Artist Friendly with Joel Madden - Warren Zeiders

Episode Date: September 30, 2026

On this week's episode of Artist Friendly, Joel Madden sits down with Warren Zeiders. Growing up in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Warren spent his teenage years chasing a lacrosse career rather than a musical one, picking up guitar only as a casual hobby along the way. A string of sports-related injuries ended that path in 2019, and COVID hit the following year. At his sister's suggestion, Warren posted a cover of Chris Stapleton's 'Tennessee Whiskey' to TikTok — and woke up to hundreds of thousands of views. That moment launched a rapid rise: his original song "Ride the Lightning" went platinum, and by 2023 his single "Pretty Little Poison" became his first country radio No. 1, going on to double-platinum certification. Since then, he's built a fanbase behind billions of streams, headlined his first world tour, and earned a CMT Award for Breakthrough Male Video of the Year. Now 27 and fresh off the release of his third studio album, No Brakes, Warren sits down with Joel to talk about the pressure of following up his biggest year yet, learning to separate his self-worth from streaming numbers and radio spins, and why he believes this new chapter of music is the most honest representation of who he really is. (0:00) – Warren Zeiders: The Origin Story(4:13) – How Covers Led to a Record Deal(10:14) – CMT Award: Voted by the Fans(18:04) – No Breaks: Warren's Most Personal Record(24:27) – A Deeply Personal Act of Faith(28:54) – Turning Hate Into Algorithm Fuel(38:07) – Growing Up on Rock and Country(43:23) – From Lacrosse Player to League Investor(45:51) – The '67 Mustang Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Discover coffee plus on nispresso.com. This record is showing a new side of me, a new version of me. And it's kind of just being like, hey, I am 27 years old now. Here I am. Here I am at 27 years old. This is stuff I grew up listening to, loving. These are my influences. Here's this.

Here's Warren Ziders. If you were wondering who Warren Ziders is, here he is now in his third album. Like, this is what he grew up on. All right. Where are you from? Originally Pennsylvania. Hershey, Pennsylvania. exactly the chocolate bar.

Yes, sir. I know Hershey pretty well. Ever go to the park? We played there one time. Giant Center Stadium. Yeah. Both of them? Yeah.

Nice. Actually, both, yeah. Yeah. We spent a lot of time in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is always great to me. Up north is always great for touring for me. So you grew up in Pennsylvania? Yep.

And then did you move somewhere else? And then I ended up moving to Nashville, 21 years old after I signed my record deal. So my time. Yeah. Nashville. How old are you now? How old are you think I am? I mean, 24? 27. 27, okay. Yeah, you're young, dude. I'm 20 years older than you.

Okay. That's crazy. I don't feel 20 years older than you, but maybe I do actually. Yeah. That's great. 27. What a great age. It's been good. Yeah, I just turned 27, I guess, two months ago. How are you finding, navigating, building a career in music? and in country music, but really just rock and roll and music in general in your 20s. Well, you know, it's tough, man, because like all I've known since 21 now is this. I mean, I went from being a dude who was in college, senior year. What college? I went to Frostburg State University where I went to.

In Maryland? Yep. That's where I'm from. Are you really? Yeah. Okay. So that's where I went to go play D3 lacrosse. Oh, you played lacrosse?

Cool. 12 years, man. That's very east coast. Very east coast. Yeah. Yep. And then transfer to Penn State Harrisburg where I dropped out my senior year three months before I signed my record deal. So I mean, it's been tough to navigate. I'm not going to lie, because all I've known is this from turning 21, COVID hits and you don't even get to go out to the bar when your 21st birthday. Yeah, yeah. To celebrate legally. Yeah. But it seems like it's gone really well. It has. I mean, it has. And I think that, you know, I mean, off the side of the camera. me here. I have my dad with me and both my parents work with me full time. Hey dad. That's cool. You guys travel together. That's sick. That's so sick. Yeah. That's what I would want to do if my kids were in entertainment because it's fucking loopy. It's a circus. It's crazy. It's wonky.

Yeah. I mean, they're the whole reason why I still have my sanity and these past five, six years of doing this. That's great. You can't do this thing if you don't need to do it. If you, If you're doing it for any other reason, you'll be miserable. If you die for it and you just, you've got to write another song, you've got to go and make that record. That's why you'll do it. Yeah. You have to want it more than anything. The same way sports works, I think.

Yeah. You got to have that hunger for it. I always like to say I've lived by the last like five, six years is happy and ever satisfied. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think that you going off the sports mentality. I always talk about that in all my interviews just because being. an athlete my whole life like that's all I ever knew was you know if you ain't playing right you're going to be benched yeah and practice and it's all the hours on the wall shooting you know all that

stuff and that's that's writing that's putting time in the studio that's the content today like that's everything so yeah you know you have to want it more than anyone yeah i'd say you have a very modern behaving um business like you make content well it seems like you you you you you do it in a way that feels like it's natural to the music and who you are. It looks like it's you. So it's cool to see that. But again, like at your age, you grew up in it. So it's not foreign to you.

No. No. And I mean, you're talking to a dude that got to start on social media. And the reason why I have a career is simply because of TikTok and Instagram. I was posting videos during COVID for, I like to say shits and gigs. Like I wasn't even trying to pursue a career.

You were having fun. I was just having fun. Yeah. And people fell in love with my. voice, what I was singing, and it went from covers to then wanting your own music. And I'm on social media and I'm like, I have no idea to write a song. I'm not claiming to be an artist or anything. But again, that want, that desire, that hunger, I took to it. And shortly after they were asking for original music, I was invited to Nashville by my manager who's to my manager at this day.

