My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 273 - MOD SUN RETURNS!

Episode Date: April 7, 2023

MOD SUN returns to the Basement to discuss his new album, 'God Save The Teen', going through it track-by-track with Robbie! Note from Robbie: This is a BONUS INTERVIEW EPISODE of My Mom's Basement - our regular MANDALORIAN RECAP show will be out tomorrow morning! Thanks for being patient while Clem is on vaca with the family!You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Alright, welcome back to My Mom's Basement. It is Robbie Fox, and I am here in person with Modson for our second interview together. We did one via Zoom a while ago. My Mom's Basement! Yeah! My Mom's Basement! Hell yeah! I'm gonna get real loud, sorry. I'm excited. No, get louder. You know when I soundchecked that mic? It's New York City! I tried to be louder on that mic, because I was like, I know Modson can be louder. Yeah, because you know I'm coming to get real loud. Sorry. I'm excited. No, get louder. You know when I sound checked that mic. It's New York City.

I tried to be louder on that mic because I was like, I know I'm not going to be loud. Yeah, because you know I'm coming in with the energy. Yeah. How are we feeling in New York? Dude, really good. It's the first time I've been up before noon in a while on this tour. Yeah? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I feel good today. Have you visited any of your Bob Dylan spots in New York yet? Dude, not yet. We just pulled in. Oh, okay. I will tonight. I will tonight. I will tonight. I will tonight, 100%.

I'm so excited for tonight. I'll be there. Irving Plaza, Stand Atlantic opening. Yeah, you like Stand Atlantic? Dude, I love Stand Atlantic. Okay, Stand Atlantic's amazing. They're incredible.

Do you pick your openers? Yes. Okay, cool. Yes, yes. Which, furthermore, what I'm going to say, kid who's playing first, Party Alone,

is his first whoever. He's going to be one of the biggest artists in the world. I saw you posting about him on your Instagram story. I put everything on it. You just dropped a new song, yeah. I put everything on it. Very cool how you're supportive of all the younger artists in the scene. Well, I love that.

That's one of my favorite things. Let me get this right. That's one of my favorite things is curating something and try my best to bring someone that is already doing something and then bringing out someone who I believe is going to like take over. Like I brought Nash on his first tour. I brought Black Bear on like first tour. G-Eazy on his first tour. You know, like it's kind of, yeah.

It's a crazy resume you got out of that. Yeah, it's kind of something that I like take pride in so party alone is next that's really cool yeah so i know we you haven't visited the dylan spots yet but that is a new york thing for you you like to see some of the bars that he frequented and stuff like that yeah i almost got robbed last time i did it but did you really yeah because i was like walking around at like 5 a.m and some of those spots get well yeah get a little crazy but but it was good. When did you get into Dylan? Did you get into Dylan when you were super young?

So, by proxy, I grew up on a farm in Minnesota. Famously, Bob Dylan has a farm in Minnesota, right? That was a mile away from where I grew up. So, every time we passed it like my parents would be like that's like bob dylan's farm right there and like when you're younger you're kind of like all right parents like yeah i mean like do my own thing right so really really when so bob dylan was like a part of my dna since day one but really when it all clicked was uh right after high school right after high school

i got kicked out of my band then i thought we were gonna take over the world i got kicked out they told me i sucked at drums and uh fuck you you're wrong and um and so i was like all right maybe maybe i should try something different then i actually kind of listened to him i was like, all right, maybe I should try something different then. I actually kind of listened to him. I was like, all right, fine, maybe I'm not a drummer anymore. And everyone told me my whole life growing up that I couldn't sing. And all I would hear about Bob Dylan, he's like a very polarizing artist. Yeah, his voice specifically.

Yeah, so many people are like, oh, my God, you can't. Mama's in the bank, me, me. People are like, you cannot sing. I was i was like oh we have something in common it's like i think you're the one of the greatest you know what i'm saying and um so i fell in love with it and then the other thing about bob dylan is like dude he's in his 80s he's still making music he's still on tour i'm still discovering albums by him you know i think dude's got like 50 albums that's crazy that's the kind of artist i look up to you know the ones that are like that's that's this whole that that is my whole like mo with everything is like

dude right now especially right now in this culture people think if you haven't now it's a very dangerous word to say made it or successful because those are defined so differently but people think like if you haven't made it by 22 it's getting younger every year but like by 22 25 like you're supposed to give up on your dreams yeah it's so stupid it's crazy that's so stupid i mean i understand it i understand um why people would think that but i think it's important to have people to look up to that make you think the opposite you know like jay-z didn't drop his first album till he was 27 years old or 28 years old reasonable doubt like look at that yeah look at that like you think you had a completely different life

before 28 and then you become one of the greatest you know so i i think it's really important to shed light on those kind of stories not like the this person was rich and famous at 19 you know yeah no that's a good point so let's talk god save the teen yeah when did god save the teen start coming about your new album album? Because I love it. I loved the last album as well, and it feels like you built on that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, well, so I specifically made, like, a sequel to that.

You know what I'm saying? And I would say it started shortly after Internet Killed the Rockstar came out because I'm just in the studio. You know, I just make music. And, dude, inspiration is a real thing, but it only finds you when you're working. You know what I'm saying? So I like to try to be around my tools as much as possible. So the first song that I made for that album would have been Eyelids. Oh, the opening song.

