Eli Lev, in full

0:08Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Hi. Friends, uh you are watching Unwritten Rules of the Road. I am Tash and I am here with uh our incredible friend Eli Lev. Eli, thank you so much for joining us today.

2:25Oh yeah, let's do it. Let's get into the unwritten rules of the road. I'm stoked to talk about this.

2:33Well, okay. So, let's start here. Um, just right off the cuff, um, if if someone were to ask you five top unwritten rules of the road, what would you say?

2:44Wow. Okay. I'd say one, stay healthy. Um, two, stay in connection. Um, three, uh, sleep as much as possible. Um, four is be aware of your surroundings. And five would be have fun. I love it.

3:06I like it because solid.

3:08Yeah, I like it because like I didn't think about that and like write them down before, but actually now I am going to write those down because those are really good and I'm need my own notes

3:19I feel you.

3:22Yes. Yes. I mean, out of curiosity, are these things that you've just kind of learned along the way? Yeah, I think it's been five years, six years now touring non-stop.

3:34Um, and you know, just going from survival to thrival, if there is such a thing on the road.

3:45Yeah. What would you say? What would your top five unwritten rules of the road be? Let's let's compare notes. Imagine I didn't say anything. What would be your top five?

3:54Actually, pretty similar. Um, okay. Number one is know your why.

4:01Got to get the why in there. Yeah.

4:03Yes. Yeah. For sure. Because I feel like um you know, as you know, like touring is not for the faint of heart. Um it it's very very challenging in in a beautiful ways, but it is challenging. Um and so knowing your why, I feel like propels everything, right?

4:21Yeah. So number one is knowing your why. to uh find your rituals, like the things that help ground you and keep you healthy, like whatever they are. Um because everyone's is different and in our band, like everyone has their different ways of being. Um Yes. Um three, uh headphones in in a vehicle are

4:41I tour solo, so I don't know that one.

4:43Yes. Yes. For for us, like because there's seven of us in a van. Um, yes, headphones are vital and everyone's very happy and we're all introverts so it works super well to just be in our own little space.

4:56Yep. Um, and also like uh finding ways that keep you healthy. I guess that kind of similar to you. And also finding your joy, having fun. Um, yeah, the joy in it is absolutely vital.

5:10I like the why though because without the why, it's like you're not going to get very far, you know? none of the other stuff is going to even matter if if if you don't have a really strong purpose. I was like, "Yes, every night, every day, every time I open my mouth or open my guitar case, there is a message that I am sharing with the world." You know what I mean? And that's why everything else has to happen because like that's so strong. So, I really like that. That's really good. So out of curiosity, if you don't mind sharing, uh has your I mean has your why

5:44changed from when you started to where you are in the present?

5:48Oh, definitely. Oh my goodness. So I started um eight years ago actually. I just celebrated my 8year uh anniversary for Eli Love Music LLC. Yep. And um absolutely. There's different seasons in this music career thing. And like I've been doing eight years and you ask somebody in the industry and they'll be like, "Oh wow, you're a rookie." You know, like wait till you get to year 10 or 15 or 20, you know? It's like it keeps changing. So I think at the beginning I was just like, I wonder if people will like my music,

6:21you know? I I wonder if this is even like a thing, like if there's even going to be a response from the universe. Um, and it was also in the beginning like I had to play catchup. Um, so I've been a teacher my whole life. So I just got into music, you know, in my mid30s. Um, so performing was a way to practice. It was paid practice. So every show, whether it was like 4 hour show or two hour show, didn't matter. It's like I just needed a guitar in my hands and I needed to be singing. I need to figure out this whole like thing. So, I think it started with

6:57just getting reps, figuring out if people like the music, and then I think it's changed to, oh, wow, there's a community around this. There's like a movement here. There is a purpose, a why that's being built. And then now it's like I don't know. It's it's almost um I don't know what else I would do, you know, because it's like it's it's so connected to the why. Um, it's like this is my this is my way of giving. It's my way of healing. It's my way of processing. Um, and I need it just as much as my audience needs it now. So, it's like it's become part of the way I

7:43um interact with the world. Kind of

7:47That's beautiful. It's really beautiful.

7:50Yeah. How about you? What What year is it now? Like how many years have you been like touring consistently would you

7:57Um honestly like I started it's hard to say because I've done stuff in the classical realm. So in the Alice realm I'll just focus on that.

8:06In the Alice realm

8:07in the Alice realm. I think we started touring heavily in 2016.

8:12Okay. Yeah.

8:14Yeah. So a little parallel to you in that in that regard. Yeah.

8:17Yeah. But you've been touring twice as long as me. So tell me give me what's what's coming next. I want to know like what's down the corner. So in year like five or year six, like what happens with with touring? What what stage are you in now with your

8:30Um so it's it's interesting because okay, uh it's a tangent, but it relates. Um I one of the things that just blew my mind. I mean, many things about you blew my mind, but I was like, "Oh my gosh, you average 250 shows a year. That's incredible." and

8:47pretty much

8:48that's incredible.

8:52Um, and it's different, you know, I think, um, for a band because you're having to coordinate a lot of different moving parts and people's schedules and things like that. Um, and you know, I think for us it's like I we're we're at um, a point we're about to release our album and um, yes. Yes. Um, thank you to you as well. We're gonna talk.

9:15We'll talk about that. We'll talk about that. Keep going. Keep going. We'll talk about it. We'll talk about it.

9:19Um but yeah, like I feel like um you know, we we're we found kind of a flow and what works for us. Um and and also like when you're like touring with other people, like really being sensitive to like what works for other people in the van, right? So

9:38yeah, you're navigating like um and and it's not a bad thing. I mean, we we get along really really well. Um, and we travel really well together. But just kind of getting a feel where you're like, "Oh, he needs his coffee." Oh my gosh. Seven people in a vehicle. That is a whole another whole another

9:58Yeah. But um but also I feel like we're also learning how to be um a little bit more strategic. Um, so like in the beginning like when we first first started touring it was just like and we still have this like same love but it was just like any show we're like yes let's do it.

10:15Um and so um I think there's a little bit more strategy where we're like okay if we have a limited amount of time

10:22and limited resources like what are the places that make sense for us to get from point A to point B?

10:29that's awesome. Yeah, I'm exactly at that point too. Instead of it's like, oh, someone will have me on a Tuesday here and a Wednesday here. I'll drive six hours between those shows. Now it's like, uh, I'll take Tuesday off, you know what I mean, for, uh, for for this big Thursday show that's coming up. So, yeah, that's that's a really good point. There's a there's a um, you know, there's a a stop along the way where it's like you got to really be efficient, you know, strategize and really kind of pick pick your spots. So, I like that. Tash, why don't we let people know how we know each other

11:06and then I want and then let's get into our music. But first, like let's you know, like we we connected through Modern Musician first. Is that right?

11:15Yep. Yeah.

11:16And I think the first time we met each other was in

11:25I think. So,

11:26okay. Yeah. Hawaii. and you and Scott came out um and we had a pretty magical time um out there. So, that was the first time I got to connect with y'all and that was I I heard about y'all through the you know the grapevine and the internet and social media and all that stuff, but we finally got a chance to connect and had some pretty pretty awesome times in Hawaii.

11:47Yeah. I think like one of the things that immediately struck me about you is that you had this like very beautiful um kind of zen approach um and it was very heart-c centered and like you were leading like guided meditations and I'm all about this. I was it was amazing to start my day off with like these guided meditations that you were leading. And um another thing that really blew me away was um also just the fact that you were like, "Yeah, I'm this independent artist and I'm doing what I love." And I think that's so inspiring and something that, you know, more musicians absolutely should um know that it's

12:25possible. Um because, you know, we've been DIY ourselves like this entire time. We've never had a label. Um, and um, you know, and it's one of those things when we're approached by other people, like you know, they ask me like, "How do you tour?" I mean, it's honestly a big motivation behind Unwritten Rules of the Road, it's like sort of like sharing sharing the knowledge, sharing sharing the wealth with all the people that I know that make it possible. Um, and so I feel like you're such an inspiration in that way. I learned so much from you. Um, you know, with just like going like, "Hey guys, I'm a solo

12:57artist and I can, you know, I can do this." Yeah. Yeah. Oh my goodness, that's so kind. Thank you. I I appreciate that. And I I remember we had these gratitude moments um at the end and we we talked about what we appreciate from each person in in the um in the circle. And I still have uh what you and Scott said um like saved in my morning vision uh kind of like thing that I do. Um so you two are actually like part of my uh morning ritual which is pretty awesome. And I I remember being like struck by, you know, just the heart that you that you all brought to

13:34it as well. I think it's that heart and that kindness and that passion that really stir up a fan base, really make the music resonate and really kind of um make the brand something that people can like really just kind of zoom in on. So yeah, the ALS brand is so strong. It's it's visual, it's video, it's, you know, connection. It's like, you know, thoughtful, you know, philosophical um exploration into the human psyche. It's like uh it's awesome stuff. So, I I recognize that about you all right away as well.

