Adam Smith!, in full

2:24hi friends uh you are watching Unwritten rules of the road I am Tash I am joined today by my amazing friend Adam Smith um I met Adam originally um in Albuquerque he was running our sound at the Moonlight Lounge uh that was our first show in Albuquerque um for Alice and um just instantly just Kindred Spirits he was amazing he was sharing his journey with his band crushed at the time um and sharing like what it was like to actually tour in Europe as a DIY um he also ran um a DIY um like a how do how do I describe it like how do I

3:07describe fly honey Warehouse like uh I would say like a DIY venue but it was it was like a house venue it's kind of like hybrid you know yeah it it was it was a onecar garage in the backyard so you know kind of both which is awesome um fast forward um uh Adam we would run into Adam at like different shows like we we played inside out where Adam worked as well and then um we played in San Francisco uh and Steve couldn't set up his drums he had something else going on and Adam was living in San Francisco and I was like Adam I'm like is there

3:44any way that maybe you could help us set up the drums and Adam was amazing he had a video that he had taken of Steve playing electrical so not only set up the drums perfectly um actually sound checked and played the drums he is a i you play like all the instruments like for for your Band Stars don't cry you sing and play guitar but I was like I had no idea that you play drums so yeah the first um the first uh I guess demo or just uh recording of um stars don't me anything I just I recorded everything it was like a like a

4:18quarantine um like fever dream project it was like two weeks of just like you know manically recording everything in the garage and um now it's a full band we've been touring more often and you know know we get riding from other members so it's nice so how many are are you four piece now or yes four piece yeah we've had H we're on like our 15th or 16th lineup because it's how it goes you know y but uh we just did a two week tour uh eight shows um in the midwest to record our uh new record that'll hopefully be coming out this year and um

4:55yeah we're a four piece and uh we have something coming up and I think we're going to keep the same lineup so hopefully you know we we got our lineup and we'll stick with it that's awesome so are you um do you have like an idea of when the album is going to come out or you are you kind of figuring that out basically it's just when when mixing is done mastering um and we could send it for um records to get pressed and so just that process you know um yeah thankfully it doesn't take as long as it did like 2021 to press records so we're

5:27hoping late summer maybe fall all uh you know just depending on how quick we get finished awesome well um is this the first tour that you've done this year or how many how many have you already done yes this is the first one so far yeah because I feel like every time I talk to you like you're always on tour or coming back from tour like like last year for instance like do you have a rough idea of like how many how many weeks you were out on the road um I'm not let me think so stars did one week two three we stars did

6:05probably six or seven weeks of touring last year but um I drive for tours I tour manage book tours occasionally and so um alog together I probably was on the road for three to four months last year which I kind of haven't really thought about so that's pretty crazy thinking about now but yeah yeah that's definitely the most the most touring I've done in a single year yeah I mean it's it's crazy how it adds up you don't I think when you're in tour mode everything is time is fluid so there sort of like the before tour the during tour the after tour and then you're like how did the

6:45year just go by so yeah totally especially when you have tours so close together like you know it's just like you get back from one tour and you're just working on the next tour or you know you're on tour and you're working on the next tour which I know you have experience with oh yeah all the booking and everything yeah how many like what is the longest tour that you've been on consecutively so my old B crushed um we did a full US tour we we had like a five day break home in Albuquerque and we released a record um in between but uh we did four or five weeks fromal so

7:26Southern California all the way to Albany New York Y and back uh we went through the South um and through the Midwest and that was with the band called post nothing uh that are good friends of ours and then um we were home for like the five days and then we right after that we immediately went to LA picked up a band from Japan called chamelia and did a tour with them up to Vancouver um Canada and then back down the Rockies and so that was I think that second part of the tour was about four weeks if I remember correctly yeah and so you know if you put those together

8:02you know I know five-day break but it's still like you know we were home for just a second uh that's probably the longest story I've been on that those months so you know for for somebody that's first starting to tour like I mean I guess this is kind of a two-part question but like what was your very first tour and like what would you advise somebody that's going out on the road for the first time cuz I feel like you have to build your stamina right to get to that point that you can go out for that long oh yeah like I like I've seen bands honestly book like monthlong

8:36tours but it just it's like real risky because you know you don't even know if you really like the people you're touring with that much to be with them in a van for a month you know if you haven't done it before um what I always recommend bands and friends that ask uh it's like start with weekenders you know like book um in Albuquerque our closest cities were like Phoenix and Denver El Paso Texas but there's some garly drives there so I would tell people you know go play Denver laramy W wi Colorado Springs and then come back home you know that way it's really low risk it's just a

9:13quick Weekender tour you could do Phoenix Tucson El Paso come back home um our first tour in crushed was uh similar to that I'm pretty sure we just did Colorado Springs Denver I want to say we I think Santa F or like Las Vegas New Mexico we had some random other um show in there but uh besides that my first long and like big tour was uh with Crush in Japan in 2017 which is kind of insane I don't know why we did that but it was really fun that's amazing like how did that happen was that your first International tour or was did you guys tour before wow

9:55yeah that was our first International tour so um we made friends uh with someone named Ken manami um he is in a band called BOS mujo and um I can't recall his new band but he's been playing solo lately and um he's all over the East Coast he lives in Philadelphia right now or maybe Virginia and um he's from Japan and he moved to the United States He immigrated here and uh we just talked to him about it and he's like oh I'll help you book a Japanese tour and we were like okay so you know we took care of finances and did all that and

10:28then he got got us like six or seven shows in Japan and so we flew over there um did two weeks had a lot of off days to enjoy Japan you know um and then came back so that's amazing I mean did you I know logistically it's it's so different when you have to fly so did where did you manage to get gear like over there or did you fly your gear when you when you did that so I love Japan for this every Club has an amazing backline even symbols and pedal you know so we had to just bring um a kick pedal because we

11:04used a double kick pedal um pedals for guitar and bass um our actual instruments guitars and bases and then I think just like drumsticks you know that was it and um wow we we took the shinon S the bullet train while we were there and uh it was pretty hectic like just running around with all of our luggage merch Str about and like all of our guitars um it's probably easier if rent a van you know you can have like a little home base and somewhere to put everything um but yeah it still was super easy I I kind of wish more venues here in the United States would have at

11:40least you know a base samp in a drum drum shells you know something like that it would make everyone's life a lot easier yeah for sure it makes such a difference it really it really does like we're we're about to do um some dates in May um and we a lot of the band is flying to do those dates um Scott and I are going to be driving there and back um and doing acoustic sets but um some of the band is flying out so I'm having to like sort of ask people like is there any way that we could have a backline and I'm I'm used to just having our Gear

12:15with us so it's definitely a game changer when you actually have a backline for sure no totally yeah honestly we the last few tours we've been doing more bands have been opened for back lining which is nice compared to like I want to say pre pandemic everyone always wanted to use their own stuff and I'm cool with that you know but like whenever a show is behind and whenever it takes a while or you know someone just has so many like drums or symbols or whatever you know it's that's when it gets a little like dicey I don't know that's that's probably just the show organizer in me you know I'm kind

12:50of 15 minutes let's go don't take your symbols off on stage like let's go get off um but yeah nowadays everyone really is open to back lining so I like that um real quick I just wanted to to say hi to everyone um thank you all so much for for popping in hello to to Jess and Doug and Sean and xrl 7 and Don thank you so much for for joining us and and hanging out with um my amazing friend Adam um hello to kie and Raven Loft as well um I wanted to ask CU you brought something up that I I I love that you brought this up that you have

13:28like the show organizer in you um so the these these are some Unwritten rules like what are things that you would like to see bands do when they're sharing a stage because sometimes it can be like a lot of bands right in one night you're trying to fit in so what are some some tips and tricks for somebody to be like of um back lining cabs is probably the biggest thing if you're a big band you know you have like h stxs b amps like that if you can just have less amps on stage that usually helps a lot um the uh drummer of my band Sasha he's really

14:05good at staging his drums or at least his like breakables before we play so you know off to the side of the stage or in a green room wherever space we have he'll you know get all his symbols perfect and then that way he can just walk on put him where he is on the drum set kind of move the drum set a little bit he's done and so I think just like staging just planning ahead uh saving space being efficient with like how much space you get cuz um you know sometimes you're playing like a corner stage or a basement or you know any any type of

14:36stage where it's just like you know you gotta like kind of approach it differently and um along with that I would say just be mindful of you know venue staff the be mindful of the other bands kind of just pay attention don't be so aloof that like you know you're kind of gonna make the show drag or kind of I don't know just get in the way but once again yeah I'm pretty i' I've gotone to the point where even on tour I'll start like moving stuff and like just telling people what to do because I'm like no you know don't put your amps in front of the drummer he won't hear

15:12you like there's monitor like you need to put them behind because your set will suck if you do that so I've just gotten to the point where I don't know I just started doing that probably pissing some people off but I think it's awesome because I mean honestly it it's some things that people people might not know like you know the these are things that you know if if they're new to it they might not be aware that things like setting the amps up and behind is something that's really helpful you know totally yeah and um I think uh when I uh do Sound Engineering too I keep that in

15:46mind you know I've worked with a lot of new bands or newer bands and uh I remember when I was young in like my first shows and I wish people would have just told me something that I it took me years to find out you know um one is like the whole cable through your guitar strap I didn't find that out for I swear years and I broke so many guitars because I would just step on the cable and it would rip out the input jack and then finally I either I think I either saw a band do that or finally a touring band was like hey dude do this

