Good Life Project - Trevor Hall: Music, Mysticism, Meditation and Money [live performance].

Episode Date: July 31, 2018

Raised on an island in South Carolina, singer/songwriter Trevor Hall realized at a young age that music was more than just a passion - it was his life’s art. So, he moved to California to pursue a degree in music, began performing live shows and was quickly signed to his dream deal at a major label. His trajectory seemed meteoric, then everything came tumbling down. His albums never made it out of production, he found himself out of money, abandoned by his label and on his own to figure out how to move forward.During this same time, he was also introduced to yoga and meditation and found himself traveling to a local ashram to practice and eventually find housing and sustenance. In his time of greatest need, he found himself living in the ashram, then traveling to India and rediscovering who he really was and how he wanted to bring his music and voice to the world. From there, he began to rebuild not only his living as a musician, but also his life.Hall’s music, a blend of roots and folk music with hints of inspiration from India, has since led him to a series of sold-out tours and collaborations with artists such as Steel Pulse, The Wailers, Jimmy Cliff, Matisyahu, Michael Franti, Xavier Rudd and Nahko & Medicine for the People. Trevor Hall’s Chapter of the Forest (2014) and KALA (2015), debuted at #3 and #2 on the iTunes singer/songwriter chart respectively. He is currently touring around the US and Australia. While on tour, Hall collects donations to support children’s education in India.Hall’s latest album, The Fruitful Darkness, became the #1 Kickstarter Music campaign of 2017 and debuted at #9 on the iTunes alternative chart.Be sure to listen to the end, where Trevor shares a moving acoustic rendition of one of his songs, live in the studio.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Photo credit: Emory Hall Photography Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So growing up, today's guest, Trevor Hall, he was kind of like a local surf kid, you know, surfing in the summer, skateboarding, that was the culture he was around. He also really dug music. He was exposed to it from the earliest age. His dad is a drummer and had always done that on the side in various bands and a massive music collection. So Trevor was always kind of around music and he loved music and he played music, but he never thought it would be his career. He was on a different path until he started playing. And through a series of coincidences and kind of random introductions, he found himself playing shows in LA and going to music school. This profoundly changed the direction of his life,

but that wasn't the first change. There were then a series of sort of fortunate and unfortunate incidences that took him from LA to India, back to LA, and then traveling all around the country and the world, developing his voice, signing with a major record label, then having that implode, and then really kind of taking time and saying, this is who I am. This is who I need to be. This is my voice, my gift. This is how I want to be in the world. That journey, that really moving journey and commitment to essence and voice and craft is where we sort of dive into in this week's conversation. Really excited to share it with you. And be sure to listen to the end because Trevor brought his guitar along with him

and we had a little mini studio concert with him at the very end. You'll be really, really moved as I was literally sitting across from him as he closed his eyes, pulled out his guitar and just really shared something beautiful. I'm Jonathan Fields and this is Good Life Project. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest

Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series 10. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations,

iPhone XS or later required, charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were gonna be fun on january 24th tell me how to fly this thing mark walberg you know what the difference between me and you you're gonna die don't shoot if we need them y'all need a pilot flight risk yeah i mean i'm fascinated by your music and also just your story. It's like you've lived these really distinct stages of life

that have brought you to this point of being a musician and really defining the way that you want to be a musician and a creator. So you grew up, from what I know, down in Hilton Head, right? South Carolina. Yeah, tourist island. I mean, if you like golf, that's like Mecca. Yeah, not my place. Yeah, yeah yeah yeah not my place yeah i know not my place either but it was a really amazing place to grow up though because it's just

so incredibly beautiful small town small community you know you know everybody yeah so were your water kid then such a surfer yeah you know boating the time. Like it's just kind of the culture there. And it's just an amazingly gorgeous place. So I just spent a lot of time outside. And yeah, my parents still live there. I mean, we get back there every once in a while. You know, growing up, you know, you kind of rebel against the place you grow up. Yeah, always. Yeah. It's like the common story. And then now when I go back, I'm just like, oh, my God, this place is so gorgeous.

Yeah. I've appreciated it so much more, I think. Right. I think it's like similar in the Hamptons. I mean, we're in New York City. Right. So the East End of Long Island, for those who don't know, is sort of legendary beaches and towns called the Hamptons, but it's also astonishing wealth and society and celebrity. But there is very much sort of the townies and then the people who summer there.

Absolutely. And usually there's a lot of tension there. I remember when I was in college, I used to work just painting houses, like kicking around painting houses out there. So I had no money. I was like barefoot and ripped up shorts all the time. So I got to experience a little bit of that tension. I have to imagine it was like similar there because it's kind of a similar environment. Yeah. I mean, in Hilton Head too, I mean, it's, you know, the summer is just mad. I mean, it's just like, you can't even like,

the traffic is insane because it's an island. I mean, there's only one road in, one road out, you know, it's kind of like the Hamptons too, too you know it's kind of only one way to get over there but it's just something that you i think is like resident as we are like residents of the island it's just something that you bear i mean we usually left during the summer my parents were really good about getting me out and exposing me to different cultures and not, you know, having me grow up thinking like, this is life, you know, tennis and golf and country clubs. But I mean, from what I know, your dad, because your dad was a musician also, right? Yeah, he's a musician and he's a drummer.

