guitars. Yeah.

And they make, they literally vibrate them. Like they put the brand new guitar in a, I don't know, some machine that vibrates the guitar super fast to try to age it before they sell it because people believe that it, like myself, that like kind of got to put the guitar through the sound waves a bunch before they actually start sounding good. And do you ever play any electrics? Play electrics. I've always played this starcaster.

I saw like, I was obsessed with Radiohead when we were like, when I was like buying this guitar. Yeah. I just have always had it. And then your fingers, like your, you know, guitar players know this. Like, I don't, I think it's a great guitar. It's not like a super special guitar to me.

I bought like other expensive electrics. And I always come back to that one. It just feels like, you know, if I were to like have a guitar solo in a big moment, like tons of people watching, that's the only guitar I would play. Benj just started his signature guitar with Sir. Cool.

And he's got, his first two came out, we were just at NAM to rolled him out. And he's been playing Sir, since like 2008. Great guitars. And yeah, they're beautiful guitars. They sound really good. I sort of end up in this world probably more where, I think you are where like,

I think people think of me more of like the songwriter, like melody, whatever that is. And so I don't really get the guitar looks, but maybe someday it's got out my guitar game. game, but it would be cool to like have a guitar. Do you play everything? Not really. Like I think I play guitar pretty well and I'm like that's, that's been talking about like

getting better at music. Like my goal is to like be a master of guitar. That's great. So I'm not there yet, but like. Ben Jami, we're just talking about this. He's starting lessons again. Yeah. He's been playing for so long.

He's a great rhythm guitarist but he wants to be better. I mean yeah, I like spend tons of time like on YouTube watching kind of giving myself lessons and stuff like that. But yeah, I mean, I would love to like take lessons, especially from, yeah, like, I think there's just to me a lot to learn there. And like, that's the cool thing about playing an instrument too. It's like whatever amount of success you have, like, I don't think like that I'm anywhere close to the ceiling. It's a fun thing to be involved with because the ceiling is like infinite. It's infinite and it's in and in and there's two directions, right? Infantly you can be more and more and more expressive. So you can be more creative because you have. more ability. Yeah. And it's really beautiful and fun to listen to when you see someone who can make a guitar sing. Yeah.

Which is, I think, what he wants is to continue to work on that. Because there's something really nice about when someone starts playing something and it just sounds good. And you're like, you know, even if you just like listen to the masters who play, it's like, it's really special when you hear someone that can just make an instrument sing. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's like the goal, I think, to get, I think that if I have any, like, identifiable skill, you know, outside of, like, the luck conversation and stuff like that, it's like, I do think I'm, like, then better than average, at least at, like, coming up

of melodies and, like, things just kind of, like, come to me, like, oh, it should be like this. And that just sort of happens for me. But then the next step, I think, is, like, now do that with the guitar. Like, now, but in real time, because we do have moments where we improvise. And it's like just sing in your head and have it come out the guitar is like my goal. And I think like that's a really cool thing to be able to do. It's another language, right? It's like another way to express yourself.

It only makes the records better too. And it does the thing we were talking about where it's like I think if people know or watch this or whatever, it's like that like my journey is like if you're watching me up there, I get to try and fail in front of lots of people to become like a great guitar player. Yeah. It's not going to happen probably this tour, but like, you know, whatever, like maybe three tours from now or something, I'm doing stuff that I couldn't do. And that's like, that's how you can stack that, I guess. Well, Matt. Yeah. Thanks for coming on the show, man. Well, thanks for having me,

man. It was awesome, dude. Yeah. Congrats on the band, man. Everything that you guys have done is really cool. But I think, like I said, I think you guys are just getting started. So keep it up. Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Thanks for coming, dude. Thanks for having me. Awesome. Thank you for watching Artist Friendly. If you liked this episode, please make sure you hit the like button. You follow the channel and please share it with your friends. We appreciate the support. That is why this show exists because you listen to it.

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