Artist Friendly with Joel Madden - Zac Brown - Part 2

Episode Date: July 30, 2025

On this week's episode of Artist Friendly, Joel Madden is joined by ⁠Zac Brown⁠. The Zac Brown Band have been a torchbearer within Southern music, bringing their wide-ranging blend of country, pop, rock, and soul to thousands. Led by Zac Brown, they’ve only continued to challenge themselves through the years, expanding their sound through ⁠thoughtful⁠, ⁠unexpected collaborations⁠ and ⁠covers⁠.  In a conversation with Joel, the three-time Grammy-winning artist and entrepreneur opens up about fatherhood, music, and staying grounded amid fame. He also shares insights on his upcoming album, ⁠Sphere residency⁠, and his passion for giving back to veterans and kids through his foundation. ------- 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

And here is part two. Bad times. I don't want to have bad. I remember a lady told me when I had my first daughter. Yeah. Because I remember holding her. She was six weeks early. So she was tiny.

Little baby. And I remember holding her in my hand. And her little hand would barely go around my pinky. Oh. And I was like, it was like terrifying. Because I'm like, I'm responsible for this human being turning out okay. That's it. And then you just go home.

And I remember a lady. A lady told me one time. And it like, it took so much weight. off of me and she just said, if you teach your kids how to be good people, they'll be successful at whatever they try to do. So that took all the pressure off of like, but that means you got to be there. Yeah. You got to know them. You can't, I mean, having a nanny is great like to have support. Yeah. Support is a thing. You can't let the internet and a nanny raise your children and expect them to turn out okay. You have to be there. You have to put the time in, know what they're going through,

know their friends, know their choices. Be there to just like, hey, think about this. in a different way or hey look out for this you know whatever it is like instead of going you need to do this you need to do that or whatever and let let them come to their own conclusions about it because they're all independent and they all have their own like personality and their own strengths they're all have different speeds like I tell my kids I'm not here to keep you from growing up I'm just here to make sure you survive it exactly you know what I mean like just yeah there's big mistakes and there's little mistakes and to let them let them learn how to lose yeah let them like learn how to be, let them learn that adversity because that's life.

Yeah. And it's like, you know, fucking hard though when you're a dad watching your kids grow up. It hurts. Doesn't it hurt? It does. It hurts. And it's the hardest and the greatest thing that there is. It's the greatest, but it hurts.

Yeah. Like I can't explain it because it's so much, I get so much joy out of my kids. Yeah. Watching them become adults, watching them become like they're great. But it hurts so fucking much. It's fucked. Because I just, it went by. so fast. I know. And I can't go back. Like you if I, if someone had told me, I don't know what I

would have done. But like every now and then I'm like, man, I wish I could just go back for one day when they were a little little three, four, five year olds, whatever, any age. Yeah. Seven. I don't care. Any age. Just for one day. So I could savor it one more day. Yeah. Yeah. You miss the things that are the most challenging. It's like when they're all crawling in and out of the bathtub and you got to hold their mouth open and brush all their teeth and all of that and those things in like groundhog day day after day after day like bedtime remember those time was the thing oh yeah but it's the things that were the hardest in that moment that you miss the most yeah and now you look back on it like you're saying just to go back and see them all in the tub together yeah just like yeah i miss that for sure that's

pretty emotional yeah i mean you love nothing i love nothing more than my kids yeah it's like and the fact that i've got solid relationships with them and then they know that i'm that that I'm human and they know that I'm not perfect. And I'm like, you're going to have to decide all these things. I don't tell them what to believe. Like, I try to show them an example of how they should be, how they should treat people and just let them kind of come to their own conclusions with it and let them, you know, the only thing that I think I.

And it's important. Like, you know, they're in a little school. So they have, they don't even have like professional sports, but they play like club sports. And it's like the first year that they play, you're going to suck at things when you first start. Like playing an instrument. Yeah. Like they're playing instruments now and whatever. And when they start, they're just like, or they're like,

They're like, I can't sing. I can't whatever. I'm like, yes, you can. But because I sing, they won't sing in front of me. And it's like, not because I haven't been encouraging, but there's a pressure that comes to them. It's a pressure of like, they just have to be amazing and everything. And I'll try to tell them, like, I sucked at everything when I started.

And I'm still, like, I compare myself. Like, you can go see, it doesn't matter how good you are. There's somebody that just blows your doors off. It doesn't matter. But it matters that you're expressing yourself and you're not afraid to be genuine and to, like, put yourself on a fence because being an artist, creating something and like wanting to share it or whatever, the first things when I listen back to my first album was called Far from Einstein.

