My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 316 - ADAM LAZZARA OF TAKING BACK SUNDAY

Episode Date: November 30, 2023

Robbie Fox is joined in the Basement by Adam Lazzara of Taking Back Sunday to discuss the band's latest record '152' track-by-track as well as some of the shenanigans they've gotten into recently, including crashing a fan's wedding and hosting a backyard show for a music video shoot! 3Chi: Use code BASEMENT15 for 15% off your complete order at 3Chi.com! #TakingBackSunday #AdamLazzara ****************************************  Subscribe to My Mom's Basement on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIeZ96PqdsJYQ7DFLRx6MHw My Mom's Basement Merchandise: https://store.barstoolsports.com/collections/my-moms-basementYou 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, ladies and gentlemen. It is Robbie Fox, and I am here with Adam Lazzara from Taking Back Sunday. They just put out 152. It's the first album in seven years. It's an awesome record. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for being here how are you thank you for having me i'm uh doing great man it's like so crazy to hear like seven years like just there's something about that number that like that doesn't feel real to me so and like there's like it's like been uh you know between us like well whenever we say it or we're in a situation like this, and someone says that my first reaction is always like, nah, but yeah, it's been that long.

There was a pandemic years don't count, right? Yeah. Like you gotta don't count those as full years. True, true. There there's man, like I just realized yesterday, like there's like so much that, um, that I feel like I'm still, uh, trying to shake off from that time, you know, just as far as like social interactions and things like that. What a wild thing we went through. Yeah. Well, this album, like I said, it's really great. I feel like the songwriting on it is really great. And I know you were working on it going back to 2019. Was there a conscious effort or decision when you start writing this that you want it to be a little bit different, that you want to have a different approach to this one or no? Well, I think that comes naturally. It's not something we really ever talk about.

Only because like in that. One of the things I'm really proud of with our band is that um i feel like each record is a really great snapshot for who we were then like in that moment in time you know it's kind of like having like that's almost and that's how i track years you know somebody's like oh what was going on during this time i'll have to think back and i'll be like okay it was this record we were these kind of people this is like that whole thing. So with that, and with all that said, with that just kind of comes this natural, because from the time like you get done with a record to the time like you're starting to work on another one or anything like that, there's all these new things that you've been introduced to

through the process. So you can't help but having a different perspective going into the next one. Know what I'm saying? That makes sense. Yeah. But like with this one, there was a definite turning point for us, though, because normally like what happens is like we'll get into the studio, the four of us, and and then we'll just see like who has what idea, whether it be a riff or like a full song or a part. And then normally the first couple times we get together in the studio we're just meandering you're just kind of throwing everything out there like i don't know man here's this i don't know dance hall number i wrote or here's this country

sound it's not you know and and um and then it kind of takes a while to find like or to find the direction you know anytime we've like in the past we have sat down like and said things like you know we need something like it needs to be fast and aggressive and blah blah and then like you get done with like the writing process and you look at everything it's like oh these are all slow and mid-tempo that's not what we set out to do at all so it's like putting that kind of thing on ourselves is something we try to avoid. That's through all that. That's what I was trying to say. Did you feel like you had any new influences come through on this album, whether it's writing, recording, sonically?

Yeah. I think the influence of technology just was a huge thing. I kind of come from this, like when it comes to engineering or recording or anything like that, like I have the way that I was taught was very like you use the computer as minimally as possible. And so I feel like over the years there's been like i've had a lot of personally i've like had a lot of um resistance to like you know check out this plugin or man have you tried this

program or but like things like that and it was kind of like through this process of making one side two was like that flipped my whole world on its head you know like there's because there's things that like we really oh shit we really leaned into the tech and and and uh like not in a way of like you know because we're still prude so we're still like okay we'll use that but here's what we're gonna do we're gonna run it through all these transformers you know and all that but but um so so i think that was kind of the biggest influence there because it was a huge help writing simple things like in the studio now you could be working on something right um and then normally for us like