14:06Thank you. I really appreciate that. It's um it's funny because like the whole thing was conceived um on a camping trip in Joshua Tree in the Um, yeah. And it's like you just never know where things will go, but the intention was really to find kindred spirits and like-minded people and other people to create with and connect with, and here we are. So, yeah, it's I love that the journey can take you um into amazing places. And um just want to actually take a quick moment to give a shout out to our our amazing community that's um online with us right now. Thank you all so much for for taking the

14:44time to to hang out. Yes. Many, many, many loves. Yeah. I mean, I feel like, you know, when you when you first start something, I don't know, like we were talking about like the Eli Love project. Um, out of curiosity, did you have any projects before or was this like your first musical project?

15:05Yeah, first musical project. I've been I was a teacher my whole life. I taught in Indiana, Arizona on the Navajo Nation. I taught in Australia, uh, Israel, um, andor in Europe, and I came back and got my master's degree, um, in education, and I just started doing music instead.

15:24That's amazing.

15:25So, Eli Le was

15:27Yeah, Eli Le was the first project and, I actually, well, hold on now. So, I was living in Tel Aviv and I had this like kind of comedic cowboy songwriter project and it was called um Warbllo Jenkins uh because no one else would have that name. So, somebody searched for it, they would find it. I don't think if anything exists anymore about Warblo Jenkins, but I sang silly songs about bees on a tree and roller skates and uh all sorts of weird stuff. So, I was like the uh country parlor guitar guy with Warlo Jenkins, but this was um this is like the first kind of like, you know, kind

16:10of serious but silly music project that I had.

16:14Yeah, that's I mean, so you you played guitar before, you wrote songs before. Um but what made you decide that like you're like I just want to do the Eli Love like journey? Um, well, I came back from a master's degree and I was around uh my hometown, Silver Spring, Maryland. Um, and I, it's interesting because like it's hard to kind of put this as like what happened first, you know what I mean? First, there was an intention

16:43a year before I started playing songs in Maryland. I had a solo camping trip just like Joshua Tree, but this time it was in um Mexico um a place called Sulita and um just north of Sulita is a beach called um Playa Mal Paso. Um so it's a bad pass beach. Um and no one no one's there. It's just like ATVs go there sometimes. So I found this on Google Maps from Indiana. I was like I'm going there for two weeks. So, I brought my travel guitar and I sang my songs to the sand and the ocean and the trees and they started smiling and clapping and

17:21and whispering back and and I heard this voice and the voice said like, "If this makes you happy, is this something that you want to do?" And I said, "You know what? I've had an amazing life. Uh, nothing really tragic has happened to me. Um, thank you. And actually my life and my capabilities are actually in your hands whoever you is. Um so I am releasing actually control and only by releasing control did the gears of the universe kind of change and move in a way that brought me to music full-time. So um the intention happened first then the show started happening and then the

18:00community started building and then the uh momentum has been going ever since

18:06and it became larger than like where it all began camping trips. Look at us. Okay, that's pretty cool.

18:14I didn't know that. That's awesome.

18:16Yeah, I mean there's nothing like um unplugging and really being in nature and connecting in that way. For sure. Yeah, I think that's what music does, too. I think that by putting ourselves in those spaces, we realize how important those spaces and that mindset really is. Um, so I think that's why music was so attractive, too, because it's like, hey, this is a way to stay connected to oneself and the source and others um and have fun doing it. Does it become challenging to to really stay connected to that? Um like like let's say you're in the thick of a a tour and maybe you have a lot of

19:00backto-back drives and you're tired. Um you're going from one city to the other. Um like how do you recharge your

19:08Yeah, that's a good question. Um man, touring is just can be brutal sometimes. whether it's like a 12-hour drive through the night or like getting over the Canadian Rockies for the third time going back and forth between u you know Calgary and Vancouver um or you know if it's like you know Austria in February and you have a rental car and nowhere else to stay and you're trying to sleep in the back seat and like freezing weather you know uh and it's those moments where you're just like wow I don't know I don't know if I really signed up for this, you know, but those are the stories,

19:48too. When someone asks like, "How was tour?" and you say, "Everything was great. That's kind of boring, you know what I mean? That's like not it's not the adventure part." So, the worst parts and the tough parts and the, you know, the difficult moments, those become the best stories. And those are the stories we tell people um that are exciting, that are interesting, that, you know, we put the badge on. you know, I I played to the Soundman and his dog or um you know what I mean? Like um this this one one fan came to the show and she was, you know, sang every word but no one

20:22heard it. Got the badge, you know, moving on. Um or I played to 500 people and I messed up the lyric on a song and no one realized. Whatever. It's just, you know, put on the badge on the on the thing and just keep on going. So

20:36yeah, absolutely. What give me what would be one of your kind of like stories on tour? Like just like a disaster story like give me like give me like the the most disasters of all disasters that happened on tour.

20:50Oo I I'll have to think about that actually. It's like I feel like a lot of times when you're on tour like you look at these things eventually with rosecolored glasses.

21:02Yeah. Yeah.

21:06Disaster. Okay. If you can think of any, feel free to jump in for you.

21:11What would just be a moment where you were like, "Oh goodness, I'm not sure if this was like this isn't this isn't the best thing that ever happened to me on

21:19Okay. So, la the in the fall of last year, um it was literally just like a calamity after calamity. So, like and we've never had that many calamities in a row on a tour. So maybe it was just like our time in the karmic cycle for us to have like all these backtoback things cuz like Okay. So the the a lot of times when I put together a tour um the impetus is a festival.

21:44So um we were asked to play a festival that got cancelled because of the

21:50Oh no.

21:52And so but that was one thing. And so at the very beginning of the tour, um the trailer the like the trailer went out like we had to do repairs on the trailer. So that was happening like early on and then at the latter part of the tour um we had a tire that blew out and so we missed a show and then we had um the entire transmission that blew out in the van and so we missed like yeah the last like I and so I I it's one of those things where Yeah. I mean, the thing about it though is that I think it

22:21brought us all together like even more so cuz everybody was in like super problem solving mode and we're like, okay, like this is the circumstance and it it's obviously very stressful, but like I felt like everybody was like, okay, let's put our thinking caps on and artists are creatives and you know, so

22:40Wow. So, your anchor show at a festival got cancelled. Then um attire blew out, transmission blew out, missing shows, just trying to get trying to get back essentially was like the mode was like how do we get back like in one piece. Yeah.

22:55And you know what really really touched me the most about that situation was how our community supported us. like there was a fundraiser to help you know with the with the van and to get us back and people were just reaching out and like how can I help or I'm sending you love or like let's help you and that just it was just like so touching um cuz like in the middle of all of this we're just sort of like it's a it's a place of surrender we're like okay here we are we're stranded u we were stranded in Cayenta um

23:27Cayenta Arizona you were in Ktown on the Navajo Nation Just outside of Monument

23:34Yeah. Which we've played before in our other project, Mankind is Obsolete. So, we actually knew people there, which was

23:40Yeah. It has a very special place in our

23:43So, but I love that you know Cayanta.

23:45I do. I taught I taught in a town called Shanto, which was about 30 miles west of Cayanta. Between Kay and Paige.

23:53Yeah. Yep.

23:54That's where I went to get groceries at

23:58That's small world. So you were broken down in maybe one of the most beautiful places in the world, but still.

24:08Yeah. Surrounded by love, but just not able to do anything. It was just sort of like we were just forced to stop. It was just kind of like, all right, we're we're just going to pause right here. And two of our members had to be back at work, so they had to take these I I think the um the cab fair uh because it it was like not all vehicles would go out. Yeah. It was like between two and $300 just to get them to the airport. So, we lost a lot of money on the tour.

24:39String of calamities. Yes. That

24:41sounds familiar. But you got through it. Your community showed up and you guys are still still rocking through it.

24:47Yeah. How about you? let's go to I have to pick one. Let's go to Texas. I don't know why, but something always happens to my vehicle in Texas. So, it's either it's either weather, vehicle, or health. It seems like it's one of those three things. It's like the Oregon Trail, you know, like they're trying to get the uh the wagon across to the west. It's like, Eli, that's dysentery. Like, oh no, your wagon wheel fell off. Um, no, this was Texas. Uh, there was a heat dome in Texas. Uh which meant that it didn't get lower than 96 degrees at night.

25:32So it never cooled off.

25:35Um and um Texas is is just a wild spot, you know, like just things things happened to me in Texas. I don't know why. So I had been to Texas twice before and I had two car issues the twice before, too. Uh one was I got two flat tires simultaneously somehow. Uh, and the other was something else happened. But, um, this was another time in Texas and I had a new van. I was in this heat dome sleeping in my vehicle and I was just like, I can't keep sleeping in a van with at 96 degrees overnight. So, my community showed up. They absolutely did. Like some like I do these folk

26:13Fridays and live streams. I'm like, "Hey y'all, this this heat dome is wild." And they just like sent me a Venmo just like take get a hotel, you know, on me.

