Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin - Tim DeLaughter of The Polyphonic Spree

Episode Date: December 6, 2023

Tim DeLaughter is an Emmy nominated singer, songwriter, performer, and producer of the musical group The Polyphonic Spree. Formed in 2000 following a period of heartbreak, confusion, and uncertainty ...as his original band Tripping Daisy fell apart in 1999, Tim started over again. Accompanied by 23 other collaborators, draped in robes, and drunk on the natural exuberance of a new chapter, he introduced The Polyphonic Spree with the now-classic 2002 debut, The Beginning Stages of… The signature “Light & Day/ Reach for the Sun” surged through popular culture for two decades, appearing everywhere from the Academy Award-winning 2004 classic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to a 2017 episode of Girlboss.  Along the way, the band released several albums, including Together We’re Heavy (2004), The Fragile Army (2007), Yes It’s True (2013), and Psychphonic (2014). And in 2023, they embark on their next season with their full-length offering, Salvage Enterprise. Salvage Enterprise physical records CD’s Cassettes: goodrecordstogo.com

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Tecrogrammated. It's so weird because in tripping daisy, I was thinking about the polyphonic spree. Like later in my life, this would be something I'd do. This is like, and this is an old man's band that I would do. I would like create this sound and this is what I want to do. And that would be what would happen. Tell me from the beginning, what was the idea? You know, tripping days, you were at the,
Starting point is 00:00:48 towards there at the end, we were, we were an experimental kind of psychedelic rock band, pop band, but very much kind of experimental in our sounds. And I think a lot of that was birthed out of wanting to hear symphonic instruments and other things. So you do, you take these other instruments as far as you can and you manipulate and you make them what they are. It started back then, that's when I was like, wow, I wish we had a flute here. You know,
Starting point is 00:01:15 wish we had strings this part, I wish we had this, but not having it at our toolkit. That's where it kind of started. And then I was like, man, what would it be like if I had 10 people singing that kind of, what if those was like, man, what would it be like if I had 10 people singing that current? What if those harmonies are coming through? And then you've got all this texture with instruments that can almost tell a story on their own if they're just played by themselves. Similar to the Walt Disney Storybook records,
Starting point is 00:01:39 I used to get as a kid, another big influence. So that's when it'd start thinking about it, but then I'm like, okay Tim, you're about to go back into music again, what's it gonna be? And I would hear these songs that I was writing and thinking that maybe it's time to do this that was gonna come much later.
Starting point is 00:02:00 And so I kind of started talking about it. How do you write the songs? Do you play guitar? I play guitar guitar and piano. And I'm not very good at either one of them, but there are tools for me. I use them to song right on. And I can navigate pretty well on it,
Starting point is 00:02:17 but I'm not a very accomplished guitar player or piano player. But I would have these songs that, you know, were finished songs arranged and I could hear what would be nice to have there. And do you remember what any of the first songs you wrote were for Paulie Pannins-Rieke? Yeah, well, all the songs that you hear on beginning stages were the best.
Starting point is 00:02:39 Maybe I could be a guitar and you can play me one. If you're up for it, do you want to do it? Oh, remember to play them? Oh, chase. What's the experiment or a play him? Oh, Jesus. Experimental. Really? Oh my gosh.
Starting point is 00:02:49 I'm curious to see where. Oh no, I just told you I'm not very accomplished. No, no, no, no, it's not about being good. It's about I want to see the process of getting there. Okay. I just want to see how you found it. Like what? Wow.
Starting point is 00:03:00 Okay. Okay, I'm off this That's just how it started I was just messing with it like this. This is light and day. And see, I'm only using one string and because I'm not accomplished in the way that I'd make chords, I would do things that were different than other people. You found a simple way to make the sound that you wanted to hear. Exactly. So I do it. I'm playing just playing three strings, but for me, I could find something in that. I know it would promote a melody. Just like, but it's so simple and so I can hear things that I want to get out of. 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc
Starting point is 00:04:46 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc
Starting point is 00:05:02 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc
Starting point is 00:05:18 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc So, so beautiful, so much emotion in it though. It's not, does it have to be hard to play for it to be good, you know? No, well I just do what I can, I find, I've found my world that I play in and it's really only three strings. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:49 And occasionally a fourth string and I... And then you would sing along to it melodically without words first, typically? No, with words like, and that's how I write is, I sleep with the guitar by my head. I don't play it that often, but I have a real interesting way of my life as a brighter and musician and all that, and then my life is a father and living in the everyday life. There are kind of two separate things for me. And the guitar is something I'll pick up like just like you painted it to me and I started playing this.
Starting point is 00:06:30 And it either promotes something or it doesn't. Sometimes I'll just go, and it doesn't really happen, I'll just set it down. It's really just like that. And sometimes I pick it up and then I'll close my eyes and I'll just start singing. And I see where I'm at and I sing it and it's all coming out and I'm just playing it. And maybe I get to a verse and a chorus and then just kind of ends. And if I'm recording at the time, then I've got a little snapshot of that and then just kind of ends. And if I'm recording at the time, then
Starting point is 00:07:05 I've got a little snapshot of that and I just stock it away. And that's how it was with this particular record with salvage enterprise. I would have these little moments where I dip my toe and the muse and if it's there, great, and I've pulled something out of it, I'll go, oh God, that was good. You know, I'll feel it, like really feel it. And I'm like, it's almost, it's like discovering something that you like, you hope that you find that place. The best feeling. Isn't it?
Starting point is 00:07:36 It's the best feeling. It's just the best feeling. And it's so magical, because it comes from the blue. You know, it's not there, and then it's there, and you can't believe it. I know, it's so there and then it's there and you can't believe it. I know, it's so, it's, it's what, I love it. That's the best part about life is that you get to discover, have those moments. They're so special when they happen and I had some of those things happen and I would
Starting point is 00:08:00 just put them aside, didn't really feel like going back and working on them so I just knew they were there. And then there was a time, a long period of time where I'd pick it up and nothing would happen. Life, the chaos had taken over. My life was, you know, I've been in a depression and it was tough, you know, everything just kind of turned off for a long time. You think it has to do with outside forces
Starting point is 00:08:28 that impact whether or not you can get there or not? Yeah, I do. I think it has a lot to do with all that, you know. Everything that's around you, everything that you take in, you're, it's a tricky tightrope when you get into that space of falling, you know, down into that world and Even when you know like I know because I know my heart that you can always make it out of that I know that but even when you're in it sometimes it's it's hard to to find it and
Starting point is 00:09:01 I was in that space for quite some time and it affected everyone around me and it was it was rough COVID happened and Okay, here we are now. It's it's really strange and After living in this space and not being able to write songs and I'm thinking is over I think I guess I'm done Man, that's my well is finished. I don't have anything else to give even the ones that I'd liked and I listened to they were really great I loved them, but it's just nothing was happening for it was like a big void. It's horrible place to be and I
Starting point is 00:09:42 I decided to I have a rehearsal space triplex and decided to have a rehearsal space, triplex, and decided to go there and by myself and just kind of learn how to record. So I bought a logic. I've never been an engineer, I'm not very good with the technical side of stuff. I've always had people around me that can help me get there. And I decided, fuck this, I'm going to learn how to do logic and record.
