Artist Friendly with Joel Madden - Nascar Aloe and Myagi of DEATHPROOF INC.

Episode Date: March 8, 2023

This week on the podcast, Joel Madden is joined by hardcore rappers Nascar Aloe and Myagi, the founder/curator behind the artist collective/record label DEATHPROOF INC. After releasing his signature punk-inspired music on Soundcloud several years ago, Nascar Aloe made a name for himself in the underground rap scenes in Charlotte, North Carolina and LA, and developed a devout fanbase, drawn to his arresting sound, style, and energy. Most recently, the rapper dropped the single "BLXXDY NXSE" with Jasiah and Scarlxrd, but last year saw the release of his album AMERICAN WASTELAND on DEATHPROOF INC. — making his interview along with Myagi, a longtime collaborator, the perfect pairing. Together, they talk about their creative relationship, Nascar Aloe's early days in the industry, rapping about contemporary issues, and more. ------- 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? Welcome to artist-friendly. I'm Joel Madden, your host. And this week, I am talking to NASCAR Allo and Miyagi from deathproof. Miyagi, NASCAR, welcome. Got your mic link figured out. Secondly, thanks for having this. Welcome. Thank you guys for coming. Okay, so here's where we'll start. We'll start with NASCAR. Why don't you tell me, where you're from and how you got here to L.A. and where you're at currently. So I'm from North Carolina. I'm from Lexington. Okay. Just like the barbecue capital, North Carolina. Great. I love barbecue. The barbecue's made over there. I've had better barbecue. Okay.

But yeah, just born and raised there. grew up all fucking 18 years of my childhood there um barely left the state yep fucking in high school started making some music online started uploading the sound cloud and shit and then i started getting some show offers from like the from like the underground scene in charlotte and i would go up there and i'd do shows and i'd come back home and fucking just go to sleep until fucking one One day this guy sees one of my shows and he's like, you should just move to L.A. with me, man. And I was like, sure, why not? Barely fucking knew the guy.

Probably like three text threads. But I was just like, fuck it. Why not? L.A.'s cool. And so I worked like a factory job and fucking did that for like three months and saved up a bunch of bread. and just bought a ticket, didn't tell my dad. I told him probably like two days before the flight. And this was all at the end of 2018.

How old were you? I was 19. Okay, so did you graduate high school? Yeah. Okay. So you were out of high school. Fresh out of high school, no job. But was music at that point already your focus?

It was like heavily because of like the whole like Charlotte scene like just doing shows like it honestly like gave me like a feeling like that like nothing really else can. Yep. So like I knew that like that's what I wanted to do. And obviously like my dad, he's he's a dad. So he was like stop fucking doing this. Right. He wants you to focus on something that he understands. Go go get a job.

Right. That's the whole reason I actually got that factory job is because of him. Right. Just to show like, okay, I'm going to make you happy, get a job. The job is actually going to provide some income that I can use towards my real goal, which I'm not talking to you about because you don't understand it. I think actually most parents that are trying to raise kids who want to do music actually are the same way.

My mom was the same way. I know she loved me. But like she was like you have to figure out a way to go to college and I was like mom we're not there's no college happening we did not have the money for college and I got a job and all my all my income was to try and figure out the music around the same age around 18 was when I really like was like all in working two jobs all the money was going to in the 90s we didn't have like SoundCloud and those kinds of things so we had to just find a studio that some guy locally had yeah find an engineer record make demos it was like a very analog process um

but all of the jobs and everything was literally just like this shitty apartment we had because we didn't like we we had to leave home because my mom was like if you're not going to do what i say you got to move out yeah my dad did decide to teach us a lesson like you're 18 you're not going to do it And I was like, okay, we're out. So, but if, you know, force us to just go forward, which is probably the most important part, go forward. Right. It puts our back against the wall. So you're in North Carolina.

I guess there's a really, like, great kind of live scene in Charlotte. And there's a lot of probably artists trying to make it there. And there's probably like a little, like, ecosystem there of things, people trying to make it. Yeah, definitely. there's it was honestly a thriving scene back then i can't really speak for now i mean i i don't really visit home that often that frequently except to like go to lexington and like see my pops why not just because uh i i live out here now like i have i'm under alice and all that shit and like your life uh and epitaphs up the street mddn's up the street yeah and doesn't really make a lot

for my guys. Yeah. Doesn't make a lot of sense to go back unless you're just going to see your dad. You know, like holidays and shit. Yeah, yeah. I actually flew him out for my birthday. Oh, that's great. He's never been on a plane.

Yeah. I mean, you probably hadn't been on a plane until you came here, right? Yeah. No, I thought that when the fucking plane starts, like, takes, like, taking off, man, I thought that that was not supposed to have. Yeah. I was so confused, man. That was the same for me.

My first trip was, well. when I came out here for music. But the scene in Charlotte, like, we would, we, I don't, I don't know exactly who was booking all of those shows, but it was just back to back to back to back, like, fucking, like, every, like, weekend to every two weekends, like, somebody booked like, oh, so skate park, and we're going to go perform there, or somebody booked the fucking, the fusion lounge, we're going to go fucking perform there. Right.

