Jared Christianson, in full

0:17EX for all right we are live on the internet with um our very good friend Jaren Christensen um we have Tash Cox with us and um you know we are we're live on Alice's page tour router on all the different places um alice. um which is our twitch page uh Jer Jared Christensen here is an incredible allaround dude um I met him a few years ago um doing some like music marketing stuff together and um you know we're we're just like so over the moon to have him um with us right now we're going to be talking about all things tour um you know maybe some like music

2:01marketing stuff and just like geeking out on what our idea is of the unwritten rules of the road and basically the unwritten rules of the road is uh it's a both like a book and a Blog and like a video series that TSH has actually put together that essentially literally talks about like what are the unwritten rules of the road and there are so many um because you know touring uh starting out as like a DIY band you know touring like you just learn a lot of stuff along the way and um you know there's there's just so much that goes into it and um

2:36anyways to to make a long story short uh Jared plays in an incredible technical death metal band called archaic um and um you know we're if if you're not familiar with the band um definitely check them out they're incredible uh and they have been heavily touring as well um playing a lot of shows and yeah so we're just here to just talk about all that stuff so yeah um he Jared yeah do you want to just like give us like a quick background of of who you are like and you know what you've done in terms of like touring and your band and all that fun

3:14stuff sure well thank you guys again for having me um love you guys and grateful to be here um so I come from the metal World metal in general um and specifically like the Sub sub genre of like technical death metal so there was like metal death metal then technical death metal it's like you know a sub genre of it and um it it wasn't always technical um it was just metal back in the day when we first got started which was 20 years now so like the band officially you know played our first notes in 2004 in Southern California uh 20 years ago and um was

4:14just a outlet for um hanging out and you know and and uh just doing something that wasn't dirt biking because in Southern California that's all there is and U so um we played a lot of local shows um for from 2004 to about 2010 was our um kind of coming up uh also figuring out lineups and figuring out like um what do we want to sound like all that stuff happened for for about I guess yeah so like six years five years um we eventually figured out that playing live shows and um touring and everything that we wanted to do was um on us being like a tight band

5:40and networking and playing a you know a role in our local community putting on shows playing shows hanging out you know just building and um for yeah so for about six years we did that in 2010 we put out our first album um we got signed to a label called unique leader records and um they were a very like awesome label it was a big you know like um incredible feat that was our whole goal just let's get signed um totally yeah and you guys still signed to them uh not anymore we did uh two two album deals with them um from 2010 to 2016 and it was a huge learning

6:42experience like just um putting out music putting it like the whole like getting signed thing was um proing it was all almost like validation like yeah can we prove to ourself that that you know this U label owner thinks that we're cool and that our music is good um well I know it's like it's such a big goal um of a lot of bands is like when you first start a band it's like okay like we got to get signed you know like what do we do like that's like sometimes like I remember when we first started and I was playing and my first started

7:23playing in band it was always like all right you know like we're doing all this stuff but when are we going to get signed and that was was like sort of like the Holy Grail I remember when I was like you know first playing in dance and everyone's like oh I talked to like so and so at like you know anr rep at Capital Records or whatever and it's just like it seemed like it was like sort of chasing like sort of like the proverbial rabbit but I mean just to like I mean it's just it's such a great milestone though like and it is like you

7:50said it is like you know validation you know as an artist as a musician it's like oh my God like this this company wants to invest money into marketing um what I'm doing you know and that's that's so incredible um that's that's I don't know that's an incredible story I don't mean to interrupt but feel free to to keep going I'm I'm really enjoying so yeah like that that was the goal in the beginning because it was you know again it was 2006 to 2010 where we were like putting Targets on what do we want to do and it was always like get signed like that was the

8:32that was the goal um four albums later it's not it's not as um I I think today in 20124 it's so like not the goal like shouldn't be your goal yeah um yeah but it did help us get on tour like our first tour that we did was a label organized tour and then the next tours were also from the label like there we didn't have a booking agent but we had put out our debut album on unique leader and those um like that album got us and the the next album got us like a bunch of big tours through that and like helped kind of like

9:35solidify us as like not just a local band we're touring with Black Dolly murder now we're touring with Canal Cannibal Corpse you know like the biggest metal and um so that's how essentially how it all started we were like basically a local band and trying to write you know metal and then we discovered technical death metal and we're like oh my gosh this is so crazy like yeah it really is and then we never went back like you just can't go back we got this really cool question I want to uh give a shout out to Sean um uh for for your question thank you so

10:25much for taking the time to hang out um Sean is asking um what band inspired you um to want to be an artist or want to be in a band such a good question like really I mean punk uh early on I I didn't have anybody musical in my family but I did have musical like my mom's dad was musical so I guess it's kind of skipped a but I was you know musically inclined showed an interest started playing guitar when I was in like fourth grade um and green day was it you know I was like oh that's cool Green Day and then that's that's a good

