Statik, in full

1:08Heat. Heat. Hi. friends. Uh you are watching Unwritten Rules of the Road. I am Tash and we have an especially special uh stream for y'all today. Uh normally Scott is behind the scenes and uh we we got him to come out um to be in front of the camera for this particular episode. Um we have the incredible Static uh from Collide joining us today. Hi Static. Nice to be here.

2:22Well, yeah, we're I'm really excited to have uh Static on. Um someone This is someone who I've worked with. Um when I first moved to LA, um actually before I moved to LA, um I was I got a chance to try out for and play with Collide. And so that's when I met uh Static. Um, I met Kin, the other half of Collide. Um, and I got a chance to to play some music and get to know these people, these amazing artists. Um, and Static is an incredible producer, uh, sound sound artist artisan, I should say. Um he has actually you have inspired me to like

3:05just become more immersed in the world of sound and uh learn about production and mixing and audio and you know uh monitors and all that fun stuff. Um you've helped me out when I had questions about like mixing. Um so yeah really excited to have you on. um know you've done some amazing things um throughout your career and what's also really inspiring is the fact that um Collide as a entity has stayed uh fiercely independent. I know you guys had a contract at one point, like a like a record label at one point, but um for the most part of the entirety of Collide, like you guys have been

3:44independent. That has also inspired uh my own path and the path we've taken in Alice um and other projects that we've had. But yeah, we're really stoked to have you on. Um I don't know even what else to say. I was just uh I guess just like what what are you up to these days? Like what what are you doing? Like

4:03big intro. What are we doing? Well,

4:09uh our our latest thing for this year is we are doing two releases called signals volume one and volume two. I thought al a long, you know, it's sort of been in the back of my mind for a long time to sort of do some sort of best of, but um, you know, one thing to do this release when I was thinking more about it is why just put out the exact exact songs that were on the regular releases. So, um, since, you know, we do all the mixing and everything, I thought, why not go back into the studio and give everything, you know, a brand new mix and and new

5:00And, you know, if anything needs editing or some drums need changing or whatever, you know, whatever needs to happen to make the songs the best they could be, just make new versions. So, not necessarily remixes, but

5:16you know, sometimes when you're just working on a song and you're listening to it 24 hours a day and you release it, you're so close to it that sometimes it's hard, you know, to get away from it a and have a perspective like right when you originally release it. So, since since it's been a while for all these songs, it's it was good to go back with fresh ears and just say, "Well, what could I make better?" And uh so that's what we've done.

5:46Yeah, that's amazing. Um it's so cool. Like I don't know. I know you've done a few of the tracks that were like from way back when, but do you notice a difference between like not necessarily like remixing, but I guess you're like it's almost like you're it's like a reapproach or something. I I don't even know how to describe it. Like that's

6:08well so

6:09just wild. So, some of the uh so going back a few years in 2020 we did um two releases for Chasing the Ghost and Some Kind of Strange. Uh we called them special edition releases. so for those I I kind of did the same thing where I did stereo new stereo mixes and new uh surround mixes, which was fun. Um, and so for both those albums, the first thing that was really hard to do was to go back, you know, find the sessions,

6:47right? get them into ProTools um in a way that I I could work with them now because originally uh I mix I had a Mackie mixer at the time, an analog mixer and so you couldn't just I couldn't just pull up the session and right

7:07it was a matter of bringing you know bring the session up and AB being the old mix with the new mix. Um, you know, I didn't want I didn't want the mixes to sound totally different. I just wanted them to sound better, whatever that meant for the song. So, it was really like a lot of abing and listening and um you know, seeing what I thought. So, once I had those for for those two albums, uh I could bring I think I can bring up just about anything in our catalog now.

7:41That's incredible. Oh, man. So, so for the old the old old old releases like Chasing the Ghost and Some Kind of Strange, I already had those set up. Um,

7:59that's so wild. Oh, like I know you mentioned um you had the mixes done through the Mackie mixer. So, how how did you have to approach that? Um, like did you just have to like do you have the stems I guess and you just have to sort of remix it? I had the individual tracks, but when I was uh sending everything out to the mixer, it was more liken stems. So, you know,

8:27some of the all the guitars were grouped together. And of course, I didn't, you know, however you're doing stuff on the analog mixer, that doesn't translate into putting it back into ProTools. And uh I think you know the interesting thing I did find is that it is really hard to make digital stuff sound as good as easy as it is with analog gear sometimes. So, it was there was certain things that I think the analog mixer was doing

9:09that I had to figure out how to simulate in ProTools,

9:16Yeah. I think I would I would still like to, you know, I would like to have some, you know, really good uh like even like an eight channel mixer to do stems. Um, but I'm not doing that now. Maybe in the

9:40Yeah. Yeah. Uh I was I'm curious because um uh for those of you watching um uh Static has a very deep history in the world of production in the world of of mixing. Um you know you were obviously like back in the studios of uh working with people like Prince, people like Michael Jackson. Um the list goes on and on and it's incredible. um you know I I feel like you have such a deep um understanding of sound and as technology has happened like you're you're mentioning the difference between analog and digital um I mean I'm sure your ears are able to pick up those nuances that's

10:25something that I I myself couldn't do but um just curious like as as you know gear continues to develop as technology develops um do you expand your studio as things go along or are there certain things where you're like this this is part of the studio, this is part of the

10:45I mean, I think my studio has definitely gotten smaller where I'll actually use upward gear a little less uh just because it's

10:54so easy to automate and bring up, you know, the song from last year or two years ago. And it's so much harder to do when you're using outboard gear uh to process stuff. So any sort of processing I do now I'll usually print to the track. Um

11:15so you know I have some you know some analog synths and some analog uh processing stuff like you know to run vocals through. But more is probably it's probably more in in the computer than it used to be.

11:39and I even though I've been doing it for a while, I still don't think I really know what I'm doing. So, it's always it's always figuring out new stuff and what works. And uh, I think you're always, you know, you're always learning like how to make things Maybe I thought, you know, I'm sure I thought I knew what was a good mix or how to mix, you know, forever ago, 10 years ago, whatever. But I still like that's why I wanted to do m new mixes of all those songs now because I think I'm better now than I was when most of them were were released. And uh

12:21I think they sound better.