Yeah, which I totally... That was what created it. I was like, okay, here's actually the real deal. You know, where is your boy tonight? I hope he is a gentleman. That intro, yeah. you know where is your boy tonight i hope oh shit that intro yeah i was like dude when's the last time someone started just acapella yeah that was gonna be one of the first things i bring up about that this whole album that whole song the fact that you started the album acapella i'm like when's the last time someone's done that so that was like sitting in the back of my head and then um

dude is whatever artsy or cliches it sounds like i did have it i just i actually did wake up out of a dream where i heard your face is painted on the inside of my eyelids like i heard that in my head and like i thought it was very poetic you know yeah obviously saying every time i close my eyes i see your face and um i was like dude that's that's exactly how my next album starts wow like you hit play and instead of you know usually you hit play on an album and the intro is like this like make this pretty little like all right we're gonna open you into this album i was like i'm gonna punch you in the face yeah you know yeah and in a unique way it's not the pop punk like phased drums coming in yeah something like that no yeah it punches you in

the face with it did you play drums on this album every song dude sick sick drums on this album like awesome choices like really really great drums thank you i have a i have an amazing drummer that plays um live with me He's watching right now. What up, Common Grail? I love you. And he said the same thing, which I was like, wow, thank you. Like, definitely, definitely, you know, like, here's the thing is, like, growing up, obviously, Travis Barker was my god, you know, who is essentially, like, the busiest yet most tasteful drummer in the world right yeah like he's he is he is talking you know um but in this for this album i was definitely more inspired by like a

dave grohl kind of drummer oh nice yeah where it wasn't like all right let's like fill up all the empty space with with symbols and yeah yeah it was more like okay let's like find pockets on this and uh and and more inspired by that and and due to doing that um it kind of opened up like a different style of drumming for me and yeah there's like there's like you know there's some busy parts of it for the but for the most part it's like you know there's something weird different that happens when um you play drums to something that you're also singing on because then you're in syncopation with that whereas most drummers like they don't even know what the singer's gonna do until they're done yeah in a lot of ways you know at least i mean at least that's how i grew

up was like first track you lay down right yeah well we'd like make the music and then the singer would would come on top of it so it's like knowing what i'm gonna do and being able to like mimic that with the drums i think it opens up a whole different world yeah definitely and like you said the grohl style almost caveman fills into some of the choruses on the snare and stuff. There's like four bar fills that are just like, but they make that chorus like hit in harder when it finally explodes and stuff. So that was really cool. What about the cover of the album? Where did the inspiration behind that come from?

Yo, the inspiration for that, which, which took a long time. Um, like, yo, it's a,

I like, dude, I like to take risks. And like, obviously like there's a lot of there's a lot of like blasphemy that could come with that um but so what it is is essentially like remaking the last supper the pop punk last supper yeah it's like the last supper but like what what it would look like right now yeah where it's like um it's a sign of the times you know and it's also

like it's it's also a warning sign you know, and it's also like it's also a warning sign. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, there's representation of like the first thing you see to the outer edge of me is like someone like about to hit me with a baseball bat. And on the other side of me is someone filming it laughing because it's like right now in this day and age, you see someone in trouble like the society's first instinct is to film it whip your phone out yeah rather than help you know then there's like um then there's like a representation of someone who has like their phone connected to their hand and um you know then there's uh you know signs of of the easy addiction. It's like all these societal pressures that are happening right now.

Yeah. And the whole idea of the album is like, it's called God Save the Teen. Because if there's any duty that anyone has that has accumulated years on this earth it is to shed light to the people that come after them you know and it's it's basically saying like there's this extreme idea for perfection right now okay um just is something as easy as the filters that we've been given um these younger kids and i've felt it myself even we've all felt it because when you put those filters on you go oh whoa like i look good like that yeah damn i got a tan i'm not that's what i'm thinking yeah bro and then you take them off, though, and people feel, like, ugly.

Yeah. And it's scary. Yeah, it's tough. That's, you know, I'm... Kids growing up in that is what you're saying. Kids growing up in that, it would essentially make you be, like, I'm, like, afraid to leave the house. Mm-hmm. Because people think I look this way. And, like, am I ugly without it yeah and i just think

that that there's it's just like warning signs out there that like to speak on and um you know like there's there's a lot of pushback from it because like i said when you touch something that's like religious or whatever there's always gonna be always danger with it um dude i don't think that i don't think art exists in comfort you know i think it exists in in total fear and in um and in being polarizing you know yeah no protests outside mod sun concerts over that though right not not for that all right good i know i know when like kevin smith put out dogma in the 90s he was getting protests and stuff he actually went to his own protest yeah he like acted as a protester that's the way to go with it you know that's lean into it that's amazing yes um and you had no singles for this album none why did you come up with that

concept like how did you come up with that concept? Nobody does it anymore. No one does that anymore. It is the last thing that anyone would recommend an artist do right now in this day and age. You should not do that. And I'm like, perfect. That's what I'm going to do. I like that you did it. I'm such an album fan. I am too. When someone drops five singles from the new album, and then the album drops, you're like, oh, it's half a new album.