26:22Uh, take a take a dinner on me. So, I was like getting all these Vinos, not even asking, like whatever. Like people were just like, "Bro, like, you know, be okay." So, that was amazing. And then I will always remember this. I was almost out of Texas and I was like, I can't believe I got through Texas without my vehicle, without an issue in my vehicle. I was like, you know, through love, like getting there, like almost out going west. And um I was having some issues with my battery, but my battery actually died while I was driving at night in the middle of the

26:58Oh no.

26:59Like my whole vehicle just like it went and it kept driving for a while, but like there's no electrics. Um so had to pull over, you know, thank goodness somebody was there. Gave me a jump. I stayed the night and then somehow the next morning I found this dealership that was close by and they got me in. They replaced the the part like that morning um and got me out and on my way. But it was just like heat dome van, you know, not working out. These shows were just like they're just just a little rowdier in Texas, you know what I mean? It's like they want

27:37they want some of that, you know? Uh uh. So like, you know, they trained me as an artist like to to do that. So it was like that learning curve as well. But man, every time I get in Texas, there's some some wildness that that goes on. So but I got out of I got got out of there.

27:52So fun fact, I grew up in love.

27:56Yes. Yeah. So if you are and and half of my family like their mechanics, so

28:02if you're ever in West Texas and you're in a pickle, please do message.

28:06I might have I might have stopped by their mechanics as long as I know. I stopped by two or three on the way to the dealership and they're like, "No, you got to go to a dealership for this." I was like, "Okay." Um, but maybe next time your family can help out. That's good to know. Thank you. That's usually where things happen to me.

28:21Yeah. West Texas is its own beast. That's for sure.

28:24It is.

28:25Yeah, it is. Wow. That's so cool. Okay. Love it. Wow.

28:30So, um, we're getting a question from Jess. Uh Jess is asking Alice uh they know uh you know what um snacks uh that what are your favorite snacks because we're all foodies here. Yes.

28:43Oh, cool. Awesome. Favorite snacks.

28:46Favorite snacks.

28:48I Okay. I have three addictions on tour.

28:53Okay. Um, one is there's this drink and I think it's called Renewal. It's in a thin bottle. Find it at Walmart or some some spaces. But it's like uh almond milk and it you can get it in green matcha, chocolate, or vanilla or berry. And it's like healthy. I I keep telling myself it's healthy and it kind of is. It's got, you know, maca root and like all that kind of stuff. Ashwanga. It's got all the names. And I'm just this stuff is just like that's like my fuel on tour. So if you ever if you can ever find it, I think it's Renewal or something. Um Walmarts have

29:33it, some grocery stores have it, but it is delicious and also healthy,

29:38Um how about you, Tash? What's your what's your go-to?

29:42Um I love all things pickles, as our people know. Yes, I have a pickle like fixation. So

29:51I have a pickle problem. Southwest, they're they're into pickles out there.

29:54Yes. Yep. Yep. In fact, I went to the farmers market this morning and I am going to try my hand at my first batch of pickles. So,

30:03okay. Yes.

30:04Now, here's the question. Are you into hot pickles?

30:08Yes, I am.

30:10Oh, I knew it. Oh my gosh. You go on the Trading Post, you go to Cayenta, you go to Shanto, there's just a whole bucket of just hot pickles and just Oh man, that's wild. Yep. So, what's your number two?

30:25Uh, my number two is I can't believe I'm admit admitting this. Um, I I am a sucker for Panera.

30:36yeah. I don't know why. Because I can sit there and people can leave me alone and it's air conditioned and it's, you know, I just get free drinks the whole day and I get Wi-Fi. Um, and if I want to, there's a cookie. If I want to, there's a little soup or a little, you know, like half sandwich I can just like kind of nibble throughout the whole day. But, um, and they're not everywhere. So, whenever I see a Panera on tour, I'm like, "All right, I got to stop." What's What's your What's your like food place that you go to usually on tour that you

31:07that you kind of freak out?

31:08I I usually cook, actually. So, I bring a slow cooker and rice cooker. Um, and I I'm the one that does all the cooking. Um, so everybody like plays different roles in the band, you know, like um

31:20Let's hear. What are the roles?

31:21Yeah. Oh, okay. So, um there's like three of the guys that do the driving. Um Gordon, our bass player, is like the Tetris master. So, he knows how to fit all the things miraculously into the

31:35I don't know how he does. And he remembers like he has a mind map where he's like, "Oh, this goes here." Yeah, it's amazing. Uh mine is laundry and cooking. So, and obviously putting the tour together and tour management. So,

31:48not obviously. What are you talking about? Obviously, it's like you're the booker, you're the cooker, you're the the laundry maker, you're the

31:57Wow. That's Wow.

31:59Yeah. And then, um Yeah. I mean, everybody like has their little, you know, their different things. Like Scott does all of our social media um which is amazing and so vital. Um and um yeah,

32:11on point, by the way. Give a shout out to Scott on that social media. It is Alice is just lighting up lighting up my feed every time. I love it.

32:20Yeah. So, yeah, everybody I don't know. They play their different parts and that's just for the touring. The touring, you know. So, um

32:26Oh, yeah. You're in a band and you play instruments and you write songs, too,

32:30There's there's all that.

32:34I mean, we all play like we all like have to wear many hats like especially as indie artists like you wear all the hats. So, um, yeah, when you don't have a label, you don't have management, like you're like, "Okay, you know, just you learned how to do different things." Um, and honestly, I feel like like all the things that you've ever done leads you up to that point, right?

32:54Yes. Oh, that's so true. Like people are like, "Oh, you're not even using your master's degree." I was like, I'm using my master's degree every single day because my brain

33:04works different since that and I'm applying any skills that I had or didn't have and learning them um every moment every day. That's absolutely true. That's a good point.

33:14Yeah. Do you have to drive by yourself or do you ever like have any buddies that come along or is it just you that does all the driving?

33:26Yep. Just solo tours. Wow. You know,

33:30um, do you have like a like

33:33what would that be like if I like got a driver or something or if like I don't know like some kind of internship? Well, no one would want to do that, I don't think. I don't know. You know what? I I learned how to tour before playing music. So, I've been touring, you know, traveling, adventuring my whole life. So like I get that part, you know, that part is actually not the difficult part for me. It's the it's the routing and it's the performing and like all the other stuff like while traveling and adventuring that's the tough stuff. So yeah, but I mean you know and that's not

34:13that's not how everybody does it. Like some people have duos and trios, but um yeah, whatever driving needs to be done that's uh that's done by me.

34:22That's a lot. Do you like have a preferred like average distance? Because I I factor that in when we're when I'm routing our tours where like I'm like, "Okay, I know it like on average like not to go over a certain number of hours for for our drivers."

34:38I have a preferred thing, but once you start getting out there in the west, in the southwest, I mean, there's just so much land. I mean, you're not going to get a

34:47sometimes you just might not get a show between Montana and Idaho and Washington State. You know what I mean? And that's 10, 12, 14 hours where you're driving. Um, Canada. Oh my goodness. You think there's a lot of land down here? Like up there? It's nuts. So much land. A lot of

35:06Um, so I would like to keep my shows within three to four hours every day. Um, I will push it to like five or six sometimes. And maybe every once in a while it'll be like eight or nine.

35:29How about you? Does that sound about

35:32Yeah. Like Well, our average I think is between like like five, six hours. Like I try to keep it like that as an average, but then there's some there's like the long stretches where you just can't avoid like you were saying it's going to be like 9 to 11 hours actually.

35:48Yeah. I mean, you can stop. You can stop wherever you want and play, but it's not

35:53there's not going to be anything there.

35:56Right. Right. I what I like to do with that is I'll jump in on open mics.

36:03Um I will go to shows like singer songwriting circles in a venue that I'd like to eventually connect at. So, I do like to have like pretty much every night on tour when I'm out there, I might as well be doing something. So, I do try and like, you know, get get go somewhere with guitars and microphones.

36:24Yeah. No, that's awesome. I think especially like um being able to be so like portable and like just, you know, acoustic is actually like pretty key as

36:35Yeah, it's just so interesting like our experiences are very different and very similar at the same time. Like the idea is very similar, but the actual experience of me driving solo in a van is totally different and playing acoust guitar is totally different than your seven person amazing production with Alice like living as a family. And you know I I I've wondered what that's like um you know um doing it doing it that way. So it might be worth a try sometime. My I have buddies that do like the duo trio full band thing and it is um it's interesting. There's there's uh ups and downs um to that. So yeah.

37:15Sometimes it helps too to I think have like a a caravan. So like um this upcoming tour we have um we're going to have uh two bands opening for us.

37:25Oh, nice.

37:25For the first three dates and then like another artist that's um opening for us. So like if you team up with other bands, that can actually be pretty great. And then you can share vehicles and that sort of thing.

37:35That makes sense. Yeah, that's really cool. What is what is the thing that you are working on on tour? Like what is your like kind of thing that you're like trying to break through or your next project or like what are you like kind of um working towards for your your um kind of uh I don't know your touring

37:56You mean like uh what do I work on while I'm on tour or just like future touring

38:01Yeah. Like what's like your what are you working towards with your tours? like what's what do you like what do you feel is the uh the I don't know where are you at and like what what are you trying to like get to with the with the tours?

