Artist Friendly with Joel Madden - Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind

Episode Date: July 10, 2024

On this week's episode of Artist Friendly, Joel Madden is joined by Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind. Third Eye Blind are in the midst of their Summer Gods tour with Yellowcard and A R I Z O N A, both of which grew up listening to the ’90s vets. The band are playing nearly 20 songs from their wide-spanning catalog nightly, including perennial favorites “Jumper,” “Never Let You Go,” and “Semi-Charmed Life,” and the run goes until early August. “I have this sense that I am feeling the same way everybody else is — that we need a summer tour so badly,” Jenkins says. “We need the lights, the noise, the heat, and everybody up close to each other. Additionally, their 1999 sophomore album, Blue, will turn 25 later this year. ------- 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? I'm Joel Madden, and this is artist-friendly. On this episode, I'll be talking to singer, songwriter, and producer, and the frontman of the multi-platinum band, Third Eye Blind, Stephen Jenkins. Let's go. I don't want to bet times. I don't want to have bad. Nice digs, by the way. I was kind of impressed. Thank you. Do you like the design? Because I feel like you're a design guy. I wasn't really scrutinizing. Okay, good. Thank God. But I was, I really enjoyed walking through it. Smells good. So Janice. So Janice comes out and she is assistant TM.

Mm-hmm. And, but she's dealing with this overwrought, politely sexist tour manager. Okay. Still redeemable. Redeemable, but has some flaws. Redeemable, but definitely like there's some issues. A flawed person. They said to go work out on.

Yeah. But anyway, it's her first tour. and she's beloved, beloved to third-eye blind band and crew. So much so that we wrote her a song. Really? Yes. Janice has a song. For those of you listening, Janice is a producer on the show and has worked with me for a few years now.

She's beloved by all here as well. So I think it was her first night on a tour bus. And it was this winter thing. It was just fucking freezing. and we were doing yeah we were doing christmas shows so we were off doing christmas radio shows i'm sure you've done your share yeah yeah yeah so yeah you know the deal it's holidays it's dark out that puts you in a certain kind of mood yeah it's a little moody but it also makes you a bit punchy all the time because there's no light so we're punchy as fuck and we're driving off into

the icy night somewhere on the east coast it's her first night on a tour of bus, but it's band and crew. So we're, we're like stuffed in there. There's, I don't know, 12 people on, on this crew. And we're all up in the front lounge. And Janice, who's never been on this, puts on quite reasonably her jammies. And she's wearing jammies. And it was great. It was such a great start. It was like, how charming, you know, and we were trying to get her to come up into the front lounge and and she's like I'm ready I'm in my pajamas like this is like you know this is just a bunch of black clad roadies up here and we were all singing but we were not only we were singing but we we had the the window uh opened in the front and it was probably about maybe 13 14 degrees

before the wind chill um and we're going 75 miles an hour down the road and the thing is you you hold your arm out in the back you must have done this game right you throw the banana at the front and then you catch it. Never done that game. That's genius though. Joel, it's a good times. Does anyone ever catch it?

Yeah, and when they do, the whole bus erupts and then you want to show everybody this splatter banana in your hands. How many bananas do you waste playing that game? Countless.

Yeah. Endless. Thanks for coming. Pleasure to be here. It's good to see you again. It's been a while. When was the last time? God,

it'd be 10 years probably. Not on that tour, was it? It wasn't on Warp Tour, some other tour or something that we did. I really didn't like that tour. Yeah, I could tell. I liked you. Yeah, I like you.

Could you tell? No, no, I couldn't tell, actually. But I like the people. If I'm being honest, and this might be why Janice stayed in the back of the bus in her pajamas. She came out eventually. Eventually she came out because that's how you are. You warm us up because you're a little intimidating in your own way because you're very good-looking. No, no, no, no.

Tons of bands and musicians would cite your records as like formative, really formative records. in their like musical development. And I also think the ability to create this rock and roll music that's big songs, different ways of delivering. There's a lot of stuff you did on your records and still doing your records, but there's a style to third eye blind

that's like itself. There's nothing else like it. It's very to itself. I don't even know where the genre falls. I don't know what other band I would say. It's a very interesting, unique band. And I remember me, you the first time and I was just like really intimidated but you were very nice so that made it

great but Janice is probably like I don't know what to do I'm not going up there in my pajamas probably take a minute to feel like she could come up there and that's kind of she's also very respectful I noticed with Janice like in a room with with space and she gives people their space so I feel like that was probably why she didn't come up right away in her pajamas it's really hard for me to absorb compliments I bet and I appreciate that One of one. I don't know what to say about... One of one.