11:23one yeah and then my uh I I owe a lot to my cousin Robert who showed me like No Effects and Pennywise and like U Bad Religion and like a lot of the punk bands uh like Warp Tour like old school Warp Tour punk bands and he's like yeah dude like see all these bruises on me this is from the pit I was like what what's the pit so he like introduced me to like uh the whole world of punk music um then I met chance who uh in Middle School like that's that's where archaic started um I met a a friend who's still my best

12:12friend to this day he's the best man in my wedding um co-founder of archaic um and we both played guitar and he's like dude have you heard of Limp Biscuit corn like it was in the new metal uh you know the rise of new metal and I was like no dude like tell me about it there's seven string guitars I like all right let's let's get seven string guitars so we we both bought seven string guitars and um started like learning corn riffs and stuff that's kind of where it all started was like Punk and new emerging and me with the guitar and my friend that's pretty aming yeah that's

13:13pretty amazing like it doesn't get much better than that right especially when you get to make music with the people that you love you know that's just it doesn't get much better than that for sure actually so oh go ahead Scott good oh I was going to say like I could just relate a lot to your story because I feel like I have a lot of similar influences like you know we sort of grew up you know listening to very similar stuff you know um but yeah anyways go on Tash oh no I was it's a a little bit of a tangent but um you're getting a a

13:50really cool question from Brian um Brian thank you for your question um um he's asking Jared um he checked out your stuff it's very powerful and he's asking is it hard to keep your voice in good shape good question it actually is I'm gonna say that I used to say no it's not that hard uh but about four or five days of consecutive uh set doing a full set like you know anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour and then talking all night uh just functioning uh in a loud environment that does take a toll and what I've realized is just one day of rest is so

14:46important like doing Six Days Seven Days eight days in a row is hard like that's what will my voice won't sound the same it won't function the same same so there is um yeah there is a cap on it there's like even with recording too like I can only go about four four hours tops of brutal death metal screaming and growling and stuff before I'm just like it's not getting any better I got to take a break do you have like an ideal like number of days that you like I mean that you like to go before you have your your day off like is there like a sweet spot

15:37in terms of that yeah I think it's like three to four days if we could have a a day off every three to four days for a voice rest day like that's perfect but as you guys know yeah you always you know if it if it date shows up on the calendar and like you know you're booking a tour and we got to hit Salt Lake City and the only date you know is that day so you know there's there's that but yeah a day a day off definitely helps for brutal vocals do you have like a specific like warm-up routine or warm down routine

16:26that you do um to get ready for a show um the warmup routine for me is a little bit of vocals beforehand just kind of while everything's really noisy I'll be like who you know kind of like get things going um but it's not oh and there's this like serum that you can get on Amazon it's like this uh whoa my my camera zoomed in I know that was awesome this is AI um but there is some stuff that you can do like a throat coat kind of thing that also does help does make a difference I've tested it I've a tested it that's awesome what is it called again um

17:20I I don't know the exact um yeah I know Tash taking notes I know I'm like taking notes I I always like to pick up tips and tricks for like vocal remedies for sure um yeah Alexander was asking about um like vocal warm-ups and um I'm I'm I'm myself like I it depends on the style of vocals that I'm singing when it's more aggressive like I feel like it actually takes more of a warmup because it's like I feel like you're about to put your voice through the ringer so it's like I like to get my whole my whole body going so so you know get the diaphragm going that

18:00sort of thing yeah yeah I mean the the nature of our music is really like it's almost a sport like the drums are going so fast he I mean our drummer is an an a athlete at this point yeah he's more very athletic he's he's a great musician but he's also very much like an athlete and treats his music like a almost oh 100% yeah makes me think of Danny KY you know like I always see him wearing like the sports jerseys and stuff and I feel like every drummer is like has to be sort of an athlete you know um yeah it's pretty awesome but I mean I've I've I am not a

18:53drummer but on the time on the few times that I've sat behind a drum set I'm like how do you move all of your limbs like that with like such precision and being able to do it for an entire set like it's it's amazing it's pretty mind-blowing for sure yeah yeah shout out to the Dr drummers and they got gear seriously so gear I always help the drummer like I know what it's like to be a drummer I've been a drummer in a couple other like side projects been a drummer in a in a cover band um so I know the hardships and I always like try to help the

19:35drummer out like load in load out um you know get on and off stage quickly you know to speaking of like touring and stuff like I feel like that's one like timing don't I'm sure you guys know this like timing is everything like when are you supposed to go on especially if you're like the headliner you're going last it's like if you are slotted to play 10 o'clock and you have five bands before you you're playing 10:45 if if nobody's there if you're lucky you're paying 1045 he might play 12 yeah if you're lucky oh yeah oh yeah promoter might be like oh let's push

20:24this back we want you know we're just waiting for the crowd to come it's like a late crowd or something so yeah know that I want just so to speak to that we're actually getting an awesome question from our amazing friend at cranial nerve entertainment um on YouTube um who actually is a promoter who runs things on times yes it's awesome he's an amazing promoter in De Moine um and um uh it's it's incredible because he actually runs things on time I'm like Zach you need to like make a handbook on how to run things because this is amazing shut up so um he asked has a question um what