And it doesn't always work out this way as a guy who's been in the music industry for a long time. But my first time being there, I wrote my first hit song, Rad Lightening. And yeah, I was that on social media, blew up, and before you knew it, I signed a record deal. So it was crazy. But that's the natural way. Like, that's what, when I, when people are, when people ask me, like, how do I do it? I'm like, I don't know. Just do it all. Yeah. And like, lean into the things you get excited about, but like, it's got to be natural. You know, you can tell when it's not. And that's why the ones, I don't know, I can't explain. Why does that one make it that one run? Well, I can explain it to if you put them side by side, I probably could explain it because the natural ones

just do shit they love, they have fun, and they just keep going. Yeah. You know what I mean? And and then whether you had that hit song or not, I have a very high suspicion that you would have just kept doing it and you probably would have had a hit later. Yeah. Just so happened that that song connected. It's like a drug man. Yeah. It's like you're constantly chasing that next hit. It is. You want that feeling. It's so hard to encapsulate in words sometimes. Like that just, I mean, I'm the guy that lays in my bed at night till 2 in the morning sometimes on my phone just making content because I'm, or I'm going through socials, what's working

for people right now, what could work for me, what fits my brand, what, and people hear that sometimes and they're like, well, sounds like you're trying to be too calculated or you're talking about branding and I'm like, no, I just care so much that I want to see that what's going to work, what's going to bring that next hit, what's going to resonate, Nate, is it, is it the verse of the song? Is it the course of this song? Is it not this song? Is there another song on the record they're going to connect with better?

Also, you don't have to explain yourself to anyone. I think a big thing just, you know, bouncing off of what you're saying, the biggest thing about me and my team, I've always had the underdog mentality. And people on my record label and one of my guys who I'm really close with, he's like, I don't think you're ever going to lose that. I think it comes from my sports background. Yeah. because I think that you look at someone like a Tom Brady,

who goes away at's football, comes back, plays for another team, when there's another Super Bowl. It's like, it doesn't matter how great you are, what top of the game you are, there's always room for improvement. And that kind of inner monologue

that you're talking about between, you know, am I big, am I not? It's like, I battle with that every day because it's like you have a massive hit and then your next song goes to radio,

and then it doesn't perform the way it was supposed to or the way you're told to but I can go play in front of 8,000 people and they're screaming it to me, but it didn't work on country radio. Make that make sense when someone can't, not even try to be rude, but can't play for 40 people. Yeah. But they got number one. That's real. That's a real thing. That's a real thing. The only tickets is different. Yeah, it's 100%. But like when the streams and the hard tickets are there and you're not giving me the airplay and this is not like a shade or whatever on country radio. You're sharing your experience. Yeah. Yeah. And I just think that for me, like that was a

tough pill for me to swallow last year because that was supposed to be the follow-up. I'm a big person on not skipping steps and it doesn't have to be a giant step, but just taking those necks climbs up the ladder, I would say up the rung. And I think that for me this year in 26 with this new record I've coming out in September, I feel the pressure. Like this last month just being candid with you, I've felt like- No breaks, right? Yeah. Okay. I've been feeling like I've been waking up with like an 800 pound grill on my chest because of the pressure I put on myself of the expectations and how great this music is and how much I put into it and just knowing that like there's one on here that's going to connect and I just think that that's my comp,

it's that balance of being a 27 year old dude but also 27 year old Warren Ziders and the public eye and the country singer and everything and I like it's like you said man you wake up every single day and you eat sleep and breathe this thing it's not a bad thing the only thing I would offer if you want to hear it. Yeah. It's a good thing. The good thing to have that gorilla on your chest. It's a good thing to apply the right amount of pressure. Yeah. And then you know if you probably apply too much pressure, you can shank it. But I don't think you will. I think you have your shit together, which is really nice to see. The only thing I would say is try to come up with different outcomes that you like.

So not just one. Yeah. Try to think of a spectrum of outcomes that you feel great about. Okay. Because what I see is you have another 20, 30 years of a career. Yeah. If you want it. Yeah.

And at 27, it could be a very narrow idea of what that career and the success of that career looks like. And especially because when you're your age, all you want to do is just hunt and kill, hunt and kill, hunt and kill. And it's a great thing. Now,

20 years later, I sit there and I go like, that's exactly how I was, by the way. Yeah. But my idea was very narrow of what success looked like. Gotcha.

You've won an award. I saw you wanted a word. What award did you win? You won probably something. CMT. Yep, CMC award two, three years ago. So you won the award,

huge honor. Yep. CMT. I mean, I want to win a CMT. Well, the most rewarding thing about that award was, it's fan voted. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's what felt good. Yeah, fans voted are the best.

Yes. They're the best. But then you wake up the next day and you're like, okay, let's go. Yeah. I think that a big thing I live by too is back to the sports mentality is like, make sure you take a second to take in the wins, obviously. But I always joke around and be like, you get one victory lap and that's it. You know, take it in.

Like, be grateful, you know, soak it in for a moment. But what we do for a living music and social media and everything, it's a living, breathing thing. It never stops. So it's like it's making sure your eyes on the prize and waking up each day. And how can I take one step forward? And like you said, there's numerous ways to have success in our business. And if we're talking about having another 20, 30 years into my belt,

I would almost go as far as Sam, I'm in the first quarter of my career. You know what I mean? I would agree. And so. You're off to a good start. I'm trying. Yeah, you're winning. I'm trying.

I'd say. But kind of back to like what you were saying is just taking those moments in and, you know, realizing those different pockets of success. I was just over in Australia for the first time. They love country music. They love country music. And that was my first time going over there to that market. And I'm playing in front of two, three thousand people a night and these sold out rooms

and these clubs. And it's like so surreal to be like, I just flew 17 hours. And I'm over here. and we're going there. We went there. We're going to Europe, UK for a second time in a year, and now we're going to go back over there in the fall. So Canada's great to me.

So the biggest thing for me is just continue to grow that diverse portfolio across all those different continents and continue to grow the hard ticket sales, man. Yeah, that's what it's all about touring. We're still, to this day, able to show up somewhere in the world and play a big show. Yeah. And it's like an incredible feeling to have that.