16:17and I was like oh my God you're a genius you know that saved like all these repairs so okay I'm I'm not a guitar player can you walk me through this like what what is this so like like if you have your cable I have a wireless system so it's a little different but if you have your cable like right here and it's just hanging straight to the floor um then when you're like playing you could step on your cable and it'll just like bend it and rip out your jack depending or you know at least like unplug your guitar and so yeah um what I

16:59do or like you know what everyone does is you put it through your strap that way there's like a little bit of that leverage so if you do step on it it's going to pull on the strap and um it'll prevent that from happening you know okay yeah that's not something I would have known that's awesome I love it's like it's like one of those things I think when you find out it's so obvious but like I do still see some bands do that like occasionally especially like hardcore bands or any any energetic bands they're moving around a lot I'm like oh whoa whoa like

17:31just do this CU because I've been there you know yeah I got to ask um is guitar your first instrument or what what is your first instrument yes guitar is my first um I took classical guitar in Middle School up until junior year of high school um I picked up drums and xylophone in um marching band and so I was on drum line um and then uh xylophone taught me piano so you know kind of just that's like how I learned that scale and all of that um and from there um started playing drum set I think rock band the video game was what got me into drumming so um yeah and then

18:19I kind of taught myself saxophone a little bit but it's been a while I don't have a saxophone so I can probably just make a few noises but nothing you know can't play a tune or anything that's not an easy instrument I tried I tried to do it and I was like oh this is a whole different Beast so yeah yeah yeah the whole mouth shapes like in trombone and trumpet too I'm like I don't know I I prefer stream instruments yeah yeah so um are you are is um stars don't mean anything your main project or are there any other things that you're that you're working

18:55on um yeah that's my main project um we're planning on just like hitting it hard with touring as soon as we release the record we want to do like a full US tour and kind of hit everywhere we can in the states um and then hopefully next year go overseas um see what see what everything's looking like uh I did join a band that I toured with last year just as a driver um I'm druming in a band called future kill here in San Francisco and uh I might start you know maybe like one other band just to keep my time you know keep me busy because uh Stars don't

19:31be anything all of our members are in different cities we're we're one of those EV so we don't get to rehearse as much we only really uh will rehearse once you know like we'll have a day in a studio before a tour and just to like hope everyone kind of was working through everything and then um hash it out and then we start our tour and go from there yeah yeah we we we we're kind of similar we're kind of spread out ourselves and so you you just kind of have to every you know I TR I trust everybody does their homework and then you come together and you play together

20:06and then it's actually I feel like when you're on the road that it's like you really get towards height um and you really find that Rhythm you know that's what uh we played five shows this last tour in February before we went into the studio and recorded um just so we could get that like tore tightness you know and kind of kind of see if we need to change anything about the song see how they flow how the crowd like interacts or you know um Luckily everything went smooth and we didn't ended up changing too much besides like some inner loops and stuff but um yeah I

20:40that Tor tightness feels so good oh it does there's nothing like it it's kind of hard to come home for many reasons but especially that way you're like oh I just love being tour tight I know we we'll play like shorter tours sometimes you know and it's like dang we were just getting our groove you know like yeah like we we did the eight shows this last time and I feel like by our last show we were like wow what damn I wish we had another like two weeks because where we finally started playing really really well yeah for sure well um you know I

21:14I've I've seen i i a really beautiful write up that you had when you were saying goodbye to Albuquerque um and and the community there um and I wanted to ask like what was your first live show like you know as as an artist like what was your first live show and what was that like my first concert was um Iron Maiden in 2007 um my first like DIY show or like smaller show was um a house show in balen New Mexico which is like a tiny town south of Albuquerque I grew up in um they did this thing called Fest where they just had like the six local bands

21:54play in a living room and um I saw this band driven by malice this metal band and I remember I was just kind of front and center just as a little kid and I think I was in eth grade maybe ninth grade and um and I was just like watching them super stoked and like some dude just came and pushed me starting the mosh fit and I swear I went horizontal in the air like flying and then everyone started moshing and so that was the first I guess like you know like DIY smaller um show I went to and then from there we thought like like wow

22:29we can book shows like this and so we did a lot of research I remember being a kid and looking up how to throw a house party because I didn't really know you know he was like innocent um and from there we started doing House shows in Blen eventually moved up to Albuquerque and moved into fly honey Warehouse in 2015 and started doing shows there almost immediately after moving in and uh that ran for eight years wow that's amazing amazing I know that it's like you know in all of my interactions with you you are always so generous and kind and giving like anytime I've come to you where I'm like

23:08okay Adam I'm having a little trouble in this city do you know anybody and you just like this wealth of knowledge um and you're always so happy to share that I mean I feel like um I mean I I I don't know all of the different DIY communities throughout the us but I know you in particular um I feel like would you say that's like kind of the ethos in the DIY Community yeah honestly like the DIY Community for sure it kind of is like everything there's no room for competition it's already hard enough being a musician being an artist like we don't need to be fighting each other

23:44we're already fighting an industry we're already fighting a you know um just everything how it is here in America um you know I I like to think Europe is better maybe any someone from Europe can educate me on that but um you know they get grants and stuff to tour uh out here we have to work two three jobs and then quit them to go on tour and then get them again you know like yeah unless you're blessed and you have a job that allows you to tour you take your PTO um it's kind of it's really rough for artists out here but um yeah I just I just like to help

24:18people you know I think I'm always down to help people for any reason any people anyone can hit me up for anything even if we hardly talk and um information's easy you know like me me just saying oh I can't help you I don't know you know or like at least I can give you contacts I can't always like book the show or you know do everything for people but I like to at least give leads you know yeah yeah same here I I'm a part of the DIY tour postings group on Facebook um and I think I've seen your name on there as well um and that's just something I

24:56noticed about the community in general was just how helpful everyone was it's like you know just and and in every genre honestly um cuz you know we we all play in different genres and really I just I've seen that people as a whole are like very helpful where they're like okay let's help each other out and you know um and across genres too like it's really fun when we do like multi genre shows oh totally yeah yeah um I mean just from running venues and everything I have friends across every genre every area um it's really interesting because it's like a lot of paying attention not

25:32only to your scene and what's doing well in your scene what venues are there what band like locals are doing well but also all these other Regional scenes and other cities scenes you know and uh it gets really it gets really deep really quick uh it's a lot of information I'm surprised like I'm surprised I can even keep that much in my head because I usually forget people's names after me them 10 times or like you know I can't remember I walk out the house and forget everything before I leave for work or you know just a very forgetful person but if you ask me like oh what's a good

26:10all ages venue in Philadelphia or something you know I'm probably gonna have at least two options or you know just out of nowhere are do you have any any favorite regions that you've played in like um recently like any regions that you would say is has a really thriving music I would say the Midwest for sure um everyone is just really helpful uh they take care of you so well um gas is super cheap which is amazing on tour especially living California now yeah oh for sure yes I've always loved the Midwest um I love the Southwest too and and just the south in general like

26:50Georgia um just any anywhere where they don't take it for granted you know because uh no no shade on the west coaster you know New York or east coast but I feel like some of these artsy cities really take for granted uh bands coming through just maybe because it's oversaturation yeah and so you know when you play a small town like Bloomington Indiana or something like that um or like Joplin Missouri they really appreciate it a lot more and those are sometimes the best shows you know it feels like the whole the whole town comes out like you know people are very grateful and it's kind of I don't know it's nice yeah

27:31compared abely trying to like playing a show in LA and everyone's like oh well you aren't this big bands so you know like like okay cool yeah I mean I grew up in a small small town myself um in Texas and so yes I have a deep appreciation for small towns and the community and like how everybody just you know just loves when there's something you know that they can support and you know especially when you have a love a love for live music you know so you know and it but it's interesting because there are some cities where it's so hard to get shows

28:05if especially if it's like I've been told in certain towns where it's like oh we only book this kind of music like only book country music or just for example um and you're like okay well I will try the next small City over you know totally and it's wild because it changed too like I remember San Diego was one of the most impossible places to get a show booked at least like pre pandemic when when I was booking my van tours and then now San Diego is doing pretty well their scene's really good they have quite a few uh spots to play quite a few bars and all ages DIY

28:39um and now it's like Las Vegas is the new one for me at least where you know that one's been a little Troublesome and then it's just it's funny how it switches like that you know everyone goes through their waves every Scene goes through their waves uh has their time has their little Golden Era and then you know kind of goes in remission it's it's it's something you got to really navigate and pay attention to yeah it's it's it's kind of like technology I feel like it's just always changing so it's like I think you just always have to just kind of like stay current you know and you know just kind

29:13of be aware yeah totally I I try to take a break from social media just because you know it's healthy didn't get away from a sec but uh it's so difficult because there's just so much I'm trying to keep up with and let alone like all the friends you meet and all like the connections you know like I I love seeing all of my friends across the world that I met through music um just like what they're working on their families their lives and it's really hard to let go of that when you need that break and it takes a lot of brain power but uh it still is I don't know

29:47it's really rewarding it's really nice just um realizing how small the world is you know and something like music and art can bring us together like that oh yeah absolutely I I think that's one of the beautiful Parts about it is just you know I feel like it's so Universal you know like you know I'm sure you experienced that in traveling in Japan and all the places you've been it's just it's a universal language that everyone you know just can connect with in that way so totally yeah like Just Energy the expression um we're getting a question from Micah who is asking um I want thank

30:22you for your question Micah um how do you reconcile the commercial pressures of the music indust with your Artistic integrity um it's pretty tough honestly like uh there's a way the industry works and um lately I feel like it's more if you want to be in the industry at all you got to kind of like be in the industry you got to sacrifice a lot or at least um work really hard to like keep all of your Artistic integrity I it's I think we're at a point where we kind of need to decide if we want to keep the old ways of the music industry