38:12Um well first and foremost like to to be able to tour more internationally.

38:17Oh nice.

38:18Yeah. Yeah. We have people that have been asking us um and you know that's it's a whole different level of

38:24Oh yeah.

38:26Yeah. I would love to hear about your experiences with your international

38:30What countries were you thinking about doing that? like what are you like your top few countries do you think that you and your band would

38:37um so we've been we've been asked for different places in Europe so like Germany um the UK um as well as uh Mexico South America

38:48and then Asia as well like uh different parts of so yeah

38:54I would say probably like a good first start would be Germany or the UK um because you can just use each of those countries and just like just stay there, you know, find like one or two promoters there that can help you out a little bit. Um, that's what I did for the second half of my European and UK tour. The first month was Europe, like Spain, Portugal, Andor, Switzerland, France, like a different country every few days. The last month was the UK, which was cool because I could just like really get into the culture, really understand how to drive manual on the other side of the road. um

39:31you know really kind of experience uh a culture in a country. So you know that first month was tough for me because it was like okay let me learn how to say hello, goodbye and thank you in Portuguese and then let me do that oh I already know Spanish cool but then let me do that in French, let me do that in Polish, let me do that in German, let me do that in Czech. It's like it's tough to get a handle, you know, on things when you're moving that fast. So, I would recommend like when I was in the UK for a month, it was awesome because I

39:57was learning about the towns and the countries and um had a really good time with um town halls actually. That was like the sweet spot um in UK. So yeah, I would I would say definitely go for it with the caveat that like I mean you're going to lose so much money, but the branding and the experience and what it does for the band kind of makes up for for that. And I'd say kind of

40:31I mean flights, airfares, rental cars, equipment, like hotels,

40:38visas, food, like you know, it's just it's just it's it's a whole different beast like you're saying.

40:44Absolutely. Yes.

40:45Wow. But that's really exciting because what it does is it like

40:49you know if if you can go to Germany and and a lot of these venues in the US see that they're like oh they played in Germany so yeah let's give them a chance here in St. Louis you know stuff like that. So

41:00yeah that's and just getting to experience like the different cultures and connecting to all the different people you know that's just sounds like amazing. Uh so a dream.

41:11Um yeah how about you? Oh,

41:13well before we get to that, if am I true in that you all are having a crowdfunding campaign right now

41:20and one of your um goals is an international tour.

41:25It is.

41:26So, that's super smart. That is exactly the way to do it because that's the only way that it can work is by your community or people kind of coming together and being like, we are going to frontload. We're going to support this tour before you even go. Then that makes total sense because you've got people behind you. you've got the resources, so it's a win-win. But that's super smart. And congratulations, by the way. Y'all y'all are rocking it.

41:49Thank you. Really appreciate that, you

41:53Yeah. We have we have people on the stream right now that have supported it and just

41:58Yeah. Oh, so so grateful.

42:00As above, so below. Yeah. No, it's just it's it's mind-blowing, honestly. Really mind-blowing. Yeah.

42:09Yeah. That's the best way to do it. So, you definitely you're definitely on to something there.

42:13Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. We'll see where it takes us, you know? Like every every single like time that I see I take a look at the Kickstarter or we get a message or whatever, I'm just like so I'm so touched. Yeah. Yeah. It's

42:29It's like a spiritual experience. Um it's really like you've got to just be totally humble. Essentially, you are a a monk, a nun with a begging bowl going around and being like, I have no ego. I need help. And that is a way to elevate everybody because it's a chance for folks to give. It's a chance for folks to be kind and be compassionate. And it's also a way for us as musicians to realize, you know, like we aren't independent musicians. we are maybe more dependent musicians than folks who have the record labels because we're dependent on our fans. We're dependent on our communities. Um, so it's a really

43:09special process and I'm excited for y'all uh going through it. It's awesome.

43:13Thank you. You know, I my family went to Austria and I got to it was it was an incredible trip, but um I got to visit the home of where Mozart like and his family lived and we actually got to see like the luggage that they used and they talked about how much they had to tour and travel and like even classical musicians back in the day had to depend on patrons. So like Kickstarter to me is like the modern patron program where you know it's like patrons that want to support the arts and support their you know the artists that they want to see

43:45you know put their music and art out there. It just it makes it possible.

43:49So yeah

43:50absolutely like Dukes royalty. I mean the Vatican the Vatican was the patron to you know Michelangelo. Like that's how these works of arts happened. It's pretty amazing to think about that. And then yeah, now it's just like the micro the micro model. Um, so it's pretty cool to see.

44:08Yeah, absolutely. Where it's like it's it kind of I think brings it down to earth because it's not just like the super wealthy like you were saying like the super wealthy patrons that there's just a few small amount of them that are supporting the artists. It's like it kind of brings it down to the ground where everybody can support in any way that they can, you know.

44:27Yeah. And you I mean y'all have toured enough to know that I would say like 90% of the world is like good people. You know what I mean? Maybe even like 95% honestly, you know, and if there's a situation where someone can be a good person, that's even higher. Um you know, you start realizing like, oh, if if anybody sees somebody in need or in help, like usually someone's going to step up and and help out. So that's also kind of nice to know that that's both online and you know on the tour app rout.

45:01Yeah, absolutely. Like I feel like it's one of the things I love about touring is that you really connect with people through music and you know and people that love that live music experience. Um and you see like how I don't know it just I feel like music like you were saying sharing earlier is so healing. Um, and all of us come to music in some form or fashion, whether, you know, it's, you know, different styles or whether we're playing or whether we're experiencing and listening to it. But in some way, I feel like music like really connects us. Um, yeah. Yeah.

45:38is it worth it? Is it worth it with the canceled festivals and the cars breaking down and the long miles and the, you know, hundreds of hours on social media or like, you know, connecting with the fans? Like is it is it worth it for you?

45:52Always. Always. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Never never a doubt. Like absolutely never a doubt.

46:02It's pretty cool.

46:02Yeah. Yeah.

46:03Yeah. Agreed. So um actually uh you were getting a question um about um uh what kind of uh music I believe the the the phrase was what kind of fusion that you compose um fusion music um yeah what kind of styles do you like to to bring together into your music?

46:29Yeah, I call my genre indie folk popism.

46:36Would you say that's about right? it. I love it. Absolutely.

46:40So, you've got the indie. It's like a little weird and a little geeky. It's like not that cool. Um and uh you've got the pop, you know, there are some melodies in there that are like fun and like some hooks, you know. Um and then um popism is, you know, there's there's optimism there. There's there's there's levity, there's levitation, there's kindness, there's um you know, there's an uplifting nature to the music as well. Uh my lyric my music is lyric So I spend a lot of time on what the lyrics are saying and uh there's a message in every song as well. So the songs are like um stories first and then

47:21songs after the stories. So that's how I would describe my music to a new

47:27That's amazing. from the from the music that I've heard of yours, it's like I can really tell that there is a lot of love that's put into the lyrics, which I always listen to the lyrics first myself. So

47:37that's interesting. You know,

47:39not everybody does and that's that's all right because I got the melodies in the back to, you know,

47:45pop. So, u yeah, it's interesting how

47:48different people listen to music in different ways. Um but yeah, I've always really enjoyed the lyrics as well. So lyric forward

47:55for sure. Yeah. Well, do you do you I mean like with your background, I guess, like in teaching and and and the language and everything like that, I'm sure that's really like helped guide

48:08It has. Yeah. I I remember writing, you know, poems very young. I wrote songs when I was in middle school. I remember having, you know, journals where I just like write silly stuff down. So, I've been like writing songs since, you know, since maybe sixth grade. Yeah. Fifth grade. Sixth grade.

48:26poems, songs, short stories, newspaper, yearbook, you know, essays. So, yeah, I love language and I love uh what it can convey and now I'm just using that in music. So, yeah. And you're do you sing and songwrite and do melodies? Like what's what's like how what's your approach to songwriting?

48:47Um it really depends on the song. So, um like uh as a band we'll come together and jam. So like me um uh Scott, Gordon and Steve like foundationally will come together and like

49:01like somebody might have like some kind of a riff

49:04um or whatever to play around with. Um and so we'll just kind of like play around with it and it's pretty great because like we'll like collaborate on like oh oh I hear this melody or this harmony or this arrangement and then it just kind of fluidly organically comes

49:20So yeah.

49:22Cool. Do you ever bring like lyrical like do you ever start writing from the title?

49:30Yeah, like for sure like sometimes like the whole thing gets written all at once for me like I write on the piano. So um yeah, sometimes guitar but mostly I write on the piano but like sometimes the entire thing just like pours out and it's just done. It's like okay this is this is the whole thing. Um, and sometimes it's just, you know, like it's like it is a theme or it's a concept and then I find, I don't know about you, but like sometimes I I don't like to stay too attached to a concept. So, like that's how it might start off and then

50:00it'll surprise you like on the way where you're like, "Oh, I didn't realize this song was about this."