Being that, yeah, but thank you. Thank you. I don't know if there's anything to say about it. I don't know what I would say if someone said that to me, but... I would... You know, I think what I could say about that is... I would like that praise to turn into me finishing the lyrics for my new album that's supposed to be out for this tour that I can't finish.

I wonder why you can't finish it. Well, I think distractions for one thing. And it takes a long time, doesn't it, to get into the space? It takes probably about 40 minutes to actually just get into space where you're eligible to encounter the music. And then there's the core of the song. And it's not what the song is about. I think one has to be very careful.

Songs I don't think are about something. Because about is like around. It's more of like what is the core impulse of the song. And you can write a bunch of it. You can scurry around the basketball court and do a lot of dribbling. But to actually hit the basket, you have to be in line with the core intent of the song. And it happens to me every time. I find that often.

elusive. Is that the longest part of the record? Yeah, for sure. Finishing? For sure. Like starting is, I mean, isn't it for you? The last five percent takes longer. At least 99% of the time. Yeah, every record's different though. Well, we haven't done a record in six years. Uh-huh. So we're starting. Yeah, it feels like TikTok. We're starting one in like a month or two. And it'll either go really fast or it'll be really slow. Have you written the songs? I haven't written the songs. But I've been in this stream of consciousness thing the last couple years.

Like I don't want to overthink it. So I want to let it come out and just like and then judge it after we make it. So I don't want to think about it while we make it. I just want to do what feels good. It's the best feeling. And then like on the other side of it listen to the. I want to do that too. It's easier.

It's what I tell people, you know, when I'm asked for advice about songwriting. I say, don't judge yourself. Don't write good songs. Don't write bad songs. Just write songs. And it's a terrible thing to do to music to try to make it good. Just make it. I just kind of want to like vomit it up and then see what it is.

Yeah. That is a much more rock and roll mindset than trying to make something good. Well, I tried to make good things. And I got so confused. I got so overly confused. And then at the end, it's not that I don't like the record. because each record has a special. Like, it's supposed to be the record that,

like that was supposed to be part of the story, whatever. Like, however it came out, even if I was overthinking it or trying too hard or trying to do this, I can't judge it. I just have to go, that's where I was at. And I had to go through that to get to the other side of it. And now I look back on it and I wouldn't do that again. Like, I'll never overthink a record again based on that record.

So now let's try this. So I feel like I'm giving myself release. from needing to be successful or good. Yeah. Because I feel like that's kind of how we started before it mattered. Right. So you've got one has, the internal core self. And then you have these external forces of how is this going to be perceived?

How does this sound? Where does this fit in? All these other kinds of things. And it's very, very easy to drift into the external world. So easy. And the artist's job is to regather and stay within that core self. Even if that core self is broken, which is a very productive place, it's still where one needs to be. And I think that that is a constant battle.

Yeah. What I do, part of my process is that I just write things down. So I have pages and pages and pages and pages of. phrases and words and ideas, those are not judged at all. I mean, I have hundreds of pages of that. After the fact and time, it tells me who I am and what I was interested in, but I don't actually know. It's actually a passive form of discovery. It's also my state in the zeitgeist. Where are you about right now. And I find a lot of this current era confusing and overwhelming. Mind numbing. Yeah. Bewildering. Yeah. In a way that say like, you know, in COVID in the lockdown,

I did the same thing everybody else did. Kind of just started scrolling and, you know, drinking too much wine at night and, you know, kind of hiding. out and then I just felt shamed by Taylor Swift. She's like, well, Taylor just put out a fucking record. And I was like, oh, I need to stop this. This is unhealthy. I need to go like go out into my little studio and with my notepad, my guitar and take stock of things. And I was really quite able to do that. And that was how our band of part got written. It was in that state. Right now, again, it's not it's not some like essay or anything it's just like lining up on my angle my my attitude my trajectory through these times um yeah like looking at a painting or each painting you'll see the

songs and like going like oh this one's done yeah it's hard to do that it is but you know when also when it's done yeah it's coming it better be coming because i'm starting a tour um yeah when's the tour start may June June 7th June 7th yeah it's coming up quick dude yeah yeah something's coming out yeah yeah I really have to have Brad our drummer you know yeah um he said hey you got you gotta have some let's ship this thing you got to have this thing you got to because the album's tracked yeah what's left some bits and pieces of vocals my vocals or all the vocals yeah oh I mean I have a lot of the words but if until I have them all if I don't have them all then I can't sing any of because it all has to be of a piece.

You know what I do? A lot of times, I'll like always record. So I don't write anything down. So I always go in and freestyle. That's how I write every song. Really? Yeah. On the mic.