We feel more grateful than ever to be on that stage. Because I didn't even know if at 47 I'd still be doing it. I don't know. Like, it sounded really old to me. Like I was like, oh, at 47, am I still going to be like prancing around on stage? And then here we are. And it's like, I actually think the shows are better actually than they were. I think we're a better band.

But it's a privilege. And it's a real privilege to be able to do it at this long end. And that's decided by people. Truly, it's decided by people. It's decided by people. And what the crazy thing is now, more than ever, is the generation we live in and the world we live in, because now it really is decided by the people.

100%. Like there's no more like talking to your record label being like, this is the hit and this is feeding them. People decide. Social media, man. It doesn't matter who you are. You could be a very beginner and you could have something blow up tomorrow night. Yeah.

And it's like, sound's a record deal. And then before you know it, out on the road playing clubs and stuff like that. Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. I fully like that. Yeah.

I accept it. If everyone was just like, you're done, I would be done. I'm good. I can accept it. I can accept the judgment. At the same token, when you're on that stage, you feel gratitude. Like, I feel, we played a show a couple weeks ago. And I felt something I've been feeling lately because we did a tour in Australia and we did

a couple festivals and all that stuff. Headlining festivals, which we actually never headlined festivals back in back in the day. And so headlining festivals is like a special. It feels very special of these big rock festivals. Yeah. And I've been feeling like this deep, deep, deep, deep sense of gratitude that stretches back maybe to the beginning,

like a very deep sense of gratitude for like the whole thing. So it's pretty cool feeling. Yeah. I mean, thing there's almost like a different mindset for each one yeah and when you're going out there it's like for me when it comes to a festival you know you're going to have some fans there but for me it's like this is an opportunity to go win over a huge group of people that might not have heard of me how do i leave a lasting impression how do i leave them wanting more yeah with uh but like you're saying when you go play your

own shows it's playing with a group of friends it's just like that intoxicating feeling of knowing that they they showed up they bought a ticket they're buying the merch they're here to see you and it's just this feeling that encapsulates you in this moment of just like, again, but how do I still impress you guys and keep you guys around and be like, okay, I'm going to another one. I mean, the amount of times I do my VIPs and I've had fans that are like, this is my 15th show in the last two years. This is my, I've flown to see you 20 times, like, and just having those core super fans and everything. You said you weren't an artist. You were in college. Do you feel like an artist now? 100%. Good. Yeah. That's good. I think in my, in my, in my very,

my first year of like getting, you kind of felt like, what's the word? You were trying to be something you're not. And at the beginning, you kind of like trying to fit in. You're trying to find writers that gel with you that understand your kind of vision and stuff. And, you know, when you come hot off the press with your first hit, your second song you wrote in your life. And then now it's like, here's your record deal. Now you're full boring it. Now figure it out. And I spent that whole year of moving to Nashville writing a record and just meeting with all these writers and didn't even go on the road, put up my first tour of 15 dates, acoustic shows, me and acoustic guitar player, and anywhere from 200 to 1500 cab rooms sold out in less than 24 hours and go out and play those shows

a year later. But yeah, no, in the very early stages, it was kind of like, maybe not imposter syndrome, but you were just kind of like, you're trying to get your feet wet from not being an artist from like a dude who was like, I wasn't playing on doing this. Like I wasn't. But I think that that's what's the beauty of my story is that it's so organic. that I wasn't a dude that was trying to pursue it or it just came naturally to me. It found you. It found me. Yeah.

Yeah. I like it because I hate rules. Who gets to be an artist. Yeah. Who gets to be a punk rocker. Yeah. Who gets to be a country singer. Who gets to be whatever.

Yeah. Like, I hate that. Yeah. More people actually would find success in their life if they got the inkling to do something and it looked like fun. and they did it. Yeah. You know what I mean?

So, and then you come into the music business and everyone starts telling you the rules. You're like, well. Nashville loves that, man. That's not how we do it in Nashville. Yeah. It's like the infamous, infamous saying. That's not how things are done in the music industry. That's not how we do it here.

We don't operate this way. We actually enjoy spending more of your money. You're like, get out of here, bro. I've really liked that. That's your story. And kind of bouncing off what you said, I mean, I kind of have. been a natural outsider since I've started. Yeah.

I've kind of been on the outskirts, outside the fence, kind of a thing with my career. Yeah. So you've had a lot of success. 4.2 billion global streams, probably more now, since we got this. Two billion plus TikTok views, 6.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

You won the CMT Award. You earned fan voted people's choice country nominations. You were featured on the Twisters soundtrack. First number one was pretty little poison. So you already had a number one. So you don't need another number one, bro. Double platinum. Actually, four times platinum now.

Four times platinum now, I stand corrected. I like platinum records. Yep. I like plaques. Yes, me too. I never got trophies, so I like plaques. Plaques ain't bad to look at them wall. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It feels to me like you've fully realized yourself and this record might be the something that you feel like is the the greatest representation of what you've always kind of what you've been working at yeah right that's the sense i get yeah and the timeline when i put it together i go okay that sounds sounds about right you are round the money and i think that that's why i feel that weight so much yeah because it's so close to my heart yeah And just what I've gone through the last eight, nine months and all that that goes into this record and all the writing and everything. What has that been? Well, relationship.

Oh, a hard, like a breakup? Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Those are tough. Yeah. It was a long relationship? Yes and no.

I mean, eight months, one of my longer ones in the last couple of years just. Eight months? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There was a lot of good and a lot of just. couldn't seem to get it right. It was what it felt like.

And a lot about that in this record. Well, do you think it's a good time for you right now to have a relationship? I feel like it would be difficult. 100%. And I think that being 27, you know, the internal model log for me and the struggle that I've had

in the last couple of months and everything and the realization for me has been that my entire focus has been selfishly on me with this record, everything touring, everything I have going on. That's what it takes. That's what it takes. And but then also too with me, it's like I've always known I've wanted to be, you know, a dad and the husband.