12:23Yeah. No, I mean I definitely I don't know personally when I whenever I hear a new anything new that you all do to me just sounds it always sounds amazing. Like I mean I feel like for me it does it's not like a good or a bad thing. I'm just like oh my god there's just so much beautiful sound happening. So whatever you're doing it's amazing. So,

12:49you know, I know like as far as uh reapproaching these songs, um like Queen recently did the same thing with their first album. They went back and remixed it again just to have it sound as as good as it could be. And it was interesting from, you know, they're one of my favorite bands. and just to hear it different where some stuff that you didn't hear before is really coming through. Um, again, not remixes, but you're like, "Wow, that sounds

13:27those drums sound a lot, you know, better or Do you feel like in that instance, does it make it better or is it just sounding different? Does it just sound different to you when you listen to like your favorite artist when they do something like that? I mean, it's hard it's hard to say what's better because if you've listened to the same album as a fan or a listener, you're used to how it sounds. You've listened to that same album for 20 years. So,

13:58to say that the new one sounds better, you know, you're just used to the other

14:04It might sound better, but you know, maybe you still like the old one, and that's fine. Everybody can listen to the original version like they can listen to the new version. Um

14:18well, there's something that you you you said that um I find so inspiring. Um it's that you're like, I still don't think I know what I'm doing. Um and I find that so many people with such deep wisdom have that that beautiful approach to life, right? It's like the things that you are truly passionate about, the things that you've committed yourself to, it's like it only deepens with time. Like I'm sure 10 years from now, you know, you will deepen your your experience with sound. And so, you know,

14:50I think the other thing is just keeping you know, keep searching for what you like in art or music. Um, like I get I get bored fairly easily of sounds and you know, so I'm always looking for something new um, in terms of how I'll start a song or you know how to process a sound to get to something to start with. So, you know, I know that coming, you know, a lot of people will like a certain artist, you know, maybe they'll like their first couple records. And for an artist, you're always changing. And I feel like we're always changing. Um, my tastes are

15:44always changing. So you aren't going to remake the same record over and over again because you would just get bored.

15:54So I'm always looking for something new and how to, you know, keep our same sound because it's who we are, but to keep evolving. And I think and that's another reason um I just really thought about you know these two releases that we're doing now um these signals releases because uh I think a lot of people listened you know to our albums in the you know early 2000s um and then I don't know if it's people got older or your taste change or whatever the case. You know, some listeners just drop off. Um, and I just found it was harder to get new listeners, but yet I was really

16:47proud and like I I love, you know, some of the I love all of our releases, but there was a lot of songs in, you know, the last 10 years that I felt like didn't get the attention that they deserved. So, um I wanted to do two volumes where you had the songs maybe that people knew the most uh and then songs that maybe they didn't know as well and uh you know say listen to these these are really good songs. I'm I'm so happy with so many of them.

17:24That's a really cool approach. I mean, do you do you find that like um you'll you're getting new fans that are just falling in love with your older music now and like do you see that some that sort of happening?

17:41I don't know.

17:43Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense.

17:45Yeah. I don't know.

17:46Yeah. Well, I think Yeah. I don't know. like that's that's a really cool approach and I think that could you could draw people in with some of your older stuff but then like you said hit them with the newer stuff and you know

18:03well you know I thought you know as far as like having these two releases you know some people have brought up similar things and like well you could just make a playlist you know like why why have two actual you Why not just make a playlist? And uh

18:22because a playlist can be ignored, you know, I can't I can't make people look at a playlist or listen to it. Like it's just sitting there on the page somewhere that they probably won't copy to their phone or their computer and they don't have to listen to. But you know, if I say, "Okay, here's two actual releases. You see it on our discoraphy page. Don't ignore them." the same way that you could a playlist, you know.

18:50Yeah. No, I mean a release is is much different than just like here's a playlist, you know, so that makes a lot of sense. And plus like, you know, these days it's like you have to battle with all the algorithms on the different platforms. So, you know, when you have like brand new audio waveforms through your distributors and everything like that actually, I think does make a a big difference. So, I wish I had the answers for finding new listeners, but I don't. Just, you know, it was just I guess, you know, to put it another way, um, I just we could have I could have, you know,

19:38and so I've we've been working on these mixes uh probably since the beginning of the year. uh end of December. Um and I know that Karen would like me to start making new songs. Um which we will do, but I just wasn't in as much of a hurry because uh I thought these, you know, some of the songs that we've done that are on these releases, I can't make them any better. They're um I like them. There are songs, of course, I like them, but you know, I feel that they could just they needed somehow to get more ears on them

20:25or before just starting to make new new music. I could make new music all day, but if people aren't hearing it, you know, it can get disheartening.

20:36Yeah. No, definitely. We actually have a a couple questions. Um uh first one actually is from Dusty Chalk. Um and thank you all so much for taking the time to to hang out with us. Um what is your favorite digital plugin that helps the mix sound analog?

21:02A good question.

21:05Yeah, I'm wondering that too. like have you found anything that that works?

21:10Um, I would say the biggest thing that's helped me in the last few years is the way just to organize mixes. Um, I not that I wasn't organized before, but um, the way that ProTools allows you to do things now, I've gotten used to running sort of, you know, I'll I'll divide my session into say vocals, you know, and that's here's the thing like you get you do it a certain way to where whatever the song you do it. So I have vocals, I have drums, I have bass, keyboards, and those are all their own groups that are going through a um you call them a a submix.

22:06And so you're easily you can easily change the levels of any of those in the group. Um, it's just gotten easier to, you know, you could always do that, but it's gotten easier to do, um,

22:23where you can easily, you know, run a plug in, you know, affect the whole group, uh, affect individual ones. Uh so if you want to put a compressor on all the drums or uh the bass or you know just that way of working I found has been helpful and I don't probably part of it is is you know it's nice having newer computers that can handle more of that. Um,

22:55oh yeah,

22:57Looking back at like some of the early you know, the computer was maxed out, but there's no way you could run half the plugins that you do now. So, uh, not having to worry about, oh, if I want to stick another, you know, compressor on this bus, it's easy to do.

23:20For sure. That definitely it you're basically like describing my own workflow personally like I have everything organized into like little subfolder like basically folders. Uh so everything's like vocals or guitars and bass and yeah it makes things so much We have a a few more uh questions actually. Um uh nuclear waste is asking uh what are your biggest influences from your first three decades of life and how have they shaped you today?

23:56think I know who nuclear waste is. Give me that question one more time.

24:02Um who are your influences from your first three decades of life and how have they shaped you today? Uh, biggest influences? I'll say probably Queen for one. I've always, you know, even though most of the bands that I liked were electronic and I tried to I sort of shied away from more analog rock bands, you know, just the the vocal layering I've always loved for Queen and I've loved the I love the dive diversity of their music. you know, they can have one song that's really rocky and another song that's, you know, a waltz and uh you still know it's Queen. So, uh I I really like that about

24:58them that they were able to change their sound and uh still stay, you know, have have a sound but changing their sound from album to album. Uh who else? I mean, there's so many electronic Uh, Gary Newman was a big influence. I collected a lot of his albums and CDs. Uh, you know, especially when you think like what some of the early electronic people were doing in, you know, the late 70s and 1980. I some of Gary's early albums and uh yeah, I just on the other end of the spectrum just so you know analog electronic for the albums that I really like.

25:57Yeah, I think you actually got me into Gary Newman. Um so yeah, I can definitely relate the love for that. number three, I don't know. Can I I'll say 9inch nails. Um it I mean I know so many you know so many people like 9in nails but you can't deny that Trent is has always been really good in the studio and a a wide variety of sounds and really trying to push uh you know push whatever he's doing you know push the sound and not staying content to do one thing. Uh, I I really appreciate, you know, all that he does.

26:48Yeah. Amazing. I I was actually relistening to your um your latest uh version of The Lunatics Have Taken over the asylum, and I was literally thinking of Queen, like with the vocal layering. Um I I really love that you mentioned that as an influence because I really I can hear it for sure. I love the way the vocals are on that That was all Karen. That was all Karen.