So you do a lot of mem, ma, ma, ma, kind of like, I sing the sound of the word before knowing what it is. And then I find the words and they start to take shape. And then it starts, or I'll have a phrase in my head when the, like, Benj is playing the guitar part or the guys or whatever. And then I'll be like, once they track something, I'll go in. and i'll have maybe even humming along or whatever but then i'll go in and i'll start singing and the idea will take me somewhere and sometimes it's where i started and sometimes i end up completely

in a different place but when i finish the idea and there are real words there and i'm singing something i always keep those vocals and i try to yeah perform them as good as possible and then like i'll live with like a bounce a demo of it and live with it and then i'll start making tweaks on like oh i could say that line better and i'll really re-sing that line. And usually it's made in patches, like, from the demo state. That's a good idea. That's a, I mean, good idea.

That's a, because that is like that, because like, when you get into that thing first and you've got this, your first reactive excitement. There's energy there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. A friend of mine asked me to sing on his record and he sent me the track and I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to listen to it until I had a tape. recorder on and then he put gave me the track it had some other i said i didn't want any of the vocals on it turned it on and i just started singing and i basically sang the track there so for doing that for somebody else i'm quite comfortable doing it it was easy but stuck with myself with yourself i wonder what that is i wonder what kind of pressure you're putting on yourself i think also musically you know

more and more the special effect the exciting thing has nothing to do with a macbook pro right And, you know, the thing that is really like fireworks is the humanness of it and the vulnerability of the track. And the places where I've been most disappointed with my own production, because I just produce or produce along with somebody else, all my records, is where I start to polish too much. I get too fussy or, like, go, you know what? it's a good track, but let's pitch it just a little bit. Or let's time correct a little bit. Any of that stuff to me is always a drag. And I really tend not to be moved by music that has all the frequencies.

And it's like dropping in the fat bottom and everything comes in. It's punching. And it doesn't tend to move me. You actually had a band, you had a guy on who I hadn't heard of. And I listened to it. Kind of a heavy band. Bad omens? Yeah.

They're sick. So that's exactly what I'm talking about. But you know, he produces everything. That's exactly what I'm talking about that I want to move away from. But then I listen to that. And I'm like, okay. But I actually really like that. Like I really liked, I listened to some of his music.

And it's super like maximum frequencies, like maximum, you know, boom, you know, needle slam. It's maximalist. And I actually really liked it because there's songs at the core. Yeah, Noah is a, and the band, they do everything, the way that they've come up as a band over the last five years. They all live together. They made all the records in the house. Yeah.

And they grew. So there's a real organicness to where they are now from where they come from. and it has everything to do with growth as artists, growth as producers, growth as songwriters. So there's something about the organic process of a band growing. But Bad Omen's is interesting because they do what they do so well. I mean, they've also like carved out this huge place in rock music. They play arenas and they like have built this huge following.

But it's been this like organic living, breathing process of watching them. like it's all internal they're not outside they're not looking for outside influence or validation yeah they're literally just trying to beat their last right thing and they and and and and i think they get a lot of joy out of like doing it themselves um which i think is important for the for like like you produce you obviously get something out of making your own music that you that you that you need and that you like even if it's a grueling process to finish the right record, whereas I don't produce, but I never have and likely never will. I mean, never say never, but like probably not going to, probably not going to happen. But I like to be involved sometimes in the

process with the producers and the artists, but like that's not where my attention, like, I'm not obsessed with that. But I love the right songs. So I'll always do that. I like the craftsman aspect of production. And I like having the vision and going through the, you know, the cookie cutter of this is it this is outside of the vision this is inside and you keep making those decisions until it's down to the end of the song and I like to do that over and over again yeah I quite like that yeah but I also I love to collaborate and this third eye blind these people we all really love each other and we make space for each other musically so it's it's not about Everybody trying to get out in front of each other else.

It's really making room and it becomes much more interactive. It's fun to work with musicians where you are really empathetic with each other and listening. I'm gonna, and like my music, my hair can be able to be able to continue my rhythm. For so, Potion Nine, of Sebastian Professional, has all what my hair needs. Nutrition Profunda, Protection Contral Against Against Against, 99% less of rotura and Puntas abirtas,

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at month in Shopify. orgs. Third Eye Blind has been it's over 31 years now. Is it 31 years?

93? No, 97. 97. 27 years. Not since you started. Oh, no. Since the first record came out in 97. Yeah.