And I remember even doing some fucking shows in the back. of like this dude we knew like his backyard and shit like on a palette stage that was that was that was that was probably like I wouldn't say the peak of the scene because I don't know now but the peak of the scene for me I mean but you would just play whatever show anyone asked you're like I would do anything I would do absolutely anything if I could get drunk and I could perform a few songs like I'll do it right that was my rate back then yeah a six-pack Because your live show is like the biggest part about the experience, I think, with you as an artist. It's your live show.

If you see your live show, I mean, we were talking about it off camera about the chaotic kind of nature of your live show. And how it's hard for sometimes for promoters to wrap their head around. What they see as a liability is actually it's a, it's a vibe of your show. We were the same way, by the way. We're just like, whatever show, fucking tell us, we'll show up. I don't care if you pay me. Just like, want to play. I want to play in front of the bigger the crowd, the better.

The rowdier, the better. First chance you get, peace. I'm out. I'm going to L.A. Right? Straight instinct, right? The survival of get the fuck out of here and make it is forward. That's how I feel.

Yeah. Go forward. So then you're like, first chance, I'm going to L.A. I'm going to fucking make it, right? It was like the bigger, I thought about it in my head as a kid. Like, the bigger the risk, like the bigger the reward was going to be. So I was like, fucking, I'll just fucking move in with this guy. I barely know.

And fucking I'll just be on the other side of the goddamn country. But your gut is your gut. If you've, there's something super raw about that because you actually ended up with a stand-up guy and you guys seem like a good match. And we'll get into, you know, how you got there with him, Miyagi. But there's something really like, and I guess I'm highlighting it because everyone that's listening, a lot of people listening are starting trying to be artists. themselves. Sometimes there, you know, a lot of people listening are music fans who want to know how the shit works.

And as magical as it all is, it feels, right? It actually isn't. It's actually just people who had the guts to take that risk. Yeah. And to break out. Now, some of us are lucky because when you come from, I think, a lower income, right you have less opportunity so you don't i think you don't get as swept up in the norm as much so i feel like there's a little bit of space so we we we came up with with not a lot of money so it like

actually gave us a little bit of room to have to make our own decisions right and like fin for ourselves right but whatever wherever you come from you decided to go down this road at a young So a lot of people don't get the confidence until they're in their mid-20s to do that. And you just break out, you go to L.A., right? You've built the foundation of what a successful career looks like. And you're on the precipice of like even, you know, your greatest heights. Like you can feel that energy when that happens. You can see it with artists.

There's a curve that happens. You're on that trajectory right now. I'm Anna Mena. And, like my music, my cabo is change with me and has to be able to to be able to keep my rhythm. For so,

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of a month in Shopify. com. records, which we can get into as well. But I'm always interested in how someone decided to make that leap. And for everyone listening, that's like, most people, I think, are contemplating leaps of faith, leaps of most people are. But most people don't do it.

Yeah. It's scary. It's scary. It's uncomfortable. They get stuck. And you both have decided. to do music with your lives. You could both probably attest that it's hard.

It's not like a predictable lifestyle. But it's also probably like more fulfilling than if you were working at a factory working your way up or working at some other job working your way up. And there's career paths. You'd likely work your way up to the top of wherever you go because that's what the drive is usually for. for self-starting artists is like the drive of an entrepreneur.

But you chose this and you're working your way up. So you meet Miyagi online. You obviously saw his show, heard his music right away. What was that? What was that? It was just right away you saw it and you were like, this kid's got it. Yeah, literally immediately. Well, it was actually, it's a funny story how I found that.

car, I was literally taking the shit. Wow. Yeah, I was literally taking the shit. And I was my own business. And then one of my old friends was playing music. He was just playing music and he was a DJ. So he would always be looking for new music, always be looking for new shit. And then I remember he was playing, he was playing X, he was playing Triple X, Tim Tosh

Yeah. And then like it, somewhere along the line, you know, SoundCloud just drizzles down into smaller and smaller artists as the playlist goes. Yeah. You know, but stay in the genre. Right, right. Which is why I love SoundCloud. Yeah, SoundCloud's great.

Love SoundCloud. But yeah, so maybe like a couple songs after the X song played one of his songs came on. And I just remember I was sitting on the toilet and I was like... Just relaxing. Yeah, I was relaxing. And then all of a sudden I was like, whoa, I was like, and I literally- Then all this shit came out at once as soon as the fucking song came on. But no, it's a great way to discover someone.

Yeah, I mean, I was completely, what's the word? I was like. Baffled. No, no. I was baffirgasted. No, I was, what's the word for innocence? I was like caught. Night.

You caught with your pants down. Yeah. I was calling my pants, yeah. I was just like raw. But anyway, I heard it. And then I was like, the song was so hard to me that I was like, I was like, is that X? I was screaming out from the toilet.

I was like, is that X? And then nobody said anything. And I was like, yo, I was like, hey, I was like, somebody fucking tell me who the fuck that is. And then somebody was finding like, this is some guy named NASCAR Allo. Like, it's not X. Because at first I was like, the reason why I asked was because, well, rest and peace, X first. Yeah, rest of peace.