27:17yeah, it sounds amazing. Yeah. Um, uh,

27:21by the way,

27:22by the way, did you see the new video that we did for Lunatics?

27:29We did.

27:30I was really happy with the way that came out.

27:32Yeah, it's beautiful. Um, Nuclear Waste had a few more questions for you. Um, okay. And it's, um, if you could collaborate with any artist today, uh, who would it be?

27:53That's a good question. You know, I've I've been pretty lucky to be able to work with so many artists that I've liked over the years. um that sometimes, you know, I feel I just feel so lucky. Uh, you know, we worked with Dean from uh on our secret meeting project and Dean has played bass, you know, for numerous things. And, you know, I love Curve and Dean's a great guy. So, that's been great. Uh, I was a big Skinny Puppy fan for years before I met Kevin and the rest of the band. And I got to work on uh Skinny Puppy album and we're friends

28:42with Kevin and uh, you know, that was that was great to work on as well. Um, I I've got to work on a tool record, you know. Uh, just, you know, so many bands like that. Like, you're like I'm just I think the teenage version of me would be like, you know, what the hell? you you wouldn't have thought it was possible. You know, when I got

29:19when I started working with Prince, I think I was 24.

29:25that's incredible. uh I wish Prince was still alive. I would still love to work with him.

29:36I know. I wish David Boy was alive. We'd love to work with David Bowie.

29:40Oh my god.

29:41Both. We're both big fans of Kate Bush, you know. That would be fun to work with her.

29:51I could see it. Yeah,

29:52you never know. She might watch the the podcast and be like, "Okay,

29:56Kate, the invitation's open."

30:03Speak speaking of Prince, uh this was another question from from Nuclear Waste. Um your industrial vibe doesn't appear that it would mesh well with the Minneapolis scene. uh prints. How did you fit in with the purple ones process?

30:19Well, I would say probably the reason why Prince and other people at the time, you know, hired me or, you know, rehired me to work on other songs was because I wasn't trying to do the same thing that he was doing at the time. I mean, I was I was a fan of his music. Uh, but I you know, I I know that, you know, the good thing about him is he was always looking for new sounds and I love new sounds. And so, I think it was just I was I was good in the studio. I was good working with computers. I knew my gear. I was fast

31:09and I was able to, you know, easily put things together. I have, you know, pretty good ear for rhythm. So, uh, you know, it was, uh, I think all those factors made it why, you know, he liked what I did. Um, again, always, you know, just trying not to do the same thing over and over. And I, you know, he didn't want to redo Purple Rain. He was always looking for something new. So I think I just hopefully was helping him to do that and explore new sounds.

31:47Yeah. Yeah.

31:48I mean I feel like that what you what you've been sharing um is is really it comes down to the fact that you've always had this love and passion for trying to grow. Um and I feel like that would naturally align with any other artist that is in that same mindset for That's the I mean I worked with Michael Jackson for eight years and uh you know it wasn't studied but it was time to time during those eight years and he would he would say like I just want to hear sounds and nobody's ever heard before and you're like okay what is that? I don't you know I don't know.

32:31I'll do I'll do my best to try to like, you know, give you something interesting. And I think that's that's what I think that's what people need to do when they're creating. Uh I think a lot of

32:46a lot of people will get stuck in a rut or just do what's easy or I don't know try to try to redo an album over and over again because maybe that was successful. But I don't think that helps you as an artist. And I don't think that people want to hear that. I know I would get bored. You know, I that's not what I like.

33:11Yeah. Actually, I wanted to ask um do you have any like standout memories from working with Michael Jackson that you could remember that's like, oh wow, that's a crazy memory or that was an interesting thing that happened. Um I will say I don't know about the the best memory but the one thing about working with him. So at the time I was working in my home studio and I was working on grooves to give to him or working on songs that he was working on. And you know, it was back in when I had the Mackie mixer, my samplers, my gear, whatever, you know, just in my home studio. And then

34:01at one point he wanted me to go out to Neverland to work. And the only thing is he didn't have a studio out there and he just I think he had a separate building that was like a dance studio. So maybe just like mirrors on the wall, everything. So, I would have to bring all of my gear out there, my mixer, speakers, analog gear, samplers, whatever.

34:30And I I said, "That's just too much work. I don't want to I don't want to bring it out there. It's just too much to haul." And he said, you know, he was fine with that. But, uh, and looking back, it it would have been fun to go out there and, I don't know, see what Neverland was. For sure. Yeah, that's I mean just like that idea like I can't even imagine just having that experience. So that's awesome.

34:58I mean, you know,

35:00just to jump back to Michael for a second. I mean,

35:03you know, I don't know, I don't know anything about any of the, you know,

35:12controversial stuff,

35:13controversial stuff that, you know, he was accused of. Uh, all I know is like from the very first time that he came into the studio, uh, he was super nice and very polite to everybody. He shook everybody's hand. Uh, he just couldn't have been any nicer and he was always just very professional.

35:40I'll share one more Michael story. Uh so at one point after working with him for a while um I got a message from his people that he wanted to have a meeting with me in person. And so he would be staying when he was in town, he would be staying at the the Beverly Hilton Beverly Hilton. Um so that's where the meeting was where he was staying. So I go there one day and you know bodyguards there and he you know when he stays there he must stay there for I months or years at a time.

36:24so I go into a room there and he had it all decked out with like I don't know I think there was like a giant cardboard cutout of like I don't maybe it was Freddy Krueger or just weird weirdness just you know weird stuff in the room and he wasn't there yet and so I'm there and and he came in he wanted me to co-write songs with him. And I'm like,

36:56I'm like, wow. Okay. Like, okay. You know, whatever that whatever that means.

37:05Um, and so that that was a cool memory that he thought of me, you know, so good to do songwriting with him. I never did get songwriting credit on anything, but um you know that's why Karin and I work together so well as a couple. I you know there's certain things that I do but I'm not about you know words or vocals or putting together a song that way that that takes the two of us. So doing a song for Michael I think would have meant like what are the vocals going to be doing in a Michael Jackson song? I don't know. That's that's not what I do, you know?

37:51Um I I think I could have tried harder. Um and I probably should have tried harder to really make that happen, but that was that was right around the time we were making Chasing the Ghost.

38:06so it was you know I was really uh splitting my you know the resources in my head want to work on but I want to work on you know these and uh

38:21so uh like I said besides working on songs that he was working on um I would I would give him groove. So, I would start song ideas um and he would sometimes make them into a song or sometimes not. And there was a couple that I remember I was working on um and Grin heard them and was like, I don't think you should give that to Michael and keep those for Ourel. And so those couple of those were two two songs that that were songs on Chasing the Ghost. So like I think

39:05that's incredible

39:06particularly um I think it was Wings of Steel and and Razor Sharp

39:12and so I'm glad we kept those songs but initially I had started them to to give to him.