Right. He still plays. I mean, he plays in church there on Sundays and he has like his weekly jazz gig. Nice. And he does a lot of other stuff with his band there. So it was a unique upbringing, you know, like my parents are very liberal, very, because it is the South, you know, and I went to a prep school and it's kind of like, you know, this is what you do and you're going to go to college, preferably in the South. And you're going to be, you know, you got to wear your polo shirt and your khakis and your loafers.

And I was just like, not about that. And my parents were so liberal. You know, I knew a lot of families where their parents were just so strict. Yeah. So how did your folks end up down there then? Well, they were actually from up here. They're from the New York area. And my mom was, they're both tennis pros, right? Yeah. And my mom was working. So it's like, it sounds like they're very much like split personalities. My dad was working for the US Open. Okay. And my mom was working for like Sports Illustrated.

And they met at the US Open because my mom was like going to pick up tickets for like her clients or whatever. Which for those not in the tennis world, the US Open is like one of the big four tournaments. And it happens like in New York. Yeah. Yeah. In Flushing, right? Yeah. But my dad had been coming down to Hilton Head since like the 70s.

Ah, okay. So he was kind of like a little bit of a hippie, you know. And at that time in the 70s, Hilton Head was like this incredibly undiscovered place. There was like one stoplight. There was no paved roads. And it was just kind of his thing. Like I think he always had it in his mind like this is where i want to raise a family and and eventually he brought my mom down there and said you got to come see this place my

mom fell in love with that and then stan smith who's a really famous tennis player is my dad's really good friend and he's stan smith started a tennis like academy down there and he asked my dad to start it with him. Got it. And that was kind of the thing that sealed the deal for them. Right, right. Yeah. And back then also, I mean, from what I know,

so a friend of mine, a guy named Drew Brophy, who lives out in Southern California now, grew up I think right around there also, was a hardcore surfer, and then has become a really well-known surf artist now. Oh, wow. And does these incredible incredible works of art and he's about my age and i think it's because it from what the way he described

it it was just like massive laid-back surf culture was kind of the dominant culture yeah it was just i mean especially back then yeah it was extremely it was like very bohemian vibe and my dad you know he kind of like when you talk to him kind of like reminisce all those days if you would have seen it in those days it was like very chill because now it's quite built up yeah it's a destination spot but there's still a little bit of that you know in the certain sections and that's the part i think that i as a kid growing up really tapped into you know was this one stretch of beach there called north forest beach where all the surfers would hang out and at that time there was no paved roads and it just had this really cool islandy feel that was just kind of my the thing that i plugged into there you know i didn't plug so much

into the golf you know or the tennis or like the country club club thing you know i plugged into that kind of so you were like like the the next generation of counterculture like the small remaining slivers the piece that you latched onto like this i had like my like six friends and we were kind of known you know at our schools oh, those are the surfer kids. Skateboard kids. Yeah, absolutely. So it's just, but it was really beautiful. It was beautiful.

Yeah, that's awesome. So it sounds like through your dad, was that really sort of like your early exposure to music and really vibing with it? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, my dad, he's more of a rock star than i am really you know he loves the whole culture and shows and when he comes on tour with us he's just like he eats it up but he you know there was instruments all over the house he had a really massive like record collection cd collection and as a kid like that was just kind of my wonder world, you know, like I would like scroll through and like pick out a vinyl or something that

looked cool and I'd put it on the system and like. All right. So top three playlist when you were a kid, like from dad's collection. Oh my God. From my dad's collection, definitely the Doobie Brothers. Yeah. The Allman Brothers, that type of music and then and then i liked like earth wind and fire because my dad was really into jazz so like a little like r&b and

yeah rock yeah it was so funny and then like who else was like oh my god like i remember like listening to like simply red yeah yeah so i was into that. And that was what was so cool about my dad is he just had so many different, he just loved music. So it wasn't like one particular thing. And then my dad was really into Dave Matthews, you know, growing, you know. And I think that was kind of a start for me of like the music that I was starting to like get into as a kid. And there's a lot of local bands at that time like hootie and the blowfish yeah that's right who used to play down they used to play hilton head like all the time right it was kind of like southern bands who's the

um bing guy again uh something marcus damon mark rucker ruckus or something like that because he's still around i think but i don't think hootuckus. Because he's still around, I think. But I don't think Hootie. Hootie's not still around, though, right? No, but he's... I think that was Hootie, though. Right. I think it basically was.

But now he's, I think, more of like a country artist. Oh, okay. I think he lives in Nashville and is doing his own solo thing. Oh, very cool. But that was like a big deal, you know? So then we also had one music store on hilton head and it was like yeah that's the place you know and i would like ride my bike there and and at the music store there's a family on hilton head called the daily family and they had a a band called low

country boil or low country bluegrass boil like this. And they were just kind of known as like the music family on Hilton Head, just really amazing family. I'm friends with some of the guys even today. But that's when I started kind of getting into like reggae because I was taking lessons from one of the sons, one of the Daily Suns. Guitar? Yeah. Yeah.

And that's when I really kind of started getting into it. So that's where you can hear there's still such a strong reggae influence. Yeah. That was the music that really was my thing. I feel like as a youth, you can certainly go both routes. But I feel like you either went the Beatles route, like Rolling Stones, or you went Bob Marley route. And I definitely went the Bob marley route right and i definitely like went the bob marley route which also matches with surfer yeah although like the skateboard side

of it also like speak strongly to punk yeah well i definitely went through my punk rock stage like for like a few years you know and was definitely into all those bands and i just loved music you know and i loved all different types of music. And so there was a thing as a kid kind of like, well, what music am I going to play? Right. But I think it all just served its own purpose, you know, and helped me just have a wide... When you were younger, though, in your mind, is this just like, this is cool, I'm having fun doing this? Or are you like, oh, this is my future?