I know five of these songs already. I've been dealing with that for the last like okay i am an artist okay i'm an artist but at the core of it i'm a music freak okay i listen to new music friday on spotify at thursday i'm from la thursday at 9 p.m. Every Thursday, I go through the list. I listen to the albums that drop. Like, I'm a freak. And, yeah, I just love doing it. I still see the importance in all that. And I have favorite artists, and I go and listen to their album. And as much as I don't want to, there's something inside me that's like,

heard this one, skip. The second you do that, you lose the experience. The flow of the album. Of a body of work. You lose that. And if you're trying to tell a story through an album, an artist has to understand that. And again, when you're living in comfort and you're doing what you're supposed to do are you doing what everyone else is doing um it loses like i mean this is this is my my uh fifth official album but prior to that i've got four eps out i've got

three mixtapes out like as modson i've probably dropped over 1200 songs you know what i'm saying crazy at this point like i don't want to be just regurgitating what i've done and i i personally think that that's the wave that's coming next is going back to albums i like really see the like hope so yeah i really see history repeating itself so like i came from the days of albums dropping on tuesday me skipping school, going to Best Buy, buying the album, and riding around in my car and listening to a full album. Maybe you've heard one song, but that's all you got 10 years ago, 15 years ago. It was a song. People would buy an album because they liked one song on it. Yes.

And then they would discover the rest of it yes and now the flip side to that is i'm allowing the people that listen to me to tell me what the standout songs are yeah which which as an artist when you're trying to put your finger on the pulse of like what your best is what what is going to work what is going to react when you're trying to do that you're oftentimes like misled in a lot of ways um and so i'm going out and playing this album live and i'm playing like a good portion of it live and every song feels like it was a single oh great because they're not going like oh this is the big one yeah we know this one they're like oh like we know every song on the album yeah and so i'm playing songs that are like number like i have a song called when we're dead um on the album

that would have if i was doing this in the traditional way would have never been a single but when i'm playing it it feels just like i'm playing karma that's awesome yeah yeah all right let's go through the album track by track if it's okay let's go i love doing this with artists so opens with eyelids like we talked about love the way you open it acapella great full sound is there anything sonically you were chasing down on like this song or the album specifically when it comes to guitar tones bass tones stuff like that well yeah i mean like the like you know removing the computer as much as possible yeah um you know and actually getting like raw tones but when it when it comes to like the sound of the album i'm more i'm more like a composer of like the energy that i'm capturing when i'm behind the mic and in that way and and

doing everything i can to um to act as if I don't own it, you know? Okay. Like, and I mean own it like I'm not, I don't sit and write in a notebook, right? I don't say, all right, play the, we just made this bed of music. Leave the room for an hour. Let me sit here and like vibe off it. I'm like, hear it for 30 seconds we may just get like a guitar part down and i'm like all right let me go behind the mic and then

i sound like a fool for like a minute you know just behind it just like and doing all that and then through that allowing myself to again not to sound like artsy or whatever but just like be channeled by something yeah let it out you're allowed to sound artsy you're an artist yeah yeah i mean like allowing myself to to to just not be in control that's what i mean when i say i don't own it like i'm not sitting there going oh this is my brilliant thoughts it's, what can I be given right now? You know, John Feldman, who I made this album with, he says cool things to me. Like, sometimes the song is waiting for you at the studio, you know?

Yeah. And I believe in that kind of stuff. So with Eyelids in general, I didn't actually even have any music at all like i said i heard that that part in my head and that was all i needed to be like this is what i'm this is what i'm bringing in and i just went in and sang that part with nothing i was like e major is kind of like my it's kind of like my hot spot right yeah like just we're we're in e major let me just go sing this and then we'll create it and um and there's like there's like some good uh you know there's like some good wordplay in the verses and stuff um that kind

of flows together but really it was just like i definitely knew for that song that i wanted a drum driven bridge where if we're talking about drums like that's probably one of the the bridge part drum wise on that song that was probably like my that would be the first thing i would play if you were like y'all play your favorite part on drums from the album like i'd sit down the way you use the cymbals on that is awesome yeah yeah yeah so um yeah so that that song was just purely like i knew i knew that was the intro you know so You know, so going into it, I was like, how am I... Oh, where did I put my coffee, dude? Is it around here?

There it is. I was like, how do I want to open this album? And I just knew that I didn't want, like, a typical, like, let's slowly bring him into the album. Yeah, crash him in. Potentially the most energetic, upbeat song on the album is that. Yeah. And that's why I wanted to open it. You keep it upbeat and energetic with upbeat song on the album is that that's why i wanted to open it you keep it upbeat and energetic with revenge the next song i imagine this one going real hard live so much exploding chorus so hard yeah crowd going crazy hands up and down yeah

yeah they scream they scream the words yeah yeah how did this one come together um this one came together off of like just the idea that like i'm i'm i'm very good at very good at making a song like karma like revenge which is like being being like i remember what it felt like to have everyone saying no to me to have everyone being like you're not gonna make it you're from this suburb in minnesota the only people that came from this city are hockey players you know what i'm saying and you're skateboarding and this isn't like 2001 to 2003 this was not x games in olympic skateboarding nija houston like times all right this was like you got made Games and Olympic skateboarding, Nija Houston-like times, all right? This was like you got made fun of for skateboarding, plain and simple. And we're wearing girls' jeans.