39:23I really love that. That was like part of the bigger vision for you as an artist. Um, you know, because I think it's it's very easy, I think, at least for most people, um, when you when you're presented with like opportunities to go like, okay, I'm going to follow this opportunity. and and as we should I think in in sections of our life, but the fact that you were like actually I have my own voice and I have my own vision and to like really like feed that um and then look at what you created as a result. I think that's just so inspiring and amazing.

40:02I think it's I think you could easily get too lost um if you you know if I had just devoted all my time to that at the time to him or or Prince at the time or other stuff you know where then there wouldn't be any collide um

40:24you know again you have to keep yourself satisfied in what you're doing and I I get fulfillment from working on both. I get, you know, I love working on our own stuff. I love working on other people's stuff. They're just sort of different parts of my brain. Uh, but I would never want to just do one and not the other.

40:45Yeah, absolutely. Um, and I I you know, I know that you are, you know, multi-instrumentalist yourself. I'm sure there's like different things that like feed and inspire, you know, other ideas. I'm sure, you know, as you're navigating like the different sounds and and

41:04I think it's always helped to work with different people, too. I think hearing, you know, being in the studio and hearing how other people do things inspires you. Uh,

41:18just to see how, you know, it's great to be able to listen to individual tracks or how they did that, you know. Um,

41:28were there behind the scenes?

41:30Are there any like standout moments that you can remember from working in the um as a when you're first starting out that were that just sort of stuck with you for your entire career? Like any of those like aha moments? you mean like as far as like learning

41:51Yeah, exactly. I don't think there's anything in particular. Um the biggest thing I think would be to be able to change and be fluid as for the song because what works for one

42:12uh might not work for another. Um, so I think it's about being true to the song and really like what works, you know, once the song is there, what does the song need? What's what's best for the song?

42:30Don't just try to add your same, you know, stuff, your same sound every time. Like really try to listen to the song and what it needs.

42:42So I don't I don't have one. There wasn't really an aha moment, but I think working with a lot of people um really just taught me to to listen to the the song.

42:55That's really cool.

42:56I think that's that's actually one of the most um like amazing pieces of of wisdom to to really remember is is to listen to the song. Um Yeah. And let that guide you, right? uh when we when you you know I love I love the process of songwriting still because I find it still very difficult. Um, and that's what makes it fun cuz I I do like the difficulty of it. And you just you don't know what the song's going to be necessarily when you start. And there's a time where it's not a song and it's an idea and then there is a point where all of a sudden this idea

43:51you had is actually a song and it's like, wow. Okay. then you can start sculpting listening and and refining. And I love that part, you know, it's not that I don't love the beginning, but I love once the song is there, figuring out what makes it the best it can be.

44:18And that's that's part of what I really like doing, working with other artists, too. I love, you know, a lot of times I'll get hired because somebody will give me a song and I'll make it bigger, you know, I'll take their their little idea and really expand on, you know, the ideas they have and uh and I like that.

44:45That's really cool. Um, do you uh do you still take on projects like that uh where someone will hire you and send you an idea and you could extrapolate it from there?

44:55Yeah, not as not as much as I used to,

45:00I've never, you know, I've never had a manager. I've never had anybody looking for so it's always just been word of mouth. Um,

45:10and I'm fine with how much work I get in, you know, time to time. So,

45:20um, we're getting some some some more wonderful questions and love. Um, Isabella Vega is saying, "Collide is my favorite band. So awesome. Coolest sounds ever, for sure." Agreed. Um, and, um, Isabella is asking, "How would you approach the task of making a new How would I approach the task of making a new sound? There's so many new sounds. you you know uh like I I was uh watching a demo the other day for I think it was a a sound library and this sound library uh also incorporated like different I don't own it so I was just watching a video on it and they were uh

46:17demonstrating they had built-in plugins I guess that would run for the library. And one of them was this distortion plugin. And I can't remember what it was called right now. I don't own it, but I remember hearing it and I was like, "Wow, that is very interesting. I've never heard, you know, something being processed like that." And so I had to look it up and I was like definitely put it on the list as something think you know to think about getting. Um so there's again there's no there's no one way you can you can come up with a new sound. You know plugins are a dime a dozen. So

47:03run, you know, run stuff through all the plugins or one plugin or, you know, I I have a specific memory actually with you um in terms of like speaking about new sounds and I remind it reminded me of a time when we were in your studio. I think I was putting down some guitar tracks um and you're like you should just play through this fuzz factory um you know just direct you know with my guitar and it sounded amazing like no amp or anything like that. So I mean just like that spirit of experimentation you know is is so awesome and um I see the benefit of it. I still use that

47:45technique these days. I I was that uh I remember there was uh the time that you were doing the uh the guitar on uh our comfortably numb uh cover.

48:02Remember that? Like I remember

48:05as you were playing I was I was changing the the knobs on the guitar on the pedal as you were going.

48:12Yes. Yeah, definitely. again the, you know, just the idea of staying fluid and trying new things. Um,

48:34I think that's part of the the fun I think about um like just being an artist in general, whatever medium you happen to choose is is finding um like your different tools and your different you know voices. Um, and you know, um, I, you know, sometimes you will find people that are like, okay, I'm always going to paint with these particular colors, like green and blue, for instance. But, um, I I I feel like that's probably part of part of the artistry is like the discovery. Well, like when I when I started working in the studio, my biggest problem was how to organize and keep a like my library of sounds

49:17uh readily available because at the time there was no, you know, you couldn't buy a hard drive for $200 that would like have a terabyte of sounds. Um,

49:32it was even before like zip drives or or anything else. So, the first thing that I bought was um it was a optical remov forget what they called it. Removable optical CD ROM drive. And so you would have a disc that kind of looked like a CD that you could pop in this uh player and record your own sounds like a hard drive. And so I would have different discs that I could keep in. But that was, you know, that that's what I think that's what I needed to do my work, you know, to be inspired. And I was always on the lookout for new sounds. And so I

50:19would always I was always making my own library of okay there, you know, these sounds here and be able to organize them and have, you know, new sounds readily available that I could use for making grooves or drums or whatever. But, uh, and that's still the case. It's just much easier now.

50:40Just always just always build, you know, always build. Like for me, I I have just a library of sounds that I'm always So when I'm, you know, working on a song, sometimes you don't know what you want, you know, and uh so I just will go through some of the sounds that I've collected or grooves or whatever and say, "Oh, that works." Or, you know, what you think, you don't know what works until you try it. You got to have everything um available and easily easily organized to where you can find

51:18For sure.

51:20Do you do you um find that like when you find a new sound, do you um sample it or is it like do you create like a preset in like whatever sort of synth uh hardware or software that you're using? like is there a specific way that you save those sounds for later usage?

51:41Um, I find what I do now is is is uh I'll probably use it, you know, in whatever's sampler or synth or whatever the case. and whether it's printing it with, you know, some sort of effect gear in the computer or running it through a piece of outboard gear.

52:09Uh I'll print it. I'll print it how I like it.

52:14You know, um uh and I I bought some um modular gear a few years ago. um just to see if that was a way that uh I you know it was a new way of working and as far as uh synthwise it didn't really work for for my brain and my way of songwriting but I did like the uh the outboard gear effects of of the modular system. Uh so being able to uh you know some of those like modular wise where you know as you change one thing it can be triggered by something else. Uh and just the whole way of routing can be really um hard to

53:13get in a computer. So again, that was just an another way of, you know, finding new sounds, new effects.