I never, like, never ever, to to be honest like even when i signed a record deal was like this is my future it's so weird for me and people are like it's so weird i'm like i never was like i want to be a musician it was just like from the time I remember, like, music was just my life, like, inseparable from life. Like, it was just, like, it was so much deeper than, like, I am a musician. It's just, like, it's a deeper thing for me. It's just, like, I don't know. It's hard for me to put into words. So there wasn't a time I just kind of was like, this is what I do, no matter what.

If I do it for a living, if I don't do it for a living, if, like, I just never thought about that. I was just like, this is what I do, no matter what. If I do it for a living, if I don't do it for a living. I just never thought about that. I was just like, this is what I do. And when it all started happening, I was still so young. I mean, I signed my first big deal when I was like, I don't know, 17. You're not thinking about your future. You're just kind of like, oh, this is cool. I was like, this is cool. Like, that's how I was like, this is amazing.

Like, cool. But if that happened or didn't happen, it's just, I don't know. It's just a very deep seated thing within me. Yeah. It's like identity level.

Yeah. Do you remember a time? I don't know if you, like, if you even still answer this, but where somebody was like, who are you? What do you do?

And you're like, I'm a musician or I'm a songwriter. I'm a singer. Like, what's your earliest sort of recollection was like, who are you? What do you do? And you're like, I'm a musician or I'm a songwriter. I'm a singer. What's your earliest sort of recollection of like sort of saying, either speaking out loud or just like knowing this is actually my identity. Right. It could have been as early as like when I went to, I went to a boarding school for music.

Yeah. This was for high school, right? For high school. Yeah. This was for high school, right? For high school. Yeah. And maybe it was at that time where it's kind of like, this is what I do, you know, but wait a minute, but you go from South Carolina because boarding school was in California,

right? Yeah. All right. So you literally, you go across country to a boarding school for music, but in your mind, it's still not entirely cemented. It's just, I tell, I'm being completely honest.

It was just like, yeah, I was just like kind of going with the flow. So you're just kind of rolling with it. You're just like, man, we'll see what happens. I was really rolling with it. I was just kind of like, okay, here we are now. We're at this school and this is it, you know. Or this is where I am right now, you know. It was just so strange.

I mean, even when I signed the record deal, you know. Right is where i am right now you know it was just so strange i mean even when i signed the record deal you know right so how does that happen so you're so i'm at this school right i'm at this art school it's incredible place like some of the best years of my life i went there for high school for three years and it's all focused on the art so and it's internationals kids from all over the world so anything that has to do with art is supported and anything that has to do with art you know is an excused absence you know if you're running have a concert or whatever like this so the school was about two hours from la almost every weekend i'd somebody would drive me down to la and my dad had a family friend out there. It's like my uncle.

That's how close we are. Who was living in L.A. was an actor. And he kind of knew some people, you know, that were in the music thing, business, whatever. And was like, you know, you should play a show. And I'm like, no way. Like, I can't play a show in L.A. Like, what are you thinking, you know? But he set up a little like kind of open mic type of thing.

And slowly, slowly, you know, that got some buzz. And then I was going down every weekend, every other weekend playing and, you know, supporting this person or supporting that person. And the word just kind of spread around town. So by my senior year, I had gotten a manager, you know, and that manager was kind of spread around town so by my senior year i had gotten a manager you know and that manager was kind of shopping me around to all these different record labels and it was just so funny because i'm growing up you know i'm like 17 and like every weekend i flew to new york to meet with like columbia i flew to like seattle you know it's and i met like all these big wigs but like

to me i was like well i also have like i gotta get back because i have like algebra yeah you know so it's just like it was just so funny like it was when i look back on it i'm like whoa because i'm sure you talked to your dad like through this window of time yeah and like you know like your dad being somebody where like this clearly is a part of his identity too right what's as you're like it's becoming a more serious part of your life and now like the quote industry is taking an interest in you and the industry's got a real interesting reputation right right what are you talking to your dad about during this time well my dad was extremely my both my parents were extremely supportive yeah you know because i was with my dad's like best friend

he was really felt like i was in like really good hands you know which i was we just you know it was just it's hard like i'm just thinking like when i'm looking back on that time again like i was in school like i was i don't think i understood the magnitude of like what it meant to like sign a deal and like do this thing you know and my parents weren't like forcing me obviously to do that you know they i could do whatever i want they were just very supportive but they were extremely happy for me but they were also very very protective because of the industry stories and all horror stories and all that stuff and i was so young i kind of had the mentality of like i don't want to think about all this i

just want to like play music which you know i feel like is a natural feeling at that age but it was also very naive because of what transpired you know i really had to grow up like extremely quick yeah so you know so share what happened because you so you end up signing a deal with i sent i signed a deal with which is huge huge right this is like what 17 year old kid at that point senior in high school right so this is like in theory from the outside looking at this is the dream yeah yeah and you know but it was weird too because like all my friends are going to college. Yeah. You know?

And I thought, like, well, that's what I have to do. You know? But it's like, okay, well, I guess I'm not going to college. I have, like, this different path. Like, whatever. Sign this big deal. Get, like, a huge amount of money. You know?