I remember it changed my life, that record. By the way, it changed my life. It's like the summer that all the shit hit the fan. Like my family was long gone. School was over. I was going out into the world. I wanted to be in music so bad, but I was from a little place and no one knew how to do it. No one took us seriously.

Right. We were this little band. We were trying, we started Good Charlotte in 96. And I was like, I want to be in a big band. I want to write big songs. And then that record came out and it like, it was a really, really pivotal record for me. And then I followed. Did Eric Valentine produce your first record?

He produced our second record. It was your second record. Yeah. So he was engineer and co-producer on my first record. Yeah, that was one of the big. I think he's underrated. I really do. I think he's just, I learned so much from him.

Yeah. and enjoyed working with him so much. To have people who are really, really following sound deep, deep into the signal paths like that is exciting to be around. There's not many people like him, and I would say... I've never met anyone like him. Yeah, I would say he's a musical, musician and musical creator through and through, but he's also one part like scientist or something.

So he studies sound. Yeah. And he wants to know like how and where and why. Yeah. And so he's on a different wavelength. And I would say that I didn't appreciate the influence Eric had on me when I was younger. I didn't fully comprehend or appreciate it until I was older. And I would cite him as like one of the top five people that had a major influence on not just the records we make.

The records we made were great. But something about how he takes the time and the diligence to figure out what he wants to figure out at any cost. And that idea of how he works, I still to this day find that was one of the biggest influences on when I care about something, whatever problem I'm trying to solve. And it might not be some scientific sound problem. It might be as simple of, do I think a brand is the right, is it cool? or is this thing right or is this right or whatever it is I'm trying to do to be as diligent in figuring out the answer when I feel it. Watching Eric work and the thoughtfulness he had when we were making those records and the

influence he had on us, I would put him in my top five, like most influential people in my career, in my life, in the aspects of my life that come to like my craft and whatever it is my craft is. He taught me about singing more than I knew he was even at the time. way he would walk when we were tracking vocals on records and he would work with me. I picked up so much that I still use today from him. So I really give him like a ton of credit. Can you remember an example of something? Curious. He got me to sing falsetto on our third record. And now it's falsetto is something that I have my own kind of falsetto. But he developed it with me. But there's tons of things.

It's hard to imagine there's so much. And I find like we're as singers, especially in rock music, we're becoming our own singers. It's not a conventional. We're not classically trained singers. We're like these unconventional artists that sing. But no one can sing like you. I never had any training at all.

I didn't either until I got a vocal coach. So you wouldn't lose your voice. To go on tour. Right. Yeah. That's more of like a trainer. Yeah. But to learn how to sing in your own way where no one else could sing like you, never had anything.

It's only through making records and trying things. And Eric was a big, big influence in like my development as a singer, but extremely special guy. And if I got the opportunity to make another record with him, I would do it in a heartbeat. Like he's just one of those guys. The stuff we did together, I just feel like it was really extremely special, it was magical. Yeah. And he brought something like that was. just very Eric Valentine.

Yeah. To every record. Yeah. Yeah. I really, really, like, cherish the experiences I got with him. And he's a really nice guy. I mean, we don't get to see each other or talk very much. But anytime we cross paths, it's a really genuinely, like, there's a lot of love there

because of the stuff we got to do together. Yeah. It's an Eric Valentine Love Fest. It is. I agree with you, though. Underrated. Underrated. Doesn't get all the credit.

He, he, out in the world. of like people that have made these incredible records. Correct. He's on the top list. He also actually actually made them. Yeah, he made him. He's actually, he's not just sitting on the couch. No, he's like adjusting the microphones.

Yeah, he's legit. He's a really special, incredible producer. And I'm glad we even got to talk about him today because I've never really gotten to go on the record with that. And say like how incredible I think he is and how underrated I think he is. And I think a lot of artists would agree. I think everyone that's worked with him across all these great records he's made would probably have the same general experience of like, wow, Eric is one of a kind.

Like insanely talented, classic record maker. They just don't make them like that. They don't make them like that. But the mad scientist aspect of it, I think is important because he was working on my demos. And I had a very clear idea of what I was going for. And he wasn't particularly interested in it. He wasn't a fan. Right.

I don't want to put words in his mouth. But I don't think he was, I don't think he's particularly interested in my music or my songs. But what he was interested in was going, you know what I can do? I can do that. I can do that. I get that sound.

I'll get the best sound. I will get like, you want Brian May? I'll get to Brian May through an AC 30. Like, boom. exactly and what happened with us is i think that we fed off each other's different energies of me chasing after that feeling of the song and him realizing it through sonics yeah and that um and eventually i realized that he had moved well beyond being an engineer that he was producing this music

um as well and um was was really beginning to participate in the shape of the music. And I think after the fact he began to actually like it, I don't go, putting words in his mouth again. Yeah, well, that's actually such, that's a good question because when you say that, I go, you know, I don't know if he even liked my music. But I think that's not how he thinks.