31:03and entertainment industry which you know worked in the 80s maybe the 60s 70s there was more money better economy um we need to decide if we're going to keep trying to make this work and keep adapting for that or if we want to build something new that works better for artists and um I'm not sure what that new thing would be but it's kind of just I don't know it's it's difficult it's navigating um what my biggest advice just for navigating all that is just make sure you're the boss being the artist you know like you hire the people you are where all of it comes from um

31:44that way you aren't stuck relying on say like a label or um a manager or someone to get you opportunities you want to make sure that like you for lack of better term are in um for the most part yeah absolutely um I I wanted to ask like um do you see yourself ever being on a label or is that something that you would ever be open to or do you feel like you you're you're really like in the lane of being DIY I could see myself being on a label but it would uh it would just get down to the nitty-gritty um just kind of what a

32:27label provides um a lot of I see a lot of peers or just like a lot of bands that they really want to just be discovered you know work really hard on Tik toks they try to go viral they they um put all this work there but um they don't tour and I'm like you know like a label is not going to ass anyone that isn't doing something for themselves already you know and so and then at that point it's like if you're doing what a label would do for you then do you need the label you know and so that's when you got to start

33:01thinking like you know okay well I'm I'm tired I don't want to do it anymore I just want to work on the music which is totally valid but also like you know sometimes you could do a better job yourself you can have more attention to yourself you kind of know it works um and that goes for kind of anything that goes for Content creation um getting a booking agent a manager social media manager like any kind of like PR even um any job that artists would need to Outsource if you could do it better then you know like I'd say just keep doing it so I would maybe I would be on a label

33:41but it just is very I'm very particular on how it work yeah absolutely I mean especially if you have a really strong vision for what it is that you're putting out there um and I mean are do you do all of the booking and and content creation for your band um Sasha uh the drummer does most of the booking now um which is great because I did all the booking and crushed and so um when he he stepped up and um is doing all that for stars um I'll book some shows you know we have different contacts so we we kind of collab with it but he's definitely doing

34:18all the leg work there um I just step in every once in a while and um content creation uh is usually my job yeah I'll I'll do merch designs I'll do Flyers um music videos which we'll have a couple for for this new release um so I'm excited to get more into that work it's a lot yeah more fun than the booking aspect for sure really creative yeah yeah and it's it's really fun to take your your art to another medium you know to like express it it it's like another level of expression I feel like that's like part of the fun I think if you don't really

34:59look at it as sort of like drudgery and like oh this is a thing I have to do but like this is a thing that I get to do I get to create and you're really actually inspired by it then it can really be a lot of fun yeah and like I mean like y'all are pros at it like you've created a whole like Universe with Alice like it's like amazing it's more than just a band it's more than you know like an art style and aesthetic it's it's really is like its own world and um I don't think every artist needs to do that but when

35:29you do it's just so rewarding and fun and and I I think it comes kind of naturally for yall too now um I don't know if it did from the beginning but it definitely looks like just like you all have a great time with it well thank you I feel like it's a it's a forever work in progress like and I think we're creatures of evolution so it's like we we like to continue to push the envelope you know we always like to be like okay like how can we evolve this how can we grow um what's the next thing that we can you know draw from in terms of

36:01inspiration so uh with that being said is there any like things you can share in terms of like what you're what you're working on like with your music videos or any any things any visions that you're having in mind uh mostly just want to do something unique um yeah like I said you know paying attention to all these scenes all these bands just the music industry everything in general um I get really jaded off of off of unoriginal ideas uh or like when people kind of uh you know like don't put too much effort into like something so uh I just want everything to be intentional I

36:42think you know you know all in our music in this record we we were very intentional even with like these little noise parts we had before songs like intros and and um interludes everything was like planned and you know we can we messed around with it to find cooler things but um we would like to do the release and like the promo and PR for the record the same way and just uh kind of like you said push boundaries um challenge ourselves really um just have fun with it and make sure you know we aren't just trying to do uh what works on Instagram or whatever you

37:23know I think that really is what comes down to it like I I feel like it's kind of a a mantra that I try to hold on to is not paying attention to the numbers because I think you can really get caught in that trap where you're just like oh is are people going to like this is this you know and some things people may like some things people may not like but I think the most important thing is it is it something that really expresses you is it something that feels really like it comes from where it needs to come from and it feels true for you

37:54right so I think that's the most important thing like some of the people that I follow um they might not have like a ton of followers but I just love their art I love I love their music I love their expression I love their voice so I mean to me it's like even if it connects with one person to me I think that's that's everything you know I agree completely you know just uh playing shows and on tour you know everyone had a good time and you know occasionally you get that one person who comes up and they're just like that that's that changed my life or you know

38:26like they they know the worst your songs and you never met them like so they they actually listened and things like that like are super important and yeah you know even if it's one person for the whole tour you know like it's I don't care about the logistics or how much people we're reaching in our stories or our follower count or like count um it's just kind of someone hearing you you know because there's a lot of bands out there so to to actually like pay attention is really really to pay attention to something you create is really a gift that people can give yeah absolutely is I think that um

39:06you know when it comes to the songwriting um which I want to ask you about um but when it comes to the songwriting it's sort of like you know um I I I do the bulk of the lyric writing in the band and so um you know you're you're really voicing something inside um and so you know if anybody resonates with that you're like this is really amazing because I I mean I could just keep it in my notebook and not share it you know but I put it out there in the hopes that it maybe it might connect with someone and maybe help someone and that's really meaningful I

39:37think um yeah so but I wanted to ask are do you um do you do the songwriting yourself or is this something that you just kind of like jam out with your bands um since we're in different cities the way we usually do it is um me and Sasha are the main songwriters so we we do probably like half and half at this point um like I said it started as a solo project so I was writing everything um and then he started contributing and so now we kind of just both contribute as we go um yeah and uh yeah so we we kind of both write demos out um Sasha

40:14plays guitar as well and bass he's multi-instrumentalist so um we like will ride out our parts and we have a Google a Google Drive we'll take videos of us playing it so we can learn each other's Rifts and and then um we'll get together aside from touring we try to get together at least once every couple months and we'll um book some studio time or I I finally have a lock out here now in San Francisco so we can go there and just hash out some new song ideas over like eight hours or whatever and um yeah it's uh my songw writing process is a little everywhere uh sometimes I just

40:55get an idea for a riff or I just get idea for a feeling and I kind of like write out all the instrumentals or at least guitar and drums and then um I'll write lyrics to it after the fact but sometimes and something I've been leaning more into lately is I'm trying to write lyrics first and then imagine how the instruments will be around them uh and I think that's giving me kind of a different sound from my usual song writing which is nice because yeah you know I think every artist struggles with this you know where you um where you keep writing like the same sounding

41:31songs or you know or you keep using the same rhythms or the same Keys the same melodies or some same tones something like that and uh I try to be very conscious of that and and switch it up that way I'm not writing you know the same song over and over again or the same group of songs I I really want to push the envelope and find new sounds and you know even if it's like a a rhythm that's too similar to another song or or like lyrics or a rhyming scheme or something like that just kind of mess it up a little bit you know make

42:03it a little different absolutely I I I feel like too I mean like you were talking about with the lyrics come first it's like you kind of at that point it it's interesting probably coming up with riffs around that right like The rhythms and stuff around that yeah especially if it's like you know writing lyrics to a song I feel like you have your syllable count or whatever you know your rhythms everything but when it's when you have free reign with the lyrics you kind of can like do anything yeah exactly just it it changes the way you got to it so um with this upcoming album um did

42:42you have like a specific like whole vision for it or were you just kind of going song by song was like there is there a theme that you're playing around with we do so at first we were going to do a full length album um and we wrote um I think two or three of these songs were for that full length and then we had a couple other songs but we uh decided that it was too long of a process um for like a release and to record and finish writing and we wanted to release new music sooner and so we kind of said okay let's put the album

43:18the full length on the back burner uh we took a couple songs from it and then we wrote the rest of the songs and um it's going to be a a 10 track album um but it it'll be like six fully full fleshed out songs the other tracks are kind of like inludes or you know intro parts and um we kind of just went in it there is like a a theme of oh God Sasha would Sasha I can see him shaking his head now because he's very particular his theme too um it's like a very big uh theme with fire you know and kind of and kind of like envir

44:01like I don't know I don't want to I don't want to speak too much on it but like there there's an overall theme for sure um yeah but uh it is a little hard to put into words it's kind of like this um desperation I want to say yeah um just like just the state of the world stuff you know um or state of the country I should say sorry I know that that was like did not answer question there there is a theme I just like can't put it in words right now no I feel like maybe it's like we all have to experience it um for those that are just

44:40getting to know you um um it is there a way that you could describe your music and describe like I know that's such a hard question we get asked that and I'm just like well it's a little bit of this and a little bit of that but is there like kind of an overarching way to describe your music um we've been lately saying like it's like just heavy music it's um sco hardcore is a genre we say you know um I've been using devastating to describe it you know we get nice uh we both me and Sasha do vocals and um we both have really gnarly vocals I I scream at the

45:17top of my lungs like just loud you know sometimes if the mic cuts out or something I'll just keep going and you can kind of hear me over the instruments it's crazy um so I don't know it's it's pretty dark it's a little doomy um but really fast and energetic still and uh we try to play shorter sets that way we could just consolidate all this energy and all of this expression you know into a quick burst of 20 25 minutes tops and then it's over you know yeah um yeah uh describing like you know I don't know it's just like very very heavy sounds a little evil you know um