Starting point is 00:10:12 So in the process of learning it, which is really hard for me because I don't have a brain for that kind of stuff, I'm ADHD is kind of all over the place. But I was able to do that. But in the process of learning how to record, I had to record something. So, I'm by myself, and I'm picking guitar, and low and behold, something starts happening where I'm like, oh my God, and I'm also recording, and I'm getting this good recording.
Starting point is 00:10:42 And I'm like, shit, man, here we go. And I'm in it. And I wrote four songs rather quickly, like then five, six days. And I hadn't experienced anything like that in some years. So it was like, and I'm listening to these things. And it's a world of places I've never been before musically for me. Melodically, you know, it's like, Melody's such a love melody, but you tend to have your
Starting point is 00:11:15 melody that your tool belt, gravity, melody that you kind of got in your head. And you kind of, you know, where you know, it's like a weird thing that you've got. It's almost like you're, you're sound or whatever. This was me singing stuff that I'd never touching melodies and ways that I'd never done before. And lyrically, it was where I was at and I'm, and I'm trying to come out of where I'm at with my stories and things that I'm just improvising. I'm actually coming through the process of where I'm at and growing out of it while I'm making this record by myself. I'm doing this stuff and it was like holy shit. I wrote forth Galloping Seas, which is the first song on the record. And it just started unfold and I'm like, and then give me everything was a song that just
Starting point is 00:12:15 kind of came out. And these words was, I'm experiencing where I'm at. And then I'm experiencing work in my way through this, through lyrics, you know, through the vision of the song, and it just happened. And it was like, then I was like getting my strength back again. It's like, I'm like, oh my God, okay, here we go. And then I'm like, I'm going back to these songs that I had sucked away. And then coming and finding out that they're in the same world as this. And then it was like, oh my God, you know, it was, it was pretty amazing with Julie started skimming through these songs and listening to them and she's like, this is great, this one's good and this one, and we're listening like, this is great.
Starting point is 00:12:59 So I'd go back and craft the lyrics more to where I could finish the songs and it came out and as a body of work, it was like holy shit. It was something that like I said, it started in the process of where I whole hell low I was and trying to get some place that I knew was there and then hearing the process of that happening for me was overwhelming you know and being at my age and like holy fuck man. It sounds really healing. It sounds like the music healed you. It did. It did exactly that and that's what is so amazing about that process of music and that in general
Starting point is 00:13:43 of what we're capable of which I've always known this stuff I've known this But when you experience that and to be able to have it recorded and be able to to make that record That's this is such a special special Man, it's I can't say enough about it. I know people say that about their stuff Can we listen can we listen to the first song together? Sure. Great.
Starting point is 00:14:08 Do you have it? Do you want to play it off your phone? Sure. I'm going to do a little bit of the times evacuation causes light to breathe. To breathe, resting parts provide the food we need. Plow the fields we've got some truth to see. Swinging ladders on the ship, counting millions on the cliffs, decide If calculations make the news exist I'm the wind, stretch the linens quick I'm gone through the galloping seas Hold your head high in the storm The storm, what you lost, it seems you left me for
Starting point is 00:16:18 Hold on, through the galloping seas They'll come around, they'll come around Hold your head high in the storm What you lost in seems you left before The shyness runs away Through the sea The sea, the screens, fall upon the ocean floor, the waves collide with the fears. We survived the sun makes it clear that we know on our own. Can't be Ready again Hold yourself above the storm, keep the faith you're getting warm again. You're on your way. Hold yourself above the storm, keep the faith You're getting more each day
Starting point is 00:18:08 You're on your way Hold yourself above the storm Keep the faith, you're getting more again Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Hold yourself above the storm Leave yourself above the wave Hold yourself above the storm Leave yourself above the wind Hold yourself above the storm Keep yourself above the wind Hold yourself above the storm, leave yourself above the waves How did you find You've turned around
Starting point is 00:20:32 How I'm feeling Thank you. So how did that one come about just in those first days? So there's kids at the beginning at the outro course and then they slowly get older towards the end and you hear everybody. That's the idea. We all go through it, the kids are hearing it first and saying to themselves, hold yourself above the storm, keep the faith and then slacking, and then the next course gets a little bit older,
Starting point is 00:20:55 and then older, then we have older people, and then it's everybody. It's just, I love it. Yeah. This away that you use repetition in songs that really speaks to me. I think back to the The together where heavy album which I listen to a million times. Wow. Yeah a million times. I love that album. Wow and There are some songs that you know could be a long 678-minute song that might have four lines. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:21:30 Repeated over and over. It's almost like through the repetition, it builds and changes and the story unfolds, even though the words aren't changing. Yeah. It's an amazing thing. Wow. I've never really thought about it, you know, but a lot of the words and the lyrics are born out of improvisation. And I feel like the natural cadence that comes out of something so improvised tends to be more fluid like
Starting point is 00:22:03 and we're a part of the music. It wants to be repeated and it works. As opposed to having this and I need to write this reoccurring theme and try to make this lyric work, I don't know. I'm just kind of like thinking outside like what makes that happen. The majority of the writing happens on a subconscious level. Oh, without a debt. Yeah, all of it pretty much.
Starting point is 00:22:31 All of it pretty much. I mean, yeah, it's all kind of, and then, you know, the basic core of the lyrical ideas there, and of course, I'll go back and I'll flesh it out, but the actual melody of verse chorus or the the core of it is completely improvised. The music, the melody, and it all happens at the same time. That's what I was saying. It's either I stick my toe in, it's going to be there or it's not going to be there. I don't wear my band hat and my music on me at all times. I don't live with holding a guitar and playing it. I'm not that guy. I have this ability to dip in. If it's there, I have the ability to let it channel and I kind of just go with it.
Starting point is 00:23:16 Did you have the name Polyphonic Spreem from the beginning? That's an interesting, he's a funny story. No, I needed a name. I put this band together with my wife and Chris and friends and family in three weeks. The original polyphonic spree. They basically forced me to, and that tends to be a lot of a reoccurring theme. I actually gonna be pushed out there to make it happen. And they said, you've got three weeks to get this together. I've booked you an opening act with Granddaddy at the Gypsy T-Room. And so I'm like, in bride-highs. And I had three weeks. So I started going to family members and friends that, you know, I knew that
Starting point is 00:24:01 they played symphonic, you know, played strings. Do you know anybody that does this? I'm looking for this and you have to be able to improvise. So you had already made the first album at that point? Yeah, I've made the first album and probably completed the first album a couple weeks prior to this. I had enough songs to do a show, which was about nine songs. What you hear on beginning stages was our first set. And that record was a demo. It wasn't
Starting point is 00:24:26 meant to be, spent five grand on that, it Dallas Sound Lab that I had some money, you know, left over, and we borrowed from a friend, and we went in and made this record. And it was meant to be a demo to try to get a deal and try to find... To make a real record. To make a real record. Right. And, you know, it turned out that I needed the record to get gigs and do this and that to explain to people because they were like, what you've got 20-something people, that's fucking nightmare. What are you talking about? LMNT. Element electrolytes. Have you ever felt dehydrated after an intense workout?