53:26Yeah, that's that's amazing.

53:31So, um, some more questions for you. Um, uh, this is, uh, from Nuclear Waste.

53:39Oh, nuclear waste. You're hog in the

53:43There's some great questions. Well, we have a snacks question, so we can start with that. Um, uh, Jessica Davis is saying, uh, what is your favorite snack?

53:56I'm not a big snacker. I do love a chocolate chip cookie,

54:05That's a solid That's a solid one.

54:08I can get on board with that. So, um, yes, back to, uh, Nuclear Wastes, uh, questions. Um, uh, as a fan, what are the most important things for us to do to support Collide as an independent artist? Uh, that's the first question. Yes,

54:29that's an excellent question.

54:30Yes, I love this question. I'm sure you guys actually have some really good answers and I would like to hear your answer, too. Um, you know, I think I think people don't really realize how hard it is to get news out there, you know, to get the word about any sort of post. So, uh, you know, we we try to if we have something to say, we'll put it out on all the platforms, put it out on your your own website, and you know, it just everything everything from streaming to Facebook to Instagram to to whatever. It's it's all about algorithms. And if something starts to get traction, meaning that

55:21enough people have liked it, more people will see it. If you don't like or reshare a post, it gets buried. And even if even if you have 20,000 fans on your 50 people will see it if you're lucky. Um, so you know,

55:42it always sounds it always sounds so stupid to say like and share, you know, this post if you like it, but it's so it's so important because that's just where society and the way that technical things work now. Like you can't in order for, you know, if somebody if some the more people like it, the more people see it. And if you don't like and share it, you're just going to get buried. Um, and the same thing goes for uh streaming. I think, you know, you can't force people to like or, you know, play a song over and over, but you could, I don't know, you know, send a

56:21link to your friends who you think might like it or, you know, share stuff that way. And as soon as, you know, from my understanding is, you know, if if something like Spotify, if they see, oh, more people are starting to listen to this song, they'll put it on more people's front pages or they'll put it in, you know, you might like this sort of thing. So, the more that you share the word that you like somebody, you know, be it Alice or be it Collide, the more people know about it. Then that helps. if if you just we love it if you're listening, but that

57:03doesn't help find new people to get the word out there. And that's that is the hardest thing.

57:12What What would you guys say?

57:13I I mean, yeah, I could add on a little bit to that, you know. Um, actually, um, I remember way back when I first started working with Clyde, like you guys were on it in terms of your email list. And honestly, like having joining a band's email list is probably the single best thing you can do to like Exactly.

57:34make sure you're on top of their news. Yeah. I mean,

57:37because you have because then I mean,

57:39I would love to, you know, they're bands that I love. I would love to get, you know, a newsletter saying, "Oh, we have something new coming out." Because there'll be bands that I like and you'll be like, I had no idea you had something coming out. I didn't

57:50didn't see that at all.

57:53Your own, you know, join,

57:57you know, join a newsletter. Yeah. Like Yes. Feel like we could have a whole podcast about this. Well, and it goes without saying that, you know, physical purchases and and say like downloads from Band Camp make a thousand% of of the, you know, the difference in supporting a band. Um, I don't think people, you know, I didn't I don't want to be negative at all to the, you know, music industry, but I don't think that the average person still realizes what streaming pays or how that really affected the music business. I mean, not just us, but the music business in general. Um, you know, I could like I could like a

58:50song and listen to that song all year and it probably wouldn't account for, you know, selling one download of one song to somebody.

59:07Yeah, that's like the equivalent of like a like, you know, a thousand streams. I don't know. I think maybe it might be a few dollars, you know. I don't know.

59:18So, like we we have uh on our website um what we call our complete collection where you know you get all of our CDs or on Band Camp where you get all the downloads. And I think like on Band Camp if you buy everything they'll give you like 30% off of you know the price that it would be or something and somebody got one of those the other day and just to do the quick math I you know when I write them to say thank you I was like this is worth over 55,000 streams you know

59:57and you know

59:58oh my god

59:59how long how you know how How long would that take one person to stream 55,000 times? I don't know. But it

1:00:07it would be a lot.

1:00:09That's a lot of streams for one song. That's for sure.

1:00:13So, you know, if if you like a band and you feel like you can spare, you know, the money to download the album you like, uh, that makes all the difference. Not that we don't have our songs up on streaming sites, uh, because I think you it's too much to I don't know. I think you're partially shooting yourself in the foot just because you wouldn't be seen even as little as you might be. You know, it's I want to I want to have the widest range of an audience we can, but No, I mean it's like sort of an access. Sorry. Go ahead. Oh, no, no. I was just

1:00:59going to say just the fact that that that you're asking that question is amazing because I feel like then you have like kind of a pulse on um on even wanting to I think the intention of wanting to support artists um like it just means the absolute world um you know for independent artists um you know as Static was sharing it's like you know um it's a very grassroots kind of thing like there's not like a big huge major label push push behind anything that we do. So, it's like word of mouth. It's like these tiny little micro movements that I think combined to make all the

1:01:37difference. Um, y'all even watching this right now, you're supporting live artists and or independent artists like just by hanging out with us and um and your wonderful comments and support. Like, it's it's all these little micro things that I think make all the Nuclear Waste was also asking, um, uh, do you think you'll play live again?

1:02:11That's another good question.

1:02:13I like this question. Scott would love that.

1:02:20Tash would love that, too. Y'all are amazing live. I got to witness it firsthand and it's incredible.

1:02:29Again, like our our live experience was so short,

1:02:33you know, a handful of shows. Uh, and it was really fun. Um, I could go I could go back in time and say what happened. Uh, you know, we got our our toes in the water by doing um the um Dancing Ferret show in Philadelphia and for Vampires Ball and that was fun and and so we had never played really live before that point and we were like, "Oh, would we like this?" You know, Karen was, you know, how would she like it? How would she react? and and it was fun. And we did our short tour, which Scott was on with uh you know, our

1:03:22handful of other musicians, Roger, Chaz, and Kai, and everybody was everybody was just so great in the band. And so we did our little West Coast tour, and it was great. I mean, it was still, as you guys know, who have toured 10 times more than we have, uh, it's a lot of work being on the road. And uh for me personally, it was hard because even though I loved playing live, I didn't like the aspect of being in charge of everything, you know, from the sound guide to the shows and booking and making sure you get paid and making sure, you know, you can get to the next show. And there

1:04:17was just so many things for me to personally like, you know, have to check on to make sure that everything gets done. I would have loved to just be up on stage doing my parts, you know, being able to walk up there. Um, but that's not, you know, having having it work that way wasn't really, we weren't there yet, you know, as as a band. And so after we finished that tour, um, we tried to get a couple other people to book, you know, more of a nationwide And the first person, it didn't happen. And I think we were actually set to play on some Gothic cruise. I don't Do you

1:05:06The Goth Cruise. Yeah. I can never forget that.