I think, I actually don't know, like I think Eric Valentine enjoys music, but I think he, I actually think he's tapped into something else. I think he's so obsessed with how the sound was made and he sees it almost. Like when he listens to music, I almost feel like he sees sound waves or he sees, he starts solving the problem of how did they do that? How far away was the mic? Which mic did they use? What room did they record in?

So a few years ago, he created these compressors and these, this outboard gear. undertone. Serious. Yeah. The last EQ. It's like serious stuff. He created a really amazing product. He was trying to make a console.

He worked on that. He's working on that for years. I mean, that's been a life work to make that stuff. Look, I think he liked it. He loved the Fairchild compressor. Yeah, yeah. And he really didn't like the Fairchild clones.

So he made the Unfair Child. Yes. And we got one. You got one. Yeah. It's a really good compressor. It is a good compressor. I don't have one, but I've used them before.

They're really good. Yeah. That's just so Eric to me. Back to the music, I don't know. So I do think he liked it all the stuff he worked on, but I don't think that's how his brain organized around music. Like, I actually think that it's probably even like to be in his head when he listens to a song is a different thing than to be in my head.

Like I think he hears. sounds and like starts immediately going right into how how they made the sound yeah and i think and i see landscapes i move into kind of the the landscape of the song like the like it's almost visualized that's what muse um music is bringing alive a sense of magic and and dreams that's funny i've never really thought about how i hear it but i actually kind of hear like live huh i just hear sing along. What does it sound like at a pub? I mean like what it yeah what does everyone sound like singing this song. Uh-huh. That's what I hear. Huh. Like what does the whole group sound like when we all chant this song? Huh. That's how I hear a song. Huh. Every time. It's a good idea. I like that.

It's just how I hear every song. Getting some stuff out of you today. That's why we talk. That's good. Interesting. That's why I love to do this show because I always walk away with like, not only do I want to talk to you because I'm a fan and your music's been really important to me, but I get a little insight into like the person and then I realize why I like them so much. Like, oh, I know why I like that guy. It's the music, but it's more than that because behind the music is something. There's someone, there's a idiosyncratic person that's figuring out their own life. And then it helps me feel like I've figured mine out a little bit more. Make sense of it all. You know, Third Eye Blind has a podcast.

You do? Yeah. Great. It's called The Pot of Wine. It's a different format. Like the God of Wine. It's backstage chit-chat. Yeah.

It's a terrible podcast. It's just a, it's, we just get on there and just blather after shows. Kind of cool, though. We make them really, like, very rarely. But the whole idea was, we think it's funny. Just sitting around, you know, after a show, usually you're, you're eating salmon or sushi or whatever yeah pizza yeah and there's tends to be a bit of sake as you know some spinning around all etc and then there's just shit talking and that's the podcast that's good and we

really make the pot of wine yeah the pot of wine comes crushing yeah it's from the god of wine yeah my room so ha ha ha anyway it's great it's great it's one of the great song do you ever think about re-recording your favorites throughout your catalog. I think about this all the time. I'm like, I wonder if I just took all my favorite songs of the records I don't own. And I just re-recorded them. And it's not, for me, it's not like, I don't care about the streaming numbers. I really don't.

There's something about the pride of ownership of something for me that I didn't get to feel. I still own those records here, right? I do. but I would love to know what it feels like to own them here. What I've done is something different. I did an unplugged record. Oh, cool. And the impulse for that was really about wanting another crack at it.

Right. So that was the snapshot of this song at the time. I don't actually want to go re-record it. Those recordings are about that moment and the people engaged with that song in that studio during that time. I agree with you. So I'm not looking to. to go do Palm Reader again in the studio with those instruments.

However, to do it, we went out to some studio in the hills outside of those Oak Hills, outside of Austin, just posted up there for a week and tracked a record, start to finish, of just using acoustic and different instruments in a different configuration of playing together. And I love that version of Palm Reader. And I never liked blinded. That was my mistake. It was me overdoing the song. So I love having another try, another crack at it

to do it more in the way that I'm hearing it now in my head. That appeals to me. And I'll definitely want to do another unplugged record. I like doing live records. We're going to play the Henry Miller Library. It's in Monterey. I think we're doing that on. on the 19th of June.

And we're gonna play acoustic. And hopefully I'm gonna make that into a record. So that kind of thing is exciting to me. Yeah, that's cool. But no, I don't really wanna go backwards. I feel that. I don't wanna go copy it, you know? Yeah, I don't wanna do.