And I've always wanted that family life. And as I've said, my parents both work for me. They've been married for 28 years. I got to watch them be two best friends and have a great relationship. And my dad was 27 when he met my mom and got married. So like that internal monologue happens for me where I'm thinking about. And again, as a man of faith, you know, I believe in his timing and it's not my will. It's what he deems fitting for my life.

And but between all of that going on. in the back of my head, plus with coming out of that relationship, plus with the record, there's just been a lot of different nuances going on in my life today. And I feel like that's why I continue to feel even more and more pressure is with all those things bouncing around in my head with how much I feel for this music and it being the closest record to my heart and to me personally. You're young and you're, I think you're going to be just fine. But yeah, it's a lot to figure out when you're trying to build a career. And then it's got to be. someone that kind of, I think with relationships in this music thing when you're like living

it the way you are, because I know exactly what that feels like. I'm not doing that anymore. I have a home and then I go out to do this thing and I do the circus for two weeks. And then I'm out of the circus. You're in it nine months a year, let's say. Yep. You know what I mean? And in between those nine months, maybe you get two weeks here where you could go shut it off. You can never really shut it off. You're too in it right now. You're in the league. That's what I would say. Like, yeah. So you got to always stay ready.

So you're never feeling like you're never really off, but you got to find your moments where you can go like, oh, you know what? I'm going to go for a week or two and do this thing I like if it's fishing or hunting or playing golf or sitting on a beach or whatever. Or just being home with your family and get back to real life and being a real person. It's tough because when you go out, the people that you work with or the label or.

or the press things you have to do or the fan. Most importantly, the fans, not that they don't think you're a real person, but you're not actually in that moment a real person because there's no room for you to like feel anything in that other than like, hey, here's the song. You can't go like, oh, I'm sick today, I have the flu. Or you know what I mean?

Yeah. Or my heart's broken. I'm like, or I'm conflicted because you know what I mean? Like about whatever. You're like figuring the 100 things are flying around. No, I completely get it. I mean, the amount of shows I've played with like strep throat man. Yeah, yeah.

And like, fans have no idea. And then, or even just like, that's something I talk. Like fans will ask me in my VIP. I do like a Q&A and like a question they ask all the time that like, what's one thing that like that's been tough with being famous? And I was like, and I always joke around. I'm like, well, you know, it's not that bad. And I kind of enjoy it.

But the go to answer for me is always it doesn't matter what I'm going through or how bad of my day is or what news I just got or whatever. is I bump into the street. I have to put a, like, I don't, I had to put a smile on it. Make sure that I leave you with a great impression. Otherwise, you're an asshole. 100%.

100%. And it's not your cross to bear for me to be like, oh, let me tell you about my problems. It's like, oh, how do you have any, how do you have any problems? And it's like, because then you're not viewed as human sometimes. You're just like, you're this thing that they listen to in the shower. They listen to it in the bedroom, in the car.

Like. Or you're a party that they want to have. Yeah. You know, on a Friday night because they're at your show. Yeah, 100%. It doesn't matter if anyone left you. Yeah. No.

It's so true, though. It doesn't matter. Yeah. In my youth, I thought, oh, if I just get rich and famous. Yeah. Everything will just be 40-20. Everything's great. Yeah.

You know, it's like, it's why you hear these horrible stories about people who win the lottery. Yep. It's like, if you treat this like a lottery, this is not a lottery. Yeah. These are blessings for sure. These are a lot of things, but it's not a lottery. It's hard work. It's aiming at something and hitting it.

To bounce off you, what I like to say and what my pastor would say would be, I own nothing in this life. This life is fleeting. The end goal is eternal life in my belief. What we have on this earth, we are merely stewards of it. So what God blesses you with, he's going to give you what he thinks you can steward. and how are you going to go ahead and represent him? And we're all sinners, we all have our faults,

we're all going to fall short of the glory God every single day. But kind of back to the fans thing, it's like my biggest thing and biggest takeaway is whenever I'm doing these VIPs or whenever I'm doing these outward things is I always give God the glory first because he gave me this gift, he gave me this opportunity, he gave me a gift that I had no idea I had.

And I ended up blowing up on social media and here I am now six years later. So you're a pretty hardcore Christian. Oh yeah, I was baptized with my little sister back in November. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's great.

Yeah. Are most of your fans, do you think? I think what's been really cool to see is that even if they're not hardcore or if they're not. Whatever that means. Whatever that means. I don't know what that means. Yeah. I was trying to say, you're making a hip.

Yeah. Very dedicated to your faith. Yes. That's what I meant. Yeah, very much so. The coolest thing for me has been seeing the amount of faith questions. I get asked a lot in my VIP sections of people to see, you know, you're a Bible verse or you know how do you balance that with life on the road and bouncing off on our

earlier conversation you know I'm not perfect and I've made my mistakes but people always see the good looking young man charming success another thing and they think you're out in the road sleeping around doing X Y and Z and it's like that's just never been mountains of girls yeah and just like they see and they think that you can have like that there's not there everywhere get them off me these girls I'm not going to cut you off. No, no, but stemming. I love that too. No, but stemming, and I get that a lot.

I thought it too, when I saw your, but, I was like, oh, this guy, this guy's just slaying. Going. Going. But I think, you know, again, like, and I'm the first to admit it, like my imperfections and, you know,

my fallets and the things where I've fallen short on, but it's something my mom said to me a long time ago, you know, when I was old enough to understand, she was just like, one day you're going to have to sit, you know, in front of your wife. and you're going to have expectations of her

and she's gonna have expectations of you. That's true. And like a big thing for me is just like, yeah, I can live this lifestyle and everything, but like that doesn't mean I have to play into the hands that might be presented to there. It might be presented towards for me when my focus is on my music and my career and just,

I mean, dude, I'm the guy that plays the show, hits my boss, showers, eats my food, and throws on a movie. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not out party. Like everyone's just like, oh, you must be out drinking and party. And I'm like, it's not that.