1:05:08We were set to do that. And we were going to work that into our schedule. And I think that's when Katrina

1:05:16Wasn't Katrina, it was some other

1:05:18There's a big hurricane. Yeah. They

1:05:21So something happened and they couldn't like guarantee that we were going to be on that cruise or they weren't going to pay us or I don't even know. But so that kind of threw a wrench into like booking that tour and we couldn't get somebody else to book the tour. And I certainly didn't know enough to book a whole US tour. I know you guys do, but I didn't, you know, I couldn't do it. I didn't have the contacts or the clubs to do it.

1:05:50So after after sort of trying to make that happen for a while, I was like, screw that. I just gonna go back in the studio and, you know, be in my happy place and make more music. And so that's what we did. Um, and you know, at the time and still to this day, Karen has her own business, uh, jewelry design and accessory design business that she has been running for ever. Um, so it's always been hard for her to step away from that, you know, not You have something has to get sacrificed to go on tour and

1:06:33always. Yeah.

1:06:35It's hard. It's hard just to, you know, if you're running a business just to say stop, you know, because you're dealing with a lot of moving parts that don't necessarily just stop. And if you do stop them, it's hard to get things Um, so would we ever do it again? I mean, I would I would never say never because I wouldn't mind doing it, but but there's more than just me in the band. And uh I'll just say I don't know.

1:07:14So, we need to just align some planets and stars is is kind of what you're I mean again it it could happen. There aren't any plans at the moment. Um it would be again I would love to do it if you know the budget was there that I didn't have. You know I don't want to be the sound man. I don't want to be I just want to be playing my chords, you know, my my keyboards and uh whatever. Or

1:07:50or actually drums. I would like to play drums on on tour.

1:07:54Yeah, you should be the drummer.

1:07:55I would love to be I've thought about that. I'm like, well, that would be really fun. I I would love to do that.

1:08:02Be amazing. so, we'll see.

1:08:06I'll do the syn I'll do the synth parts and you can play drums.

1:08:09Oh, Scott, you got to do guitar. Well, I love that.

1:08:16I was so happy with our, you know, the band that we had. I mean, we were, it was really a a fun group of people and everybody was so good. Uh, I really feel bad that we didn't do more shows. Well, I I feel like, you know, from from my perspective, because my, you know, my first um experience of Collide besides listening to your music beforehand was um at your Lray show when you were recording your your live DVD and um you know, it was just powerful like from the very first sound like it was just this whole experience. So, it wasn't it wasn't just the the sounds, but it was

1:08:56also the visuals. So there was a lot of like a lot of thought and artistry put in behind your your live show.

1:09:03We I mean we were definitely trying to make it as sort of a you know a big of a show as we could put on with what you know with our budget and what we could Uh it was hard though and you know for as far as you know other things about a live show it was hard for us because Karen doesn't have a loud voice and so you know not dealing with the same sound man uh you know to you know our own sound guy to take on tour or whatever. It was always hard, you know, to make sure that she got heard. And you can't

1:09:46you can't just tell Karen to sing louder because that's, you know, she can somewhat, but that's just not the way her voice works and that's not the way the parts work. So, uh,

1:09:57that was always, you know, something we had to deal with technically, uh, that I w, you know, would be good to, it would have been good to figure out even more. And I'm sure we would have if we would have played more shows.

1:10:14yeah, it's so interesting because like technology these days makes it a lot easier to be heard, you know, like with like a with, you know, all kinds of voices, you know. I know um sometimes with even Tash like some of the best parts are like the whispery or the quieter parts but now it's like you've got like virtual guitar rigs and all kinds of technology where you don't need to have like crazy v compete with all the volume on stage and you've got in ears and like all these different things that help so much. It's like technology has come a long way since then. It's

1:10:49I know even when we were playing, you know, we were we were doing the best we can. You know, we had in

1:10:57I did and and you know, you were even at the time you were doing a lot with, you know, we had your effects changing as the computer was going.

1:11:08Yeah, that was awesome.

1:11:09There was a lot. It was just It was a

1:11:14we're trying.

1:11:23Yeah, I it's interesting because I feel like um you know it's it's it's one thing to craft the songs, right? To actually just write the songs. There's a songwriting process and then then there's the actual production of it, right? Where you like piece it all together and then there's the visuals. Um, this was a question as well that um, nuclear waste was asking about. Um, and then there's the live show. There's just so many moving parts to what you you can put out into the world. Um,

1:11:54well, I do I do think that it's it you know, being the unwritten rules of the road, I feel like I cannot talk to the unwritten rules of the road because I was hardly on the road. But but from you know our our little time you know what you do in the studio sometimes doesn't translate as well to doing I think a version of the song live and and I do think it is good to be on stage and see like what works uh you know in a live setting and for even the songs that we were doing at the time um say a song

1:12:35like Wings of Steel, uh, you know, the extra parts that we did live were great and, uh, and so, you know, I was recently listening to, uh, those live versions and I was like, "Wow, I really wanted to put those guitar parts that we did that we actually recorded during that LR show into the version that went on the latest Signals album. Um, and it just, you know, it took the song to another level. I forget.

1:13:15Yeah, it's funny.

1:13:16Yeah, when I heard it,

1:13:17I forget what the question even was, but

1:13:23it was just going to say like I just I remember listening to the new version, I was like something reminds me a little bit about, you know, like the like the one we recorded live. But that's so cool to to hear how you your thought process behind it.

1:13:37Oh, it was it was those exact it were they were the guitars played during the the LA.

1:13:43That's awesome.

1:13:45So cool.

1:13:48Um so Nuclear Waste was asking um the imagery on your albums, website, etc. really well done. Um is that just Karen and you or do you have a silent graphic design wizard that puts it all together? That's us. There's no graphic design wizard. Um, and that's the other thing that's, you know, I'm like every other most independent artist probably is you just have to get used to wearing so many hats, you know, uh, that, you know, how do you do graphics? How do you put together a video? How do you update your website? How do you distribute, you know, stuff? Uh, you know, make PDFs to send it to somebody

1:14:40to There's so many there's so many hats. so I mean, I'm glad that people like Nuclear Waste or somebody thinks that the the graphics are good. Uh, I was really happy with the way the album cover for the Signals album looked. Um,

1:15:01yeah, I love that.

1:15:03I I did that. I was really I was really happy with it.

1:15:07People have not people have not seen the volume two cover yet.

1:15:12Just wait.

1:15:15Is it already done? Are are you um

1:15:18Are you

1:15:21Oh. Are you already like are you already just ready to release um the the the the art or are you still in process?

1:15:28No, it's done. Everything's on a schedule.

1:15:34I love it. I love it. Yes. I love that you have like a big vision. Um Yeah. And uh we haven't told anybody but we just you know so we've been in this release releasing a single a week basically uh for the songs that will be on these releases. And uh so last week we released uh the song Lucky 13. so this week, uh, that just came out, this last Friday is for the song Turn Off Your TV. Um, so even though last week was for Lucky 13, we have a new video for Lucky 13, which will probably come out next week.

1:16:23That's amazing.

1:16:24Very exciting.