That dude is a great artist. Because I remember when I first heard X, too. And I had the same feeling. One of the greatest. Yeah, it's one of the greatest. Yeah, when I first heard X, Big Clit showed me. And it was like a year before he blew up, had like 300 plays on his shit. But I just knew immediately I was like, this is like what I love.

love like this is like I didn't know it was punk rap at the moment or it wasn't it wasn't yet it was like still this sound but it is like but it hits you like punk music does right off that was the energy is right in the face right away from the first time same time I heard it first time I was like this is just like punk music yeah and then you see the show it's like a punk show though like it's it's hard to explain but like back in the day there was like real And then there was this punk and then there was all these like different like now. Like now it's all it's kind of nice now because mostly things get blended up. But old guys like me kind of like still remember we still kind of genreify things.

And we go, that's not real punk. That's like this and then that's that. But none of that matters now. It's just what's good and what's not. What feels good. What does it. Right. And your shows feel like old.

punk shows, the ones I used to see that were like, when you went as a kid, the first time you ever went to a real punk show, you were scared to go into the crowd a little bit because it was like so wild. That's how it feels, I would imagine, to see one of your shows sometimes in a good way. Like it's good energy. It's cool. Yes. I couldn't put a word to the genre that X was doing.

until I heard him. And he was already calling himself. Well, because, all right, so I heard the music, and I literally jumped off the toilet. It was like, what? I was like, who is this? Yeah, I didn't even wipe. I was like, who is this dude?

Because you got to get a toto, bro. What's that? Is that the one that shoots up? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I used that once, and I was like, woo. That's a freaky shit. Well, you'll enjoy Japan.

Right, I can't wait. You got to Japan. You'll enjoy it. I'm going to be like, wait a minute, guys going to use the bathroom. We have the cleanest butts. Use the bathroom for pleasure. We have the cleanest butts. Right.

We got clean butts. You know, so, all right. So I went and I was like, all right, let me look this dude up. I was like, I want to see how many followers he has on Instagram. Because the song was only like 500 plays or something. I was like, in my mind, I was like, motherfuckers aren't listening to this right now? I was like, that's crazy. So I was like, he must be.

knew. So I went to his Instagram, and his Instagram bio it said the new Sid Vicious. And then that's when it made sense to me immediately. I was like, he literally is the new Sid Vicious. And I was like...

How old are you? I was probably 17. Okay. How old are you now? I'm 23. Okay. So you've lived longer than Sid, though. Yeah. Which is great. He made it past that. Yeah, you made it past that stage. Because he was more.

More like Sid when you were trying to do. I was definitely on edge at 21. I was scared. I totally get it. I get it, man. That's like, that's the age. You're coming out of your real youth. And it's, I think you're just dealing with all kinds of shit.

Especially if you've been through anything, put that on top of it. One thing I always, people always wonder like, oh, how come NASCAR is not dropping? How come NASCAR's not doing this? And they'll hit me up. Make NASCAR drop. Do this. I'm like, I don't think you guys understand. Like, this dude is a, is a, is a human being that provides art off of how he feels.

So it's got to be real. It's got to be real. There's no way we can just be like, all right, let's hit the studio. Let's make a hit. Like, that's never going to ever be the process for a NASCAR project. And it's always going to be what he feels, whether he's sad, happy, mad. And that's another thing, too. People have to, well, I think his fans have grown with him and have.

learned, but sometimes they'll be like, why'd you make a sad song? You know, they'd be like, why are you making a happy song? Like, you're supposed to be pissed off. Bro, this guy's human. Like what, you know what I'm saying? Like, and it's crazy because that's what really got me into NASCAR was once I heard all the other music that he could create, I knew that this dude was a fully well-rounded artist. Like, not even just musically when it comes to drawing, when it comes to-

Oh, you draw? He wouldn't say. You're an artist, but you're an artist. Yeah, I guess, you know, high school and got the fucking North Carolina best art competition. Oh, you got an award for it? That's great, man. I did, like, some fucking scratch art, like, took, like, four hours on a piece in art class. And because art class was, like, the only thing I could take seriously.

Yeah. Because you're an artist. And because I had a fly art teacher. She was bad. So you had a crush on the art teacher. 22-0-17. You had a crush on the art teacher. Nothing happened, unfortunately.

I want to finish a little bit of the story. Because people always ask me this in NASCAR all the time. How did you guys meet? And so I want to put it all out there so that we don't have to answer that anymore. Oh, great. You know? But, okay, we're almost there. So, wait, where was I at?

You got off the shitter. He didn't wipe your ass. Oh, yeah, I got off the shitter. Didn't wipe my ass. was like, this is NASCAR. He's the new Sid Vicious. Then... Did you reach out immediately?

Immediately. Immediately. Yeah, immediately. Immediately DMed him. Like, yo, what's up? You know what I'm saying? Like, and he was just like, what's up? I didn't even expect him to hit me back.