And I moved to L.A. by myself at, like, 18, whatever. And get this huge apartment on the beach, you know, and I was miserable because I had no friends because I went to a boarding school. So it's not like when you like leave school, all your friends are in town. You know, I didn't have at that age, like I didn't know how to like use money, you know, like, so I wasn't, I guess, like, I didn't understand the to like use money you know like so i wasn't i guess like i didn't understand the value of money i guess if my own money and what it means to save and what it means you know this and that so you're just kind of like spending it you know whatever but i was very lonely i

remember i was smoking a lot of weed you know because i what else was i going to do i couldn't go to out to meet people because i wasn't old enough to get in anywhere. And then I'm on this label of all these grownups, you know, all I'm doing is hanging around grownups, you know, and they're all telling me, you know, how I should be, what I should sing, you know, how I should look like, you know. And as a young kid, it's very confusing, you know, because you want to, you know and as a young kid it's very confusing you know because you want to you know you think oh i can i came from a small town you know i'm like oh i can trust these people these people care about me you know it was just an extremely boom like huge wake-up call because i got signed to that label then the president of that label at the time left the label and a new president came

in and it was kind of like we had to start from scratch and we had to prove ourselves to that president and then but that president didn't like the album we recorded so you have to record another album so it's like okay so we record another album and then right before that album comes out they dropped us from the label and this was over the course of like three years right so we had two albums that were shelved and we couldn't they didn't let us have them you know they kept them and um it was just a very confusing extremely confusing time and i had to grow up really fast and be like okay yeah you can't trust anybody you got to learn to speak for your own truth and it was just a very intense what was the was there a sort of a moment of reckoning

where you're like all right i'm three years in i've done the work to record two albums right they're never going to see the light of day right and i'm running out of money because the way the record industry works is like you get money up front yeah well at least if you used to i was getting like a monthly allowance for like a year and then it stopped right you know and i in theory you have to earn that back yeah and also like by that time we were expecting to have like an album out yeah so you could have some type of you know revenue but we didn't you know and so what we just toured nonstop for those three years, and we used the money from Geffen to go out and tour because touring is very expensive.

And then eventually that money ran out, and it was just like, whoa. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch,

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So you find yourself like 17, signed by one of the biggest labels in the world. Solid chunk of money. Kick-ass house. On the beach. Yeah. Like recording a record. Top of the world. Three years later, you're out of money. Yeah. I'm out of that apartment. a record top of the world three years later you're out of

money yeah i'm out of that apartment you're out of the apartment you've basically i have no music to show right and your label has dropped you yeah and you're alone in la yeah well that by that time i was um because what happened is i had this kind of a branch, I guess, story, but it's part of the whole journey is, you know, I was going to this temple, this Indian temple down in Laguna Beach, which was like about an hour from where I lived. And to be honest, I would go down there because they always cooked for me. Because I was 18 years old, I didn't know how to cook. I was always eating out and it was just hard. And I remember whenever I'd go down there, one of the monks would always cook for me. And it would just warm my heart.

And I was hungry. It was weird. I was driving down there because he cooked such good food and it was like a home-cooked meal. But I also started going down there and I started to make friends with these people in this community. And it's something that I was just craving because I was so lonely. So I moved out of that apartment in L.A., moved down to Laguna, was living in Laguna, living in a little studio apartment there. For those who don't know, Laguna is not the least expensive place in the world.

No, it's very expensive. It's extremely expensive. Extremely expensive. And I had a very small little studio above a garage of this person's house. Then I really ran out of money. Like I had like a few hundred dollars to my name and I had like a rent to pay that I couldn't pay and I was freaking out and I went to the temple one day and they said well you're here every day anyway why don't you just stay here till you get back on your feet there's no pressure you can come and go as you please and it can be a week two weeks month whatever you want so I was like okay So I moved in and I didn't leave for like eight years. I just stayed. So at that time when I got dropped and the whole thing, I was living down there in this temple, in this ashram down there, which was just, it really kind of saved my life.

Yeah. It sounds like it was your, at least you had that as an anchor. Yeah, I think I would have been in a really bad place if I didn't have that community. I don't know what I would have done. So you hang out there. What are you doing there for eight years? Well, I had a teacher in high school who took me to the temple one weekend when we were up at school. And I was really hungry. I was always into like different

cultures and very hungry spiritually i think that's why i like gravitated towards reggae music so much is because it was a music that was so spiritual and was yeah you know it's just like they're talking about something bigger here you know and i went to this temple and i i just really gravitated to it i gravitated to the whole vibe and the philosophies and everything and just started going there every single day. Then when I moved in, I was living there kind of as a monk lifestyle because we'd wake up and we'd meditate and then we'd have prayers and and then in the day you're kind of free to do what you want study whatever you know and then at night we

chant again you know and and i just got into this routine i got into this i was tapping into something that i had wanted to tap into for like so long to this deeper side of myself and my relationship to god or like the spirit whatever you want to say and then that's when my music really started to change how so i felt like before when i was making the music i was really kind of searching so hard for something deeper and when i started going to the temple, it got way more focused and got kind of a little more like devotional. And music really became my tool to like explore my inner consciousness, you know. And I knew that that's why I loved music so much is because it

took me into a place that was beyond words, beyond thought, beyond my rational way of thinking. And the temple life really provided this beautiful kind of like fertile ground, you know, for these songs to kind of come forth. And it was really beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's so interesting to hear you say that on a couple of levels. I've done a lot of research on some of the world's greatest creators across all domains. And one of the things that I was surprised to discover is that so many of them ritualize every part of their life. They ritualize and automate every