It makes sense. Stevens version. Yeah, it makes sense. No offense. No, no, because there is something magical about the time and the space and when you recorded that record. Like, there is something that you can feel it in the records. Yeah.

Yeah. Even if there's things in it that are, you know. That make you go, ooh. Yeah. It's like a school picture sometimes. You have to like accept yourself. Yeah. You know?

Yeah. I have that. Yeah. Some songs where I'm like, I feel like I'm looking at my like middle school picture, the bowl cut. Yeah. Musical bowl cut. Like musical bangs.

I shouldn't have had them. But I had them. I'm trying to think of that video that you did with Rancid. Oh, yeah, yeah. You guys were all around at dinner party. I think binge did it. Oh, was it? Yeah, fall back down.

I love that song. And I love that video. Everyone was sitting around the sitting around the table just being immacately dressed punk rock. Yeah. Yeah. Was that Benji? Yeah, that was Benj. I don't know why that just came into my mind.

Oh, because it was kind of like a school picture. Yeah, it's like a school picture. Yeah, it's like, yeah, that was me. Yeah, look, see, that was our first magazine cover. I always keep it up because I think it's like good to look at your young self. And like, I was so hard on myself back then. And I was trying really hard. And now I'm proud of that.

I don't think I've ever, I don't think I've ever been on the cover. a magazine. Yes, you have. I don't think so. Really? No. That blows my mind. I've never been on the cover of Rolling Stone or I mean, spin doesn't exist anymore. NME AP. Okay, you should be on the cover of AP then. I should have like a centerfold spread. You should do a cover with AP and do like some kind of like all encompassing cover. Like every era of Stephen Jenkins cover. Third eye blind, every era. I'll get on but I don't really have any pull at AP. I do.

You know a guy. Yeah. Third eyed blinds actually kind of weird that way. Never had a Grammy. Never had... We never had a Grammy. Any of that kind of shit. Like there's no...

That's weird. Well, I'm not saying it's weird. I mean... No, I think it's weird. It's just... I didn't even think about that. A lot of artists need to hear that, though. Because in my mind, I'm just assuming that you have Grammys, the covers, all that stuff.

And we didn't have any Grammys or any... Not many awards, period. Yeah, it's weird because I, but then when I think about it, like, it makes sense, in a sense of like third eye blind always feels like it's existed in its own. Like I said, it's just like one of a kind. I think third eye blind actually is kind of a, I don't mean to be a niche. I don't have any, like, there's no architecture to it. There's no planning to it.

It's just, it's just kind of how it works out. And it is its own little weird. Yeah, so I wouldn't even say it's niche for me isn't the word. It's unique to itself, right? Not a niche. You're right. Because the songs are occupied. The songs are key.

You get neighbors in a niche. If I took any given song from your catalog out into the world, it wouldn't be niche. But as a band, as an entity, it's unique to itself. And I think that has everything to do with you because you've always been, like I said, like this enigmatic, unique person. And so it's kind of like third eye blind as a projection of whatever's going on in there at the time when you make the record or whatever.

And so then our music weaves into other music, right? Because your music absolutely influenced generations of musicians and they're taking bits and pieces of that and they're like putting it in theirs, like their idea of what a song is and what a part is and how you could do that. Are you getting inspired on some music now? I'm so dying to be freaked right now.

I feel like I'm just not. There's some bands that I really like. I like that I hear that got me stoked like Wisp for them. It's kind of like a rethinking of shoegaze. Just tiny, tiny little vocal. Have you heard Idris? Uh-uh. Oh, you'd like Idris.

No, I have heard it. I've heard of it. I couldn't tell you like a song. Live with it for like. off my mind. Yeah, like explore his catalog for like a month. Yeah. It's like this reckless free form of indie rock,

but that has undertones of a bunch of other stuff because he's like a skateboarder. Yeah. And he's got this whole, I mean, he's got a whole movement. I mean, he's huge. It exists out here on that, on the fringe. Yeah. And it's like this whole movement of like he skateboards. He makes every, like all the,

the videos are like almost like skate videos like they're all done him and his friends he's got all these like creator friends and he okay he's into he's into like hip hop but he's also into like indie rock he's just into what he's into he doesn't care what anything is it's really interesting how he moves he does what he wants he's got the coolest vibe but you can feel like he just does what he wants and he doesn't think about anything else yet it's big you heard surf curse no Talking about, like, tracks that where, you know, is like, how does this sound with everybody singing along? That's surf curse.