And it was like, I was singing classical music. I was singing in choir and all this stuff. So I was singing like super proper like, Heather, like, and it's like, but I was doing it.

Yeah. And it was like part of my journey, you know, and, but trying to just allow them to do it. So we have a camp that we built for kids that's in Georgia. Oh, wow. So it's a sleepaway camp, it's called Camp Southern Ground.

And camp's not a good word for it because it's more like a university. It's like big, beautiful buildings that will be there for hundreds of years. And we do nine weeks of summer camp. We just finished the nine weeks sleepaway camp. So kids come in. But summer camp for me was the first time that I was in an environment. Like if you're to public school, the first time you get up and like try to sing or do a skit or be silly, you're going to get roasted.

Yeah, you're going to get roasted. But if you're in an environment like summer camp when the first time that you do those things, and you're encouraged to just... Because everyone's there for that. And belong and be yourself. And you see people step out of their shell and you see people kind of come, like, that's life changing for me.

So when I was 14 and like, it'd been to a bunch of camps, I was like, I want to play music and I want to build a camp where it encourages people to have courage, to be themselves in an environment where it is. That way when they do it at school and if everybody laughs at them,

they're not like, fuck that, I'm never doing that again. Yeah. They've been in a place where they know it's nurturing. Have you heard that? They put like the first chair violinist of some famous symphony. They put her in a subway and, like, put a hat down,

and she's playing, like, one of the baddest violinists in the world. She's down there just ripping and made, like, $2 in, like, six hours. And if you're not in the right environment that supports what you do and recognizes how good and great you are, then you're never going to succeed. And that was an example of it. It's like, that hit me hard because camp is one of those things that's the beginning of that. It plants a seed, and we bring in veterans kids that have lost parents. parents or that had parents like dismembered or things like that.

Yeah, you work deep with the veterans, don't you? Yeah, we do 34 weeks of veteran programs there. Wow. And different groups coming in. We do a songwriting one to let them tell their story because they don't really want to talk to civilians about things that they don't feel like they can relate to. What is it that is on your heart so heavy with veterans? I know you have a very like public connection and you've worked with them your whole career.

you've done things to try and support veterans. Like, what is it that? And I think it's amazing, but, like, I want to know, like, what is it, like, what personally, like, strikes you so hard? I lived with some veterans when I was, like, just starting to play music. Right. Like, when I was playing in bars and things like that. And you just see, like, how incredible that those people are and then having friends

that have dads that are in and learning about it. But it was really my personal contact. And that's another thing about camp. Like, it's a diversification camp. So we have kids that are on the spectrum. Right. Kids from military families, kids from underserved areas that don't have any mentors, mainstream kids that don't have any way to appreciate or perspective to appreciate anything

that they have. And so when something hits home, like the first time you have somebody that you really know and love that has cancer and you watch them waste away and die, then you're an advocate, right? Right. So I was dipped into people's lives when I was a teenager, late teens, with veterans. Right. And that was what first exposed me to it into the struggles that they were having and the things

it was happening. And then as time went on, like, it just kept unfolding. So it just, like, it found me, but I had something that hit home with me. I could directly relate to because, like, you hear about ALS and you're like, oh, that's cool, you know, you want to help it or whatever. Now I got a band member. It's been in my band 20 years that has ALS. And it becomes so close to home.

And so, yeah, it's crazy, too. My granddad was a vet and he died from ALS. So, like, interesting that you're, those two things stood. out to me. Because I have my own relationship with people who have served our country and what they go through, what their family goes through. Because it's really like more than just one person going through it. Like my granddad used to say like the whole family sacrificed. Yeah. Because what he put my dad through. Right. And then when my dad ended up how my dad processed the trauma of a parent with PTSD, right. It was very, very like it was very hard for him. Then he goes on to have the issues he had.

So we talked about it when the last 10, 11 years in my dad's life, I've talked about this before. We had a really, really great relationship. And we talked about everything. We could just be men like we just sit there and just shoot straight. And we both said it like he, if you track back from my granddad to him to us, like we all sacrifice something for that. And what he went through. We gave up a relationship with each other.