I was like, this dude's cool. You know what I had like fucking... I had like 2,000 followers, man. I would have hit anybody back up. But I, in my mind, I was like, this dude is cool as fuck. In my mind, I saw like, this is a leader of the new generation, you know? So, and me, I was like, thinking to myself, I got to use my last bit of coolness to do something. I was like, I've been living my whole life off being cool.

And I was like, I know it's got to come to an end someday, you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm going to be cool forever, but I'm only going to be able to make something happen off that shit for so long, you know? So me being an artist as well, I felt like when I was coming up, all I wanted was, a mentor or somebody who just actually cared about me, I just wanted to help me. I didn't want money for anybody. I didn't want a record deal or any of that crap. I just literally wanted somebody to teach me. How it works.

You know how it works. So I was like, I was like, I can be that for NASCAR. You know what I'm saying? Because I knew I had nothing but peer intentions in my heart. Because I was an art. I am an artist. You know what I'm saying? I'm not a businessman.

I just had to learn to be. be one. But I was like, I can learn to be a businessman for this kid because I felt like it was so serious. It was literally one of the most important things I could do in my life. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I was like, it's bring a next generation talent and keep him free and keep him real and like be his dog, like just, you know what I'm saying, like really be what I wish I had. And And like as soon as we got together, it was just like Kobe, Kobe and Phil. That's why I always tell him, I'd be like, bro, you're going to be Kobe, I'm going to be Phil. Yeah.

I was like, that's just it. Like we're going to put together a team. We're going to build this team off of, you know what you got going on. And that's, and we're going to make a championship team, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Which is how death proof came along. Yep. But even with death proof, it was finding all the artists in death proof was just saying,

way we found NASCAR. It was organic. Organic. It was just us being involved in the scene, us listening to music, and then hearing shit and be like, oh, man, man, he's sick. Then we book him for a show, meet him. Damn, he's actually sick in person. Like, I like this motherfucker. And, like, all of our friendships was like immediate. It was like, move in, live together as soon as we meet you, you know what I'm saying, which I felt was so organic. And that's when I started to feel like we're doing something that's one in a million. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

And I started taking more serious and he started taking more serious. Yeah. And it actually materialized. I mean, you have to take it serious. Yeah, you have to. Like you were saying earlier, you got to take that risk. And when I was telling NASCAR to come out here and take a risk, I was taking a risk as well. Yeah.

For me, it was one of the biggest risk in my life because I'm like, I'm getting old. I got two kids. You know what I'm saying? I'm not successful, I guess. Where are you from, Yagie? I'm from, I'm from L.A. Well, I grew up in, I was born in Long Beach, came up in L.A., then I moved to San Redino.

I was in the I.E., you know what I'm saying? And then I came back to L.A. I did a lot in San Rican. It is, man. The whole L.A. area, if you're not from here. Yeah. You know, I'm from Maryland. And it's small.

Oh, I'm from a small. That makes sense. from really yeah and then i'm yeah then i moved to uh dc and that was a whole crazy thing big punk scene in dc big a lot a big a it's an incredible place washington dc is an incredible place for anyone that lives in the dmv area it's interesting whenever you know out here when we run into people that are from where we're from it's really like unlike any other it's like there's a there's a There's a real kindred, like you really want people from Maryland to do well. Where I actually grew up was very small, very far away.

And then when I left home, I was 18, hitchhiked, went up and, like, spent time in D.C., spent time in Baltimore, spent time in Annapolis, all around. And it's kind of a small. Everything's within an hour of each other, so you can get anywhere. But lived all over the state, like great place. But when I came to L.A., it took me like five years to get comfortable here. Because it's just so different. So much.

And I had never been, I had never been anywhere in the world. I'd only been in D.C., Maryland, Virginia, wherever you could drive. Right. And so I had never been on a plane until I flew to California. And I think I was 19, 20, when I did. It was shocking. It was just different. It's just so different for someone who'd never only seen on TV.

Every fucking bump of turbulence. Everything. Just fucking freak out a little bit. Yeah, of course. And God, I was so, it was real, though. Like, I saved everything from the plane. I saved the, like, barf bag and the thing with the, instructions the plate.

Like what to do with the, yeah. I saved all of it. I saved all of it. I just like was so in awe of it. That you really came here. And just being the whole way, the plane, the airport. Everything, it's a funny thing. Me and my brother, our friends always kind of laugh.

Because we still have this kind of quality about everything that we try is the best thing we've ever had. That's amazing. That's the best I've ever had. The bar is low. You feel me? The bar is low. And still at like at a 43 at 43.

By the way, like God bless it. I can buy stuff. I have, you know, I can go and buy something if I want it. But someone will give me something that I've never tried before. I'm like, that's amazing. I mean, did you try this? Did you try this? This is amazing.

There's like something about new experiences with us that like, because I think we didn't have many of them until we were 19. Right. That like when we started seeing the world, every place was the best place we'd ever been. Every food was the best food we'd ever tried. Every hotel was the nicest hotel we'd ever stayed in. And it's still something. like that. I think it has to do with new,

like a new experience, but I haven't been there or haven't tried it. When I go, I'm like, guys, I mean, guys,

have you? This is fucking amazing. Same way. We'd be eating that little mom and pop cafe. Whatever. You're like, this is incredible.