They had not made tight men's jeans. We're dressing different. We're wearing extra small T-shirts. And you're the outcast in the city. And I know exactly what that feels like. And if I'm ever to go to an emotion of my youth, it is immediately right there. Okay. And living well is the best revenge.

And that's like the whole epitome of that song is being like, I know it hurts like hell because you know, I'm living so well because i know so many of those people who told me no who made fun of me told me i'd never make it like i know they have to see me doing it yeah i know they have to and like not only that but like the things that i was saying i was gonna do when i was in high school like that's exactly what I'm doing right now yeah you know and and uh everyone needs a song like that that's like yeah heartbreak song is great because it makes you feel healed a love song is great because it's like I relate to that like I want to sing this to my partner you know what I'm saying but there's nothing like having a song that at 2 a.m you can drive around to and be like fuck the world man I'm gonna sing this to my partner. You know what I'm saying? But there's nothing like having a song that at 2 a.m. you can drive around to and be like, fuck the world, man.

I'm going to do this shit. No one can tell me different. Yeah, shoved it in everyone's face. They told me I couldn't. And I'm like, yo, I got that hook done. You make me feel so sick. I got that part done. And then just off of that, the music kept playing.

And I was like, R-E-V-E. And like, duh, we gave it the whole spelling. This shit is bananas. It works, though. sounds very familiar you'd remember sleigh bells um but there's always like this like cheerleader element hey mickey you're so fine that kind of whole thing i love that shit gang vocal cheerleader element like i love that shit and i was like yo this is if i'm gonna ever do it on a song it's this and i'm gonna spell the word revenge did you know that b-a-n-a-n-a do you know where that comes from no courtney Love apparently said in an interview that Gwen Stefani's like nothing but a cheerleader.

And Gwen Stefani said, oh, I'll show you a cheerleader. And she went out and recorded that song. Hard. Hard. Pretty sick, huh? So sick. I never would have thought Hollaback Girl was kind of a diss track at Courtney Love. I love Gwen Stefani so much.

That's pretty sick. All right, track three we'll call My Mom's Basement Song today. Is that cool? Yes. That should have been the title, man. I got to hit you up next time before I start naming these songs, man. Yo, great production, great lyrics. You're still performing at every city every night.

Because it's one of my favorite songs I've ever made. It's a really great song. Beautiful song. it's one of my favorite songs I've ever made. It's a really great song. Beautiful song. One of my favorite songs I've ever made. Yeah. You know, like, I enjoy showing growth in my journey you know and to have a song like that like that feels like a song in the later Oasis catalog to me I'm so glad you brought up Oasis I love Oasis that that's like what it feels like to me um to have a song that's like very um string and acoustic driven yeah you

got a lot of strings on this album a lot a lot a lot bro i was really i was really leaning into oasis goo goo dolls like that i love that world you know the verve a little yeah a hundred percent yeah man like that those feelings of of that those bands gave me and um just lyrically um there's such a great dichotomy on that song because the music does feel happy. It does feel somber, but it does feel happy. And I love the dichotomy of music when you take something that sounds happy and put like a darker uh lyrical landscape on top of it you know she blew me a kiss and i don't want to blow my brains out anymore like i i don't know to me that's just like those are those are like i mean some people might think whatever of it but

but to me those those feel like poetic, great lyrics to me. I think they are. I think the whole album has a lot of mature, great lyrics all over it. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. And, I mean, that's the way that I was feeling for two and a half years, was just like sleep next to an angel while my demons keep me up at night

because I'm a fucking insomniac. In every case, I'm an insomniac. I had to eat two melatonin gummies last night at midnight so I could be here today and not be up until 5 a.m. It's just the way that my brain works. It runs at night. And I'm laying in bed. And I'm just just like I would love for my brain to turn off. But I legitimately have not had a moment of silence in my entire life. Yeah.

There's always this internal dialogue, which I imagine so many people struggle with. But then I come to find out as well that not everyone does. I'll never forget asking my mom one time. Like, we were sitting, I must have been, like, 16. I'm, like, sitting downstairs with her in our basement, in my mom's basement. And, like, I turn off the TV and I look over at her. And I'm like, wait, like, 20 seconds. And I'm like, what's going on in your head right now?

And she's like, absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. And, like, that moment i was like wow so there is a different side yeah of the human mind other than all the noise yes some people are constantly having this internal dialogue this voice in their head going on and some people literally have like this peaceful serene thing going on in their head and i think that like kind of splits people in half down the middle of like this side or this side and it kind of shows like what you do with your life i think you're right i'm on your side i can't imagine

the the you know voiceless head or whatever the noiseless head and like yo just just like again on on that song before we move on like bob dylan famously had songs called like sarah and stuff like that you know yeah and i was like what a lost art yeah to be so to really like say it exactly what it is yeah you know there's this idea that an artist to be relatable you need to to be saying something that everyone can can relate to and that's what they think is going to cause relatability the strange thing that happens with music and with life is the more you tell your exact story that's what actually causes extreme relatability. Yeah, the connection.