A lot of happiness and joy. and there was a lot of trauma and pain that all rooted back to him serving and seeing so much horrible shit. And so when my dad was older, we talked about that. And it was really healing because we all realized like, even though my granddad was gone and we loved him. And he was also really, he was so traumatized. And then my dad was traumatized from him. But we all loved each other. We just didn't know how to talk about it and heal then. And then I started going to think. And then I started going a therapy and then I could have this healthy relationship with my dad and we were actually like best friends. Yeah. And we were like boys. And he, because he was like, I always wanted him to be my

hero and he was when I was little. But then he had all these, he was really rage. Right. PTSD. Drinking, all that. And then when we were older, we could talk about it and it was on the table. Right. And he apologized. And we also like therapeutically, we made sense of all of it. Right. You know? And like, yeah. It was actually like amazing to have that relationship. with another guy who is your dad. We may not have had all the warm and fuzzy stuff that like me and my son get to have, but he said that. He was like,

we've lost enough. Don't do this with your son. Right. Just love him. Don't worry about how tough he is. Don't worry about what kind of man he's going to be. Right. Just love him.

Right. And I got to be free of like what was early on. It was kind of beaten into me like what kind of man are you. Right. You know, can you be a man? Can you go provide or protect or stand up for yourself? Like all this stuff that actually doesn't matter because you probably do it anyways if you had to. Yeah. Teach me to be a good person.

Right. Teach them how to be a good person. Yeah, there's always something to overcome like in any scenario. I grew up. My mom, my mom was bipolar and manic. And so she was 65 years old the first time that she was properly diagnosed. So her whole life, it wasn't her choice to be that way. Yeah, they didn't diagnose back then. It wasn't like a...

No, nor did she ever have the right help and the right things. So I grew up, I grew up in a crazy environment. And when we do our show, we're doing a residency of the sphere. Yeah, yeah. Starting December 5th. I've never told my personal story. Are you telling it? I'm telling it. Wow. I'm telling it. But it's, it's all about redemption. Yeah. It's about what comes out of your struggle, because that's something that we all have. We all, no matter how bad, there's people that had it so much worse than me. I think it's important. It's important that we should. that we're okay

even though these things had happened to us and not only did we get through it but it made us better than what we could have been. Our resilience, our ability to deal with the world. Like I was taking care of my mom and in and out of shelters and stuff when I was like seven, eight years old.

But I was growing up then. So by the time that I was like 14 and I could legally move out of the house, I was already like ready for the world. Like I was already, not in every way. I mean, I was still, kid, but my ability to like, okay, I've got to adapt to whatever's going on. Like I, I learned super skills dealing with the mental disorders that were in the house and my stepdad had a

without even knowing it without even knowing it. Yeah. And it's my stepdad was, um, he was like OCD, never had a dad, never knew how to treat people, never knew, but he was wealthy. So that was like comfort and providing for my mom, but then my mom, so I couldn't make sense of it. And so I got into college and I took an abnormal psychology course. And then I understood my whole family. You were like, fuck. And then that turned all the anger and resentment that I had from why it had to be so fucked up. Because I got to be with my dad every other weekend and my dad's a great guy.

It showed me that it wasn't their choice to be that way. And it turned all of that anger into compassion and empathy. And that let me let go of so many things. And that's when I started writing music. I started writing about all of that and writing things. And then I realized I can also write when I feel good too. Like I can write things that like just feel good. So we got to look at all of our problems are all presence with some time, like going down the road.

And I think that's an important message for people to hear. So I'm getting to tell my story and I'm getting to, you know, do it in a way. I've been wanting for the last like five years to create a spectacle of some kind. Yeah. Isn't it two, it's two rounds, right? Moving out is four so far. And I've been working on the content for it and the story and the album and the music for for 14 months already.

And I've been writing for the album for three years. So it's just going to have some documentary style stuff and things like that? It's going to have a storyline that feeds through things. There's not much casual content. The IMAG of what we're doing on stage will be there. But everything else is pretty much created and production, massive production. Like I've been a stuntman.

I've been like hooked to wires and slung up in the air and drug across the ground. And like there's people are not going to expect what's going to happen. And I love that. I love a curveball. I love a curveball. It's also a big stage to take on the spirit. You got to really believe in your art and know who you are and imagine a show. You can't phone it in.

You got to really create a show. And I think that's why only like these iconic artists can do it because if you're going to take on the sphere, you've got to really have a idea of yourself and what you want to do to do it. And it sounds like that's what you're bringing. That's really fucking cool. I'm excited. Dude, that's a big deal, bro. And it's only limited to your imagination and your budget. Yeah.