50:05Yeah, I love that. Yeah. A lot of my songwriting now is less about like doing and more about like listening like, "Okay, what is this song like trying to share?" like what's actually here? Um instead of being like no, this song's going to be like this this. Um so yeah, that's really that's really cool. It's like what is the song like revealing? And then if it's a different concept that started from that concept, so be it. But um yeah, that's kind of special.

50:29Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well, I mean, um speaking of your songwriting, I know you have an album coming up, um Past Lives. Um Yeah. Do you have anything that you could share? Because I I love the inspiration that I was reading behind your behind your concept of the album.

50:50Yeah, thanks for asking. Um, Past Lives is the second installation of my Three Worlds project. Uh, the first EP was called Present Journey. Uh, now I'm on past lives and next year will be future myths. So, there's going to be kind of like this overarching story. I know you like the story, so I just want to like, you know, have the big picture first. Um, but past lives is a deep dive into exploring my ancestry, my family roots, and it actually uses the real voices of my ancestors um on the music. So, we found these um cassette tapes of these interviews with my bubby Sarah, uh my uncle Ben, on

51:32Evelyn. My mom is from the south, my dad has Jewish heritage, is from Chicago. Um, so I wanted to honor both of those sides of the family and um, yeah, like hearing my buddy Sarah like speak about her time coming over from Ellis Island, hearing Uncle Ben describing the uh, the Cotton Mills in South Carolina and then it's woven through five um, original songs. So that's past lives. So three three songs are actually out right now. Um, a song called My Wish Was You came out last week and um, two more songs are

52:08That's exciting. Are the songs already finished? Um,

52:12they are. So, I am also launching a crowdfunding campaign on two days and Tuesday, which is Wow. This will be my fourth campaign and they've been all successful and all amazing and really incredible experiences. Um, so I do my crowdfunding campaigns a little bit differently. We were talking about this before the live stream. But um what I do is essentially like I write the songs, I record the songs, I produce the songs, I mix the songs, master them, get everything ready, and then the crowdfunding campaign is a way for me to be like, how much do people want to get this music out into the world? How many

52:48people want to participate with this project? Um and I let it go from there. So if it's successful, amazing. I can get, you know, folk radio promo. I can do a tour. I can make merch and you know um if it's doubly as successful uh there are stretch goals just like y'all you know domestic touring, international touring, um podcast, all that kind of stuff. So it's really like leaving it to the universe exactly like you're doing. It's like okay how how amazing do we want to make this? How big do we want to get this going? So um yeah, that's starting Tuesday. Looking forward to it.

53:24Here we go.

53:26That's so exciting. I'm so exciting. Well, um going back to the question of like um like you know envisioning like the uh like future goals for like touring or or bigger arching vision like anything that comes to mind for you? Yeah, my overarching vision is to tour less. Tash, to not tour as much. So, I love touring and it's like a really vital part of being a musician is like, you know, sharing music with people in a live space. It's magical, but I don't think it has to be like the thing that I do like all the time.

54:18Um, but I've done it, so I know what it's like. So, I don't feel like, you know, I'm missing out or like, oh, what if I did that, you know?

54:26Um, because, you know, I toured full-time two, three years, and it was amazing. Great stuff. But it's like, I don't need to play 250 shows a year. I can play 100 150 and that'll still be just fine. So, um those are those are my goals for the future is to tour less, enjoy my family and friends and and my partner and um just you know in my own time um and then feel recharged and so when I am on tour it's like I can go all in and I'm not kind of worn out. So those are my goals. H I mean it's it's very obvious that you have you you've

55:05worked very very hard and um yeah like I I mean you were asking me like is it worth it and then you know obviously agreeing that it absolutely is but I mean I feel like like you're it's like you're in this particular phase where you're like planting the seeds and watering the seeds and tilling the soil and you know it's it's it is a lot to invest in terms of your energy and your

55:31Yeah. And you know, it's interesting because there's all sorts of different models that folks use for creating music. Some people are studio heads.

55:42Just hit the studio, hit the streams, hit the sinks. I don't want to be around people at all. I don't want doing any shows. You know, there there are artists that are like that.

55:52There are artists that don't care about the recording at all. It's all live shows for them. You know what I mean? Like maybe we'll get into the studio. it doesn't even matter. But like our our live shows is what really matters. Um and then there's everything in between. So I think just like finding our balance at different stages of life is important and really kind of listening to what we need is important and um yes, it feels like that's what's uh what's next um on the journey.

56:20I mean you've always struck me as a really good listener. I think that's definitely one of your superpowers actually. Um, and I don't just mean to other people. I think that you you have like um the listening space like you talked about within your songwriting, within yourself, right? And being attuned to that.

56:39Yeah. And isn't that what an amazing skill not just to be able to listen

56:44to what's going on around us, but to listen to like what we need to listen to ourselves kind of thing. And that's there's some powerful songs in there. There's some powerful meaning in there. And I think, you know, I have found that the closer that I get to that space, the more the songs shine and the more people resonate. So it's almost like the more internal and deep and personal I can get, the more that actually resonates with people because it's like, oh wow, I feel that too, you know. Um, so yeah, this past lives project is is different from my previous music which is more

57:18positive, poppy, uplifting. This is a a more introspective kind of deep kind of spiritual kind of um personal healing album. You know, honestly, I did it for me to learn about my family to um bring their voices into my life and um you know, and my mom and dad have benefited from that, my family benefited from that. And then when people listen to their songs, it's like, "Wow, I should really ask my mom and dad like some about their life and how they grew up and their stories or like, "Oh, that reminds me of that one memory that I had." Um, so yeah, the more that I'm

57:55able to kind of go into that internal listening place, I feel like the music benefits and the community benefits and things get a little bit more sparkly. You know what I mean? They go more full, more more meaningful. So

58:11When you are um like kind of I guess in songwriting mode um uh and obviously you know I I'm sure this is probably true for you. So some songs just sort of pop up when it's just sort of like hello here I am

58:24but um you know when you're sitting down like do you have like any particular routines that you like to do when you're when you're getting into the zone? Yeah, I am always taking voice memos, you know, so I like to like kind of go back through voice memos every once in a while and like see if something like kind of hits me or like inspires me and I'll use that. Um, a song on past lives was from a voice memo two years ago and the producer was like, "You got anything else?" I was like, "I don't I have nothing for my fifth song. I don't even

58:51know what to do." So, I went back to my voice memos. I heard this one little thing. I was like, "Boom." I was like, "Oo, that's interesting." And that became the first song on the album, Echo. So, um, I'm always like getting my ideas out and like kind of somewhere and then when I sit down, I kind of like bring them all out and kind of see what really kind of resonates and go from there.

59:18I love that. Oh, by the way, you're getting you're getting some love in the chat. Uh, Dark Realm GM is saying that you rock and

59:26Oh, cool.

59:27Yes. Yes. Um,

59:28thanks, Dark Realm. Yes, that's awesome. Um, and I agree.

59:36Thanks. Y'all rock. No, you're really, um, you know, in this musical space, it's a lot smaller than we think. There's only a certain amount of artists that make it to year one and then two and then four and then five and it just they just keep dropping off. You know what I mean? just and it's a very type of person and artist and creative that keeps going. Um, so you all have been one of those folks that it's like they're still doing it. They're doing it the right way. I really resonate with their approach and how they're doing it like independently slash dependently. Um, so that's just a testament, you

1:00:16know, to to what y'all are doing. So y'all rock, too. I I really appreciate what you're doing and I'm I'm always taking notes um from you as well.

1:00:26Oh, I appreciate that. And likewise, I mean, I feel like um you know, you you radiate inspiration. So, I love what you do. I love that you're putting out um such beautiful work that's so inspired and you know, I love the optimism.

1:00:42Yeah. Yeah. So do I. It helps me. It helps me, too.

1:00:46Yeah. I think that um you know and I mean it's like you were mentioning um like going introspectively with this upcoming album. Um it feels a little daring um you know sometimes where you're just kind of like okay I'm going to switch gears. I'm going to go really internal going inside those roots. Like is it for you? Was it something that you kind of had to talk yourself into where you're like I see what this is? That's a really good question because yeah, it's a really good question. You know, as artists, we're like constantly reinventing oursel. That's our job, you know. And there was a shift where it's like I'm

1:01:32not doing this for others to be a certain way necessarily. It's like I am literally doing this to process my existence, to process the world around me, you know, to

1:01:45figure out what's going on because I don't know. You don't know really. No one really knows what's going on here, y'all. We're just singing about it. Um, going from, you know, upbeat songs like Chasing Daylight, Dancing on the Lawn, you know, you know, to like these like very deep kind of like songs about my ancestry and their voices being, you know, like throughout is is a big it's a big change. But um I remember a few times in the studio being like if I'm going to do this like I'm just going all in. So I told my producer it's like dude I will I will

1:02:32probably cry at least 10 times during the recording of this album. I think we got up to eight actually. So it wasn't it wasn't that bad. But you know it was like you know chimes in the studio. You know what I mean? like invoking the spirits, you know, bringing in the whole like the whole thing just going in and um I think that's that's important for as as creatives and as artists and like and you hope your community will enjoy it and they probably will, some won't, you know, some will be like I like the the happier songs, you know, um like like what if what if Alice just had like

1:03:08a whole, you know, like I don't know like Apple Apple brand change and like you your color was white and you wore white suits and like you know just it'd be strange you know so there there is some you know being delicate there so so what I do is my songs are voice and acoustic guitar so in a way to kind of like introduce these songs to my community in a way that they appreciate is just I sing them first with my voice and my guitar and that's how I do my live streams and that way it doesn't feel so different you know and the production's a little bit

1:03:44was very different than the other tracks, but um it was a leap of faith. Definitely a leap of faith. Um but I'm glad I did it.