46:01very sad especially this new stuff there's some very sad parts um but we try to keep up the energy just make sure people can still move mosh have fun okay so speaking of heavy vocals do you have um warm-ups or things that you do to keep your voice in shape on tour or just praying for the best honestly no um I do do some warmups I do like the whole like humming the you know the pitch thing but I've learned that like um it just it's just a control thing um I don't drink before our sets uh because when you're drunk you kind of lose that control and me I will push if

46:44I feel it too hard I'll just scream and get outside of that like threshold where I'll injure my voice um on tour it's a little tough because you know you go through the Southwest the Midwest and it's dry and um you know it really you know you know how tough it is just like Downing Throat Coat the whole time oh yeah but uh I kind of just I do my warm-ups just to save my voice um from permanent damage but I've kind of accepted that the first couple days of tour I'm going to hit a spot um I'll be cracking a little bit when I talk but I still find

47:22that little pocket where I can scream and do my vocals live and then after I would say like four or five shows it's my body's like used to it and then I I'm comfortable I'm a little bit more trained and and I know where that pocket is and I can like remain there and usually it's good I don't no one take advice from me though I'm pretty sure I'm shredding my vocal cords but yeah I do like the little YouTube warm-ups just like to kind of loosen up your vocal cords and yeah just all of that or singing R&B too so yeah on the long drives I'll be I'll

47:59be singing Usher or Prince and like you know it's my voice will crack for a lot of the parts I can't hit all of the notes but you know just that helps my jaw kind of my jaw strength and it'll kind of keep me loosened up that's awesome that's really awesome actually do I mean do you have any favorite um like YouTube um channels that you follow for the warm-ups no I'm not not too too big on like um YouTube videos like that I kind of just like look them up I did find this one in Louisville um on this tour I can't even I can't even remember it's

48:39like it was like five it was like five for uh injured vocal cords or something because at that point I was hurting you know I was like okay I need to I need to like reel it in and make sure I'm taking care of myself um I I can't remember the Creator or anything though yeah it helps it definitely helps though and I feel you when it comes I mean when I'm singing vocals that need more you know stamina heavier vocals it there is a certain like after a certain number of days where you're like okay here's the pocket and it takes a little bit it's

49:13like a seesaw where you're like finding the balance I think because it's different when you're singing in rehearsal versus singing live with in front of people because your adrenaline's going and the monitors are different it's so it's all so different I was going to say that's a big deal yeah you know the the room's different um the PA is different you know sometimes it's like I don't know if you all have well you bring your own PA so I think youall are usually fine but um like you know if the you can't hear yourself very much or if a PA speaker is blown you know you're probably gonna

49:44sing louder or kind of compensate and that's where it can kind of really mess with you yeah absolutely um oh Jess is giving some love uh Jess is saying that is the best kind of music Adam I love that yes yes yes as as for for y'all that are new that are new to Adam um you can see he has this beautiful heart and beautiful expression and um you can just imagine how amazing his music is so yeah it's awesome to get to to hear your perspective on all of this um not just as a as somebody behind the scenes but as somebody as an artist um and I think

50:24it's really cool because it's so um honestly rare that I get to interact with artists that have worked so many different aspects of the music Community I mean you've you've had a your own venue you've worked as a sound person you've worked as um you know gosh tour manager I I I could go on and on but there's been many roles that you've played so it's like you've seen so many different sides of things which I'm sure like brings you a different kind of level of awareness on like how to how to run your own show yeah honestly going back to that the music industry question I think

51:01Micah asked earlier um I think that is probably the key thing if you if you are big like into uh music and all of this I don't know I think that it is important to get as much perspective as you can and so you know you should go to shows as an audience member and you should uh play shows obviously you probably are already and you should put shows together you know book a show help out a B on tour or like you know just book a party have a have a good time and kind of see all of the the problems you have to solve and

51:35like see how um how you do in those situations because you you learn so much it puts a lot of perspective um for for being an artist um and I I'm grateful for all the opportunities I've had to to learn and you know help people and um yeah I think it's just one a really important thing anyone could do honestly in any industry you know in in like if you're uh if you're a bartender you should barback you know you should manage you should uh maybe work in the kitchen you know like like do security like you should really do everything in your industry um and just get that

52:18perspective because it'll make you stronger in every other aspect yeah absolutely I I I I feel like um you know for me like having learned how to book shows um you know and I have other people that will ask me like well how do I how do I put a tour together how do I find a booking agent and I'm like well I I I don't know if I can advise you on the booking agent but I can certainly like point you in the right direction on to like how to like book your own shows so um like what would you tell somebody like how how do

52:51you book your first show how do you how do you book a show in a new in a new city that you've never been in whenever um nowadays I'll go on band camp and I'll search like the genra and the city um or you can uh find the venues first and go to the and look at their flyers and just see like you know if they have videos of a of a really sick show a lot of people are there and there's a band playing kind of check out that band if they sound like you um you know if they're on a similar level like

53:25you hit them up and just say hey we're like trying to book a show we kind of sound alike I really like your band um I listen to you all you're great um can you help us out and most of the time bands reply and if they aren't able to help out then they are able to point you in a direction too and um yeah I just there's nothing wrong with cold emailing bands um I recommend finding bands before promoters or venues just because promoters are usually a little bit more on the business side and might be a little bit different um and then venues the same you know

53:59they don't know who you are if you're like like a noname band or like you know it's your first time playing the city um if you don't have like a lot of followers or Tik Tok views or whatever they might not be as interested um so just find bands that are like-minded and about it and sound similar that you dig their sound and um I'm big on mutualism and so I always tell everyone you know if you ever need anything in Albuquerque or I'm trying to get my foot in the door in the bay for booking but you know it's a little tougher out here um but I still offer you know I can

54:35at least offer that information um just because once again like I like to you know help out that's what DIY is about absolutely um you're getting getting getting some love in the chat um uh Amia is saying you are awesome I agree um and um uh Holly was also reflecting that's um you know you were talking about all the different roles um uh she was saying I also think it makes you more compassionate 100% 100% I you can tell working with the band if they have done your job or if they've done any other job besides being on the stage because that's the that's the I I love

55:16like I love bands and I like playing music but sometimes bands are the biggest deas you know like it's like it's like like and and trust me I think musicians do need to get paid we have a big issue with this but there is like a lot of behind the scenes people who don't get the glory of playing that show like you know as well and I think a lot of people Overlook them you know that sound engineer that doesn't get it paid enough um the uh security that doesn't get paid enough like there's a lot of cogs that we all need to kind of really

55:48respect and and understand that we're all in this together and it takes a lot to make a show happen that magic isn't just there instantly you know um that's like uh it takes a lot to make a safe space you know or a safer space uh that attention that like that attention and intention um yeah super important and compassion is definitely important yeah absolutely I it's you know you were talking about how like there it's like when when you go to a show it's the band is one part of it it's just one part and there's so many parts is there's the people that come to

56:28the show to support it there's the venue there's the sound people there's the whole crew that's like there working the venue um there's so many like you said moving parts and every single person is so vital every single person in that room um or not in that room sometimes there's you know promoters that are not there but you know every everybody that's like been a part of putting it together is important so yeah um are you familiar with like the fire triangle where it's like fuel spark and air or oxygen I I always think of that whenever um I think of successful shows so you

57:06know it's like three sides of a triangle um it's audience the artist or performer um and then the venue or the host and if you take any of those sides away it's not going to be a good show or maybe the show can't even happen you know and so you got to make sure everyone's doing their role everyone's happy um everything's good on all sides and it'll a good shot absolutely um oh getting an awesome awesome question from uh Gavin thank you so much for your question um what can organizers of DIY venues do to better support touring artists um let me think just uh maybe accommodations is

57:47nice I think um America can start looking at Europe from what I've heard once again um someone who's in Europe can probably school me on this but what I hear about Europe is that when you get a show booked they give you a place to stay they feed you um and you know that's on top of you know your guarantee or booking the show and promoting and getting the bands and everything I think um a lot of DIY spots can uh you know kind of go the extra mile and give a place to stay maybe make a meal for a band you know because we've been eating

58:21Taco Bell for two weeks and like or foods like hot bar spending way too much Mone um and so that always helps out and goes um goes far uh and then um yeah a place to stay is a big one you know I know after pandemic a lot of people like live in smaller spots they can accommodate but um bands honestly can sleep on a floor most most bands I know and my band for sure we are like not picky I think people think that they need a guest bedroom or beds for everyone um that's something case most of the time you know uh it's like just

58:59just a living room you know that's not too dirty or you know not too ran down or whatever like no offense to anyone but um that accommodation would help out a lot um and biggest thing lately with booking is like uh I don't know your city I don't know your scene you know so like help with locals help with promotion all of that is is very appreciated because you know I I'm at that point where I know maybe a couple people in every city but like you know I can't just bring two people to the show and it works you know I need I need I

59:32need y'all to like get a good band and help help us out and like you know make sure they're promoting um make sure the bands aren't oversaturating and playing too much you know it's it's a big slap in the face when you're on tour you play a city on a on a Monday or Tuesday night and the band's like oh yeah we just played Saturday and we're playing Friday too because it's like okay who's gonna go see you on a weekday you know like yeah yeah like I don't think Clauses are super necessary especially in DIY but just just little things like that just kind of understand like you know

1:00:05everyone wants to have a good show and so just anything like that to accommodate and help is amazing absolutely um we've actually played some shows where that we slept at the venue um they had couches or you know like you said floor space and so um we actually did a run of shows in the South um where we actually like stayed at this venue um I want to say for several days like we just kind of lived at the venue for several days and we were like driving around to different cities um around that City you know so it was pretty awesome that they housed