And so I'm just laying my nuts out on a cold marble table. That's right, baby. For this. Put your money where your mouth is. 100%. And I don't care. Like, as with a lot of the things, like, in my manufacturing, oh, I actually brought you a knife.

So this is my knife company. All right. It's called Southern Grind. Tell me about it. So this one special because we did a run of copper handles. Oh, my God. So that will patina like with your hands. with your salt and stuff.

So. I'm gonna. And like my music, my hair can be able to keep my rhythm. For so, Potion 9

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of who not are the people who are people. This is beautiful.

This is really nice, man. Thank you. I mean, we don't make, if I do something, man, I just want to do it well. I want to do it justice. It's amazing. But I've been a knife nerd since I was a baby, like a kid. My dad traveled with Coca-Cola, so he'd bring me knives from like China and Mongolia and Taiwan when he was traveling. So I've been in love with knives and I've been making knives since I was 18.

And what was your favorite knife growing up? Like, did you have a brand you liked? I always liked Kershaws. I don't know why I liked Kershaw's. Yeah. My buddy Ken Onion designed a lot of those knives. like the chive, all the ones. There's a lot of them that are.

Yeah, for some reason, at the point in which I got a knife, I got a curse shawl and I always for some reason. Well, they're like guitars, right? It's like you can have a squire fender that's like heart and soul to help you get going. But then there's a rabbit hole. And there's always something about a knife that I really love or things I loved, but things that I didn't either. There was like, like, the clip would be bad or it would like distort and bend and catch on things.

So I tried to remedy everything. This is badass. When you say it as I hold it, I noticed the details like, oh yeah, the clip is better. Yeah, every little detail. It's not too long. You know, sometimes a clip is too long. And then it catches.

You sit down on a chair. It comes out. It bends. It opens. I'll never do that. You know what I've been carrying lately like that just, I don't know if it's convenience. Like I've been carrying a Milwaukee like fucking work knife.

Yeah. That'll work. Just because it's the nice knives are too nice and they don't work really well. You know what I mean? Right. And a cheap knife, I kind of settled on a cheap knife. this is exactly what I need. Right.

This is amazing. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. So how long have you had the knife company? About 12 years. So it's titanium liners, titanium posts. It's open channel in the back.

So if you get like juice or whatever you want down and you can clean it really easily. Yeah. Everything that I learn, I'm just a rabbit hole guy. Like I get curious about things and I want to learn everything about it. So knives are the same way. And I make knives at my house too. I make I make chef knives now at home. Oh, you make Damascus.

But this is my production. This is my production company. This is badass. I'm glad you dig it. This is so badass. I'm tickled. Good. This is awesome.

I love it. Use it. Show it brought you a present. This is a present, man. Being here as a present. Yeah. This is amazing. So is the knife company?

Would you say that's like your baby? Like a little, you're like. Right now the sphere is my baby. Right. It's been my baby. Outside of music though to get away from, you know, like I find my, my music is, it's heart and soul. And so sometimes I need to be able to do something that's just work. That's just a game I'm playing.

That's just something that I'm passionate about. But I'm okay with however long it takes for it to grow. Or like I would say that MDDN, which is my music company, which is still music, but we work with other artists and I get to go on the ride with them. And it's emotional work, but it is just work. It's not, I'm not emotional about the decisions. I measure them and I help people make decisions based on the information. and then how they feel, but it's not about me.

It's about them. Right. I don't have a knife company. It seems like the craft of making a good product would be a nice escape from. It is. And I drank out of a fire hydrant with that process because I was making all kinds of stuff. Right. We did the whole interior of my plane.

I had like a CNC leather shop and leather craftsmen and I had a CNC wood shop and a CNC metal shop. But things that serve you that are like everyday things or whatever, like as a guy. that like means something to me like my favorite pair of boots or my belt or my knife and like or my wallet like those things are like you get kind of attached to those things they're like part of your everyday carry gear so yeah i just wanted to make really good quality stuff that last that serve people for a long time and you love hats i do i wear a hat every day i do uh another hat guy if i'm not wearing a uh like a trucker hat or a baseball hat i'm wearing a fedora yeah like i'm wearing a hat I'm not not wearing a hat.

Yeah, me too. Okay, so we don't have a whole lot of time. So I really want to, I want to cover one thing that I want to cover and I want to talk about your new album. Yeah. The new album, when does it come out? It comes out opening night of sphere, December 5th. Shit. It's all aligned.