we'll like work on things and then once it gets to a certain point i like to take a copy of it just wherever it is in that process just once it starts to kind of feel like a song. And then I'll just pop it in headphones and just kind of walk around listening to it and getting my head around it and seeing like, okay, like what, like know, you can do things like they can do, like, you can have a session going, you can bounce it down, and you can airdrop it to somebody's phone. And within like a minute, well, like two or three minutes, depending on the size of the file, or the session, you could have like, you have what you're working on, on your phone immediately. And for years, I was like, that's bullshit doesn't sound good, blah, blah, blah. But it doesn't matter that that shit doesn't sound good and it still does sound good because the technology is great but like because you're just writing to it you know anyways um so that was a huge thing and that really flipped a lot of the the way that i view just kind of capturing sound you know like it's because now man like anything goes and there think about it like we're walking around with little fucking computers in our pockets that's bonkers and it and it has garage band on it you can use logic on your ipad now it's insane anyway do you think any part of you was resistant to use technology in that way because it feels

like there's almost a stigma against it coming up from the scene in which you came up in like feels like if anyone strays too far away from the pop punk or punk or rock sound there's more backlash than in other genres when artists will swap and try new things some so i like think there's a little bit of that in there. I was speaking more just like sonically. If you have a guitar and you record the guitar direct and you're just using some plugins to shape the sound, you can get it there, but nothing beats just a big-ass speaker pushing all that air. And then just because there's literal power you know that science part of it's fascinating

and and and um so i was speaking more about that but i like do you know what you're saying there's like kind of like if you certain elements like like uh i remember in the past when we were kind of still stuck in more of like a closed-minded thing i realize now that it's just like an insecurity fueled rant but but there's like things like um you know like certain synthesizers or certain drum machines or like things like that you know like if you were if you tried to like sneak them in like then whoever else like in in that scene or from that world you know they go on the internet like oh they think they're fucking ba house now or something but like i think it like that that stuff though we try also not to not to listen to very much because we are what we say we are we're the boss of us hell yeah um before we get into jersey then it's bruce

springston that's right yeah i'm a jersey guy myself so respect oh you know yeah um before we get into the album i do want to touch on two moments that you guys had go viral recently the first of which being the backyard show um yeah And a friend of the program's backyard, actually, we had Chris on earlier with King nine. Oh, he's great, man. And it was to shoot the video for sold, right? Mm-hmm. We, so that idea came from our drummer, Mark.

And then like a lot of the, or like for that video and then like a lot of the, or like for that video and then like a lot of the artwork and then like just kind of the spirit behind like the visual we were trying to place with everything was, it came from Mark. You know, because he wanted it to be, or like because the band's from Long Island, you know and and his vision was kind of to really highlight that fact you know because folks there like anytime we play there or anything like that like it like really feels like home you know which is pretty cool for me to say you know i'm from the south and i can like go up to the northeast which to me is like mecca you know and especially grow like grown up and then uh just to be greeted that warmly you know is it pretty incredible so so um so he was bringing that up and then like i don't want to frame it as like if we go to get back to our roots you know it's not that It's just more of just trying to be very clear about who we are

and where we came from. That's why we named the record 152. And then so all the visuals and stuff, we wanted it to be very much focused around Long Island. We filmed a lot of stuff in well the the sold video on uh lyndon hurst and then the um like we filmed out in montauk we wrote the majority of the record in port jefferson which is like i'd never been there look i'd never been like past a certain point on long island and um and or like to go east you know i've been to

montauk once with and so i didn't know that long island looked like that out there like i like i was out there like oh my god guys this is beautiful you know and um even john was saying he's like i've lived on long island all my life i had no idea this was out here. So they, they, yeah. So we just want it to be very just to just kind of, I guess, pay homage to the place that we're from, you know, because if it wasn't for just kind of like how the scene was then when we were coming up and then just and all of that you know like we never like i wouldn't probably wouldn't be sitting here talking to you or the internet so um uh the so when the so when that idea came up

we were trying to figure out the best way to do it and um you know there was like we started with the idea of like okay we'll just find a place and we'll set it up so it looks it and um you know there was like we started with the idea of like okay we'll just find a place and we'll set it up so it looks like a show you know like it um but then that just like you know you can tell when something's real and when something's not and um so we got in touch with our buddy mike dubin and mike has been a great friend of ours. I've known him since I was, I met him when I was like 15. And, um, cause when he was coming down, uh, like he came down with like movie life and silent majority for a tour or something. And, um, so we called him and we were, cause for like a long time we would ask questions, you know,

cause he's kind of keyed in still to what's going on. And, and we would ask questions like, Hey man, is there like a scene? Like where are the shows who's the cool like who's the what are the local bands doing you know things like that and for a long time it didn't feel like there was much of that going on but with chris you know in his place and like that group of guys and like the coil like that band and and then they like they're they've built this thing that is so incredibly similar. And it, and it just feels like, like I was saying earlier, you know, it feels like home. So, so yeah, so they, so they set it up and he let us use his backyard. Great deck.