It's actually not that realistic to play a show. That's the also like to pull the curtain down for anyone listening that thinks like touring is like you're just like partying and like sleeping with girls. Like at what point is that feasible? Yeah. You got to get up the next day. I mean it's just like it makes no sense at all. Yeah. It would not work.

No. It's I think that it's just like this fantasy that like lives in our world that people just like fall in. world that people just like fall in love with and they think it's like this thing and it's like being a vocalist too like I'm so weird about doing my cool downs after this show making sure that my voice is good to go the last thing I want to do is go to a bar with loud noises now play for an hour yeah you have people spinning on you while they talk to you you know when you're out a bar it's loud and someone's like they're like almost there so they're like drunk yeah but they could still talk yeah and they're like spitting on you while they talk to and you're like I can't even hear what

you're saying you're like what like who wants to be there no i mean yeah it's i'm i'm more excited to say what new tv series i want to watch after my show and absolutely night's sleep i agree with you it makes no sense makes no sense again i i would say i look at you as a real modern artist like you're living in today yeah you're not chasing some old thing you're not and you're being yourself. Yeah. And I do think that's also the mark of modern artists is they're like being themselves. They're not trying to be some other thing of this idea of what this is supposed to be. And I think that's, I just think that's cool. Well, and that's the piece of advice I always give any fan that'll show up to my VIP. They're like, hey, like if from someone who's trying to start

out or like whatnot, my first thing is always, if you're not posting on social media, you're missing out. Like the days of, yes, it can still happen but the days of going out and playing at your local spot or whatever it is and getting noticed or going to that like it can still happen but if you're not building a following on social media if you're not exposing yourself putting yourself out there and i always hate to him too i'm like my guys i was one of the most hated one of the most talked down hated on person on ticot my manager and i joke about it when we first started oh my goodness i was people just hated to see me succeed like and it was ridiculous because you go to the comments and there'd be a lot of love but like the

comments were unreal and I think that it was just I always take that and never take it to heart because I always smile and I'm like man if your day is that bad that you are unhappy with your own life or whatever's going on you got to talk down on me that makes you feel better by all means give me some more clicks in the algorithm I'll take it push my video further I would actually say from an outside perspective the modern interaction for social media is algorithmic and there's a margin of hate. Yeah. Okay. Why do these people who are leaving like this nasty comment on your thing? They don't even fucking know you. They probably only watch one clip. Yeah. Right. Why are they leaving this comment? Whatever. Because that's what they do. And the algorithm feeds them things

and rewards them with, okay, every time they leave a nasty comment, they're going to get four more videos of something that they would just hate. Fucking hate these country, good looking country singers. God damn it. You know what I? I mean like that's like the there's a whole cross section of people who only interact with things they hate. Yeah. And it is like a way of life. Yeah. It's like this really toxic, terrible. Must be a great way to live. Oh. Yeah. Like you imagine that guy. He's a fun time. Yeah. You know. And the biggest thing for me too is just like you want to hate whatever it is. It's just like you might not like me for whatever reason, right? That's fine. Not everyone's going to like you in this life.

But like, and you're you're trying to find the pocket of people that they do like you. And like my manager always said, And I really like this. He's like, I'd rather have five, I'd rather have five people think you were like a zero or like a one, but five people to think you're a 10. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like those five people that think you're a 10

are buying your merch, showing up your shows, streaming your music, liking yourself on social media. More fun to be around. Yeah. But he was just saying rather than having 10 people think you're five. You know what I mean? Like polarizing. And I think that's what it was about me

when I first started on social media. I was so polarizing and people were losing their mind because I was covering certain songs. and like, people were like, this is better the original. And then people were like, F that shit. Like, how dare you say that? How dare you disrespect those artists?

It's like, I did a cover, dude. Like, it is what it is. Like, I think the original is better too. That's why I liked it. I actually love this song. I actually love this song. Yeah. So it's just,

and my dad said to growing up, which I always loved to because I always like to look back, you know, we as humans like to look forward and like it's good to be forward thinking and everything. And, but we don't exactly know what God. has for us. You know, we can think we know, but we don't. I can attest to that. But you can look back and you can connect the dots on like how God's gotten you through, what he's gotten you

through and you can start to connect the pieces together. And like for me, when I play lacrosse and stuff like that, I always dealt with a similar aspect of what I deal with in music now was there was jealousy. There was people talking down on me. There was bullying in the locker rooms because I was better than a senior and I was going to take his spot. And that wasn't cool because him and his home and he's like, well, we can't let that happen. It's like, well, I'm better than you. So I put the work in. And no matter what, my dad just always, you know, gave me the advice of just like,

at the end of the day, you have to be comfortable in your own skin and not everyone's going to like you. And I always tell people in my crowds who ask me for advice, I'm just like, as long as you're happy with the person you wake up looking at in the mirror and whether that's, you need to go on a fitness journey or whatever that is, whatever that looks like for you, whatever job you're in, as long as you feel like you're putting your best foot forward and connecting it back to God to be the best version of ourselves in this lifetime, as long as you feel like you're taking steps forwards toward that, it doesn't matter what people think about you. As long as you're

comfortable in your own skin, you have your pocket of people that are going to be there to support you, love you, and help you succeed in any way possible. I just think that it's a good, healthy place to live because I deal with things now where I grew very early on heavy male demographic, right? That's where I started. And I didn't have the feeling. emails. Really? Yeah, just to be frank with you, I was, so at that point in my career, I was heavy whiskey, heavy beer, nothing against that, that's what you like to drink, but I was fell out of