That's dope. Yeah. So you have a good road ahead of you to get ready for Spear and get the record. Is it done? It's done. Okay. I finished it a week ago. Finally got it mastered, got everything finished.

and I produced this whole one myself. And because of this spectacle that I wanted to do, like I wanted to do everything right. So I got a 40-piece orchestra on some of the songs. We filmed it, 20-piece choir on some of the songs. We filmed that for content, for Sphere. I got a song with Dolly. Like a real duet with Dolly.

I love Dolly. It was like a dream. I love her. And I sent it to her a couple songs. I'm like, I would love to do this song with you. And she sent back with that one. She was like, don't you get that song to anybody else. We got ourselves a hit here.

but she sang on it, dude. And when she, what's amazing? The level of ninja of the harmony she chose to sing and the answer she did and all of that was like, I know Dolly's badass, but it's as good as any era, any time that, of what she's ever done. Like, she murdered it. And it's so cool to have that on there. And so I've got a 40-piece orchestra on a tune with Dolly and my band. And got a song with Snoop.

Yep. That one just came out. That's great. and doing the video for that one tonight, actually. It's also cool to hear a country guy sing about smoking weed. I was like, we have a weed song. I got to get sued. Because, like, also, somebody should.

Because everyone smokes it. It was like, like, I feel like there's rules to be broken sometimes. And I think that sometimes in country music and in music period, there's rules that like we can't. I don't know. it's weird to think that, but I always feel like on this new record we did, we break some of those rules and we do some, because we're just being ourselves. Yeah. And if you get to know me, you'll understand like, the stepers dope. I checked it out. Oh, thanks, man. That's good.

It's cool team. You're a stepper too. Like, that's my way of saying like, we show up and we try our best. 100% for people we're talking about. That's it. Yeah. We show up, we try our best for people we love and also we come from the gutter so we're not going to get it all right and it's interesting you were talking about i think the through line in this conversation is realizing that we live in a world where people are full of pain and that people are going through real shit and people have been through terrible things and actually as musicians we're actually just trying to give people joy we're trying to give people a night off if it's just that we're trying to give them a record that makes them feel better and we're actually we just want people to be people to be

be happy. Yeah. And to be themselves, whatever that is. Right. And ignore all the voices of everyone that's hiding behind their screens, not doing shit, hating on it. And antagonizing. And they're spending their time instead of lifting people up. They're antagonizing. But we're actually, we've been fighting against that our whole career. Right. Right. Antagonists. They've been, they've been trying to fight against our message is like, we want you all to feel welcome. We want you all to feel loved. We want you all to feel good about yourselves. We want to all have a good time. Whether it's when you listen to my album or when you come to my show, whenever you interact with me, I want it to be positive. We're similar. I knew we would get along because one, I kind of look different than I sound. So like I'm covering in tattoos and you would almost think I would be screaming in my music. And then I'm singing like sometimes an angry song, sometimes a happy, funny, throwaway funny songs, sometimes this. All the different flavors of good Charlotte. You have a lot of flavors to your music that you're not afraid to do.

Well, those are human emotions, man. And some songs is just to be absurd. Yeah. Like, the Smokal Weed song is just like, it's for fun. Yeah. It's not. Like, relax everybody. We're having a good time here.

Exactly. Come along. Exactly. Come on the ride. And there's some on there that are deep. There's a song called The Sum on there. It's one of the best ones I've ever written. I wrote it with Lucas Nelson.

Cool. With Willie's son. And there's some deep, deep songs. There's some rock songs on there too. There's one called Animal that's like, I'm super proud of that one. The content we did for Sphere for that is. mental. Yeah.

Like, we're gonna make people's eyes bleed when they're in there with the stuff that we're making. I'm so proud of the team that we have and everything. There's something for everybody on every album. And if some people don't like

some of the songs at the stretch or the genre, they may not like it or whatever. Just listen to the ones that you like. Yeah, whatever. Don't just hate on it. Yeah, just whatever. But as I've found,

if you're authentic and you work hard and you put yourself into it and you don't settle on any line or you don't settle on just like, oh, that's good enough. If you really put yourself into it, it'll find its people. It'll find the people that it'll find it.