single part of their life except for the creative process. What I realized they were doing was they were essentially taking the need to use any creative or cognitive bandwidth out of every part of their life except for that window where they sat down and it was their job to create right and in doing that it allowed them to kind of go to a different place right it's beautiful it sounds like that's a lot of sort of like what you crave it for yourself yeah i because i've never heard of it like that it's really beautiful because i think like songwriting i mean or any type of art really i mean i look as music as like a channeling like experience you know and i'm sure a lot of different songwriters can create because you don't really know it's like well how do you write a song

so you can't really like explain it it's just like it's something that moves through you and there it is you know we're like how did you do that painting you know it's like i don't know you know but i feel like there's all these different things that we do to like nourish that space within our hearts let's say or souls whatever and it has to be kind of ritualized it has to have this kind of thing this discipline almost so you can who get into that space and then there's comes the point when you're actually making the art or whatever where all of it kind of drops away and you're in like a flow state you're in this like you know but that flow state i feel like is due to all the nourishing things that you're doing for your creativity outside of making the song or outside of you know it's interesting it makes me think about like when we go on tour right

i have such a purpose i'm like okay i am waking up we're driving to this place i'm playing a show it's like you know and then you get tired and you're like oh man i can't wait to get home you know and just like rest and right when you get home we call it ptd post-tour depression because you get home and you don't have any ritual you don't have any schedule or anything and you kind of like you need to rest but you kind of slump into this place of like what am i doing with my life oh my god i'm just sitting around and and i think it's this it shows that structure you know is so important for that moment of the flow for that moment of the freedom of the music and all that stuff and when you're on the road it's yeah we wake up we eat we do

exercise whatever we need to do we drive to the place but that also needs to be in place i think when you're home in some way and i think that's what that temple space did for me, is I had this structure in my day and was doing these things that really got me into my spirit. So when the time came for a song to come through, I was feeling strong, I was feeling nourished, and it would just happen. Yeah, I love the way you put that.

It's like they're different phases you know yeah and it feels to me like what you're describing is both structure and purpose so it's like when you're on tour you have a structure and a purpose you know like the structure is like all this stuff that's the same thing you wake up you get in the bus and you go to this place you perform but you also have a purpose it It's like, you know, like you are quote on tour. Like this is the window where like my purpose is to share the work. Right. Right. And then when you come back, you've got the new structure of the ashram.

And in addition to that structure, it seems like, I don't know if you sort of like consciously said, well, okay, so now like my purpose is shifting. Now it's time to like allow and create like that's the purpose around this other structure right but it sounds like what you're describing is there's a window in between those two right where like the structure and the purpose sort of temporarily drops away and that's like the danger zone right i think that is the danger zone i mean i think that's why a lot of artists i mean honestly like use drugs or drink or whatever it's just to get them through the danger zone because there is a point where

you know it's psychologically very intense to like i mean i'm not like extremely famous but i can imagine somebody like you know whatever the rolling stones or whatever you go on stage and you play to a stadium of like 20 000 people and then an hour later you're alone in your hotel room silent like it's an intense psychological world to be thrown in between all the time you know yeah that middle ground i think i like calling it the danger zone. The danger zone. Way too. Got earworms.

It's just, it's a place that I think a lot of artists, not just musicians, a lot of artists struggle with. I think anyone who aspires to really perform at their best i mean we we see this also with olympians right i didn't know until i talked to a friend of mine who was a former olympian who then became a psychologist to help work with former olympians because after her olympics right she dropped into a deep depression and then she said what she learned was that it's massively common even if you if you show up and you you meddle, you do exactly what you want, you come back and all of a sudden the structure and the purpose are gone. Yeah, I never thought of that. You don't know what to do about it.

It's got to be so difficult. Yeah, but it's kind of like just a variation of what you're talking about. Yeah, it's a balance. You know, it's a balance and like it's just, you know, my wife and I were just talking about this like the other day because we were, no no it was last night we were driving back from our gig really late and we passed like the lottery you know like super lottery sign it's like whatever 150 million and my wife was talking about i i would never want

that you know and we just kind of got into this whole we got into this whole discussion about work and the kind of healthiness of work. And I don't know, it got into this really interesting space. A lot of the spiritual inspirations that I have, these saints and sages in India, whatever, all of them advocate work and don't advocate, oh, this spiritual life isn't like dropping out and like going to live in a cave in the forest and like sitting around. They really advocate work as worship and work as like a devotional act, I think, that keeps your mind in a healthy place. You know, staying engaged and having a purpose and you know it's just it's extremely important extremely important and i think you know there was times like i'd come back to the temple right because it's very different lifestyle than on the road you know and you'd i'd come back to the temple and my whole body my whole mind and body would rebel against the schedule.

You know, it's like, God, I just want to chill. I want to watch Netflix and chill. Don't want to be up at four in the morning. Yeah, you know, right. But it was just, I did it, you know, and I'd fall into it. And then there was times when I'd come back, you know, and I'd like stay in a friend's place for like a few days because I needed like a buffer. Like a transition zone. Yeah, like a transition zone.