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Starting point is 00:26:41 So tell me about that. Who were the 28 people? So there were friends and family. My niece was 14. Andrew was 16. Who played with the French? Was it anyone who you knew who could play anything? I didn't know any of the symphonic players. I knew the rock people. My bass player, Mark Piril, was in the spree and Brian Wakelin was playing the drums from tripping Daisy. And then going out to find that symphonic people was the biggest challenge because I didn't know anybody. It wasn't in that world, it was from the rock world.
Starting point is 00:27:16 And I would go this dude that was playing at the mall, it was playing shallow, it was like, would you like to, you know, I didn't know, you know, I lived, you know, 40 minutes from U and T, North Texas, which is a huge music school, but I didn't think anything about it. It's got, you know, amazing musicians, which a lot of them, inadvertently, became spring members. But I was just going to anybody to get, do you, the play?
Starting point is 00:27:43 And that's when I also realized was that just because they play those instruments doesn't mean everybody improvises. I thought everybody that played an instrument can improvise and that's not a very common thing especially people that are classically trained they read music and they play to charts and things like that. And when you when I would find people like do you improvise they're like well I don't know if I can do it. What do you mean? I'm like well um I'm just gonna play something and then I just want you to play along with me just fall in the middle. Whatever feels good. Just play. And I found a couple people that had never done
Starting point is 00:28:24 that before and they had this thing like, oh my God, I didn't know I could do that, just real, real proper, you know? It's like they just stumbled on something and I was like, that's it, that's all it is. And that's great, you'll work, this is fine. I'm like, oh good, okay, cool.
Starting point is 00:28:41 And so that's basically how the band was built. There was 12 people in the choir, and it was just- How'd you get the choir members? like, oh good, okay, cool. And so that's basically how the band was built. There was 12 people in the choir, and it was just- How'd you get the choir members? It was all people, friends, and family, do you sing? Can you hold a note? I didn't really care. It's like it just wasn't looking for professional.
Starting point is 00:28:56 You were looking for the energy of a bunch of people singing together. Yeah, exactly. And just kind of like doing my best, also we're talking like three weeks to form the polyphonic spree, which is a task, you know, but it was done. And you know, it was that first group was so it was so special. It's something else I learned about the community of that many people playing music on stage and live performance. There's a whole other aspect that I never thought about. And originally I wasn't even going to be in the band.
Starting point is 00:29:28 It was my idea was to put it together. I was going to be in the audience, watch it, you know, maybe somewhat conductive hand signals here and there. But I just wanted to hear the sound. I wanted to experience this thing I've been thinking about. But in order to express the songs, the dynamics of the songs, the dynamics of the songs, the emotion of the song, I found that I had to be ultimately had to be a part of it. So I was playing a tar in the beginning of polyphonic spree and eventually I ended it over to someone else because my old self kicked in and it's like, I need to be expressive, I need to like engage with these people. This guitar is holding me back. Like I said, it's just a tool to write.
Starting point is 00:30:08 I don't use it to perform and play and all that. And so that's where it happened, but that feeling that you get with that community of different human beings playing music, some that have only been air-tromboning in their bedroom or air-violeting in their room. and you know now in a rock band on stage playing for the first time and it was there was nothing like it that feeling that I wasn't even thinking about you know I'm thinking about the music well what about this
Starting point is 00:30:38 whole other spiritual side that happens when human beings get together and all land on the same page, and they're all like, we're all in the current together playing this music, and then they're dealing with their own feedback that they're getting from it, and that gets like kind of addictive, and you want to be kinetic, and all of a sudden you're just this force. And it wasn't even, it's just like, that's where it came about. It was like, my God, what, where there just something else going on here. It's much more than the music.
Starting point is 00:31:08 There's something that's being conveyed and people picked up on it. But... What did it feel like the first show? Tell me about the first show. Well, it was partly I was nerve-wracking, because I was like I'm playing the song's live and it's the first time and it is so different what we were doing.
Starting point is 00:31:25 We're wearing white robes and- Tell me about the robes. Well there again, it was, you know, my deal was to, I knew I wanted to close the band because I thought the street clothes of 20 something, people will be way too distracting. And people are so like quick to judge and some people up by what they're wearing
Starting point is 00:31:43 and see this and that. It's just, I wanted to spell that. I neutralize everybody. Totally. I thought if we could cover the band and I thought the Rose would be the cover from head to toe, it's something inexpensive. We can achieve that. You know, puts me in a hurry.
Starting point is 00:31:59 And something choir's due. It's like it's a... Exactly. You know? Driving true method. Yeah, I was an image I saw too. And it's like I just see this beautiful image. But at the same time, it's like we're so we're white and I can project images on it. So the first show we were projecting
Starting point is 00:32:13 images on the band. And it was more of my my love of film and art and texture being shot on us. And ultimately that kind of faded away because the band became the visual and became all you needed, you know. But that's where it happened. And how do you audience response? They freaked out. I think they were like, what the fuck is this? I know they were. And then it's kind of something that you know at the end they they locked it was really well received and It was special because it's like I didn't let anybody know in the industry or anywhere that I had previous band tripping days is purposefully I kind of alienated everybody my fan base and everything from tripping days
Starting point is 00:33:02 He no one knew I was doing this I didn't mention that band to one knew I was doing this. I didn't mention that band to anybody when I was trying to get gigs. That was another reason why I was using the music and the merit of that trying to get me in there. I didn't want to use previous, one of this thing to be on its own. It wasn't very smart because I alienated a whole fan base of tripping days. A lot of them don't like the spree and a lot of them came along and did and a lot of them discovered it later. But it's, I kind of just, it was my way of, I wanted this to have its own fresh start.
Starting point is 00:33:34 Fresh start. I wanted to have its own things, own identity. And so I think a lot of people were confused, gets head-known me from tripping days, and now they're seeing me do this thing. This weird, cultish band of robes on, but to me it felt so new and special. It's coming out of a post-grunge world, nothing like that was going on. To me, I thought, this is such a beautiful image, and the music's beautiful, and I'm so glad I'm in this band and it just I just kind of worked that out.