Shit, that's how I was, uh, fucking month ago when I went out to London. That was my first time. Incredible. Ever leaving North America. Yeah.

I mean, I've been to Canada, but I wouldn't really call that leaving the country. Yeah, you're like, wow. And I was just like,

Look at this place. Peckham? This is crazy. These people are great. These people are great. Yeah, exactly. But like there's something about that thing. First of all, it's good for us to enjoy things and to be impressed.

Because it's a bit like being kids. Like we have to keep some of that. Yeah. We have to keep our creativity is from there. That's kind of, okay. So like, revolving back to like sold out shows and shit, like, I love playing sold out shows and stuff. But like, even when it comes to like, I remember we played Corpus Christi not too long ago. And I think like there was four or five heads that came to that show.

And then the rest was just people that were just in the bar. Right. And I gave it like my all like 150% just to make sure that those five. five people. Kobe turn. Got the same fucking, like, show that I would give to, like, a sold-out show. That's amazing. Yeah.

Remember our first show in L.A.? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I think fucking, I don't even remember. It was some, like, girls' like, little, like, warehouse, like, art studio or something. No, it was a Captain Traps tattoo. That was not the first one. That was, like, the fourth. Art studio?

The first one, I remember Zanny was there. and I think Jalil pulled up. Oh, Jalil was there. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah, that was right before. And it was in that girl's art studio. Yeah, okay.

No, I was really thinking about the one we did, Captain Traps. That one was fire. I don't know which other one was fire was the one. What's that shop? The fucking, it's right across from Fairfax. On Merrill? Right across from Fairfax. Oh, yeah.

It's like a vintage. His t-shirt shop on Millrose. That show was fun as fuck. We didn't have no stages back then. Yeah. Like, I had only been out in L.A. for, like, four or five months. Fucking, like, there would be, like, 15, 20 people that would come to the shows unless, like, I could, like, sneak my way into, like, opening up for somebody bigger.

Yep. I remember my favorite, my favorite memory, or my favorite, like, show memory is, like, fucking 2018. it was Wolf's birthday and some guys I knew the homies, they were like, yo, like, we're going to have like a couple people like play. Like, do you want to like do a song with like the homie?

I was like, yeah, awesome. And at the time, I had a fucking bridge piercing, right? And nobody knew me at this show. And like, I'm just like, yo, just cut it on. Just cut it on. Fuck it. And me and my homies start performing. And then there's like this job.

giant like open openness like right in the front of the stage. And so I jumped down. I threw the mic back. I jumped down and I grabbed the first dude I saw and I slung him like head first at the stage. And then the other dude next to him, I grabbed him by his shirt and I headbutted him in the chest. And my fucking bridge piercing got caught on his flannel. And I pulled back. Ripped it out?

Yeah. And I was just leaking down from the nose. And I didn't even notice until until. until like the homie was like, didn't even get pictures? Those would be great pictures. No, there is, there's like one iPhone picture from that era. Great.

I think we used it for like an album art or some or a single art or something. Or a flyer. Back in the day. Then I had to wear a Band-Aid for like two months. Bro, in the beginning, people didn't even know what this dude was. Like punk as far as punk rap, motherfuckers didn't even know how to mosh. So me and this motherfucker would just fight.

Like, we'd be like, oh, y'all not mosh? So I'll just be in the back like, fuck that. I'll just run up, sock NASCAR, then he sucked the fuck out of me. Yeah. Wow. We just start fucking squabbling, like, you know what I'm saying? Just to get it started? Yeah, when people started to get like, okay, like, they're together.

Like, okay. And then we're laughing and shit. And they're like, okay, this. Then we would grab by other people like, man, get your ass in here. And like, you know, just bring motherfuckers in. Niggas was moshing in Eastlos and the real punk. We're talking about bringing mosh. to the new age group of kids, like the SoundCloud kids that never heard of punking.

You know what I'm saying? We talked to them. Maybe had never moshed before. Had never moshed before. I think we just gave them like a better pain tolerance. Right. Like they'd probably moshed before, but it's probably just like shoulder jumping and shit. Yeah, it's probably just like Travis Scott moshing.

What do you feel like the music you make? Do you think about what, is it? stream of consciousness, do you just get in and whatever comes out, it starts to make sense? Or do you have like a, is there a message or is, you know, like, I guess I always think like, I mean, when you think a punk, right? Yeah. The clash was very politically motivated and driven. They were, at the time, they were seeing what was happening and they were talking about it.

the sex pistols too when you think of the sex pistols it was a bit more of chaos they wanted kind of I think it was like the idea of anarchy is is kind of you know like the chaos um but there was a lot of message in there um it was um young people making music about what they were seeing and when you listen to it now it stands up you could say that a clash song applies today because we're still you know we're

we're still battling the same problems in society yeah right and certainly in America we are yeah you know when you say I think you know not to get too much into politics but but you could say that we're still dealing with the same problems that we've been

dealing with and that it makes artists they're coming up and they're are going to talk about what they see. And, you know, and some artists are talking about what they see in their own lives, whether it's, you know, whatever it is you could say. But then there's the political environment we live in as a society. Always affect the music.