my gym routine. So I was an ex-lacross player, college athlete, but when I saw my record deal, I'm going to labels, meetings, drinks, food, a lot of my habitual habits. Yeah, yeah, it's very, yeah, easy to fall off, yeah. Fell off, gain the weight, I'm focused on the music, I fell out of my gym routine, didn't figure out how to put that puzzle piece together in with what I was doing. stack a relationship on top of that. But what happened was is that I decided to go back on my health journey

and get super shredded, get super in great shape, you know, and the gym was always a passion of mine. I always loved it. And then what had happened and occurred is, yeah, they had like pretty little poison and a huge swell of women came in. And there's still dudes there. And I want the guys to come back,

but it was like I got into such great shape. And then it was always like, well, why are you posting shirtless in your gym photos and gym workouts and stuff like that? And it's like, well, dude, I'm sorry I got a six pack. Like I went. Because motherfucker. I'm like, look at me. I'm like, I'm sorry, dude, that I went ahead and put the work in and went to go completely body recomposition and changed my life for the better. And that's why I think that this record feels so much to me too is because it's like there's a lot of stuff in here where I'm trying to bring some of those guys back as well. And like just speaking frankly, I went ahead and made a separate gym account for people that want to follow that.

That's great. Because I'm like, okay, maybe I can stop posting so much of this on my main page and everything, focus more on the music, whatever. That's fine. Make it a separate entity for those people that want to come see that and see my workouts and all that stuff. I'm plugging my own workout account. But it's just I have to. What's the workout account? It's just WZiter's dot fit, I think.

Or dub z. Fit, one of those. I don't follow it. It's, but like that's how I think, right, my calculations, right? It's like I want to appease not just to the women. I want to bring the boys back. I want the guys being at my shows, having a great time. I have an idea.

Go for it, laid on me. One of the things that I'll bring and probably does bring a lot of guys to your shows is women. It's women. Yeah. And if you start showing people that met at your show, that's going to be a thing, bro. Trust me. People that met at your show. Because also in this time, it's hard for people to meet in real life.

Everyone's meeting online or on these apps or whatever. And I wasn't around for these apps. It's crazy, man. I can't even imagine what that would even be like. But to have a place where the vibe is good, the music's good, and the guy on stage as a guy I can respect, I can admire. The fitness thing is admirable. Anybody that's hating on it is just scared.

because they think they can't do it. Yeah. And that's their journey. They got to get there. Yeah. Anybody that's hating on someone that has reached peak fitness is the same as anybody that's hating on someone who's made a lot of money or someone who's made, whatever, accomplish anything that's very hard.

Yeah. Because it's hard work, it's dedication, discipline. Yeah. So I like that you're not shy about it because it's admirable. So what I'm saying is like your show, I'll bet you people have met it your show. That and the amount of people they've gotten engaged or, I mean, it's almost like every show. A bunch. Oh, yeah. Highlight that. When does no breaks come out? My single no breaks comes out July 17th, but the album No Breaks comes out September 25th. Exciting. Yeah. And what's the touring like? Touring. That's a great question. I got Ball Tour coming up here. I'll be in Europe and UK. As for next year's tour.

in 27, meeting with my team here in the next couple of weeks to go over that. Let me see what that looks like. Who would you say like a country music wise? Like,

do you have any heroes or favorite artists, people that you just fucking love? As for, like, as for loving, like, I mean, I love Morgan Wallen,

like what he's done to the game. And, I mean, he's the Tom Brady, Michael Jordan of country music. I mean.

Yeah, it doesn't get bigger than that. No. I mean, He's massive. And I just think that like what he's done musically with all the different subgenres and like one of my favorite records by him that I fell in love with was his dangerous album, his sophomore album.

I fell in love with that because that was right when I was starting to post on social media and started getting traction and everything and just love that album top to bottom. But really, you know, talking about country music between Morgan, Lou Combs, a big Stapleton fan. I love Chris Stapleton. I've cut two of his outside songs. on two of my previous records. He wrote him? Yep.

Oh, that's cool. Yeah, those were like, those were like 12, 13 year old songs. Have you got to meet him? I have not. Oh, man. I would love to meet Chris. He seems like a cool dude.

I've never met him either. He is, I mean, just, well, I mean, in my opinion, one of the best vocalists of all time. He is so good, yeah. The talent's unmatched and a huge inspiration of mine when it comes to, you know,

my vocal performances and everything and why I take such pride in that. But as for just music as a whole man, between country music, whenever fans asked me. Dude, growing up, I was three doors down, hinder, you know, shine down. That's very country, though, that music.

It is. It is. But like. Like Southern rock. Southern. It's Southern rock. And then my dad was ACDC, Guns and Roses, Motley Crew. Yeah, yeah.

You know, Skid Row. Like, so like for me, all these different blends. Like, that's why people, when they show up to my show, it's not your traditional country show. It's got a lot of rock influences in it. Yeah. You have a very, like, Southern rock. like side to your music.

I hear it all over the songs. Yeah. I can hear all that in there. That's cool. Yeah. And it definitely is a representation as well from the music to the live setting too

when people show up to the shows and everything. And you should cover some of that stuff. I completely agree. Actually, now that you bring that up, I was thinking about doing some covers this week out in the road

during sound check and stuff. So we'll see what I end up posting on social media. Three doors down would go nuts. Mm-hmm. That would go nuts live. I feel like it's perfect timing too. Like, It's just classic now.

It's just like, I don't know. I feel like you would nail that. But there's so many good songs from the 90s that are just like dying to be covered. Yeah. And like doctor's on that list too. Like there's definitely like a lot of those vibes are really heavily infused in this upcoming record. And like that's why I think it's so personal to me.

Because like that's what I listened to predominantly growing up. So it's like this one feels so close to home. I can't wait to hear it. I'm man, top to bottom. this record, even my entire team, I said the same thing that this is the best music. This is the best body of work you've had yet. So that's awesome.