Starting point is 00:34:09 It's a very emotional story. Yeah, the spree is a very special band, you know, it really is. I'm so fortunate to have the people that I've had around me that decided to jump in and be a part of this thing. What happened next? Well, we played shows in Austin and did what we could. We played Southbyes. We didn't make Southbyes South West the first time. The second time, we got one show and they had us opening the keynote speech in the banquet room at 8 o'clock in the morning.
Starting point is 00:34:49 Okay. It's Robbie Robertson's keynote speech. So we get, we're like, fuck it, we'll take whatever we can get. it's super early. We're literally in a banquet room with fluorescent lights. It's this big, it's the worst possible place you could possibly be in to play music. It just screams, it's sterile and not cool and it's not good. But we're like, man, I'm just talking to everybody. This is our thing, we can just turn this into our,
Starting point is 00:35:25 let's just rock these people and take them, take them with us and give them a little ride. So, a guy went fired up and we go out there and we just do this thing. And it was kind of like that same deal where we finished and there was silence and then the place erupted and everybody was standing up and just going nuts. And this guy runs up to me and he goes, I'm John Parallels with the New York Times. You realize what you just did? And I said, what? And he goes, you've got every journalist in the country
Starting point is 00:36:00 in here on their feet. Because that's David Frick over there. And I'm like, he's pointing out all these different people out. He goes, look at this. I'm like, I had no idea. I thought they were just like industry people, but it turned out to be a whole room of every journalist because they were there for Robbie Robertson's keynote speech.
Starting point is 00:36:19 So they just immediately blitzed it out to everybody, and then we started getting gigs. We played nine shows at that South by Southwest. Wow. Word got out, and so we were playing in people's yards, we were playing a restaurant, we were playing in record stores at Waterloo. They just everyone kind of wanted to have us,
Starting point is 00:36:35 and so it just kind of happened. And at that time, that was in 2002, bands weren't playing multiple like they do now. They did it, everyone does do now. They do it. Everyone does it now. But back then, you were hopefully had one that we played eight to nine of them. And it was just, and the plyphonic spree going through Austin, South by Southwest, with all those instruments and all of us getting navigating.
Starting point is 00:36:58 You know what that place is like? We made a huge splash at that South by Southwest. It was, It was amazing. So back to that gig, you know, what seemed like to be the worst situation for something to happen and grow turned out to be the best thing that could have ever happened for us. Because in every newspaper the next day,
Starting point is 00:37:19 they were talking about the polyphonic spree right there with Robbie Robertson all over the country. It was just like unbelievable. You couldn't believe it. And then from after that, like two weeks later, you get a phone call from someone in David Bowie's camp who David Bowie wanted us to come to the UK to play his Royal Festival he was curating.
Starting point is 00:37:43 And that in real life. Wow, okay. They paid first to come over there to play this show. So a lot of people in this band and everything been outside of Texas before. Much less go to the UK. Some people had never even flown before. And then we're going, the pifonix series go into the UK.
Starting point is 00:38:03 At the request of David Bowie. At the request of David Bowie, yeah. And then you end up doing a whole tour with David Bowie. Yeah, that could happen later, you know. It was, we ended up playing two festivals he curated and with a Highline Festival in New York. That was much later, but after that, then he was doing his reality tour, his last tour,
Starting point is 00:38:23 and he had us on that tour. And then I was doing a duet with him on a not-for-basis. I was crazy, man. It's so surreal. It is. And it's just, you know, all those things, this band has always had that kind of, like the banquet hall deal, and playing the Royal Festival Hall, you know, we're in the middle of this show.
Starting point is 00:38:44 It's the biggest show I'm thinking of our life and the power goes out in the middle of the set. And we're like standing on stage as a lone light just focused on because all the lights in the stage went off, the power's off. And we're like, you know, what do we do? The choir everyone's so nervous, nervous energy. You had a full festival hall and everyone's just kind of like, you know,
Starting point is 00:39:08 just who has this band, you know, Da-Da-Da-Da-Da, and really it's kind of summing, you know, summing this, summing us up, like, what do you got? It was deathly quiet. They didn't, there was nothing. We, I felt like we hadn't really connected with the audience and the power went out.
Starting point is 00:39:26 And after a few moments of kind of nervous energy, I just turned to them and I said, I'm just gonna sing Acapella, hold, or diamonds off of together we're heavy. Don't fall in love, but don't or something. Yeah. And I just start singing it. And then I asked the other guys that are playing violin and handheld instruments to just join in.
Starting point is 00:39:55 And then the choir just just singing. It was more like a campfire Dylan hoping they could hear us, you know. And I start singing it. And I'm feeling so alone, but it's closed my eyes and just owned those words and sang it loud and got just, was feeling them. People started to trickle in and they kind of got their confidence up and we were doing it. And it's really quiet. You can't hear anything in there. You'd hear someone kind of cough or sneeze or something.
Starting point is 00:40:23 But you just hear these human voices and this human expression going on. And a kid you not, man, on the chorus, on the right where the chorus kicks in, the power comes on, and everyone's already playing, and it just hits. And it just like, boom! And it couldn could have come in at the perfect time. And it just hits this most emotional part of the song. And it just boom. And that place goes crazy. They stand up, start cheering.
Starting point is 00:40:55 And it's just like we had them. And it just rode the rest of the song out when the next one had the, and it was amazing. And that's all anybody talked about after that show was they thought we did that shit on purpose. And it was like, no, man, that was a complete accident. I almost shit myself up there. And they're like, that was dead at a dub.
Starting point is 00:41:13 But it was like those kinds of things happen, you know, the banquet room, all these big moments of things that just seem so like the worst thing could possibly happen turns up to be the best possible fertilizing of where I need to be going next, where this is going to happen. And it pretty much dictated we had every label in that country wanting to sign the band. And that's pretty much what happened. And...
Starting point is 00:41:40 Pustle-Syn to diamonds. Oh, cool. It's based on the story. You want to play it? Sure. two diamonds. Oh, cool. I'm based on the story. Do you want to play it? I sure. Don't fall in love with diamond rings or tragedy Well somehow find its way and all that you hold true Keep on amazed with your mild devotion to majesty And some ill quoted face
Starting point is 00:42:45 And all that you hold true What would you do if it all came up to you and love? How did you place to play? What would you do? If it all came up to you and alive? How did you place to play today? Today Hold it on, hold it on, hold it on, it's sunshine all day Keep the light on in your soul On your own, the rest is good.