It's like then someone takes it and makes it their own rather than feeling like it's everyone's. They're like, all right, I'm going to take this and turn it into mine now. And that's what that song is to me. It's like total honesty. Yeah. And then Shelter, love the acoustic electric guitar combo that this comes in with. And it's in six.

Oh, it is in six. Oh, shit. Is this the only album? The one thing I missed on Internet Killed the Rockstar. Is not doing a song in a weird time signature? Not having a song in six. Yeah. The human ear that's not musically trained has no idea what's going on when they hear a song in six, but they feel it.

Yeah. They don't know that it's in a swing. One, two, three, four, five, six. For anyone out there, almost 99% to 100% of the songs you are going to hear today, whether you're riding around in your car or you hit play on Spotify or whatever you listen to, are going one, two, three, four. One, two, three, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1. When you hear a song in six, it's going 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Okay? When you get that feeling of a song in six, it takes you somewhere else. Yeah, the chorus. As soon as you said that, just thinking to that chorus, you get that feeling. It changes everything yeah and i was like going into this album that was one of the things i had on the list was i was like i i can't believe i don't know if in my career because when you're i mean i don't know if you're ever gonna hear like a rap song in six that is very difficult that's that is very difficult to do that the flow that you have to do on a song in six that is very difficult that's that is very difficult to do that the flow that you have to do on a song in six is is extremely crazy um so i don't know if in my career

i've ever released the song in six actually oh nice big first so going into it like i absolutely had to had to have that on the album and um again like we'll we'll get to it but iris being one of my favorite songs in the world um sections of iris are in six sections are in four it's a very strange complex song yeah um but uh but that was my iris was shelter i love that yeah and it was completely like based off of uh a real a real moment of being like someone um someone pulling me off the edge you know like i have uh dude i i of self-sabotage you know and uh when when you if you're lucky enough to be with someone at some point in your life that uh tries to pull you out of those things um you know you you find shelter from the world and then

there's you know there's also like one of my favorite bob doan songs is shelter from the world and then there's you know there's also like one of my favorite bob dole songs is shelter from the storm you know come in she said i'll give you a shelter from the storm and i was like yeah like i feel that i feel that a hundred percent and like i've i i i had found shelter in um in in someone in this world and and that's what that song was and originally originally i was a day away from having johnny resnick of the goo goo dolls sing on that song oh wow and and they were in the middle of making their latest album yeah and we were in talks they had the song johnny loved it. He was about to sing on it. And then they were just like, dude, you never know what happens in the studio.

So it's like they were working on their new album, and it just didn't come through all the way. Yeah. But they were about to be on that song. And that's a true story about that one. Well, maybe in the future you'll get a collab. Oh, 100%. I mean, I saw them posting your Iris cover and everything Well, maybe in the future you'll get a collab. I mean, I saw them posting your Iris cover and everything. I was like, they got to be loving that.

And they wished me a happy birthday. Oh, yeah. I mean, the connection is there. They're riding with me. Shout out Cougar Dolls. They're going on tour with our boys OAR this summer. Nice. Yeah.

I definitely need to go. Yeah. The next song in this album I fucking love. Courtney Fucked Kurt. Yes. Did you know going into this album I wanted just a straight up punk song Yo I wanted it too I needed it What do you think about that one Dude I love it and I love the guitar riff

Is this like crazy strenuous to record on your voice Or no No I was thinking like is a punk song I mean you got straight up screams in there. Yeah. But you have a very powerful voice. So is this, like, easier than the other songs for you?

Because you're not having to hit specific notes? Kind of. It's a song that's in chromatic tuning. So it's, like, it kind of allowed me to just straight up yell. Yeah. And do you remember the band Comeback Kid? Yeah. Okay.

So, like, I loved that kind of – I was in a band called Scary Kid Scaring Kids and a band called 4Li, which definitely 4Li had screaming, like under oath, like rawr. Yeah. Right? And that was never my bag.

My bag was more like Comeback Kid. Like, da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You know what i'm saying like that kind of and uh more fast screaming right yeah yeah and more more of like more of shouting than than than the growl right and um the growl took over for a while oh dude and and just like yo there's one thing to do like like that kind of drumming it's another thing to do like, do-ga-ta-ga-ta-ga-ta-ga-ta-ga-ta-ga-ta-ga. That kind of drumming. It's another thing to just do straight up, ta-ka-ta-ka-ta-ka-ta-ka-ta-ka-ta-ka-ta-ka-ta-ka. And I was like, dude. I was like, that's the energy I need.