21:01are some of your favorite artists that you've toured with throughout your musical career wildest craziest most compassionate so some of your favorites you've gotten into play with yeah definitely the black Dolly murder um was our third tour or no it was our second tour ever and they were very established at that point so we went from uh you know playing we played all around Southern California Northern California regionally and that was like a big eye opener was touring with them and they were so nice to us and like taught us they even we left our sample pad at the venue uh before like one night and then

21:52we showed up to the we were like soundchecking and because we were like the first band so we got to actually do a legit sound check and we're like oh no our sample pad's missing and then like they they they're like hey you know we got it from the last venue quit [ __ ] up like remember your [ __ ] stuff like that like they're they were just so nice to us and um got to see what a what a touring band looks like you know from just our first couple tours super established you know like what their merch stuff was like like just um yeah that was a big one that was

22:45that one always you know hits home um the other bands uh psycroptic there's a band from Australia called psycroptic we've toured them twice now um never ever in my wildest dreams thought I would ever tour with Coptic from Australia super obscure that's awesome yeah and and they're doing great now like they've they've continued to you know work hard and put out albums and um yeah they're just one of those bands that I'm just like always in awe of their and yeah those psycroptic black doll m i I don't know like done some Festival style tours where there's like seven bands all on the road wow wow every

23:48night the same seven bands wow that's that's that's amazing to coordinate that that gets a lot for sure yeah well I mean Jared You' played with a lot of bands and at a lot of different levels like what would you say like sets apart a band that seems a little bit more like I guess like that has more experience being on the road versus a band that doesn't like what are the some of the things that sets a band apart it's the little stuff it's like simple little things not their set it's everything but their them on stage you know yeah showing up on uh loading out loading in like on time

24:40just just um uh being a helping hand like being able to you know help the it's like the show like every night it's the same show so like you know after a couple nights you get it and the bands that that we love are like the ones that are helpful and that understand that it's like a group thing you know not just band for band it's like a group participation thing drummers help drummers you know with like all their setup and stuff yeah so yeah that seems to be like like Universal thing I know TSH some of your some of the things you're writing about

25:32actually is very similar to what Jared's talking about just sort of like there those are literally like there are some of these that are like these they're not like written down anywhere you know like it's just sort of like once you start doing it you get sort of the general knowledge just from doing it you know um the UN rules if you would if you will exactly well yeah absolutely I feel like it's something where like um it it is a music community and so it's it's awesome when when you encounter kindred spirits that are like yes we're we're here together you know we're here to create

26:09an experience an environment together um and let's help each other like that it's absolutely and then and also it's like a genuine love for the music right like that's one of my favorite parts of of a live show is like oh it's like a whole night of music that part's awesome you yeah yeah and that's great especially like night after night you know like the more what what I've realized is before the tour if you could just touch base with people you know like maybe a zoom call and just be like hey with the band leaders hey what are you planning to bring you know so people don't end up

26:56bringing like a stack of cabinets when like they don't need to like we can share cab like guitar cabinets just to make the work and you know this and that like just kind of coordinating that beforehand and instead of walking into the venue on the first night being like hey everybody I've never met you in my life uh how are to work this out you know just kind of having some Rapport prior to touring like that's a big one that all of my tours if we're especially if we're organizing the tour is going to be like let's ban leaders or whoever wants to be a part of it let's meet up beforehand

27:47and let's hash out the details of how we can make it really work for everybody prior to showing up first day that one's huge huge Learning lesson yeah that's that's actually awesome because too like when you show up then um it's like like you were saying you already have a rapport so you don't have that awkward like oh hi introductory like you know I guess we're living together for the next month by the way it takes me two hours to set up my gear but anyway yeah yeah yeah I have was I have a special I have a special setup that you know needs this and that

28:34it's like cool let's hash that out beforehand just make sure it's um conducive for everyone yeah for sure for sure yeah I think that's something that I've I've noticed is like when you um play with people that are more experien with playing like that's something that they're aware of where it's sort of like it's not just about your show and your set it's it's about the whole night and the whole Community you know yeah to so we're get we're getting a a a awesome question from edweb um thank you for question um he's asking uh what's the craziest show that you've played it's hard to hard to put on a

29:24list or you know think of because Montreal goes hard goes really hard for death metal really wow yeah and we've had some of our what like some of our you know in the best venues like the nicest coolest venues best staff best fans really appreciate appreciating the music um and like just really good turnouts in Montreal and Quebec so French Canada goes hard for technical death wow that's awesome I would never have thought just awesome yeah that have you have you guys have you guys um done a lot of international touring in general or is it mostly been in the states and the this continent I

30:22guess it's this continent yeah we are um first European tour was all booked they had some Festival dates and it was in 2020 it was like may it was like May 2020 oh man I feel you on that that was you know we were all in dates booked got driver um you know like put a down payment on a driver who ripped us off and never paid like just took our money after the you know Co hit I get it it was hard for everybody my booking agent still likes to hit him up and be like hey do you have that deposit like you weren't you