And then, yeah, we filmed the video there. It was like awesome too, because we didn't do like a huge open invite. Like it was just kind of people that are an active part of just what's happening on Long Island right now. And a lot of that music, a lot of those bands are so great. And so anyways, all that, that's how we ended up with that video. I don't even know, was that your original question? Oh god i'm sorry i'm sorry no don't apologize this is an

interview it's for you to talk you're good all the reality um and then the second moment was crashing a fan's wedding which was i think on album release date how did this come about and stay a secret because obviously the bride and groom were surprised i've never seen two people more surprised than that video dude we were man we were really nervous about the whole thing because we're like okay like look we're gonna do this but we are walking a real thin line because like we're we're we're either gonna enhance their day or totally blow it for them and um you know you don't want to be responsible for ruining anybody's wedding and and um so we uh with that like there was the um bride sammy she reached out to us on instagram and it was just this beautiful message she she was and like

she wasn't asking for anything or like saying anything she's she just um she wrote to us about how we were a big part of their relationship and that she thought it was real amazing that the record was coming out the same day they were getting married and then um we were rehearsing probably about two hours away from where the wedding was at this place in pennsylvania called liddits and um it's this amazing they've built this incredible uh facility out there just for like it's like everything production touring entertainment like that you can do it all there anyway so we were there and it's like two hours from the wedding so um is our manager jillian had gotten in contact with the maid of honor she did some internet sleuthing she's real good at that and then um found the maid of honor got in touch with her and they all set it up and

kept it completely secret from them, which is an amazing feat. Because, you know, like, emotions and things are running high on days like that. A lot of stress. And because you want it to go just right. So to be able to, like, keep that a secret is pretty cool. And, yeah, so, like, we drove there. We got there.

Made of Honor met us outside. They kind of like brought us downstairs into this room. And just another part of the venue. And yeah, like they, I think it was like kind of like after, you know, like right before the reception was starting. And then we just walked. Or she, the Maid of honor gave like a little speech and said that we were there and then you could tell like because i watched the video afterwards too you can tell they kind of look at each other like oh yeah right and then here

we come walking in and look on their faces man oh my god it was so it was just uh just so great and I hope they liked it they seemed like they did and they yeah they were just real nice folks and it was like Harry Potter and that's my shit I love Harry Potter oh that's awesome so like she like reaches out and she has

like a deathly hollows on her arm like oh I got a Harry Potter tattoo too that's what I'm showing youtube and then it was just real real nice day and then afterwards we got to talking to um uh like we got to talking to her mom i think it was and if we didn't have to go dude john and i would have learned some shit from that lady she was telling us all kinds of things. But we had to get going because we had to get back to rehearsal. That's funny. All right, I'd like to get into this album now. It's awesome.

I love the opening track, Amphetamine Smiles. It's like, I love a cinematic opening track for any album. And this is definitely one of those. It feels almost nostalgic. It's interesting about that one because that one took a bunch of different well no it took like two or three different shapes and we were working with um our producer to char and then just kind of he was like piddling with stuff and then and then he just uh he took the drums out entirely like the whole almost first half of the song and then

like right when he did that we were all like immediately like oh i don't know but then as we're listening to it back and we added these strings and and it's like oh my god we've never had anything like this but that's the kind of thing we would always like a song like would be in that form up until like the last second and then we'd be like no we can't do that and so um uh but kind of like when yeah like he took the drums out there so then when they do come in it just feels like everything bursts open you know like someone's fucking kicked in the door and um for us like on most every record maybe with the exception of the first like we like try to start with i mean you know you want to come out of the gate

swinging you know like you come out with like a big riff or something it's a meme and um so this one you know it just starts with the little acoustics bing bing bing bing and then uh we were i remember because john from like like early on john's like yeah this one's gonna start the record and i just remember being like i don't know man like you're gonna start with like an acoustic number like that's crazy he's like yeah but then it burst openable the whole thing i was just saying and um and then when it came time to sequence the record like anything else that i had put in that place just didn't work it didn't feel as good so um yeah so that's why we went with that one to open the record and i like it too because it's um there's like i feel like there's a way to to use um just kind of your standard elements you know bass drums