Yeah, always. Always. There's always going to be a reaction to. I think what NASCAR, well, my thoughts. Yeah. What's your perspective? Actually, yeah, this is what I got from. For one, when I first found NASCAR, I was so pissed off at the world, literally pissed off.

And he had a song called Pissed Off. And when I heard that, I never in my life felt like a song representing how I felt in that moment ever in my life other than that song. And I was just like, so to me, I feel like he represents. represents the energy, the climate of where we're at. It's not, it's not, he's not, he's not like pinpointing certain issues or problems. Right. It's a climate that's in the air. And it's an energy that everyone's feeling, but don't quite know how to say it.

Right. You know what I'm saying? And he says it. And then also, too, on a political aspect and like having a message, he, he's very conscious of that. but does it very subtly. So certain songs are like, there's a song called Chernobyl. You know what I'm saying? Doesn't really talk about what happened at Chernobyl.

Cool title though. Exactly. Just that, that word alone. It evokes a feeling. Mm-hmm. It invokes a feeling. I don't know. I talk about it a lot because fucking my grandparents did seek refuge from Cambodia.

Wow. So, okay. That's why it's like kind of a, a bigger topic in my music like command. On which side of your family? My father's side. Okay, on your dad's side. Wow.

So I'm basically like first generation American born Cambodian. Wow. Cambodian American. Yeah. Something. Yeah. That's some crazy shit. That's interesting.

Think about that. Your grandparents escape. And had my father in Thailand. In Thailand. While they were fleeing. So en route to hopefully get to a America, right? That was the route they were trying to get to America or were they just escaped? So what they, what was going on over there is like they would go to these like refuge

camps in Thailand. Right. Or like whatever bordering country they could like potentially get to. And then there would be American sponsors there because of like their, the relief program or whatever the fuck that the United States was doing about it. And they and these fucking sponsors like some of them would have like good good intentions and like they would actually like try and like help these people like be philanthropist or whatever and fucking get them over to the states whereas like some of the sponsors were like like fucking basically just trying to go over there and get some fucking slaves right and so my family got lucky my family got really lucky and uh i guess they hopped on a a plane or something all the way to fucking virginia wow there and then moved down to

North Carolina and then a couple years later I came out. That's insane, dude. So now that makes a lot of sense, though, when you're, when you say like your dad, who it seems like you're really close to you guys have. Yeah, so you guys are tight. He is coming from a whole different place. Like he's coming from him and his parents came over here and obviously had to work really hard to build a life.

And yeah, my grandparents, they still, like, barely speak like a fucking lick of English. So, like, it was up to, like, their kids to, like, my dad and his brother is to, like, to make it. To, like, basically, like, pay their rent and, like, go get a job or, like. Yeah, acclimate and get dug in and build a life here. So, of course, you know, I think with the, with, especially that generation, but then knowing that they immigrated here is a whole another level. But like even because when you look at my parents and my mom,

whose only idea of how you're successful is you go to college, you get a degree, and then you get a good job and you do a little better than, or a lot better than they did. And that's the idea. And so my mom didn't really accept what I did until I got paid. Right. That's the only time they understand.

My dad's still fucking confused about it. Yeah. But once I bought the house, it was real. Once I bought the house and I said, Mom, look, this is my house. Like, I own it. My house. Then it was real.

It was like, oh, wow, you're really like making it. Because I think it's a generational thing. And now, you know, she gets it. Now she understands. I'm an entrepreneur, actually. I'm a businessman. I'm building businesses. I'm building brands.

I'm an entrepreneur. Like, I always felt that way. about music. I always felt like we were building something and that we had to be like, we always were good at containing, from my perspective anyways, I felt like we contained.

Live is live. That's where we let, that's where we're crazy. That's where we do it all, tour and live. But in between, this is a business, let's figure out what we're doing right,

what we're doing wrong, can we have a better strategy? Can we build something? And we didn't get it all right, actually. You know what I mean? But like 20, I guess 25 years or whatever in, if you do something, you stay at it long enough, you build momentum and you get, you figure it out. I don't even think I became the best artist I could be until I started, you know, managing NASCAR. And that's what I learned.

That's dope. It's what you give to each other. Yeah, we do. So what all good partnerships, I think. All me and my brother and everyone that I work with here are just good partners. Because we all add things to each other. I couldn't do this show without these guys, period. It wouldn't happen.

Never going to happen. Like we have to recognize that. First rule of partnership is find someone who does things you can't do. Yeah. Because then it's going to be clear. And then when that person sees that you can't do this and they can and they see where they fit in and see how important they are to the puzzle, then that's when the team is working, like, organically. And be open to the idea that you may not be what you think you are. Right.