1:00:40us and um you know we got to know everyone really well and um and they fed us too because they had Foods so that was that was amazing so oh yeah I love that even just access to a kitchen you know because I I love cooking on tour we can go to you know a grocery store um 30 40 bucks feed the entire tour plus who's hosting us and um and it's way healthier it's fresh it's much better than fast food um all of that really goes far too okay so what are your favorite things to cook on tour usually pasta is the easiest you

1:01:13know I'm vegan I'm the only vegan in my band uh and so um if they want me or eggs or cheese or anything like that they can get that and you know do it themselves but uh pasta is a good one uh um and then tacos or burritos is really good too you know we'll get like potatoes eggs um some kind of protein uh Sasha likes making these like hummus burritos with uh bell peppers and onions and those are nice because you know we can make a bunch pack them they're super cheap and easy to make and then snack on those for a day or

1:01:50um I'm trying to think what else whenever I have band stay of the night I love making green chili stew which is a new Mexican dish um so it's like just you know stew it's meat potatoes um I put beans in mine fo pasta in it sometimes or rice and then it's green chili so it's hot um it's super filling um really really comforting you know I think it hits when you're on um yeah all those are great yeah and super easy any anything that's like one pot or like really easy like that um I've seen a lot of vegan chili you know um I've had a lot of uh people make

1:02:30vegan chili and that's great you know just get some tortilla chips and yeah it's awesome oh yeah chili goes a long way 100% yeah yeah yeah yeah I I like to make like uh like chili is one lentils I'll make like lentils and rice you know that sort of thing because we actually travel with a a slow cooker and a rice cooker um and so you know and we and we bring like non- perishable Foods so like all the dried Goods that don't go bad it just makes it kind of easy to make healthy food that doesn't you know that can last you oh totally yeah if you get a little

1:03:04boxing van you know you have your own seasonings like yeah that's actually smart we should probably look into that too I highly recommend it we call it the vanry like our little box of spices that I bring I bring home spices from the Shire yeah all you fans um um so um oh okay here's a question what's what's the worst show setup you've ever had to salvage and how did you pull it off oh gosh okay I'm uh I want to say without being disrespectful or like without calling anyone out I won't say where but uh there was a show and um the venue took a

1:03:53pretty big cut of the door and their sound system was atrocious it was like it was like a PA and I think there was two speakers but only one worked or they didn't have cables and um and so luckily we we got in the habit of touring with our PA system and like a box of xlrs and mics and stuff just because we've been in this situation a couple times and so I ended up just saying oh we'll just use ours which wasn't a big deal but I ended up running sound for the whole show and um and like using our sound and I think we back

1:04:27lined a lot of our gear too only for like us to um I think we we did get a little cut but you know the venue did even make their their cut uh from the show and I was kind of just like this is gnarly you know like they they it's just it's it's really rough it feels like you're not working together to make a show happen like that and when you're the touring artist and you're doing so much more it's like it's just I don't know it's kind of tough I'm I never mind working I never mind working sound I never mind helping out a show but at the same time

1:05:02when there's such a big cut and it's like you know you could have paid a sound engineer to do that job like that's when it's a little slap face um that show is probably the worst at least in recent um yeah yeah that's probably yeah I feel you yeah we we played a show one time where they didn't have a sound system and so they went out to Guitar Center to rent the sound system um like while we were waiting and uh and we ended up running all the sound and it was pretty it was pretty wild it was a pretty wild show I mean it the

1:05:39show ended up being great but I feel you like you when you have to work that much harder and you're already on the road you know so yeah yeah not like not like I'm not like I'm a rock star and I just like want to party and play my set and get off stage you know I'm always down to work always down to help out yes absolutely yeah it's one of those things where it's just like oh my gosh okay like at least it heads up you know yes like oh hey by the way we sound isn't great you might want to figure something out or oh by the way we don't have a

1:06:06sound engineer like a little heads up goes a long way as well yeah absolutely I mean honestly that's part of the reason why we started traveling with our own sound as well and and and I mean you mentioned earlier like having control um we we saw that just so many times there was just so many X factors and Chaos that would happen that was out of our control so we were like well we need to make sure that there it's always constant like our sound is constant cuz that's one thing you need um unless it's an acoustic show right even then it's nice to have amplification but you

1:06:38always have to have like some kind of a sound system so yeah and and you know mostly playing um DIY venues um which we strive for you know um I understand you know I've had times at fly honey where like we just our sound system just crapped out or you know we're scraping B with what we have and so um I luckily have two just like thousand watt QSC k12's you know and um they're pretty easy they're powered speakers so you know we don't need a big old Power Amp or anything like that we just have those in the van and um it's a nice like you

1:07:12know just if we need them you know yeah um worst case scenario if like you know we want monitors we could pull them out and have monitors and use the actual sound system like as a sound system so yeah yeah it really it really it really helps a lot and then you know obviously it's less trust for everyone like I always see for the most part like you know when we have that set up you know venues are also not as stressed because I feel like it goes both ways like I mean I feel like you know for the most part like when I work with venues and

1:07:44sound people they they really want you to succeed they want the show to be great they want the sound to sound great so um you know if you can do your part in bring you know trying to help out as well I think that really helps the whole night you know I remember when we first met pulling up to Moonlight lounge and you all had all your gear outside waiting for us to unlock the door and like all these road cases and I was like oh my god oh no and then seeing you like set everything up I was like I don't know how we're gonna do this but like

1:08:15because we had just like what a four channel six channel mixer maybe and I was like I really have no idea how like what we're going to do but um yall already streamlined it so easy you're like oh just here just tap these two things in there and then we'll take care of the rest and it worked out great and it sounded great and it made my life so easy you know because I have had times where bands would come through and they have these crazy complex like inear situations or in your monitor situations or like samples I don't know just weird things like that um and I'm like dude

1:08:48this is like my garage you know like I don't I don't really you know we got to the point where we could accommodate a lot more soundwise but but when we first started it was you know Bare Bones we we had maybe four mic inputs so you know no sub like smaller speakers so but yeah um that streamlining is really important yeah absolutely I I think too I mean I obviously like everybody has like a different setup every band has a different setup but um being able to like have your own setup where you you know your system and that you know I mean mean there's amazing sound people

1:09:27out there that can handle it but it definitely helps when you can just make things hopefully easier for the people you work with yeah and honestly that's one of those professional things um that everyone should strive for too we we had um an engineer Matthew Tobias he always told us um back when I was with Crush we recorded with him um he's located in Albuquerque and um he uh told us you know when you're playing a stage pretend you're playing the next upst stage like like the next level you know CU that way you're not you know you're not playing Moonlight Lounge which if you all don't

1:10:02know is like a a 60 cat bar you know really tiny stage like you're not playing Moonlight Lounge like you're playing a Wembley or something huge where it's kind of pompous or pretentious but like you know you can pretend you're you can be playing Sunshine Theater which is the 800 C venue Moonlight Lounge is attached to and um and I think it's the same with like sound and all of that performance everything it's like just you know be like on that next level but just a level up where you know you can still work and not be pretentious or pompous but um it's just professional you know yeah

1:10:40I've always appreciated that about y'all you just have it down to a te it makes it so easy I love it forever work in progress but I really appreciate that yeah we we've been um you know playing more festivals in the past year we have some festivals coming up and that's that's totally it's very different than playing you know just like a you know a just a night with you know maybe three or four other bands um because you know you have like a whole a whole situation of maybe several days so many bands and so there's just a lot of moving parts and so I feel like all the

1:11:16shows that we've played has helped prepare us because I feel like you really have to be very aware and and like you know hopefully as considerate as you can be to the other bands to the promoter like you know be on time like little things like that where you're okay just you know get get our stuff set up so that it doesn't take too much time and take your stuff off the stage as soon as you're done little things like that you know totally yeah and then have um your um oh my gosh what are they called your uh layouts for the stage you know your input list and all that it's

1:11:50very important for sure there been so many shows where you know I got bands like the basist just walks up and it's just like who amp am I using and I'm like I don't know did you did you ask anyone you know like and then it's just another problem someone has to figure out you know yeah yeah yeah I I actually um spoke with uh uh amazing um Seattle promoter um Elizabeth Eng glaze um and that was one of the things she said because I asked her about this and she was like you know one of the biggest things is knowing the input list ahead

1:12:22of time cuz she's like I don't want to be in scramble mode like right before the show you know yeah I've been there and and anytime I have like my info messages like when I'm book shows I always ask like what do you need you know do you have samples do you have uh backing tracks do you have anything out of left field I need to watch out for you know um do you have the correct connections because sometimes people need a very specific Niche chord you know and it's sometimes you have it but you know like just depends and then you need to work around if you don't you

1:12:54know um which is the fun in engineering sure yeah well and backups that was another thing I've heard is like having having your backups having all the the cable backups the anything that you might need right yeah guitar backups cables um even amps I see more bands traveling with extra base heads you know like mind you they're like the little Ampeg so they don't take up too much space but um it's it's smart you know just because like when something goes wrong you just want to fix it right away and keep the show going yeah so as a four piece um what kind of a tour vehicle do you tour in um

1:13:32I have a Chevy Express 3500 so it's a a 15 passenger um we usually take out the I only have three benches in it so we usually take out the third bench and that fits all of our gear merch bags and then we have two benches um if it's just the four of us it's you know you know how that Comfort is you know each person gets a bench to lay on two people up front uh we'll tour with like a photographer or someone doing merch so sometimes it'll be like a five piece and um you know that person will be back there same setup U we will be doing a