1:16:25It's very exciting.

1:16:26You guys are killing it. It's so inspiring. Um, yeah, that's awesome. And Scott, I gotta say, you know, your guitars have always been so great in so many of us.

1:16:38I mean, you know, like especi, you know, like I say, I

1:16:46I'm in the band. I'm I'm part of the band, but I love these songs.

1:16:50Uh so like this, like the Turn Off the TV song, which was a single for the week this week. I mean, the guitars in that song are so good, you know, like they're just funky and, you know, thick and distorted and

1:17:08they're so good. I They're really good.

1:17:12Oh, thank you.

1:17:13should really like appreciate them.

1:17:18I just I feel like um I got a chance to just record so much on so many different songs. So, this has been fun like you know revisiting them as as they come out. I'm like, "Oh, okay. I remember all that stuff." So, that's really awesome.

1:17:46yeah. I think I what I what I appreciate about both of you is that um I feel like um it's like there's a lot of out of the box like approaches with sound and with um like the way you design your your um your music actually. It's it's a weird way to say it to design music, but I do feel like it is a design and it is a lot of out of the box thinking and it's so amazing to see how it all comes together because Karen's the same way. like her vocal lines are so like out of the box when it comes to the way she phrases and

1:18:19breathes and sings. It's just amazing to see it all like come together in that

1:18:28It's definitely not a oneperson operation. Um, and we've I think, you know, we've been we've loved working with a lot of different people. It's great to have, you know, it's great to be able to have somebody who you know and trust come in and say like, "Scott, play some guitars." And, you know, whether or not I'm I'm trying to sing the part to you or or just say, "Put on, you know, do whatever and I'll cut it up like it's it, you know, I know that whatever happens is going to be good."

1:19:02Um, and the same thing with remixers. I know you brought it up a little bit in in sort of the description this week, but uh you know, we've loved working with different remixers and I've always been a fan of remixes. Uh and so to be able to uh you know, have other people reinterpret your songs and be able to go uh you know, and ch you know, have them remix something and then decide that's great. what if I did this with, you know, those parts of the remix? Um,

1:19:40you know, remix the remix sort of, but we've just we've been really lucky to work with so many different people.

1:19:53Do you all have any um collaborations coming up uh at the moment?

1:19:58Nothing at the moment. Right on. Yeah, I love the I love the remix you did of our song Electrical. Um, and it it's interesting that you brought up the the idea of like remixing a remix because it's like hearing your songs in, you know, someone else's mind and creative vision. It like I feel like it also sheds light on things sometimes. So, remember hearing that I was like, "Oh my god, I love how the drum sounds in this part." I was like, I wonder if I could tweak the mix to like sound a little bit more like what you did, you know, that sort of thing. So,

1:20:39I love that.

1:20:40I mean, I've felt I've always like, you know, like I said before, like there's a point where the song doesn't exist and then there's a time when the song exists and then you can work on that song and you give that song to somebody else and say, "What do you hear as a remix?" Oh, they hear all these things that you didn't think of and you're like, "Wow, that's that's great. I wish I would have thought thought of these things, you know,

1:21:08before I did the song." And so even, you know, you sort of along those lines like so like for uh Some Kind of Strange or album Some Kind of Strange and and then the remix album Vortex which was right after that we had um this guy uh Mike Fiser who was in the band Machines of Love and Grace do a remix to Slither Thing and he got the remix back to us before we even released Some Kind of Strange. And I like the parts that he did so much in the remix that I incorporated some of them back to the original version that was on Some Kind of Strange,

1:21:53you know, leaving leaving the leaving the remix on its own. But, uh, no,

1:22:01it's all fair game. It's, you know, one thing expire inspires the next. It's my favorite thing about music is just how they could just keep on infinitely inspiring, you know, revisions and new versions and new song ideas, you know, based on just like, you know, a different interpretation or, you know, anything. So, like our song um, if you know that song, it was on Color of Nothing and it's, uh, I don't know how you want it. You It's our It's our sound. There's drums and guitars and, uh, you know, it's a typical Collide song. And then we did uh remixes for it on I think the remixes

1:22:51for that were on Mind and Matter, don't quote me on that. But anyways, we did some remixes and this one girl um did a remix for the Intruder song and made it all about uh she scripted out all the instruments that were there and just had strings and piano and it comes across as a completely different song. Mary Mary did the remix

1:23:29I think I remember that. Yeah.

1:23:30And it's such a it takes a song like in such a completely completely different version. It's just amazing. Um so so happy with that remix. I mean it's just amazing what what somebody could hear.

1:23:51Yeah. I think that's part of the the beauty of different collaborations is sort of it's almost like a tennis game, right? where you just sort of like you toss the ball over the net and you don't know exactly how it's going to come back to you and then um and then it comes back like a completely different ball and you're like hello volleyball

1:24:09like this is

1:24:11well I mean that's the cool thing about working you know I'm a fan of both things like sometimes you can take a song and just say depends on you know what you're inspired and what the people want but you could say I'm going to take this song and how can I just make it bigger how can I make it better and and that's a remix. Or you can say, I'm going to strip it down and make it the exact opposite of of what it is. And both are both are valid and both are interesting artistically. Um

1:24:44yeah, there's just I've always loved So, are there any um like particular things um that you're that you're brewing up in the next year or so that you would um that you'd like to share with us?

1:25:03I mean, to be honest, it's it's really just been about this. We haven't really thought further than these signals releases. Um,

1:25:15where I've really, you know, I can't emphasize how important it is for people to support the music they like. And we've sort of,

1:25:28you know, been like, if you if you want to hear new music from us, get these songs out there, you know?

1:25:40That's that's where we are now.

1:25:42Yeah. Yeah.

1:25:44What what comes after?

1:25:47I don't know.

1:25:50Well, it's very exciting what's on deck. Yeah. Sorry, Scott. Go ahead.

1:25:54No, I'm just going to say like it seems like you've had this plan in in place for a little bit. So, I am definitely

1:26:01Keep my eyes out and see what comes next. Yeah. know you you know I remember you brought um you your your podcast up to me like quite a while ago and it has been in the you know

1:26:16what we've been working on has been

1:26:18in the you know going on behind the scenes since the end of last year we it was a matter of like getting our songs to all of our catalog to a different

1:26:30a lot of just behind the scenes stuff to make sure that it all can happen the way it needed to happen.

1:26:38So, I know people can't, you know, it's too much technical to go into, but uh it's been a lot of work.

1:26:50Well, congratulations. When when you when you release even a song like you know let alone like an album or music video or anything but just one song any piece of art just like it's like the tip of the iceberg in terms of like like you listen to a song that's like what 3 to 5 minutes long and what like the time that has gone into the song like every experience that has led up to that point. I think that's what's so powerful about songs in general. It's just it it's a representation of so many chapters of life and experience and artistry, you know, and I think the people, you know, it's

1:27:37always funny working on a song because there's no there's no right way to work on a song. And some songs, you know, come about so quickly that uh those are great and they can happen in like an hour or, you know, a day and you're like, "Wow, I got all the parts, I got all the vocals, there's a song and it happens so quick and other ones, you know, can take a lot longer." Um, and we've definitely had both where sometimes it comes quickly and sometimes it's a lot of work and they go through a lot of revisions. Um, it's just part of the process.