You might be greater. Or you might be something that you didn't know you were yet. You might be more of an entrepreneur than you thought, more of a businessman than you thought, more of an artist than you thought. Like be open to that because things grow You always strike me as a little crazy in a good way Like I always just go like he's a little wild Like a little bit tiny beat Just

I'm tame You feel when we're around When I've been around you you feel super chill calm But then when I see your stuff You seem wild I'm respectfully wild Yeah Like I respect you

I respect what you guys got going on See we wrapping back to partnership Like I want to be an ass to like everybody But like he is the one who gets You know Right The team together and like Yeah

Makes us all play nice Yeah That's why it's a great partnership Why do you want to be an ass Are you generally like Do you feel like Maybe you're like pissed off? Because your music seems pissed off.

It's not a bad thing. I'm just saying what I see. It's like... There's no right or wrong. I know it can be argued that I'm not like antisocial. I mean, I'm fucking here. I'm talking to you. Yeah.

But like... That's not antisocial. When it comes to like... When it comes to like everything else, like if somebody wants to book me for a show, somebody wants to... Somebody hit me up in my email and said, like, I've got a million dollars for you. I'd probably, I'd probably just turn my phone off. Right.

Just like go in the room, fucking make a song. Right. You're a little. I have like no like wish to like interact with people. Yeah. Right. Because I don't know. They really find a way to like get under your skin.

Right. A lot of people. And so yeah, he does a lot of the talking. Yeah. It's a good team. I do a lot of the screaming. Yeah. It works for your music, for sure. Definitely feel that in your music. It feels like it feels like, it's almost like I'm experiencing exactly what you just said when I listen to your music. But the truth is, is that life has a way of like taking you down the road, especially if you're making art. And you're an artist. I hate to break it to you. But you, you, when I look at like, like drawing, which I didn't know, which is fucking cool. you know my my brother um my twin brother binge um he's like a prolific painter oh shit like does

insane work like really really great work um and just because he like likes to paint um i just thought that was interesting because he he didn't start doing until later but i we always like drew and stuff too we were pretty good and then i realized later on like we don't we aren't just one we aren't just kind of artists. Some artists are really great songwriters or really great performers or really great painters or great drawing or poets or their filmmakers. But usually artists can do like a few different kinds of art. So you should keep the drawing going, I think. You should keep too art. He just started a brand using a lot of his art. Exactly. Like stuff like that where you can apply it is pretty cool.

It's pretty cool to think about like your music, the amount of visual art you need for music, no one really talks about that as a skill set. And a lot of artists, I think, just outsource it. Because they're told actually, I think by like, I think it's gotten into a process of like the labels or whatever. You get to a point where like, ah, don't worry, kid, we got a stylist and we got this and We got that. And if you're young enough and you're impressionable enough, you think, oh, this must

be how it works when you get to this level. So I'll just listen. But the truth is, is that the real artists, like, generally want to control every aspect. And they're like, no, no, I'm going to do the visuals, whether it's my guy or whether it's me. Like, you could do your own visuals. That's cool. Yeah. Hell, we pretty much do everything.

Right. All your own merch. Yeah. We get all of that shit, like, printed by the homies. We fucking We have homies that produce And like I produce as well And I write my own lyrics

I cannot imagine Spitting somebody else's bars Yeah I couldn't either Crazy Yeah I couldn't either Like we don't know We try to keep a DIY like everything Doesn't make sense to me

Singing other people's lyrics Unless you're doing a cover Right Yeah And you're like this is a cover Because how do you feel somebody else's lyrics. And then as a songwriter, how do you feel

what the artist is? It blows my mind looking at credits, man, and there's just fucking, like, 15 writings on a song. I always find that to be a little weird. And what if the song flops, man? That's 15 people, unpaid. Yeah. Well, they would say

it's a numbers game, so I'm going to write a hundred songs and five of them are going to do well. And that's disgusting to me, because like, I mean, but honestly, get your money, however you get your money. If you can write 100 songs, then fucking. Write 100 songs and try to, but me personally, I could never indulge in art in that manner. Right.

So what I think is, that's an artist speaking. And then you separate what we are in the music business. Yeah. So you have people who are literally just working. Yeah. And they don't care. They're like, I'm going to go and I'm going to write 100 songs this year. and 10 of them will get cut.

And, you know, same with producer. So you, so I don't see anything wrong with that. But if the artist that is singing the song represents it as something else, that's where you would get like, okay, I get what you're saying, but that's not that. Right. Right. You could say, like, I wrote this song about this. And I go, yeah, I can kind of tell.

And then I look on your song and there's only like you and the producer. or whoever wrote it, that's different than if then I go on your song and there's 20 people. And I'm like, did you write it about that? Right. Or did one of these guys write it about it? Like, how do you really feel? That to me is the like complexity and the nuance of like the music business and music and art and where it all meets in the middle.

I will say this though. When I look at someone that's like, I wrote this song, he produced it. I get that. It makes sense. You did write it. You did write it. You probably have the shit scribbled down in your phone or on a piece of paper. But that's art.

And then art and business together is a big, fucking messy ball of who said what, who did what. And the reality is that it's always going to be like this complex, nuanced thing about all of it's going to be. What's simple, though, is when I go back to you, NASCAR, what you're conveying when I see it is pure. And it's pure, simple. It's like when you think of like real food is made with a few ingredients.