1:14:05two- week Tour on the west coast in June um and uh so that one the band is gonna the band we're touring with is going to fly into the bay um and we're gonna just use all of our gear but since it'll be eight of us in the band in the van we will uh get a trailer and so all the gear will be in the trailer and then we'll have three benches you know two to a bench two up front have some space in the back if someone wants to lay down um and yeah that's honestly I suggest that if if you're a smaller band you can

1:14:34maybe get away with like a Ford Transit those little like delivery cargo ones um like if you're a three-piece maybe um or especially a two-piece um but if you're like a full band and you have like Hales and all of this I I strongly just recommend getting a van because anything else is just not built for the wear and tear and U and even if you're like you know in an SUV with a trailer like that Comfort is kind of kind of drives you crazy depending on how long the tour is but honestly I've seen people tour in Crazy vehicle situations so it's it's honestly

1:15:13works it's true I mean I I our the very first tour I was on we we had like the SUV all of us like crammed with a little trailer behind us and we're all just kind of like this um yeah like you can't stretch out you can't put your seat back nothing exactly you're just kind of like trying not to fall asleep on the person next to you but you do anyway um yeah and yeah know it makes you so grateful when you're able to stretch out like it's like having that experience now I will never take being able to stretch out for granted for sure

1:15:48100% yeah I agree yeah I mean we're still traveling in Van ourselves I have friends that travel and buses um you know which is a totally different thing like you were mentioning cuz I feel like you have to reach a certain level of being able to financially handle that it's so much more expensive so many more things can go wrong right yeah like um I like the bandwagons those ones are cool um yeah those ones seem I I haven't really seen inside them too much I don't know the layout but they seem like not too expensive but more Comfort which is nice for you know say like a full us two

1:16:24month tour something like that um but yeah it's mostly just like working within your means uh I've I'm on my third van wait no yeah this is my third van it's a 2013 and um my first two Vans were old and really really gnarly and had so much issues that I was like okay um I don't want to deal with that anymore I'm gonna take a loan out and get a good van that runs and you know it's been great ever since yeah it makes such a difference we've had our well last year we had our share of vehicle troubles so it's like it's at that point you know where you're

1:17:00like okay I think it's time to sort of like figure out a different vehicle situation so yeah yeah we um our first van actually um was we paid $700 for it um it had no air conditioning uh there was a hole in the driver's like floor and it didn't turn right so we'd have to like plan out our our street maneuvers didn't turn right no it was crazy it was so crazy I don't know how I don't know that is hilarious oh my god well it makes you grateful did you merge least I mean it probably wasn't safe but here I am in one piece

1:17:51so our first van was from 1985 and um the speedometer didn't work and so we had to download apps on our phones and put them in the dashboard to know how fast we were going so I totally feel you there's there's always little work arounds y there is where there's a will there's a way right I did we have this we had this other one that the heater didn't work and not only did the heater not work but we were driving um it was with that Japanese van kele we were driving through the Redwood forest in February and um we had to wrap cardboard and like

1:18:31blankets around our legs because I guess the vents were just open and so it was just freezing air on the driver and the passenger up front and like it was so bad that our friend Keith who was with us it was his van he had like a little gas stove he would like turn it on and put it in between a on the cooler like to to get some semblance of heat it was so dangerous I don't know I don't know how we did any of that yeah you kind of do what you have to do and I feel like there are like tour angels that just watch over you

1:19:05do literally yeah yeah yep I when we so we didn't have air conditioning um and I just remember cuz we did a summer tour and I mean some of the places we hit were like well into the hundreds and I lived off of popsicles like the whole time every gas station I was like I need a popsicle but you get to tour and it's totally worth it so oh yeah yeah I think yeah that just goes to show like how about it you are you know um we we played with this uh band a while back and they kind of looked at us and we we were laughing

1:19:41about stuff and they were like oh so your lifers you know and I was like yeah I think I guess I am you know like no matter what you overcome it and you just make it work and you do it yeah absolutely it's it's not for everybody um you know it's it's it's a way of life it absolutely is it's something that um it takes a lot of stamina for sure um you know it's it takes a lot of energy it takes a lot of stamina um it takes time away from the people that you care about so like you you know you're on the road for a long period of time

1:20:14and there might be things that you miss out on and um if you're lucky you have a support system that understands and that is awesome um and also if you're lucky you have a band family that's on the same boat as you are so yeah yeah definitely the most important part i' I've been on tours you know when some people just aren't about it and like you could tell and I I just tell them straight up at this point I'm like well well then don't do it you know like don't don't don't do this as a favor you know if you're if you don't like it then

1:20:45you know I don't want to no one wants to put you through that like it's it's okay yeah it's not for everyone you have to know your why you really do so so why do you do it I feel like I've tried to stop and it just never worked you know like it was like that like booking shows too I would always like um I think you've known me long enough where you would see my Facebook uh post where I'm like I'm done I'm taking a break you know and then literally two weeks later a venue shuts down and I'm like okay yeah we could

1:21:18book those shows last minute here I got you all you know I just I just keep getting pulled back in but honestly like nothing beats traveling and um lately what's been really um keeping me going is uh all my friends across the country um you know you like nothing's nothing's for sure in this life you know anything can happen um especially lately so um you never know when the last time you might see someone is and so I just want to be sure I can go out on the road and see people I love across the country as much as I can yeah yeah absolutely I I feel you I

1:21:57mean there's I've had friends that I've you know lost in the past few years um like were Musical musical dear dear friends and you know yeah you just you don't ever know when that last interaction might be and it's so special when everybody that you know that's out there with you is absolutely doing what they love and you're I don't know there's just some a very special Synergy that I think happens you know 100% yeah um uh Micah is actually asking um if you had to describe your music using the names of three artists that have influenced you who would they be see probably um first would be this band

1:22:44from France called birds and row um are an amazing band they're one of my favorites um they play Heavy Music in a way where it's not strict heavy it's just drenched with emotion though um uh so good I can I cannot say enough good things about them um the other um we're not as cool as this band but the Chariot is H definitely a big influence and we we have gotten that on tour so I will say you know like okay someone said it it's not just me um but uh there's sort of chaos and uh and uh we try to capture a little bit you

1:23:27know or people have compared us to um for the last one um maybe maybe like converge but I feel like that's a cop out because that's a lot of bands in the genre because converg is just the blueprint you know um uh I'll I'll use converge as a placeholder I'm not that's all I got for that one to be continued yeah yeah yeah um we're getting a question from Holly um how do you combat homesickness while on the road um I try to use it uh I try to create gratitude with it because um you know being home too long I I miss the road you know I miss I miss seasons and

1:24:24different places now because I've experienced them a few times and so I try to use it to um be more present and just grateful when I am home um and especially uh for those who don't know I I recently moved to the Bay Area from Albuquerque like a year and a half ago so technically here is still very new to me and so whenever I'm on the road um you know I'm always talking to my girlfriend she's sending me pictures of the dogs um and uh I just kind of know that eventually I will get home and when I'm home I got to like you know go

1:24:58outside and go experience the city and go hang with my friends and like really really like Relish in all of it um and that usually helps me um I don't get I don't get too homesick where I can't uh Stave it off that way yeah yeah absolutely I I feel like um it's like a it's it's almost like to it's sort of like home is where you are right and and the beauty of technology is that you can stay connected you know um so you can't you know it's it's easy to like video chat or send pictures and that sort of thing as well but um but

1:25:38yeah like it's I think it helps too to have your communities around you from City to city um you know because everybody makes you feel at home you know totally yeah yeah you got your like um when you tour for so long and especially the same cities you uh get your little um place and things you do you know so like every time we play in Witchita we go to um uh Ricardos I believe it's called it's this great Mexican spot it's open 24 hours so just go right after the show um and we do that every time we make jokes that that's the only reason we play

1:26:12Witchita just kidding wit we love wit but but um yeah so like you know it's it's one of those things where you kind of you uh find your your little homes away from home yeah absolutely um we we will sometimes actually get people that will bring us food and you know things like that too so that always that always really helps too is when you get like a nice nice meal and someone you know brings it with love so I'm big on the cultural exchange from touring um and so um I know you never played fly on your warehouse but anytime B did I would cook

1:26:48them new Mexican food and I would show them you know like yeah let me let me make you green chili chicken enchiladas you know obviously once again vegan so they would usually be vegan but um you know I would just try to like show people that especially um International touring bands because um it's like a whole experience you know I want people to remember you know Albuquerque and uh get the full experience and the food is one of the best parts absolutely now that I'm in the bay like I I don't claim the bay yet it feels a little um different out here but um I'm still a new Mexican so I'll just

1:27:25continue that tradition on here until you know I start making uh I don't even know what a bay food is clams I don't know or something I don't know I feel you I'm I'm still Texan I'm in California but I'm still Texan yeah yeah I don't know I it's good to have your roots yeah yeah totally yeah I do feel like too it's it that is a really big part that I love about touring is that you do get I mean even just with in the US there's so many different cultures and and food is a big part of it so getting to experience like

1:28:00that totally yeah like I love um uh any tour I like getting coffee um I like Che I like checking out cool bars you know I'm a bartender so I love going to anywhere like really unique and original especially if they have really good drinks um and then uh food you know I'm like every time we go into a city I look up what artists are from that area um and then what's the the famous like food you know yeah for sure so if anyone were like to say like Adam how can we support you um on this show like what are what are things that people could bring to

1:28:38you um like while you're out on um I'm sure there's a better answer but like maybe like snacks or like any like like even just like a case of water you know that's that's you go through that so much in the van you know and so little things like that like are awesome um uh I love when people cook for us but sometimes it is hard to like keep food you know in a van especially and so um that's a little tough but uh maybe some like um non- perishables snacks food yeah I guess all of that stuff is great um we my B we don't drink as much um as