31:11weren't necessarily supposed to spend money but um mostly it's been United States and Canada like you know you got Vancouver on the west coast and then you have Ottawa uh on the East Coast you have Ottawa Quebec um Ontario yeah very cool those those four ones like are always a good like always worth it to cross the border to like go hit those Canadian dates even if you have to lie and say that you don't have any over,000 dollar of merch or whatever oh right yeah it's it it is it is always kind of a a thing to to figure out how to do the

32:03border crossings um for sure yeah actually um so oh sorry go ahead Scott I was just gonna um really quick I was like you know just one question that I actually have for you Jared um because I know like you're you're very versed in like the like the modern digital age of like marketing when it comes to music and all that fun stuff um do you feel like my question is basically like what is for you like the modern approach to like because like the idea remember like you know me first starting out M touring is basically was like all right to get your music out is just you have to like

32:48play shows and it's like the only way to like get out there as a band um but I know things are different now you know there's you you know obviously like all the online social media there's Spotify YouTube um you know live streaming and all that like knowing all that like would you still have made the same decision like if if you were just starting out now would you still have decided to like really pursue playing a lot of shows and and touring and doing taking the same path for my genra absolutely it would be the same yeah for sure it's just it it I had a friend of mine asked me this

33:31recently like if you were to start over what would you do differently or um you know what would you do and I it's still play shows um or even if you're even if you can't play shows go to shows boots on the ground like it's still tot there's there's a very boots on the ground component that I believe in that um makes things happen like connections friendships like that's what music is about the marketing side absolutely would you know it's a different today um so go all in on your recordings just make the best music possible because you can't like you can't really Market crap you know like you can't yeah it

34:32like the it makes it so easier if you have really good music that somebody just hasn't heard that they want to hear then for sure Half Half Baked brand Half Baked recording Half Baked everything like so if I were to do it again it would be like invest in a good logo a good good artwork good photos um recording um and but not Splurge in the way that we used to where we're like we got to write a 12 song album you know like you don't necessarily need to do that now you could just focus on a few songs and put those songs out and put

35:22content out around it so true and then learn digital marketing learn how to like you know get your music out there while you sleep which ads don't sleep which you know I'm a I'm a big proponent of um instead of posting all the time you can put your tip of the Ice Bird content out there and gain a lot of followers if it's good right like if it's truly good totally it will it will resonate and you can pour you know lighter fluid on the fire if you have that but I would absolutely like still be a be a participant whatever City you participate yeah go to shows hang out

36:14shake hands be helpful that kind of stuff goes along way and it will always go long way yeah absolutely I mean this is an artistic question for you Jared but like how do you know like you know when your art feels complete especially the part it never does when is a song done like that's such a that's such a hard thing so hard um when it has a beginning and an end like that's kind of like if the song starts and ends and it feels like a complete song like that's that's kind of where I go now like it's always a whip if it doesn't

37:02have like a fully like and also like I do think there is a formula for music structure and writing songs and stuff so yeah our our genre technical death metal gets really lost in the weeds when it comes to like songwriting and it's just like this riff that riff this riff repeats and that's cool it's like no it's not that cool uh a a a good song is still a good song whether you're playing a million notes or not so that's kind of like my my uh modus operand die is like does it does it have a hook Does it Feel Complete um is there space for everybody space

38:01for the basis space for the guitar you know we usually do a solo it's rare that we don't do a solo in a song so like when does the solo come in um all that kind of stuff is I focus on now more than ever because again it could just be one song you know that really hits so like like focus on yeah it's oh sorry well do the ly oh I was gonna ask you about the for for you the lyric writing do you feel like that comes does that come first or do you feel like the music kind of leads and guides where your vocals will go or

38:49does it kind of go hand in hand um the music absolutely like for guides the direction of of where the um normally you know lyrics are the last thing like or vocals like they're not the last thing but they're the in the cake that baking they go I always put them on last I'm just like let's focus if it can be instrumentally good then the lyrics are just a bonus so I I try to like nowadays focus on let's make the song really good instrumentally knowing that there's going to be vocals on it and kind of keeping in mind is this where the vocal is going to be heavy where the vocal is

39:45going to cut back but yeah um it's always like an an afterthought but then the concepts and the lyrics and stuff are are always Brewing like it's happening all the time and I you know just writing things down like um notion thank God for notion like I've I'm so much more organized than that I used to be yeah I know with technical death metal too it's very rhythmically guided so like I'm sure that coming up with the lyrics and the words it's like you are subconsciously also probably really like trying to lock in with all those rhythms know yeah it's a it's a percussive uh element to the song It's A

40:40D D D D D D da you know it's percussive and then I I feel like it's painting it's like to me it's it's just a it's very much like painting to give the layers you have like the the canvas and you know laying those base layers of the uh drums and then and riffs and then the vocals are like the tip of the iceberg kind of thing yeah I think that's I mean that's it's interesting because I remember um read reading or hearing an interview from mayard from tul who said something similar that he was very musically driven the way he wrote um his vocals