guitar vocals and things but it's it's it just i love it so much when it's when everything is used to maximum efficiency and i think that song does that especially with how like the full band is introduced and everything there's a couple songs on this record that like burst open and and it has that huge sound almost like an arena rock sound i really like that dang i like that too and that like a lot of that is to char man like working with him because he did like he didn't know like he had no like he wasn't aware of our band so like no preconceived notions or anything and he also hadn't really worked with any bands like i think we were the first one you know he kind of worked more in like this pop kind of electronic world and and that was um such a huge thing for us like

i think even like personally like between the four of us and then just on our own like just being able to work with someone that doesn't already have an idea of like who you are like what you sound like you know or like what you should sound like and so that i like i think so like with the combination of him and us and then approaching and like with the approach for the record he was a huge help like for things like that because there were demos dude we would like bring him in and uh you know he just kind of threw everything at it so it's like everything's turned to 11 the whole song he'd just be like all right and then just take stuff away and then we just started to

notice like yeah yeah it's much better without 14 things happening all the time. And so, yeah, like much to his, he was just, I think, the best choice for us. And it shows in moments like with what you just said. And then Sold comes out swinging. If, you know, the first one didn't sold definitely does kind of like a dancey rock song i would call it there man like the thing with that one was we uh when that one started out like it was like real uh like major-y happy like it almost sounded like uh something like a earlier green day or something and um and then and then again with to to char you know like he opens it up and he starts taking stuff away and then um

that sound like that synth in the beginning um which sounds very i mean uh i thought for the longest time it was a guitar but turns out it's not but live we do it on guitar anyways and and and but that sound like right when we found that i could listen to that on loop all day long like there's just something it does from and um so like once that was there the whole thing took on this entirely different light you know what's real interesting about that too is that i tried to beat the vocals and i couldn't so those vocals are the demo vocals oh wow that's cool yeah crazy right yeah so they sound great yeah yeah i was real surprised because like we probably recorded them at like 1 30 in the morning like like okay let's just do this we'll listen to it

in the morning you know that kind of thing and yeah and that's what's on the record um the one in terms of like sounding huge might sound the biggest on the record to me that chorus when it explodes is just awesome and that's like the definition of that arena rock sound i was referring to that i really like oh man thank you for saying that i i really like this that song because it's like it's it's just like a straight up love song i i remember years ago mark's dad or general mark's dad francis frank saint francis we uh he uh mark was telling us about this conversation he was having with his dad and and uh and his dad's like

how come you guys like don't ever write like everything's so negative like what's the deal and then for uh like i never really thought about it but i always love the juxtaposition of something like it's really dangerous but also really cute you know or like or like just the polar opposites coming together and then and then so i think that's why but then i guess just as like a human it's it's it's so much easier to just go straight to like this makes me upset or fuck you man like that kind of thing but there's like a straight up love song and like um it's just not something we normally do and then so like to have it be like this kind of like um just kind of i mean you know like warm fuzzies and and then but also have it to like

hit that or that thing you were describing is like makes me really proud of us i really i remember when we first recorded that chorus being like well it's like it's really simple like should we add more like should should something else be going on you know like this whole thing we went back and forth a lot but every time we listen to it it's like no this is the we're on to something so i'm really happy with that one too and i'm happy with all of them though i'm gonna say that about every song we should be um keep going the production on this one i think is really cool and really interesting out of the whole record was there a song that was the hardest to get right the way that you guys wanted it uh you know it was probably

this one specifically we went back and forth about this one so many times and it was a big point of contention um because originally i didn't i wasn't into it because i thought it was too much like you know like too much like uh just something we'd already done before but then kind of like when i got a little bit of time away from it and then went back to listen to it it like like i like started to see that to see what it had to offer for the record that was the last one to come about too mark wrote that on his phone on garage band and then so he um because we needed something like we wanted to have another something that was like upbeat like real forward moving and he's like oh i have this idea and um you know so then we bring it uh open up the idea

and and then start to replace elements with like real shit, you know? And, and then mold it from there. And then I remember too, John had, cause Mark had sent it to John first. And then, so John had written this thing for it. Or like he had like the verses and they were like the whole thing he was trying to do. Like, he like sent it to me, like a rough version of it. And he's like, my idea is I want to see like how much we can fit in there. And cause my first reaction was like, John, this is like the wordiest.