I was just slumped in my own muck, you know. And I thought, oh, this is what I needed, you know, like to just chill. And I just find my mind is going down. And yeah, I saw that how important it was for me to have some type of, even if it was like, I mean, I'd wake up and like every morning I'd sweep the courtyard. You know, something like that. Like it doesn't have to be like some crazy thing like, or I all clean the dishes today, every lunch, you know, like just something to stay engaged because it's very easy yeah in life really in life yeah i think i mean especially in the morning like that morning routine yeah it doesn't have to be complex but as long as it happens yeah it just kind of sets the tone for everything it's like sets the tone of being

intentional yeah from the very beginning of the day so at some point you end up so you're in the ashram you're creating more you're like and the way and what you're creating is changing in a pretty profound way right you also end up in india right how's that happen i have no freaking idea man i'm from south carolina you're picturing this like surfer kid you like spend a little bit of time in laguna and then all of a sudden no idea man i was like you know it was so funny because like i remember like before i left like south carolina you know my life i think it was so funny because, like, I remember, like, before I left, like, South Carolina, you know, I think it was, like, my uncle or somebody, like, sat me down and was like, you know, Trevor, you got to be careful out there in California. There's a lot of different cults and a lot of crazy people out there. And before you know it, you're going to, you know, be in a cult and you're going to have tattoos and dreadlocks. And, you know, pretty much two years later, I come back to Hilton gonna have tattoos and dreadlocks and you know pretty

much two years later i come back to hilton head with tattoos and dreadlocks right and i'm talking about this ashram that i'm living in my parents were like what you know right but they were they were cool with it you know they came out and visited a bunch of times and so yeah i'm staying in this ashram it's an indian ashram you know and the monks from that ashram traveled to india every single year and i just found myself yeah in 2007 i was 20 years old and we went in january we left on january 1st i'll never forget and i had never been nearly that far away from the united states i mean my parents took me to like i think the farthest we went was like south america we went to ecuador one time but i remember flying over and just like being in like our layover in like japan you know it kind of shows the flight map

you know and i was just like oh my god i'm so far away from home it was weird because like growing up like i always india i was, I'm not attracted to India. It just seems like weird and too much. I was always attracted to like Zen and like clean, like Japan and like, you know. So we landed in India. And I remember I got out of the plane and the smell just hits you so hard because a lot of brush fires and it's just very distinct smell. And that's a smell that I've grown to love dearly. Whenever I smell, I just, you know, it takes you back. And I remember I walked out of the airport and I'd never seen so many people.

Like I was just blown away and I had a complete anxiety attack. And I was like, I want to get back on the plane you know and i was like just relax just breathe through it you know and were you alone or were you no i was with the monks okay i traveled with the monks there these two monks but i remember we got in the cab and we drove to the place we were staying and all of a sudden this just feeling of like i want to say home but that sounds so cliche but i just felt this like i don't know like this just belonging this like collective unifying energy like i don't know it was just it was so magical for me and i just knew i just knew that like this is my place you know i don't know why but this is this is going to be my place

and that first trip i think i was there for like three weeks and we traveled to a few different places and it just changed everything it just changed everything for me i i remember why the culture shock wasn't going there. The culture shock was coming back. I remember when I landed in L.A., I was so blown away. Like, it was just crazy. I don't know. I was just like, what the heck is going on?

All I thought about was going back. As soon as I got back to the States, all I thought about was how am I going to get back how am I going to get back yeah I've just been going every year since since that time almost almost every year yeah how did that influence the creative side of you yeah I I mean it really opened me up just period because it was just such an incredibly different culture. And, you know, here in the States, you know, we worship materialism. You know, we do. We worship money and power and things. And here it's kind of hard to remember, sometimes hard to remember spirit, you know,

like you're walking around and because you're confronted so much with ads and whatever it is like this you know but over there it's hard to forget the spirit it was just like everywhere you turned i mean it's so a part of their culture and life in separate even if you're in a big city you know it's just that was the thing that hit me so much you're in a big city, you know, that was the thing that hit me so much. You're just constantly reminded of a higher power. And that, I think, just being in that environment, you know, even though it was only like three weeks at that time, it I just went so much deeper into my journey, I guess, of like self-discovery. Like it really like sparked a match, you know, it was like, I want to find out like who I am, like in my truest essence, not like Trevor Hall, like who am I?

Like, I want to know like who we are, like in essence, like, who am I? I want to know who we are, in essence, because it just lit this fire, this raging fire in me. And music was my way of sparking the fire, my way of feeling the flame. And it just became so much more focused, I think, after India. Yeah. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever.

It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you 8 hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series 10. eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X.

Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required. Charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were going to be fun. On January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing.

Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don knew you were going to be fun. On January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him. We need him. Y'all need a pilot. Flight Risk. So you come back and then you're basically been going back and forth now for about a decade, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Because that was in 2007. Yeah. Seven. Yeah. And music Because that was in 2007. Yeah. Seven. Yeah. And music starts to become different for you. And also, you brought up your wife a couple of times. Right.

Tell me about her. Tell me about you guys. Well, we met in India, which is so funny because we were both born in the same hospital here. That's too funny. In Greenwich Hospital. Yeah. And you had to go to India to find her. The first year I went over there in 2007, I went to my teacher's ashram, pretty much.