1:03:51I love that. I love that. Absolutely. Yeah. I know. It's it's like we were sharing earlier like when you hit the launch button or you you're like, "Okay, here it is, world." Like you never know. You never know. And just the leap of faith is absolutely a profound moment of like terror and also just surrender at the same time.

1:04:11Yeah. Yeah, I think there's a lot of trust that is required as a musician, as a touring musician. A lot of trust, you know, because we're putting ourselves in uh some very unique situations, you know, situation. We don't necessarily know the venue we're going to. We don't know the person. We don't know the people that are going to be there. Maybe some people will show up, maybe not. But like really, it's like we're trusting in the universe to hold us and to contain us and to provide for us. And we're going to do the best we can, too. Um but it sure is nice when there's folks out

1:04:41there that um believe in what you're doing and want to support.

1:04:45Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it it really I think it helps like um I don't know. I don't even know what the word quite quite the word is, but it's like it it gives you the nurturing, I think. Um you know, and and I feel like no matter what, like you were saying, you have the shows where you play to the sound guy and his dog, you know, you have those

1:05:09we've all had those.

1:05:11All Yeah. Yeah,

1:05:13we all have those badges. Yes.

1:05:15Yeah. You should feel amazing that that actually happened to you. It's like, yes, I did that and I'm still alive. Yeah. It's great.

1:05:23Yeah. And to to any maybe creatives or musicians out there who are listening to this and who, you know, want to tour or are starting to tour. Um, it's like, you know, there are going to be heat domes. There's going to be, you know, like kind of hurricanes and everything's going to happen and nothing's going to happen at the same time. And that's that's the beauty of it, you know, like all that the growth happens at the edge, right? Pushing pushing ourselves to the edge just with the growth happens. Um, so yeah, it is absolutely more than worth it every time. Yeah. And I would at at

1:06:00the same time, can I can I make a

1:06:04And I'm not trying to be a downer, okay? if touring is not your thing, don't do

1:06:14Right. Would you agree? Like don't don't put yourself through it. Don't put the audience through it. Don't put the venue through it. Don't put your family through it. Don't put your friends. If the why is not there and it's your not your thing, there are hundreds of ways to make a living as a musician at the same time. But if it is there, then like go for it. Would you agree with that? I don't know. Am I kind of talking out of bounds here? What do you think?

1:06:36No. No. 100%. Like, you know, I I feel like if you are tour curious and you haven't toured, you should absolutely like try it.

1:06:44Um and you may discover like this is awesome. Like I really I I want this. or the opposite where you're like, you not so much.

1:06:55Sleeping in Walmarts and uh you know, waking up to my own smell every morning. I'm not really sure about that.

1:07:05Have you ever seen like the memes where it's sort of like, you know, what people think I do, what my parents think I do, what I actually do.

1:07:13Yes. Oh, that's great.

1:07:15Yeah. Yeah.

1:07:16Yeah. we if we musicians put what was actually going on behind the scenes more on social media, people would be like it actually might be more interesting. Who knows? But um yeah, it's it's not all glamorous. Exact. Actually, most of the time it's not glamorous at all.

1:07:35I mean, we've shared our share of like our Walmart videos, you know, that's as you do. Yeah.

1:07:41Good. Yeah.

1:07:41But yeah. Yeah. I mean, um, you know, there's obviously the magical moments where like there's there's the music and the connections and and getting to meet people. Like there are absolutely those beautiful moments and then there's everything that leads up to like the tour itself. Like I I don't know about you, but for for me when I put a tour together, I it takes me about six months per tour.

1:08:06I have to start six months in advance. So, and I'm still like finishing up this last tour. We just lost our show in Vegas, so I'm scrambling to find another

1:08:14It's just part for the course. That's just normal. Like, at least it's not during the tour. So, um, yeah.

1:08:21Six months, six months stash is pretty good. I usually start like a year out.

1:08:27You know, and a lot of a lot of venues, what I what I'm doing, a lot of my the folk singer songwriter house show venues, they book two years out.

1:08:36It's wild.

1:08:36That's amazing. Wow.

1:08:37So, yeah, six months is pretty good. That's uh Yeah, it's a good timeline.

1:08:42Yeah. Well, that's usually what happens with like um if I'm given a certain amount of time like actually our spring tour, I wasn't given a lot of time um because the festival asked us I think two to three months before the festival. So, I had a very short amount of time. That's why actually Scott and I ended up playing acoustic shows as a duo to get us there and back

1:09:02because I was like this is more doable.

1:09:05Yeah. So, yeah. strategy.

1:09:08Sometimes you gotta just like, you know, you gotta go, "Wow, you gotta start booking on the fly." You know what I mean? Like hit up that venue that you played five years ago and be like, "Hey, we're coming through." You know, you host us.

1:09:19Do you um do you do booking as you're touring since you're you're having to do so many shows? Like I'm just curious like are you do actively booking like while you're out?

1:09:30Oh yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. For the 250 shows a year Europe I started two years in advance. Wow.

1:09:37Um, and then domestic tours are about a year, Canada is about a year and a half in advance. So, there's like not really a time where I'm not booking except when I'm at a 10-day silent meditation retreat in Massachusetts and then I'm not booking. But, um, yeah, it's pretty much full on full-time.

1:09:57Yeah. Yeah.

1:09:59Yeah. So I imagine then you have to kind of like partition your day where you're like, "Okay, this section of the day gets this kind of attention."

1:10:06Oh yeah.

1:10:07Section of the day gets the more creative. Yeah.

1:10:10Oh yeah. Yeah. And I actually also partition seasonally. So like songwriting in fall, recording in winter, big booking push in January, tour, spring, summer, fall, and repeat as well. So yeah, I like I like to kind of chunk chunk things. So it's not like oh today I am booking and writing songs and recording and making video and posting on social media. It's like you know usually it's like just one or two things hopefully a day but I got kind of like I go in and like really kind of do it. So

1:10:42yeah. Yeah. I imagine just having to like again you wear all the hats and all the it's like you have to figure out how to transition from thing to thing you know.

1:10:56It really does use a lot of the brain.

1:10:58Yeah. For me it's like a lot of just like moving, getting up, walking, kind of running, biking, pickle ball, swimming, kaying, mountain biking, whatever. I don't know. What is it? What is it for you? How do you kind of break up your chunks?

1:11:13Um yeah. So, especially if I'm like in a creative mode. I'm I'm finishing up a short story actually that's an illustrated short story that's going to be um in tandem with our album.

1:11:22Oh, I saw that.

1:11:24Yeah. And so I'm like in super editing mode. And so for me, yeah, it's like I'm the same like I like to take a walk, you know, just take a little stroll, get out in nature. Um, it kind of helps to reset things because when I'm super leftrained and I'm like in my organizational like tour booking mode, it's it's like, okay, I have to switch gears to thinking more expansively and doing the story writing and songwriting and all that. So, yeah.

1:11:51No, it's like there like that moment of transition between hats is important. It's like it's

1:11:56it is

1:11:56you'd be literally like a mad hatter.

1:12:08Shout out to Mad Hatters.

1:12:10Yes. Yes. We love them. But yeah, no, I feel like transition is actually like you have to if you're going to be like a, you know, able to like do all the multitasking, you know, that's required as an indie artist.

1:12:26Yeah. Learning that has been a big thing for the past seven years. is like, "Oh, wow. I'm doing business and marketing and songwriting and all this kind of stuff and social media. Wow. Okay, let's let's let's bring it on. Let's put all the hats on the closet and put them on when we need to." Yep.

1:12:42Yeah. I I've I've talked to other artists that um you know, they there's certain parts that they don't like as much. And so, it's a matter of figuring out, I think, like how to look at it as something that is another form of expression, right?

1:12:56Yeah. Another form of creativity, another way of getting the music out there. That's exactly it.

1:13:01Feel that? Yeah. For me, um, social media was like that for a while. Like it was actually like really hard for me to keep up with it on tour while driving all the time.

1:13:12Um, but now I'm like a little bit more stable and like I've got the crowdfunding coming up and I got the release coming up. So I'm like, "Oh, social media is great because it talks about the release and I can kind of get into it, make connections with folks on the res and Navajo Nation and, you know, folks in Europe." And it's like, you know, oh, this is great. But like, man, I was on tour. It was hard for me to just feel motivated to do it. So, yeah, it's a lot to a lot to juggle.

1:13:36So, are you going to be uh what's your next um like big push? I saw that you're already you're playing very shortly here in August.