Starting point is 00:44:15 What would you do if it all came up to you How did you want? How did the place to play? To play What would you do? To play If it all came up to you? How did the place to play? To play Love Out of the way to play
Starting point is 00:44:45 To my dream See the superstars tie away, I'm broken broken cars again I'll be right high What would you do? What would you say? That I cannot do, and I'm alone Had a place to play You know what would you do? I'm in love
Starting point is 00:45:52 If you're not, can you not do what I have? Love, I'm in a place to play Tonight Tonight今天 今天 There's some trmitters found in that music. It really gets to me. Yeah, and that part that done, done. See, that's where it happens. There's so much emotion in it and it transcends the words
Starting point is 00:46:47 of Trent there's some energy current in it that is so overwhelmingly powerful to me. That's awesome. I'm so glad you receive it man. I do say I know. I'm soaking wet. Thank you so much. Oh my God. I feel it. It's like it's a you ride. It's a current of that you get in, man. I feel that thing. And you know, that's you're wanting to convey that in a live sense when you get with these people and you like, I want you to feel that, you know, and I just feel like I come, you know, get, I feel like you're channeling it and we get to experience it through your channeling of it. Yeah, I don't, man.
Starting point is 00:47:36 It's so awesome that it, it happens like that, that I'm, you know, that I was able to, I don't know, man, be a part of that. It's cool, truly cool to tap into something like that. Tell me about making that album, because that really was the breakthrough. Well, was it, you know, it's like, I couldn't, you know, we had beginning stages, and that's pretty much the one that kind of put us
Starting point is 00:48:05 on the map with everybody and got everyone excited. How did that one come out? Beginning stages? Well, we just put it out on our own. It just, it was that demo. And it, you know, it ended up becoming that. But over there Warner Brothers 6, 7, 9 picked us up, signed us on that record and they released it.
Starting point is 00:48:27 The one that was meant to be a demo was the first record of the band. And so they did it. We came out with, together we're heavy and they didn't like it. Really? Yeah. They didn't like the record. They didn't, the label. The label. Yeah, the label didn't like it. So then I'm like, without a home. And then since Warner Brothers didn't want it, there was kind of a stigma that it wasn't a good record. And so no one wanted to put the record out.
Starting point is 00:48:58 And so we found some guy that was willing to put some money into it and act like a, you know, he had an imprint, was in a label label, and so we put it out over there, came back over here, and we just, we hadn't really played the states, we were all, the band broke over there first, so anything you heard was coming from over there over here. over there over here. source of Omega-7 linked to collagen regeneration, enhanced weight management, and better fat metabolism. Macadamia's art healthy and bring boosting fats. Macadamia's failure friendly, cheeto and plant-based.
Starting point is 00:50:02 Macadamia. No wheat, no dairy, no gluten, no gmOs, no preservatives, no palm oil, no added sugar, a house of macadamia. I roasted with Namibian sea salt, crack black pepper, Black pepper and chocolate dips. Snack bars come in chocolate. Coconut white chocolate and blueberry white chocolate. Visit houseofmacademias.com slash tetra. Before you went to the UK the first time, had you played other places in the country or just basically Austin? We never, we didn't play anywhere in the States prior to going to the UK.
Starting point is 00:50:59 That happened over there and we pretty much, they were ready like, we want you to start touring and go. So we spent three years. So also easier to tour there if you don't have to fly. Exactly. Everything is just a couple of hours away. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:51:14 It's expensive still because at the time, you know, the pound was $1.70, $1.70. But it's as far as traveling, it was pretty easy to navigate. But we just, we lived at the Columbia Hotel over there and my kids were with me because Julie was in the band and my kids were on the road and we stayed over there. You say it was a family band, it sounds like a family band, family and friend. Yeah, it was very much like a family band at first, especially at the beginning because my niece was in the band. She was 14 at the time and my other niece is they were part of it and kids were grew up on the road with us.
Starting point is 00:51:55 You know, I had Stella Oscar and Julius, Felix wasn't born yet, but so Stella would be singing in the choir with her little robe on and her you know protecting her ears, the ear muff things and she'd be with the choir up there doing her thing and then Oscar would be kind of running around using sticks to play on something or I'd look over and he's sleeping in a harp road case down there in the middle of a rock show. They would just kind of go until they'd just with collapse and Julius, who would haul a guitar around wherever he was going, would be playing a guitar while the show's going on.
Starting point is 00:52:31 So it started with friends and family at the beginning. It was kind of like whoever you could get. In the choir, it was like, can you sing and we're singing in unison at this point. And if you've got the spirit for it, you could be a part of it. So, at the beginning, you're just kind of starting to grab whoever you can get.
Starting point is 00:52:49 And my kids were, you know, have four kids. And so it's like, they were the first to be a part of it. So cool. Yeah. So you make that album. Yeah, make that album. And then we come back over here. And so this came the same way, like,
Starting point is 00:53:07 totally unconscious. Totally. It's just how I write. I'm not very good at all about, oh, that's a good court progression. I'm gonna write a song or I've got these lyrics I want to talk about. I'm gonna write to that.
Starting point is 00:53:20 I can't do that. It's got to be completely improvised. And I've been doing it for so long now that it's just my go to. In the studio or do you improvise to get the song and then you bring that into the studio? So most of the time I would improvise to get the song, I'll craft it when it's time to go and think
Starting point is 00:53:42 I'm gonna go make a record. I'll do a pre-production. I'll go and record and work on arrangements and get that. But I've got the core, the essence of the song there. Then we start working on it. We'll do really, it's almost like that demo. I do those demos sometimes. I sent you some stuff a long time ago. He didn't really like it.
Starting point is 00:54:06 And I was searching. I was not even doing what I was supposed to be doing. And it was in between. It was right after, together, we're heavy. It was on the heels of that. And we were kind of like pushing me to make another record and, you know, and forcing that kind of thing. And I'm like, I'm just going to get in there and start jam with everybody and improvise
Starting point is 00:54:26 and jam. A lot of fun and some good stuff you would stumble onto, but nothing of like this is gonna, oh, this is a good idea, so turn into something. But when it went to do, together we're heavy, it was the same thing. I had been, there was no pressure between beginning stages and that one. I'd been living with beginning stages, so we'd kind of write live. I'd write in a sound check and I would do this and it would either be there, it wouldn't be there, or I'd kind of be off of my own.
Starting point is 00:54:58 And then I'd come up, I've got this thing, we'd work on it through sound check and we kind of came up with the record. When you would work on it, would you work on it with 28 people, would you work on it with a smaller group? So, sometimes if we had the time to be able to like, I'm just going to mess around here and let's just see what happens. Sometimes that would happen, but most of all, it was just me kind of off on my own by myself and then coming in and saying, I've got this idea going
Starting point is 00:55:25 to play and let's see how we can build on it. I encouraged everybody in the beginning back in those days, the kind of, it was almost like a kitchen sink. You know, I listened to that song, Diamonds. I hear, you know, me, I'm trying to get everybody in there. And it's like, you know, out of me feeling like, I need them to be able to, I don't want to leave them out. I want them to be able to have, be on the part of it and like come up with something and go on now,
Starting point is 00:55:55 looking at the list to record, oh, we don't have this on there yet. We need to just kitchen sink. And I really wasn't, it was all about trying to make people feel inclusive and be a part of it democratic. and it's always kind of been like that. And then I would have some regret sometimes when I'd go back that I wish that hadn't been, I wish I had created a little bit more space and not just done that to kind of play Kate a situation. Not that those songs are great and everything's fine about them. I just hear personal stuff that I would have made different choices.