And he takes care of underprivileged children, street kids or kids that don't come from a good background. He takes them in and feeds them and clothes them and teaches them yoga and teaches them the whole thing. And so when i went over there the first time that place like really stole my heart and the kid i love kids and the kids stole my heart and i wanted to give back you know to these kids you know so when i got back to the states we really humbly just put like a cardboard box at like our merchandise table and every night i would announce oh we're raising money for some kids in india if you want to like make a donation and it wasn't

much but every night you know you get a few bucks and like at the end of the tour you'd have a few hundred dollars and a few hundred dollars goes a long way you know in india and over the years he was just looking after these boys these like he would take on like 10 to 12 boys, young boys, and it was a dream of his to start a girls' ashram as well, and through all the donations we've made, we started a girls' ashram there, and it's just across the river, and now that's running as well,

and so we've been doing that for like 10 years. So I would say this at shows I would and her family became they were fans and they really took to the project they took to supporting the kids and were very generous for a lot of years and because of that I got her mom's email because you know like oh here's where you can send the money and all this type of stuff and we just kept in touch whatever so then she writes me she says oh my daughter's going to be in india could she come and see the ashram and i said yeah absolutely but never in a million years did i think that she was actually going to come because

number one india is huge i don't know where she's going in india and number two the ashram is not like on the tourist route i mean it's it's india like it's pretty raw i just said yeah no problem like just trying to be polite you think that's it yeah i just thought that was it yeah And then I'm in India, and her daughter emails me, my wife, future wife, emails me and says, I'm in India. Long story short, can I come and see the ashram? And I remember I ignored it because I got over there and I was like, I don't want some fan coming to, you know, this is my place to disappear.

Right, it's like, that's not what it's about. Yeah, you know. That never happened before to disappear. That's not what it's about. Yeah. That never happened before. And I was very protective of that place. You know, a lot of people ask me, you know, can we go? And I think I was just being a little overly protective. Then she emailed me like a couple weeks later. Thank God she did.

And she said, oh, I'm just emailing again. And she wrote, I'm in Benares, which is only like a three-hour bus ride from our ashram so i thought okay so i went and asked our guruji i said is it okay and he said absolutely she should come so she took a bus and she came to the ashram for like two days and i remember like right when she came in our guruji like immediately took like a liking to her which he doesn't do with everybody and he would make her sit next to him and he would call her my daughter my daughter and it was just like okay she's like i don't know she's a connection you know already and that really like hit me you know but nothing happened i mean she was there for two days where you're in an ashram it's not like a romantic setting you know you're not she had a good

time and that was it and she left but i didn't hear from her after and i i wanted to make sure she got back to where she was staying okay and i didn't hear from her for like a few weeks and i was thinking oh well i hope hope she got back okay like whatever and then her mom emailed me and said oh my daughter got really sick after she left and that's she almost died that was it and she had to be evacuated out of india oh my gosh yeah she had a really bad case of the coli i think but that was kind of a blessing because i kept in touch with her mom because i felt guilty i was like oh is it because she like came to our ashram but we kept in touch kept in touch kept in touch and the next time i came into town we all linked up and how are you

feeling and that's when we really started to get to know each other that's when i was you know starting to stalk her facebook a little bit like you know that's when you're like oh wait a minute there's something else yeah yeah and then yeah and then i proposed there we went back to india like a year later and i proposed at the ashram it's so interesting too because you have i mean i would imagine it would be easy for parents you know to sort of look at the life you were living right and then say okay so this is our daughter who is this guy and of look at the life you were living and then say, okay, so this is our daughter. Who is this guy? And what's the life that she's potentially

gonna be stepping into? And it sounds like they were actually unusually open to you and sort of like what you were about and the way you were living. Yeah, well, she had been traveling a lot before that. She was going to this thing called global college which is actually a a thing from liu university and she was traveling the world she would do a semester in different parts of the world so this was a part of her yeah she's a big traveler she lived

in nepal for a year that's kind of like her happy place like like her home. And Nepal's a very similar culture to India. And they were very big fans of my music. And so I think they knew me in some regard. There was a comfort level. Yeah, there was a comfort level. And I had spoken to her mom so much that it was natural. It was a natural thing. And she also knew the quality of your heart because of the work that you were doing.

Yeah, absolutely. And the thing that was so special about them is they never treated me like I was a musician. I don't know. You know what I mean? They just treated me like a human being, which you don't always get. I just felt like whenever I was with them, I felt like, oh yeah, they're like family. It just felt natural. And yeah, it all was written. It just felt natural. And yeah, it all was written and all flowed.

So you begin to build a life, a new approach to music, a renewed sense of spirituality and a home and a partner to sort of like ride with you and co-create with you and build this amazing life and have since built, it sounds like rebuilt, not just a living, but a life around music very much in the way that you want to define it. Like you're out, you're traveling, you're touring a lot, you're creating a lot, but you're very much in control of your own music now. Yeah, it's crazy that you say that.

I mean, because we're at this point right now that's, you know, talking about the story like whatever my story people will say oh man didn't that just suck going through that whole geffen thing and whatever major label you know i'm like no it didn't because i learned so much i learned so much about art and music and control and the industry. And it gave me so much knowledge at such an early age. And I had to grow up really quick. And the whole journey has forced me to really step into myself and speak up for my truth and speak up for my art and my songs and do what I want to do.

And here we are 15 years later, and I have my first independent album. And we more clear on my vision musically as a you know in my whatever I don't know company I don't know I don't consider it a company but your indie label yeah yeah but you know I'm just so much clearer on like how I want to do things in my life and that comes from all the struggle of the past 15 years, you know. There's a lot of, like, my friends, you know, who have been doing this for, like, five years and they're, like, way bigger than I am, you know. And it was kind of like, oh, God, you know, you can have, like, I've been doing this for 15 years, man, you know. And you, at first, you start to get into, like, a little bit of jealousy or resentment or something like this. But when I step back and I get out of my ego and I look back at the whole process, I'm so grateful for the journey that I've had.

If it's taken long, who cares? Because it's just really taught me so much, Not just about my art, but really about myself. And has really helped me grow and step into my higher self. It's just been crazy. It's been a crazy journey. This moment in my life now, I'm still so young. But I don't think I've been happier than this moment. I can honestly say that.