1:29:21we used to but you know if you bring us like a sixpack of some local beer will'll be super stoked we bought a bunch of mour when we were in Chicago because M's awesome so well um if you were to like share you know with a band that's still like up and coming and working on their first tour like how I know um you mentioned that your drummer does all the booking now but um like how does one go about like routing or how do you guys go about like routing and planning and that sort thing um when you're so uh my our our um methods have

1:30:03changed a little bit but back in the day I would usually um you basically want to see how much time you have you know so you you you have two weeks everyone could get off of work for two weeks and that's sustainable and efficient enough um you basically want to set where you want to go um or how far can go in a week because then obviously you need a week to get back home um and so judging by that uh we used to just try to play everywhere we could you know we'd play every small City uh we'd play uh Santa Fe New Mexico Las Vegas New Mexico uh

1:30:42Colorado Springs Denver Fort Collins laramy Wyoming you know we play all these dates but um excuse me um now we kind of think more of uh what What's a more beneficial show because you know there there's a certain point where you can play these small cities and they'll be good shows and you know they they will um even like have good money sometimes but it's like you know do you need to play Pueblo Colorado every time you go through like that part of the country you know so there's like little things like that um I'd say just kind of like if you have any friends anywhere

1:31:24um the like if you're if you're touring say you're in Albuquerque New Mexico if you're touring if you have friends in Houston Texas then yeah you should tour to Houston play with your friends that when their band Tor through Albuquerque you met them and you played with them you know they'll book you a show um and then you can tour back through however um I guess I guess like checkpoints you know when you're booking a tour you kind of want your cities that you know will do or maybe not no but cities that are likely to do better um as long as you have like one good checkpoint City every

1:32:03three days on a tour you usually will be okay because that means you could have two or three bad shows and then you have one good one that hopefully makes up for it or even like um if you have family somewhere you know like I I have family in Ohio and we had an off day in September and we went and saw my grandma I haven't seen in 15 years I saw my aunt I haven't seen in 10 and um we uh you know we stayed with them they fed us like we got to hang out and um that I think that counts as like a checkpoint

1:32:34as well so yeah I guess I guess just be a little smart with like the routing like that you know you don't want to just go oh we want to Tour California and you don't know anyone and you don't know what you're doing at all and it's your first time there uh because it'll it Can Eat You Alive that way yeah absolutely it's checkpoints is such I like that that's such a great word for it I I never quite put that word to it but I'm like yeah checkpoints cuz yeah like having those key places that you know like even if it's just being able to see some family and

1:33:07friends which is one of my favorite Parts too is getting to see your people um yeah but yeah like having those you know places that you're like okay when you're looking at a route um for however long you go out and going like okay these are the places that we know are going to be solid um I mean obviously sometimes there's no telling sometimes you can like put everything into promoting the show and you think it's going to be great and then you know it just turns out how it turns out right oh yeah totally you know um another band in your genre that's way bigger than you

1:33:40can be playing the same night down the street you know like like there's there's so many factors like that um but yeah just one of those things where you roll with the punches uh sometimes guarantees you know if you're able to get a guarantee somewhere that can help you out to I I count those as like checkpoints like okay well even if the show sucks we get 250 bucks so you know yeah we can least get a hotel or you know like we're a little more in the green you know depending on funds and how what what green is for a band you know yeah absolutely I think you know

1:34:11for us one of the key things is keeping our costs as low as possible um safely yes yeah you you can't be getting hotels every night you can't be um eating out like like really expensive food you know you can't be going to a Chili's or like a sit down restaurant every night on tour um I have to be careful with coffee like I mentioned earlier because I love coffee I love going to little coffee shops but you know if I'm spending $10 on a oat milk latte every day of tour that adds up real quick or or even and this is so embarrassing my my big one that I've

1:34:46been trying to curb is chips or snacks at a gas station because you know there's it's so expensive it's so easy to spend $25 at a gas station and if you do that even every couple days like it's it's like over $100 in a week and you know you could have just went and got went grocery shopping and got some snacks and so yeah that's there's definitely the cost you know keeping cost low that is very important for sure it's like it's it's a bite too because obviously like in the van um storage is limited so you can only store so much but it's like if you

1:35:24kind of plan your grocery stops too where it's like like a shorter drive that day so you have time to stop by the grocery um sometimes we have people that will bring us groceries which is amazing thank you thank you Angel people I love that that is amazing yes yeah I have a Costco membership and honestly what we do is we'll get cases of water from there um like I said I'm vegan so I get these like plant- based uh protein shakes and I'll throw some of those under the bench and then that way I at least know if I'm eating really bad like you usually do on tour I have the

1:35:56vitamins and the protein from those shakes that'll keep me going you know um and then you know you can get like other snacks at Costco and just like have like a little stockpile that way if you do have one of those bad days where you have a 10-hour drive you can't really stop and get food or you know you're in h the middle of the country where there's not many options if if you have food allergies which I feel really bad for people who have um gnarly food allergies you know because it just limits everything so much more but um yeah yeah if you just ahead of time you

1:36:29pack up like as much as you can just like have a little box of snacks or crackers or um nuts they have these little individually wrapped nuts and those are good you know nice little snack um yeah that's all good calls yeah those are great um yeah like I feel like and and you know every you know our band has like their favorite their favorite snacks um the guys in my band are love Fig Newtons love Fig Newton or those peanut butter pretzels like yeah yeah so yeah they go to town on that so it's like having like the stash definitely helps with the road

1:37:05snacks totally yeah I'm I'm guilty of just eating most of the road snacks in like the first like three or four days though like I have to I have to really like like hide them or put them out of reach you know because I'll just I'll just keep eating it like well I mean especially if you're d driving it kind of helps right 100% yeah like especially night drives you know CU you're like okay well I need to stay up like caffeine and eating something in music like that's all you got yeah do you have like an average um like in terms of your routing like that you

1:37:39don't like to go past in terms of how many hours you're driving stars um our Band Stars is known to have the stupidest routing like uh we did a tour recently um a couple years ago where uh we were doing West Coast and uh and when we announced it it looks super dumb but like the way we were booking it it made sense we we basically came up to the bay to play um Sacramento I believe it was and then we had an off day and then we were playing uh Oakland but on that off day we got a show offer in Long Beach California so literally we drove up to

1:38:15Sacramento back down six hours to Long Beach and then back up to Oakland and it was just really dumb every everyone was clowning on us for a while for that one but um now it's once again it's where we can get booked and it'll be a decent show um and um we usually just try to stick to n nine or 10 hours or less um some some drives are impossible to like keep under 10 hours like Albuquerque to anywhere in Texas besides El Paso that is one of the the earliest ones so anytime we do that drive I'm always like let's just do it overnight I rather if

1:38:53Northern Texas especially I think you know yeah you know I rather I rather not see anything than daylight like and see nothing you know see nothing like yes nothing out there um but yeah like 10 10 hours is usually what we aim for um we did have a gnarly 15h hour drive through two time zones uh in September we did Denver to Indianapolis and um that was really stupid but once again we got a good show offer so we you know we had to take it and it just made sense and it was a really good show um but yeah that one that was probably our gnarliest drive

1:39:34and and we I do not want to do that again without an OP yeah it it's it's hard when you do have to like climb out of the van after like a really long drive and sleep to pration and then do a show and play yeah espe she like like that one is that one was like this too where it's like we got there and instantly we had load on the stage and like you know get ready and it's like it's it's just like such a blur and then like after it all you're like wow we really just drove 1500 miles or you know whatever it's crazy yeah

1:40:07it's a blur it's a blur I feel like you're you're going on fumes um you know for me like the adrenaline will carry me but then after the show I'm like well after it's like after the show I'm still there but then as soon as I lay down I'm like out yeah especially with the the time zone differences depending on which way you're going east or west you know sometimes it's like way too way early if you're going east to west and like you just pass out like at 900 PM or or I guess after a show it'd be like 11 or whatever or vice versa if you're going

1:40:38to the east it's like 3 or 4 AM you're so wide awake because you're just you know you drove all all through the time zones yeah it is a matter of I mean it's everybody has like their ways of catching naps and being able to sleep Steve is amazing like um he can literally sleep behind his drum set with the music blaring and like we'll be like where's Steve and he'll just catch a 15minute nap with music super loud I don't know how he does it that is so impressive like if I if I nap at all even like 10 or 15 minutes I like wake

1:41:12up just groggy it's like it's just not worth it I just have to like power yeah um oh um Holly is asking um if we have a favorite to play um and when planning a tour is there a place that is so cool you really enjoyed and love to play tour after tour um one of my favorite venues is a seventh circle uh music collective in Denver um it's a classic spot um so many great bands have played there uh I've played there probably like 10 times and I love it every time the the people who run it are amazing good friends of ours um it feels like a second home and uh

1:41:51when I started fly honey Warehouse it was basically based off of uh seventh circle and how they run it um and so that's definitely up there uh we played Mr robato Project in Pittsburgh on this last tour in February and I've been wanting to play there since like I started touring so that was really cool um trying to think of any um um there's a spot formerly known as Church in in Hollywood that is a really dope venue um I like that spot a lot um those are the main three that come to mind um there's there's plenty though you know we there's a lot of

1:42:36spots like we we play at the lumber yard in Witchita or molan Kansas technically and it's literally literally like a lumber yard it's like in the middle of nowhere in Kansas and um bunch of kids come out it's super fun we've played there like six times I think um I'm not too picky with venues honestly it's mostly the people you know so it always makes the show it makes the show a lot better yeah yeah yeah like yeah I mean you know for me like one of the venues that comes to mind is we we've played the Milestone club in Charlotte North Carolina yeah that's