41:29and stuff just just saw a tool here in h Las Vegas oh was it sold sold out T-Mobile Arena oh my gosh wow killing it Beast it's amazing yeah so we we're getting um asked actually from Sean um some great questions um uh how can a fan get an autograph and um what's your most collectible item item from your traveling couple questions so you can get an autograph if you go to www. archaic band.com we have some CDs and vinyls that are uh that are CDs and finyl which I have over here um but the whole band got together a couple weeks ago and I was like we got some CDs

42:24and some vinyls let's I went and bought a silver Sharpie I was like let's autograph these so we can kind of put them on the store so that's how you can those and then what was the other the second question um what's your most um collectible item from your traveling like what is a tour posters that's my yeah yes I I cherish those more now than ever I have like on the wall over here you can see I've got some uh those are some archaic tour posters that I've finally framed wow so my gosh those are those are the chair it's like I feel like the tour posters are such a great

43:13great s sort of like single pieces of art because each one each tour is different and there's always like awesome artwork you know and it's always just so so varied and different so yeah my studio looks the same where I have a bunch of like Alice posters all over the walls and I I need to frame them though that would be the next step yeah I moved here like three months ago and I was like if I'm G to like you know really set up my space I'm gonna I found like I have this uh like a tube that I put in the merch box for tour posters to keep them like

43:52safe and so I pulled out like the tube and I was like oh let's let's put this one frame it frame it so yeah um special special little you know things from the road I love too like each one has its own art so it like commemorates like that particular chapter for yeah is there are there any other places to find you or would you say archaic band.com is like the main the main place to find yall with all the ourc our our merch is ourc band.com that's our merch store um social archaic official on Instagram and then just archaic on and it's pretty much it we're not really

44:47on Tik Tok yeah that's the next the The New Horizon the next Frontier yeah the next Frontier each platform definitely has its own its own community and its own personality and um you know it's it's I I think it's probably just a matter of finding like where where you fit in in those different worlds you know well I mean like our audience is on Tik Tok that's that's the bottom line our mom's on Tik Tok know like everybody's on Tik Tok nowadays and you know it's it's video first it's a video first platform and I think it's hard to kind of find your lane in that like being

45:44first kind of thing so shout out to anybody you know props to anybody who's you know crushing it on Tik Tok but I I do feel like like um it's just another like part of what where we should be right like your guys's people who haven't discovered Alice are like on Tik Tok absolutely and arcade you know like they're they're there they just haven't seen your content yet and it's like how are you gonna show up and what's your content strategy all that stuff it's a whole another you know nowadays you're the you're the label you're the you're doing everything you guys you guys know this

46:34yep yeah I mean it's it's interesting because you you were talking about um you know having that chapter in which that you you set the goal of being on a label and you were but I'm sure that from that experience it would like really gave you an awareness of like what you need to do as an artist to be able to get yourself up there right yeah and it's it's a not a silver bullet like yeah labels essentially are Partners that's how I think about it now and the right partnership can really help and I'm not anti- label but I also know that they suck at

47:20marketing so uh you should learn it you know yourself and you're expected to do it even if you're on a label or not like you're expected to do the content marketing no matter what of course so like that's that's a piece of the pie you got to figure out no matter what label or No Label and you also have to realize like a label you know has however many artists that they're going to be pushing at one time so it's like you know you have to be your own Advocate I think as an artist and as a band you know like like no label's going

47:57to like do all that work for you now yeah they can handles like what I like about labels is they can handle a lot of the product element of a release you know the distribution globally like they can um they can help with that so it's one thing that's not on your uh table to do yeah but I don't even know I nowadays I just think like what is what is the value of of the label you know you really have to ask yourself that yeah yeah I think that's I mean and especially like um you know like having having the awareness and even passion

48:51that you have for for being able to Market yourself you know um and having a clear idea of who you are right like I think when you're genuinely excited and passionate about like the art that you're creating and putting out there like I think that just comes naturally right like you're like this is who I am and I want to share this you know yeah it comes a lot easier if you don't know who you are and you don't have a strong um that's that's hard you know um that should be figured out early on or should you should contemplate that in spend some time who am I what am I what's my

49:37voice what's my message what's the overall Vibe all that stuff super important especially now like I mean good luck like not having that figured out I mean yeah well I what's on the horizon for you and Arc jar are like you know in terms of the upcoming year and things that you're envisioning for the future yeah so um we're putting together we're putting together a tour July and we're deciding what bands we want to take out it's going to be a headliner um and we have a tour in November where we're like supported act for I actually can't say it but um Bann and those are the touring like couple

50:37tours a year um try to hit you know all the major markets or US Canada um markets and then I want to so put out a single I think that's another thing like we did experiment with that prior to the last album we put like a single out in between albums so from album Four to album five we put a single out and it it was awesome like it allowed us to like put music out and not have to put a whole album out but then what I realized is that single should really be connected to the overall next piece album because people were like why