You know what I mean? Right. Not a whole bunch of shit put it in it. It's just real ingredients. Anger, frustration. you know, a little chaos comes from that energy, kind of what I always say, like that highly, highly creative, generally, highly intelligent but misunderstood because the intelligence is not necessarily around the traditional, you know, like I'm not good at math, I'm not getting at

English, I'm not good at retaining information that's boring. And that's what NASCAR is here for. He's here to relay the message to the people that don't speak. that fucking language. Yeah. Like, there's plenty of people who are highly intelligent, but don't speak this highly intelligent language. You know, I feel like people are emotionally intelligent right now, you know, and people

are figuring out how to get rich off of just being themselves and, you know, people are becoming entrepreneurs at this. It's a new age. It's a new age. It's a new age. So we don't need to explain things in a statistical way. Like, or in a, you know, in a typical way. If you can get the message from whoever the fuck you get it from to motivate you to go do what you need to fucking do, that's all that matters.

Is it possible to, like, I didn't know that about your family. I didn't know that your grandparents and your father came over here. Is it possible, too, that, like, think about it. I mean, I'm not, I'm not, just, just. Thinking about it as a story, right? Because to me it's a story, right? Like, it's your real life. But it's a story to me.

People would come over here to this place. At an interesting time in America, right? 76. So the 70s, the 80s, the 90s. And in North Carolina, which is the South and can be... Yeah, right? There's a lot of racism and you're dealing with that an everyday basis as a kid, right? It's kind of one of those scenarios because I am half white and like there was like a tight-knit like Cambodian like community like out in Lexington. Right. The town pops like 20K. Right. So like everybody kind of knew everybody. Yeah. But like I was too white to hang out with Asian kids. Right. And I was too Asian.

Asian to hang out with white kids. Right. So you didn't really fit anywhere. Yeah. So you're dealing with that. And you're dealing with, I'm assuming, like, humble beginnings. Like, were you guys rich? Hell no.

Okay. So I wasn't assuming, but I was like, okay, I'm assuming that they weren't rich, right? So you're dealing with that. Yeah. And then you're dealing with. the pressure of a family that needs you to do better because that's the deal right like every generation we have to do better i mean that was certainly the pressure i got from my mom was they they were poor and so it was always told to me that like you have to do better and we so we were

less poor than they were when she was growing up yeah and then my job was to not be like that so you have to go to college and you have to do this and this is how you do it this is the way And the whole time you're being told, this is the way. And the whole time you don't relate to it. I failed every class. I got terrible grades. I tried actually to get good grades. I didn't not try.

I actually wanted to achieve. And by the time I got halfway through high school, I realized, like, I'm not passing. I had to go to night school to get the credits to graduate because my grades were so bad. And I was working to help my mom pay the bills. And it was just like a crazy time of like I was exhausted. I was working and I could never keep up a school. And, but I wasn't dealing with half the stuff you were dealing with. So you take all of that stuff and put it in a bag and put it on your back.

Is it, it's fair to say, like, you'd be pissed off a little bit. I think I'd be pretty pissed. Yeah. I'd be charred. And so, like, it feels like, especially an artist, right you're drawing you're listening to music you're probably relating to you're probably like and then suddenly you start making music you start playing shows you find this probably like the best release you'd ever had the best outlet you'd ever had and i and it was mixed with

sykes right because like i i would just i would like probably take like a tab or two and i'd go to a fucking show. Right. And then like, I don't know. Have you ever moshed on like Sykes? I've never done psychedelics like over. I've never done the like high dose. So I've never tripped.

I've only done microdose. Wow. Yeah. I should have done that. I used to take like two tabs and like go mosh. So what are tabs? What are tabs? So there's like a hundred in a sheet of like a acid.

Okay, acid. Okay. Cool. My boy used to make them too. He was like... I actually prefer... Sorry. No, go ahead.

I prefer you do acid to other things out there. I'm like fucking clean as hell right now. Oh, that's good. I smoke cigarettes. That's another thing. We got to tell everybody, this guy is fucking sober. Right. Stop fucking thinking this guy is on heroin and fucking coke and crack.

Yeah. Like, we get drunk and shit, but like, yo, this dude is sober. But, you know, the culture around this kind of music can feel very drug-heavy. So I think people assume what they assume. I definitely don't help it. Yeah. I don't want to clear the name or anything. I just want it to be ambiguous.

Right. Seems like you guys are doing good. Are you happy? I'm happy. Are you happy in life? Oh, yeah. Good. Wow.

I'm happy. It's his job to not be happy, and it's my job to be happy and be like, no, she's not, she doesn't suck. 2023 kind of sucks so far. It sucks. Where do you see your life going? I see myself making an insane album and potentially buying a mobile home. Great. Like a trailer park home.

Yeah. That doesn't sound too bad. It's good. Well, thank you guys for coming on. Absolutely. Always. When's the album drop? We got a EP called Hey Asshole.

I don't know when the fuck gets dropping. Next month. Thank you guys. Thank you for having this. Appreciate it. Hey, thanks for listening. I hope you guys enjoyed that as much as I did. We'll see you next week.