And what do you do? It was great though. Like all like fantastic lyrically, but it was just so much. then so for me like i spent the next bit just like trying to take stuff away like to like to make it to where it wasn't just so wordy and and um yeah i'm really happy with how that how that came out there was um um there's this percussion thing that to char added that um you can hear in the beginning and at the end of that song there's a victory lap we call it the victory lap it's like the song in but then it comes back in like oh we're not done you know um it's the the joke we make is that this thing of like man it's just over and i still want to hear it

and we're like well let's just keep playing and so anyways the the um yeah there's like this progressive part and then like how we got to that is just this incredible or like just how his mind works with all that and like how to get to things like that because that sound started out as something completely different and like arpeggiated and then he just shaped it and shaped it and shaped it until it came out it almost sounds like like wood blocks or something you know um but anyway something uh yeah so let's keep going uh so let's keep going uh and i did that yeah i am the only one who knows you this is another one that has a great build is this one where the drums were taken out in the first half of the song

and you realized it was better this one had a had a whole different um like the verse like the main verse part was entirely different um it was more kind of like a palm mutie thing like jing jing jing jing jing and then we were sitting listening to it and oh no we didn't have a chorus you know that like really worked lyrically and um so then when we stumbled across the um i'm the only one who knows you part um and that kind of gave the whole song like this different feel. So then like as we were listening back, we're like, man, now the verses don't really fit. And we're thinking like, do we change the chorus again?

It was very strong. And then I thought of this, you know, that Christopher Cross song, Sailing. Sailing. I thought of this, you know, that Christopher Cross song sailing, sailing takes me. So Mark also loves that song. And then we were like, yo, what if we came up with the part that was similar to that sailing song that Christopher Cross had? The thing about that Christopher Cross song is like,

that's like the memory I have associated with it is like, just very, like a very, very powerful, very strong. And then, so it's like, just been a real special song for me since I was a little kid.

And so, and the same thing with Mark, just a different set of circumstances. And so then yeah like so john found that on the guitar and then it was just kind of like that's when the song like finally came together you know we're like to where we we were like yes we have a song now but uh yeah all inspired by christopher cross christopher cross is a great example of video killed the radio star also if you want to look into that something to do yeah yeah Yeah, all inspired by Christopher Cross. Christopher Cross is a great example of Video Killed the Radio Star.

Also, if you want to look into that. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Then Quit Trying. I'm a bass player, so I love a bass-driven song like this. Very heavy bass, like real cool. Yeah, dude. Like mean.

It just had to be mean. So that one we wrote on a day off in arizona um we had a day off from tour and uh um our buddies uh are in a band called the main and they have they're from phoenix and they have this house crazy story and it's kind of like the dream you know it's like their headquarters and um yeah they have a studio in there so we went there on the day off and it's kind of like the dream you know it's like their headquarters and um yeah they have a studio in there so we went there on the day off and it's the first song that um so for years our buddy nathan cogan post has been playing with us live um and uh it was the first time that we went into the studio with him. Cause like so often during soundcheck, he'll just be like piddling away, you know? And then like one of us will be like, Oh my God, can you play that thing you just played? And then somebody else will hop in.

And then like these ideas, they're gone. So we were like, well, we have this day off. Like, let's do that. What we do at soundcheck just at the mains house and and we did and quit trying is what came out of that that's awesome yeah that was another one too that we weren't sure about that chorus because i was like man there's just so much space in here which felt so nice because normally i'm like just gonna set up all the all the things you know and you know? And I love the space that's in the song. But then, yeah, like when you mentioned the bass, you know, like Sean Cooper,

like there's so many parts on this record to where I would be like in the next room and I would just hear what was happening and I'd have to go run into the control room like, holy shit, what is he playing right now? Like he really, like I think if you listen to tidal wave and our last record and you listen to 152 our new record and if you just sit and are just listening to the bass there's amazing things in both but you could hear like this like uh it's like, like coming alive or like blasts and whatever the fuck.