51:31isn't this song on the album and I didn't have like a good answer I was like I don't know just it was just a single we like we just put it out like we didn't think that much into it it kind of conceptually was a bridge from different eras of the band but um also covers I want to do I want to experiment with doing archaic covers why not nice yeah fun and that can help you know hugely um recently my wife and I got a Subaru and it came with like serus XM like free for three months or whatever and then we ended up like okay it's $6 a month for

52:21Sirius XM in our car but they have liquid metal they have octane like they it and it shows me like what the current things it kind of keeps me up because I'm an old guy now I'm like 36 I'm like I don't know what's cool now like so it's it's nice to hear like what's you know what's popping but also they do like Corridor Corridor of covers um this like SE C you know an hour of covers and I was like what song should we coverwise so we're that's another thing we're planning it's just like try to do something cool and like not super gimmicky so I was like we could do like

53:15the Barbie song You Know death metal version and like sure it has a lot of viral like its virality score is high but it's like cool factor is like a four you know so like and we asked our fans like we you know that's what's cool about what we do you know you guys are amazing at it um but like having a community where you can actually ask your fans for advice and feedback or something like that like that helps so much so that was that was helpful and like trying to pick some stuff Sean said a death metal SpongeBob song yeah Richard Richard Richard is

54:04saying Quiet Riot spin your head yes Quiet Riot absolutely that's a one oh man Sean is also saying that oh sorry Sean is also saying you should come to San Francisco we'll be there you know San San Francisco or Santa Cruz San Jose yeah that's we're always hitting that on whatever tour we'll be there sorry Scott I cut you off you were saying all good um yeah I was just going to say covers have always been really fun for us you know and like it is really like at this point uh a fan participation um uh sort of like thing you know it's it's really awesome having

54:58the idea of like involving all of your fans to to help you decide like what kind of coverage to do you know um it's you know we're we're we're really excited about that as well so got some stuff in the works what what do you guys got like in the works what's big big list what's uh 2024 looking like for you guys well we do have tours coming up as well um our spring tour launches in six so we're actually um playing Dark Force Fest out in New Jersey so we're I built a tour to get us there and back um so um super excited going to get to visit the

55:36motherland which is Texas for half of us um so getting some mom food in there and seeing friends and family which is always awesome and um yeah yeah just working on the the second half of our our double album So Below um so we have some new music in the horizon and um itching for the covers as well like we have a list of of covers that have been suggested and we're like oh they all sound amazing so like can we just snap our fingers and it just be done not that I don't love the process but yeah it's like it's a very big it's a very big

56:11list because I think all of us I speak I think I speak for all of us is that we're all like very like ambitious um in the sense that we're like oh there's all these things we want to do um you know and experience and um it's part of the B Vision I think but um but yeah that's that's kind of on the immediate Horizon for us is lots of shows and and finishing off the album yeah awesome tell me about tell me about tour uh tour router right now I I got logged in I got my account awesome looks sick planed a tour on it yet so I'm gonna absolutely

56:52like use it yeah awesome yeah we're really excited to for router is um something we've built out of years and years obviously like touring and Tash has been booking all of our tours since like um you know the beginning beginning of the band and it was like honestly like seven years ago she was like I I need like some sort of like software tool to do this and at the time there really wasn't that many options available I mean there's like a certain there's a few that we found that are for like really huge bands um but we wanted to build something that was more

57:29for for people that were like doing more DIY that were just like in Van towards you know just doing stuff that you know that we've been doing and um you know so I seven years ago built version one and it's taken that long to now like actually we got to the point where we're okay really buckling down and now we just released version two um it's still in sort of like beta beta preview modes which is why we're like rolling it out slowly to our friends and family and stuff like that uh but yeah it's just the platform to help artists just manage their tours you know basically like a

58:04virtual tour manager um you know you input all of your data you know you'll get day sheets um and the the goal and the vision is like you know every band member having um an app on their tele on their phone telephone on their cell phone um where they basically you know they can just take one look at it and just know where ex where they have to be um or if they're like driving like how much time it's going to take to get to the next location that sort of thing um but it's it's awesome um it's been really helpful for us so we're very

58:38excited and like also the idea of like you know AI Integrations to help actually plan tours um and yeah with the idea of like the more that you use it the more data the system has to sort of help you you know so like in addition to like actual just like straight up calendaring and scheduling like there's the idea of like inputting all of your data like you know all like the financial aspect see where your fans are at yeah definitely um and um yeah just using that to like just help you plan your tours out you know um and that's the whole idea is just making our lives

59:15easier you know for the people that are actually doing it and it could be not just for bands but for like T like legit tour managers for labels that sort of thing you know we we built it so that you know anyone from like very small DIY level use it to like huge labels you know so we excited yeah I think there's been there was a couple of like approaches like we first of all it was like anything that needs a spreadsheet should be featured in in tour so like I was keeping spreadsheets of like okay you know here are contacts who do I need