Yeah. Where are they from? I really wanted them to come on tour with us this year. And, are they from the Bay? No, I don't think so. It's a cool name. Yeah. But I just need, I need more.

Okay, yeah. It's in that world of like. Yeah, because I'm looking to get, I love that. You know that moment where you hear some, new music and it just owns you it's just the it's the best feeling it's the deepest drug um i i jones for that um i i um i really really like heavy music like architects bad omens some my favorites have you listened to nothing no oh that's that like super screamo yeah stuff but it's very beautiful actually yeah there's so much distortion it just becomes like kind of a sweetness

It's like a wall of, I don't know, for some reason I need that every day. But you know, I actually read that that heavy music actually is one of the most focus, like for the brain, like you get the most focused listening to heavy music, like heavy metal and heavy rock and heavy guitar music. Yeah, it's like one of the most like good things for focus in your brain. I read it. I'll find it. I listen to Chopin a lot.

Oh, do you? Yeah, Chopin's in my top five. of Spotify every year. Really? Yeah, I listen to Chopin every day. Wow. Every day? Every day.

Just drive in and do it. Morning or night. Either in the first thing in the morning or the last thing at night. Whenever I'm alone or either the beginning of the day, if I'm like making coffee and sitting there or at the end of the day, I turned Chopin on. Can I just say I had no idea this is all going on? That's okay. I am really, really impressed. Thank you.

Yeah. That makes me happy. And I like the sense of follow through. Thank you. Because we all got ideas. Everybody got ideas. Not everybody, but a lot of people have a lot of ideas,

but the actual just putting your feet in front of each other to actually get to the answer is rare. And it's quite evident here. Thank you. I'm making you feel uncomfortable now. No, no. I was just thinking. It is a little uncomfortable, but I will say it makes me feel really happy because when you were saying that, I was just like thinking, I hope someone listening right now here's the idea that like we have to start somewhere.

Something always leads to something and no one will do it for us. So if we have an idea, we have to just start trying to make it. And then once we start making the thing, usually someone else will come and they'll go, oh, that's pretty cool. can I help? And then you start, it starts to grow as long as we show up every day and we chop the wood and we just do, we tinker on it, right? And for many years when we started all of this, you know, 12 years ago, we started this idea with MDDN that we were going to have this like music company that was from an artist's perspective, but that we actually did operate. So it wasn't like a vanity like thing. It was just me and Benj at first and then our older brother and then we'd have and then it's grown into this like, company that's doing stuff in the world with these incredible artists. But the whole idea every day is like everyone comes here and they tinker on the thing and they just work on it every day. It's not perfect, but it leads to something every day.

Like something leads to something. It's a good phrase of like if you get over being perfect, you can start working on being good. Yeah. I like that. I mean, it's a little self-helpy. But there's another self-help thing that's like a good thing just to write on your bathroom mirror, act like the person you want to be, which isn't fake it till you make it.

It's more, it's more. Try to be the person you want. Yeah. Just act like there's the person you want to be. There's how you want to live. We'll just act that way. I love it. And I love self-help stuff because at the core of all of us is a kid who wants to be good, who wants to try,

who wants to succeed. and then we get polluted by the negative cynical world, you know, and I don't want to be cynical and I don't want to pollute people. That's that drifting into the outside world and to, you know, others' expectations or the things that kind of, you know, mollify you from your own intention. Japanese call it ikigai. When you wake up in the morning, you go, I'm going to die soon. What is my purpose? What is my purpose today? because life is very short. It's going to be fucking over.

What are we up to today? Is it going to be laying in bed scrolling on my phone? Probably not. So what is it? Right? So there's that purpose. That's the Iki guy right there. That has to be at the core of every creative process.

And then there has to be the plan. And then there has to be the willingness, the energy put out, to stepping through that plan and not giving a fuck about everything outside, trying to take away energy, keep you from that plan, your dream, which makes you crazy. And the creative people that I think at your best are a little bit nuts, kind of nutter. Don't look the same. Don't dress the same.

don't talk the same different rhythms of engagement have a really hard time hearing people like you know you got this like speaking in in you know commonplace cliched kind of things it's it's it's rattling it's pulling you away from something they're a little bit nuts but it's it's it's because of that drive to actually make this dream this eros manifest Yeah, come to life to build the thing. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. We always drift from it.

We always have to be, to remind ourselves of that. Yeah. Like, we all have those moments depending on the projects or things we're working on, me and my brothers and everyone we work with. I'll listen to everyone and I'll be hearing everyone. And then I'll be like, ah, okay, hold on. I'll be right back. And then I'll go work on it, whatever it is. Well, that's production.