And I just love his playing on this record. And yeah, but the thing with Quit Trying was that song is like mood, vibe, you know, and so it had to be me, big and fat. And that's what he did and then light bringer i feel like you really shine on vocals here and the background vocals go so well together this one's like a very vocal showcase i think oh thanks for saying that i haven't thought about that one like that but now that you say it it does make sense because it's like because the instrumentation is very minimal yeah like a certain point because you know it wasn't until we were really rehearsing it to where i was like oh man there is not a whole lot going on this is great yeah or or there's because i feel like as the years go on like it's

that space you know it's kind of like the um you know or like with theater or like something about that or like comedy or like like there's all like it's all in the timing and the space between and that um and that's something that we um experimented with a lot more on this record that i think and i'm really happy with how it came out um oh no go ahead oh no well it's like funny because at like a certain point the um you know the uh the light bringer light was we were just referring to it as the hanley because it's like it has a lot of don Henley in it I have this older I have this uh Ford Bronco um because like you know I um when I was a kid it was like the car and um but it still has the cassette player in it and um I have like uh two Don Henley cassettes I have Joe Cocker like greatest hits I have like two Don Henley cassettes. I have Joe Cocker, like greatest hits.

I have like Tom Petty. So like these, and I was listening to a lot of that in the Bronco. And then that's one to where I can hear it and be like, okay, I know I was driving the Bronco a lot during that time because it sounds a lot like Don Henley. That's funny. How do the cassettes hold up? Do they still sound good?

Well, I mean, as good as the cassette's going to sound. There's but great. There's something really nice about it. I don't think it's too steeped in nostalgia for me, though there is like a big, that plays a big role in it. But I think it's more with the cassettes in the car is that you like fast forwarding to the next song is a big pain in the ass.

So then you end up spending time with things, you know, and then, cause there's songs normally or like on my phone or like anything like that. It's just so easy just bam skip and then but with this like there's things that there's things in all of these different records or cassettes that i'm noticing that i hadn't even really picked up on before like uh like full moon fever by tom petty you know that's one of my favorite records of all times has been for years and there's stuff on there that like i wasn't even um paying like didn't even really notice but from listening to it in the car like that that it's like i'm picking

up on a lot of this different stuff so it's kind of like um taking something that's been in the world for a while and um making it new you know i like that and then new music friday another huge sounding like rock song so that one was the first one kind of like when that one came together so like um with working with tashar so we did a song with stevie okey and that's how we met to shark as he was the engineer and producer that came to do um or to work on that song and so we met him that day and uh after working with him and just kind of seeing how the the way that those guys work because it's it's it um it's like maximum efficiency with those guys and uh just because they're so busy they're doing so much and and um so that

like really just kind of rocked our world you know and so we were like man we should try to work with to char again and new music friday that's the first song that um aside from the song that we like came in like hey man what do you hear on this and then so kind of when that came together it was like we knew it was going to work yeah it's nice um juice to me um i love the music like mostly dropping out for the first run of the choruses in this one really cool choice there and then a cool outro too like a kind of experimental type sound on the outro yeah the the outro dude the drumming on that outro so sick because it's like um like uh ringo ringo i was gonna say beatlesy i swear yeah yeah dude like real like wham bam kind of fills with space in them

see the space and um so yeah that whole that was um it was a lot of back and forth to not have that ending be like 15 minutes long we had to like have like a come to jesus moment like all right guys like for real like all right no drop the 15 minute version it'll be your version of all too well right oh man that would be sick you know what live i think we're just gonna start doing that because yeah because we can't we do it so so the the uh yeah but that ending ending feels really great. And that thing in the beginning of the song, too, that... I have this pedal from Earthquaker Devices

called the Arpanoid. And it's basically just an arpeggiator pedal. You know, like you can plug into it and it'll arpeggiate whatever you put into it. And it has a bunch of different patterns. So I brought it into the studio when we were in Long Island writing. And then so John was messing with it and then came up with that part. And then he took the part and then went into Pro Tools and he was messing with it there.