59:48to get in touch with um where are we staying what time do we need to leave and so like anytime there's been a a need for a spreadsheet it's like oh this is an a feature that we should we should put in and um we it's kind of fun we're in the building stages still so like anybody that's using it that has input um you know like send it our way absolutely because we're like okay cool let's let's build that in um I I'm because I'm actively booking three tours for us I'm building um spring summer and fall tours right now um every single time I run into like something I'm like

1:00:23oh this the be a feature um like I want to have a street team feature where you actually remember who you send posters to and it keeps a database all of this is secure by the way um like that's that was something that was also important is that each person each artist that has their login like all that information is secure specifically for that artist so yeah but uh yeah no it's a it's it's honestly imagine a push notification that's like um you're your show in Las Vegas is seven days away have you uh and you haven't sent an email to the person to like um exactly what's it

1:01:07called do the like whole followup before we play their thing uh Advance if you have an advanced yeah it's it's been seven days it's been three days like little notifications it's like shows you like did you and you and like checking off like I have advanced so don't notify me again you know but apps give you push notifications like that's a huge uh benefit of apps that I just you know discovered yeah yeah that's that's been a big thing it's like um what you know what I love is that with the push notifications my bandmates do not have to ask me where're going to be the next

1:01:55day which is awesome gosh what time do we have to leave I mean I love them I do love them but it's it's very nice having like just the the push of like oh they can check toour router and then they know you know what time they have to wake up so yeah one feature that I'm like I really love is that um you know when we're on the road and like Google or whatever tells you it takes x amount of time to get to a certain place like you all know and like we all know that that is not the actual time it takes like

1:02:26there's you have to had that time you know it's like if you want to get someplace by like 5: p.m or 2 p.m for load in and Google's like it takes four hours to get there you know that it's actually like five five and a half to six hours with gas stops and food stops and all that stuff and so we actually built into the to the buffer to the app like literally like a buffer time for for like when you're planning out um your tour routings like in like your your day sheet and everything you know like there's actually a little calculator that'll calculate all that

1:02:58for you using the algorithm that we have but um we're going to like I'm going to make it so that like any user can put in their own algorithm they're like you know if it's more than a five hour drive time pat it by like an hour you know might be different for some other bands you know but that's like we're really excited about that because like we're always like trying to figure that out every day we're like okay it takes like and there's like daylight savings time and you know you're going into time zone and all that stuff we've gotten so we've gotten like uh you know we've we've

1:03:31we've had some incidents where we're like staying in a you know a hotel that's like in a different time zone than the venue but they're like right across like the the time zone line so it's like and that's been like something we you know I really want to make sure we build you know what would be cool is like if like if else if uh if the drive is like like four hours or something like that then it suggests hotels because you can't really you can't really like uh stay at a hotel if you have to drive eight or nine hours from like Denver to Salt Lake City or something

1:04:18like that you're like we have to drive overnight like there's nothing we can do yeah but if it's in Texas and you're like Houston to Dallas you know it should automatically uh like offer like a hotels.com like discount or something some kind of booking that's like hey you guys have a short drive like do you want to book a hotel at a certain place just get some sleep yeah that's awesome I'm just like taking notes I love it it's such a cool it's so needed like the the whole tour router idea I love it it's a it's super needed there's nothing currently that can really do that yeah it can really not

1:05:13like yeah you can like give there's like a master tour it's like hey here's here's here's our spreadsheet for the day or whatever like here's when you have to show up but there's nothing that like is a True Companion to the planning process yeah that's the entire goal yeah yeah I I've I've been I've been loving the feature of the the drive calculator because that's usually me I'm like usually doing the math I'm like okay and and we it's built in with padding too because we've kind of figured out like for this many hours like you need a P it like a certain amount so that's kind of built in which

1:05:57is so awesome I'm like Yay you know I I mean it's it's obviously good to to use your brain and have and have the maths you know but um it is nice to be able to just like input and then use my brain for other things so yes very helpful assistance um by the way um Migel is asking if the app will help guitar players stop flirting with girls at the bar and help loading out definitely definitely I promise yeah like push push push notifications um on like load out like when you have to actually instead of like honking the horn waiting around like push

1:06:41notification 30 minutes till like leave time like every band member should get hey it's been it's 30 minutes until the planned leave time so push notification I love that for sure absolutely and and maybe something that like uh right before the leave time um do a what are they called a dummy check yeah don't forget the dummy check don't forget the dummy check yes so you know like leave stuff yeah that's one thing that would be kind of cool because like um like having maybe a checklist of like a master checklist of of stuff that you want to want to put input if I mean that can be very timec

1:07:31consuming to actually take that time but can also save you having to rebi gear so yeah well yeah like what can you insert right now can you insert what was your cash sales what was your yes yeah that kind of sales that's part of this whole version too is like having the ability to to track um all financial yeah data for each show you know like um that's a whole pain as well and then you could see your like lifetime value if you will your LTV of certain city like this like every time you go here even though it's like a b Market or a C Market or something it