Starting point is 00:56:26 But that's what's so different about this record and the previous stuff is that made a conscious, there was an overwhelming feeling that this record needed to be very specific musically. And so it became completely different. You'll hear songs on there. It's just like a acoustic and maybe a flute. That's it. And maybe an upright bass, but that's it.
Starting point is 00:56:51 And just rather than old time, well, everybody's not on there. You can find your space, even if it's like here, like that. And, but there's very different experience. Do you have a favorite song on the new album? If I told you this, but I did these, when I finished the album, I wanted people to hear it as a whole.
Starting point is 00:57:14 So I did these listening experiences where I got rented a Sprinter van and a rented sound system, 12 QSC speakers on tripods, and I traveled around doing pop-up listening experiences where I had moving blankets, and I came out to the West Coast for a month and just traveled around and found a spot I could possibly do it that I didn't think I'd get busted, and then I tweet I want to be here at this time. If anybody sees this or wants to be a part of it coming out it's free and It was my way of wanting people to hear this record as a whole
Starting point is 00:57:54 very Real self-indulgent there, but I thought if I've got a captive audience I can You know make that happen by I'll just kind of force them to do this. I'll like set the sound system up under the stars. How do those experiences? They were incredible. People loved it.
Starting point is 00:58:16 Everyone was, every experience was different. You know? Such a cool idea. Some people would, you would get up and start doing yoga while they're listening to it. Some people would just, you know, have while they're listening to it. Some people would just have these emotional experiences. You know, you have to, this was people are coming out of COVID, being outside, being away from that, being away from your phone for 45 minutes, forcing yourself to just look at the stars and take a break from life, mixed with that music,
Starting point is 00:58:46 accompanying you through this process. Yeah, it's, it would have some overwhelming aspects on people, people loved it, you know, like, oh my God, you don't know how bad I needed that. And it's like, not just the music, put the music to the side, just taking a break from life and laying down on the ground and just looking at the sky for 45 minutes and not having to think about anything, that in itself when you just choose to do that is an experience that everybody should, it's going to have an effect on you, you know? And I think that is just as much of what was a success as much as it was the music navigating that process.
Starting point is 00:59:31 But it was awesome. I loved it. I'm going to continue to do them. I'm actually taking a step further. We're making a film for Planetariums where I've been working on this about six months now, but it's gonna probably come out in February with my friend Scott Berman, who did visuals for us before.
Starting point is 00:59:51 We're making different animators in live action, creating film to the record. People come to planetarium, look at the visual while they're listening to the record. So it's kind of like, it started, you know, doing the listening experiences and now it's moved to that. And we've lined up, you know, like 12 different planetariums that will move regionally kind of all over the country that'll play the record.
Starting point is 01:00:19 And that's kind of another way of, you know, my way of playing the record, and people hear it as a whole, as opposed to diving into the jukebox on there. Let's listen to the next song. OK. So we listen to the first song on the record. Let's listen to the last part. OK.
Starting point is 01:00:37 Cool. We can also listen. If you want, we can listen to the whole thing. I don't want to do that to you. But I'll just play another one. Then we'll play the whole thing. I don't wanna do that to you, but I'll just, I'll play another one, then we'll play the last part. I just kinda wanna give a general idea. So this is, we'll do shadows on the hillside.
Starting point is 01:00:57 Why does it start with section 44? Those are, okay, when I first referred to the songs, I was saying, we're gonna go from this, this is the very beginning of polyphonic spree, they weren't song titles, they were sections, because it's like, we're gonna go from section one, this section into this section, and I was always referring to them as sections,
Starting point is 01:01:19 they weren't even numbered, it was just, that's how I described it. So we're gonna go, this one section here in this section. It never was song titles. So then I was like, then I put, they were had a... Have you think of the album as one thing? And then, so the reason you recommend to sections is that they're pieces of a whole?
Starting point is 01:01:41 Intervertently, yeah, I didn't realize that I was doing that. But I, and I thought at the time it's like, you know what? This is the first section of the birth of the polyphonic spirit, so that's the 44th section of the polyphonic spirit. It's a 44th song for, say, of the record. So the sections in every title and every record I've ever put out. That's what it is now. But at the beginning it all came from referring to them as sections.
Starting point is 01:02:13 But yeah. Blast all those demons, vitamins, carry me, please, please, please. While my heart silently screams. Fate all those past lives, take yourself out to sea. the leaves, while the stars politely relieve You gave up the last time, try your best to pry away, just be Just be Cause thoughts only flow When the wind does fly Reach out and fall far away Finally, in which You can fly And dream
Starting point is 01:04:27 Dream Dream, dream, dream Shadow's on the hillside What you found were the wings to go You just set yourself free Shadows on the hillside What you see is my time What you have is what you need What you need What's the end? Cause thoughts only know when the weather knows why Reach out all far away And finally wish you can fly and dream, dream, shadows on the hillside. Where the wings to go You just set yourself free
Starting point is 01:06:10 Shadow is on the ground What you lost can be found What you have is what you need What you have is what you need What you need What you see What you see on the ground On the ground Oh, by the way, you can follow me You can feel your funny story
Starting point is 01:07:16 Reach away and say, you follow me Follow me Party your future, always waiting Reach your way and say, you follow me So beautiful. It's so cinematic and it takes you to another place and it's something to do with the sound of the words and the sound of your voice and the choices that you're making. The structure is never... the choices that you're making, the structures, never, the thing that happens next
Starting point is 01:08:27 is never what you expect. Interesting. It's always taking you somewhere new and there's this sense of discovery that keeps happening. And I guess that's what's happening in you when you're experiencing it. Totally. And we get to have that same experience.
Starting point is 01:08:43 It never gets formalized into a regular song. Right. Yeah. You know, it's like we get to experience your mystical experience. Yeah. It's awesome. It's awesome.
Starting point is 01:08:56 Thank you so much. It's just so powerful. Thank you. And it's nothing like it. Thank you. I love it. Thank you. I'm so happy you're doing it. Yeah, me too. I'm glad it happened Thank you. I love it. Thank you. I'm so happy you're doing it.
Starting point is 01:09:06 Yeah, me too. I'm glad it happened, you know? Yeah. At the time when you didn't think you had it anymore, I was really scary, you know? I remember you made an album where you guys look different, look kind of more militaristic on the cover. Yeah. And I remember it felt like the energy was different.