I need a song. I would imagine that song's like a minute 40 or it's under two minutes or something. I was like, I need a song under two minutes. I need a song that I can fully be like, open this shit up. Lose your mind. Yeah, have the crowd lose their mind. Yes, I need a song that I can like fully be like open this shit up lose your mind yeah have the crowd lose their mind yes I need a song that I can have just like full-on distortion on my vocals live yeah and uh and and also I wanted to like actually make a song that actually has like all of those feelings

but also again like some kind of like deeper, like, deeper message, like, a buried message in it, which is, like, the romantization of death and chaos, right? It's like, dude, I got the 27 Club all tatted on here, one of my first tattoos I ever got, right? Like, I was a drug addict, alcoholic for 13 years, you know? I literally wore the same leather pants for two years straight thinking i was jim morrison stumbling down sunset boulevard with a bottle of whiskey and an eight ball in my pocket you know thinking that was what being a rock star was you know um and dude i have sid and nancy tatted on like all this stuff like i was addicted to the chaos and i you know jim morrison died and he all he wanted his whole life was to be known as a poet not some like crazy rock star you know and the world painted him this one way

which was like the lizard king crazy you know and he was like dude i'm a poet you know and the world painted him this one way which is like the lizard king crazy you know and he was like dude i'm a poet you know and um so many people are so attracted to the chaos side not the poetic side and in this day and age it's like i mean like louis vuitton it has the padlock necklace you know what i'm saying like the sid necklace like like we're like really we're really pushing that side of things of like you know the death of kurt cobain and let's all dress grungy and this and that and it's like yo i i just wanted to talk about the other side like the lyrics are like you sing all the songs but you don't know what the words mean put a leather jacket on and think that you are so seen dark eye shadow makes you look heroin chic use your

parents scissors just to cut holes in your jeans like it's all talking about the fact of like people not knowing what they're looking at you know which is very kurt cobain message you know like the in bloom message almost yes 100 and uh just just talking about that other side like stop romanticizing death shotguns and needles are not your friends you know what i'm saying like all that like i really wanted to touch on that and that song just like did it all and when we play bro when you see it tonight it's like i can't wait for that tonight bro whatever we captured on record is like is like a fraction of what happens live you know that song is like made for live yeah and then you follow it up with kind of a different side of mod

sun a little more hip-hop influence in this one sos with royal and the serpent yeah really cool one love that song that was that was uh that was probably the second i think that was the second song i made for this album um and i think so so that was one of one of the only the the only songs that john feldman has ever made like uh let's call it a beat and sent it to me before like i wasn't in the studio yeah and um john feldman's favorite band of all time this is the singer goldfinger real punk his favorite band of all time is cold play get out of here cold play wow his favorite band surprises me favorite band of all time um i thought you're gonna say like you too yeah which is not too far off i don't know i see i always go

to you whenever i want that like line 60 delay guitar you know like give me some edge yeah like you too shit like i don't he doesn't really reference them that that much i don't think but but there is so much of that there's like i mean dude i love angels and airwaves like which was so based off you too yeah um i love delay guitars like all that um if you if you listen closely to sos you can totally hear like the the inspiration of like a cold play uh piano part into guitar yeah and um piano on this record as well yeah a lot of piano a lot of piano i love it i love it i think those are like the signs of just like actually, you know, in the I always hated when a band was like, we're making a mature album because then you're like, yo, like, I don't like this. I want to try and stay young over here.

Yeah, you were like, do what you do good and so without like jumping the line too much and changing what i do and taking away what people loved like i i wanted to make it feel more grown with the uh sonic landscape that that is is kind of buried like a musician like yourself does hear it and they're like oh i can pick that out but most people it all just sounds like one instrument you know what i'm saying but really there's a bed of stems like 100 stems you know yeah and uh and i kind of tried to like let those layers live and kind of show the growth without screaming at you and saying it um but yeah sos uh royal and the serpent one of the best new artists in the game right now she's totally gonna take over the world um she wasn't on the song originally

and i went and saw her perform at the troubadour in la and i was like oh she a real one i was like come to the studio tomorrow that's awesome awesome. That's a cool story, that coming together. Yeah. And then Single Mothers, beautiful song, beautiful lyrics. You got to sing it to your mom on tour, right? Yes. She came on tour with you for the first half or first part, first couple shows? Yeah, yeah.

When life goes crazy, call your mom. That's a fact. I'm a mama's boy myself. Single mother I've got. And this song is emotional. Dude, you got to play it for her. Oh, I will. I'll this song is emotional. Dude, you got to play it for her. Oh, I will. I'll send it to her.

Yeah, you got to send it to her. You've got the voicemail intro and outro on this one as well. That just adds the emotion on it. Yeah, so here's like the – first off, it's probably my favorite song I've ever made, period. Because, again, it's like a story that's so personal to me that's like reaching so many people that don't know who i am don't need to see my face don't need to like any other songs by me they hear that and they're like thank you why is no one giving me this song you know

i've i i wrote that song on my last album internet killed the rock star i had a song for my father who had passed away and i knew on this one this one that he never got to hear that song. So I was like, I want to make a song for my mom before it's too late, that she doesn't get to hear it. And knowing that I was going to do that on this album, make a song for my mom, I was like, what can I tap into? And I just, it just came to me. I was like, I've never heard a song for single, a single mother. I mean, I've never even heard a song for like single parents. Cause that, that is an extremely, it is a really hard job. And to the point where I didn't even, once I started making the song, I started asking her questions for the first time.

I was like, what was it like? You know, these are the things you don't really, they make it look so easy. Yeah. You know, they really hide.