1:43:12I've been wanting to play there yeah oh I think iooked I booked us once there either stars or crushed but then we had to cancel the tour um but yeah I would love to play the mil oh you guys would love it there they would love you I I it's such a great place um I I feel like I feel like it's history so for those of you that are not familiar with Milestone there's just so many bands that have played there and like the walls are plastered with stickers and set lists and you know it's just like you it's like you feel like you can feel the history of the building

1:43:44it's so cool yeah yeah and it's it's um I don't know it's such a surreal feeling like just like thinking about how many acts have played on a stage that you get to play on um I work at a Great American Music Hall in San Francisco which is one of the most legendary venues I think in the country if not the world you know and every time I'm there you know just before my shift or after I see so many great bands um and I just like realize I'm like oh Prince has played here like multiple times and Robin Williams and like you know Billy ish is there like all kind

1:44:16all kinds of like artists especially ones I love and um it's such a such a cool feeling I think you can feel that in certain venues like all of the Good Vibes and good times that were had that good energy stays in the venue oh absolutely you feel it you really do feel that for sure um oh so um uh Amia is asking if you've ever been to dark force Fest um Alice played in um play played there last year dark force Fest is a festival in New Jersey no that sounds awesome though oh which which part of New Jersey um pipany is that I'm so bad with geography

1:44:59but like hold on let me go I know I haven't been though no um I would love to um go to more festivals honestly I'm trying to um go to more that are out here on the West Coast you know um I'm only five and a half hours from La so I would like to visit more LA and Bay Area or Sacramento shows yeah um that one sounds really cool oh and how do you spell this par par p a r s i p p y paron um oh yeah it's a Township okay yeah oh and deia and Holly yes Alice would love to return to the pie shop oh

1:45:41and um Adam if you ever play the pie shop in DC it is awesome um it's such a cool venue and they and they have pie like I would I would love that I I I have a bad Sweet Tooth I I will we we played Voodoo Donuts in Eugene Oregon once and I had a friend who works there and um they just loaded us up with boxes and boxes of like day donuts and uh I lived off of those for like three days until I think I was pre-diabetic and then I had to lay off of them for a bit okay Troy Hills it's like it's like

1:46:17it's like straight from the Bronx inward Inland I didn't even know New Jersey went up that far that's kind of crazy I'm I'm learning something new yes yes but that's awesome um I would love to play DC I've I've uh only been once and um we had a day off so we just went to the National Mall or whatever and saw Monuments but DC seems like a really cool City I would love to experience the show there yeah we've always just love the music Community there they've always just welcomed us and made us feel right at home so high highly recommend DC MH yeah it's funny cuz um you know it's

1:46:57it's um there's certain cities I I I was sharing that I'm from a small town and so um you know there's some cities where it's like I you just don't know until you get there what it's going to be like and DC was like that for us New York was like that for us where we just felt really welcome you know that's great especially big cities like that you know um because in my experience big cities are always the hardest uh especially for newer bands you know your first time um unless you really like just you know like hit a home run and like get a good

1:47:28promoter a good venue or good locals or just or you have a following there already you know um it's really uh cool to have a good show in a big city like that there's you know yeah you you really never know and and then you know that's when you really discover like oh they have a thriving music Community like really thriving so yeah totally I'm I'm always super interested um anytime we tour I talk to like our friends or the promoters or the bands and I like to just get the lowdown of how their scene works and like you know some problems they face and a lot

1:48:04of the time they're the samees that the same ones that you know Albuquerque would face or the bay but um it's interesting to see the different uh problems and uh kind of what causes them you know like whether it's like geography or like um or uh you know um what's the word uh like the way the city is ran you know they just things you wouldn't think about really you know like oh is it red State a blue State you know like different things affect all of it and it's uh really interesting yeah absolutely um and some of the thriving communities that we've seen um it's like

1:48:40all the promoters are really supportive of each other so it's not really competitive it's more like they it's all the ships rise together so they're really they go to each other's shows they support each other it's it's pretty awesome when you get to see that oh totally yeah um in Albuquerque I would always share all the shows happening on a day even if one of them's mine you know because like yeah it wasn't like competition it's kind of like hey this just go out as long as people go to a show it doesn't matter if it's mine or not it's just just go to one because

1:49:09Yeah the more the marrier it's better yeah yeah that's one thing I've always appreciated about you um and seeing your stories where you're like oh check out this awesome show and it might not be yours but you're so supportive of of live music and the live music community and I think that's really what it's about totally it's been really funny living here now and sharing uh shows for Albuquerque because you know I still got all my friends out there um and then slowly I'm getting more friends out here and like I'm I'm starting to share events out here but I I laugh because I always have to specify which city I'm

1:49:43talking to you know I'm like you know oh B homies they're like hey I'll be kooky homies like go check this out um oh here a question is about mental health and touring um so it's a known fact that some musicians and artists can get a sense of emotional exhaustion stress and more from touring a lot um what are good ways to battle this um my biggest thing is uh everyone in the van needs headphones you know like you just you need headphones and then if and uh communication is a big thing too you know you gota you got to if you wake up you're not having a good

1:50:19day for whatever reason even if you don't have a reason you know you don't know you got to be able to tell your band mates or your your crew or anyone um like hey you know it's kind of rough day you mind if I go sit in the back or pop my headphones in you know um and uh I definitely I have mood swings all the time on tour you know so like usually I'll just need to be in my own world Listen to my own music go lay down in the back seat not talk to anyone for a bit um as as much as I'm around like

1:50:50social events I'm a bartender I'm very introverted so I get drained so quick on tour um and uh I need my like little time often and uh I sleep in the van every night and most of that is just to protect our stuff you know so we don't get broken into um or at least I can hop out of my underwear and fight someone if I need to but um uh I get a lot of my alone time then as well you know it's kind of nice I can go to bed if everyone's partying or hanging out you know I can retire early and just watch a

1:51:23show or you know go to sleep early listen to music write draw um I yeah just the big communication and having some way that you can kind of um make yourself feel better and like you know recharge is super important um I know some people that like when you get to a new city they like to take a walk and you know they'll just go walk see everything um and come back feeling great you know sometimes they have food or a coffee um that a good tactic but um as long as you could just tell everyone what's going on um so you know aren't worrying the team and um so they could

1:52:04help too you know um yeah I don't know about you but I tour with mostly men so you know how men can get kind of uh just pick on each other for fun it's usually fun but sometimes it goes a little far you know like and it's like you know hey like don't joke about that or like I'm I'm a little sensitive know and so yeah yeah that's all I got that's I'm constantly looking for more ways to you know um help level myself out on tour um but so far that's what's worked the most I would say yeah our van is usually pretty quiet

1:52:43we we all we're all on headphones and you know actually all of us are introverts so and we all have to recharge our batteries so we're actually really cool with giving each other space like you might not be right next to each other but like we're all kind of in our own little space and then I mean not that it's always that way but you do need your times where you're just like in your own little Universe for a little bit totally yeah I I try to read more on tour you know so getting lost book is a great way you know just to kind of tune

1:53:10it out um I like I'll stare out the van window just you know like I'll like I don't know why but I always stare at like rock formations and I imagine like in like land and just everything and I imagine like all the people over the centuries or Millennia that have been looking at the same mountains or the same rock formations you know like back to like um indigenous tribes or like you know uh like settlers or whoever it would be wherever part of the country we're in um and it's kind of just like puts the world in this weird uh I get deep in thought about that I don't

1:53:49know yeah no absolutely I think that's that's part of the the special thing about touring because um you know seeing seeing that World um and you and like you were saying you like hundreds thousands of years you don't know who's been you know who's passed and maybe who's had similar thoughts right right yeah yeah yeah about the future even too you know and just like oh and uh I'm sure like after 10 more years of touring I'll pass the same mountains and be like whoa you know I was here 10 years ago and I felt this way or you know like I don't know it's kind of just a trip

1:54:25yeah yeah absolutely well um what are the best ways that people can follow you support you all the things um stars don't mean anything on Instagram that's the main social media we use um we're pretty quiet right now uh but we will be uh releasing a single before our tour in June we should hopefully be announcing that tour in April or so um very stoked for it it's all the West Coast uh Phoenix up through Vegas Reno into the Pacific Northwest so if anyone's out there will be in your area and um my Personnel is absence. party on Instagram um I treat it very much like a personal but at the same

1:55:10time I try to you know just shout out bands I like I try to just share um more things and um like I've already said if anyone has any further questions you can always reach out to me I'm always down to just chat and talk to people you know um stars don't mean anything it's all one word we're on Spotify title uh YouTube music band camp everywhere um we have a EP out right now um but like I said we'll have a that single coming soon and then later this year we'll have the record out awesome well um thank you to everyone for hanging out with us for

1:55:50chatting for your awesome thought questions um and thank you so much Adam for sharing your amazing self with us all the perspectives and wisdoms yes thank you it's been so it's been so great like I I just again I just feel like it's been such a cool like parallel Journey um you know I feel like as we orbit and then we reconverge it's like well what have you been up to and like literally yeah like our conversations are literally just exactly like this we're always just talking the same way it's like I remember y'all are loading up trying to leave after playing inside out and me and you are in the street

1:56:28still just like talking and we're fin like oh yeah we should probably close the bar yeah well such a joy um thank you all so much um next week uh we are actually going to be um having Mark Paradise um he is the amazing um promoter behind communion after dark uh we're going to be playing Absolution Fest um in the fall in Tampa and he's putting that together so we'll be having him next week um but in the meantime we hope you have an amazing rest of your week um