I just feel like I'm just very clear on what I want. And I'm also very aware of how big a blessing it is to be able to play music for people, to show up into a city and have people actually take time out of their lives to buy a ticket and come to a place and here you play i mean it's just such it's really like such a blessing whereas before i don't think like when i was touring like i don't think i realized that as much i thought like oh well this is what's supposed to happen right it's like another gig on the tour check check yeah yeah and i wasn't like that and i realized that looking back like i wasn't really that happy i was just kind of like pushing pushing pushing and like and now you know every night like i you

know when we have a show i i look out and i'm like i can't believe that all these people are here just to hear these songs like this is. And it's so healing for me. People are like, oh, your music is so healing for my life. I'm like, you have no idea how healing it is for me to be able to be up here and serve you in this way. And I think it took me that whole journey. It took me those 15 years to understand that blessing. And I hope that I never forget that. And I hope it just gets deeper and deeper.

And the gratitude gets bigger and bigger as we continue on. Because I know that it can stop like that. Yeah, you've seen that side of the industry. Yeah, I've seen that side of the industry yeah yeah i've seen that side of the industry i've also seen that side of like you know the last like few years i've had a lot of health challenges that have made me had to stop touring yeah and that really put things in perspective too like you know this can just like poof you know so it's been it's been really beautiful to recognize, I think, that. Yeah, it makes you more present. Yeah, absolutely.

So as we sit here, if I offer not the term to live a good life, what comes up? To live a good life. I mean, I don't know. For some reason, immediately this story comes to me that I haven't really thought about in a while. When we were sitting with our Udhiji in India one time, and he told us this story comes to me that i haven't really thought about in a while when we were sitting with our uttaji in india one time and he told us the story he said there was this uh young boy you know walking on the road you know and he looks off and he sees this like super old man like 80 90 whatever planting a seed in the ground. And he thought, oh, how foolish that this man is planting this tree, right? He's going to die before this tree grows to bear fruit.

And he calls out to the man, hey, you know, you're so foolish. Why are you planting this tree, you know, like this? You're going to die, like, before you see it grow. And the old man said, my whole life I've been eating the fruit off trees that others have planted before me, you know. And the boy was extremely humbled, that point. I think there's a point in your life where you step out of your own story and you step into the collective and the blessing of serving somebody in some fashion doesn't have to be a big thing you know where you are completely out of yourself and i feel like that's a freedom you know that's living a good life you know that's something that you know i aspire to you know not only musically, but spiritually. And it's really simple. It's just to understand the blessing of serving others. Most people, I think, they use the word charity, which I don't really like that word.

Because I think it has an attitude of looking down on somebody that's less fortunate, right, than you are. I'd rather like to hear the word service because I feel like people come before you in all different forms and shapes and situations, and it's an opportunity for you to serve. So really, you are indebted to that person that you're serving, you know, because they're bestowing that blessing upon you. Because as you get older, you know, you realize like how hard it is to find an opportunity to serve. It's kind of weird, you know. So living a good life is, for me, I think, getting out of my own story, getting out of my own story getting out of my own story and really just looking on another person as yeah an opportunity to serve in whatever capacity if it's like cooking

a meal if it's like giving somebody a hug you know doesn't have to be like feeding like thousands of people you know or if it's just listening you know like one of my best friends in high school my roommate my senior year his name was adrian was just a really amazing kid great guy his dad was like this buddhist like saint Like, he was like an amazing guy. But whenever I'd come back into the dorm room and like vent, you know, he would listen to me and he wouldn't say anything to me. But I knew with every bone in my body that he was 100% listening to what I was saying, neutrally, from a neutral place. And that was all the healing that I needed.

It could just be listening to somebody, offering your space. So, yeah, that's the good life to me. Get out of your own story. So, we're very fortunate. Not only are you sitting across from me in our studio, but two feet from you on the floor is your guitar. Yes. I brought the axe.

Can I compel you to play a song? Yes. Before we leave? Absolutely. I've been riding round Saturn's rings Learning how each one sings Jumping from star to star finding my own heart I've been learning to slow

down putting roots in that ground waiting till that fruit is ripe growing up in that light sunshine through my window She'll call me home tomorrow

It's my choice to be joyful I'm giving up all sorrow And this is my story And this is my story And this is my vision Everything right on time Well, I've been hearing Jupiter's call Got me feeling strong and tall Laughing at the play of life

Gifting me a brand new sight The war between right and wrong I'm putting it all in song And trust that I do my best in letting my body rest in. The sunshine through my window. She'll come and hold on my road. It's my choice to be joyful. I'm giving up all sorrow now. And this is my story And this is my vision

Where everything right all the time Sunshine through my window She'll call me home tomorrow It's my choice to be joyful I'm giving up my sorrow And this is my story And this is my vision Where everything right on time is Beautiful. Beautiful. Thank you. So if you're still listening, thank you, thank you, thank you. if you love the show and I'm guessing you do because you're still here please support them they help make the podcast possible check out the links in today's show notes and don't forget also

your spot at this year's camp glp as we recently announced this will be our final year we're expecting about 400 amazing humans from all around the world it's going to be more epic than ever and if you've been waiting be sure to register soon you can find that link at goodlifeproject.com slash camp today, or just click the link in the show notes. See you next week. We'll be right back. The Apple Watch Series X is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes.

The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later require, charge time and actual results will vary.