Um, they have to hide so much from their children and make it seem like everything's okay. When it's like, dude, go through a breakup. You know what that feels? Go through dude go through a breakup you know what that feels go through a divorce you can only imagine what that feels like go through a divorce where there's children involved and custody and child support and this and that like dude it is it's

insane yeah you know everything on their mind that they have to worry about because everything falls on them yeah you know crazy and um they're they're truly superheroes and single parents are superheroes in my case it was having a single mom that had no help at all we started with absolutely nothing you know and um and she worked her ass off and uh let go of all her dreams to see mine and my sister's come true. And it's just like my favorite song I've ever made because it's that pure to me. It's beautiful. Shout out, Mom, Son.

Absolutely, Mom, Son. I know you're going to watch this. And then Iris, your cover of Iris next. Awesome cover. I know you're cool with the Goo Goo Dolls and Johnny now. Do you have to get permission to do something like this on an album or can you just record a cover? Jelly now do you have to get permission to do something like this on an album or can you just record a cover so

you don't have to get permission interesting you just have to forfeit everything you know what I'm saying so it's like essentially the band's like yeah do whatever you want if it goes well in this case

we definitely hit them up like what do you think like you're cool with it and um so many people have whether it be recorded or not like perform that song as a cover and that song means so much to people uh so going into it i wanted to keep it as original as possible you know like it's a daunting task to try to cover a timeless song an iconic song yeah but if you're trying to like reinvent the wheel with it a lot of things can go wrong and i was just like let's just keep it how it is it's like make it feel a little little more like right now you know some more background vocals yeah let's put some 808s on it let's like dirty up some guitars and yeah make the drums a little

bigger um and make the bridge not four minutes you know like what bro a song like that to go like number one in the world at any time but to have like a legitimate three-minute bridge of just instruments is insane we do semi-charmed life live and punk and the bridge of that song goes on so long we're like we're doing the radio edit yeah it goes on with the doing the meth and this and that and that i know like how many lyrics does this song have it's like they wrote three verses in the bridge. So, like, if people only knew that, like, I'll never forget, like, listening to that song with, like, my mom and my sister on a road trip. And I had to have been, like, eight years old. And, like, me and my sister.

This was the days when you'd go buy singles from the record store. My sister was, like, listening to, like, No Way Out, like, Puff Daddy or something. Yeah. And I had Semi-charmed kind of life and i remember my mom being like no let's let's listen to to semi-charmed kind of life more like i don't we don't even listen to puff daddy this whole road trip my sister's like have you listened to the lyrics of that song like it is he's legitimately like talking about doing crystal meth the whole time like uppers all that stuff yeah don't listen to that man don't listen to this music's nice

when you're dead as you mentioned this is another one that despite its title has a pretty optimistic sound yeah like you have a nice like uplifting sound behind this. I like this song a lot. I love this song so much. I think this song captures a lot of where my music may be taking me in the future. It's a song that when I perform, I'm not up there. All right, everybody jump. You know what I'm not up there, all right, everybody jump, and so on. You know what I'm saying? It's like a song that I really am singing,

and I'm seeing it reach people. And I think the lyrics are so beautiful in it. And I actually worked with a different group of people than I normally work with on it. And it's just like, dude, there's just something magical about it. And I don't know, that song lives really in my heart. Every time I play it, it does something special for me. And I've seen it just react. And again, doing the no singles thing, like I said, that wouldn't be a single,

but it feels like it's everything. It feels like it's saying an album with no singles like i feel like every song is a single on it you know yeah it's awesome wolves one of my favorite songs in the album another one where i feel like lyrically this is pretty mature love the guitar coming in almost smashing pumpkins like on the intro 100 so sick nailed it yeah yeah this was this was was my favorite song that I've ever... This was probably the third song I made for the album. And so there's hints of telling me that this album was going to be all over the place. The first three songs were Eyelids, S.O.S., and Wolves.

And I was like, oh, wow, I'm really making a... Yeah, three very different songs. Very different songs very different songs um Wolves I just it takes me to another world that like phased out guitar does something to me and um I mean you know in a lot of ways like it's fun to document points of your life you know that's what I make albums for. It's like, I really, I'm an honest artist. I know that.

I know I'm not being superficial or self-righteous by saying that, because I know that's what I am. I actually talk about what's going on at that moment in my life. And, like, that song, a lot of this album is covering, like, this story of love that i had you know and that song specifically just like i'll protect you from the wolves outside your window you know like i love that sentiment like the world out there is a crazy fucking place and like i will protect you from it you know that is my duty and um maybe i'll play that song tonight i haven't played it on tour oh really i haven't played it on have you been changing up

the set at all yeah cool yeah we kind of like just kind of just do whatever we want like like i said bob dylan's my favorite artist he doesn't even play the same song the same way twice well you said you got 1200 songs releases my son you ever have songs you totally forget about you like find one day like oh shit that was a jam yes you have to right all the time i do i do a medley of old songs in my set that we'd like kind of change up every once in a while and like it's really fun going back see like i love doing it too because like i'm not wearing a costume, you know? Yeah. I'm not like, oh, I'm like a pop punk alt artist now, you know? No, you're just Mod Sun.