And then so, and then the end thing that he ended up coming up with, that's another thing to where we went through and tried to, like, recreate it, you know. And anything we tried, it just didn't feel, it just didn't have the same like there's a certain feeling that comes along with that little piece right there so we ended up just sampling the thing that john made you know and uh and having it run in the beginning and then it like kind of comes in and out throughout the song um but it but i think that having that part there that like weird arpeggiated thing kind of helped to inform the ending which is like the second victory lap on the record i guess and because um just because there was something about like that and just because it's coming out of left field for us that that i think once we knew we were keeping that and we were going to sample it that that that was like all bets were off you know and that's how we came i think what made the ending

okay originally with us because you know if you get us in a room and are just like okay just play then we'll end up doing something like that ending for much longer than we should and we'll be having the best time in the world um so anyways that's where that came from that was another long answer i apologize don't apologize you're fine um and then the stranger the final song in the album one of my favorite songs in the album to be honest the drums the production um the like stomping chorus it's it's awesome and the uh don't you treat me like a stranger like that line delivered so well really good ending to the album oh damn thank you for saying that man thank you there there's uh

that one is is um or like when i'm going through all the songs on the record, you know, like if someone's like, oh, what's your favorite one? And it always comes back to that one because there's something, there's some magic in there. You know what's crazy about that one too is, same thing, demo vocals. Because it was, like I couldn't top it. There was like a certain vibe that was in there uh that i just we couldn't recreate the whole thing so we're like well we're just gonna keep this it sounds good and then with the exception of the stranger line that came later um when i was when we were trying

to redo the vocals and then um the only thing that came from however many hours we spent trying to redo the vocals was that was that thing I really like that part too and the thing that I like about it is it like sounds like you should have a toothpick in your mouth

like just making a stinky face you know and I like anything that's gonna immediately like put me into like or just like uh anything that immediately like it feels like it's changing like my internal makeup you know like the way that um is it well i think that's where the magic is i guess is what i'm trying to say. And that song has a lot of that, I think. So there you have it.

That's the whole album. I urge everyone to go check it out. And I have one more question for you. I ask this to every musician or artist that comes on the show. Noel Gallagher from Oasis once said that he summed up everything he ever wanted to say in his musical career in his life with three songs live forever cigarettes and alcohol and rock and roll star do you have three songs that you feel sum up everything you've ever wanted to say no no i don't you don't if i well if you already summed up

everything you wanted to say then what's he doing with those flying birds you know well yeah still gotta make his experimental stuff you know yeah true there there's um the thing i like about the gallery brothers is that like they like they they are not shy about saying exactly what they think at any given time no matter what and that is not something i'm ever really comfortable with so i really like that they're into that and that they're able to do it but but um no with us i don't think that i think that i could um there's ones that sum up kind of periods, chapters, if you would, of like different parts of my life, you know. But not, no, not like an overarching thing. things i think that i come across like in my day-to-day is that i'm trying to um figure out a way to get it out that feels um uh like in like in a way that um that i feel like uh other people could understand it you know like just like yeah

organizing and micromanaging words and things like that which i love doing but it's very hard sometimes to like be accurate and to and to really like get to the part of it and i think that's just with every record or every song or anything you know the notebooks in my pocket like it's like that's that's like one of the two main things i'm always chasing so i think i would be really scared if i ever um hopefully like when when it's coming to like that final chapter in my life's coming to a close, then like by then I would have done it. I've been trying because I've been trying for so long. But hopefully that won't be for,

for a real long time because there's nothing else I really want to do other than that. So I feel like if I got to a place to where I could sum up all, like all the things then it'd be time to like figure out something new to do with myself and how and that would be that seems like maybe it could be exciting but also seems like a little sad to me because it's like there's still so much more to learn and explore with what we're doing now that um that i wouldn't want that to i hope there's not a finish line for that i guess that's what i'm saying i respect that um and thank you for the time to doing this

interview today you've got the ninth annual holiday spectacular next month you're doing it and at starland ballroom two of my favorite venues to go to growing up in this area dude it's crazy like mall cahey's used to be like a much different place uh and and there's they've done such a wonderful job there and they're just the nicest folks same as same as starland like it's just like um we've been so fortunate to where like there's places or these certain places you know that like there's um you know you're always looking for your people and i feel like we found it in those places you know like it's it's so we're really happy to be able to go back there it'll be two days yes two days on long island and then two days in jersey. Yeah. So check them out. Going to be awesome shows.

A band we mentioned earlier, Koyo, they're on the shows. Awesome. Bill on all the shows. So check them out. And again, thank you for doing the show. Appreciate it. Yeah, man. Thank you for taking the time.

I hope the rest of your day is wonderful. You too.