Starting point is 01:09:23 It didn't feel like you were connected to the spirit. That's a fragile army. It was kind of birthed out of political climate where you have a George Bush, the war and all that kind of stuff. It was kind of had that sense to it, sense of urgency and angst to it in a bit, but at the same time, there's, yeah, that freckle. There's a lot of great songs are kind of all over the place, you know, but they're completely different experiences. Some good songs on there, but it's just
Starting point is 01:09:54 different. And you're right, it's not of that world, it's, yeah, this is something different. This is a lot like beginning stages of I think as far as the feeling for me Um, does it feel like a new start for you? It does you know like I was telling you I've kind of discovered some melody and parts of things I've never experienced before of feelings and um That feeling that you get with melody melody and song when it's coming through and all that, it felt new to me.
Starting point is 01:10:32 That was what kind of gave me the energy to like, oh God, this is great. And now I've had something to reach for and grab onto. Yeah. And that's really so fortunate. So much of today's life happens on the web. Squarespace is your home base for building your dream presence in an online world. Designing a website is easy using one one of square spaces best in class templates. With a built-in style kit, you can change fonts, imagery, margins, and menus.
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Starting point is 01:11:41 Make a marketing portfolio. Launch an online store. The Squarespace app helps you run your business from anywhere. Track inventory and connect with customers while you're on the go. Whether you're just starting out or already managing a successful brand, Squarespace makes it easy to create and customize a beautiful website. Visit squarespace.com slash tetra and get started today. When you said earlier, when you imagined BAM before it existed, you imagined a flute playing here,
Starting point is 01:12:27 or an orchestra here, or a choir here. Yeah. Where do you think those influences came from? Well, I think they came from what we were talking about earlier, the sunny kind of pop music that I gravitated to as a kid. The Roke Pop, I think it's old. And just kind of Walt Disney Storybook records, I had all those.
Starting point is 01:12:48 I never heard those. There's like of the movies of Robin Hood or the Risticats or Song of the South. Whenever I'd get sick enough, figured this out like if I got sick, I'd get a record. But they would give you these, in the pharmacy, they'd sell these records that have story books in them with records.
Starting point is 01:13:10 So you would listen to the record and then follow the pages of the animated drawings or whatever they've got going on. And those songs are always had instrumentation like symphonic mixed with a little bit of guitar bass and drums but really low, mainly symphonic. And so they would, you know, a rabbit, braille rabbit, hopping down the trail, you'd hear the flute. You could visualize this stuff. And as a kid hearing that, it gravitated and made a lot of sense to
Starting point is 01:13:40 me. So I think the spree was totally pulled from that world mixed with that 70s FM pop that was happening at the time. What type of music do you listen to in general? I'm really weird listener. Like I've got this one song that I repeat constantly, but I'll just drive around for hours and it's just on repeat and I stumbled on it. It's called a gap and it's from the Beal Street, no, the artist, I can even tell you, but I just stumbled on this song and I listed it over and over. I listened to instrumental music, Percy Faith Motivani, I listen to elevator music, I really like that stuff.
Starting point is 01:14:29 There's one song in particular that some people are going to hear, there's going to laugh because they know that this song means a lot to me, but it's Ennio Maricone, it's called The Strong, and it's from the Good and the Bad and the Ugly. It's a very short piece of music, but I've probably listed that music, that song, and I'm being, you know, maybe a few thousand times I've heard this song, I just play it over and over,
Starting point is 01:14:59 I'll listen to it for days. Can you play me the first song you mentioned? Yeah. Okay, it's from a movie called If Bill Street Could Talk. And it's by this guy, Nicholas Bertel. I just stumbled on it and I freaking love it. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Beautiful. Yeah. In the reason why I like it so much, I mean, because it sounds a lot like the Enormar Accompanied track
Starting point is 01:18:06 that I've just, that song, I got to play it for you. Please. It's real short, small piece of music, but it's the same thing. This track resonates with me big time. And this agape song, when I play this, you're going gonna go and make ... ... music ... ... What's the most important thing to do? Whatever reason, man, that song just kills me. I love it. I love it. It's a scene where Clint Eastwood and the Civil War is going on and all this carnage and stuff and he's
Starting point is 01:21:02 bald up and hid behind a rock or whatever while this is going hoping to get through this war He realizes he wakes up and It's all done. There's no one around just destruction and Everyone all those soldiers laid on the field. It's so he's by himself. There's no one around. He's just looking at all this That's going on. That's why you hear the little kind of taps trumpet kind of thing going on the background It's representing what soldier saw at army and all that and the war at all and he's like just it's looking at it And it's so quiet and so It's he's taking it in like what a waste and then he finds this lone soldier that's hiding out in this bunker
Starting point is 01:21:47 leaned up against the wall and he's on his he's dying and Clint leans down and gives him a drag off his his cigar and The guy takes the hit drag off of it and Smoke leaves and the guy dies right there and you're looking and it's like so beautiful. I just love that one scene but that song for whatever reason it just puts me there. So I would listen to this song just all day. I would leave her today, put it in and it would be on repeat. And that's
Starting point is 01:22:20 kind of how I do music sometimes. Do you think if you hadn't seen that scene, the music would still have the impact on you? That's a good question. I don't know if it was... Is it bringing you back to the movie or something else? No, it's something else. I've made it my own. It's a place for me. There's a lot of sadness in that track,
Starting point is 01:22:40 but at the same time, there's like this kind of lifted up part in it too. I get that in your music too. It was like that combination of like there's an ecstatic energy and there's a real heaviness. Yeah, and that was kind of weird at the beginning of the spree was that people were getting this, you know, happy, clappy, surmising the band is that, but those songs and the lyrics were coming from a very different space, it's very melancholy record. But what I was telling you, like what we discovered as a group in the live setting, in the
Starting point is 01:23:21 community of playing the songs, there was this certain amount of zeal that came with it, and then it started to exude itself. And then it would have, you could take something that was so sad and it would kind of almost be up lifting in a weird way. And all those songs kind of have that vibe to them. This is, you can kind of be there, but there's also a transition of like, you know, morphing into what's coming and trying to get there, you know, and then once you get there, a lot of what that feeling's like. It's more of a treasure map, if you will, this whole record
Starting point is 01:24:03 of like being specific about how to get to this point. You have to be very specific. I think that might be a key to what your music does for me is that it comes from a place of heaviness, of heaviness breaks through to this other level. And it's that yearning. Yeah. Yeah, man.