Yeah. That's being a producer. That's kind of bringing it. all together and then going, okay, this is the cookie cutter. I'm like, you're talking about being a producer. Yeah. But I think people listening to this because it was likely a lot of the people that listen are artists and people in the arts and the creative business, whether they're creating

something or they're in the someone that works in the music business. But there's a lot of people listening that are trying to start their life. They're trying to find their dream or they're just. trying to be better. And that's really hard for all of us in some way. All of us have some category in our life that's harder than the others. Like I could be super fit and I could be super in touch with my emotional self and I could, but I could not have a career. I could just not figure my career out. That's going to be their big, the hero story for them is overcoming that, getting through that and figuring out like everyone has that category in their life i believe that's

malnourished to all the others right and that's the part that i always encourage people to look for because if really life is made up of just a few parts five or six parts right there's my work life there's my emotional life how do i feel about myself there's my relationships do i have a good relationship with my wife or my whoever there's family there's home and And then there's like physical fitness. There's all of it. It all matters. But likely most of us have like three of them dialed

and three of them need work. Because we've put all our energy into those three. Finding a way to balance and get your life to a place where you, I think it's complete and whole is like the, for me that's how I see like my goal is to like go towards balance and wholeness while doing things I love and making things I'm proud of. and hopefully like adding to the world's joy,

not taking away from it. You just said something that put me off onto a tangent. Okay. I love a tangent. And remember I was talking about trying to kind of find, like, not fine, but like putting words and embodying my filter on the zeitgeist. Yeah, yeah. And you said, and hopefully create joy.

And that idea is, is, close. I think that is my point right now. Every time we do a tour, I have some sense of what we're going for on the tour. And so the last one was about humanness and organic. And that kind of connectivity. So the whole back of my stage was this three story. It was wood. There were all kinds of fire marshal issues there. But it was this, it was this big wood structure on. And and just like these are actual people on stage making this with their fingers. Yeah. And this tour, I was thinking about what is third eye blind?

What's the value of this? What are we imparting? And the thought is that there's so much polarity in our society now in so many different manifestations. and there's so much insularity. I don't see a con text for us to actually communicate. What is the restart? And the restart is joy. And I don't mean it, like, there's a,

there's a, there's a difference in, in the definition of joy. I'm not talking about watching, you know, a superhero movie. You know, that's like a, that's a, and like a, like a, just an entertainment. diversion. Yeah.

I'm talking about like, like joy has, um, oftentimes brings like an overwhelmingness of feeling of tears into it as well. Yeah. Joy always invites, um, connectivity. So that's kind of my, that's my like zeitgeist assertion for this time and this tour. And I don't mean that in, I don't mean that in some primary color like Lottie. da, Pollyanna bullshit.

I mean like, what's the core, what is the core place where we can be next to each other and come up out of ourselves and feel a collective sense of aliveness? Yeah. That's fucking joy. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. There you go.

That's what I'm thinking about. I think that's, I'm pumped. I actually feel it. Like, I actually want to do good. The whole point I started doing this show and everything I do is not. is not some master plan. It's actually just like these little ideas that I get where I'm like, I think it would be cool to do that.

I think people would enjoy that. And I actually think out there somewhere there's someone any given day that needs to hear some message from someone that they take seriously. So someone who loves your record or someone you had an influence on or any given special person I have on this show. It's all special people. They're on special things. They think in a special way.

I understand how it sounds. I really believe it. So I think everyone has something unique and special about them. And I think that most of the time it gets beaten down or it gets, it gets diminished or it gets, we get told that it's not and we put it away somewhere. And I think that it's our mission in life to find it out what it is that makes us unique and special. And then to share that with people in a way that makes them feel good about life or makes them

think or makes them feel anything, even if it's sad. Right? Like my unique gift might be writing sad songs, but that is striking the chord in someone that's soothing their sadness. I gotta go. All right. Thanks for coming. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I can't wait. I flew into Burbank. Dude, I'm so glad you flew into Burbank.

Yay. I appreciate you coming to this corner of LA. I'm going to cut my hair too. You're cutting your hair? Yeah, for this tour. You have a great head of hair. It's got to go. It's going to get really good.

But you don't want to have long hair on a tour. It's going to zip the shit off. So enjoy it, people, because it's on the way out. Good luck on the tour. Thank you. I'm out. Good luck on the tour. Good luck on the record.

Okay. Stephen, thank you for coming. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of Artist Friendly. If you really liked it, you can follow, like, subscribe to the show, anywhere you listen to podcasts, Spotify, Apple, Amazon. We appreciate your support and we'll see you next time.