It's so exciting. Do you play golf? When I can. Yeah. My golf playlist is all country. Okay. All I listen to when I play golf is country. You are gonna have a golfer?

You play quite a bit? I do play a lot. Okay. But I just started. Okay. About a year and a half ago. Nice. Okay.

But it's my favorite thing to do. It's fun. Yeah. He got me into it about two years. He was a big golfer and everything, but he got me into it about two years ago. And we travel with the golf clubs. Yeah, I travel with my tour bus. And there's just so many times where, because, like, he sells my merch on the road.

So he either sells merch or if he's my merch manager, if it's whatever, artist sells, then he sells, the whole thing. Yeah. But so sometimes he's tied up or I'm tied up. So we don't get to get the clubs out. But him and I are actually really just known for playing nine. We'll go play nine because then we're looking at each other. We're like, we could probably get involved with something else. We need to go.

There's work to do or we're a big boat family, big wakeboarding. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's one of my happy places. You like to be out on the water. Out of the water, wake surf and wakeboarding. Yeah, well, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, there's a lot of water around. Who's your football team?

Well, Baltimore Ravens, actually. Really? Yeah. All because of how much time I spend Maryland playing lacrosse. Everyone's always like, the Steelers is the Eagles? And I'm like, I hate to rain on your parade, but Baltimore Ravens is a great team. Yeah. I love the Ravens, but I grew up a commanders fan, Redskins fan.

Yeah. Because we were down the southern part of the state, and there was like a more Redskins part of the state. Got it. And then the Ravens didn't come until 96. Yeah. So it was already a little late. So, but I love the Ravens. So they're my second team.

Okay. The same way I would say I like the Nationals, but I'm an Orioles fan. Yeah. But my son, I take my kids back to Maryland every summer. He became a Ravens fan. That's his team. So it's cool because we both root for the Ravens. He roots for the skins.

I root for the Ravens. So Ravens are great. What about you like the Phillies? Dodgers fan, man. Dodgers? Yes, sir. I'm a Dodgers fan too. Oriel's first.

Okay. But I've been here 20 years and raising my son out here. He became a Dodger fan. So I root for the Dodgers. We're going on Thursday, actually. Okay. Yeah. We were going to go try.

We were just in San Diego this weekend for, I'm an invest, well, I played the cross for 12 years, but I've invested into the professional lacrosse league. So I was there. There was playing some games there in San Diego, and we landed and we looked at each other. And our Uber driver's like, yeah, it's busy because of the Dodgers game. And then when I looked at each other, we're like,

son of a bitch. We're like, we could have went to the Dodgers game. It's a great stadium. I know. So. It's a great stadium. Yeah. I mean, obviously,

I'm super glad I went to the lacrosse games, but yeah, him and I, we've been meaning to get out to out here at Dodgers Stadium to go see a game, but most of the time we're on the damn road. It's so hard to get the time. We wanted to go see the World Series last year, but we're still on the road there too. It's so hard to get the time when you're touring and stuff. And then you have a day off and you're like, I had big plans and I'm not doing shit. I don't want to do anything. Yeah. Professional lacrosse league sounds cool, and I'll tell you why. It's such a widely played sport. It's like we have it in California. You go to college, you get a D1 scholarship, and then where do you go?

Yeah. There's got to be a next level for lacrosse. Yeah. Is there Olympic lacrosse? So it's funny you bring that up. LaCross is finally coming back to the Olympics here in 2028. That's awesome. Yep.

And so you're a part of you invested in the league. I invested in the league. How old is the league? I think the league was created back in 2018, 2019. So there used to be what was called Major League LaCross. Yeah. That disbanded. And then Paul Rabel and his brother, Mike.

like Rable. Paul Rable was a huge massive success in Major League lacrosse. Yeah. Played for John Hopkins. So I grew up with a Blue Jays fan when I was watching in college lacrosse and played in college. As long as they were short, they created the PLL and I was obviously in contact and everything and invited to be a collaborator and invests everything after finding out my history with lacrosse and everything. And it's cool to see it expanding and growing and they just had another big round of investments happen. Glenn Powell's invested now too. So it's, because he used to play lacrosse as well.

So it's, it's really cool to see this sport expand when so many people think it's such a new sport when I'm like, it was played by Native Americans. Yeah. So just to see it finally get the lights. It was actually America's first sport, I think. Yeah. Yeah.

And it's always funny when I'm talking to people like, what's lacrosse. I'm like, it's one of the oldest sports. But anyways, I just, I was like talking about it because I know that sports so much with what it taught me. And I have so many of those attributes and disciplines today from how I've garnered my success here in music. So I always tell artists too or anybody that's beginning out.

And like if it's just cool to see the former athletes and whatnot, especially even in country music with baseball players, football players. I just think there's so many close correlations between that mindset of an athlete and achieving anything at a high level. Yep. So that's probably why I love golf. Yeah.

Because I didn't grow up around it. I never picked a golf club. And then a couple years ago when I did, because my brother started playing two years ago and then he got me into it. It was the first thing I've done in a long time that I just want to figure it out. And for no other reason,

it's not like there's, the end game is not like you get like money or anything. Yeah. It's just like, it's truly something that's forced me to like focus and work on something with very little results. It's a challenge.

In real time. Yeah. If you ever want to play when you're in town, just let me know. Yeah. I have a good setup. We'll have a little rival right there. Congrats on the record.

Thank you. The tour. Is there anything else we didn't cover? I know you're into old cars too. Yeah. It's all I. So that's, you made a comment about looking under the hood and stuff like that earlier.