1:13:45Yeah. Yeah, I'm um I've got some shows coming up locally um and in August, just around Maryland, Virginia. And then in October I'm doing like a fall tour around the album. So like in the Northeast. Um and right now that's all I've got on the books, which is wild. And I'm just kind of like, you know, like just kind of like settling, just kind of simmering a little bit. Just kind of like planning my next moves. You know, is it going to be the South? Is it going to be the Midwest? Is it going to be none of that? You know what I mean? I'm still I'm still kind of

1:14:17listening. I just I'm listening to the uh the internal and and external voices. So we'll see. It'll it'll be surprising for me as well what's what's next. Right now it's just all release mode, you know, all hands on deck for the crowdfunding and after that we'll see how that goes and then um be able to allocate, you know, that that support where it's needed.

1:14:40Yeah. No, I love that because I feel like it's just it's making you very present, right, to like really go like, okay, well, instead of like really really thinking forward because you were mentioning that it can take one to two years to plan ahead just to just be really present.

1:14:56It sounds like it's going to be a very powerful release.

1:14:59I think it is. Yeah, I think it I think it is. And I think depending on the crowdfunding and how that goes, that'll really be like this huge wave that keeps it kind of going. Um, so that's that's like the plan like um have the release, have a nice little push around it. You know, holidays happen November, December, come out with a holiday song. That's that'd be really cool. Come out with a holiday song around past lives to keep keep the momentum going and then like really kind of hit it kind of like online in 2026 and then build shows around that. So yeah, that's the

1:15:32strategy. That's my That's my uh you know like my uh what's what's next for the family, for the business.

1:15:43you got it out of me.

1:15:44I did. No, I love it. I'm I'm very excited for the release and um Yeah, I mean obviously this is future planning, but what the third part will look and feel

1:15:56Oh, yeah. That's coming.

1:15:59More story ahead.

1:16:00Yeah. I love it. Have you started brewing it up or are you just gonna

1:16:05I have a few songs that are like kind of like probably gonna be in that, you know, space which is cool. Nice to just have like a little bit of a inspiration, but it's definitely going to take like a week or two weeks at a river retreat somewhere just kind of writing and getting into it to see what future myths is all about. So that'll be cool.

1:16:22I love the concept of future myths. It definitely like conjures conjures the imagination for sure.

1:16:28Yeah, it's hard to say the word myths. You know, myth is hard enough to say, but myths is like it's like people don't really know what I'm saying, but u it's a really cool word world like concept like what are the stories they're going to be telling about us in the future,

1:16:43you know, future myths. It's going be really interesting. So, we'll see. I don't know.

1:16:48I love it. I've always loved um like storytelling that dives into sort of the Joseph Campbell like mythology. So,

1:16:56Big fan of Joseph Campbell.

1:16:58Yes. Um, you're getting asked by Dusty. Uh, Dusty was noticing about your your awards behind you and uh, he

1:17:06Oh, these awards. How did you see that? Thanks, Dusty. Whoops. I forgot those are on camera. Oh

1:17:16Oh, do Eli. So, yes, we have we have the Buddha around some awards here and some books in a singing bowl. Um, this is um best pop artist group from the Whammy. It's a whammy. It's like a Grammy, but it's It's the Washington area music folks. This is the um um Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, second overall for Chasing Daylight.

1:17:51With my hair behind it, that's good.

1:17:58There's another one over there for the best country Americana album uh for the whammys as well. And this is my meditation partner, Buddha.

1:18:07Oh, this is amazing.

1:18:10Yeah, thanks for asking, Dusty.

1:18:14You're getting applause in the chat.

1:18:18Oh, these awards. That's amazing. That's really amazing.

1:18:29I know.

1:18:30Oh, go ahead. Sorry.

1:18:32No, it's it's nice when awards happen. I don't write for awards, but it's very nice when they come in. So, yeah.

1:18:37Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, like I know that you would continue doing what you do um regardless, but it is Yeah,

1:18:48actually actually if enough people didn't like my music, I probably might not. I might I might still do music, but I just wouldn't release it or something. You know what I mean?

1:19:01But, you know, the more I'm into music, the more I realize like it's going to change throughout my life. you know, whether I am a touring musician or recording musician or a live show or just a songwriter, like music's going to be there, which is nice. It's just a wonderful thing. It doesn't always have to look a certain way. Right now, it looks incredible. Like, I'm a, you know, on my eighth release, you know, got amazing community behind me. I got these shows, got the songs. It's awesome. Um, but it's also good to know that, you know, I'm I'm like in it, but I'm also

1:19:35like letting go at the same time. Like wherever it takes me, great. And however however long I get to do this amazing thing is fantastic. So, yeah.

1:19:43Yeah, absolutely.

1:19:45Do you have that same feeling like what's Yeah. What's your kind of like take on that?

1:19:50Um, like you mean in terms of like awards or

1:19:53music being part of your life?

1:19:55Oh, music being part of my life. Um, well, music has always been a part of my life. Like I started uh I was in church and 9 months old and I I went my parents went to a church where there weren't any instruments in the church so everything was acappella.

1:20:07Um so they heard me singing when I was 9 months old. So I don't have a memory in my life um without music.

1:20:17Yeah. It's just been it's just been who I am like my entire being as far as I can remember. Like all memory links to

1:20:25before you can remember. people tell you about what was going on. Wow, that's so awesome. That's so special.

1:20:30Yeah. Yeah. So, it's just how I've I've also that's how I'm in I am in the world. Like you sharing that was absolutely something I resonate with.

1:20:39you know, it's just how I connect with people. It's how I know how to be.

1:20:43Um Yeah.

1:20:45So, it's a constant it's as constant as water and oxygen for me. Love that. As the sunlight is coming through and making all these like cool designs behind me. I love it. Sunlight, music. It's gorgeous.

1:21:03That's awesome.

1:21:06Do you um do you ever see yourself um ever exploring like different styles of music or do you feel like this is just like the singular focus, you know?

1:21:16Oh, yeah.

1:21:18You know, I think each of my EPs have been like a slightly different style. So like my first EP I had the Four Directions project from my time on the res. Um the inspiration for that. Um so All Rose East was kind of like Americana, Way Out West was like indie folk. Deep South was like kind of like pop rock and True North was more like you know singer songwriter. Um so yeah, I feel like each of my EPs have a little flavor of like different things. Um, but this is going a little bit far in the future, but after the three worlds project is going to be my two friends

1:21:53which is going to be all collaborative

1:21:57So, what I'd like to do is go on a international tour finding artists in different countries and continents and record with them and come up with an album. So, I have a feeling that a lot of different styles will kind of come out through that album, too. So, that's something to look forward to. Oh, I got chills. That sounds amazing.

1:22:17Yeah, I plan ahead. I love it. Well, you kind of have to like I feel like

1:22:24um I mean like you said, there's a there's a there's a bike, you know, when it comes to like being present, but there is the overarching vision that I think helps guide us, you know.

1:22:34Yep. Yeah, that's been very helpful. So, just having that kind of like um through line I think is going to be cool. So yeah, I'm excited to explore different different sounds. What would you say is your sound that you're exploring on as above so below.

1:22:48Um I think we've it's a it's coming back to our roots.

1:22:53Um a lot of coming back to our roots like um you know because foundationally the band has has created music that u well we started writing these music um in 2020 as a band. We we came up with like a bunch of stuff that we just jammed out in like five days in Joshua

1:23:10Um that's like our our foundational spot that we we like to go out to the desert and then just unplug and just make

1:23:17Um yeah. So um yeah and then as you know the five five years have passed um we kept on coming up with other songs that were like you know I feel like this could fit more in the thread and the overarching vision that we're you know feeling um especially as we've been touring and experiencing more life. Um so like we're finishing off actually a couple more songs for the album. Um I'm recording tonight in fact.

1:23:42Oh wow. Are you serious?

1:23:44Yeah. Yeah. After this I'll be singing that good.

1:23:46Yeah. Yeah. So, um, but yeah, like just kind of coming back to the roots. Um, I mentioned that I grew up in a church where, um, it was all ac cappella. Um, and you know, it's just a lot of like harmonies. So everything there was very, it's very harmony rich. Um, and I've always thought in harmonies. Like I come from a coral background, so I love choir. Um, I love operas. So I feel like we're kind of bringing in those elements into the into the album. So

1:24:13Wow, that's exciting. So, it's like back to the roots, big on harmonies, um connected to Joshua Tree, like the roots, and then it's like

1:24:22it's had a long time to kind of develop

1:24:26pretty cool. Wow.

1:24:27And as as Above So Below is also um an album that explores like um like just humanity and and the life process because we've lost people in this time frame. So the album has helped us like process our grief um celebrate them, remember them. Um you know, so there's like themes of tree of life and the breaking of chains and finding liberation and freedom.

1:24:52Deep stuff. I love it.

1:24:54Y'all go deep.

1:24:56It's a little different than the popism,

1:25:00yeah. No, it's great. We you know, we we all got our things. We all got our own

1:25:05Yeah. But we find we find our joy through the creation of it. So, I think it all all sides of it.