1:28:21Yeah. No, I think what's, you know, part of what's so special about your your releases that are coming up is just the fact that um like you were saying, it's like just being able to like go like, okay, with all this experience that I've had um like h how do I hear it now? And so it's a very present expression. Like I feel like we get a snapshot of like what's going on with you as an artist, you and Karin both as an artist.

1:28:51And and it was, you know, it was it's been it's been great to be able to go through, you know, all of our albums or, you know, say for the latest one, the second half of our catalog, and be like, okay, which songs do I love? Which songs do I really want to showcase? you know,

1:29:15what what ones am I most proud of? Um, and just to be able to give those, you know, an extra sparkle. Um, even the other day, uh, somebody wrote us for the turn off your TV song and they had played it in their car and their 17-year-old son was in the car and their their son was like, "This is pretty good. Who who is this?" And you

1:29:42I mean, you you love that when you know, your song can appeal to different, you know, different ages of people. And, you know, we aren't making songs just for one genre or one group of people. Um,

1:30:04we just want people to hear the hear the music that we love. Yeah, absolutely. I I feel like um I say this often, but I do feel like there's it's like it's universal in that way. Like I don't know. I think that music truly does just transcend, you know, age and and all of the little black and white parameters that we define ourselves. So, it can speak to a heart, you know.

1:30:35Uh we're getting a question, by the way, from Curtis Campbell. Um, how do you know um you have the right music that fits the lyrics?

1:30:47Well, for

1:30:48that's a good question.

1:30:49The right music to fit the lyrics. Well, most of the time we start with the music and the lyrics and the vocal melody comes after that. Um, and I know that my brain works that I don't really hear lyrics a lot. It's not lyrics is not the most important thing to me. So, I I can like a song with a good vocal sound and and I don't even know what the lyrics are saying. And I could have maybe listened to that song like a hundred times and I still I'm like, "Oh, unless I'm really paying attention to the lyrics, sometimes I don't know what they

1:31:36are." Um, so for me, and that's just me. I know it's not Karen. So it's it's it's the melody and it's the melody and the way the voice sounds. Those that's what's important to me. Krin would argue that the lyrics are just as important and I know that's valid for a lot of songs and I know it's very important. It's just it's not on the top of my There's a sound to lyrics,

1:32:12but that's that's what I work on most with her as being most important is like make working on the melody, making sure the melody

1:32:26goes with the song,

1:32:32Yeah. some some words in like sometimes like the word itself can be musical for the context of the song, you know, like I'm the same like sometimes I'll just I don't even realize what's being sung. I'm just like I hear the words is sound or something and I'm like, "Oh, that sounds cool."

1:32:50Right? It could I mean

1:32:52take any cocktail twin song, you know, and you can listen to that song over and over and there's no words, but I love it Yeah, I find that um when I'm writing lyrics um sometimes it sounds great in theory on paper, but then you sing it out loud and it just doesn't quite feel or sound right. Um I feel like sometimes the best test is just singing it out loud and then being like, how does this actually feel and sound, you know, with the music? I keep I keep trying to vote for doing an album that has no lyrics and just I don't know if that's ever going to

1:33:35happen, but I wouldn't mind if that if we do that. I think that would be fun because uh

1:33:44that'd be amazing. Yeah. Like that'd be so interesting. like

1:33:47cuz sometimes we start we start songs that way and uh you know sometimes there's words and sometimes there's no words and I know that uh you know it can be can be hard making words uh into a particular melody if you don't start with the words but I don't mind that. I would you know I would love to make a song a song or an album without words. I think we might have some planted seeds for for future things from from y'all.

1:34:23I've been I've been trying to plant that seed for a long time. So,

1:34:27we shall see.

1:34:31There was that Buork album. I remember I forget which one it was, but it was like she used her voice for the everything,

1:34:38you know? Yeah.

1:34:43Yeah. When I when I think about like instrumental um vocal like sort of vocalism music, I I always think back to like Icelandic music for some reason. I'm like of course you know York has probably done it. Um you know like there's another band called I think Sugur Ross. I don't know how to pronounce it but Uh yeah

1:35:06and he's well he's singing in Icelandic but it just sounds like beautiful sound you know. Um, that's the best way I could describe it. And I'm like, I have no idea what he's saying, but it's

1:35:22That's all that's all that's needed.

1:35:27Um, Isabella saying, uh, Karin's voice is such a unique and diverse instrument, one of a kind. Absolutely.

1:35:35I agree.

1:35:40Yeah. Absolutely. Well, my dear friends, um if there are any more questions, um feel free to drop it in the chat. Um we want to thank y'all so much for for taking the time to hang out with us and for your wonderful questions and comments and um for supporting Collide, for supporting um the stream, for supporting artists. Um, and I know there are uh many artists as well in the chats. Um, so thank you all so much for perpetuating this amazing cycle of of inspiration and creativity.

1:36:21Congratulations for you guys on your Kickstarter. I know that's going very well and still

1:36:29Thank you. Yeah, we've been very blown away by our incredible community. um you know being fellow indie artists it's something that we um you know are we really can't do what we do without the support of our community. So as you know makes it all possible for sure.

1:36:51It's been a it's been a wild ride that's for sure.

1:36:56Oh man.

1:36:57Yeah. Well, Static, again, um congratulations on your incredible, um release and releases coming up. Um we're really excited to see uh to peak behind the curtain and see the next thing.

1:37:16Is there um a specific day that we can look for that or um will that be

1:37:22uh for the next the next full release? Um, I don't know it off the top of my head. It's

1:37:31We'll peel our eyes for it.

1:37:32We still have

1:37:33still have a number of singles scheduled over the next coming week. So,

1:37:39Stay tuned for the single of the week. I'm not I'm not going to tell you what's coming out next week.

1:37:47You could you can and if you're out there, you could subscribe to the Collide mailing list and you'll know for

1:37:53Yes. Thank you.

1:37:55Next week. Next week is another exciting one. I'm excited for all of them. But

1:38:02how amazing is that that you can actually say that um to be genuinely excited about about the work you're sharing? I think that's awesome.

1:38:10I mean, I think you have to be if Well, I don't know if you necessarily have to be, but I think that um if we are lucky, I guess, as as artists, then we get to continue to work on what we truly love.

1:38:29Well, we are.

1:38:31We're excited.

1:38:31Yes. Yes.

1:38:33Well, we you you guys continue to be like truly just inspiring um you know, just incredible artists, incredible people. Um, and you definitely carry the torch for so many of us. So, thank you for continuing to be an inspiration.

1:38:52We just we just try to keep doing what we like to do. We're glad that people glad that people are

1:39:01Thanks for you guys for uh having me on.

1:39:04Of course.

1:39:08Um, well, thank you all everybody. Um, we hope you have a wonderful rest of your Sunday, rest of your week. Um, and um, yeah, thank you. Thank you so much again. Uh, we will we will see you next

1:39:23Yeah. See you later.