And that's why I'm super excited about this record too is because of just with what I'm going with, not just with the record and the music and the imaging is, it's funny how it all worked out. But my Mustang is now on. on this cover art that's what year is it it's a 1967 oh great it's uh looks like the eleanor yeah and with this new rendition of this album my former album relapse as a betrayal the car was in that photography as well but with this one here now and we're talking about no breaks and everything my car's been in

the shop for almost two years since that record came out and i was getting a custom engine built out here in LA for it. It's a, what is it, a brand new, it's a brand new coyote with a Whipple Supercharger on it. It's about a thousand horsepower.

Yeah. And these conversations I've been having interviews or just even phone interviews or whatever, the analogies of just looking under the hood and looking inward, it's been fun to correlate this record

with that same concept of the car because this has been such a inward-looking record for me of everything I'm talking. talking about. And so anyways, just to bring it back to the album. But yeah, love cars, love cars. The only guy who will spend the amount of money it costs to take an old car and modify it and bring it to modern glory is a guy who cares about details, a guy who cares about experience, a guy who cares about history. Yeah. A guy who cares about, it's like honor.

the past, the thing that they don't make them like they used to. So this is very funny because as we talked today, my car just got delivered today. Okay. I just did the same thing. I had a 65 Impala. Okay. Super Sport convertible. Nice.

And the story with this car, because I have a few cars, but this one in particular is, so me and my dad, we had a very complicated relationship. He was a great guy, but he had a lot of troubles. You know, and he was up against a lot in life. And as a young guy, I didn't understand that. I was angry at him for a long time. And then later in life, I was very lucky to be able to reconcile with him and have a great relationship.

And then he passed away in 2019. I got him this car. It was one of his dream cars because we would always talk about our dream cars. And there was like a short list. And this was one of them. And I got him this car, gave it to him. He loved this car. He drove it every day.

And he was working on it because he could work on cars. So he was fixing it a little piece at a time. Yeah. He would always say, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. I'm to do this. And then when he died, me and my brother took the car. And that was the only thing we wanted was to take that car and make sure that, you know,

we came up with a plan to take it all the way. And so it's been in the shop for about two years. Wow. Okay. Every nut and bolt on this car, every piece of, Chrome. We put an LS in it. We completely restomodded it out in the sense of like it looks the same. We did the same paint job, but a new paint job. But it looks exactly like he had it, but taken to total glory. And it is a bad car. I'll show you a picture of it when we're done. And it got

delivered today. And the amount of money it costs to do this. It is an art project. Yeah. There's nothing like a classic car that's been completely restored to. to glory. Oh, no. You know? Pull a bit of red light. People are looking at you, throw out a window.

Amazing. Mm-hmm. Amazing. Mm-hmm. And so, like, only, not everyone gets that. I know. Because it's not a status thing.

It's not a money. Like, you could go buy a fucking Ferrari. Yeah. If you want to show off, like, it's different. It's like you're saying, it's the paying omen to the past.

It's a heritage thing. It's this, it's this connection to a part of, like, why you liked that era, why you liked that past so much. and like why I liked 60, the 6th, Mustang so much was, I mean, I grew up watching

going at 60 seconds. And my love for cars came from my grandfather, who has been mechanic's entire life. I just got to see my grandparents two weeks ago. They came down in Nashville and visit me and my family. But like, I grew up as a baby going to car shows and my grandfather's arms. And his car was a 57 Chevy.

So my entire life, I spent in the garage with him as a baby and as a kid just walking around, watching him take ring on toys, big machinery cars. He had a 57? Yeah. Two door? Yep. Sick.

And like that's and all I knew ever was just going fast. That's all I ever knew was being the front seat as a kid and him ripping through the gears. And like gasoline. Oh my goodness. Burn the clutch up because you're just trying to rip through the gears. And just like that's why it's coming so full circle for me is getting this car finished with the new Resto mod and all little minute details with you have the same like window knobs that look retro. But you put them down there, electronic, all that kind of stuff.

and it's just cool to see this little facelift on it with a new engine being put under the hood at the same time of what this album represents for me. It's so cool that they together. Yeah, I didn't plan it. But like I had a two hour conversation yesterday another interview on the phone. And she was like, that is kind of weird coincidences

of this timing of like, this is how I read into your record. And I'm like, wow, I didn't even think about it that way. So I would say less coincidence more. That's how you know it's right. Yeah. Because that to me is like, how God winks at you. You know what I mean?

That's what I call it. Yeah. Like those serendipitous moments, those that people go, oh, that's crazy. It happened at the same time. Like, to me, more that's like God winking at you going. Like, yeah, you're on the right track. Keep going. Yeah.

You know what I mean? So like for anyone listening, like life does keep you moving forward if you look for the signs and you don't brush them off. Yeah. Like it's coincidence. You were writing this record for your whole life. whether you realize it or not. Yeah.

You know, but I'm happy for you. It sounds, sounds really good. It sounds like everything's just on track. I think that kind of what you're saying about God winking at you, just the internal monologue between what this record means to me, what I've gone through the last eight, nine months, what all the context clues are of the substance of this record to then correlate it with the car and getting a new engine in it

and just a new perspective and a new outlook on life and everything about what you're saying is just like, It feels like this record is showing a new side of me, a new version of me. And it's kind of just being like, hey, I am 27 years old now. Here I am. Here I am at 27 years old. This is stuff I grew up listening to, loving. These are my influences.

Here's this. Here's Warren Ziders is. If you were wondering who Warren Ziders is, here he is now in his third album. Like, this is what he grew up on. You'll be fun live too while that rock. Oh my goodness. It's so fun. I cannot wait to play this record live.

And all those people are coming and meeting each other at your show. See, you fucking... I'm gonna need like a kiss cam or like, hey, they just met. Yeah, dude. They just met. People are meeting. Yeah, dude. I can't wait to hear about it the next time you're here.

We'll talk about it on the golf course. Yeah, dude. Thanks for coming, Warren. Thanks for having, man. Appreciate you. Thank you for listening to this episode of artist friendly. You can also watch the episodes on Spotify. Spotify premium users get no commercial breaks on my show.

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