1:25:10So excited for the project. I am a Kickstarter backer and I look forward to the updates and and the music and all that kind of and all the good stuff. So,

1:25:19really appreciate it, Eli. Oh, we have another question if if you're okay with Okay. Um, what does your daily routine look like when you are um in the morning uh on tour and how do you get so much

1:25:32It's a really good question. Um, I am a Planet Fitness membership holder. the black card. It's 25 bucks a month plus a $50 yearly fee. You're welcome, Planet Fitness. Um, and it's amazing. So, for a dollar a day, I hit the treadmill. I can do weights if I want. I can do the 30 minute circuit. I get a shower. I fill up my water bottles. Um, I get on the massage chair. And when I'm really rocking on tour, I do that every morning. Um, then I have a morning vision magnet. Um, and TSH and Scott are part of that vision magnet where I put all of like

1:26:15the top positive things that people have said about the music and the um, Um, and I read those every morning. I have like 20 different abundance, you know, uh, quotes that I I have like my goals, my strategy for the week and month. Like, it's pretty intense, y'all. It's pretty intense. Um, I have a journal that I do. It's called the um the three question journal. If you're going to start anywhere, start here. And every day is just um something that I deeply appreciate, something that's most important that I have to do that day. And then what quality do you want to show the world that day? Pretty cool.

1:26:56So, um I prioritize. Um there's always going to be a million things to do and there's no way to do them all every day. So every day I just pick one top thing that I have to do that day and I do it and if there's time to do the second or the third thing great but I'm just going to do that that one thing every day. Um so that is my morning routine and that is how I do so many things. Um, I just stay healthy and uh drink a lot of water. And I don't know about all these musicians who just like, you know, down

1:27:27whiskey and cigarettes and cigars and all sorts of whatever and, you know, staying up late. I'm a indie folk singer songwriter and that is not how my tours roll. I would be done. I would not be able to perform the next day. So, um, staying healthy, staying grounded, staying mindful, and picking one thing that I have to do every day and committing to that, um, has has gotten me to this space.

1:27:58That's inspiring.

1:28:00That's it. Yeah. Do you have a morning

1:28:04I do. I do.

1:28:05You do? Let's bring it bring it on. Bring on the routine. Let me hear it. Um, well, I I I like to like spend the moments like just connecting to my breath. It's very meditative, you know, because it's like there's a transition when you first wake up.

1:28:25Um, you're supposedly still in theta, I think, for the first 20 or 30 minutes.

1:28:29That makes sense.

1:28:29Um, so I try to avoid my phone. Um, that's I'm not perfect with that. I'm not one of those people that I'm just like, and then I don't lift my phone for the first two hours. So I'm like I'm I am so human. Um but I try I try you know. Um and yeah I like to journal and meditate and pray. Um I really like to like uh keep gratitude. Um so I always like wake up thinking about things I'm grateful for, things I'm looking forward to in the day. And then I do that in the evening as well like where I just think like you

1:29:01know where where where did my day go? And sometimes it's not great. Sometimes a day is a disaster. Um, and I write it down. I'm just like, and I write it down. But there's always something where I'm like, "Okay, here's the silver lining of the day." Um, and it keeps me

1:29:16So, yeah.

1:29:18Yeah. Gratitude is huge, right?

1:29:20Yeah. It helps a lot.

1:29:21And also, I like if I'm really in flow, I like to do like um kind of like a a piano session like first thing where I just like play and it's stream of consciousness playing with no intention of holding on to it. Wow, that is amazing. I love that. That's the only way that I know how to play piano and I I I think it's my favorite way is just like just making sounds. It's amazing.

1:29:44Yeah, just kind of let it flow out of you and then

1:29:47you just have that moment. Yeah.

1:29:49Cool. Yeah, that sounds like something that I could add. I like that. Just like a stream of conscious almost like musical journaling,

1:29:57right? Just letting get out kind of thing. Super cool.

1:30:00Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. And then um I like to do some form of workout. So I kind of vary it up. So but something to get me

1:30:09Yeah. Do you do that on tour? Do you work out on tour?

1:30:11Oh yeah.

1:30:12Oh yeah.

1:30:13Just different things, you know. Um there's things I do like while I'm in town, but then like on tour like I like to do I bring my yoga mat and then I have my own thing.

1:30:23How about you? What do you do on tour?

1:30:25I got the yoga mat. I got Planet Fitness. I do disc golf. I do a meditation if I can. get some runs in there. Yeah, whatever whatever I can and and I'm not perfect at it, but you know, do my best. So,

1:30:40um Yosh Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Yoshi Fan 19984 says, "Eli and his music is beautiful."

1:30:45Oh, thanks Yoshi fan. I'm a fan of you.

1:30:52Oh, I'm seeing some people in the chat um sharing about the morning routine. Uh Dusty was saying, "I'm terrible about activity. I run to the bathroom." And that's about it.

1:31:04Hey, that's a one.

1:31:06That's You know what? Everyone has their thing.

1:31:12That's the I love that.

1:31:14Yes. Yes.

1:31:17Yeah. I know. Like I I feel like you just everybody has to find the thing that works for them, you know?

1:31:23So, yeah. It's it's again it's we're all we're all in our own human experience and so I don't think there's any one perfect way to go about your experience.

1:31:33Yeah. It's okay to be imperfect. I'm also giving myself permission to do that a little bit lately and it's it's nice feels good.

1:31:41Yeah. Yeah. Because sometimes I feel like like so the intention I think when you do these different morning routines is to kind of keep you grounded to you know find your center all the things but then it kind of like it's it does the reverse if you're like if I don't do my morning routine

1:31:59that's what I'm letting go of lately where just like

1:32:02I don't do it fine whatever you know what I mean I'm going to try and do it if I don't do it I'm not going to like

1:32:08get so down on myself that I'm like have a bad day you know I just made myself have a bad Hey, I don't want that.

1:32:14Yeah. No, that's huge. I get that.

1:32:17Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, my dear friends, are there any more questions? If so, please drop them in the chat. Um, Eli, what are the best ways to connect with you? Like, what are your preferred ways that people can connect with you and experience it?

1:32:31Yeah. So, y'all got the Mad Hatters.

1:32:35Um, I love it. Um, my my people are called the Levitators. M nice

1:32:42the levitators. Eli Lev levitators. So um you can join the levitation if you'd like. Go to my website and there's a little button on there that says join the levitators. Um and then you will be able to stay in touch with me through these past lives journey which is pretty cool. So if past lives sounded really interesting to you, I would say join the levitators, connect with the mailing list, the text if you'd like. Um, I'm also pretty active on social media now. So, if people want to see um what I'm doing behind the scenes, inspiration, positivity, gr gratitude, songwriting, touring, all that good stuff, uh, you

1:33:20can find me. I'm at Elv Music. On all the things because you've got to be on all the things these days.

1:33:29It's true. It's true. There's just so many There are so many things. There are so many ways to communicate and I love it because each one has its own different vibe, you know.

1:33:39Yeah. Yeah. I'd say whichever people like some people really like mailing lists. I love mailing lists. So, join the Levitators. If you're a social media person, you can find me there. And, um, if you just really like listening to music a lot. Um, you know, I'm all the streaming platforms as well, so you can find me there. So, would love to connect with folks wherever. if they do, you know, uh, jump on anywhere, just send me a message. Be like, "Hey, Eli, I saw you on, you know, Unwritten Rules of the Road with Tash and I love this or that." And then, um, we can start the

1:34:06conversation. I'm a I'm a real person, uh, a real life human being and, um, I like connecting with other human beings. So, if you like to connect, I'm totally open. That'd be great.

1:34:19Dusty is asking, "What is your favorite hot sauce?"

1:34:23Oo, okay. Okay. Okay, Dusty. All right. Um, it's not really a hot sauce, but it is a sauce. It's slightly spicy. It's a lenzano. It's the Costa Rican uh kind of sauce that they put on everything. It's sweet. It's salty. It's spicy. It's soy. So, it's it's everything. Um, so I like I like putting that on on a lot of things. Dusty,

1:34:50that stuff is so good.

1:34:51Lzano. Yeah, it's uh

1:34:55Yum. Yes. Awesome. Oh, and Dusty says, "You are loved." I love

1:35:04I love a good

1:35:06Pretty funny. It's pretty good.

1:35:09Awesome. Well, Eli, thank you so much for for taking the time and for just bringing so much joy and and you know, it's always wonderful to connect with you. And um

1:35:23thank you to our wonderful community for hanging out with us, for your awesome comments and questions. Yes, many many many loves.

1:35:32Yeah. And um

1:35:34big big virtual big virtual high five. Let's let's go uh let's go crowdfunding. Let's do it. Ready? Virtual high five.

1:35:44Let's go. Let's do it.

1:35:48Yes. And I am so looking forward to your launch. I think it's going to be absolutely amazing. So looking forward to the album.

1:35:55Yeah. I'll be following y'all every step of the way. Looking forward to your album, too. Let's do it. Let's go. Yay. Well, thank you again and sending so much love.

1:36:05Thanks, Tash. Really appreciate it. Same back. Lots of love, light, and