And it may take time. Like I did a Sir Roosevelt record, one of the pop records that I did with a couple buddies. Eight years later, like Pitbull found one of the songs and then like remix it and did it and put it out and it was like a big club song. And so you've got to believe in yourself because if you don't at least seek to find who you are and believe in what you're doing, the world, the music business, all of it will eat you alive. you alive and spit you out the other side and then you'll be one of those broken writers that's

hate on other people's records because you gave into exactly you're fucking nailing it dude we're tested all the time be yourself at all cost be yourself yeah and play through it's okay and the good people will find it that's what i see you do since 2002 probably 2002 yeah okay so for 23 years i see somebody who whether they knew they were doing it I feel like you do now, but when you're young, you learn life teaches you. Be yourself and just play through. You're going to have some bad spots and some bad, tough moments and some tough guaranteed life has pain for all of us. We're all going to have our fair share of suffering, pain, loss. It's guaranteed. Yeah. That's the human connection. We all have it. Right.

Be yourself, have integrity, and just play through. Right. And perseverance. Perseverance is the, is the most valuable quality in an artist or a business person or anything that's there. And you're either, no matter what your circumstances, you're either a victim or you're a victor of what happened to you. I choose to be a victor of the hard things that I've been through. I want to put myself at a worthy, I've got Teddy Roosevelt tattooed right here. The man in the arena. The man in the arena, speech is like what I go to back and I go and read that.

And I'm like, I'm putting myself in a worthy cause. And I'm at all odds of whatever, whatever adversity that's going to happen, I'm going to do it. And I'm going to keep going. I'm going to be tough enough. I'm not going to be a victim of the shit that's happened to me and use that as an excuse to just be sorry. But I'm not, I'm learning all the time, man. I'm learning and I'm here, I'm here to share the best of what I've got. And I want to work on it, though.

Like, I have a drive. Like, I want to be a better player. I want to be a better writer. I want to be surrounded by people that are better at those things so I can create something better. But getting to share it with people that are doing the same thing is pretty awesome, man. It's real. It's the last thing I want to say that I fucking loved was your,

rendition of the national anthem at the All-Star game. Oh, thanks. Bro, that was so good. Thank you. And I have a no national anthem rule because I don't, I'm not there yet here. Like, I don't have the confidence to go out there and come up with a rendition that I could stand behind and go like, I don't care what anyone thinks, this is bulletproof. I love this.

I'm going to sing the anthem. This is how I'm going to do it. And obviously you guys have a lot of time together singing and to see your rendition of it was so nice. because I was jealous because I've always wanted to do a rendition that I thought was special, but you did it really well. And I've only seen a few renditions where I go, man, that was, no one should do the anthem unless they know that they can go out.

And because it's, it's almost like career suicide for some people. If they don't think you through enough, they don't go like, hey, let's talk about this first before. And you guys just crushed it. And I was just so happy to hear your version of it. I love it. I love that you guys are a real band too. Like you only get that kind of chemistry.

Yeah. And knowing what each other's doing, it's like culture and momentum. You can't buy those things. You have to lead them and create it. And the chemistry comes with years and years of banging it out together, going through the hard things, creating together. Your band's playing on your record. Like, there's a lot of that's out there.

So I applaud what you guys do too, because you make a lot of people. super happy and feel good and then as a unit you've been able to stay a unit for so long Yeah just like you man We had to learn how to be ourselves And go through life together

We started in high school and we were saved by this band Like we were all come from nothing Went through stuff and had nothing And like this band gave us something Well that's one of the reasons why I fight for our veterans too Because we were able to create the American dream And it's because we're able to be safe And here and able to do it

And we owe them a lot for that So I think about that often. We wouldn't have been able to do that in other countries the way that we could do it here. And people can hate on America. They can whatever like. Yeah. But they go live somewhere else. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Go live over there and try to do something. But extraordinary things. And this is what I want to like tell young people and young artists and everything. It's like extraordinary things come from extraordinary effort and being a good person. And if you can do those two things and learn along the way and keep plowing and keep going, regardless, like you know who you are and what you're doing, even when, Everybody else tells you you're going to fail. You can be incredible. Zach Brown.

I can't wait. I can't wait to see this beer show. You got to come. And for the album, dude. Congrats. You know what? Also, just put it out there. I'm putting it out there because I think it's in the future somewhere.

Zach Brown band, good Charlotte, got to do something together. Like play a show. Something. Let's write something. Fucking go. And then that all happened. Yeah. I would love that.

Awesome. Yeah. Thanks for your time. Thanks for the knife, man. You're welcome. Grind is dope. Thank you. These knives?

These are a thing, man. Thanks, bro. You're welcome, man. Thank you for listening to Artist Friendly. We really appreciate it. If you like the show, you can also follow us on Spotify. You can follow us on Instagram at Artists. Friendly, and you can watch us on YouTube and Veeps.

Leave comments. I always read them. See you next time.