Starting point is 01:24:37 I think that's it because thinking about it makes me cry. So it's probably true. No, man, it is. It's that what you've got to have, what I've got to have, you know, that for me personally, yeah, I never even thought about it. You know, it's like when you're a band and you're doing your songs and you're unfolding
Starting point is 01:24:56 these stuff out there and you don't realize, but you don't really think about what it's gonna do. You're thinking, are they gonna like this, you know? And you reach a point where you don't even care about that anymore and you're just kind of're thinking, are they going to like this? You reach a point where you don't even care about that anymore. You're just kind of like, yeah, you wanted to like it, but you don't really know what their experience of the record was going to be for them, of the music. And then you find out through the process of playing live and speaking to people what it means to them. And then you're doing interviews and you're
Starting point is 01:25:23 talking about it. and it's like, wait a minute, this stuff that I'm singing about for myself and what I need to have happen for me, some other people are feeling the same way too and they're getting that. And I never even thought about that. It seems so naive to not think about that. I never thought about it either
Starting point is 01:25:43 and I've been listening to you for 20 years. Yeah, I never thought about it either, and I've been listening to you for 20 years. Yeah, I never thought about it. Yeah, you just kind of... I just know that the way it makes me feel is very powerful, and I can't think of anything else that hits me in that particular way. That's great, man. And that's something that's discovered, you know,
Starting point is 01:26:02 it's certainly wasn't the agenda, you know, it's just kind of like like I said, the toe goes in, it's like he's either there, it's not there, and I'm able to I'm Tim, a much more it seems like more interesting on my music my output of that Then I am in real life, you know that, then I am in real life. You know, I'll listen to that. Kylie, you said that, where did that come from? It's like you kind of like, wow, I mean, even on my best day, I'm not able to articulate
Starting point is 01:26:35 something like that. That's when you know it's coming from something, that's, say, mystical, but there is an element of that that is so beautiful. Do you grow up with any kind of a spiritual background, going to church or anything like that? Well, my grandfather was a preacher. It was a church of Christ, very staunch, kind of serious religion. And my mom was always searching for some sort of spirituality,
Starting point is 01:27:00 and she still does. I had to also wear the experiences of a kid, you know, when my mom was into this Baptist church in Dallas and she took me and it was like, I wanna get saved or whatever, you kinda buy into it because I would bring you in with this music and this music was like, it was big part of the church.
Starting point is 01:27:21 It's great bandwidth, it sounds like the spirit in a sense but they would like, summons choir. It sounds like the spirit in a sense, but they would like summons you to get you into the spirit and then they would kind of bring you down and you know, if you want to get saved or whatever and it's like, yeah, let's do this and I'm a kid. And I remember going backstage and there's a room full of people like myself just sitting at these tables within, you know, these tables with these kind of guiding preachers that are in there and trying to get the Lord to speak through you and at His hand on my head and real close to me and it's like let the Lord speak through you. I'm kind of just listening.
Starting point is 01:28:01 I'm kind of weirded out by this. The whole thing I was intimidated and weird, but I Listening some people like mumbling like tongues kind of stuff So in order just to kind of get out of this situation I started to kind of mimic that and Then he started to translate what I was saying and It just crushed me. I mean, it was like crushed me. I just looked at it as, this is a total scam, sham. And I was so young, but I was soft through it. And it was crushing.
Starting point is 01:28:37 And I looked at my mom differently how she saw religion. It was devastating. I remember walking out there thinking I saw something, experienced something. I wasn't supposed to see. I remember walking out there thinking I saw something, experienced something, I wasn't supposed to see. I felt bad that I knew this. I'm looking at this congregation filled with all these people and what they're doing and it was rough. And so it's always been spirituality. He's always been a kind of a question for me.
Starting point is 01:29:00 And so I've found it in my own life and through my experiences of making music and through my experiences of observing mother nature do its thing. And I find it in that. I've talked about this about the grass that grows up in concrete on the streets. It's like it's the worst possible environment. But yet there's grass growing there and breathing and living and not even thinking about that shit that's around it. I draw that, or the tree that grows and absorbs the chain link fence that it happened to be buried by and just absorbs it and owns it, but still continues. That's where I started to get it from and then I found it in my process of creating
Starting point is 01:29:46 music and all that. So I'm finding my way, you know, and I found it like that. But it organized religion was about, and I hate it. Maybe it's fortunate that I found it so early age, you know, for me that what works for me, you know. There was another song you're going to play for me. Sure. This is the closing gonna play for me. Sure. This is the closing song on the album? Yeah, it's actually three parts that were written that I had to break them up into three different songs, but they're really kind of one piece.
Starting point is 01:30:18 You wanna do it. Yeah. Okay, cool. Cool. ... N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N- The When calls the other, down comes, Mother, the winds are the sun, The sun will make us feel alive Hey, so long, it makes no difference You hide all alone You had it all along Hey, so long It makes no difference You had it all along
Starting point is 01:32:41 With the moon on the sun It feels like summer ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ‿ʻ Hey, so long, it makes no difference, you had it all along With the moon on the sun, it feels like summer When the people fly around, makes you wonder It's a cool fire, you sound better my name Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, I This is the morning sun I built the stairs This morning sun I built the stairs. This is the morning sun coming up. In the morning sun I my dreams are saving. The moments that found are part of my life. So alive, so am I.
Starting point is 01:36:06 Yeah, yeah, in the morning sun, the trees are singing. I'm in their sound, talking to clouds. in the morning sun we hang on the seasons Lift off is the final step to goodbye So alive, so am I. So alive. Yesterday finally moved me, I built stairs. Tomorrow makes a thousand new reasons, I want to share the happiness and the new reasons I want to share The up and down, the back and forth, the feelings gives me a ride I learned to fly The more than I become a new reason, I want to try It's turning finally through me, I've built the stairs Tomorrow gives a thousand new reasons I want to share
Starting point is 01:38:50 I'll lay down back before feelings gives me a ride I will not let God and a people, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Morning Sun, I built the stairs. And that's a little nod to Eno Marconi with the opera voice of the year. That's Jennifer Job, which is one of my favorite parts of the whole record when she comes in. It's just like, yes. So good. I love it. It's just like, mm-hmm. Morning Sun, I built the stairs. Such a beautiful, two beautiful phrases put together. So beautiful. Well, as one song we had to, you know, you know, in a while, but it plays through, obviously,
Starting point is 01:41:12 on the record. Another reason why I want people to hear this as a whole, it's a new experience. It's totally meant to be heard as a whole. And, um, So when you play it live, you'll play the whole... Yeah, like we're playing... For album in order. Yeah. Yeah. Like recently we've been playing like seven songs just to...
Starting point is 01:41:32 But we're playing them from... from the top down. The best we can. And then the idea is to play the whole record. It's 43 minutes. Okay. And you know, it moves to the neck. It's so tough when you've got 20 years of music prior and you're coming up with a new record and you know, how do they balance them?
Starting point is 01:41:50 Watch the stones do what they do and they're just like, there's no right way. You know, there really isn't any right way. Yeah. Do what feels right. If you do the show that you want to listen to and that you want to see, there's nothing better that you can do. Right. Yeah, no, I know.
Starting point is 01:42:09 You're right. It'll play out how it plays, you know. But there's something about this record that's just so special, you know. I forget that. I forget that. I feel so special, you know? I feel the same. For all of us, it's for me personally. It's one of those things where I go, man, yeah, you know?
Starting point is 01:42:36 My whole life, I've kind of feel like I've been waiting for this one to happen, you know? We need this. Yeah. We need this. Thank you. you

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