It's like, oh, I was a rapper then. It's like, dude, no. Like, I started in bands and then was in, like, Screamo Post hardcore bands. Yeah. Then a pop punk band, then Screamo Post hardcore bands, singing then drums like all this like it's like i that's the point of being an artist to me you know is is not being like i've done one thing forever and that's all you should do you should be good at one thing that's it that's why i had to quit sports when i was younger well the day i realized you couldn't be a pro hockey player pro basketball player pro baseball player at the same time i was like i'm out yeah like i think life is

about trying to be i want to be when i die i want my tombstone to be like poet author director painter musician designer director you know i'm saying all that i love that drive i love the orchestration in this one and then I also love the bass line. Is Feldy playing bass on this? Yes, he is. I love that. He's nasty. He is.

When he plays bass, bro. He's nasty. This is the real standout bass song for me. I love that. I was seconds away from not putting this on the album. Really? Yeah. This was the one song that-

The one that made the cut? That Feldy was like, dude, if you've ever trusted me in your life, trust me. This is a special song. He's like the day we made it, something special happened. It's like, just trust me on this. He's like, dude, I know you want your choruses to be filled. He's like deep meanings and poetic. He's like, there's something special.

We need to just say one word on the hook. Yeah. You know? And I was like, dude, all right. Like, let's do it. Are you happy you trusted him? I absolutely am. Glad.

My best friend, Machine Gun Kelly, he was like, bro, 90% of the streams that you have on that song are for me. He's like, I listen to that song every single day. He's like, that's one of the best songs you've ever made that's awesome that's got to be a great feeling when like your friend but also like someone that you obviously respect as an artist feels that way about a song you almost didn't include 100 bro and like i'll never forget the day the album dropped having people be like drive drive drive i love this one drive you're like all right you were right so many times like all right bro i'll never

not trust you again man and then the final song in the album much like your last album i feel like you have a pretty personal emotional song to close it yes this one being delusional confidence and another one with some piano on are you playing piano no that was actually this guy named sam preston who is amazing um artist from the uk uh and he we made a whole other song before that that day in the studio and then he was just sitting messing around on piano i was like what is that it's like i love that piano part i can do something with that and um you know like i i i famously listen to the people that listen to me you know i'm not i am an artist that reads the comments i'm an artist that learns from critiques more than i do from compliments so it's like someone's like i love this i love that you do this i love that you do this it's like what do you take from that right you don't really get anything from that

when someone says like you know like I missed when you did this or maybe don't do that like I actually like learn from that you know and like I know that there's people in this world that need deeper messages of inspiration right especially that listen to me like i know that that is a lot of why people listen to me is because they're looking for um a reason to be happy that day or to feel like they're gonna make it through the day or to be inspired to keep chasing their dreams, you know? And a song like Delusional Confidence, I was just like, this song is for the people that have been with me for a long time because I've had a very long career, and a lot of those people have stuck around with me.

And that song is, like, my song for them, you know? Was that part of it throwing it back to like a rap verse ending it kind of like yeah getting an all-encompassing mods yeah career survive yeah that was like the one of the only things that i that i actually physically wrote before getting on the mic like i sat down on my typewriter and i wrote out this wrote on a typewriter yeah yeah 100 and i wrote out this you wrote on a typewriter yeah yeah 100 and i wrote out this long this long vomit of poetry you know and i was like all right like i could sing this or i could just like spoken word this on the end and like that was the last thing i did for the album so that song was done that's cool without that part and as soon as i knew it was gonna be the last song

on the album i was like i know how i want to end it like i knew how i want to start it and then i was like i need something special to end it and i was like let me do this i was like feldy just loop that piano and like just trust me he's like dude the song's done like yeah he's like the song's done you're good at those cinematic endings though because i like internet killed the rock stars a great cinematic ending. Right where it all kicks in. Even both albums kind of loop well. Internet Killed the Rockstar in that dial-up tone, you could just loop right back to the first song.

This one with the God Save the Teen, you could loop right back to Eyelids. Oh, that's hard. Yeah. As an album guy, I'm hitting the thing where I just replay the album right away. That's my dog. I love that. Yeah, so that was my special message to end this album of trying to be like, what is God Save the Teen? You know, like what does that mean?

This is not like me being like, yeah, dude, I'm my son. I'm 36 years old, but I'm still a teen. Like that is not that. You know what I'm saying? You're not, yeah. You're not singing about your a teen. Like, that is not that. You know what I'm saying? You're not, yeah. And like a lot of the, yes, no. And again, being a polarizing artist, like people will see that and be like, man, this dude thinks he's a fucking teen.

It's like, no, that's not what it is at all. You know? Fuck those people. They're not, you know. Yeah. Fuck those people. But hello, if you're out there, like I'll tell you, you know, straight up. Thanks for watching the whole interview.

Yeah. But straight, straight up too. It's just like, it's like, no, like i feel a duty and a purpose to like say something to the the generation coming up after me you know the two generations after me you know well i can't wait to see that generation at the show tonight irving plaza with stand atlantic wow that was a nice outro right yeah yeah thank you for doing this man thank you for breaking down the whole album with me i thought it was really cool getting to see the whole process and everything yeah man thank you for having me i love this i love what you do it's great talking to you last time i was

coming here excited i knew i was gonna be talking to you again and uh you're great at what you do i love y'all both very much thanks for having me oh yeah thanks mod son