1:08:18Crush you crush sales-wise y so consider that when you're like planning the tour yeah that's actually included right now um is that you basically when you're putting in all the details so it includes um like how big the venue is like a rough estimate of attendance how much money you made so capacity and like and then when you're building out future tours like I mean that can be a consideration now when I when I take on shows um I like I look at many many factors there's routing there's like oh there's a lot of love in this in this place and it might be small but there's

1:08:56so much love so there's the love Factor um but if you want to look at you know score what's a love store yes this is yeah there's got there has to be a love store yeah how do I love it yeah like do I love it or like what's the sales score you know versus the love score yeah but yeah it it actually keeps track of all that so then when you're building future tours it can remind you like hey this is a city that you you know that you have a real you had a really strong show um and then you consider then you it can

1:09:30consider it when you're building like the future tour so it's all Dynamic so it it will base what you need based on what your like that is you know so so cool we're very so freaking cool and it it helps when our friends um like yourself are out there and using it and and coming up with like you know ideas and thoughts um um because I mean we all we even though we're all touring like we all have different experiences and and perspectives of it you know for sure and I feel like that's something where we can all learn from each other you know yeah the beautiful thing is

1:10:08like you know I could I could roll out features in like within 24 hours so anyone who's like using it has a suggestion I could literally just like roll it out you know within a day you know and also like fix any fix any bugs do you obviously but you know that's the benefit of like being um you know a developer so like I'm able to just I do what I can having a big brain brain is big yes big brain small head oh this is a this is a cool suggestion also Ed you're I I love your question today um what about finding places to eat because Tas is picky

1:10:52actually I'm not picky I I'm literally the person that will eat anything but I love the idea like you got to have a on the tour router like anytime you're within like a 50 mile radius of a bies it's got to be like I thought you were gonna house too for some reason that's another tour yes Waffle House oh yeah absolutely yeah when what's open like what's open for yeah it's always kind of cool when you when you run into when you run into places that are not like the Standard Diner it's just like random you know like wow a tie place that opens till 4

1:11:36in the morning yeah of a gas station right yes that is a very very fun we're also thinking of like um internally like you know having like a database of venues but also having the ability for all users of tou to like either leave reviews or ratings on each venue and like tips and tricks and that sort of thing or idios synchronies and stuff like that so that might be an interesting thing I can see like two account Styles like open it like are you a band or are you a agent or are you both like and right something that can like suggest where you can keep like a

1:12:29database of all of your venues like if you're the because there's like the bands um like all of the features that could help the band do X Y and Z you know for the tour for sure but then like for the agent like there could also be uh specific like I don't know features that kind of benefit the planning part I don't know yeah yeah I love that actually I didn't even think about that that's such a great idea oh man yeah I think um Tash mentioned you're you're thinking of um perhaps bringing on um like promoters and other booking agents onto onto whatever it is this that we're doing

1:13:23here Unwritten rules of the road um but to sort of get their perspective as well so that's that's like going to be really fun to sort of trade trade places if you will you know yeah that's one thing I was thinking it's is it's like because we we have the artist perspective but like you know from some of the people I've spoken to that are promoters and venue owners like um they've mentioned like oh here here's the way I like to be approached you know like there's there's a certain you know protocol um and everyone's different but like just kind of a general protocol of like hey this

1:13:56is how I like you know a lot of people are like please email me like don't don't DM me on on social media like just please email me um like things like that yeah yeah like there could be the promoters uh account where they're not a band they're also not an agent but they do shows in Las Vegas so they you you know oh e and what's their preferred method of contact maybe it's Instagram DMS so they can just click a box like Instagram DMS is the way I like to do it or email or text or something like that yeah for sure yeah yeah yeah I love that it's a big inter

1:14:45connected web of like bands agents promoters local bands touring band like all of all of ingredients there are definitely a lot of moving Parts when it comes to to the live music Community for sure I mean and it's all they're all so needed but it's just um it's a lot of it's a lot of stuff to keep up with for sure so um yes even with big brains one can remember one can forget details so especially with well Jared thank you so much for for hanging out with us and for sharing your Insight and your wisdom like it's you're you're such an inspiring artist and I'm

1:15:34just we're very grateful and honored to prare you to share your time with us yeah yeah love you guys my my pleasure would you know even not on a podcast or anything live I always love hanging out with you guys guys um and it's been cool connecting with you like in person and seeing your guys' band you know come through and Crush like such a you guys are so tight so fun hanging you thank you thank you so much I appreciate you guys and we can't wait to see aric absolutely cannot wait to see it so let us know when you are playing in SoCal because I'm very excited about

1:16:22getting to experience it yeah we're going oh yes C band's coming yes yeah well much love much much much love um and thank y'all all for hanging out on our stream with us thank you for your amazing questions um like you guys are awesome um like I just love the perspectives and the and the well it's been a lot of fun questions today too yeah so yes yes we're going to be um next week we're going to be streaming um uh with Alice um and then we're going to be doing Unwritten rules of the road again um the following week we're just going to be going every other week so um

1:17:02we will hopefully see yall at our next stream all right well see you